FlaSoxxJim

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 05:02 PM) Probably for the same reasons I think the GOP is in trouble. Will gay marriage hurt the Dems? Absolutely. Will abortion? Probably not, because if that's as big of an issue as I think it will be this year, the bigger motivator is going to be on the pro-choice side. Ultimately, I think change will happen because we live in some sour times. Things don't feel like they're going well. Even if they are going well. And there's one way to change things in government, vote new people in. I don't understand how gay marriage can hurt the Left, but I guess I'm being naive. Being on the morally correct side of the debate doesn't necessarily mean you are on the winning side from a political standpoint.

QUOTE(BigEdWalsh @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 04:36 PM) I'd definately go with: 1. Baby, You're a Rich Man 2. When I'm Sixty Four 3. Eight Days A Week 4. Here Comes The Sun 5. BlackBird 6. Bungalow Bill 7. Happy Xmas, War Is Over (yeah, it's not the Beatles, but hey...kids even sing on it) 8. Golden Slumbers Bungalo Bill, Rocky Raccoon, etc., are seeming no-brainers, but I think the gun references contained within them make them questionable choices. When I play Rocky Raccoon on guitar for the kids I'm always scrambling for alternate lyrics like "Rocky had come, equipped with some gum, to chew up and spit on his rival. . . " At the same time, my kids fell in love with Hey Bulldog and gleefully sing about a jacknife in somebody's sweaty hand before I was able to jump in and sanitize the song. I explained to them that the knife was probably being used to peel an apple or carve a nice piece of art something. . .

Interesting theory. I'm not sure if there is anything to it. But then again, just a few short years ago the Flying Spaghetti Monster was scoffed at as well.

Upon review of the songs so far, Nowhere Man needs to be on there, as does Act Naturally. Probably Birthday too, even though that is the only Beatle song I absolutely loathe. Do You want to Know a Secret? too, I think. All You Need is Love, to make sure you turn her into a liberal earth cookie early on too!

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 02:13 PM) I am sooooooo glad I am not into those types of video games. Yeah, your dork activity book is already filled up. I Kid. I Care. I Check my Mailbox Each Day For Beer.®

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 01:28 PM) But be careful, those people might mislead you as to what's really in it. /I had to say it. If that proved to be the case, they would no longer have a job in my administration. So sayeth the President of Flaxxlandia.

QUOTE(sec159row2 @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 01:21 PM) why aren't these meetings held in Bagdad?... I here it is beautiful this time of year The permanent headquarters of the Arab League is in Cairo. As for the temperature snarkiness ( )Cairo sits about 3º latitude further south than Bahgdad, and is about 2-3ºF warmer at this time of the year.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 01:20 PM) Yes the Iraqi government is endorsing the murder of all of its own and US soliders. That makes total sense. It's not the Iraqi government, and not an endorsement per se, more of a concession to the Sunni that are the source of the insurgency. Clearly an argument can be made that the US forces are functioning as an "institution designed to provide for the welfare of Iraqi citizens," and the Iraqi police and security forces even moreso. But not specifically spelling that out in the joint statement coming out of the reconcilliatory meeting is an appeasement to the Sunnis. And a troubling one at that. But it should serve as an indication that, even from the perspective of the elected Iraqi officials, our continued presence is met with resentment. SS2k5, your Pinky and the Brain ref was cute. But how far off do you think that is from the truth? It doesn't take a tinfoil-hatter to know that gaining or losing control of the 3rd largest oil reserve in the world (Iraq) may well be the difference between whether or not America gets crushed under China's bootheels over the next 20 years or so. And control can come in many forms. If American companies land the contracts to rebuild the oil infrastructure, we control the oil (Iraq would make money as well, but so would the American firms. Plus we could negotiate near-exclusive rights to the oil so long as we are paying market value for it.). If on the other hand China's CNOOC takes that money from, say, the failed attempt to buy Unocal and instead uses it to outbid western companies on partnering with Iraq in reconstruction, then the landscape changes quite dramatically. The Neocon failure, despite themselves, would be absolute if that were to happen.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 12:30 PM) Its 140+ pages, so make sure you have plenty of freetime In that case, I'll have my people read it. Damn, I wish I had "people" that could do s*** for me like that.

They met in Cairo because the Arab League hosted the pre-election reconcilliary talks between Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish Iraqi fractions.

I will download and read when I have the time, thanks for the link. To be sure, intelligence failures pertaining to all of the issues listed in that blurb have abounded in America for a very long time.

