I've got fifty bucks that says these guys are still sitting in Gitmo when Obama is sworn in. Any takers?

thanks for the h/t - and for the Urban Dictionary link! I bookmarked it, now on my dock.

You really nailed it for me regarding the influence of the entertainment media and the distinctions on fault (blame).

It comes down to who and what people view as scary based on their life experiences and cultural education. Bill Cosby’s TV show was extremely influential in making blacks less scary because it destroyed the stereotypes for thinking people with at least partially open minds. Ellen Degeneres and numerous dramas and reality shows have revealed the obvious- LGBT people are like anyone else, except in who they want to have as a loving, live-in partner.

Violence has been made to seem unreal and unscary through all medium in different ways for millenniums. Religions to separate themselves from others have used shame and denigration or worse. Unfortunately, there have been far too few cultures like Native Americans who taught the concept of walking in others’ shoes.

The perception on fault has to do with defining individual responsibility. If the culture teaches that people are viewed as either good or bad and that mistakes are bad, then people are unwilling to accept their part in the problem or conflict. Thus if you are not part of the problem you will not want to be part of the solution for the larger community outside of yours. You will find something or someone, or some group to blame.

It is this kind of thinking and a capitalistic view of life that only begets winners and losers that created our economic crisis. A lot more communication and successful brainstorming for effective solutions for the individual and community would happen if people just adopted the concept expressed by Rabbi Herschfield that you don’t have to be wrong for me to be right and if the problem solving group's goal was to find a win-win outcome.

Human rights violations and unnecessary wars will continue to happen until almost everyone in the world lives a life free of constant struggle and people see the success of the community as important as the success of the individual. That’s provided the community is defined as everyone on earth.

I am also angry at the president elect who has indicated that he will hold no one responsible for these present crimes against humanity.

Do you have any direct evidence for this, other than previously reported rumor?

You said, re David Hicks,

John Howard, may there be a special place for him in hell. You can also add Dick Cheney to that short list.

If there is a hell, it's got a special place in the lowest circle for Howard, Blair, Cheney, Bush, Lieberman, Rockefeller, and all their co-conspirators. The lights are always on there. For all eternity.

I believe it means "hat tip."

Hat Tip: Acknowledgment to a contributor toward an effort. Often used on blogs to let people know where the idea for the blog post originated

See: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hat+tip

Bush and company need to be before the Hague. Any one who thinks otherwise is delusional.

What we DO know warrents that .... think of what we don't.

though I'm online constantly, I must have gone to the bathroom when this came up and I'm tired of seeing it with absolutely no hint of what it means, and I can't find it on Google or in Wikipedia

I will be much happier when I know (it doesn't take much these days...)

That's fascinating to me. There is, I agree, a creepiness to the whole approach that is quite unsettling. I don't pretend to understand it but agree that, At the fringes, both sides have their self-righteous crazies who Must Not Be Questioned. Which always makes me chuckle whenever a wingnut refers to an Obama or Kos as a radical far-left fringe liberal. Hardly. Not even close. They're Federalist Society material in comparison.

You know, whenever I have the misfortune of seeing the likes of Bill O'Reilly or Hannity, both of whom rail on about DailyKos as the epitome of the far left radicals among us, I laugh. And just for the reason you state. There is a radical leftist world out there that is far less permeable than the likes of these will ever know.

They were different. It's hard to describe, but there was a smug way in which it became personal beyond normal ad hom attacks. The haughty and dismissive condescension just oozed out of their every word, which were carefully and specifically chosen for the intended target, and meant to cut. It felt almost stalker-like, and quite creepy.

There was also a Jesus-like surely to their views, that they were unquestionably correct and that only a fool--i.e. everybody who wasn't them--would be stupid or dishonest enough to question them. They seemed to take joy and smug satisfaction in insulting people who disagreed with them. And one of them even claimed to feel joy whenever a US soldier was killed in Iraq.

At the fringes, both sides have their self-righteous crazies who Must Not Be Questioned. Which always makes me chuckle whenever a wingnut refers to an Obama or Kos as a radical far-left fringe liberal. Hardly. Not even close. They're Federalist Society material in comparison.

Anyway, they appear to be gone from there, for now.

Seems to me that Glenn is correct in that we can only judge actions by the president elect and not the fears of others. (like me)

Nevertheless, fear is healthy (I always say).

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-foreign-policy20-2008nov20,0,1380983.story

By Paul Richter

November 20, 2008

Reporting from Washington -- Antiwar groups and other liberal activists are increasingly concerned at signs that Barack Obama's national security team will be dominated by appointees who favored the Iraq invasion and hold hawkish views on other important foreign policy issues.

The activists are uneasy not only about signs that both Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates could be in the Obama Cabinet, but at reports suggesting that several other short-list candidates for top security posts backed the decision to go to war. ... click sig for more

***********

Seems to me that Glenn is correct in that we can only judge actions by the president elect and not the fears of others. (like me)

However, the "signs" are not looking favorable for those who hope for an end to the brutal American worldwide murders.