at least not by us who are older and wiser

Your slip is showing granny as is your dementia. Age/experience does not necessarily impart wisdom . . . case in point Cheney, Rumsfeld, Scalia, Broder, bernbart . . . wisdom is necessarily a function of understanding, particularly cause and effect, human motivations and emotions, universal human truths, life experience, shared desires, compassion, empathy, ability to discern fact from belief . . . formal education and degrees have very little to do with wisdom or its precursors.

There are plenty of degrees here and plenty of wisdom. I would only every claim that I struggle daily hoping for the knowledge, understanding, grace and humility to be able to approach insights that others might describe as wisdom.

For one to espouse that she is wise is evidence that she probably isn't.

would that be doggy style while etch-a-sketching sitting in the tower of a castle made of Legos while singing,

"What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkity sound?

A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing!

Everyone knows it's Slinky.

It's Slinky, it's Slinky, it's fun, it's a wonderful toy.

It's fun for a girl or a boy."

Just remember to keep that sort of over-the-top freakiness away from your cats because cats are very sensitive creatures. If you're an exemplar of the women from Ohio, I need to expand my social circle to include some Buckeyes cause you make the ladies from Portland seem certifiably sane and we've got a reputation for keepin' it weird out here so that's saying something. Blonde haired blue eyed hip smackin' thong wearin' blog postin' super smart super freaks oughta be the standard for women to aspire to. But that's just my humble opinion. ;-P

It's called "12-dimensional chess" and given how "teh super awesome" the President and his fixer Axelrod are how do you explain Brennen or Daschle? Just little slip ups. You continue to bow down to authority, we'll continue to be cynical as GG says in the true definitional sense of the word. That's the only way citizens can even attempt to hold elected officials accountable. Critiques based on the differences between rhetoric v. actions.

When opposition is based on presenting alternative ideas and compromise is reached, we tend to get what the country needs.

Uhm, not necessarily. Why compromise a superior idea? Why compromise a right minded well reasoned idea based on empirical evidence with a wrong minded poorly reasoned one based on faith? Why compromise the examples you gave . . . the Constitution, politization of the DOJ, the press fulfilling its proper role, laws that promote transparency in government etc. etc. etc.

Compromise for the sake of some mythical political harmony is precisely the false goal GG has written about extensively. Disagreeing without being disagreeable is one thing, caving on the principles and projected policies an elected official said they'd work to enact if elected is a whole different ball of twine.

He's got a piece on the top of the rec list over at Kos that provides a somewhat related though different take on Obama's actions thus far. Worth a read.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/24/04124/0642/643/701081

Assuming a "majority" supported the Iraq War it was only because they made the citizen's cardinal sin: believing the lies and propoganda disseminated by their leaders and the media pundits in a time of uncertainty instead of being patient, investigating the merits and gravity of the alleged threat, and exercising their reason in being appropriately skeptical.

There was a very significant minority (and a majority everywhere else in the world) that knew it was a lie and demonstrated and agitated accordingly. But Goebbels was right--it's pretty easy to whip low information citizens into a fearful bloodlust and simultaneously label anyone who questions the orthodoxy as an unpatriotic if not outright treasonous citizen, so long as leaders are willing to tell monster lies over and over and over and over and over again and they have media megaphones with which to catapult those lies.

that the government's welfare payment was greater than what a working man was making

If you can be intellectually honest and address why the above statement is true over the last thirty years you'll truly appreciate the destructive legacy of your hero St. Ronnie. Here I'll give you some hints . . . PATCO, unregulated/unrestrained free market ideology in its many hydraheaded Ponzi forms, gutting of workers rights/protections, trickle down idiocy, . . . (though I'll concede Clinton and NAFTA is partly at fault though the orthodoxy was not created by Bill).

I'm always curious why people like you never bitch about the extraordinarily wasteful amounts of tax dollars that flow through the MIC? And just for the record Reagan did not bring down "communism" with his increased military spending (Russia never once elevated its military spending to keep pace in any year--look it up) but he did give rise to Iran/Contra, SA death squads, star wars "defense", and your buddy and mine Osama Bin Laden.

"buy a little red book and jot it down" . . . now that's a serious burn.

Calamine's Theme Song (or mantra):

"Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to [trust] we go, Shhhiiinnnneee (shine)

We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig dig

From early mornin' til' night

We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig dig

Up everything in sight

We take our time

Then find some more

There's thousands to be sometime born

And We dont know what we dig them for,

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to [trust] we go."

It's the knights who say "nee" and they require a shrubbery and a herring. To be precise.