http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2014/02/hurleys-ex-lover-caught-on-bombshell-audio-recording-revealing-ex-prezs-white-house-sex-romps-behind-wife-hillarys-back/

Michale

That's an opinion...

I am sure that Phillip Seymour Hoffman thought that doing heroin was not a "real crime"...

The "Dreamer" in Oregon didn't commit a "real crime". Until she left the scene of an accident that brutally killed two innocent little girls..

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/immigration-detention-teen-leaf-pile-deaths-22353625

You can put all the lipstick on the pig you want..

But the simple fact is, illegal immigration costs this country and her citizens much MUCH more than we gain..

Let's take care of Americans first. THEN we can see about being the World's Welfare agency...

Is there anything wrong with that??

Michale

Just set the record straight, I passed Senator Goldwater somewhere in the Crystal City complex, Arlington, VA. He had no entourage and was moving briskly. I nodded recognition, he nodded back. I doubt this sort of thing could happen today.

I stand corrected. Nonetheless, it's not a "real" crime: that is, it's a malum prohibitum rather than a malum in se. The existing world order is the crime.

Star Wars is basically a Western in space. But Lucas admitted that the final scene in the first movie (Ep IV) was stolen directly from Leni Reifenstahl (sp?) -- her epic Nazi worshipping "Triumph Of The Will." I saw this film a while back, and it is true beyond a shadow of a doubt. The whole scene where Luke and Han get medals pinned on them (and R2D2 is revealed to be back in shape and "alive") is straight out of a Neuremberg rally.

But then, to be fair, so is pretty much all sports filming, like what we'll be seeing at the Olympics for the next few weeks. Reifenstahl was a moviemaking genius, even if she was working for pure evil. Her techniques are widely copied even now.

I also like Charlie Wilson's War. As for war films, well, the classics of WWII still have appeal (Tora Tora Tora is one of my favorites). Vietnam-era films can be pretty realistic and grunt's-eye-level (Platoon).

The most fascinating recent thing I've seen wasn't a movie, it was a PBS documentary. They were trying to go for a sort of "reality show" feel, and what they did was to go for a ride on an aircraft carrier, for the ship's whole deployment (I think it was just called "Carrier"). It wasn't overly exciting, but it did show things from a whole lot of different saliors' point of view, and it showed all sorts of very human situations that you wouldn't normally think of as part of a war situation. I think Michale watched this show too, he may even agree with me on this one.

Last point, I'm not sure exactly what I'd say if I bumped into Barry Goldwater in a bookstore. Heh. But it is fun to think about...

-CW

It's an old military axiom that no battle plan, regardless of brilliance, survives contact with the enemy.. :D

Michale

CW (35) good SF read list, 'cept Battlefield Earth, which I couldn't finish.

Star Wars owes a huge debt to the film Lawrence of Arabia, which isn't history, but then neither is TE Lawrence's Seven Pillars, but still a great read.

I'm fond of the film version of Charlie Wilson's War, which rings true to my own brief stint as a (very junior) military analyst in DC during this era. DC was a surprisingly open community in those early Reagan days. You could get of the subway and walk right into the Pentagon Book Store...which was a really good store! You couldn't go through a day without encountering somebody like, oh Barry Goldwater, pushing on the other side of the revolving door.

Clancey's books are fun to read, but they're shallow, action hero stuff. Operations go bing, bing, bing, very linear, no real ambiguities, no real fog of war. The major lesson I learned from my DC days is that you can't really plan a war - all you hope is to to not be completely surprised by what develops, and try and keep up with the chaos.

I was in DC just when Clancey was hitting it big. He gets the prevailing attitude right (he knew his audience) but not the substance. Leaders of Ryan's rank that I knew and worked around (circa Red October) were a pretty reflective bunch - especially the Marines who'd experienced combat up close and personal.

Illegal immigration is a civil infraction, not a crime.

Sorry to burst yer bubble there, but Illegal Immigration is a misdemeanor..

If repeated after deportation, it becomes a felony.

Entering the United States without being inspected or legally admitted is a misdemeanor and, in some cases, a felony.
https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/FINAL_criminalizing_undocumented_immigrants_issue_brief_PUBLIC_VERSION.pdf

Michale

Yea, but it seems like Denver has been getting all the Pot Press of late...

