Our gremlin
In case you haven't noticed (if any of you are noticing this blog at all), Muttering Jam has its own resident gremlin in the personage of one Jason Coleman who has provided frequent commentary to MJ's posts from up on high atop Mt. Olympus. He's an interesting guy, but I have stopped engaging Mr. Coleman directly because, as you must have noticed by now, everyone left of center is 1) wrong, 2) deluded, 3) programmed and 4) a ... SOCIALIST!!! while everyone right of center is (of course) none of these things, but mostly has a monopoly on truth.
So, in the pursuit of truth, which we at MJ find to be a slippery slope indeed, we invite you to attempt to identify Mr. Coleman from among the following mugshots:
Who says we never have any fun around here?
Posts
4 comments:
Ha Ha Ha, thanks for the link, if you don't want the debate, just say so.
And NO, everyone left of center is not wrong, but I've yet to see you advocate any position that gets anywhere close to "centrist".
Perhaps, if you point to an example of any of your "centrist" views, my opinion could change.
Oh wait, you dont' want any debate.
Very well, I'll abide by your wishes.
--Jason
PS, Don't forget who made assumptions about who first???? Righty, Fundy, Libertarian, now I'm a Gremlin?? Sorry if the truth was too much for you.
And to think I was about to invite you to a group blog. Glad I didn't do that last night. Your a bit too thin skinned.
Just when I thought I was out, he pulls me back in ...
Thin-skinned I have never before been accused of being. Most of the time, I am pretty self-effacing. Be that as it may, frankly, you were exhausting me with all those comments. I wake up at 4 AM every day to go to work ... and not as young as once I was (jeez, now you got me sounding like Yoda). And I am probably to much of an onanist for a group blog. (Is that like a group grope or more like a committee?).
However, I have been accused of being quickly judgemental, and will own up to that indictment. But Jason, I haven't seen a whole lot of centrist opinion in your blog (though I did really like that beer commercial).
Centrist views? I believe whole-heartedly in the value of family. It is the most precious thing in my life. And I believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every human being as they come into this life. What they do with it, or what may be done to them ... well, that's another matter.
What I fail to see is how the current far right Republican administration, with all its cynical manipulation of its supposed fundamentalist base in ways that would give Machiavelli pause, augurs any good for the America that I love. I fail to see how the New American Century Project is any thing less than a thinly veiled blueprint for global hegemony.
Forget all this sheepdog, grey, pink B.S. Stop telling me how Cheney is going to donate all of its profits to charity (what charity? The Family Research Council?). Where is this documented (beyond the man's claim of doing so?). Divested? I don't think so: http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/about_hal/ethics.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/articles/halliburtonprimer.html
Illegal? Probably not. Unethical? I guess it's in the eye of the beholder.
You make many excuses for Halliburtin's corporate interests in Iraq, but no where do you challenge whistleblower Bunnatine Greenhouse's accusations.
You obfuscate, and selectively omit what doesn't jibe with your worldview. Yeah, I probably do that, too - up to a point.
But enlighten me. Please tell me in a focused paragraph or two why you believe our nation is on the right road. Because I would desperately like to believe that, despite all of the evidence to the contrary.
Ok, well lets start.
Cheney followed the same path that most politicians follow when they enter government (although I know you are holding him to a higher standard because he's a republican).
On Cheney's financial disclosure statement prior to taking office in 2001 he details out that his deffered compensation from Haliburton will be channeled into an insurance policy so that the success or failure of the company is not tied to his financial compensation. This is a VERY common arrangement for politicians including Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bush Sr., Bill Clinton and George W.
I'm curious if you are holding Bill and Hillary Clinton to this standard for their deffered compensation during their tenure?? I think probably you don't. In fact, I doubt you've given much thought to those politicians income streams other than those you disagree with??
And I can guarantee you that if Cheney lied on his financial disclosure, it'd would have certainly come out by now. Both the DNC and GOP have an army of accountants on each side making sure these statements jibe with truthful disclosure.
AS for Cheney's stock options, Cheney is bound by legal contract to endorse any profits from the options over to charity, even after he leaves office. Is it your opinion that assets acquired in the private sector should be abandoned when one enters the public sphere?? That seems to be what your suggesting. Do you also maintain that other politicians should be stripped of their assets when they enter public life? Or just those that hold assets in companies you don't agree with?? I suppose that if Kerry was elected, you would be screaming the high holies that he divest himself from any and all holdings in companies he may pass legislation over??? OH WAIT, he is elected, and can pass legislation to benefit agribusiness, but I guess in your world, that doesn't count.
I find it ironic that in your eyes, investigation equals guilt and lawsuits by their very filing indicate culpability. In MY America, people are innocent until proven guilty, I'm sorry thats not the way it is in your America.
As for your "unethical" assertion,
what EXACTLY was unethical?? Making sure that he couldn't profit from Haliburtons success or suffer from it's failure, or his contractual obligation to give any profits from his private asset holdings in Haliburton over to charity. What charity doesn't really matter, because if the charity is a legitimate one, then who it is shouldn't be of concern to you, should it. Or does the left now hold court and decide what charity citizens are allowed to donate to?
I would be happy to challenge the so-called "whistleblowers" allegations once they are proven in a court of law, but until then, they are merely allegations. Remember that innocent until proven guilty concept you seem to have so much trouble with.
I have but one standard to judge whether or not the nation is on the correct course. FREEDOM, when freedom is on the march, I'm happy, because I believe strongly in those key phrases in the constitution "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" when those concepts expand throughout the world, I'm happy. Given that GWB has FREED over 50 million people from tyrannical regimes, he's fitting my bill for the advance of humanity.
So I'll have to pass on your game of saying in one paragraph what's going right with the nation, for me, it's a helluva lot more than one paragraph of information, so I'll just have to leave it with the spreading freedom from oppression for humankind (which is pretty uniquely a Republican ideal at the moment) statement.
--Jason
... regardless of the collateral damage. I am sure the majority of Iraqis are feeling free from oppression as we speak. And I'm sure the 2nd largest oil reserves on the planet had nothing to do with it.
So why aren't you out there on the front line, young man?
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