What have you argued for on DU, that you were most wrong about?

Before the invasion I argued that they weren't really going to do it, that they weren't really going to invade Iraq.

I argued that they were just going to beat the war drums, and get all the advantage they could out of that, without going through the trouble of actually invading.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

What have you argued for on DU, that you were most wrong about?

Boy, were my eyes opened!

:evilfrown: :banghead: :grr:

I feel so...used.

I didn't keep up with all the voting machine stuff. What happened? When?

had turned over a new leaf - and that her efforts would help us.

I was very wrong about Bev - and not so wrong about her efforts helping us.

I can't believe I actually donated money to her.

people defending her?

And I don't know what happened. I stayed out of the whole voting issue because of the many, many hotheads.

I still have a 'hang dog' feel about it.

I'm still wiping my feet.

Like others, I never really followed the Voting thing. I knew it was nicked, didn't need proof. What did she do?

It could be a verb around here.

:evilgrin:

I was Bev'd.

I know I'm in good company on that one.

I saw how my line of thinking was totally wrong. It was one of the few moments where I just had a moment of moral clarity and saw how dumb I sounded.

peace!

thing too, at first. Didn't post too much about it but mostly lurked on the threads.

I am grateful to the many good people here who properly educated me on the matter.

are they legal immigrants that have went through the system and gained citizenship? I don't care how it's sugar coated they are still Illegal.

more so than in the history of it.
It's always been pillage and plunder. Now it is MegaXXX super dooper - and it includes us, the soft western.

The cheap baubles the great unwashed accept for vats of blood and hardship of 'those' people who just want a better life.

Most of us are guilty of conspicuous consuming thrown down our vacuous throats as 'freedom', (sell, sell, sell product, not humanity).

for so many reasons. it's a word that doesn't do justice to the situation, and distracts from it at the same time....

if you need more, i suggest you take my quiz:
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/slybacon9/6

:toast:

and I don't remember if I told you then but that was really cool. Good on you. :hi:

by M1 Abrams tanks during the "major combat operations"

In hindsight, I saw the distinct thread marks in the remains.

:dunce::banghead:

:dunce: :banghead: :dunce: :banghead:

That Arlen is a good liar.

Arlen is no better than a shill in a three card monte game.

I remember watching that hearing on CSPAN. I could almost see buckets of whitewash sitting on the table.

about ELECTION FRAUD.

We have not taken it to the streets for Americans and we just keep crying about how they stole the last elections.

RIGHT, they did, and what are WE going to do about it now?


No one has an answer for me and I am so serious.

All we hear is technical talk.
We need a Boston Tea Party for the 4th of July!
http://www.votersunite.org/takeaction/bbballot-porttownsend.htm


I pray I will be proven wrong but when Blackwell gets in and Condi is selected President, please remember that goclark tried to tell somebody and they would not listen.

I wish more of us would realize that if it's a black box machine, it cannot be trusted - unless it actually spits out a voter-verified paper ballot.

Day by targeting secrety of states offices or county board of elections offices or wharehouses that hold the god damn tools of tyrany.

Paper ballots and HAND COUNTS NOW!!!

has posted and has the passion that I have~ everyone else is working like heck to get the laws enacted to STOP the FRAUD.

That is wonderful and I am not putting their efforts down in anyway ~ GOD bless Them.

I am saying something entirely different, how do we GET the WORD out to the People that count ~ the Innocent voters that have not a clue how to even demand paper ballots and where to put them when and if their state allows them.

EX: I read that in California, voters are allowed to use Paper Ballots - right?

Well if I have an absentee ballot, made of paper, can I mail it in?

I'm not unless someone tells me that is the right thing to do because I heard that the absentee ballots are counted LAST(right?) and if that is so ARNOLD would have already been selected again by his DIEBOLD friends.
:crazy:

:toast:

Now this is just a thought, Maybe we all should start hounding the Republicans about these machines, I mean they are in the Majority.

