lost highway

I have yet to see a single B-Side from Wilco that would have improved an album, or fit well into the sequence. I find Tweedy has earned my trust while sequencing albums. I do enjoy some of their B-Sides quite a bit, but Glad It's Over is forgettable. I'm more of a High Heat, Panthers, Cars Can't Escape, Kicking TV fan.

Holy crap. Watch the middle segment where they go to Wasilla to check out Palin's home town. He interviews the mayor to see how the position trains VP's. Hilarious! http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/...pisodeId=188632

Oh, absolutely. In that sense it is not realized. What I was referring to is the meager efforts on the Bush administrations part to start using civilian experts and advisers to deal with the communities the army was encountering. Psychologists, cultural anthropologists. I read an interesting article about it in the Sept issue of Harper's. This has been the biggest I told you so in foreign policy I've ever laid claim to. The minute the Iraqi government fell and civilian resistance became apparent I said "They're gonna need anthropologists to sort this out, not just M16's." Unfortunate

This is the same reason the 'win' rhetoric in Iraq is as hollow as a balloon. Winning is a strange concept when your goals are so abstract. You don't 'win' when your goal is to stabilize a country and its people. That's not a football game. They won at killing some people, defeating Sadam and crushing an organized military. But we can't 'win' at an applied anthropology project. We just have to decide what is the most effective and ethical course of action. It's just such a shame that the Bush administration only realized a year and a half ago you don't understand the motivations of a f

It is amazing to me; so many people have been swayed by this one issue and their candidate has been helpless to deliver the goods (thankfully in my eyes). It's incredible to me the lengths people will go to, to protest abortion itself, without ever lifting a finger to support programs/education that could stop the need for abortion. The religious-conservative family planning model has been a historic force in increasing poverty. At least most Catholics now have made themselves comfortable with birth control.

I'm sure my agenda is completely obscured by my non-partisan fair and accurate reporting.

Shh, don't say that yet. Too soon. No jinx allowed. I'll give you a interweb high five when it's for real.

Are most of these people willfully ignorant, or are they naive and being manipulated?

From Fivethiryeight.com: "So a canvasser goes to a woman's door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she's planning to vote for. She isn't sure, has to ask her husband who she's voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, "We're votin' for the n***er!" Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: "We're voting for the n***er." "

That is clean and cutting analysis. About every second or third page someone else ups the critical thinking anti. These forums have been great.

If everyone would have followed Hillary's work in the 90's and been had a little more backbone on standing up to lobbyists we wouldn't have the wreck of a health care system we have right now. Clinton did more to try to fix health care than anyone yet, and unfortunately this country was a little too backwards to get on board at that point.

I think either way there is a chance for a Clinton presidency in '12. Not a strong or certain one, but within the realm of possibility. I think McCain's Presidential ambitions have about 19 days left of steam in them. Will see where he lands. Either way he's not my pick for fixing our deficit when his campaign now has a deficit. Maybe he should ask China for a loan to run more ad's about Ayers.

One thing I noticed during the debate is how the two responded to negative information in different ways. When McCain would present info that was supposed to discredit O's character Obama would use response time to explain, point by point how McCain's attack was false. On the other hand, when Obama brought something negative to the table about McCain's policies or voting record he would make a funny face and change the subject to something else negative about Obama. When the moderator asked them about their VP candidates I almost lost it. Comparing Biden to Palin is a pretty funny conver

There was a good potential avatar animation for the technically inclined. Towards the end when they started a snippy and somewhat unclear exchange about vouchers and the D.C. school district McCain lost it a little and rolled his head back and started laughing with Skeletor Teeth. Very scary, spooky, Halloweeny.

Let me lay out what McCain has shown us he wishes to do. I can very much see the fiscally conservative having a wise stance on government, but this is not it: Continue Bush Tax cuts and aggressive military presence abroad (i.e. the origin of our historic deficit). Bail out Wall Street. Extend individual bailouts for mortgages that will cost another fortune. Pursue a military campaign in Iran. Retain tax breaks for mega-corps. Hand out vouchers for health care. Tax your employer provided benefits. If that is fiscally conservative or effective than I'm utterly confused.

You don't remember McCain's new hit single "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" (sung to the tune of a beach boys hit). McCain is a hawk. Most that praise him acknowledge that.

I am trying to find the line in your argument. Do you suggest that a tax hike for the top 5% is too high, or that it is too little to do anything? Because if the top 5% of the public would really each be contributing an additional $40K to the state I can imagine that would create quite a total. Do you oppose the tax cuts which you might receive? Do you believe that McCain's continuation of cuts across the board will be able to get us out of a defecit, especially considering his military ambitions? Do you oppose closing tax loops for fortune 500 mega-corps? A lot of questions, but

It's like watching a comedy film. Only it's not a film. And then it's funny mixed with sad. An ashamed of a significant percentage of my country's judgement kind of sad. That's how Mrs. Palin makes me feel.

I find statements regarding McCain's predictability to be erroneous. I was somewhat taken with him as a mediocre/decent republican candidate (I was pro Obama before he started running). Seemed novel to have a moderate republican who is fiscally conservative, but not a nut-job wacko on social issues. (I thought that's what republicans were supposed to be anyways) Since he took the national stage as a runner McCain has changed his face many times. He used to steer clear of abortion issues, now he's nominated an extreme pro-Lifer. He was anti-regulation, now it's his favorite song. I don'

Funny but you bring up the crux of socioeconomic class. Skills are not universally and equally attainable, hence the need for social programs.

But I didn't say that it will be determined by luck. I said the connection doesn't hold up. Most people work pretty hard. If you think you work way harder than people making a lot less than you, you're being unrealistic. Try pouring concrete, teaching in an inner city school, running a small (and not necessarily successful) business, try picking oranges. Some people can't go to medical school, it's not an option for them. That said, to be in medical school you're obviously working your ass off.

I am always amused (maybe pretentiously so) that as someone who wouldn't claim to be a Christian, I can shut down a fundamentalist with simple bible study. If your going to use the bible to make big desicions and judgments you should study the book a little bit more.

So much has happened on this thread geez.... 1. The Book of Revelations is taken as slightly looney by many Christian scholars. It refers most clearly to a certain Roman emperor. Was written more than a millenium before Colombus touched new world soil. 2. I think the pool of undecided voters is getting smaller by the day and the polls are becoming a more accurate picture of national opinion. 3. Anyone who thinks Palin is ready to serve this country in the second highest position of office is the kind of voter I'm worried about. 4. There is no clear connection between income and m

Yeah that's the other thing about this argument, it has set up many straw men on both sides. The Red Teams Straw Man: Increased taxation for the rich is to punish them for their success and make them pay for everyone else. The Blue Teams Straw Man: Rich people are spoiled bastards who don't work hard, and haven't really worked hard to attain their position. The real issue is closing loop holes on taxes for upper income individuals, and much more importantly fortune 500 companies could fund a number of essential reforms in this country. This has nothing to do with your grandma's pens

I'm willing to admit that some big earners are workaholics. But are you willing to admit that many people who earn six figures a year have been pampered, have had every privilege thrown at them and work a desk job that only requires a small fraction of a normal work day to achieve expected productivity?