Sort of Politics Related.
 

I had this really fucking weird dream last night.

I'm standing in this giant Union Hall where Congressman Kucinich is giving a speech about waste in Government. He starts talking about all the money that is misspent. I'm standing in the back of the room listening, and, all of the sudden, he points at me, starts shouting, and mentions me by name as an example of how the Government wastes money.

All these heads turn around and look at me, and I'm just standing there dumbfounded, not saying a word, and everybody in the room starts booing me and throwing stuff.

Kucinich finishes his speech, to raucous applause, and I make my way quietly out a side door. He walks out another door along the same side of the building, and I yell out to him, "hold it right there, you little fucker!"

He sees me, and takes off running in the other direction. I walk over to this cop from the mounted police unit, who is standing near his horse, and very calmly ask the cop if I can borrow it. The cop hands me the reins, and I get on the horse and go tearing off after Kucinich, who takes off into the woods.

I follow him through the woods, and can hear him stumbling and running ahead of me. I catch up with him outside this mall, and get him cornered in this small area, and I start circling the horse around him. He's all muddy and scratched up from running through the woods. I get off the horse, grab him by the lapels, and slam him up against the wall, so that he smacks his head hard against it. He opens his mouth to say something, and I backhand him hard across the face.

I start yelling at him and telling him that I ever catch him using my name in a speech again, I will kick his ignorant ass.

I wake myself up muttering a stream of profanity.

I have no idea what any of this means. . .

Time to move, Penske.
 

The Bush Administration is making you and your neighbors safe in from harm in the mold of Michael Brown.

From a TNR piece (reg requ'd) examining various Bush appointees:

John Pennington
Director, Region Ten, Federal Emergency Management Agency

http://www.tnr.com/graphics2004.1/20...pennington.jpg

• The Pacific Northwest is a catastrophe-prone area-- from tsunamis and volcanic eruptions in Washington and Oregon to wildfires in Idaho and oil pipeline ruptures in Alaska. That's why former Washington Representative Jennifer Dunn knew that fema needed "a natural" to head its disaster response efforts in the region. And that's exactly what Dunn said she found in 38-year-old John Pennington. Pennington would have to be a natural, given his utter lack of disaster-relief experience. A former state representative who ran a coffee business with his wife in rural Washington, Pennington served as Cowlitz County co-chairman of the Bush campaign in 2000. Dunn, who had been the Bush campaign's state chairperson, approached Pennington about the fema post, to which he was appointed in 2001. Alas, in the wake of former fema Director Michael Brown's resignation, Pennington's disaster of a resumé has come under increasing scrutiny. Last month, The Seattle Times reported that, just before he was appointed to his fema post, Pennington received his bachelor's degree from an unaccredited California correspondence school that federal investigators later described as a "diploma mill." Pennington's defenders have responded to questions about his qualifications by arguing that he has surrounded himself with competent staff.

Sort of Politics Related.
 

Sounds really real. Realistic. did you wake up in a puddle?

Sort of Politics Related.
 

Yeah. I told your wife to use a towel, but the bitch didn't listen.

Time to move, Penske.
 

A leader leads, directs and delegates. A good CEO is not a micromanager. The dimwits don't get this, which is why there CEO candidates rarely make it the White House.

I am, in fact, acquainted with Mr. Pennington and I would say he is highly qualified. I will however pass along your defamatory for him to respond to appropriately, as he may.

Sort of Politics Related.
 

That softball was a Columbus Day gift to you. No need to gratzie moi. Prego.

Time to move, Penske.
 

How so? It seems the ST has made a prima facie case he is not qualified, based on the diploma mill certificate, lack of government experience, his coffee slinging background, and the fact that his defenders argue not that he is in fact qualified, but that he hires people who could potentially cover his ass. Not to mention the numerous examples that have come to light recently of Bush administration cronyism and in light of the Harriet Miers' nomination.

Oh, and can we see the resumes of his competent staff too?

Differing Concepts of Justice and Freedom
 

On the same theory that you use with Hitler, how can you say that Stalin truly believed that the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few?

He murdered millions upon millions, as you note, deported and enslaved millions more, all in the service of consolidating and preserving the power which flowed to: (A) himself; and (B) a relatively tiny elite within the Communist Party (which itself was a minority in the Soviet Union).

Those are not the actions of a man who believes that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Those are the actions of a man who believes that individuals, their lives, self-determination, etc. have no value -- which may be what you were getting at -- but it is not the same thing.

"The State" does not equal "the many" -- especially in the old Soviet Union -- as I'd think a small government conservative should appreciate.

S_A_M

Differing Concepts of Justice and Freedom
 

Exactly my point.

S_A_M

A Question of Divine Inspiration
 

No. I suppose not.

Also, I said nothing about moral relativism, so put that stalking horse in the barn.

I am claiming that "liv[ing] up to a certain standard of babjesian morality" as you put it involves being "Christ-like" in one's everyday life, philosophy, and dealings with one's fellow humans.

In my view, that seems to imply much more tolerance, openess, understanding, and love for one's fellow man (of all stripes) than the folks at (say) the Southern Baptist Convention or the politically-active religious right seem able to muster. (ATISWWT)

I think they hit the Old Testement way too hard.

S_A_M

Differing Concepts of Justice and Freedom
 

Apparently, you right-wingers spend much more time with MoveOn and the DU than us "Liberals" do.

God Bless You.

S_A_M

Differing Concepts of Justice and Freedom
 

I'm not sure that the statement was very Christlike, Penske.

S_A_M

Sort of Politics Related.
 

Dude, the Indians choked when it counted. Get over it.

aV

Differing Concepts of Justice and Freedom
 

Disagree. I think he was a True Believer, and the two theses you list are compatible, if you substitute "less value than the preservation of, and service to, humanity" for "no value."

Differing Concepts of Justice and Freedom
 

Perhaps so -- no way to know.

I've always thought of Stalin as an opportunist as opposed to being particularly principled.

I suppose they are compatible as amended.

S_A_M