Anderson Cooper

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

I'm not at all referring to mainstream democrats. I'm just referring to some of the extremists in the democratic party. They are a very small minority. As you said, there are plenty of extremists on the other side that are pretty bad too.

Yeah, the ones that bomb abortion clinics, wave "God hates fags" signs at soldiers' funerals, who threatened the hero soldier who 'fessed up about the illegal torture going on at Abu Girab. How many of them are Democrats, do you think? Oh, right...

I'm sorry; Rupert; I'm deliberately trying to get you riled, because, like Irishtrekker, I too am sick of the "liberals hate America" and "you're a terrorist" crap that gets waved in my face virtually every time I point out that Bush is a terrible President. See? It's really annoying to get lumped in with a bunch of lunatics, isn't it? And I know you very kindly and genuinely clarified and said, "I don't mean all Democrats" and I know you didn't. But come on; when do you look at the extremism in your own party and say, "Also not acceptable, people!"? With the exception of eco-terrorists (jerks, you make environmentalists look bad, so knock it off!), you don't see many liberal issues that drive people to actual physical violence, but there sure seem to be a lot of conservative-minded folk willing to threaten and attack to get their views across. And yet it's the liberals that are crazy radicals?

What makes me just sick in the midst of all this awful religous extremism and the violence that goes hand-in-hand with it, is that Bush's hubris on Iraq successfully destablized the one secular Arab nation in that area and has basically handed it over to Iran.

Yeah, yeah, I know, Hussein and torture and innocent Iraqis and all that. And he was a monster, no question. But, looking at it from a purely selfish point of view, Iraq didn't attack us on 9/11 and Hussein's reign kept Iran focused on him. And now they don't need to worry about him and look how busy Iran has gotten!

To go back to the original point of pgardn's, though, yes, Anderson Cooper managed to turn one on-air rant about Katrina into a vehicle to news stardom, but I don't think he's any more trustworthy than the next news guy. Which is to say, not very trustworthy. Blech.

And religious extremism is bad! Bad, bad, bad!

And Irish, I hope you're doing okay-- I imagine it's been very, very stressful there the past two days. Good on the Brits for unravelling the plot.

[irishtrekker]

Thanks, GR. I'm hanging in there -- I'm feeling a bit better, although I can't say I'm terribly thrilled about flying home for the holidays. Still, the biggest concern may wind up being my laptop. (WTF do they mean I have to put it in my checked bag, and how can they refuse to compensate me when it gets smashed to pieces by baggage handlers?)...or the part where I can't even have a book with me. Really, though, I just hate feeling like my own security is of my control...naturally, I have a ton of travel scheduled for the next few months, so I just have to grin and bear it.

Regarding the eco-terrorists, ARGH!!!! Like the Animal Liberation Front, abortion clinic shooters and all of those ilk, don't you think they'd realize they're doing their own cause more harm than good? It drives me crazy, especially since environmental work is my life and my passion. I'd really like to "thank" them for being such idiots. Oh well.

Anyway, back to work for me. Thanks for the good wishes. They definitely help.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by irishtrekker

Thanks, GR. I'm hanging in there -- I'm feeling a bit better, although I can't say I'm terribly thrilled about flying home for the holidays. Still, the biggest concern may wind up being my laptop. (WTF do they mean I have to put it in my checked bag, and how can they refuse to compensate me when it gets smashed to pieces by baggage handlers?)...or the part where I can't even have a book with me. Really, though, I just hate feeling like my own security is of my control...naturally, I have a ton of travel scheduled for the next few months, so I just have to grin and bear it.

Regarding the eco-terrorists, ARGH!!!! Like the Animal Liberation Front, abortion clinic shooters and all of those ilk, don't you think they'd realize they're doing their own cause more harm than good? It drives me crazy, especially since environmental work is my life and my passion. I'd really like to "thank" them for being such idiots. Oh well.

Anyway, back to work for me. Thanks for the good wishes. They definitely help.

Yeah, I'm starting to envision a world where the airlines hand you cotton pajamas and slippers to wear during the flight and all your stuff goes on a separate flight. I hope they let you bring magazines, if not books. I don't know how I'd handle an overseas flight without something to read...

Let's see what things are like by the holidays. Slate.com has some articles on how this was tried back in 1994 and they didn't ban fluids then. Of course, the rise in suicide bombers is the big change since then.

In any event, thinking of you and hoping by December security checks will be smart and secure but not paranoid.

[irishtrekker]

Thanks At this point, we're being told no magazines, either. As one astute commentator observed, if we can't trust books and bottled water sold from stores *inside* the airport security checkpoints, we really must be screwed!

I'm hoping for some improvement, too. I'm not a fan of long plane rides, so this should be fun.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by irishtrekker

Thanks At this point, we're being told no magazines, either. As one astute commentator observed, if we can't trust books and bottled water sold from stores *inside* the airport security checkpoints, we really must be screwed!

I'm hoping for some improvement, too. I'm not a fan of long plane rides, so this should be fun.

Time to further cultivate that rich inner life, huh?