Thank you Anonymust. I was wracking my brain to try to remember what that huge tree I saw destroyed was. A Sycamore. I couldn't begin to hazard a guess as to its age, but if I did, I'd bet it was every bit of 300+ years old as well.

Would that OSU had had the wisdom shown by your borough.

Trees when knocked down scream..

It hurts to have the femur bone cracked, shattered, and broken.

-- bebop-o

Yes, it's a sound I heard in my heart.

We mingle with Truth and sense beautiful people,

No one does this better than you, B. Good night and thank you for the bedtime poem.

And thank her for being much more eloquent in saying it than I ever could be.

Beth has the courage to bring her observations to some of the most complex threads here (places where I perceive my own best interests to be in quietly observing from the sidelines) and explores them unabashedly. She is open to discussion and welcomes other opinions and genuinely tries to resolve differences. She is seeking out knowledge, not trying to obstruct or bend it to her own will.

I think that has value here. If for no other reason than to teach me, and other lurkers here, to have enough faith in our own convictions to offer them up for consideration.

Consideration is the key.

Mike - we're very fortunate to have Professor Thompson here at OSU. He is truly doing some ground-breaking work on climate change.

L.W.M. - thank you for the link to The Real News. I will be spreading the news.

Every time they do it, they show Strength. Fortitude. Character!

Well, from my perspective they more closely resemble the backside of a baboon.

It has a bright pink face and buttock pads and a tufted tail. Males use characteristic facial movements and barks to control harems of females during daily foraging.

Change 'harems of females' to 'the general populace' and it's a pretty fair comparison at the moment.

@ pluege - I must have caught wind of this early as I did my 'bowl inspections' prospectively over the past three days. ;->

So, according to Joe Scarborough, the United States committed genocide in Germany, which was immoral and unnecessary. But that somehow provides justification for (presumably all) immoral and unnecessary acts that the U.S. commits in the future. -- CarolynC

...because they didn't learn the basics. You know, "Two wrongs don't make a right." and "Do unto others..." (that one's in the Bible, though, so they really have no excuse for ignoring it). All the little comities that help 'civilized' people stay civil.

They are sociopaths and the media have been withholding their meds.

Since actual spinal sclerosis usually also involves atrophying of nerve tissue, of which we seem to have precious little, I think we should borrow from the Brits and encourage our "representatives" to stiffen their upper lip, or whatever other body part we feel might be more representative of what is needed currently in Congress.

The nine who voted against the Christmas declaration were most likely voting in protest of the hijacking of our legislative body for such frivolous pursuits, and rightly so. What I will continue to show support for, in loud and precise language, are those Dems who have shown True Lip in voting against the MCA, the FISA rewrites and the other execrable legislation that has been shoved through the sewerline that has become our congressional legislative process.

DanJoaquinOz you are correct. It's just too easy to get caught up in answering them with the same hormonal chest-beating that seems to be the only language that gets through.

It's probably equally important to recognize that we are giving them the next rhetorical push with the "spineless" language as well.

Does anyone really believe that the revelation about the CIA destroying the torture tapes would have come out under the 109th Congress, to name one of just many important differences in having a dem majority?

Waxman, Feingold and others are pushing very hard to get information on the many wrongdoings of this administration and their congressional enablers. They are fighting an uphill battle because so many on their own side of the aisle have been co-opted.

It took years to get to this state of decay and it will take years to fix it, if that is indeed still possible. The fact that so many of us on the left are disgruntled with the pace of things says more about our own internalization of the instant gratification culture that is so prevalent than anything else.

I'm with L.W.M. - mo' bettah dems! Tenaciousness and persistence are imperative. We need to clone Waxman and Feingold. ;->

But true strength means adhering to your convictions and pursuing your principles even when doing so is difficult, when it's not always the most risk-free course.

This was why Dodd's stand against telecom immunity was so refreshing, and the response it garnered, was the perfect example for the dem consultants to learn from. Instead, they had their candidates offer the sort of tepid, half-support that comes from being reactive instead of proactive.

I really believe the poll standings in Iowa would be vastly different today had Dodd's rejection of the immunity clause been given the same play in the media as, say, Edward's hair cut.