Republicans: March 2008 Archives
It's important to keep in mind that both Steve Scalise and Tim Burns both have no problems with men like CAPT Mallard getting killed in Iraq.
Greenwald pointed to this post by John Cole, which Glenn describes as a real man's mea-culpa. He's right:
And I don’t say that to provide people with an easy way to beat up on me, but I do sort of have to face facts. I was wrong about everything. I was wrong about the Doctrine of Pre-emptive warfare. I was wrong about Iraq possessing WMD. I was wrong about Scott Ritter and the inspections. I was wrong about the UN involvement in weapons inspections. I was wrong about the containment sanctions. I was wrong about the broader impact of the war on the Middle East. I was wrong about this making us more safe. I was wrong about the number of troops needed to stabilize Iraq. I was wrong when I stated this administration had a clear plan for the aftermath. I was wrong about securing the ammunition dumps. I was wrong about the ease of bringing democracy to the Middle East. I was wrong about dissolving the Iraqi army. I was wrong about the looting being unimportant. I was wrong that Bush/Cheney were competent. I was wrong that we would be greeted as liberators. I was wrong to make fun of the anti-war protestors. I was wrong not to trust the dirty smelly hippies.Hat-tip to Mr. Cole. Not that his mea culpa is bringing any of the dead back to their families.
Yeah, I know I blogged about this on Wednesday, but somehow I ended up clicking through to Greta's blog and some of her comments got me thinking about the issue again.
Miss Pathologically Positive deviates from her usual course and writes:
Well, maybe y'all expect schools in Mandeville to raise your children, but the trend has swung back the other way, particularly in New Orleans. The pedophile priest scandals of the 1990s pretty much scared parents into not abdicating their parental responsibilities. I expect my son's teachers to teach him, not raise him.
She is correct, though, that there will always be pedophiles, but lumping the two teachers who were banging the sixteen year olds with the janitor who was playing with little boys clouds an already complicated issue. Greta makes it worse when she talks about college coaches:
What is more of a concern to me is the predatory nature of the behavior of the teachers, as well as the coaches Greta mentions. A case where we're talking about a one-on-one teaching situation that goes horizontal, it's all about intent. In the case of the Destrehan High band director, the story in Da Paper makes the guy out to be a predator, and predators have no business in schools. It's not about the sex, it's about the control.
Is the guy wired to be a predator? Now that's a tough one. If there's one thing I strongly believe, it's that we don't give Education majors much guidance as to what they're going to find when they're on their own in a high school classroom. My firstborn is currently a sophomore in Nuclear Engineering at Ga Tech. He's taking a very interesting ethics class that's raising a number of good issues for these kids. Prospective teachers need their ethics sharpened and challenged in the same way. Make it clear to teachers that they're not to treat students in their classes like low-hanging fruit, ripe for the picking. Whether they're 16 or 22, it's wrong to exploit the relationship. When the temptation is put before a teacher, s/he needs to be able to think back to the warnings about how they'll never work in education again if they get caught.
Of course, Greta manages to remove the nuance from the entire issue as she closes:
For openers, as I mentioned earlier, it's not likely that either of the high school teachers will do time if they cop a plea. The janitor is a different story. Certainly none of them will ever work in a school again, if the system's background checking works properly. Greta's characterization of what they deserve should they do prison time is a concern, however. It's time we all acknowledge that this conservative view of incarceration simply does more harm to our society than good.
Miss Pathologically Positive deviates from her usual course and writes:
Are parents too trusting, too busy to care or has this always gone on and now we are just doing something about it? I think the latter. This has been going on forever and now we are taking action against those who prey on minors and children. Many may disagree with me on this one, and that is fine, you are entitled to your opinion. Yes, we expect schools to raise our children these days, but I personally do not believe that is the entirety of the problem. I think there have always and will always be people in positions of power that take advantage of children or those under them, whether children or not. There will also always be pedophiles and that scares the hell out of me.
Well, maybe y'all expect schools in Mandeville to raise your children, but the trend has swung back the other way, particularly in New Orleans. The pedophile priest scandals of the 1990s pretty much scared parents into not abdicating their parental responsibilities. I expect my son's teachers to teach him, not raise him.