Michale

Except, you know, 2016 and all that.

If Dems continue to get 70+ of Latino vote, then GOP is toast in national elections as soon as Texas goes blue... maybe Boehner realizes this and is trying to do something about it?

Do you honestly believe that Latinos will vote Right, even if the House pushes amnesty??

The Democratic Party is the Party Of Free Stuff..

Nothing the GOP can do to compete with that...

OK, 'fessing up, here, I just read I think my third Ryan book. It was called "Debt of Honor" and was written in the anti-Japan 90s. Wasn't as good as the other one I've read ("Clear And Present Danger"), I thought -- took forever for the action to get started...

You simply have GOT to read EXECUTIVE ORDERS.. It takes place minutes after DEBT OF HONOR ends...

Jay Leno had the best commentary tonight on the game: "The last time I saw a Bronco moving that slow, OJ was driving it!"

Now THAT was funny!!! :D

OK, when, exactly, is the right wing going to give Obama credit on this one? Obama has done more than ANY OTHER president to secure the border.

With the utmost respect, that is complete and utter felgercarp!!

ALL Obama did was change the way the Border Patrol counted illegals and arrests and how the BP operated.. Look up the phrase "TURN BACK SOUTH"...

The border is much LESS secure now than ever before. THAT is what the grunts on the ground, the actual AGENTS who have to live with Washington's boneheaded moves, say...

At the risk of dragging this topic down, it's why the Left Wing claims that Climate Change is generating more storms. There are actually LESS storms now than ever before. What has changed are the parameters used to call a storm a storm.. They have been lowered WAY down.

So, there aren't really any more storms. We just lowered the threshold so it APPEARS there are more storms.

So it is with Border Security. Things are actually WORSE than before. But because Obama counts things differently, the NUMBERS make things look better when they are actually much worse..

Fair enough. What I always wanted to ask one of these "rule of law" worshiping politicians, though: how many people break the speed limit? What should be done with them? There are millions BREAKING THE LAW every day, and I think they should all pay a steep price.

In other words: there is breaking the law, and then there is breaking the law. Nobody's 100% perfect, I'd wager.

If someone "just breaks the speed limit" but, in doing so, causes a wreck that kills or injures, guess what? They go to jail. Reckless Driving..

If an illegal cause pain or suffering (by omission or commission) than their immigration law violation is NOT a victim-less crime..

Do you see my point???

Michale

That's an opinion biased by political ideology..

If our laws are so "radically immoral" then people can just NOT come here..

The whole project of drawing a line on the earth, so as to keep opportunity on one side and poverty on the other, is one of the great evil ideas of human history.

The lines are not designed to keep opportunity on one side and poverty on the other.. If Country A is poverty-stricken on one side of the line, it's not Country B's fault because Country B has unlimited oppurtunity on THEIR side of the line

It's also not Country B's responsibility to provide opportunity for the citizens of Country A.

I will grant you that there ARE illegal immigrants who are honest, trustworthy and WOULD be an asset to this country. They likely amount to about 1% of the illegal immigrant population.

I'll even be overly generous (as I am wont to do) and say 5% of the illegal immigrant population would be an asset to this country..

But, please. Explain to me the logic of giving the 95% who are simply bent....

"Dare I say, HELLBENT"
-Dr Rodney McKay

... on breaking our laws and causing as much heartache and pain on our citizens, free reign in this country just to help out the VERY small minority of illegals who ARE decent people..

It makes no sense whatsoever..

Michale

I'd put it as the cartoon Wyle E. Coyote standing in mid-air, just realizing there's no rock underneath him anymore, and whipping out a sign "UH-OH!"

Heh.

Michale [12] -

there is NO DOWNSIDE to GOP to stop the amnesty push.

Except, you know, 2016 and all that.

If Dems continue to get 70+ of Latino vote, then GOP is toast in national elections as soon as Texas goes blue... maybe Boehner realizes this and is trying to do something about it?

Michale [14] -

OK, 'fessing up, here, I just read I think my third Ryan book. It was called "Debt of Honor" and was written in the anti-Japan 90s. Wasn't as good as the other one I've read ("Clear And Present Danger"), I thought -- took forever for the action to get started...

AS for the Super Bowl...

