Eccentric Flower talk:200911/From The Phoenix

ProfRobert:

You know, of course, that the Emancipation Proclamation didn't free all slaves, only the ones in states that were "in rebellion." So slaves in Maryland and Delaware, for example, were not liberated until the 13th Amendment. There's more of an analogy here than I think the cartoonist realized.

-- 20:39, 13 November 2009 (GMT)

Bunny42:

Obviously, I think Stark is spot on. (I would, wouldn't I.)

Back a hundred years ago, (it seems like,) I attended a Boca City Council meeting, at which newly-elected council members were being assigned duties and areas of responsibility. One woman, for whom I had not voted, was asked to be the liaison between the Council and the Palm Beach County Board of Commissioners. She declined, declined, mind you, saying she was new and didn't have enough experience for the job. I was so steamed, I went home and wrote her a letter, pointing out that if she weren't qualified for her job, then she should not have run for election in the first place. Sure, there's a certain amount of on-the-job training, but nowhere does it state that the job of city councilperson includes a training period. It was now her job, she should get on with it.

I must not have been the only one she heard from, because she subsequently accepted the position.

Where's all this going? Well, I'm getting a feeling that people are saying wait, give him time, he's new, yada yada. No. That's why he's supposed to have advisors and experts. For example, he's got McCrystal on the ground in Afghanistan, and he's not listening to him. You don't get elected with a year's-worth of apprenticeship. Cut him some slack? How much slack did JFK get? He got dumped right into the Cuban Missile Crisis. Or Dubya? Nine months in office and bam! 9/11. Ramrodding bills through Congress, huge bills, thousands of pages long, without anybody even reading them (stimulus, anyone?) seems reckless and doesn't garner much respect, from me, anyway. The numbers are telling the tale. Hide and watch.

-- 22:07, 13 November 2009 (GMT)

Jette:

I ignored most of the political pieces and read the Nimoy interview, which gave me a warm feeling that we have a President who knows how to give the Vulcan hand gesture. Yeah, okay, I agree he should be doing other stuff better, but my inner geek is pleased for the moment.

-- 22:59, 13 November 2009 (GMT)

Jweader:

Who put the bomp...

in the bomp...

...sha-bomp...

...sha-bomp...

-- 01:43, 14 November 2009 (GMT)