i suppose so mr. rat, you may be under personal barrage from mrs. jones. i don't know. i doubt it. she seems quite nice and intelligent to me. strong minded, certainly, but so are a lot of people here. i enjoy her postings and exchanges. and if i recall correctly she scolded me once or twice. think of her as mom maybe. we're all guests in her house so enjoy the tea and cookies, play nice, and know that once in a while you might get the occasional admonition. remember, the mrs. jones' of this world are as interested in persuading you, just as you are interested in persuading them. its a process and the kitchen can get hot.


also keep in mind that the written english language is a blunt sword. skilled swordsmen, such as samuel clemens and the like, spent countless hours crafting their prose with accurate precision. smart bombs of our language, not carpet bombing. few do it. i definitely don't. i blurt this stuff out on a sleepless night or before work. and candidly if it weren't for those scribbly red lines on the occasional typo, most of what i type would be more illegible than it already is.

you really need to look past perception and hunt for those pearls of wisdom. mrs. jones has many. you do too. its all good, just play nice.

seabee wrote:i suppose so mr. rat, you may be under personal barrage from mrs. jones. i don't know. i doubt it. she seems quite nice and intelligent to me.

Perhaps you are right - but so far I just see him/her making personal attacks - not logical attacks.  I don't think it serves anyone to demonize the "opposition".  We all have to live in this country.  The extremism, the lack of courtesy - and the unwillingness to treat people you disagree with with dignity are making this country more and more difficult to run.  It's very sad to me.

Perhaps you are right - but so far I just see him/her making personal attacks - not logical attacks.  I don't think it serves anyone to demonize the "opposition".  We all have to live in this country.  The extremism, the lack of courtesy - and the unwillingness to treat people you disagree with with dignity are making this country more and more difficult to run.  It's very sad to me.

Rat, I would love to see more civility in our nation's dialogue.  Unfortunately, our humble forum is a reflection of the attitudes exhibited by most of our political leaders and the drive-by media.

Because we are a conservative forum, we get more than our share of intolerant, and often vulgar, attacks from the left.  Our moderators delete them quickly, but I think you would be surprised to see them all lined up one after the other.  I'm sure liberal forums have the same problem.

this country has a long history with balderdash in political debate. can be read back to the many public exchanges between aaron burr and alexander hamilton, culminating in their fateful dual. violence is the ultimate stomping ground for political debate that cannot remain civil, cooperative and compromising. its what abraham lincoln meant when he talked of this place as a "house divided." we can either rise above these chains of emotional insecurity, jealousies and greed, open our minds and grow together...or not. its entirely out choice. i have no magic but i've seen the other side. i come from that fire. and i am certainly prepared to try with all my heart to keep it civil and make it work. democracy, my brothers and sisters, and this little rock we call america is worth it.

You are precisely correct Seebee.  

One major difference today is that we have now have the mainstream media blatantly joining the extremist dialogue.

dittohead wrote:You are precisely correct Seebee.  

One major difference today is that we have now have the mainstream media blatantly joining the extremist dialogue.

You may be right that the MSM is blatantly joining the extremist dialogue - I have less faith in the MSM with every passing day.  And although it should be obvious to everyone by now that I'm almost undoubtely going to vote for Obama, that doesn't mean that I'm not open to rational discussion of the issues.  I'm a believer in finding common ground - because what's the alternative?  Are we just going to split up the country into red states and blue states?  Then duke it out?  Anyone that preaches this is a traitor to this great nation - but that's precisely the direction we get pushed when we are so quick to demonize the people we disagree with.

I don't think there's a common ground for electing a man with zero experience IN THE SENATE whose primary purpose there was to organize his presidential run.  I don't think there is common ground with a man whose radical  friends' goals are to destroy this country by bombing innocent people.   I don't know that there is common ground with a racist who has previously supported his own version of reparations.

http://rightwingnews.com/mt331/2008/09/obama_salute_goes_back_further.php

something for you to ponder, mr. rat.

Calypso Jones wrote:http://rightwingnews.com/mt331/2008/09/obama_salute_goes_back_further.php

something for you to ponder, mr. rat.

You're an enigma to me, Calypso.  Are you really serious about the above link or are you making a joke?  You think Obama stole this gesture from Hitler?

no.  I really don't think he knows that much about history or about too much of anything for that matter.   But i think its a striking coincidence.   isn't it?