If ever I was praying that a group would manage well their finances so that the reunion would not be needed, it was for these guys. That stated--have fun man.

-Drew

Thanks much guys!!!

Drew

To be honest--to summit Mt. Everest. 29,029 feet, nothing living up there over 8,000 meters--standing on the tallest point of the world. Only one issue: OK, many issues, not the least of which is that 1 in 6 die and I have grown rather fond of breathing. I am going for Mt. Rainier in WA State next year but the kicker there is that Rainier's summit is actually lower then Everest BASE camp. Rainier is no hill and people die there too but it's quite modest compared to Everest.

I agree but thanks for debating in a civil way. The issue here is now one of history. The last declared war we were in was WWII (Vietnam, Korea, Gulf 1 and Gulf II not to mention numerous military excursions) have all been done without a declaration. And what is interesting to me about this is that it's been by both Reps and Dems. Neither have a great record with this. I suppose the check and balance that is still there as an option is that congress can shut down funding of a military action at any time. Presidents cannot write checks to keep the tanks running and so I have asked several times on this board why (if this war is so immoral to the majority of Dems.) why they haven't shut down funding.

-Drew

I live near Seattle and to be quite honest going to Starbucks scares the hell out of me. It has always felt like a club I just wasn't quite cool enough to get in to. Bring your Mac, your Ben Harper CDs and something by Sarah Vowell and you're in. Rapid fire a drink order that sounds like a semi-seizure in progress and you're in. Order a "regular coffee" and you can hear, the pin drop.

:)

Drew

I wouldn't lose any REM sleep over it. Electronic identities and clever screen names are just part of the gig here at JSH.

OS X

The Leopard!


-Drew

Warmachine--you seem like a good guy and so my response to you is meant not as an attempt to bait you into an argument but to debate the right reserved to Congress to declare war. It does say (as you've stated) that Congress shall have the power to declare war. It is also true the the President cannot declare war. Where I think it gets tricky however is whether every military action needs to be a declared war. Again and I swear I'm not picking on President Clinton, but should have have asked for a declaration of war when he went in to get Aidid? We did take some heavy guns there that afternoon and it was a military action. But just because a President cannot declare war doesn't (I don't believe) mean that a President cannot order military action without that declaration.

-Drew

A conservative who disagrees with the war and take someone like Christopher Hitchens (a very articulate liberal) who agrees with the war and you've got an interesting variety of opinions in play. I don't have an issue with Ron Paul's questions but it's really almost like the General didn't really need to be there. Paul wasn't asking questions, he was making a speech in question form for the public which is sort of annoying to some extent.

Part of the issue with Ron Paul that is frustrating is that he wants everything to run the way it did in 1776 and while that is a romantic vision and noble to some extent it isn't the world that we live in today. Ron Paul is a state's rights advocate and I don't disagree with him on that. But a country did not attack us on 9-11, a group did and so how does Congress really declare war on a method (terrorism) as opposed to a nation?

People make a lot of the fact that there was nothing at all tying Saddam to 9-11. I'd remind people that Mohamed Farrah Aidid was not responsible for any terrorist attack on the U.S. but Clinton raced in to Mogadishu to remove him. Where was the hue and cry from the anti-war crowd then? We lost Delta and Army Rangers there. Where was the national threat? We killed innocent Somalis there. What had they done to us?

My point here is two-fold. One, the scale of a war is irrelevant if the motivation is identical. Second, Ron Paul would have had us do what in response to 9-11? I think Ron Paul is a patriot. I think he is also a massively unrealistic man who lives an ideology to the point of absurdity. And the electorate will prove me out on that. He never polls well and he never came close to making a real run for the White House.

What do I think of this line of questioning? Well, it's his turn on the floor and he's been elected to that post. I respect his right to ask forty questions to "the record" and only one to the General sitting before him but I do think that is also why Ron Paul will never advance any farther in national politics.

-Drew

I think that would depend heavily on whether or not their self-infatuation precluded them from paying any attention at all to you. Being self-absorbed is not really all that attractive even if they are in love with what is in the mirror.