Michale [20] -

Don't forget, weed's legal in Seattle, too...

Heh.

I read it as you folk did: 22-0 was bad, but once the Seahawks ran the kickoff in for a TD to make it 29-0, the game was essentially over.

I was unbiased, as the Ravens weren't playing (having won, last year, as you all recall...).

Jay Leno had the best commentary tonight on the game: "The last time I saw a Bronco moving that slow, OJ was driving it!"

Heh.

dsws -

Now, see, every time I write a Friday column, I only have a limited amount of time to fact-check. Some things I let go by, and some I check (every politicians' name, for instance, I've blown too many of them in the past). I was feeling shaky on troposphere, but went with it.

It has been changed to "Stratosphere." Mea culpa.

Michale [28] -

OK, when, exactly, is the right wing going to give Obama credit on this one? Obama has done more than ANY OTHER president to secure the border. He has beefed up Border Patrol, he has deported more than any other president, he is the most awesome border-controller to ever inhabit the White House. OK, so he's not perfect, but he is one hell of a lot better than anyone else (including, by the way, the post-9/11 Bush), so where, exactly, does the right wing get off in trying to paint him as standing on the border with a "welcome!" sign?

Sorry, but that one's been bugging me for a while... it's fact versus FOX spin...

dsws [29] -

If people no longer have to live in fear of deportation, that's a substantial improvement even if there is no path to citizenship.

That's what scares me. What will the immigrants-rights groups and congressional Dems settle for? Half a loaf is better than none, but American only tackles this issue politically once every generation, so that half a loaf could last for the next 30 years.

Republicans have (even if Michale doesn't realize it and is beating up Boehner currently for even bringing it up) quite possibly a winning "wedge" issue with this -- Dems and immigrants-rights groups may split fiercely over the question of citizenship, and it could be expertly wielded by Republicans. It is going to be very, very interesting to see how this plays out in the next few months, that's for sure...

Michale [30] -

First and foremost, the responsibility to OBEY THE LAW...

Fair enough. What I always wanted to ask one of these "rule of law" worshiping politicians, though: how many people break the speed limit? What should be done with them? There are millions BREAKING THE LAW every day, and I think they should all pay a steep price.

In other words: there is breaking the law, and then there is breaking the law. Nobody's 100% perfect, I'd wager.

The corollary to "rule of law" is: "make the punishment fit the crime." If undocumented immigrants break the law, then let them pay a fine and back taxes, and what is the problem?

As for super bowl commercials, I thought the Doritos "Time machine" one at the start was the best....

dsws [33] -

Aha! Exactly!

:-)

OK, finally finished...

-CW

Best war novel I've read? Well, being more of a sci-fi guy, I have more than one answer.

Starship Troopers (RA Heinlein) -- MUCH better than the movie. Lots of interesting theory at the start of the book (like: only veterans can vote... and other interesting governmental theories...).

Ender's Game (OS Card) -- nice fantasy, great storytelling. Much better than the movie, I assume (haven't seen it yet). Nice original view of "society sending its youngest into battle." First sequel was pretty good, too.

The Forever War (?? forget, something like Haldeman??) -- excellent book based in the hard science of time dilation in "warp" voyages. Thousands of years of a single war. This is the "anti-Starship Troopers" book, as it were. Shows the mindlessness of war itself.

Battlefield Earth (LR Hubbard) -- MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better than the movie! This is actually a great book, like reading two Star Wars movies in a row (two of the original three, mind you). Rip-snorting good action, aftermath considerations, and not a word about Dianetics or Scientology or all the rest of that nonsense. Forget all about John Travolta, read this book, it's worth it!

:-)

-CW

I've heard it suggested that this is part of the continuing Establishment GOP v. Tea Party fight. Boehner is smacking the Tea Partiers in the face with the immigration thing.

Don't know if I totally buy into that, but it sounds at least plausible. Boehner's on his way to taking back control of his caucus, and if he wins on this he could really marginalize the Tea Party members. Like I said, has the ring of plausibility at least...

-CW

Immigration law is radically immoral. The whole project of drawing a line on the earth, so as to keep opportunity on one side and poverty on the other, is one of the great evil ideas of human history.

