Originally Posted by djplong

Bucco: *Thank* you. And I'm not being facetious or sarcastic. It always helps a *debate* when you know where the other person is coming from.

Now, I wasn't ignoring Yoda's question. Quite the contrary, I was trying to get to the *real* question, if there was one. To be honest, at first, I wasn't sure what it was that he was talking about other than what *sounded* like a simple talking point.

No I don't listen to Olberman or Maddow. To give you a little background on myself, so that you know where *I'm* coming from, for years I used to buy 3 papers a day. The leftist Boston Globe, the rightist Boston Herald and the McPaper Digest USA Today (as a sort of 'index') to kind of 'average things out'. I'm more of libertarian in principle but a realist at heart. To take that ideal into a practical example, I don't believe that health care is something that should be run by the government *BUT* I can also see the handwriting on the wall. I'm the kind of person who tries to think things through for their consequences largely because that's part of what I do for a living in designing software systems (If we do THIS then what effect will if have later on?).

I believe that whirring sound you hear is Thomas Jefferson spinning like a lathe in his grave. It's my belief that he would be simultaneously amazed and horrified at what this country has become.

I do believe that government has specific functions and that one of those is the "level playing field". But by the same turn that means the government is the REFEREE, not the scorekeeper. It's their job to make sure we all play by the same rules. Not one set of rules for us and one for Halliburton, Citibank, BofA, Aetna, etc. (And I say that as an employee of a major defense contractor)

I went after Beck and Limbaugh for two reasons.

First, Beck was specifically mentioned. Secondly, I used to listen to Limbaugh on a daily basis and it saddens me to see what a parody of himself he has become. He's certainly not unique in being someone who believed his own press clippings.

I'm more than willing to discuss almost anything with almost anyone, but I prefer to leave the demagogues out of the discussion.

it breaks my heart to see what has happened to John McCain over the years. Living in New Hampshire, I had the opportunity to vote for him in our primary way back when. But the McCain I voted for back then is not the same McCain who ran last year. Not when I hear him talking about "Net Neutrality" as though he was Comcast's ventriloquism dummy. My best friend and I disagree on many things but both of us thought the greatest political tragedy of recent years was what happened to the great man that was John McCain circa 2000.

I keep waiting for the moment in history that will be as important to us as the fall of the Berlin Wall was to Germany. The moment that a viable third political party emerges from the corrupt ashes of the two existing parties - giving us a government that believes in the Jeffersonian ideals ("That which governs least, governs best") while keeping with the *stated* ideals of the Democrats concerning personal freedoms. In other words, I want the government out of my wallet AND my bedroom.

But, like I say, I can see the handwriting on the wall. I *am* a realist and I'm still hopeful.

I don't care if you call it Global Warming, Global Cooling, Climate change or "Fred The Insane Weatherman Takes Over"... We shouldn't be dumping as many greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere JUST ON GENERAL PRINCIPLE. We have the technology to go to cleaner and better fuels. But by the same token, don't ram a 'treaty' down our throats that gives countries like China and India a free ride!

Health care? We pay more and get less than any other country. Dear lord, if we really believe in competition, how can we, as a country, compete for the best citizens when all those other countries can take care of them better? As I've said elsewhere, working in a hospital was quite an education.

Now, those names that Bucco mentioned - I haven't had the time to look them all up, though some made the news already. I'm no fan of "La Raza" (and I'm Hispanic, though you wouldn't know it) or other groups that perpetuate victimhood. But it's not like questionable appointees are anything new. I mean, need I say more than than the likes of John Ashcroft or Harriette Miers.

It's because of the anonymity of the internet that I wrote all this. I don't like being totally anonymous. I stand behind what I say and try to keep an open mind about things when engaged in a civil debate. I've had my mind changed on several things over the past 30 years. I've gone from being liberal to conservative to some mashup of both with a streak of libertarianism mixed in.

And if you want to know what I think of our current news organizations, well.. To be honest, I find myself agreeing with Jon Stewart of The Daily Show on Comedy Central more often. He's savaged everybody from Fox to MSNBC to CNN repeatedly. The latest being the fact that you have all these 24/7 news organizations out there and they still let 'spokespersons' get away with making outlandish claims and then say "sorry we don't have time to explore that". THEY'RE ON 24/7 - HOW MUCH MORE TIME COULD THEY POSSIBLY NEED???? And they cut away for DOG SHOWS? You'll notice that CNN no longer uses as their slogan "the world's most important network". No, they have YOU call in to say what YOU think when we're supposed to be tuning into THEM to find out what's going on!

Argh.. I'm ranting. Ever since news went from being it's own separate entity for a network to being under the "entertainment" umbrella in the 1980s, it's been all downhill.

The local channels are no better.

"How your choices at the grocery store could be killing you - tonight at 11". great. What if I'm going to the store at 8?

"Is there a hidden poison in your refrigerator? Find out at 11." Come on, I have to be UP at 5:30AM!!!

I stand corrected. It's Cronkite who's spinning like a lathe in his grave.