One more thing 100% AMNESTY if the Dems or any Republicans sign the contract they can speak up about election fraud, and from the day they signed the contract FORWARD they get AMNESTY from anything that the NEOCONS have on them, that may have prevented them from speaking up in the first place.


Maybe we should get an AMNESTY petition going? Just a thought.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

I said he conceded the '04 election too easily and that showed weakness.

I don't particularly feel that I was "wrong," it was only my opinion about Kerry's character. But, let me tell you, I was afraid to raise my head in GD for the rest of the day.

My burn scars have mostly faded.

Kerry did give in to easy. And he didn't defend himself from those Swift Boat creeps. What a wuss, I'm a shamed I voted for the bastard.

Kerry's flaw is that he did what too many of our Democratic pols do. He listened to his consultants instead of his constituents.

Welcome to DU.

for him. He was completely Goebbeled.

He would have made a fine president. I'll vote for him again in a second, although I do wish Gore would run.

jumping into Kerry-or-Clark-in-'08 threads to argue the self-evident (to me) contrarian point of view. These threads often come disguised as polls or innocent-sounding questions (So, what do you think of _______ in '08?), but woe unto those who express a dissenting opinion--you're probably a freeper troll. I still think that neither Kerry nor Clark are good choices for '08, but I'll stay out of threads originated by the DU Clarkie Club and the DU Kerry Krew from now on.

for him. I don't blame Kerry for one minute- I blame the Dem party as a whole, I blame the dems that go on the Sunday morning talk shows, go on Cable news - local news, the elected Dems in this country that didn't blast the swifties in op-eds.

Candidates need to provide a positive message - provide a contrast to the person they are trying to beat. It is not their job to run a defensive campaign.

W never called Kerry a 'flip-flopper', but every other pig did.

The Dems left Kerry out there, and didn't have his back.

Never again will we let our leaders do this to our candidates.

I was totally convinced that he had done that,
and that everyone who believed it was his thumb
was just incredibly blind or stupid...

I was wrong- it was his thumb.

:hide:

it. It was apparently a pen. I'll see if I can find the link.

The answer was in the part of his hand from which the offending digit was protruding.
It was too wide for the protruding digit to have been his thumb.

:D

and I can't remember what it was about. I made a post and somebody replied and it was clear that it was totally wrong and - really pathetic - I thought "Oh piss off" and didn't even bother to reply or admit my mistake. The funny thing is that I can't even remember what I was wrong about, so I haven't learned anything either :crazy: :silly: :wtf:

Handle was "norml," but I don't remember much else about the poster. I thought s/he was a nice person and deserved a fair hearing of his/her lunatic views.

Oh well, you should never regret being too kind.

{Hee, hee, hee}

However, I know better now not to make any contrary arguments that they wouldn't be so stupid as to actually invade Iran.

Thanks for the defense. :)

I can see now that most of em probably are. If the minutemen want to be part of the solution then they should put their energies toward exposing businesses and corporations who are hurting all of us. Because the only way to protect our jobs is to go after the damn bastards who are giving them away at half price. :grr:

and thought he was on to something.

I thought that he had a reasonable solution to the problem.

He may have until the Minutemen stepped in and their reasoning was a little different to say the least.

passionately about many issues.

But I sure got my butt on the line with some things recently where the verdict is not in yet.:yoiks:

If I'm wrong, I'll be the first one to bend over for a swift kick in it.

i so silly

the Season had begun.

Nothing wrong with wanting your choice to win.

Predictions are another thing.

...

I was 100% sure that he would be the winner in 2004. I expected fraud - especially in Ohio and Florida, however I still can't understand that even with fraud there were still so many voting for Bush. This point doesn't qualify as DU related; in fact Kerry's reelection lead to the discovery of DU a couple of days after the election.

and about two years ago,after watching several Death Penalty Trials, I changed my mind!

My dear friend is a Trial Attorney and he invited me to three Death Penalty Trials.

I never dreamed how unfair the justice system is/was until those cases!

