DISQUS

It is refreshing to read an editorialist with his feet on the ground, instead of the doctrinaire conservatives one usually sees on these pages.

Neither Roberts, Alioto, Scalia or Thomas are strict constructionists in any meaningful sense of the term.

None of these four conservative paladins has shown respect for the law: all of them legislate from the bench imposing on the rest of us their idiosyncratic and elitist views of social relations.

Scalia and Thomas have used their court perches to cash in on the lecture circuit and on books, Alioto, in his lecture circuit remarks has shown zero respect for his position and has made many gaffes.

If these justices, Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Aliioto are the conservative anodyne to judicial activism, we can only view it as yet more evdidence that conservatism is nothing more than an attempt to change the rules in favor of those who already have the most power and influence in society.

I couldn't get the video to work, so I don't know what your message is.

But what we have to remember about the press and Bush is that when Bush lied about the connection between the al Qaada attack and Iraq, the press provided an amen corner.

People like Hans Blix and Scott Ritter who knew the situation on the ground in Iraq were not covered while people like Dick Cheney who simply makes things up/

Morton Kondrake seems to conflate humanitarian concern over American agents torturing civilians and pows with partisan passion.

The issues regarding the Bush torture memos and policies on torturing non-combatants and pows in the Global War on Terror are complex, but one clear principle comes out.

Under the Bybee criteria the line between what constitutes the crime of torture and what constitutes legitimate military action is too fuzzy for men operating in the field to know whether or not theior actions are legal and just.

As warfare degenerates more and more into ambiguous struggles between uniformed forces and forces whose main strength lies in their ability to blend into the crowds, it becomes important to lay out clear principles and codes of conduct.

Soldiers have to know what the limits are and officers have to be sure that the orders they give are legal.

The conditions of combat just are too complex for soldiers to be able to make the sorts of fine distinctions the Bush Administration memos demanded.

The code of conduct for the military must be so clear that young soldiers operating in combat know it without thinking.

Hairsplitting debates of the sort that Mr. Kondrake proposes fuzz the lines.

Fuzzing the code of conduct is a direct threat to soldiers' safety and the security of the Republic.

Fuzzing the code of conduct and confusing our forces about their duty to protect civilians and pows dehumanizes us further in the eyes of the world and adds a perverse incentive to do us harm.

It is vitally important the US uphold the international standards and the standards of the US Code of Military Justice and not allow the honor of forces to be besmirched by questionably brutal treatment of people in our control.

Coulter went as far as promising she would campaign for Hillary Rodham Clinton if McCain became the party's nominee.

Yeah and did she follow through on that?

NO, the idea that the public figures of the GOP stand for anything is laughable.

Lopez is free to take the GOP as far into lotus land as he wants.

But the GOP will continue to lose until it engages the people by basing its responses to our problems in the real world.

America is looking for a choice, not a rant.

In speaking up in favor of secession, Texas Governor Rick Perry shows that his tenure as Governor of the Lone Star State is so lackluster that he has nothing else to say.

The President is on his marathon message meeting for two major reasons.
First the public media have become so fractured that "circuit riding" is the only way to communicate to all of the people.

The days that AP, the NYT or the networks could reach the mass of opinion leaders, let alone the public are over.

To be a national leader, one has to go out and find the outlets that will reach the public and the opinion leaders of the various niches into which we have sub-dividied.

A second major reason that the President has to go out and spread his message is the media's unwillingness to do its homework and present the story on depression and the breakl doawn of capitalism.

The AIG bonus story shows the media's myopia.

Do all companies pay bonuses whether or not they make money? I think the public suspects that they do. GM, AIG, Citi all have failed and lost billions in doing so... yet the bosses get multi-million dollar compensation packages.

Where is the accountability? Workers work hard, make money for the bosses and then the business gets sold and the workers lose out. Now we see that even when the companies lose billions the bosses responsible still get millions.

The media are unable to connect the dots.

Why, because they too are beholden to the bosses and just won't show them in a bad light.

Without Obama out on the road, we workers would have no one telling our side of the story.

Ms. Rivlin has shown why tax reform is so badly needed in our country. The following shows how current tax policy distorts the entire economy.

It would be preferable to convert deductions to credits, so that all taxpayers get the same benefit from a given dollar of, say, mortgage interest paid. Differential subsidies to upper-income homeowners are not only unfair but encourage the building of more McMansions.

Rather than tax credits for mortgage interest wouldn't it be smarter to cap the deductible amonunts?

Such a measure would eliminate the tax incentive for MacMansions, continue to provide an incentive and aid for middle class home ownership and protect the treasury from the massive expenditures associated with credits.

I disagree with Stremsky's premise entirely.

It is not right to treat different types of income differently when it comes to taxation.

