Of course I recognize the open nature of GE's relationship with NBC as compared to the somewhat more covert nature of McCaffery's unethical associations and actions. I say "somewhat more" covert because in fact, as you point out, McCaffery's various shenanigans have been reported on in the past. Which demonstrates why GE bought NBC instead of The Nation or New Yorker: a huge slice of the populace -- especially those who remember Cronkite, Huntley, Brinkley et al. -- take network news at face value and are happy to be relieved by the networks' legendary claim to legitimacy of having to question, analyze, compare or in general use their brains. More thoughtful publications, again as you pointed out, don't have the readership; they're widely suspected of being subversive at worst and are at least certainly inimical to the American Barcalounger Comfort Zone.

So no, I never doubted you were aware of the GE/NBC connection. I was only chiding gently at the outrage in your tone. GE bought NBC because it's a handy and effective mouthpiece -- and they will fail to disclose whatever they feel they can get away with failing to disclose in their goal of promoting war or whatever other enterprise they feel can be turned to a profit. Didn't we all already know that?

Why so outraged? Newsflash: NBC is owned by General Electric, which did almost $9 Billion in U.S. Government defense contracts between 2000 and 2007 (source: GovernmentContractsWon.com). Does anyone think G.E. bought a television network so execs could get good seats at the Emmy Awards?

Kinda like an episode of "I Love Lucy" where she burns the roast when the boss is coming over to dinner. In this case the handy neighbor -- the p.r. guy who started Vancouver's "climate change public-engagement program" -- served as deus-ex-machina to make it all turn out dandy in the end.

Sappy, dude.

There's plentyplentyplenty of basis for the notion that men who feel powerless in their away-from-home roles often -- not always by any means -- act out their frustrated manhood on their families at home. Find me a successful man -- one who feels successful in his heart -- who abuses his wife and/or children; you'll look far and wide.

On another note, as a Californian I am still stunned that money was allowed to be funneled into the Prop. 8 race by an out-of-state church. Why even have state borders if this is permitted?

There's only one way to prevent this kind of stuff, which is common, not rare, in armed conflict.

The tubes for Ted means fewer boobs in the Senate.

We're actually talking about the First Lady-elect's ass??

The only door either Gingrich or Palin should go through -- whether God shows them the way or they find it all by their little selves -- is the one marked "EXIT"

McCain didn't hold back from "hammering" Obama with Wright out of a sense of honor or fairness. His campaign realized that it had worked for a moment but wasn't going to work anymore, wasn't going to work with the voters they needed (it had already worked with some, but not enough). It was a purely political decision.

And yes, there was violence in Vietnam that was not of our creation. Does that mean the incredible violence that was of our creation was somehow a good or justifiable thing? You really have to twist yourself in knots to believe that, IMO.

Hey, flyover, wake up. I'm talking to you. Yes, humanity has always complained -- a segment of humanity, that is. In any given airport (or any given wagon-train), you'll find a whole lot of people with their nose in a book or hooked up to an iPod or otherwise killing the time that it takes to get from A to B. Then there's a minority that wants to belly-ache about delays, security, etc. (Don't get me wrong, I agree that security is a joke, but it's a fact of life.) Then there's the really small minority of people -- and I think this is the group you'd like to see yourself as part of -- that doesn't sit quietly and doesn't complain loudly; they're the ones who get off their ass and do something about it. They go to work for the FAA or they go to work for an airline or a manufacturer or something. Something. They do something. You are not one of those, nor are most of the people here and elsewhere who confine themselves to complaining. I'm not a "do something about it," person either, but at least I have better things to do with my time than make a lot of toxic noise from the do-nothing ease of my barca-lounger.

I took a look at a few of your other posts and I see that you are a drunk who spends most of his time calling other people names and deriding what they have to say. So I'm not going to bother about being insulted at being called an asshat by you. All I meant to say about the relative convenience of today's air travel compared to that of yore is this: a little perspective can help get you through the long waits. I try to use that attitude, but don't worry, you're free to do it any way you want. Grab another beer, mate...go call someone names. You'll feel great.

I'd rather see her as Dem leader in the Senate. Much more effective than Reid, and Obama's going to need that.