First, it was Republican President Bush who failed to provide enough troops to accomplish their mission in an effective and timely way.

The current problems we have in Afghanistan started under Republican Bush and were a direct result of Republican Bush’s failures to provide enough troops and Bush’s failure to keep his eye on the ball (inf Afghanistan, where the terrorists were).

Republican President Bush failed to capture or kill Osama bin Laden throughout his eight years despite being warned of the threat immediately after taking office, after being warned of bin Laden’s intent to attack the US before the 9/11 attacks, and Republican Bush sat paralyzed the day of the 9/11 attacks just before he was ran hiding into his bunker.

Republican Bush subsequently lied US into the Iraq War using falsified intelligence, Republican Bush inadequately staffed troop levels in Iraq, Republican Bush failed to provide adequate body armor to the troops he sent in, Republican Bush failed to provide adequately armored vehicles to the troops, and for returning injured vets Republican Bush failed his responsibility in providing those troops with adequate medical facilities or PTSD treatment.

And in 2004 Republican President Bush, Republican leaders, and Republican voters systematically denigrated the service of a combat vet even while creating a fantasy surrounding Republican President Bush who evaded combat and was too drunk to even show up for his limited stateside duty.

Add to all of that the multi-trillions of debt that Republicans added while Republican Bush gave tax cuts to his elite wealthy “base” during a time of war and it shows that your concerns about our current President, who is trying to clean up the mess that Republican President Bush made, is misplaced, at best, and deeply offensive at worst.

Amen, brother.

Until 1978, when the then Mormon Prophet reversed the Mormon Church’s history of racism, the Mormon Church was explicitly racist.

That’s not inconsistent with being anti-slavery.

You also falsely assert that Mormon’s aren’t against gay people.

The Mormon Church coordinated out of state money, people, and resources to specifically work against gay people in California.

Though yes, now that the Mormon Prophet has repudiated the traditional Biblical practice of polygamy, only Fundamentalist Mormons practice polygamy.

When bigoted Theocrats unnecessarily intrude their religion into my neighbors personal relationships and private life because of those Theocrats misinterpretation of their own religious scripture, the expectation of tolerance for such intolerance is itself intolerable.

Even Christ had his limits.

Much of the right wing movement that masquerades as “Christian” would have been driven from the temple by Christ himself.

Jesus Christ was/is a Liberal.

Christ had/has a “liberal mindset.”

Perhaps if you’d read Christ’s words instead of selectively misinterpreting the rest of the Bible you might come to understand that.

Coming from the person who can’t seem to remember Christ’s words and selectively chooses which parts of Bible to follow, to ignore, and to change the meaning of.

I’m glad that it’s been a mutually rewarding discussion.

Many city, county and state governments do a good job, no arguement there. You know very well that I was speaking of the Federal government which does nothing well (except for the military and I worry that our President will tear it down very soon.) It was interesting that you mention the care at the VA hospitals – I deal with the VA and veterans a lot because my office is contracted to do certain examinations for them. The forms they require me to fill out were obviously composed by people with no medical knowledge and I get phone calls asking absolutely stupid questions. I’ve no doubt that the doctors and nurses are likely well qualified but those in the administration areas are seriously lacking….where do you think the start point will be when you want to see a doctor under nationalized healthcare? Not all veterans think they get great care through the VA – many of them choose to use their insurance benefits rather than wait to get an appointment at the VA. Sad to think that it’s possible that very soon we will have no choice….even more sad to see that so many think it’s a good idea not to have choice.

We have a difference in ideology – you think more government is good and I don’t. I think that America is a great country and I resent that our President felt the need to apologize for it – I resent it a lot. I don’t believe that the government has any business in telling companies what they can and cannot do. I believe that private is ALWAYS better than public in every aspect of life. I believe in capitalism, right to bear arms, freedom of speech…all of those things that Nancy Pelosi appears to be fighting against. I know that there are just as many that say climate change is a crock and believe that before we start charging for a carbon “footprint” to make Mr. Gore rich – more research should be done.

I am trying to be optimistic – I figure that if our President turns us into a completely socialist nation I’ll be able to sit back and relax rather than working my butt off everyday. There is no way in hell that I will work this hard so that someone else doesn’t have to!!! Do you think I’m alone in that assertion? I guarantee that I’m not. You hate the rich and you’ll be in heaven because there won’t be any anymore – why should they work hard to create companies so that they can pay 50 -60% of their “wealth” in taxes? Why should they hire people that they are taxed on or penalized for? Just something people might want to consider before going down the socialist or communist road were on. Any bets on what time the dems will present their bill? 2 or 3 am? So much for transparency – bills voted on in the middle of the night like the “stimulus package” -by the way, how’s that going in your neck of the woods? Then of course there is the cap and trade bill – another piece of sheer brilliance! I’m pretty sure we’ll wake up and find it passed one morning because judging from poll numbers – most Americans aren’t thinking socialized medicine is all that cool but it’s obvious that our “representatives” and our President aren’t all that concerned about what the majority of people want.

Have your last word, it’s been both fun.

Yes. Especially when managed by people who aren’t trying to sabotage the government ({cough, Republicans}).

The VA used to have an awful reputation but under Democratic President Clinton it was overseen by a competent manager who completely turned it around.

Under Clinton the VA provided excellent services at a low price.

Read this BusinessWeek article: “The Best Medical Care In The U.S.: How Veterans Affairs transformed itself — and what it means for the rest of us,” from July 17, 2006.

Mind you, under Republican leadership you get the abysmal care of Walter Reed Medical Hospital, that substandard care was part of a larger betrayal by Republicans of our military veterans.