When you see it from the inside out, it sure is different.

Some here were truly cruel to me and a few others when we defended Tookie Williams.

Because I happen to be African American, they thought I was defending his right to rot in a cell forever just because I happen to be Black ~ wrong!

I am against the DP period,end of story.

Now, I truly feel, even GW should have to rot in a cell for the rest of his natural life. That is WORSE than DEATH IMO.

And, I know this will get my Sisters upset....
:dilemma:
As a woman, I believe that we should have the RIGHT to CHOOSE what we want to do with our bodies.

Yet,if I am to value the life of a defendant, I am coming to the point that ALL LIFE should be valued.

Am I to value the life of an American soldier over the life of an Iraqi soldier or an Iraqi child?

Since GW is a vicious killer, he must not value the life of Americans or Iraqi children but I want to be a better person that George Bush.

I want to value ALL LIFE and I want to value PEACE not WAR.


PEACE and UNDERSTANDING


:dilemma:

I am opposed to the death penalty out of principle.

Tookie is a perfect example. That guy is extremely guilty of many murders and was a hard line criminal. The strange thing is that Stanley Williams changed in prison and his change is undeniable.

The things you can argue about is whether it would or wouldn't have happened if he had received a lenghty sentence and you can argue whether he would or wouldn't return to life of crime, however if he was allowed to live longer than he would have probably continued to make a positive impact.

I am a white guy and have looked at Buddhism a bit (I can't say I'm a practioner or a great follower, but it sometimes gives me something to find comfort in). One of the most interesting "saints" in Tibetan Buddhism is Milarepa who is worshipped as an second Buddha, however he was a killer, who killed 35 people in cold blood and then spend years in a solitary condition and repented his crimes and became a saint. The story is a legend of course because he lived between 1052 and 1135, but the Milarepa story is like the Tookie story and there is a country where such a man is revered and held in high esteem because he changed his way; he changed from being a hardline criminal to a holy man.

Isn't changing your way the ultimate objective of justice and a crime system. What if Tookie did change? Wouldn't that have been enough? Was there reasonable evidence to think that Tookie would have changed his way? I think there was.

Sorry for the long reply.

"Isn't changing your way the ultimate objective of justice and a crime system."


Interesting thought!"

The other thing is, does it deter crime~ I think not.

I think of GW and all his crooks.

They know what they are doing is against the law.
They just don't care.

They are hardened criminals that should know better but they don't care.


All he can think of for his best moment was catching a perch/bass!
What lesson did he learn?

me to this day.

I don't feel bad about it.

PM'd me, and became a part of my life. I worried about them, cried with them, kept them in my thoughts... And it sucked big time to find out I'd been had. I try to believe in the basic goodness of people, and that one made me realize I was right to be cynical of message boards at times.

But, a lot of the things he said just needed to be said.

And then people would hammer him. I just thought he got a raw deal a lot of the time.

Trolls, I could care less about. People who give themselves a completely different personality, that is disturbing.

... so I can't say I feel personally deceived, or anything like that. But I do feel a little sorry for him, in spite of everything.

He seemed a seriously conflicted person. It was as though he were using DU as a means of living out his fantasy of a better life in which he could be young, gorgeous (remember that photo of the supposed "Cuban Liberal"), popular, have an exciting job and a promising future, have the love of a devoted partner, and be accepted re both his homosexuality and his traditional Catholicism, etc.

Not to excuse what he did -- which was a betrayal of trust -- but rather to understand why a person does such things.

He consistently posted some really, really sexist -- even misogynistic -- stuff.

:sarcasm: please...many of us thought he was a major fucking asshole and that is what lead to the research by an enterprising DUer that busted him..

respectable.

You know pecking, don't you?

Peck, peck, peck.

I still don't think we have the whole story.

(By the way, this statement is not an invitation for cryptic PMs claiming dramatic discoveries via IP searches.)

CL/Padraig, whatever the configuration, was targeted by a systematic campaign, and that should never have been allowed on this board.

