grace under pressure

condileeza rice vs. b!tch boxer. Condi was grace under fire. A classy lady.
She's looking a bit too thin though ; I don't want her to look stressed. :)

islamic democracy

I've heard the insurgents saying an islamic democracy is a contradiction while conversly many Xtns state that a democracy is impossible without a Christian base.

Why?

Is there some intrinsic understanding of what a democracy is that make one a Xtn or Muslim democracy? (o' course we have a republic not a democracy but anyway...)

There are many sects of both, won't the flavor of the democracy be what ever majority is present?

Wouldn't a 'true' democracy be the tyranny of the majority anyway? Unless the majority believes in honoring minority groups' rights?

...If the military had to have a bake sale for bullets

I was reading the Courier last week and it had an AP piece from NYT. The gist was the Dems need to change their stance on Abortion as they lost the last one based on morals. Okayyy. except in the article, he admitted that most had pretty set views on one side or the other with a varying gyrations in the middle ground - ie OK in some circumstances and it wasn't a real voter topic.

In trying to figure out the voter choice they've hung their hat on 'morals', as if the only thing that represents is sexual. Its not. Both sides have morals about responsibility, the poor, warfare, social institutions, marriage, private and public.

Maybe its more to do with standing up to evil instead of trying to appease it?

I always remember "Wouldn't it be nice if the schools were fully funded and the military had to have a bake sale to buy xxxx" (armoured vehicles? bullets? protective jackets?

Every time the dems whine about the military lacking $$$, resources, or just plain numbers , I always remember Clinton's dismantling of the military and that little expression. That expression isn't associated with the Republican Party.

lifetime detainment for terrorist suspects

I an stunned. I need someone to work out how this is morally justifiable or just to bury my head in the sand and ignore this uncomfortable proposal. Innocent until proven guilty-except with all the caveats of proving someone guilty it can be near impossible with enough money/ or a wily lawyer. I mean you can have a dead body and all the bloody knives in your car trunk, get stopped by the police, get searched and here you are. Except get the stop thrown out and barring any other evidence- you are home free.

It may be reprehensible to many to hold this, but, to the govt. " just do what you need to do and don't tell me about it and don't ask me to sit in judgement."

A lot of people will say they are against torture, but push come to shove if a bomb is in their child's school and the bomber is laughing as he knows they cannot do anything to make him reveal the whereabouts of the bomb, would they feel the same? A friend of the bomber? etc? Life is the higher moral ground? Except... except... except. There are always objections and exceptions one can make.

Airlines, perfection and empathy

Well its a new year and people inconvenienced by the airline problems with the snow can vent to the FAA.

Why do people always expect perfection in others? Hello? It was a literal snowstorm. Locally (KY), people could not to work or back home from work. And what do people say after all of this? They whine about the gargantuan task of snow removal not being handled speedily enough to satisfy them.

The kicker is, I am sure that all these folks complaining about the airlines have never ever had a bad day at work. They've never had a computer crash and been, essentially, helpless and unable to satisfy their customers/co-workers, etc. while down. I am sure their days are always leisurely with well spaced workload and an ample number of employees in full health. And if on the rare day they are overwhelmed, short staffed, with no computers that their level of service is never comprimised.

Yeah.

And I'll bet the lady grumbling she will never fly this airline again on a TV blurb probably complains about the unrealistic demands on a hectic day of *her* customers (her boss' expectations, etc.) for immediate special exclusive service when *she's* at her job. She expresses rage at lost luggage but expects understanding at not being able to access client data with the computers down?