Disqus - Latest Comments for PTCruiser

Re: Saturday Open Thread

PTCruiser — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:27:38 -0000

Not from the folk.

Re: Saturday Open Thread

PTCruiser — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 16:34:37 -0000

We have the means to vote these idiots and the sycophantic dullards in our community who support these low-lifes out of office. And if we don't have the means to vote them out, we do have the ability to discredit them.

Re: Saturday Open Thread

PTCruiser — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 08:53:57 -0000

Wasn't Bill Daley, Obama's new chief of staff, the same Bill Dailey who said that the Dukakis Democratic convention looked like a "black party?"

I'm just asking.

Re: Bras & Black on Black Crime: The Sorry Story of Jack Johnson and Prince George’s County

PTCruiser — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 14:03:55 -0000

The whole thing makes black folks look really bad.

Black grifters and con artists get busted doing what all grifters and con artists do and this makes black folks look really bad? You can't be serious.

Re: Afternoon Open Thread

PTCruiser — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 17:47:40 -0000

If you're white there is always a second act available to you in America.

Re: Why I Don’t Use the I-Word — in Any Form

PTCruiser — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 21:23:37 -0000

"The proper solution is deportation to their country of origin. This is so simple."

I don't think deporting more than 12 million people is simple or cost effective. I believe it is damn near impossible to pull off without creating a near police state by sharply curtailing our civil liberties. An overwhelming majority of the folks who are here illegally are not going anywhere. We need to face this reality. The macro-economic policies such as NAFTA and the desire of American companies for cheap unskilled labor is what drew them here while public officials on both sides of the aisle winked and nodded. We shouldn't compound this error by increasing the reach of the police agencies of the state into our lives.

Re: Why I Don’t Use the I-Word — in Any Form

PTCruiser — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:23:30 -0000

This line of argument always leads to progressives being ridiculed and laughed at and I don't intend to be ridiculed and laughed at. If you enter this country without proper legal clearances you are here illegally. It defies common sense to argue otherwise. If you are here illegally, then you are an illegal immigrant.

The problem in this country is that we now have in excess of 12 million people who are here illegally. If we were to put into place any programs aimed at rounding these people up and deporting them back to their countries of origin, then what remaining vestiges of democracy we have left will be swiped clean away. We cannot have the police agencies of the government stopping people on the street because of the color of their skin or taking them into custody because of the sound of their last name. We need to find some effective way to extend citizenship to these people because the alternative is truly nightmarish,

Re: Afternoon Open Thread

PTCruiser — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:44:58 -0000

I think we are as usual largely in agreement on this issue. I just don't think it's a firing offense.

Re: Afternoon Open Thread

PTCruiser — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:13:39 -0000

No, that is not the operative point in my opinion. All I'm saying is that Brown shouldn't continue to apologize for the remark and a person should not lose their job because that person referred to a political opponent as a whore. I think women are quite justified in regarding the use of the term as an insult for all kinds of good reasons. The problem, as I see it, is that if Brown allows the chattering classes and his political opponents to to force him to make more apologies then he runs an even greater risk with many of these same women of being seen as a wimp. A pushover. A...well I'm not going there because my daddy raised me better.

Re: Afternoon Open Thread

PTCruiser — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:18:04 -0000

The insanity is that it will come again and the person reintroducing the issue will be a representative of the mainstream press. Referring to political opponents as whores is not that big of a deal to me. We used to do it all the time and seldom was the intended target a woman.

Re: Afternoon Open Thread

PTCruiser — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 11:15:51 -0000

Brown has already apologized twice for the remark made by an aide. He shouldn't apologize again and he shouldn't terminate the aide who made the remark under any circumstances. Democrats have to stop allowing themselves to be endlessly rolled by their opponents and their enablers in the mainstream press about incidents of this type. And Terry O'Neill is either being disingenuous or is extremely naive if she doesn't think this sort of talk goes on among staff during a political campaign.

Re: Tuesday Open Thread

PTCruiser — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:40:10 -0000

They are money losers in great part because we have not been taught to see the value of public transportation for its own sake. We foolishly believe that public transportation should make a profit. We don't demand, for example, that our police and fire departments should make a profit.

The other reason that people don't use passengers train systems as currently configured is that they are enormously inconvenient. My family and I love taking the train to New York City and using the subway system to get around but it takes us more than twice as long to get from our home in Chester County, which is 35 miles from Philadelphia, than it does to get from Philadelphia to New York City.

Traveling by train from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh takes longer, for example, than going by automobile. Last month I had to travel to Trenton, New Jersey and wanted to go by train although Trenton is less than one hour from my home by car. I discovered by looking at the schedules that it would take two to three hours to travel by train even if I left at 6:00 a.m. for an 11:00 a.m. meeting. I drove and left my house at 9:30 and arrived in Trenton by 10:20 a.m.

Re: The Tillman Story movie and deference to military “authority”

PTCruiser — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 15:50:18 -0000

My favorite Bill Hicks quote:

"The world is like a ride in an amusement park. You think it’s real because that’s how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, round and round; it has thrills and chills; it’s brightly colored, loud and fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question, 'Is this real, or is this just a ride?' And other people remember. They come back to us and say, 'Hey, don’t worry; don’t be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride.' We kill those people."

Bill Hicks

Re: Wednesday Open Thread

PTCruiser — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:06:39 -0000

Suicide as a form of coup de theatre.

Re: Wednesday Open Thread

PTCruiser — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:50:54 -0000

It is appalling that anyone would make a public spectacle of their decision to commit suicide by shooting himself to death in Harvard Yard. Why didn't he walk five blocks west to the Charles River and find a quiet out of the way spot to put a bullet in his skull instead of doing it in front of tourists and students?

