Words do hurt - I actually at this moment feel saddened by the comments I have inspired and I still don't see why what I said is wrong, or even particularly controversial. I can only guess that my shocking views have struck a nerve. I wonder what kind of response this will get?

are on fire today.

DcLaw1: hypocrisy crumpets

I like naughty crumpets with my hypocritical, uncouth and pedestrian non-organic Lipton tea. Isn't that awful of me? A Vanderbilt/Cooper/AC360 I'll never be. Good thing I'm happy living in my trailer.

"I'm guessing that you see yourself as a progressive leftist..."

You would be guessing incorrectly.

Greenwald does not consider himself a leftist, rightist, progressive, or regressive.

Greenwald, for lack of a better official mainstream description, is a Constitutionalist.

Yes, he believes in the Constitution and the Rule of Law. Some of his better offerings here have to do with how this country's political leadership has strayed away from those principles. As a result, he often "goes off" on politicians and the journalists and pundits who, for one reason or another, decline to hold that political leadership's feet to the fire political affiliation be damned.

I will be extremely surprised (and disappointed) if Greenwald changes his tune merely because the Democrats hold the White House and Congress and fully expect him to continue expressing his views regarding violations of the public trust.

No, that's it.

Just un-be-freakin'-lievable.

By the way, Glenn...thanks for the link to the Rove/Gregory rapfest. NOT.

In some sick and twisted way, however, that little ditty sums up precisely what's wrong with this country today: criminals dance, the media claps along, and Americans watch silently in horror.

"I'm happy living in my trailer"--Timothy3

Trailers- the summer hotbed of lowly abode and the cold drafts of humble furnaces.

"I found Ashcroft as lucid as I've seen him at meetings at the White House."

- Alberto Gonzales, referring to former Attorney General John Ashcroft's state of mind while under treatment in a Washington hospital when Gonzales and former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card entered Ashcroft's room on March 10, 2004

- Wall Street Journal, 12/31/08

"The showdown with the vice president, the day before, had been excruciating, the pressure 'so great it could crush you like a grape.' (former acting Attorney General James) Comey said. 'This was worse. Was Comey going to sit there and watch a barely conscious man make his mark on a piece of paper? 'I didn't know what I was going to do,' Comey said. Right about then, Ashcroft raised himself up stiffly. He glared at his visitors (Card and Gonzales) and said they had no business coming. He gave a lucid account of the reasons that Justice had decided to withhold support (for the continuance of the surveillance program). And then he went beyond that. Ashcroft said he never should have certified the program.

" 'You drew the circle to tight I couldn't get the advice that I needed,' Ashcroft said, according to Comey. He knew things today, he said, that he should have known before they first asked for his signature. If it were up to him now, he would refuse to approve. But it was not up to him. Gesturing at his deputy (Comey), Ashcroft said, 'There is the attorney general.' Spent and pale, Ashcroft sank back down. As Gonzales and Card retreated, (Mrs.) Janet Ashcroft 'shook her head and stuck her tongue out,' (Jack) Goldsmith recalled. 'It wasn't funny at all. It was completely serious. He was really, really sick. He'd just expended himself. I was worried he was going to die.' "

- ... from "U-turn on Constitution Avenue", Ch. 12, p. 304

- "Angler"

- by Barton Gellman

- Penguin, 2008

Why do you not immediately, as a Gentleman of High Order, come to the aid of fainting Lady Tommy...

____________________________________

Well, I would, but when I reached for my smelling salts after Obama's support for the FISA legislation, I didn't bother to read the instructions first and reflexively snorted them all up.

I thought the nosebleeds would never stop!

Words do hurt - I actually at this moment feel saddened by the comments I have inspired and I still don't see why what I said is wrong, or even particularly controversial.

This is not high school debating society. Commenting on the topic is one thing. Commenting on relationships between commenters is not very bright unless you understand what is going on.

an intelligence-gathering effort becomes useless. The prisoners' (detainees!?) identities held at Gitmo were known by the very entities that we wanted the intel on. This fact may have forced them into the underground so any information obtained from the prisoners is suspect at best.

The fact that the treatment of prisoners at Gitmo became world-wide headlines reveals the true nature of the incompetence of the Bush Administration "keeping us safe from terrorists" doctrine. Once revealed, an intelligence gathering apparatus is useless but this was a concept unkown to the Bushies, apparently.

The mistreatment (torture) of the prisoners (or detainees if you prefer) was the icing on the cake for our enemies. Not only did they know about the activities at Gitmo and were for the most part able to react by possibly changing their tactics(?) but the POW torture issue was a made to order publicity plus to further their cause.

Words do hurt - I actually at this moment feel saddened by the comments I have inspired

This happens almost once a thread... someone comes on and says something critical of the commentariat, gets flamed in response, and emits a stunned mew of wounded feelings.

What I can't wrap my head around is what people expect when they criticize a roomful of strangers. I mean, I guess in a perfect world one could imagine a solemn round of soul-searching and warm thanks for bringing a new point of view to the discussion. But Christ-a-mighty, kids... this is the internet. Even in a place like this - which as I have said before is among the most temperate comment threads I frequent - we tend not to suffer fools gladly.

I personally appreciate those that come with contrary perspectives... I do it myself, in other fora, when I'm feeling froggy.

I just don't whine about it when I get flamed.

They make fire-retardant boxers for a reason.