I guess I don't have the thin skin required to be in a constant state of agitation over this or that troll. As childrens' immune systems develop with exposure to the environment, germs and all; so do we. If we insist upon living, and arguing, in a hothouse environment, we will be all the more easily weakened by the RW disease.

Still, I am sorry that you and others were so deeply hurt by his deceptions, and I don't argue that there was not deception on some level. It's sad to see people get hurt here. It's important to remember that it's just a message board, but you know that.

You should be proud of yourself.

:hug:

He was HAUGHT!

He was just one of "Padraigs" sock puppets;
he never actually existed.

He came out of the woodwork after Ratzinger got picked and defended Ratzinger's "gays are the new ideology of evil" line. I stopped arguing with him after about two hours, realizing that he-- and all those suddenly devout Catholic, anti-gay DUers-- were nothing more than trolls. It did bother me that so many people supported these gaybashers in the name of religion. I can't tell you how many times that week I was called a bigot for stating that I do not accept that the Pope calls me evil!

I'm probably the worst offender.

I thought he must know something, because he would be impeached if we went in and found nothing. I was wrong, and my wife always reminds me of that fact.

Whoops.

Of course i'm kidding, but since i've been hanging out here at DU, i've had my mind changed allot.

I was very, very wrong.

Tucker

:evilgrin:

Sometimes I like to alter my wording to make what I say more right, is all.

I jumped on the bandwagon at first, and was against them taking her off the feeding tube.

Before I knew the facts. It sounds like it's what she wanted.

at first. Then they got twisted up with the pro-life wingnuts, and it became all about them, not what was best for their daughter.

... and taken up for them fiercely and passionately, as though they really were the pro-gun progressives that I wanted to believe them to be.

But most of them were just trolls after all.

It was wishful thinking on my part, I suppose, to imagine otherwise.


Makes me feel kind of sad.

What transpired? I thought she was a du goddess or something.

And PM me if you want the kinds of personal opinions we're not supposed to put up on the boards about her.

DU might need a new forum to list my errors. Some big, mostly small. My biggest error is thinking I know everything, particularly when I am tired and grumpy, and most prone to error!

I wrongly thought a huge young latino vote was going to miraculously appear and defeat Arnie.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

but I originally believed that the case for WMD's was an honest mistake. Clinton argued it, other countries believed it, etc. It was before I read more and learned about PNAC.

After I'd initially rejected the idea, I later claimed, like, in early February of '05, that I'd "misjudged" him. Post Roberts, Alito, and countless other majorly botched attempts at "strategic capitulation," I think my original assessment was accurate. And I'm totally bummed about that.

No joke, I somehow got my wires crossed and was all but certain of it...

I just don't really give a shit.

Hell, I'm too lazy to argue passionately about things I really care deeply about for more than a few posts, so I doubt I've ever really gone out on a limb enough to be so wrong that it would be memorable.


Except for that time I insisted that pi was exactly 3.0

I was in the wrong, and I wish he would come back. :(

I didn't think the voters could be that stupid twice. I thought Smirky had proved himself an incompetent fool in the first term. My posts right up to the election were all reflective of that.


Silly me.

Didn't actually think about all the many flaws in the way guns are regulated. I'm still for regulation, but recognize that this is going to have to be done regionally, because cities are really different from rural areas. Also that using sloppy terms like "assault weapon" doesn't help rational discussion at all.

impeached, America would wake up and demand their votes be counted properly, and Kerry and Edwards would take their rightful places as Pres. and VP.

democracy to be working in America. You believed there was a fair and just system in place to take care of serious abuses of power. You never suspected that we (motley band of citizens) would have to struggle to try to save it, to shore up what's left of it. Neither did I.

I once believed like you. I believed in The System. It took some serious eye-opening experiences to make me realize that it was all illusion. So my epiphany happened before yours, around in the 90's. I saw a stolen election with my own eyes. I saw some local abuses of power. One thing I know, we deserve better.