She is correct, though, that there will always be pedophiles, but lumping the two teachers who were banging the sixteen year olds with the janitor who was playing with little boys clouds an already complicated issue. Greta makes it worse when she talks about college coaches:
When I was an athletic trainer for college students, I recall several cases of coaches having relations with players. The coach suddenly "left" their position and everything was brushed under the table (not going tabloidish on you here & will not give specifics). Even though these were 18-22 year olds, it still happened and it was WRONG!!!It's difficult for me to consider the teachers having sex with sixteen year old girls as pedophiles, and certainly the coaches who are having sex with adults are not pedos. The age of consent is 17 in Louisiana, so doing a 16-year old is considerably different than the adult male trolling the mall for 12-year olds. What is so hard to determine here is the level of consent involved. While there are some who will argue that no minor can consent to sex with an adult, 16-year old girls are considered consenting adults in the UK and many other countries in Europe. The two high school teachers are going to get probation if they plead out.
What is more of a concern to me is the predatory nature of the behavior of the teachers, as well as the coaches Greta mentions. A case where we're talking about a one-on-one teaching situation that goes horizontal, it's all about intent. In the case of the Destrehan High band director, the story in Da Paper makes the guy out to be a predator, and predators have no business in schools. It's not about the sex, it's about the control.
Is the guy wired to be a predator? Now that's a tough one. If there's one thing I strongly believe, it's that we don't give Education majors much guidance as to what they're going to find when they're on their own in a high school classroom. My firstborn is currently a sophomore in Nuclear Engineering at Ga Tech. He's taking a very interesting ethics class that's raising a number of good issues for these kids. Prospective teachers need their ethics sharpened and challenged in the same way. Make it clear to teachers that they're not to treat students in their classes like low-hanging fruit, ripe for the picking. Whether they're 16 or 22, it's wrong to exploit the relationship. When the temptation is put before a teacher, s/he needs to be able to think back to the warnings about how they'll never work in education again if they get caught.
Of course, Greta manages to remove the nuance from the entire issue as she closes:
As for what should happen to these 3 sick individuals - I hope they get sent to the general prison population with a sign that says "I molested underage children." Unfortunately, that won't happen and we can all only hope that our justice system keeps them off the streets forever!
For openers, as I mentioned earlier, it's not likely that either of the high school teachers will do time if they cop a plea. The janitor is a different story. Certainly none of them will ever work in a school again, if the system's background checking works properly. Greta's characterization of what they deserve should they do prison time is a concern, however. It's time we all acknowledge that this conservative view of incarceration simply does more harm to our society than good.
is that a conservative would never screw big businesses like airlines so blatantly:
It's been a difficult time for the airline industry. The soaring price of jet fuel forced United to announce flight cutbacks. Delta also eliminated flights and plans to slash 2,000 jobs. Other carriers increased ticket prices, and that still won't be enough to offset what's expected to be another year of multibillion-dollar losses for the industry.Then there's FedEx, which is both an airline and a trucking company. Talk about a double-whammy:
FedEx saw its profits dip last quarter. The overnight shipping company warns that the year ahead may be more of the same as it feels the pinch of an economic slowdown and high gasoline prices.No doubt FedEx, are also huge GOP donors as well. If the airline PACs have any sense, they would concede that Democrats will regulate them and scrutinize them more than the Republicans will ever do, but still donate the cash to get the oil bandits out of office.
Thank you, Republicans for that. First Harry Lee was blowing up frozen gumbo in the bathrooms of MSY, now Fort Wayne, IN is hosing down turnips:
Terror came to Fort Wayne, Indiana, late last week as a suspicious package arrived at the offices of a local law firm in a move that seemed to presage a deadly bomb outrage slaughter campaign. After a tense operation by robot and human bomb-disposal operatives, however, it was discovered that the infernal device was in fact - in the judgement of the local bomb squad - a potentially exploding turnip. ... According to remarks by Fort Wayne police spokesman Michael Joyner, as reported by Slutsky, the bomb technicians - having had a look at the X-ray - "were certain the package did not contain an [ordinary] explosive device". Nonetheless, they "opted to err on the side of caution and decided to try to detonate [the turnip] with a water cannon".Of course, the Anthrax terrorists and anti-abortion terrorists who sent white-powder envelopes to abortion clinics in 2001-2002 are still at large while we blow up vegetables.