All forms of income should be equally subject to taxes.

This would go a long way toward making taxes fair and assuring that EVERYONE pays a fair share.

Cal Thomas' contention that the Republicans have forgotten who they are is bogus.

The Republicans are who they have always been. Events have overtaken them and the public, having tried conservatism, now recognizes it as ineffectual and supreficial.

The longer the Republicans spend trying to re-assert their, "brand," the longer they will be irrelevant and ineffectual in helping to solve the serious problems confronting us.

The idiot is the customes agent who thinks he is above the law.

We can only hope INS loses in the unlikely event they are sued.

American customs are always- and I know the rules against generalizing- American customs agents are always rude. This is just a case in which they added a little extra touch of rudeness.

Mr. Thomas needs to get the wax out his ears. President Obama said it better, but I will say it again, the housing bailout it only going to save people from losing their homes.

Mr. Thomas may be sceptical of ever bigger government, but it is highly hypocritical of him to raise this objection regarding foreclosures while ignoring the greater danger of governmental intervnetion stemming from marriage protection laws which he supports.

Mr. Thomas may be sceptical of the governments' ability to discern victimized home owners from speculatiors. Again Mr. Thomas is showing that he is biased and not offfering constructive criticism- Mr. Thomas was silent during the go go housing market of the Bush Administration when speculation was encouraged by government policy.

Mr. Thomas failed to oppose the policies that created this mess and in this article is obstructing the only policies that can get us out.

Mr. Thomas has been asleep at the switch. He has failed to catigate people who want to tell us what we can do in our bedrooms and he gave uncritical support to the administration that encouraged massive speculation in residential real estate.

Mr. Thomas should take a seat, put his feet up and let us clean up the mess that following policies he supports has created.

The New York Post cartoon is not free speech, it is hate speech.

a New York Post cartoon featured a bloody chimpanzee – intentionally or unintentionally evoking racist images of the past.

After the Post's nonapology, how can we leave the word unintentional in a description of the stimulus cartoon?

The biggest fear haunting the nation at this time is that some deranged racist will try to immortalize himself by assasinating the President.

Shame on the New York Post for illustrating that fantasy. There should have been a lot more protestors at their building and the protest should spread to modes affecting thieir sales and distribution.

If there is such a thing as women's identity politics, it is embodied in the demand that women be treated with respect in politics and business.

This does not mean that the secretary should not be expected to serve coffee, it means openness to the idea that a well-qualified man could be a secretary, too.

Respect for women in politics means that issues that concern women: the cost of living, education, jobs, economic equity, amd decent affordable housing receive the same priority as weapons systems, telecommunications, and legal strategies protecting corporations.

On issues regarding the cost of living, education, jobs, economic equity and housing Sarah Palin is on the wrong side. As a Republican politician Palin supports the GOP policies that have shifted the tax burden ever more onto the shoulders of the middle class and resulted in the stagflation we are now experiencing. Sarah Palin has a very mediocre track record on education as the Governor of Alaska, following rather than leading legislative measures to improve schooling for Alaskan natives and children with handicaps. Sarah Palin lied about her opposition to the Bridge to Nowhere and has not shown interest in anything that does not target corporate or state control of job growth in Alaska. Sarah Palin's idea of economic equity is that she accepts rather than requests $150,000 worth of clothing.

In her robust championship of large public works projects like the Bridge to Nowhere and the Alaska gas pipeline, Governor Palin has demonstrated that she is a booster of government funded projects that primarily benefit corporate, big business interests. Governor Palin consistently resists any suggestions to use projects such as these to alleviate Alaska's glaring economic inequalities. If you fit the profile to get hired by big business, Gov. Palin has something for you. If you do not fit this profile, Gov. Palin will help business crush you.

There are tens of millions of loyal GOP women who will vote for Sarah Palin if she is nominated by the GOP in 2012. They will vote for her because she is the Republican standard bearer, even while professing their pride in the party for nominating a woman.

But if gender identity politics means anything other than what gonads a candidate is carrying, Sarah Palin is poison on women's issues.

Mr. Kondrake misses a serious point in his argument that President Obama should offer concession to Congressional GOP conferences.

The point being that the policies offered by the Republicans stem from the policies that caused the current recession.

The recession stems from the federal government crowding private investors out of the credit markets.

This stems from the GOP President and Congress' decision to fight a war while enacting massive tax cuts.

The GOP is applying the same method to President Obama's stimulus package. Encumber massive financial obligations while reducing revenue.

The President should continue to resist the Repbulicans.

It is up to us voters to move the GOP into post-partisanship.

Great idea, while he is at it Burridge might also want to introduce a bill restoring caning in the public schools.

Caning will provide a serious deterrent to classroom misbehavior.