Re: Talkin’ Bout Education, Oprah & Superman

PTCruiser — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:22:20 -0000

This mantra about money not solving the problems of poorly performing schools makes for a good sound bite but what exactly does it mean? Why do we believe that school districts containing, for example, large numbers of students from poor families don't need more money or the money won't go some ways toward helping these students acquire an education? My three school age children attend school in a district that is located in the most affluent county in the state. The district's schools are ranked in the top 15 percent of the nation's public schools. The district's treasury is not running over with money but I have never heard a parent, teacher, administrator or school board member assert that having more money wouldn't help the schools in carrying out their responsibilities. I think it is long past time for folks who make this claim to be asked exactly what school problems they believe cannot be solved with money and what problems they believe can be solved with money. You couldn't teach a classroom of geniuses if they're all coming to school hungry.

Re: Black Republicans — Not The Year They’d Hoped…Suckas

PTCruiser — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 20:08:40 -0000

On Monday, August 9, 2004, I wrote the following:

Far too many black Republican commentators and pundits seem to be as deeply afflicted with the same strain of political myopia that they so often and loudly accuse black Democrats of having contracted. Black Republicans appear, however, to have forgotten or never learned that the most assured way of gaining political legitimacy in American politics is to win an election. As long as the Republican Party, for whatever reasons, seems not able or not willing to recruit and sponsor attractive black political candidates who can either win or run extremely well in predominantly black or substantially black voting districts then the Republican Party will make little or no headway among black voters. Until that time comes, if it does at all, comments and speculations about the motivations (and, by implication, the intelligence) of black voters will seem like nothing more than the childish whining of sore losers.

Former Representative J.C. Watts and others may be correct in asserting that blacks have a greater affinity for the values embodied in the platform and legislative agenda of the Republicans than they do for the Democrats. The truest test of his contention lies, however, in the voting booth. The potency and credibility of these claims cannot be established through the op-ed pages of newspapers and the pronouncements of black intellectuals affiliated with various conservative foundations and “think tanks.” Black voters may be acting contrary to their best interests by putting all of their political eggs into the Democratic basket but, to date, too many black Republicans seem baffled and turned off by the heavy lifting required to move any black eggs into their party’s basket.

Same as it ever was.

Re: Jesse Jackson Jr. And Wife Address Affair Allegations

PTCruiser — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:22:13 -0000

Men and women both rationalize when it comes to extramarital affairs and many other matters. We all try to rationalize our behavior.

Re: Jesse Jackson Jr. And Wife Address Affair Allegations

PTCruiser — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:59:47 -0000

I don't think I was offering a rationalization. I think I was just expressing the view that human motivation is complex.

Re: Jesse Jackson Jr. And Wife Address Affair Allegations

PTCruiser — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:25:35 -0000

Well, testosterone certainly plays a role but we humans are a lot more than chemical reactions occurring in our bodies. Human motivation is quite complex and tricky at times. We may think we're doing X, Y or Z for reasons A, B or C but the truth is sometimes buried a lot deeper. Causal lines run all through our actions and it is difficult to find one line, point at it and say this, this is the reason why.

Re: Jesse Jackson Jr. And Wife Address Affair Allegations

PTCruiser — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 15:40:56 -0000

Interesting insight but wouldn't you agree that sometimes the men involved in these incidents also want to, in a sense, punish themselves as well? Sometimes, perhaps, for staying in a relationship solely for the form of the thing instead of pursuing a relationship that is more fulfilling.

Re: Jesse Jackson Jr. And Wife Address Affair Allegations

PTCruiser — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 15:08:33 -0000

Why would anybody in Jackson's position and with his family profile believe that he could engage in an extramarital affair with a woman who has to fly into Chicago, which would certainly leave a paper trail, and it would remain a secret? Yes, the flesh is weak but does that include the mind as well? There are hamlets in the far corners of Virginia or Maryland where he could have rendezvoused with this woman and no one would have noticed him.

Re: How Leading Republicans (Boehner, Steele & McConnell) Party: With Black People Dressed As Slaves

PTCruiser — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 20:36:51 -0000

Does anyone know any Armenians dressing in period clothing and doing reenactments of what they call the Great Crime perpetrated by the Turks resulting in the deaths of one to one and on-half million Armenians?

Re: How Leading Republicans (Boehner, Steele & McConnell) Party: With Black People Dressed As Slaves

PTCruiser — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 14:06:03 -0000

I've been told that South Carolina has several a Rent-A-Kneegrow franchise stores located there. Part of the rental fee allows the renter to require them to dress as slaves but the renter must use clothing provided by Rent-A-Kneegrow. Stonewall Jefferson Bilbo, the chains founder said that authenticity is the reason why they require renters to use their uniforms.

Re: WWJD? Not Burn A Koran

PTCruiser — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 11:41:20 -0000

The scene in the film I referred to was shot as it happened. The Posse Comitatus statutes, which allowed Southern whites to violently subjugate former slaves, does not prevent the military from providing shelter, water and food to people. In any case, the statutes certainly don't require military personnel to lock, load and train their weapons on unarmed civilians who are trying to escape the ravages of a flood. Rent the film and watch it.

Some Muslim leaders may be happy or, at least, pleased, if people die while protesting the book burning but you and I have no idea of the number of celebrants. Is it five, ten, fifteen or twenty? In any case, political leaders send young people off to die all the time. More than 58,000 Americans died for no good reason in Vietnam.