I figure they don't have a fuck of a lot

In which to feel all that jolly

Fools are found

Left and right

You seem to suggest some kinda shit

With no grey areas

Just all's dour in black 'n white

Obama's campaign rheteric was highly focussed on Pakistan.

Okay, a bit of background:

India and Pakistan have been sort of hostile since the two states seperated, with several wars between the two. It is what sparked the nuclear arms race between them - and one of the reasons the rest of the world was kind of worried about it.

One of the issues with Iran's nuclear arms race is that the rest of the world doesn't want to face the same issue with Iran and Israel as it already faces with Pakistan and India.

Now, the hostilities have a religious dimension, Pakistan is a Islamic country and India is Hindu, which means that these attacks may well have an impact on relations between the two countries, which essentially still don't like each other and still have nukes.

A war with Pakistan may well have been what the Deccan Mujahideen was aiming for, because once this shock has worn off, well you remember how America reacted to 9/11.

Bush is a diplomatic disaster area, Obama has the gift of the gab. Not only that, but Obama's attention was already on Pakistan back when the elections started, and thus he should hopefully be familiar with the issues affecting at least half of the problem.

Obama may still fail to deal with the issue effectively, we don't know how well he will do because he is not in power yet, but the hope with Obama was that he would be able to use finesse to achieve goals rather than force, and thus hopefully be able to tackle problems like this more effectively than McCain could.

The use of brute force

Usually produces resentment and distress...

Fools are found both left and right

And clowns are often fools

But claiming one extreme cannot laugh

Is generally the act of tools

(IE: The whole argument over whether the far left or the far right have senses of humour at all, tends to forget that a sense of humour is often a symptom of paying attention to politics - which leads to strong opinions on both sides.

The right often seems humourless from a leftwing perspective, particularly the far right, but it would be more accurate to say it has a different sense of humour, which is currently less popular, rather than that it is incapable of laughter to start off with. The same with the far left from a rightwing perspective.

Also, the facts just don't follow the hypothesis that leftwingers are humourless, as I pointed out, there are a lot of leftwingers whose bread and butter is making people laugh, and a lot of them are pretty far on the left.)

That some are too serious about themselves

And you kick up a righteous ruckus

Like a busy collective full of militant tree elves

Did I lose my membership to the revolution?

Some perhaps and many not

But the statement came off

As claiming it was the lot

And all of us strict or not

It seems in our ability to laugh

Our politics matter not one jot

Nah, I am mostly just joking with you. I have a strange sense of humour that includes coming off a lot more seriously than I really am.

Are way too uptight

Livid pricks

But that's just me

If you feel different

We can beg to differ

And disagree

Again, more people bitching about Sec Gates.

Imagine, I once thought Salon was a site for Liberal pragmatists, now I realize that it is a site for ideologues.

Sec Gates is not at fault for Iraq, Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, etc. He was brought in by GWB to fix the mess he has created and so far he has done a great job.

Especially by giving a kick in the ass to the Army and Air Force about which priorities to focus on. He is the best man for the job and must be retained.

To rest of you who oppose Sec Gates you know not of what you speak. So keep your mouth shut to avoid sounding foolish.

And sometimes the biggest pricks

Are the ones who call both sides dicks

(IE: You get humourless people in the middle as well as on both sides of the political debate. Enjoying a joke isn't really about whether you are "Strictly" left or rightwing.)

And no rule to all exceptions!

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*Thank you Joan for the Thanksgiving shout-out!*

(You made my Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

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And here's a Quote for Thanksgiving:

"Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit."

-- Peter Ustinov

Had McCain been elected, we would have likely gotten a response completely unrelated to the terrorist incident (e.g. attacking Iran) which would have made the problem of terrorism much worse.

Obama, on the other hand, will hopefully deal with terrorism the way it should be dealt with; with cool headed police and intelligence work and by creating the political conditions that will help dry up the sources of terrorism.

i want to say thank you Joan for your articles .I first knew about you in the closing months of this elections ,when you made frequent appearences on Hardball .i have always listened carefully to what you had to say and have have been gravitated to your articles eversince.Happy Thanksgiving to you too.

I'm grateful for obama for being pro abortion if we are ever going to be able to keep the violence down in this country, abortion is the way!!! Abortions are predominately performed on blacks and everyone is aware of the fact that blacks are 12% of the population but commit 75% of the crimes in this country. But we can not dare stat the facts or we are Racist!!! I'm not a Racist!!! I'M JUST HONEST!!!! AND NOT AFRAID TO STATE THE FACTS!!!!!!!

Thank you, Joan. May you have an enjoyable Thanksgiving.