Thursday’s Loose Thread

Seven comments on this post so far. Add yours!

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  Cindy H on November 12 at 2:32 p.m.

  Yep. Must be nice to wander onto a blog at 2:30 in the afternoon.
  And have an office with a window.
  And have a column with a cool title.
  Yep. Must be nice.
  Of course, there's the whole two-man department trying to do a five-person job. Maybe ya'll should look into adding a lady to help out.
  Just sayin' :-)

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  Gary Crooks on November 13 at 9:46 a.m.

  That's what we need. Another black eye. Now run along and get me that coffee, will ya?
  

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  Lewis on November 13 at 10:32 a.m.

  I am concerned about the recent contract negotiations with the police guild. In the SR it said a settlement had been reached and 12 officers would be hired next year.

  But it also said the details of the agreement could not be made public at this time. Yeh?

  When the other county and city unions agreed to make changes to keep people working we were told right away. How is it the guild and city can keep this all under wraps?

  Could it be they know if they told us what they agreed on we would come unglued?

  How can they hire 12 people next year if they are supposed to remove 2 million from their budget? Including the fact we are really running 20 men down right now because Kirkpatrick did not fill positions that vacated in the last year?

  And what do you think happened to the request to have the ombudsman have investigative powers? It is in the trash bin because if that was agreed upon they surely would have had a big front page story about that but since it is so hush hush I would bet we gave the guild everything they wanted plus a donut machine I every car.

  And does it boggle anyone else’s mind about the number of different unions representing our city and county employees? Almost like the Mafia, gimme, gimme, gimme.

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  Arch_Druid on November 14 at 9:13 a.m.

  Brandon Kafflen's commentary can be summed up in a few words: replace the tyranny of Congress over the health care reform bill now before the Senate with the tyranny of the proletariat. Precisely, THOSE proletariat who don't mind giving their hard earned money to insurance companies who can cancel coverage at any time and who don't provide the sort of coverage needed for the cost of the insurance. And who most certainly put lots of dough (first gained from suckers like Kafflen) into the pockets of members of Congress to try to kill a bill that might infringe on their monopoly. You have to pity guys like Kafflen. Sure, I can have a problem with “getting fined” if I don't have insurance, for at the same time, esp. in this economy, I couldn't afford to buy into it anyway. But neither do I want Kafflen dictating to myself as to where I ought to or ought not stand on meaningful health care reform.

  Ryan Palmberg wants to take one incident from a guy who might have gotten a bit unhinged to copy Cal Thomas also going unhinged over Major Hasan's one man mass murder of his fellow soldiers at Ft. Hood.

  Quite frankly, Palmberg should take a lesson from what I saw on Washington Week (PBS) last night. It isn't up to us to say. Major Hasan must ultimately appear before a judge in a courts martial for his murderous acts. Only that judge and jury can decide what motivated this psychiatrist to act as he did and then decide the man's fate. Being an Army veteran myself, I can assure you that the U.S. Military won't be tolerant of those who kill their brethren in arms.

  And if Hasan had been “Smith,” going unhinged and killing his fellow soldiers as a “Christian;” the act would have been no less heinous.

  And finally, James J. Flynn. With all his sneering that Donald Clegg can in fact publish his views in the S-R. Mr. Flynn could consider what he just ultimately did not do on the behalf of his own “Christian” belief. He didn't represent his religion in a manner that would make Christ proud of him.

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  Cindy H on November 14 at 7:54 p.m.

  Uh. Probably be more efficient if I blog, while you get the coffee. Don't forget the cream :-)

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  Jeffrey_Grey on November 15 at 4:00 a.m.

  AD,

  Regarding MAJ Hasan…

  The howls from the right tell us that we must be less PC. Muslims are proven dangers and we must take off these kid gloves and *ACT*, damn it!

  I have to confess, I can see some justification for the claim that this nation has become too PC. I tried to be patient and wait for the evidence before I reached any conclusions. But it seems to me that enough evidence is now in to allow at least accusing MAJ Hasan of being a radical, religious extremist without having to worry about that accusation being solely the result of an unfounded bias.

  The problem I have is with the sweeping generalizations.

  'Muslims are proven dangers!' Okay. So what's the plan? If you're a Muslim serving in the military, we take away your weapons so you don't pose a threat? Then what? We send disarmed Muslims into combat armed only with harsh language? We don't send them into combat at all? (If we did that, wanna bet how many troopers would discover Islam in the weeks leading up to deployment?) Or maybe we just don't accept any Muslims into the military in the first place? Given how strained our current manpower is, I should think we ought to be looking for ways to get more troops, not less.

  And if we exclude Muslims because they might be dangerous, how about pro-lifers? Dr. Tillman might have some comments about the proven danger they pose. How about Roman Catholics? Most of them are pro-life. And you know about those radical pro-lifers…

  Overly PC is a valid concern.

  But so is the bigotry of making sweeping generalizations about 'those kinds of people.'
  

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  Arch_Druid on November 17 at 8:47 a.m.

  Speaking of sweeping generalizations, Jeff Grey; saw this in the morning paper. Richard Wilhelm is the latest in a string of whiners about the Obama administration. “His insensitivity immediately following the shooting at Fort Hood…” Hold on, Wilhelm, I know WHO had shown insensitivity toward those shot AND killed at Fort Hood, those trying to take political advantage of the tragedy, such as Cal Thomas. “Obama fails to take responsibility,” sounds like a projection from the Bush administration. “…his administration uses false data to boast about jobs saved.” Again sounding much like what the GW administration had done. “When criticized, his administration seeks to destroy and restrict free speech.” When criticized, the Obama administration does tend to fire back, as have MANY OTHER administrations before his.

  Saw this on the news yesterday, Obama makes culturally nice to the Emperor of Japan and he is immediately and stridently attacked for bowing… “He has alienated our allies in Eastern Europe, Germany, France, Israel and appears weak to North Korea, Iran and other adversaries.” We do know than in the last 8 years GW MOST CERTAINLY alienated the very allies Wilhelm referred to and then went on to appear weak to our various adversaries.

  And speaking of criticisms to this country… Wilhelm also joins a long list of letter writers who have done nothing BUT criticize this nation because of the leader we put in office. Wilhelm could look in the mirror for this nation heading for “gloom and doom.”

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