It is a relief to lose President Bush who thought arrogance, greed and cowardice constituted moral clarity.

Good-bye President Bush.

Richard Nixon was pardoned without a trial and the damage he did persists until today.

Bush Administration officials such as Cheney and Rumsfeld who perpetrated crimes by institutionalizing torture should be brought to trial.

America cannot afford to be silent again in the face of Presidential criminality.

Robert Chapman
Lansing, NY

I agree with the Vice President: GW Bush is incapable of remorse, any apology from him would insincere anyway.

"We aren't fighting you because we want something from you. We're fighting you because we want you dead."

Genghis, are you sure you aren't quoting Goldfinger when he had Bond on the buzz saw?

Cal Thomas article is an example of the worst fight to last Israeli school of diplomacy.

Cal Thomas overheated rhetoric is redolent of the hell-fire and brimstone that has trapped US forces in the quagmire of Iraq.

It is clear that Hamas' militancy is a danger to Israel.

It is also clear that Hamas' militancy and willingness to use Palestinean civilians as human shields has destroyed its legitimacy as a protector of the Palestineans.

These are sufficient reasons to demand that Hamas renounce its military wing and surrender its arms.

But like the Sein Fein in a parallel situation, Hamas articulates legitimate concerns of the Palestineans.

Like Sein Fein's rejection of the IRA provos, Hamas should renounce violence and turn its efforts to the furhterance of Palestinean dignity in their own state and peaceful co-existence with all of their neighbors.

Hamas' leadership and its behavior since winning the Palestinian elections has been deeply disappointing.

Despite the electoral support of almost 2/3 of the Palestinian voters, Hamas has never shown the basic requirement of a legitimate government: willingness to let its neighbors and its own people live in peace.

I am referring to Hamas' dedication to the destruction of the State of Israel and its mobilization of its own people for this evil end.

Whatever humanitarian and governmental functions Hamas has undertaken have been subordinated to the goal of total war against Israel. This in the face of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and ongoing Israeli- Palestinian Authority negotiations to develop a two-state peace treaty.

The regrettable and terrible loss of property and civilian lives in the current conflict clearly stems from the Hamas decision to deploy its forces in heavily populated areas and cynically use its population as a shield from IDF.

It is a sad statement of cravenness and depravity on the part of Hamas that their armed wing depends on the proximity of defenseless non-combatants for safety. This stands on its head any notion that Hamas is a protector of Palestinians.

One can only hope that public opinion, rightfully repulsed by the bloody pictures of wounded children, will powerfully push Hamas toward a more conciliatory role with Israel and other neighboring countries.

Robert Chapman

Mrs. Schlossberg-Kennedy is an unknown, but from what she has done and said in the brief eleven days since she expressed her interest in serving in the Senate, there is little reason to think that she has the ability to serve well in the Senate.

Mrs. Schlossberg-Kennedy has been seen state-wide on TV with the Rev. Al Sharpton at her side. Al Sharpton's presence on a dias always makes people sit up and take notice. A great many of us remember how he destroyed the careers of a half dozen young firefighters and police officers on the utterly malicious and deceitful accusations of a young woman who falsely accused of abducting and raping her. That Mrs. Schlossberg-Kennedy should introduce herself to us by a close association with the Reverend Al Sharpton is a sign that she will be a divisive and factional presence in NYS politics.

Mrs. Schlossberg-Kennedy credits her mother for giving her the courage to run. Excuse me? There is no election for this seat, it is an appointment. Mrs. Schlossberg-Kennedy's imprecision is not the hallmark of careful, well-trained and skillful attorney- and inevitably leads one to question whether she also suffers from Bush/McCain syndrome- the condition of a famous offspring seeking higher office on the basis of a famous parent's achievement.

The seat will be up for election in 2010, I think Governor Patterson should appoint someone with more obvious qualifications to serve the remainder of the term and if Mrs. Schlossberg-Kennedy is really interested she can run then.

The rap on infrastructure projects as an economic boon has been that they can be too slow to work – at least six or nine months to kick in.

Apparently the editor missed the comment earlier in this article that President Obama is looking for shovel ready projects. Construction employment has been stagnant or declining for the past three years, since it is seasonal the planning must take place now, or it won't happen.

Construction workers are used to earning seasonally and then spending throughout the year, getting them financially healthy again is a good start to economic recovery.

The financial and retail types are going to have a hard time for awhile now. Their earnings depend on a lot of money flowing rapidly through the economy, it is unlikely that the public will go back to the free-wheeling spending.

The future health of the economy depends on our NOT RESTORING the deficit driven Bush economy.

Economic expansion should focus on retro-fitting our infra-structure to be energy efficient, building a sustainable electrical grid, and retooling our industries and transport to be energy efficient and competitive in the global market place.