July 9, 2009, 10:18 am
Food for thought

According to a new site called Mediaite, Mark Bittman of the Times is the 8th most influential columnist in America, ahead of Arianna Huffington.

It’s also noteworthy that Glenn Greenwald of Salon is #10.

On the other hand, Christopher Hitchens is #5. Why would God allow that?

And the less said about #1, the better …

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/

Number One puts in a plug for Number Ten, and there are plenty of nice things being said about Number Ten in the comments.

GITMO (and how I hate that truncation)

Likewise, but for a different reason. The official US Navy abbreviation for the Naval Base at Guantánamo is GTMO. It is, of course, pronounced "gitmo", but it should be written GTMO. That's how you tell the salts from the lubbers.

Correct me if I'm wrong,,but it is my understanding that Obama was 'weighing the idea' of establsiihing indefinite detentions. It is a snot been put into policy.

Has anyone ever thought Obama threw this idea out there to get reactions. He did after all put it out there and not in some covert action.

Yes dear we had thought about it. It's called a kite flying exercise.

Once he finds that his vile idea is only met with the muddle headed meeping from the likes of you he will then know that the coast is clear and that he can in fact institutionalise the process.

Then when its far to late and the jack boots are marching down the road you'll wake up and realise that indefinite detention applied to Americans as well.

And by god would I like to be the section head of goons that bust into your house and dragged you away I really would.

'If today's news media will be the primary sources for future historians, what does that bode for the future of history?"

I think good historians don't rely only on news stories for their sources. They rely on a variety of sources.

My understanding is the U.S military is now taking a different approach in the south and attempting to make friends with villagers and tribes and encourage them to grow alternative crops.

Of course we must distrust any news we hear, so this could be wrong.

I think good historians don't rely only on news stories for their sources. They rely on a variety of sources.

Straight off your head name one historian who you have read out of school and what period did it cover?

bernbart:

Of course Obama is not the one making all the calls on this, there are 2 other branches of government.

Here's what Obama said in May:

"We are not going to release anyone if it would endanger our national security, nor will we release detainees within the United States who endanger the American people ... Where demanded by justice and national security, we will seek to transfer some detainees to the same type of facilities in which we hold all manner of dangerous and violent criminals within our borders -- namely, highly secure prisons that ensure the public safety."

Not a word about those abducted being charged, not a word about trials, nothing at all along the lines of basic jurisprudence. (And what does it matter if people are held at Guantanamo or elsewhere? The site itself is unimportant; that they're held unjustly isn't.)

These are the words of a man who's chosen, deliberately, to continue the policies of his predecessor--not because those policies are written in stone, but because he's made some sort of pathetic political calculation.

As for the funding issue, that's political malarky with GOPers and so-called Blue Dems trying for pathetic political points with frightened constituents. Frankly, I think it's disingenuous to try to alleviate Obama's responsibility here (and I voted for the guy).

berbart, I have to go now but I've enjoyed the exchange.

Yes, I did read the article in McClatchy and I just went back and re-read it again and you are right. I mis read it. Walk did support eradication. Of course my critics here will love this. At least however I admit when I'm wrong.

Well of course we will love it. But not for the stupid reason you credit us with. It'll be just nice to see that you can actually change your mind when presented with new facts.

So I'm still waiting for you to thank me for correcting your misapprehensions about the videos.

Straight off your head name one historian who you have read out of school and what period did it cover?

Thank you.

I would not give an ounce of information to a rude journalist.--bernbart

...I've had in ages.

When will you get that blogging and twittering non stop at meetings or evnts is RUDE!!!!!

Ever since Miss Manners started cutting checks to ccbill and became a bdsm camwhore, I am horribly confused about what is and isn't rude. No matter what I do--I am in the wrong and I am a bad person, and truthfully, she seems rather rude about communicating this information to me. Also, the language that she chooses seems coded in veiled threats of physical restraint. It hardly seems worth the 30 bucks a month.

Anyhoo, this Bruno fellow isn't helping things either. He is even worse than that Punked show with Ashton Kutcher, who re-popularized milfs, even though that stuff, like fashion, is pretty circular. Remember Candid Camera? Allen Funt sounds like a totally made up name. Now a days, Candid Camera is more associated with upskirts, than a respectable older man who likes to lie to children in order to scare them, while secretly filming it. You can thank/blame the Japanese for that. The upskirts thing--not the lying older man who scares children while someone takes pictures thing--thank the Christians for Santa...you though this was going to be a MJ joke, didn't you?

To get back to the point, liberal public transportation is the cause of upskirts. Think about that next time you encourage your wife, mother or daughter to "take the bus." Most people don't know this, but the bicycle was invented by a ribald painter who originally intended the device to teach women how to pose provocatively. Think about that next time you encourage others to "Recycle." Why is Larry Flynt backing the Global Warming Lie? The goal is to use the power of suggestion and repetition to convince women that they need to wear less clothes because the planet is getting warmer. This isn't rocket surgery people--engage your brains.

The rudest people are those that talk on their cell phones at the movie theater. Those people are the worst. I also hate the people that pay a $16 bill with a twenty spot, a fiver and a single. You give them back everything but the twenty and try to explain that $20 is more than $16, but then they start talking about some trigonometry bullshit and I am supposed to give them back ten dollars and some long convoluted story. Well, the first day of training they teach us to be on the look out for fast talkers who try the old "change for a twenty" scam, and so I have to call my manager over to straighten this guy out. I hate people like that.