Roads, the military, providing electricity, providing water, delivering the mail, the Police force, the Fire department, the Pure Food and Drug Act that keeps crap out of our food supply and medicines, holding fraudsters and thieves and criminals accountable…

… and that’s just off the top of my head.

“tjc”, your false witness to suggest otherwise is deceitful and would make Paul angry.

http://google.com/search?q=Mormon+racism

Exodus 21:7-11

“tjc”, you citation of Romans 1:27-32 is more helpful.

It reveals you as a Paulian.

Paul was a hateful angry man who rejected many of Jesus Christ’s pronouncements.

Paul is often cited in lieu of the words of Jesus Christ by those pushing a bigoted, angry, and warped version of Christianity.

Paulians reject Jesus Christ.

If you really want to go there, “tjc”, the only appropriate response is to point out that you obviously have no use for Christianity.

You are a pretender. A public hypocrite.

You use the Old Testament selectively to support your own bigotries.

You cite Lot as a source for your bigotry without acknowledging that it was Lot that was willing to give his own daughters to a mob of angry men to save his own selfish self. [Genesis 19:8]

Lot protected Angels, sure, but his own daughters he was willing to hand over to the mob of angry men.

And since when did “Angels” become “men”?

When it was convenient for the right wing to selectively justify their bigotry with scripture apparently.

I’m not certain where you get your numbers but I would bet that there are many that die waiting to get diagnostic testing or medications approved by their insurance companies as well. Have you ever dealt with an HMO – good times! What would possibly give you confidence that the government can do anything well – name just one thing! Yet you think they could handle healthcare? As for the number of people uninsured – how many of them are uninsured because they CHOOSE not to pay for it. I acknowledge it is expensive and as a single parent, there are a lot of things I would love to spend my money on but I don’t because I think it’s irresponsible not to have health insurance on my children. How many of those uninsured are illegals and why should my children and grandchildren have to foot the bill of someone who is here illegally? I live in a border state and I have seen emergency rooms filled with people who are there with routine ailments – that is a fact. They are there because they HAVE to be treated and I would be willing to bet that most never pay a dime. Yes, I know that there are many who cannot afford it and there are programs for those people…government funded programs.

If you think that good doctors are going to be willing to work for the government – think again. Why should they? They get paid less and less by Medicare and Medicaid programs but their costs continue to rise. They have to hire more people just to deal with referrals and insurances. They have to pay high premiums for malpractice insurance. They pay rent and buy equipment – I’m sick of doctors being villainized for making a good living – any idea how much it cost them to go to school or how many years it took? I work in a group practice and am worried about my job because my bosses have already said they will leave medicine.

You are angry because you say that Mitt Romney sold out American jobs to foreign interests…what do you think that taxing corporations more is going to do? Companies will leave the United States and open up shop overseas. California is bankrupt and I think I heard that New York is in trouble as well – both very liberal states. A recent report just released states that 70% of new businesses opened in the United States over the last year were in Texas, we are also the fasting growing population. Try and get your head around this if you can – do you think that not having a state income tax, not taxing business to the point of extinction has had something to do with that number? Hard to believe that our state government is operating with a surplus as well. You might have noticed that Texas was red in the last election – interesting isn’t it? Less tax means more money to spend (it’s economics 101) yet our federal government doesn’t get it – it’s all about power and there are a lot of gullible people out there willing to give it to them!

The 18,000 people who die from lack of health insurance every year would likely say that the private corporate-medical-insurance industry is a really bad idea for them as well.

Many of the nearly 50 MILLION people that are uninsured under the current private corporate-medical-insurance industry think it’s a really bad idea for them as well.

And the 25 MILLION UNDERINSURED people that are one accident away from bankruptcy would probably think the current private corporate-medical-insurance industry is a really bad idea for them as well if they understood that at any moment a corporate-bureaucrat could rescind their health care.

And as I understand it, Republican Mitt Romney‘s health care plain in Massachusetts was underfunded, has been having problems, and isn’t something he now supports (unless you can get past all of his caveats).

I don’t credit Republican Mitt Romney with anything except selling out American jobs to foreign interests to make his fortune with which he bought political office.

And from listening to Republican Mitt “French Vacation to Avoid Vietnam” Romney change his positions so frequently it’s clear that he doesn’t even know his own positions until it’s been poll tested or he received orders from the Mormon Prophet.

You mean where Adam married the woman made of his flesh? Effectively marrying his sister? And they had children who effectively married each other?

So you are saying that incestuous marriages are ‘instituted’ by the Bible?

And you evade my earlier point.

Polygamous marriages are explicitly ‘instituted’ by the Bible. Where in the Bible does it say that practice is discontinued?

And the Bible explicitly discusses daughters being sold into slavery (the Bible ‘institutes’ selling daughters into sex slavery).

There is even an instance where a woman gives her female slave to her husband as a sex slave (ever read the Handmaiden’s Tale?).

It appears you have less familiarity with the Bible than you think you do.

And where does the Bible say that same-sex marriages are prohibited. Please point me to that scripture. I really need to bookmark that.

As you mention, this post was about Republican Mitt Romney and it was off-topic to bring up gay marriages.

But consider the history of the Mormon Church which both practiced polygamy as a core doctrine (and some “Fundamentalist” Mormons still practice polygamy) and also the Mormon Church practiced explicit racism right up to 1978.

Perhaps in 20 or 40 years there will be a Mormon prophet that receives a personal communication from God, and, as former Mormon Prophets reordered Mormon Church doctrine to discontinue polygamy and discontinue formal racism, perhaps the new Mormon Prophet will be told by God that same-sex marriages are okay.

Perhaps the same communication from God will even say that it’s okay for a woman to be a Prophet-Leader of the Mormon Church.