Jon Kyl is right, there's really no point in debating the decision to go to war. if he could defend that decision, he wouldn't be trying to ignore it. The point for debate in the fall is whether or not Republicans should continue to fuck things up in Iraq.
I didn't think it would be possible for a McCain administration to do worse than the disrespectful piece of shit who currently lives in the white house, but now I believe it truly could be worse:
This scares me almost as much as the notion of the hundred-year war.
Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina may be warming up that vice president seat.The Republican National Committee has tapped Fiorina as its Victory Chairman. In this role, Fiorina will travel about the country, celebrating the glories of Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Fiorina has worked for other Republican big-whigs including president George Bush and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
This scares me almost as much as the notion of the hundred-year war.
OK, so some asshat Kaintock wants to ban anonymous speech on the Internet:
That's the difference between a dumbass Kaintock politician and a seemingly-dumbass Louisiana one. This guy freely admits that his bill has no hope of becoming law. Louisiana wingnuts are willing to stand up and pass the most outrageous "Creation Science" legislation they could come up with. The Louisiana legislature never met a restrictive abortion bill they didn't like. Did they say they had no faith in those bills? Of course not, because it's not about the bill, it's about the court challenge. It costs a lot of money to defend the stupidity of the legislature all the way to the Supremes. That means the state puts a lot of money into the pockets of the law firm hired to follow the challenge (the AG's office being too understaffed for this stupidity). If you don't take your stupid legislation seriously, you can't kick the case to your friends in the legal community.
This is also why Louisiana's legislature has limited sessions, because we'd be well and truly screwed if they pulled these stunts year-round.
Kentuckians couldn't post anonymous comments to Web sites anymore under House Bill 775, filed Tuesday by Rep. Tim Couch, R-Hyden.Let's put aside the fat that, if this were to pass the KY legislature and withstand the court challenges, Haywood Jablowme and Mike Hunt would be the most prolific Kaintock commenters on the web. Let's also put aside the fact that high school kids (this guy's primary targets) can be mean and vicious. This sort of legislation is just stupid, and even the author concedes it:
Couch's bill would require anyone who contributes to a Web site to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that Web site. Their full name then would be used whenever they posted a comment.
Couch on Wednesday readily acknowledged that his bill raises First Amendment issues regarding free speech, so he won't be pushing it. But he wanted to call attention to the phenomenon of unkind and often untrue comments about people being posted online by Kentuckians hiding behind the cloak of anonymity.
That's the difference between a dumbass Kaintock politician and a seemingly-dumbass Louisiana one. This guy freely admits that his bill has no hope of becoming law. Louisiana wingnuts are willing to stand up and pass the most outrageous "Creation Science" legislation they could come up with. The Louisiana legislature never met a restrictive abortion bill they didn't like. Did they say they had no faith in those bills? Of course not, because it's not about the bill, it's about the court challenge. It costs a lot of money to defend the stupidity of the legislature all the way to the Supremes. That means the state puts a lot of money into the pockets of the law firm hired to follow the challenge (the AG's office being too understaffed for this stupidity). If you don't take your stupid legislation seriously, you can't kick the case to your friends in the legal community.
This is also why Louisiana's legislature has limited sessions, because we'd be well and truly screwed if they pulled these stunts year-round.
My amusement for the morning is currently coming from an article geared to Mormons entitled, "Overcoming Masturbation." The author gives a number of suggestions on how this particular sin can be overcome, but this one is great:
Of course, this means I don't have to give up blogging and LiveJournal, because nobody who participate in those activities masturbates. (snort)
3. If you are associated with other persons having this same problem, YOU MUST BREAK OFF THEIR FRIENDSHIP. Never associate with other people having the same weakness. Don't suppose that two of you will quit together, you never will. You must get away from people of that kind. Just to be in their presence will keep your problem foremost in your mind. The problem must be taken OUT OF YOUR MIND for that is where it really exists. Your mind must be on other and more wholesome things.
Of course, this means I don't have to give up blogging and LiveJournal, because nobody who participate in those activities masturbates. (snort)
