Disqus - Latest Comments for kritt11

Re: Do carrots feel pain?

kritt11 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:12:53 -0000

JD- It is not about logic it is about empathy. We wouldn't eat dogs and cats- because we see something of ourselves in their behavior. The same feeling translates to farm animals for a lot of vegans.

Just don't feel any empathy for that salad, LOL.

Re: Do carrots feel pain?

kritt11 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:56:02 -0000

Almoderate--
I wouldn't classify Natalie Portman as a radical vegan-- she isn't preventing others from eating meat or dairy products.
As a vegetarian myself, I can tell you that unthinking people get critical of my choice all the time. No one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to put down the Big Macs!

Re: DC Sniper Executed

kritt11 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:55:49 -0000

I too lived in the DC area and remember being terrified to fill up my gas tank during that horrifying time. One of the victims, a middle-schooler, was shot 5 minutes from our house-- It was really frightening to have a child in that school system back then. I remember driving my child to elementary school every day, and looking in the bushes for signs of the sniper.

These were senseless killings, motivated by this man's need to terrify others in order to feel powerful.
Nothing any one says can excuse what he and his partner did.

Having said that, I do oppose the death penalty-- just not for the reasons that others have stated. I don't oppose it on religious or moral grounds, but on practical ones. It is far more costly to execute a prisoner than to jail him for life. In California, many sit on death row, but the state hasn't executed a prisoner in over 20 years. Why should Californians pay taxes that are diverted to a fund that pays for lengthy appeals, when the sentence won't be carried out anyway?

Of course, it also bothers me that states like Texas rush the condemned through the court system and that they often have an inadequate defense. Putting someone away for life without parole removes the possibility that the innocent may be executed alongside the guilty.

Re: Carrie Prejean “Still Standing” After Sex Tape

kritt11 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:31:29 -0000

I'll never understand why people make these tapes-- they always come back to haunt them. And the media delighted in bringing us Clinton's sex tape-- so I think DLS that you are off the mark on this one.

If they enjoy exposing the hypocrisy of the religious right, though, I don't blame them.

Re: So Much For Any Chance of Bipartisan Comprise

kritt11 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:28:12 -0000

Elwood:

Yes I agree-- they didn't act like conservatives when it came to creating a budget, but these are the same people who are now complaining about rising deficits. There WERE some conservatives in and out of government who DID criticize government spending, but when push came to shove, they voted for those pork-laden budgets.

Re: So Much For Any Chance of Bipartisan Comprise

ProfElwood — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:48:28 -0000

Not to get too picky here, but it's been a long time, if ever, since conservatives were in charge. I don't confuse liberals with Democrats or conservatives with Republicans -- we have separate labels for a reason.

Re: So Much For Any Chance of Bipartisan Comprise

kritt11 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:59:29 -0000

Conservatives were unable to put those principles into action when they were in charge of running the country. It is so much easier for them to sit back and say they are not going to compromise on them, now that the opposition holds the majority.

They have a stake in obstructing any solutions that the Democrats come up with. Steele's comments reinforce the notion that no cooperation or compromise will be tolerated.

Re: Ideological Purity and the GOP

kritt11 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:03:48 -0000

The conservatives failed to show that small government is workable. They lost their way and their credibility. What they proved is that its easier to criticize big-spending liberals than to actually cut costs.

Re: Ideological Purity and the GOP

kritt11 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:00:26 -0000

DQ-- I agree that idiots voted Bush in-- but we heard from the GOP for 8 years how everything Bush failed at was Clinton's fault.

Obama inherited a mess that even conservatives didn't want to touch. There's a reason that Rush and others wrote off '08 and told listeners to concentrate on '12.

Re: Ideological Purity and the GOP

kritt11 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:02:31 -0000

I agree that the GOP can't win on its numbers alone. They CAN win, however, by demonizing the opposition. Voters might hold their noses and vote Republican because they are blaming the party in power for not solving the problems they inherited from Bush.

Re: Liz Cheney: Obama Should Not Have Gone to Dover

JeffersonDavis — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:40:26 -0000

"Or, maybe he is expressing gratitude and pride for their sacrifice to their country."

I hope you're right. Until I find out otherwise, I'll give Obama the benefit of the doubt.

Re: Liz Cheney: Obama Should Not Have Gone to Dover

kritt11 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:55:37 -0000

Or, maybe he is expressing gratitude and pride for their sacrifice to their country.

Re: Pat Robertson Is Not Happy About Hate Crimes Bill

kritt11 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:02:57 -0000

In many communities law enforcement officials still do not take the plight of gay victims seriously. Until they do, we need a hate crimes bill.
I compare it to the fight for civil rights in the deep South during the 60's. Everyone was supposedly equal under the law, but in practical terms, it was only enforced for white victims. Black lynchings and other crimes were not investigated fully or prosecuted fully unless they were retried under federal law. The murderers of Medgar Evers, Emmett Till and many others were acquitted by all white juries.

Re: Liz Cheney: Obama Should Not Have Gone to Dover

kritt11 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:59:56 -0000

So would Liz say that she could not understand why President and Mrs. Reagan showed up with the press pool to view the dead marines coming in from Lebanon? He is, after all, the standard-bearer of the Republican party, and the political figure that W most sought to emulate during his 2 terms in the WH. :-)

Re: Pat Robertson Is Not Happy About Hate Crimes Bill

kritt11 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:05:05 -0000

Sometimes making an act a "hate crime" makes it easier to prosecute.