Certainly everything is not America's fault, and suggesting that is what war critics believe is hyperbole. But intelligence sources support the contention that Carlyle Group supplied Iraq with VX in 1988-1989. After Iran-Iraq, and before Desert Storm. Strange bedfellows, indeed.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 12:01 AM) I just noticed he was busted for "trying to have sex with the mannequin", dude can't even score with an inanimate object. That boy aint ever reproducing. That Boy. . . I say THAT BOY is about as sharp as a box of spoons.

QUOTE(Middle Buffalo @ Nov 21, 2005 -> 10:42 PM) Michael Plentyhorse. What a name. happened in Sioux Falls, so I'm guessing that could be a native American name.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Nov 21, 2005 -> 06:54 PM) Hello It's Me may be the best male vocals I have ever heard. Something about his voice on that one just touches me, and not in that Chris and the old man down the street who he mowed the lawn for when he broke the window, sort of way*. *Family Guy reference. TR's vocals on the Something/Anything? version of Hello It's Me are superb. I don't know which one I like better though, that version of the original version he cut with the Nazz. The amazing thingabout Todd is his voice got much stronger and more disciplined laer in his career. Compared to the later stuff, all the Something/Anything? vocals are very thin. That's probably a big reason he always went nuts on the overdubs and harmony parts, to fill the sound out more. If you want a Big Todd vocal song, give Want of a Nail off of Nearly Human a spin.

The kicker is we probably sold them that WP way back when we sold them all the VX nerve gas.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Nov 21, 2005 -> 06:22 PM) When you generally dislike a group/artist, and you find that one song that you do like, is it a deep album cut or a most popular. Example, Greatful Dead, Touch of Gray or something else? Todd Rudgren, Hello it's Me or something else? Beatles, Hey Jude or something else? You listed three examples of artists I like (two of which are in my top 5 with TR and the Beatles), so the examples don't work for me. I dislike the superslick (for the Dead) produstion on In the Dark, so teh studio version of Touch of Gray always soumded lousy to me like most of that album does. The same songs done live, especially Throwing Stones, were great songs thay I liked for years until they slicked them up for the album. Wierd, because they recorded the album as an "as-live" deeal with minimal overdubs. Doubly wierd because Jerry was the primary producer. Anyway. . . most of the artists I dislike, I think I dislike them because they release thin material - with not much of value more than 1 or 2 cuts deep if that. I dig artists like Todd or, more modern example, someone like Aimee Mann precisely because they pack an album full of all quality songs and you are hard pressed to pick out a 'best song' let alone a single witha bullet.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Nov 21, 2005 -> 05:52 PM) Statesmen are a dying breed. Are you announcing your candidacy??

Seems Jim should be the one doing the asking.

Rock On to Eternity, Link!

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Nov 21, 2005 -> 05:31 PM) And I think they are too... just not with some magical date that you all want. I personally don't even need a date, just a tie-in to realistically achievable progress benchmarks and/or our when our Iraqi hosts do tell us to leave.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 21, 2005 -> 05:27 PM) Actually...given that Bush has thus far refused to set a timetable for withdrawal, and that's exactly what they asked for...it'd mean a major policy shift if they did listen to that demand. Bingo. Everybody is talking timetables. . . except the White House.

QUOTE(Steff @ Nov 21, 2005 -> 04:56 PM) He was already found guilty of having child porn in 1999. There should not have been an opportunity for him to have any more victims. I agree with that completely. Being against the death penalty as much for it's capacity to result in the ultimate error as on principal, I merely bristled at the firing squad possibility. That said, there is nothing in this world I despise more than pedophiles and child abusers.

It hasn't been the same story for three years because the democratically elected officials have been around for less than one year. And you are rigt in that this "demand" is still open ended. That is the problem. The Pentagon has been looking at drawdown options, and General Casey has drawdown after the elections on his mind as well. So does the Iraqi parliment. So does the American public and so doesd Congress. The White House needs to engage this dialog and commit to a plan for beginning troop reductions once certain ATTAINABLE benchmarks are achieved. That is very different than saying we'll leave once there is stability because then we're never getting out. Our presence throws fuel on an already inherently unstable sociopolitical situation.

The democratically elected leaders of sovereign nation of Iraq want us to think about a withdrawal timetable. No specified withdrawal date was demended, but here is the opprotunity to begin this dialog so that a reasonable timetable for troop reduction can be agreed upon. Unless, of course, the reality is that the neocons aren't in any hurry to scale back their presence in a Middle East they want very desperately to shape and influence. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=100...=top_world_news