Leave it to people like YOU to point out they used water-soluble paint! Why ruin Father Epps' buzz? Let him choose his adventure and live within it. It's not hurting anyone. I'd just as soon he write a fictitious column about the imaginary greatness of President Bush's administration than write another column like the one he wrote around 2004 that had my French neighbors in tears with anger and disgust. He was upset that the French had not supported our Iraq adventure, and he, in the most fatherly way, talked of teaching French women to shave, pouring their wine out in the gutters, and he joked of how the French sounded "like pigs" running around saying "oui oui oui." That was quite the defining moment for my neighbors who, subsequently, moved back to France in large part because of the "freedom fry movement" and its faithful foot soldiers of animosity.

On the positive side, Father Epps wrote, in his article "Five years later and still safe," he felt that

"I believe that the jihadists are a darker and graver threat to this nation and to the peace of the world than Communism, socialism or fascism ever sought to be."

So, Barrack the socialist isn't so bad after all. Not that Father Epps has ever called President-elect Obama a socialist, but I do hope his Christian conservative readers absorb this.

At any rate, let's allow the grieving process to run its course. In time, he will learn to include prayers for president Obama and praise for president Obama into his weekly work.

Agreed Diva, but the faster we re-assimilate these people into society the better off America will be. They've had eight years to build a comfortable bubble where normal laws do not apply: up is down, left is right, and Bush is henceforth and forever more without blame. They've been living in their own carefully constructed "reality".

Obama can speed the reintegration process along somewhat by removing the ban on cameras filming the return of coffins from Iraq. Perhaps Obama could attend the funerals of some of our fallen soldiers, too. Let the deluded rightwingers see that there is actually a human cost to their incessant chest thumping.

All true---what you said.

However, to some it doesn't matter about those things.

Bush feigns "praying," and talking the good talk.

He says he is against abortion!

That is ALL that counts, period.

What one gets by injecting a thousand religions into the government!

I am tired of listening to "we have not been attacked since 9/11, due to Bush."

Baloney!

We put ourselves in an easy place to be attacked without crossing the ocean---in Iraq ans Afghanistan!!!!

We now have about 4,300 dead Americans, and 40,000 approximately, deathly wounded, some of them, which we are not taking proper care of!!!!

Maybe 150,000 innocent, non-combatant, Arabs are also killed, and no one knows how many wounded who don't even have t hospital to go into!

We have also imprisoned thousands, tortured some, and still hold many, some in Cuba also.

Why should they venture here if we are there?

Stop making unsweetened lemonade sweet with words only! This man and his henchmen should have been impeached. If it has been some sexual accusation, he would have been. Thought maybe the sexual stuff at Abu-Ghrab with the W. Virginia female teaser might have done it, but it didn't.

Maybe because the persons who planned and executed 9/11 entered the country, learned how to fly, and planned the execution of their attack did so under Clinton?

If Clinton had stayed in he probably would not have ignored explicit warnings like Bush did either. There is a lot of testimony that the Clinton people warned the Bushies over and over that al Qaeda was a major threat and they were ignored.

Transcript: Bin Laden determined to strike in US

I remember Newt and the republicans saying that the Clinton presidency was now irrelevant when they took over the congress. So how can republicans still blame Clinton for everything?

Would you care to ask the surviving members of the USS Cole the same question? How about those who would be characterized as "next of kin?" Last time I looked, things like a US Navy vessel and a US Embassy was considered sovereign US Territory, or do you require a reminder?

The USS Cole was attacked Oct 12, 2000. Right after Bush came into office on Jan 25, 2001, George Tenet gave a preliminary report to President Bush and finalized it in March assigning blame to al Qeada. In the Hearing Transcript during the 911 investigation, Condoleezza Rice testified the decision not to respond militarily to the Cole bombing was President Bush's. She said he "made clear to us that he did not want to respond to al Qaeda one attack at a time. He told me he was 'tired of swatting flies.'"

We can cast blame until we both deprive ourselves of oxygen, but all I'm saying is that on Oct 12, 2000 Mr Clinton was in office. Swatting flies,just happens to be a different issue, but of course some of us have a problem with accepting responsibility. I think that some would use the term "spin."

In a view much different, terrorism, with the exception of the 1972 Olympics, was a law and order issue until it was learned that such occurrences took a worldwide stage. It is simply the manner and boldness that states decided to deal with it. For political reasons Mr Clinton elected to "pass it on."

I simply call it the wimpization of the west. What say you?

What would you have had Clinton do before he knew who was responsible? Just pick out a random target and bomb it? Or just pick out some country and that had no connection with it and invade? That's how we got into Iraq.

Sooo, an attack on a US warship harbored in Yemeni waters constitutes an attack on "sovereign US territory"? Interesting legal wordsmithing. Taking your newly minted "King Doctrine" to its logical conclusion, all attacks on soldiers in Humvees in Iraq now constitute attacks on "sovereign US territory", so increase the Clinton body count by 17 dead sailors, but make sure you increase the Dubya body count by the 3,000 or so IED fatalities.