I think to gays it also symbolizes the critical ideal that it is unacceptable to attack a gay person. Yes everyone should be equal under the law-- but in certain areas of the country- this just doesn't happen.

Re: Should Democrats Embrace GOP Marginalization Strategy?

kathykattenburg — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:25:23 -0000

kritt, might have cost the Democrats the critical 60th vote on health care? The whole point of this discussion is that Lieberman is going to cost Democrats that 60th vote! He publicly announced that he would not support the Dems' health care legislation!

Re: Should Democrats Embrace GOP Marginalization Strategy?

kritt11 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:40:04 -0000

I agree with Elwood about the high cost of partisan enforcement. Many good legislators are driven from office or end up with no support from their party when they run for reelection, because they dared to stray from the party line.

Re: Should Democrats Embrace GOP Marginalization Strategy?

kritt11 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:36:02 -0000

Another point--- If Obama had chosen to punish Lieberman for his manlove of McCain in '08, which amounts to political heresy, he would have alienated him further and that might have cost the Democrats the critical 60th vote on healthcare and environmental legislation. Lieberman often helps to convince moderate Republicans like Snowe and Collins to vote with the Democrats.

Obama was smart to realize that he would need Lieberman as an ally-- and didn't burn his bridges.

Re: Should Democrats Embrace GOP Marginalization Strategy?

kritt11 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:31:22 -0000

I much prefer a party where persuasion and compromise are the tools that are used to advance legislation to one where no dissent from the party line is tolerated. Yes, we watched the GOP march in lockstep taking their country and their party right off the proverbial cliff. I prefer to think of that style of governance as a flock of sheep blindly following a leader, regardless of the direction.

Would we have been bogged down in Iraq if dissent and honest debate were tolerated? Would a man of conscience like Chuck Hagel be delegated to the sidelines if the GOP allowed a range of viewpoints?

Each elected official needs to follow their own conscience and consider the needs of their constituency over and above the mandates of the national party. Yes, its messy and may mean that much less is accomplished. But, it will also help to avoid an atmosphere of intimidation and suppression, which can't possibly result in good governance.

Re: Newt Gingrich Might Throw His Hat (and Tweet?) into 2012 Republican Nomination Race

kritt11 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:57:43 -0000

"Newt is not electable"

Oh yes, I agree. His ugly past will come up and turn off the "values voters", who should make up his core base. He also made too many enemies in Washington while he was Speaker.

My prediction is, however, that he will run anyway because he is 99% self-absorbed narcissist- so he won't realize how poor his chances really are.
Remember he divorced one of his wives because she wasn't "pretty enough to be a president's wife".

Re: 60 Lashes For Female Reporter Doing WHAT?

kritt11 — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:15:03 -0000

This is disgusting but not surprising for that part of the world. The Arab world lives in medieval times by Western standards of justice and humanity.

They are probably just as disgusted by our cable tv and the skimpy fashions worn by teenage girls over here. This cultural divide is why I always thought that this region was not suited for a democratic makeover, any more than Vietnam was.

Re: Sarah Palin Sides With Conservative Base Against Republican Party Establishment

kritt11 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:19:03 -0000

SD

Obama may be personally popular, but some of his policies are not. Voters may blame him for the slow end of the recession, high unemployment, and cuts to that sacred cow, Medicare. All the Repubs have to do is blame him for the Bush mess, and hope that the public has a short memory.

Re: Sarah Palin Sides With Conservative Base Against Republican Party Establishment

kritt11 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:11:22 -0000

McCain, in trying to capture some of Hillary's base, and simultaneously pick up conservative votes, created a monster. I believe that Palin thrived on the national attention and hero worship she was getting when she was a VP candidate, and so found returning to the day-to-day duties as governor rather tedious.

She knows that one of the reasons that McCain lost was that he never had the support of the conservative base of the party.

I heard several talk radio hosts and guests (even Coulter!) swearing that they would vote for a Democrat rather than for him. After McCain's loss, there is no way that a moderate Repub or a paleo will get the nomination. Only a social conservative will do. It won't be Huckabee because he is too much of a populist. Palin may be ignorant on many subjects, but she is definitely a sharp politician.

Of course, winning the nomination isn't the same as winning the election. She is counting on discontent with the Democrats to do the rest. Maybe Obama will be seen as the second coming of Jimmy Carter-- a man who is well-intentioned but poorly suited to solve the myriad challenges of our times. IMO, Obama was set up to fail by Bush's disastrous administration, which left the country in such a hole, that no living being could pull us out in 4 years. Many Repubs knew this in '08, and actually wanted the Democrats to take the hit, which would set them up for a comeback in '12, because of the short memory of the voting public.

Re: Politico Breaks Story Re Unprecedented White House Political Strategy

kritt11 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:49:25 -0000

Its probably due to the influence of the Clintons. This power couple was almost defeated in the 90's by the right wing noise machine-- and I can just hear Bill n Hill advising him to fight it rather than try to rise above it.

Re: How Did California Get Broken ?

kritt11 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:22:36 -0000

Don't forget Enron and Ken Lay, who took advantage of a deregulated market to manipulate the price of electricity. The state was forced to request price controls.

CPUSA:

" WASHINGTON – On May 6, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released internal documents revealing how Enron created phantom shortages in California’s unregulated electricity market to fleece ratepayers of an estimated $30 billion during the 2001 energy crisis."