She wouldn't know it if she were standing in a cow pasture.

The minute anyone tries to understand or d-g forbid, actually address possible reasons for horrific acts to uh ya know, maybe try to prevent too many more, they're shouted down by the apparently ignorant right wing. They're not ignorant. They're reactionary. All they know how to do is snarl or fawn. They are a dangerous parody of what conservatives used to be.

I'm of the school that says ignore them -- and I mean completely.

Soooo true.

I was stewing about little joey's last post practically to the point of apoplecty and then I read your post.

There are a lot of things about MJ that were ambiguous, but his talent wasn't one of them. Itty bitty little punk joe, do you know who Fred Astaire was?

And thank-you Stephanie.

And the world is worse off for it.

Ain't it depressing?

As someone who knows whereof I speak, many of us just like to see our (screen)names in print.

I practically freakin' live here. Pardon my pre-Galactica slang. Take him off the home page. Please.

The glue that holds the nuclear family together.

Cary's answer is absolutely on the nose.

The more we deny evidence of our parents in ourselves, the more likely we repeat behavior we feared as children.

And that rage!! Get to know it and embrace it. It kept us sane and we need to be grateful for it as we discard it as no longer useful.

Forgiveness is probably the best thing we can do for ourselves. It has very, very little to do w/the person to whom we are, obsenstibly, extending it. Every single time we express an emotion, at least some of it comes right back on us.

I was a large supporter of affirmative action

Really? why?

People like you are idiots. You compare what Michael Vick did to a bunch of dogs to what Hitler did? You are a mental midget. I am the grandson of two people who wear tattoos on their arms because of Nazi genocide, you insufferable moron, and as an observant conservative Jew I am sick to death of your silly and nonsensical moral equivalency of animals to humans. There is no comparison, you lout. Why don't you move to Holland where those lunatics have passed a law allowing people to marry their pets. I don't give a shit if I had to torture a million dogs to death slowly and violently if it would save the life of even a single human being. I can only hope that people like you--you probably work for PETA, no doubt, which should stand for People Eating Tasty Animals--get themselves sterilized before you have any retarded children to continue to infect the human gene pool.

Get a grip, Poince. Oh, and see if you can get your itty bitty little mind around the concept of metaphor, you putz.

Thank-you joonbeams and KIttywells! It was w/reluctance that I 'turned' the page to the comments section but I was pleasantly surprised by most of the letters.

The emotional morass that passes for thought too many times in the press and on the political stage is soooooooo depressing. It's nice to know that it does not reflect the way most of us process information, at least here.

As a die-hard Law 'n Order fan (omg, never would I have ever imagined that that combination of words would cross these lips 'o mine) I will be giggling over that line for some time.

On thinking on it a bit longer, it reminds of a scene in that very show where McCoy has been threatened and the detectives hustle him away from a date he's on, to his chagrin.

It's said that humor is based on the unexpected, after all.

We do see the elephant in the room and we do talk about it. Problem is, we're like the blind monks sent to investigate.

That was a read for sore sensibilities

Sounds like something the great author from which your screenname comes would express himself.

It's not my impression that the author is asking for sympathy for the woman.

Whoever said upthread that understanding something is a righteous endeavor (in so many words) said a mouthful.

Moderation eludes most Americans, ergo all the self-help books that prolly sell best in this bastion of democracy.

And it's sooo funny! The author mentions blame and condemnation and how it makes so many feel better, and a slew of letter writers demonstrate.

Life is going to be a very, very long haul for you.

It's not really anything like the cartoon from which you apparently come.

Steele:

I am getting out.

I've no idea what specifically motivated the opinion of the people you overheard, but your use of what you heard showed you be to be eminently ignorant of what racism and prejudice is.

No I'm not a genius but I do try to recognize the difference between an emotional response and a reasoned one.

from Russia, generally are pretty reactionary.

Besides having known a few myself, my father was a social worker for 50+ years and placed many many Russian Jewish immigrants in jobs so he knew a lot of them pretty well. He tended to reserve judgement, but he was forthcoming when I asked him about the phenomenon.

So you think white people are the only ones who have prejudices against African-Americans?

I'm surprised that you're that simple-minded. I mean, given how much you post, one would think you've done some thinking.

I guess you let your jerking knee do your commentary.

Read up, Pup.