Both of you have points!

It must be difficult to find hats that will fit them.

Seriously, I realize that the voices are hard to ignore. Don't give up, Geodon and Seraquil are showing promise. Step away from the cheetos...

New theory- trolls have access to letter generator software. The "socialist" in the letter, completely out of context with the entire thread, is the tipoff.

Contracts aren't inherently good or bad. The problem is that huge amounts of money are now at play, which always brings out the worst in people(see, illegal drugs, college basketball recruiting, etc., etc.) and makes oversight even more crucial. What the Bush administation did, especially post 9-11, was to throw billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to political and ideological cronies, many of who did not have the actual competence to do the contracted jobs. At the same time, they eviscerated the oversight mechanisms, either by cutting the federal agency staff, putting political hacks in charge , and/or outsourcing the ovesight to yet another contractor! The opportunities for graft and corruption ar obvious in retrospect. If only Henry Waxman were triplets...

As an aside- Kirk, I grew up watching Star Trek. Sorry, but you just don't jibe with the reality. I might accept Sisko...

No, I'm not speaking about the lower-than-usual-quality trolls (well, not directly). What Professor Cole points out, which is obvious to the non-personality diosordered, is that in the real world, psychologically healthy people notice inconsistency and contradiction. Bush and the neocons fit the classic diagnosis of personality disorders- self-centered and self-aggrandizing, unable to ever see themselves as wrong or to blame when things go wrong, and genuinely clueless as to how their actions impact on others. In their lizard-brains, there really is no contradiction between their self-righteous invasion of a sovereign nation, and condemning Russia for doing the same thing. (I am not arguing whether Iraq was less or more of a democracy than Georgia, although I find the 97% electoral majorities in both cases an interesting coincidence?)

You see, when I do it, its OK. When you do it, it' s wrong. Remember how many of these same folks piously condemned Clinton while screwing anything that would lay still long enough? The really scary part is that these folks really, honestly don't see that as a contradiction- that's what narcissism and sociopathy looks like. And that lack of anxiety and high degree of certainty are very appealing to fearful and insecure voters. I need a drink...

Sorry if you thought my post was "psychobabble" (I guess the Ph.D. from the prestigious program, 25 years of experience, the publications, the invited addresses, etc. were all a sham. Sigh...)

The funny thing is that the last line of your later post was exactly the point I was trying to make- that some people, due NOT to lack of "intelligence" but to a personality-based rigidity, simply can't learn from experience. They are often quite charismatic and can rise to positions of considerable power, and can be quite capable in many ways. But if something goes wrong, it's never their mistake or a failure of their underlying ideology. You give excelent historical and recent examples of how otherwise smart folks can screw up exactly this way.

Peace Out

KT has more to lose in trying to tell the truth (and failing), rather than just passing along a lie. If a MSM stenographer gets called for reporting something untrue (and 95% of the time in a direction benefitting Repubs) s/he was just quoting a source. To do true investigative journalism is to point out that the establishment is wrong. Read Kuhn's work on scientific revolution? If you offer an alternative/competing theory, initially the theory itself will be attacked by those who are invested in the current paradigm. If the new theory does not go away, the author is attacked next.

As an aside, Spooter's attack on critical thinking was hilarious!

DD

I can't help it- I must know! IS THawk a random right-wing talking point generator, or does he actually believe his own bullshit???

(This is the mirror image of trying to actually understand how any creature with enough cognitive ability to turn on a computer could watch that interview and see anything other than a major league crash and burn...)

Totally debunked horseshit, as always (must taste familiar?)

But if Obama needed to go negative/personal:

McCain-

4th from the bottom of his class

Crashed 4 planes

Confessed war criminal

Serial adulterer

Up to his neck in the S&L scandal

Demonstrable flip-flopper and liar (a "Maverick" who kissed the ass of the Religious Right and K-Street to get the nomination)

and Palin is just too easy!

Finally, you normally don't lose the game when your lead is INCREASING in the 4th quarter!

Now run along and whack off again to your Sarah shrine...

has the highest percentage of moronic, racist, and just flat-out illiterate posts I can remember in a while. In a karmic way, I guess you've all proved Joe's point!

Common sense is an oxymoron...

and I will stipulate that he is, this is still an incredibly dangerous preceedent. If this guy is actually committing physical/sexual assault, then by all means go after him for these crimes. But to give into the temptation to "get this guy" at a cost of trashing teh First Amenment, and to decide that something filmed 3,000 miles away is obscene and put it's creator in prison?

I'll bet there are communities where you could get the same conviction against Bill Maher for his new film... here in Cincinnati for one...