I'm glad to see others realizing just how vulnerable and abused we "law-abiding" citizens really are. And being willing to admit it, and talk about it. Because that's the only way we will overcome those who would use the system to their own ends.

until Selection 2000, and then I started to slowly wake up. The gross abuses of power that stole the election once again, in 2004, woke me up completely, because it was at that point in time when I realized that the very people we relied upon for objective truth, the M$M, were in fact, partisan and very much Pro-B*, in spite of their protestations to the contrary("The lady doth protest too much" or, "The media is too Liberal, etc. etc. etc.").

What election woke you up in the 90's? I lived in Texas when B* was elected Gov., and heard and tried to dispel rumors concerning her lesbianism, etc. but I didn't learn about Rove and his particular brand of sheer evil, until 2004.

in the belly of the beast when B* was being catapulted to the top. Yes although I too, must limit my political input as there's just so much to process, I do remember what they did to Ann Richards--how Rove went after her relentlessly, spreading that she was a lesbian and had a lot of lesbians working for her. (OMG--"The Lesbians are coming. The Lesbians are coming.") And it worked very well, sad to say. And so one of the best governors in the US was ousted. She already had a proven record but they still did her in.

In my case, first I saw things I didn't like at local level, involving deception, corruption in local officials having to do with real estate and development, and then also in the various ways that states don't really have any consumer protection whatsoever, leaving it all to a pathetic legal system drowning in drug cases. I saw several cases of this, involving different issues including health care--enough to make me see a clear pattern. If Americans really knew what their legal rights consist of, they'd be shocked and amazed. It's ALL about business (uh) "opportunities." And the deck is stacked in every way against the average "law-abiding" citizen. People trying to be honest are considered naive (and therefore exploitable). It's a very ruthless winner-take-all set-up, not for the faint-hearted. It's SO bad that you can hardly tell who's with you and who's against you.

Anyone who says I'm exaggerating ought to really look around in their own community...if you dare. (And I include "Blue States" here...take a look around in those so-called Blue States...talk to some insiders). Then as if that weren't enough I worked on the campaign to try to unseat good ol Jesse Helms. There I saw election corruption at its finest. That was before half the state went over to touchscreens, but even in that selection the corruption was absolutely everywhere. Most insiders knew very well that it had been stolen. And everybody just looked the other way. Gotta move on, y'know. So when Bushco came in, and was re-selected...I was unfortunately NOT surprized at all. Our election system is obviously dysfunctional.

I am convinced that we have corruption and sleeze from the top down in this country. It is boiling down to a struggle between those who really DO want a society of laws, and those who are hell bent on bending every law and process they can, abusing every right and privilege that remains in a civilized society. Many many people are complicit in this. It's like a disease, and it seems to be highly contagious. It's like we are severely ethically challenged in this country. I don't know what can be done short of the second coming of Christ. There is no fear of reprisal, and I don't think these perpetrators actually think they are wrong. They think they are smart and with-it.

:) No need to reply wise sara--I realize I'm on my pet jag here. Anyway, know that I sympathize with where you are coming from. Been there. We have to validate our shock and anger, and work together now. I'm so glad to see others seeing what I was seeing in the 90's. But it took B* to do it. That's REALLY learning the hard way.

biggest problems concerning the ethical dilemma seems to be the Republicans 'ownership' of Morality, Christian Values, and Ethics, in general. And to many, that means/translates into the Democratic Party as having loose morals, God-hating, 10 Commandments abolishing, dirty Liberals. I can't see how people who voted for B* can be so blind as to not see through the hypocrisy of all his deeds. Moral, Christian and ethical Bush* Is not.

18,181 scandals later, I'm still waiting.

maybe some of you other folks were wrong.

