meower wrote: 
me too, he's my favourite 

 meower wrote: 
meower, I've been wondering for weeks and just have to ask: what happened to your avatar kitty's left ear? 

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:

 
I love Michael Leunig

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
There's gold in them there hills...

 oldviolin wrote: 
very good place to start. I'm kind of partial to dogs and ducks as well.

 

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 

Ah ha! A seeker of more than the superficial...

From the perspective of the shackled world it emerged from and as a living breathing font of freedom and liberty toward a vaccuum; pride and vanity rules it's heart, vengeance and selfishness rules it's progress, pain and enmity rules it's past,  the means justifying it's ends rules its future...

An ironic shift to be sure. A proverbial Möbius strip constructed of a flesh and bone Occam's Razor. Human beings. Sheep with hot buttered souls. Spiritual wickedness. Shortsighted depravity. Round and round. I, Me, Mine...

To fix? Simple. Turn our back on all forms of fear and hatred of our fellow man, regardless of circumstance. It is all illusory and custom designed to force acceptance of powerlessness and control. It is all a lie.
Let what is within rule what is without. The children's song; red and yellow, black and white, we are precious in his sight...

I know. people are looking for political and/or ideological solutions. Many still will be looking when the look of horror is long frozen on their faces...

The first thing I would do is de-politicize schools and school funding. Then I would let the children be the teachers.

 bokey wrote: 
as a foreigner far away that makes me curious (and no, I'm genuinely curious, not wanting to stir up a shit storm):

what is wrong with the US in your view and what needs to be fixed?

 VV wrote: 
I can't speak for Kurt or anyone else,but there is a school of thought that there is absolutely nothing that could possibly be worse that to continue the course of self destruction that America has taken the last 8 years.
 While Trump is obviously a colossal douchbag asswipe,the thought of continuing on the destructive path of national self loathing and hatred that has been set down recently is totally unacceptable.
Here is the bottom line IMO-

Donald Trump SHOULD not be POTUS.
Hillary MUST not be POTUS.

Even Chris Christie is backing away from Drumph.

kurtster I admire your loyalty to your candidate to a point but when that loyalty (as viewed against Trump's accelerating self-inflicted implosion) starts to look like blind loyalty... isn't it time to cut bait? Continuing to support that buffoon through sh*t storm after sh*t storm begins to call your own credibility into question.

If not "cutting bait" entirely... maybe "going dark" is a better idea? At least until he is finally able to pull himself together (not that I think that is even possible given his track record). 

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
He's also got his surrogates out now suggesting the election will be 'rigged' and that there will be violence unless he is elected. This is completely reprehensible. Our history and policy of ballots not bullets *regardless* of the outcome is paramount.  This is the reason that EVERYONE should be denouncing this total trainwreck of a candidate. That there are not more Republicans publicly denouncing them is astounding to me. This guy represents the worst in our nation. If you stand with him, you are part of the problem.

Scarborough: Trump asked adviser why US can't use nuclear weapons

This REALLY should be the final nail in his coffin. The man has absolutely no business being president. 

It is no longer a matter of partisanship, it is now a measure of basic competence and mental balance. 
Since the DNC,  Trump has gone completely off the rails, imo. Do we really want to elect an "unbalanced person" to be a change agent? Really?

First Read: GOP, Trump Go From 'Unraveling' to 'Break Glass' Mode

 sirdroseph wrote: 
Yep

 fgsee wrote: 



Damn right, either Jill Stein or Gary Johnson are acceptable choices.

It seems to me that the neglected class here, the ones that are completely overlooked and ignored, are the youth that will inherit all of this mess.
Talking globally, they are marginalized as uncaring and ignorant.
This could not be farther from the truth!
They are hip to the environment, hip to the lies of elders, hip to the feelings of generosity and love... 

The litmus test for ALL candidates should be how much they consider youth and the environment.
So far, it's a clear choice 

 kurtster wrote: 
I did not miss that part about POTUS not being a learn as you go position. As I stated in my response to your video post, the near-total meltdown of our economy and the following Great Recession weren't crises that you could prepare for. They were almost unprecedented. Bush and Obama had to learn as they went along. Obama's rueful joke about some shovel-ready projects being not quite shovel-ready seems a lot less flippant in that light. 

Your comment above the video of Obama ("Really ?  $800 billion later and this is what we get ?") indicates to me that you do not understand the rapidity and severity of the crises that Bush and Obama faced. You also don't seem to understand that the policies of Bush (really, Hank Paulson; IIRC Bush didn't get very involved) and Obama prevented Great Depression 2.0. 

You wrote "TARP and the Stimulus are separate items by the way.  Just thought I would mention that."

Sorry but I did know that. Apparently you weren't reading my post of 8/2/16 @8:21pm Eastern very closely. Here's the bit you missed: 

"You can play that clip of Obama's rueful joke as much as you want, but the stimulus and accompanying financial market policies such as TARP and the Fed's quantitative easing programs worked." 

Whether Pence voted against TARP is irrelevant. Whether you were against TARP at the time is irrelevant. I really do not give a flying fuck what you and Pence thought and did back then. 

The opinion piece from a columnist that you linked to has no economic data, analysis or links to back up its wild assertions that the Obama administration's actions amounted to wasteful fraud. Frankly, I'm going to believe the two highly respected professional economists who provide lots of data in support of their conclusions. 

This has nothing to do with Trump who proves with each passing day that he is dangerously unprepared and irretrievably incapable of being President. Let's stick to Trump in this thread because I have zero faith that you have anything serious or worthwhile to say about our federal government's response to the economic crisis of 2007-2008. 

 BlueHeronDruid wrote: 
Shame is one thing he doesnt have.

It keeps getting more shameful all the time.

 BlueHeronDruid wrote: 
I know you do. Shameful covers a lot more territory than just this. It is a diversion. A distraction. Part and parcel of a much greater evil that efforts ever creeping into our lives. Deny it the space in your mind and heart. Resist the very notion of futility. If you don't count it, it won't count. It's not denial to deny betrayal the power rule the world with fear and loathing.