IntenseDebate - materialist

12 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Evict Obama's Mother-i... · 0 replies · +10 points

(B) It is.

12 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - What Rush Hath Wrought · 0 replies · +11 points

I sincerely doubt that you have ever listened to a Limbaugh broadcast. Skewering Sacred Cows with wit and humor is not hate. It is a public service of some considerable merit, even when the Sacred Cows are culled from your own herd. Leftists like to call it "speaking truth to power."

The only "hate speech" in a Limbaugh broadcast is the set of simple truths you hate to hear.

12 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Don’t Feed Conspirac... · 0 replies · +3 points

I have to agree with MM - it is wise and proper to look with an open mind on both the Hastings investigation (which has hardly started) and the possible re-opening of the TWA 800 investigation. Initial interpretations of accidents are often wrong and those of us who've had to review NTSB reports know how often even the "complete and final" reports on aircraft accidents are seriously in error. Nor does one have to assume a conspiracy to explain an erroneous analysis, if that was the case in TWA 800. Most of the errors I have seen in NTSB reports are attributable to a simple rush to the most convenient answer in the shortest time, and there was certainly intense pressure to produce an innocuous technical explanation for that crash.

Without claiming a detailed technical analysis, the arguments being advanced on TWA 800 strike me as unlikely, but, contrary to Mr. Tobin, are not pseudo-science. Let them make their case.

12 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Rubio, Ryan and the Ex... · 0 replies · +4 points

Sony,

Good analysis. Why is it lost on so many who profess conservative beliefs? It is hard not to conclude that they have other, overriding issues. I would appreciate and investigative journalist who would address this question.

12 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The Reckless Rhetoric ... · 0 replies · +1 points

If you know what you are talking about, and your comment doesn't scare the hell out of you, you've got to be on the inside, looking out.

Take comfort, jeburke. As some of us learned many years ago, a totalitarian government can be most remarkably nice to you when they want to be.

12 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The Reckless Rhetoric ... · 0 replies · +1 points

I confess soe doubt about your voting record (unless, of course, you went for Nader or the Workers), but you do raise a very good point. There was a time when those leftist organizations you cite did profess to be devotees of civil liberties. Boy! Haven't things changed since Obama is the bad guy! Crickets!

12 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The Reckless Rhetoric ... · 2 replies · +2 points

For 226 years we have enjoyed "unparalleled freedom," partly because we are indeed blessed, but more specifically because we have been protected by a constitution and bill of rights that, until recently, sharply limited the powers of the government to intrude into our lives.

As an apparent "friend of Obama" you will, no doubt, continue to enjoy such freedom. I, on the other hand, am a critic of the Obama administration and am a known contributor to his political opponents. As the recent revelations of congressional investigations have documented, I face the very real possibility of targeted audits by Obama's IRS, inquiries into my friendships and associations, and unauthorized searches of my phone records and computers (recall the experience of Sheryl Attkisson, for example) . If I "seem like a paranoid" it is because there are well documented reasons why I should be.

I think there is still time to stop this. But how much time?

12 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The Reckless Rhetoric ... · 4 replies · +1 points

The time to be concerned, to be vigilant, is before such calls start coming. Afterwards is a little late.

12 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The Reckless Rhetoric ... · 0 replies · +4 points

I am reminded of that short line from the classic "A Man for All Seasons", used by Norfolk to, privately, reassure Thomas More, and by Cromwell to, pointedly, threaten him: "This isn't Spain, Thomas, this is England."

This isn't the Soviet Union, Moderate Guy, this is America, The land of the free. Surely you feel safe now.

12 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The Reckless Rhetoric ... · 9 replies · +3 points

Put me down as a member of "the audience that likes the music." It has the ring of truth about it. And freedom, too.

I spent a fair amount of time in the old Soviet Union, as a honored and privileged guest. But the constant surveillance and implied threat was always there.

Sometimes it was even convenient - I recall oversleeping and being waked up by a phone call from no one, just in time to make my appointment with the Soviets. But given the choice, I would prefer the embarrassment of having overslept. And when the all-seeing eye was finally shaded, my Soviet friends cheered the very same prospect.

I'll make the same choice here.

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