The rights of the accused apply specifically to those who are accused of an offense. If men were angels, or if angels governed men, they would not be necessary. If my apartment is broken into tomorrow, and the perpetrators are caught, I absolutely hope that they are arrested without unnecessary force and subjected to legal process that respects all their rights. What can be done to them, can also be done to me.

Responsibility to obey the law is not absolute. You can't be shot on sight for driving 56 mph in a 55 mph zone. The program of "self-deportation" -- turning the United States into a place refugees flee from, instead of to -- is not a suitable response to violations of immigration law.

Often years, I want to tune into the SB JUST for the commercials..

This year was not one of those years..

Michale

http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2014/02/03/coca-cola-super-bowl-ad-stirs-controversy-with-multilingual-singing-of-america-the-beautiful/

I have to admit. I was a tad perturbed that such a song representing our country, I didn't have a clue what was being sung...

For all I know, they could have changed the wording to DEATH TO AMERICA!!!!

There can be a thing as too MUCH diversity, don'tcha know...

Michale

With rights comes responsibilities..

First and foremost, the responsibility to OBEY THE LAW...

Put another way. If you come home from vacation and you find a bunch of scumbags have broken into your home and lived their, making a mess and eating your food and breaking and selling your things...

Are you going to be concerned about their liberties???

Or are you going to have them arrested??

The is no difference in the two concepts..

Michale

Even if you care absolutely nothing about immigrants' human rights (and this country doesn't), immigrants must be given civil liberties. Because if they don't have them, no one does. If the authorities can disappear an alleged illegal immigrant, they can disappear anyone. Poof, detainee 24601 is now an un-person no matter who he or she was before.

Yea, security's such a downer, right?

Always interfering with people's ability to wantonly violate the laws of the land...

{/sarcasm}

That should say "tropopause" or "stratosphere". The existing wall reaches up to the troposphere.

That is, the troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere, so it starts at ground level.

That about sums up the game for the Broncos...

Michale

In hindsight, I think the game was over after that Manning SNAFU/Safety 3 secs into the game..

That was so amateur and it went downhill from there...

Michale

Michale

Maybe too much pot, eh?? :D

Michale

Quickest score in Super Bowl history. 3 seconds....

Michale

To what end??

Democrats are the Party Of Free Stuff...

What can the Republicans offer to counter that??

Michale

Look at it logically..

I agree, but I don't think the logic is as simple as you make it.

Republicans could fight for the Latino vote. Gingrich was in favor of this, arguing Latinos are a conservative, Republican leaning demographic. This may be wishful thinking (generalizing Florida's pro GOP Cuban block with Latinos in general), but in any event it clearly risks offending a large chunk of core Republican activists forcing their party into ever more extreme conservative positions. Mollifying the Core is key to keeping the Red State Republican Congressional Incumbents in their seats. This is the way the Republican party has chosen to go.

The problem with this strategy is that it tends to lock Republicans out of the White House and probably shrinks the party in the long term. How many blocks can a party write off and still remain viable?

Overall, the Republican's problem isn't any one demographic group, it's relentless US urbanization. Republican ideology captures greater land mass (rural states), but Democrats attract more people from densely populated states. If Republicans don't adapt to changing urban:rural balance, they risk extinction as a national party. Go big or go home? Republicans seem to favor going home, at least for now. Losing Texas might finally change their minds, but that's a while off.

Simple..

Ryan always did what was right, regardless of what was popular...

Granted, sometimes it was TOO MUCH.. Ever read PATRIOT GAMES?? My gods, the guy was nauseatingly perfect!! :D

Bush's actions in the aftermath of 9/11 was as close to a Jack Ryan as we have come...

Michale

Put another way...

If someone owns a summer home in Miami... In March, someone breaks into the house, lives there for months, eats the food and generally makes a mess..

What Democrats propose is the same as saying, "Well, the guy was down on his luck and was just looking for a better life. Therefore he can stay in the house he broke into"

Which of course, means that the people who actually OWN the house (Middle Class Americans) are royally frak'ed over...

Michale

Halting a path to citizenship isn't going to save the GOP bacon.

Neither is allowing millions and millions of Undocumented Democrats to legally vote..

Look at it logically..

Anyone who is NOT going to vote GOP because they halt amnesty is NOT going to vote GOP anyways...

Given that fact, there is NO DOWNSIDE to GOP to stop the amnesty push..