-Drew

Oh please! Your cut and paste is not limited or for transformative purposes. Go ahead, I'm not a moderator here but I think you are going to find out that your view of Fair Use is quite incorrect. Happy cutting and pasting, Madison.

-Drew

See you almost got it all, Madison. The part you forgot to copy and paste at the bottom of the article you once again "borrowed" was:

© : t r u t h o u t 2008

-Drew

My post this morning was not well constructed as I had just opened my eyes. I don't care of someone is rich or poor. I mean, I don't think that because someone is rich that they are corrupt nor do I think that nobility is found in poverty. But when Madison starts ranting about McCain being a capitalist pig (while supporting RICHER people) who, at least with him get a free pass, that is just a bad argument.

-Drew

"Piece of garbage, fascist capitalist pig, murderous war profitering swindle..." You know guys, it's that type of well balanced tempered rhetoric that so endears the general voting public to the left. If politics was nothing more than a fit of name calling, the posts above would be A+ work, no doubt.

Madison, you seem to have simply gone 'round the bend. Both Senator Clinton and Mr. Obama have raised a massive amount of money, much more than McCain. And they didn't use the capitalist system to do so? So, where are your strong words rebuking them? Wait, lean, vote, and name call in support of the left so they can use capitalism, right? So can Michael Moore and company--it's "Capitalist pig" if you vote for a Republican, but not if you are a John Edwards (rich) John Kerry (massively rich) or Ted Kennedy (very, very Rich). Let me know when you figure out how to argue that one, Okay?



-Drew

May his act never be forgotten.

-Drew

I like the idea of having them work at a battered woman's shelter. Sitting in a cell (while I'm NOT feeling bad for them if that is their fate) just seems unproductive. Seeing on a daily basis what happens when people get beaten on might have a more realistic impact. If it wouldn't be a violation of medical confidentiality laws (and this would force the parents to participate) I'd have a judge sentence them to six months of having to report to the ER every time a man or woman is brought in, a victim of abuse or assault. 2:00 AM? Sorry, mom and daughter, get up, drive in, work with the social worker who is helping the patient (or the doc, nurse, you get the idea.)

That type of punishment is unusual but it is far from cruel. I think that we should look for ways to make punishment (especially with minors) have more of an affect than just sitting in jail. Oh, and after the six months of helping out an agency--how about six more in that cell?

Good thoughts here and I am really glad that I participate in a group with people who disagree on much but all agree that this type of thing is unacceptable.

-Drew

Are you crazy? I cannot give out the information. the retribution would be too great. Trust me, I'm working on it. I just hope I can stave off their childish wrath long enough to capture the true threat to civilization.

OK, first of all, if you are going to be IN the documentary about the Bilderberg Group then learn how to pronounce it. Two or three of the people called it the Bilderberger group. Good grief!

BUT it isn't the Bilderberg group that worries me--nope--it is a group far more frightening. They wield unimaginable power and influence and if you think Bilderberg is staffed with the elite, just wait until you fully understand.....

The Buildingblock group.

Led by 2 year old Dougy (the kingpin elite of the elite) and supported by a who's who of the toddler-power elite including (Franklin, Travis, Jessica, and "Little" Mel) the group is plotting even as you sleep to take control of everything from Nickelodeon to Crayola. Think that you are always going to be able to color with two shades of blue in a box of 64? Think again, slave! The New World Toddler-Order is upon you and they will dictate your fate.

In the tradition of Alex Jones I traveled (with a cool megaphone) to "Darlene's Day Care" where the elite of the elite arrived in well protected and tinted strollers. Security (provided by volunteer 6th graders looking to earn extra credit) was tight. Twice I was detained and denied Animal Crackers while being questioned regarding my stated purpose. Still, I'm not their slave, they are not my Queens or Kings and though they seek to eliminate Double Stuff Oreos, they will not succeed. At one point I even engaged in a shameful stunt of yelling through my megaphone at the Day Care where the elite were staging their four hour meeting (not counting naps and the occasional "he hit me first" tearful disagreement.)

