Well, I will say this about Obama.
At least we all knew (although many perhaps did not appreciate) what he intended to do with our domestic policy.  We knew he'd raise taxes, increase spending and push a more liberal agenda.  The financial crisis was just icing on his socialist cake by giving him an excuse to push the federal govenrment even further into the private sector!

But now we are going to get a few things we did not expect.
Some great foreign policy blunders.
For instance, telling North Korea, perhaps the most unstable nuclear regime in the world, that if it launched a sattelite, we might use our missle shield interceptors to take it out.  Nice!  Now North Korea is warning it may counterstrike.  Granted, they are often full of bluster -- but by laying down the gauntlet, the Adminsitration has set itself up to look weak if North Korea does launch and we don't respond.  

And my sources deep, DEEP inside US intel tell me that Netanyahu's first order of bidness will be to light up Iran in Mid-April.  So Obama will have that dance too.

Should be quite the time.
Good time to hide that Porkzilla budget that the Adminsitration is intending to pass.
We'll only spend it if we have it, that's what the Teleprompter said...

glencar is up by 2 and he hasn't had a good one liner in days.

nankerphelge wrote on Mar 9^th, 2009 at 6:52am:



All of these socialist comments are crazy. Do you really believe this crap. First he was a muslum, have we already forgotten?
We all know what this is really about . . .

Hot off the heels of her official trip to China, the Administration has to send a complaint to the Chinese ambassador today, formally objecting to the Chinese Navy's harassment of an unarmed US Navy ship in international waters.  Not surprising -- she is inept.  One of my sources deep, DEEP in the State Department tells me that unlike Condi, Hillary is all show and no go - is more interested in the photo ops than policy or diplomacy. 

Okay, quick fact check.
North Korea is threatening war because we said we would shoot down their missle.
Hillary has realized that Iran is not interested in diplomacy.
She misspelled the Russian word "reset"
She stated to the leaders of the EU that she never fully understood multiparty democracy and the US has been at it longer than Europe.
Now we have a formal protest with China not 2 weeks after her visit.

Oh no you didn't Nanky. You did NOT diss the ONLY member of this Administration who clearly knows what she is doing!!!

Clinton’s European debut is full of smiles

By Robert Burns, Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey — In her debut on the European stage, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton soaked up praise, prodded NATO toward repairing relations with Moscow and laughed off a staff gaffe that may have left the Russians snickering.

She arrived in the Turkish capital in the wee hours of Saturday after a workday she began by answering questions from young Europeans in Brussels, followed by a high-drama, modest-results meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva. Turkey is a fitting finish to Clinton’s week-long trip, her second abroad since taking office in January, because it highlights the Obama administration’s ambition to take advantage of a good moment with an important ally who felt betrayed at times by the Bush administration.

Turkey, like her Brussels and Geneva stops, is a chance for Clinton to help President Barack Obama get off to a positive beginning with a partner country. Turkey’s influence is key to resolving several pressing U.S. problems: moving the U.S. military out of Iraq, blocking Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and turning around the war in Afghanistan. The Turks also are poised to help in Obama’s efforts to win a comprehensive Middle East peace

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LJ.

Saint Sway wrote on Mar 9^th, 2009 at 12:08pm:


come now, you two! certainly embryos that are about to be destroyed and could save someone's life have rights too.

Personally, I really don't have a horse in this race on stem cell research.
My mom died of Alzheimer's and my dad is close to death from Parkinson's.
Obviously, I would love to see cures for these dreadful diseases.

At the same time, though, I can appreciate the arguments against stem cell research.
While Bucky has framed the issue as one of two embryos that are about to be destroyed anyway (which is a pro-life issue in and of itself), the bigger argument is what about companies (you know, corporations that the left hates anyway) that begin to grow embryos for just stem cell research.  Intellectual honesty tells us that if there is a demand, there will be a supply and how do we feel as humans if we are creating lives, only to destroy them in the name of saving others? 

What about the implications of cloning?
The idea that you can make carbon copies of yourself for organ harvesting is a bit freakish.

So while I can see the obvious benefits of stem cell research, I am not blind to the arguments against it.  And I would not dismiss them as casually as some here would.

"Personally, I really don't have a horse in this race on stem cell research.
My mom died of Alzheimer's and my dad is close to death from Parkinson's.
Obviously, I would love to see cures for these dreadful diseases."

Seems like an oxymoron, my friend.
It is for PRECISELY the reasons you state re your Parents that I would think you most certainly WOULD have a horse in this race.

If science can prevent another child from enduring the suffering you have, I'm all for it.

And the arguments against it are not something I would ever take lightly, but you already know that.

LJ.

I can agree with that point of view Nanky.
Hey..a civil discussion on the political thread?????


Who knew???????????????????? 

LJ

Starbuck wrote on Mar 9^th, 2009 at 12:21pm:

Of course it's better to destroy those embryos rather than employ them to save lives.  Better dead than med!

nankerphelge wrote on Mar 9^th, 2009 at 1:43pm:

You could say the same thing about anything from rocks to rockets.  It's not a cogent argument against scientific research; it's merely an appeal to fear.

nanks, i actually agree with you on this. the cons to stem cell research...monkeying around with genomical amnioticly enhanced prebabies and the like.... really are kind of freaky. since i have had kids - and, more accurrately, the manner in which i had them - has turned me to the pro life camp in recent years. and creating life to destroy it leads us down a slippery slope that makes me feel all squeamish and unkempt inside, like what happens when you haven't brushed your teeth in a week, or when you read one of TTM's posts.

however, knowing that the prebabies can possibly save michael j fox...i'll side with a healthy "family ties" reunion special in 2025.

alzheimer's is strong in my family. i've seen what it can do, and knowing that we could do something about it, despite the fact that it destroys budding life, is going to win out every time in my book.

"You could say the same thing about anything from rocks to rockets.  It's not a cogent argument against scientific research; it's merely an appeal to fear. "

That is true.
Believe me, I am a scientist, an engineer and a patent attorney -- I know a bit about technology, its uses and abuses.

This particular technology is more akin to nuclear power.
The positive side of nuclear power being nearly limitless and clean power -- a very good thing, even for you libs (putting aside, of course, that the by-products are radioactve for generations and no one knows how to store the crap safely, but I digress).

Yet the dark side of nuclear weapons has cast a shadow over this planet for 70 years now, and will likely get far worse as rouge nations join the club.  I am sure there are plenty of people out there that wish THAT genie had never been let out of the bottle.

Your dismissal of my argument as "not cogent" and "fear" is more of the same liberal "damn-the-torpedos" thinking without the intellectual honesty that an issue of this magnitude deserves.
Fear is the point -- people need to fear the bad side because it is scary!
And if you go into it with your eyes half shut, who do you blame down the road?!
Bush probably!