Michale

"minting millions and millions of new Dem voters"

Halting a path to citizenship isn't going to save the GOP bacon. The more fundamental problem is that illegal immigrants already in country are a young demographic, and young people reproduce at a high rate, especially when compared to old white people, the core Republican demographic.

All those children born in country are American citizens, who can vote at age 18. This will tilt the balance further Blue, unless Republicans figure out how to win over Latino children while simultaneously demonizing and deporting their parents. That is a tough sell.

Smart Republican operatives know this, but they also know this long term problem is balanced by the short term demands of the Republican cores: Establishment Republicans and Tea Part Republicans.
Neither will stand for a "path to citizenship" option.

Combine demographics with the US Constitutional structure and you get a regional Republican Party, with poor Presidential prospects, but strong near term prospects in Congress. In other words, more gridlock.

CW- Boehner's recent remarks are an indication of thinking out loud about a vexing problem with no clear solution, often illustrated in classic cartoon shorts by bulging eyes and/or steam coming out of a characters ears.

Not entirely accurate. They started the TP, thinking that it would make a useful tool in their arsenal to channel populist leanings among righties. What they didn't count on is that quite a few of their convenient tools wouldn't behave as planned; that right-wing populists might occasionally have minds of their own.

JL

Ironically enough, Corporate America owns BOTH Partys..

Even more irony, they own the Tea Party too.

"Republicans are going to need a stretch clown car this time around."

As I posted a while back, what kind of presidential candidate runs against 4:1 odds? To elaborate a bit:

Type 1: The deluded who don't believe the odds. Type 2: The ideologues who want a soapbox. Type 3: The marketing entrepreneur who sees it as a money making enterprise. This is not an exhaustive list, but you get my point. Weak odds attract weak candidates.

M - Why the fascination with the fictional Jack Ryan? Three real Republican Presidential Greats: Lincoln. T. Roosevelt and Eisenhower. Could any of them run as Republicans today?

Tom Clancy didn't invent the lterary/film genera of Warnography, but he very successfully broadened it to include the entire military industrial complex. Target audience: Male, White, Baby Boomer.

Best War Novel Ever (IMHO): War and Peace. Emotional, historical and philosophical depth. All lacking in Clancy.

PS, nothing wrong with a little pornography now and then :).

JL

Can't argue with the logic...

Ironically enough, Corporate America owns BOTH Partys..

And it's the middle class Americans who get screwed??

Democrats are warriors for the Middle Class??

I saids it befores and I'll says it again..

"MY ASS!!!"....

Michale

I dunno..

The only thing that makes sense is that Boehner wants to take away a blunt force weapon from the Dems.. Don't give Democrats a tool to bash the GOP over the head with..

It's the only possibility that makes any sense..

However, I believe it's mis-guided.

Because the HARM to the GOP (and this country) by minting millions and millions of new Dem voters far outweighs ANY benefits that I can see..

Boehner is not stupid. So, hopefully, he has some plan up his sleeve..

Michale

So what, exactly, do you think Boehner's up to? I'm curious.

TheStig -

WashPost has a pretty good wrapup:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-face-2016-turmoil/2014/02/01/143fe17e-8a91-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html

Best comment: "Republicans are going to need a stretch clown car this time around."

Heh.

-CW

Where is Jack Ryan when ya need him....

I had thought that Obama was our Ryan..

Boy was I ever wrong...

Michale

Especially this part:

"Most Republicans don't actually want immigration reform to pass. But the smarter Republicans realize that they need to defuse the issue if they're ever going to have any hope of winning a national election again."

No Immigration Bill will come of this Republican blueprint, it is pure posturing, and even the posturing will probably have a short self life.

In anticipation of Michael's response, yes both sides do this kind of thing.

Republican's don't have good presidential hopes at this point in US history. Their best payoffs are to be found in House, Senate, and state government races. That's where most of the smart effort and money are destined to go. Republican's will treat the 2016 Presidential race as a diversion. Resurrect Romney as the candidate? He seems to be signaling that he is willing.

On the stupidity of Republicans..

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/01/31/democrats-in-freefall-and-destructive-stupidity-gop-leadership-is-on-full/?intcmp=HPBucket

I could NOT have said it better myself...

Michale