As the noted musical philosopher Paul Simon once remarked, "Anyway you look at it you lose..."

Good to hear from you. Attacking a warship, embassy, or delegate is in fact an attack upon US sovereignty. It's happened before and likely will reoccur. I'm afraid that cooler heads have prevailed to thwart the so dubbed "King Doctrine", but I do contend that once an enemy has been vanquished, he does little harm.

But then, I never claimed to look upon the ilk of Neville Chamberlain as one to emmulate.

From another musical philosopher Bo Didley, "You can't judge a book by its cover."

Forget Oklahoma City?

In Liberty,

DarthDubious

"Bishop" Epps thank Bill Clinton? Bwahahaha. Per the good "Bishop", Bill Clinton = Pontius Pilate LINK

Not in this life!

You sound like a typical "it's all Bush's fault" liberal. Has Bush had less than poor judgement on a number of things? Yes!! But make no mistake, 9/11 took years to plan and if Bill Clinton had spent more time paying attention to national security and less time using the oval office as a SEX DEN, then maybe, just maybe, 9/11 would never have happened. Plenty of blame to go around. I am not surprised, though, by your response. Hatred always leaves people blind to the truth.

So true Hatred leaves one blind and your seething partisan words are filled with just that hatred. No one is always correct and perfect, calm down and be rational.

Yes 9/11 occured on W's watch, but to place his administration in blame would have to cast dispersion at let's say the F. Roosevelt administration or maybe the Wilson administration or maybe the Truman administration due to such occurences like Pearl Harbor, the Lusitannia, or a north to south crossing of the 38th parallel. Your distain for the President, while understood, could be akin to that felt by a plurality of Americans in 1980 when an American President revealed both ineptitude and indecision over 52 hostages.

My point to you, sir, is there is a distinction between being critical and judgemental, and being judgemental without having "walked in someone else's shoes" is normally reserved to a higher authority. Besides, can you name the event(post 9/11) that renders your "no attacks" assertion as "horse-hockey?"

1)How did a guy in a cave get NORAD to stand down for 80 minutes, hmmm? No bars in Afgan caves man.

2)WTC 7- no plane crashed into it, yet it collapsed. It takes weeks to study prints and place explosives for a precision drop like that one was. That building was wired long before 9/11. The owner later revealed, that it was demolished by explosives.

One other tidbit: The BBC reported the WTC 7 collapse a full 20 minutes BEFORE the event took place, there is a video of the report on YOUTUBE clearly showing the building still intact behind the live reporter as she is explaining that it had collapsed!

Bush may not be to blame, but some elements in the government KNEW what was going to happen.

In Liberty,

DarthDubious

Keep on with the conspiracy theories and you'll end up on the same meds as Bonker$.

No bars in Afghan caves? Perhaps not in the sense of what most Americans would perceive, but they do dispense some pretty potent tea every once in awhile-You should try it. The escorts you would require might just show you a different perspective on things.

The bars I refer to here are involved with communications...i.e. Osama bin Moron doesn't have AT&T, so no bars here in this cave, so we can't hack USA computers with this laptop. Can you dig it? I knew that you could.

In Liberty,

DarthDubious

many folks have attacked those who view the entire 9/11 thing as a conspiracy. The ONE thing that they always choose to ignore is "What happened to WTC7?". Hours after the plane crashes, this building mysteriously collapsed even though there was no structural reason for it to do so. NO ONE has been able to explain how that happened, so they choose to act as if it never existed. Keep the faith.

Democracy is not a spectator sport

"Hours after the plane crashes, this building mysteriously collapsed even though there was no structural reason for it to do so."

Debunking 9/11

DD was referring to this statement from Silverstein:

"I remember getting a call from the Fire Department commander, telling me they were not sure they were gonna be able to contain the fire, and I said, you know, 'We've had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is just pull it.' And they made that decision to pull and then we watched the building collapse."

This, of course, is supposed to be a direct claim by the building's owner that it was brought down by controlled demolition. And the conspiracy crackpots will go on to explain that it is impossible that the charges were hurriedly put into place, as this is a complicated procedure requiring precise placement. And, besides, the building was on fire. Conclusion: the whole thing was planned in advance!

Let's see....

So he gets a call from a guy in charge of the Fire Department regarding the condition of the building.

And he says, casually, to this public servant, "Well, you know, we should probably go ahead and blow all of those explosive charges that we've had in place for some time now--you know, the ones behind people's desks, in the john, behind the Coke machine in the break room, and the like."

And, of course, the Fire Chief commander thought this a perfectly normal course of action, never thinking to ask why this building, in constant use until that day, was packed full of explosives.

"Good idea, Mr. Silverstein. You certainly do plan ahead. I'll get my boys right on it."

This is so outrageously improbable that common sense forces a different interpretation of what he meant by "pull the building."

