This is NY, if you are still breathing when you hit the water the complimentary cement shoes take care of the rest.

Posted at June 11, 2008 2:24 PM in response to Today's Must Read

I used to cross that bridge all the time, right down the river from an army base and a nuclear power plant.

Conclusion, the man is obviously a terr'ist.

Posted at June 11, 2008 11:33 AM in response to Today's Must Read

NJ isn't that simple, we're quickly going broke and people are dieing under the property tax rates. There is a lot of frustration with the status quo and Frank for all his good work is a text book definition of the status quo.

We hate the system, at this point no one really trusts either party. The blue trend of recent years has been an anti-Bush/winger move more than anything else. It's not like the majority of the state has any attachment to the Democratic party.

Posted at June 11, 2008 10:18 AM in response to Poll: Dem Senator Thought Vulnerable Might Be Safe After All

If I left a church every time I disagreed with the Pastor I would have church hopping since age 6. I really don't see the problem here. I can't be the only one who rolls his eyes as the pastor goes off on one of those "the world today is evil b/c of X" tangents and waits for them to get back on track.

Posted at March 18, 2008 3:10 PM in response to Hillary: I'm Glad Obama Gave That Speech

Perfectly written, but then again I guess that's your job.

As a loyal reader of the WSJ for years, I just skip over the sociopathic editorials and feast on the actual news in the paper. Most other papers are just AP feeds with varying ad content. And they wonder why they die.

Murdoch will corrupt the Journal, no doubt, and the day I even begin to suspect I'll cancel. But it won't matter, he supposedly loses money hand over fist at the post and he keeps that going just as a personal mouth piece.

Posted at August 3, 2007 10:11 AM in response to Murdoch’s Apologists on Parade

It comes down to the fact that there is no way to stop this crap. Some people just like to inflict fear on others. The anonymity of the net makes it impossible to retaliate through the normal shaming/legal action you'd receive in real world society.

I don't agree with the off hand way Kos dismisses it, but voluntary oaths etc really are useless against it. Unless some kind of clipper chip system tagged each and every person (and yeah you can trace most people, but not those who want to be anonymous and know what they're doing) there is really no way to get rid of it.

A certain percentage of people only participate in civil society b/c they're forced to by the force of societal norms and the threat of state retribution. The net removes all that.

Posted at April 12, 2007 3:45 PM in response to Misogyny in our midst

What radical policy initiatives do you really think the netroots actually have at heart? This isn't the 1970's, no one is trying to rebuild the great society. The main problem with the DLC is their association the popular mind with selling out in the face of antithetical threats to the core values of the party.

The progressive wing of the part really sees no need to compromise at this point because it is ascendant, it would be stupid not to push its principles and platforms as far as possible before the inevitable push back. The DLC is simply a spent force for now. They can't win nationally and they have proven quite adept at losing high profile races.

This doesn't mean netroots are McGovernites, hell alot of them were born after or were at least too young to really be cognizant of politics when McGovern was around. We're not ashamed of Jane Fonda or Vietnam. We're not afraid of looking like big tax and spenders, fuck does anyone really remember what that was like anymore? What the netroots is is unabashedly partisan, and yes moderately blood thirsty. They were raised in a country where we were taught most of the post 9/11 insanity wasn't possible here, not anymore. As such there is a strong underlying fear that if we don't strike back fast and hard, if we don't raise hell and charge the ramparts while Bush's outrages are still relatively fresh, they'll ossify into precedent, and then we'll have to explain to our children how the fuck we let this happen.

As the grand high conspiritor Kos said, the movement is remarkably utilitarian, they've supported a lot of conservative Dems in conservative Districts. You'll never hear either Senator Nelson bashed, they do the best they can while serving their constituents. Likewise they backed Herseth and Chandler when they're not exactly Howard Dean clones. A big tent is fine, but when Democrats have a chance to freely act and fight for Democratic principles they're expected to, not muddle around trying to find common ground with a the most caustic oppositional party in at least the last century.

Posted at April 5, 2007 12:56 PM in response to Common Ground Found

Pointing out the Nader connection is pretty ballsy. Written another way "we worked closely with the guy who soon after left the party in complete disgust over its lack of true progressive credentials."

So whatever you contributed to Ralph bolting the roost and giving Bush the presidency, thanks for that.

Perhaps an unfair statement, but jesus you literally put it on a tee and handed me a big burtha.

For the rest of your response, the majority of the policy positions of the DLC are not the problem. No serious writer can accuse the DLC of being actual Republicans, the charge is more that you're quislings. For the last 13 years the GOP has been charging at windmills and failing, but in the process they've moved the debate so far to the right that I barely know this country at times.

Time and time again we saw the DLC plead for reason and comity in the face of a voracious Hobbesian conservative horde. Time and time again we got our asses kicked. Bill Clinton served as a firewall for as long as he could, but once the ringer was gone what the hell did the DLC give us? Rearguard action, retreat, and endless "compromise" that steadily eroded the modern welfare state and, worse yet, our freedoms.

I think the DLC is too enamored with the clearly flawed prospect of post Doha unfettered free trade. But that's not its real problem. It was the last significant power bloc in charge before Bush, it got steam rolled, and alot of people hate it and will distrust it as long as they live because of that. The DLC has become to much of the left what "Liberals" have become to the right.

You brand is broken, honestly you'd do better disbanding and re establishing some fresh new organization in a couple years under a new banner.

You're right one exchange isn't going fix the problem, I don't think any amount will. The DLC is simply associated with cowardice, failure, and timidity.

Not to mention the whole silliness trying to kneecap dean after he was party chair. I'm not a Deaniac by far, but jesus talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Thanks for the measured response though, it takes alot of courage to keep writing, or perhaps ghost writing (heh) in the face of so much rage.

Posted at April 5, 2007 12:06 PM in response to Common Ground Found

Well yeah, I didn't really expect them to. I doubt most politicians who post to Dkos write those either. That's what you pay ghost writers for.

Posted at April 5, 2007 11:44 AM in response to Common Ground Found

would you willingly walk into a lynch mob? it's a no win proposition. though if he were going to do this they should at least have a couple PR flaks register so that they can put out their side of things.

Posted at April 4, 2007 11:01 AM in response to In Search of Common Ground