..the London attacks. Doh! :)

troops for shooting a family because they(troops)weren't aware of what they were shooting at, the car didn't stop, and the pictures were available in living and dead color. I defended the troops for doing what they had to do, and got roundly chastised for it.
#2 was for liking Billy Joel.
There have been others, and my skin has gotten thicker, but I remember that first one. I felt horrible that I was such a bad person for thinking what I thought.:-(

This thread was started on Billy Joel's birthday. At 57 he's just a little bit younger than Candice Bergen who was also 60 on Tuesday. Also, on this date in 1974 the US House of Representatives opened impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon.

Assault Weapons Ban, and what "weapons were actually banned" under the AWB...the Gundungeon showed me the light on what the AWB truly was...after my first couple assinine, uneducated posts, i spend a solid week reading countless threads/links in the gundungeon, and educated myself...:)

for the way the RW media used her story to spin a heroic face of the invasion. The "sell-out" accusations still make me sick. She was lying in a hospital bed, not even able to communicate with her family. She was used, and she has said as much.

Ironically, one of my regrets is that I participated in outing a sock puppet of one of the people I argued with so passionately on that subject. She was a confused, probably lonely person, who is struggling mightily now with cancer. I regret having added to her misery, and will never again take part in that kind of sport.

I've argued also that Rice will replace Cheney within the next several months. I'm sticking to that one.

outcome of the election in 2004. I was dead wrong.

I don't know if that's the one thing I've been most wrong about. There have been so many cases to choose from, it just made my little head swim trying to single out my biggest blunder! I'm glad I don't do this for a living.

Speaking of indictments, remember when we were speculating about Fitzmas and many were guessing when the indictments would come? Some contributors jumped in to scold us for being so foolish, saying that there would be no indictments. Well, nya nya nya! There were multiple indictments against Scooter. I was thinking I might see a confession in this message thread from one of those skeptics, but I did not.

And while I'm at it, I predict a Rove indictment will be announced this Friday, May 12.

nt

I argued that Saddam would fly to Saudi Arabia at the last minute and live in the palace next to Idi Amin and there wouldn't be an invasion.

Missed that one.

I bet Saddam wished he would have taken my advice though.

(ducking and running from both mods and :tinfoilhat: people)

...see through the demagoguery of the GOP. I was evidently wrong.

Until now.

Diebolded and we will be again until we get rid of the private secret coded machines.

---but the first time I heard him speak, I knew how wrong I was!!
And I did come right back here and admit that.
I love Wesley Clark and want him in office somewhere, Secretary of State would be great.

I believed the media spin against him, and for that I am deeply ashamed :blush: I did favor Clark ahead of Dean, but Dean would have been a much better candidate than the one we got. I have come to realize what a terrible mistake the Democratic Party made by not giving the people it's favorite.

I hope this never happens again, although I am not so naive as to believe it won't. :argh:

I argued there was no way they could steal the election in 2004.
I was so naive.

It hasn't happened yet, but I am still waiting :shrug:

A big flub since I didn't take the differences in state economy into account, Ohio much worse and Florida much better in comparison to the national economy as a whole.

Recently, I thought Bush's approval number would never fall below 35% and probably not much below 40%.

I was also wrong in straying from my early 2003 assessment on DU that John Kerry was "just good enough to get you beat." That was the proper handicap and I knew it, thinking Edwards was the only realistic hope due to personal qualities needed to oust an incumbent. Approaching election day, the blind passion to get rid of Bush screwed me into thinking Kerry had a very good chance, even though my Las Vegas friends were chastising me that I should know better.

I'd still like to be right on these two. Although impeachment can wait until '07 when Dems take over, if the machines allow it.

Censure should already have happened. I do not understand why it did not happen. I hate not understanding this. I'm wrong here somewhere.

before Jan. 2006, even using advanced search. What is the deal with this?

All discussions in GD prior to 2006 have been stored in a seperate folder. Probably because of the size of that database.

NO posts by ANYONE before dec 28, 2005 in GD...

Made a screen dump of the search page. I didn't "click here" but I selected the "General Discussion (Through 2005)" which is one of the last options in the list, so scroll waaaaaaay down.

or deleted. I have searched from dec01 - dec 31 and gotten NOTHING by me at all... I don't THINK it was moved...