History is replete with many such Tike Takeovers, from the Great Toddler Rebellion of 1987 to the more recent "Coloring Book Massacre of 2003, these powerful kids are shaping future events. At the most recent meeting the following topics (we obtained copies from a 3 year old who was willing to sell out for a package of Gummy Bears) were plotted and discussed:

Alphabet Soup. These crafty little souls are planning on disrupting the alphabet soup making machines so that all letters spell "Buildingblock Group. You will bow." No matter the other words you might form, all of them nod to the phrase above.

Cartoon Network: Think you have a choice in TV programing? You don't. From the sources unnamed your cartoons will soon contain mind-control messages that force you to buy only specific toys, all as a way to advance the group's stranglehold on the corporate power structure they so desperately wish to hold.

Capri Sun: The Buildingblock Group is tired of having to stab a dull straw into a tough Capri Sun pouch and will be working to end the madness when they take control and outlaw all pouch drinks for the favored "box" style. Your freedom to swear at a Capri Sun--well, those days are numbered.

Superman: An iconic American Hero, right? Not if the elite of the elite have anything to do with it. They plan on tearing down the man of steal, making him human and finally, making his weakness-----baby formula. Kryptonite was a ruse, and Buildingblock will have their way with owning Superman in order to begin their conquest.

This is just a sampling of what is in store for humanity if these malicious and evil kids are not stopped. Young, adorable and easily able to elicit pity and empathy, don't fall for their fake cries and attention seeking antics. They want to rule you and the world you live in. They will be stopped, we will defeat them. I, Drew B. had photos. I had them and was ready to post them but I fear for my safety and for my life. But trust me, world domination is only a few years away. These kids are growing and they are getting smarter and you call yourselves patriots as you sit by willfully neglecting your citizen responsibilities.

Don't say I did not warn you and don't come crying to me when it is too late in you are wondering the streets with a broken Play Station 3. They are teething and they are dropping Binkys on purpose and yes, they are still crapping themselves. But their power knows no compassion.

-Drew B.

Buildingblock Journalist. Putting my life on the line as elite toddlers threaten your very existence.

Outside of things like paper-routes (when I was in school) the day after graduating high school I started working maintenance at a fast food place. That experience helps me every day because I have something to compare what I have now against what I did not have then. I was up and at work at 4:30 AM back then (which was an insulting to me in every way because I did not want to be up that early) and daily I listened to a chain smoking 78 year old man named Mel who told me how to clean a grease fryer. Then out to the parking lot to empty trash (full of liquid trash bags will always break right before you get them to the dumpster) and clean up the lot. Again, it helps me each day.

Not the money or the job itself but remembering that no work is beneath me and that listening to people (even when they are old chain smoking men who don't smile--ever) is how a work ethic is developed.

Compared to some my first job was a breeze. I mention it not to throw out a woe is me comment but because it matters. That job taught me I did not want to do that forever and so I advanced, and then advanced again, and then found work doing different things so that today I am quite happy in a good paying job that I enjoy.

I might be here today without the fast food experience but I know that I would not appreciate what I have today without the fast food gig. I also know that I'll never starve because I know I can always clean a grease fryer and I can take direction.

I wish that people would stop looking at entry level as a life sentence. It's not. Work isn't about starting where you want, it's about ending where you want. Take the steps and whatever gig you can land and work. And good luck to those looking for work. I mean that.

-Drew

Yeah, what more can be said? Not only would I hope that each of these suspect are tried, convicted and sentenced but that they have to serve in a very tough environment. What I hate so much about issues like this isn't the idea that this was a fight. I mean, I'm not an advocate of fights to settle stupid things like this, but fights happen. But when it is six or seven on one that isn't a fight--that's different. One on one fights, hey, I can live with that--it does happen and when it does the hope is that no one is severely hurt. Gang style beatings like this are just beyond understanding. Cowardice little cheerleaders, beat a girl because she posted something on MySpace? What the hell? And they were going to put this on YouTube??? Did they not think anyone would see their faces? The should be sent to jail first because they beat her and second for being so freaking stupid.

And the guys who served as lookouts here, pathetic. They should be charged equally harsh.

The mom of one of the girls who participated is a perfect example of the stupidity of some people. Did you hear her actually making excuses? So very sad.

-Drew