But then, of course, perhaps the Fire Chief commander is in on the conspiracy himself. That is, he and the men working under him. They, of course, were sworn to secrecy so that not even their wives know that they were involved. Well, some of the wives are in on it, too, but they'll never tell you because if they told you they would have to kill you.

___________________

"Puddleglum" by Weatherwax (one of the Muddlings).

Jeeves to the Rescue

England is 5 or 6 hours ahead of us that's why they could broadcast the collapse early.

I yam what I yam....Popeye

I hope your being sarcastic, and not just dumb.

It was BBC America. The reporter was on a rooftop live in NYC saying that WTC 7 had collapsed with the building clearly still standing behind her.

In Liberty,

DarthDubious

nnoooooo wwaaaayyyyyyyy

I yam what I yam....Popeye

No game tonight!
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Yeah, I know, I still went out in the rain and pushed my riding mower around out of habit since it rained on us the last 3 out of 4 Fridays.

I yam what I yam....Popeye

serious help there buddy.

You know, I think in the 4 years that I did my stint it rained on us maybe twice.
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Caution - The Surgeon General has determined that constant blogging is an addiction that can cause a sedentary life style.

The hutchette made the first cut for Governor's honor's in band.

I yam what I yam....Popeye

Congratulations to Hutchette and her parents! BTW I've received a couple of emails from our friend! The rascal!

How wonderful! Good for her.

my son went to GHP and it was, without a doubt, the best intgellectual experience he ever had, and that includes college. It is a model program and totally awesome for the students. Give her a congratulatory hug for me. Keep the faith

Democracy is not a spectator sport

Congratulations to the hutchette! I made alternate for Gov. Honors in 1986 for art. We alternates went to Skidaway Island, near Savannah, there's a marine biology extension of U.G.A. on Skidaway. We all had a blast that summer: deep sea fishing, fossil dredging the Savannah River, exploration and researching marine conditions at Wassaw Island.

I hope the hutchette makes it - it was a wonderful experience!

Thanks, I hope she makes it too, I'm still not clear what stage she is in, she was nominated and passed the first interview and audition, and so it goes on.

I yam what I yam....Popeye

A little fuzzy!
"not clear what stage she is in."
"passed the first interview and audition."

Isn't that the stage she is in?

Who can tell you these things? Students usually can not.

Lets get something straight here, you want to comment on me, I ain't got no problem with it, just leave my kid out of your stupid comments. I once called you an anal orifice and through your many incarnations you have given me no reason to regret it.

I yam what I yam....Popeye

Congrats to the parents!! Keep us informed.

Thank you Mom, Bonker$ notwithstanding, I will.

I yam what I yam....Popeye

That's outstanding!!!
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Caution - The Surgeon General has determined that constant blogging is an addiction that can cause a sedentary life style.

In Liberty,

DarthDubious

I do not reserve my criticism of Bush to a higher authority. He allowed 40-50 thousand of our wounded, 100-150,000 of innocent Arabs wounded, and 4-5 thousand of our dead and don't know how many of theirs!
He should have stopped in Afghanistan, and then gotten right out of there before the next crop of Heroin, and Saddam wouldn't have let one terrorist into Iraq! He never did.
His own would have killed him soon anyway.

Bush was oil sick!

He also allowed the banks and others to cause a depression without action---influencing millions here to have severe family problems, not to mention the two million military over the seven years who got their families destroyed.

They never even planned to treat the wounded properly here.

No, he has to think about that a long time, and so do we.

It's Friday afternoon and you are a wee bit late taking your meds, so be nice and get them, then re-read where I use the terms criticism and judgemental.

Tomorrow is Saturday and you get to be Sage again. You'll be OK.

President Bush is not to blame for 9/11 or our present financial situation. The United States (all of us) had our heads up our butts when 9/11 happened. Nobody thought it would ever happen to us. Now we know. As for the financial melt down I blame everyone who decided that all of us should have everything even if we couldn't afford it.My parents taught me that I could do anything I wanted to do and have anything I wanted to have if I EARNED it.

I was wondering what that smell was Thanks!

Osama Bin Laden. Now, let's go get that cockroach.

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Caution - The Surgeon General has determined that constant blogging is an addiction that can cause a sedentary life style.

Osama says he had to do something to stand up for his religion and people.
What he did was to supply money to the real radicals from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other such places.

They had been led to believe that the western part of the world had been taking advantage of their people for several hundred years---maybe even centuries!

They thought we robbed their treasures long before we started robbing their oil (the British and the Dutch, etc,) by opting to destroy them by at least two Crusades! (oh, somewhere about 1050-1100 +)

Anyway, we are infidels and don't worship Islam and can't be anything but devil worshiping money-grubbers.

They have always been that way and wanted paid more for their oil than the west was agreeable to pay, so they thought a war might raise the price.

It did!

Thanks for being the rudder on this here steam boat

I can't write or comment like the army taught you!
No static, no real blame--if there has to be some--a pension, etc.