I'm sorry, but for some reason I get results :rofl:

I think you meant this thread, because you got in a heated argument

The thing that is wrong with our minimum wage stance,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=5620023#5620323

And here's the apology
You were all right, and I
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=5620578

my name, and minimum, and wage, and got NO results...

Edited to add: Thank you!:yourock:

thinking he would come forward at any time and scream about election fraud.

Boy was I ever wrong.

you were wrong then and criticizing a true patriot today is wrong again.

election fraud. How can any other issue be more important to an elected official?

While based on a true story, the names have been changed to protect the guilty. Please don't assume it is written in a juvenile format to imply that it is childish to lash out at someone just because some birds must blame others for problems they let happen by not working hard enough.



Once upon a time in the land of Chicken-Hawk Haven an eagle was born. Not long after he learned to fly, a war with some well-trained falcons broke out on the other side of the planet.

Falcons are seasoned fighting birds born into a war that constantly rages in their land but this is not a falcon story. Instead, this is a tale of the species Chicken-Hawkia, which only slightly resembles the birds of a feather cliché. Gold feathers adorn not just the wings but also the nests of one class of hawk, while the others have mostly tan or brown feathers. Of course the golden feathered Chicken-Hawks willingly welcome fine feathered eagle families into their nesting tree because hanging with eagles is sophisticated and stylish for the smaller raptors.

The bird wars seem unfair in retrospect because gold-feathered hawks started the trouble and then ordered the brown hawks to try and win the battles, often with dire consequences. In fact, high-class hawks, like eagles, did not have to fight at all and believe me MANY upscale Chicken-Hawks made that very choice.

Strangely, however, the Eagle DID decide protecting other birds was important enough to risk his life and proved to be a valiant, victorious fighter, until one day when his heart cried out war is wrong.

Slightly forlorn, the Eagle flew home only to be greeted by chicken-like cackles and crowish caws that he had not yet done enough to serve Birdom. Undaunted, the Eagle actually agreed and promptly picked up a sign to protest war and save hawk lives. Still, those haunting cackles raised his hackles by screeching not enough Eagle! NOT ENOUGH YET!

So the Eagle decided to serve Birdom again and lead his local flock in a way that was more fair than they actually deserved. He served many years in Birdington DC before once again nay saying cackles raised his hackles. NOT ENOUGH, NOT ENOUGH, they chirped.

You see, some 24K nut-case cackler had somehow snatched control of Birdom and he was quite tyrannical, considering 24K was one of the most cowardly Chicken-Hawks ever. Reluctantly, the Eagle stepped forward to run against the better financed bird in Hawk-idential elections. The Eagle would have gotten that top job handed to him years ago, like Chimp-Hawk, had he simply taken all those golden feathers powerful Chicken-Hawks offered him. Ole' 24K even owned most of the bird-media, including the New York, Fly-by-nightTimes.

With not only media against him but also a lot of public opinion, Eagle ended up using many personal feathers in the race. Considering 24K was an incumbent Chicken-Hawk dealing from his own stacked deck, so to speak, the Eagle flew pretty well. Still, the cheeping of Hawks split the night air with, "NOT ENOUGH, NOT ENOUGH EAGLE."

After an all night feather count in a very close race, tensions at the Eagles Nest ran high. Then, the outcome was revealed. From his frustration, Eagle screamed for a recount of the almost won contest. Eagle was not used to losing because he was a winner. His call was heard throughout Birdom but down at Bird-beach where 24K's bird-brained brother ruled, the count was already cast in stone. Still, Eagle watched patiently from his perch until all manner of breaches in birdism broke out. Then, Eagle flew home because he was very tired and sick that the very Birdom many of his comrades-at-wing had died to protect was now reduced to a vulture's buffet.

As Eagle flew away to a much deserved rest, he could still hear the cackles say, "NOT ENOUGH, NOT ENOUGH EAGLE" but will it ever be enough for every bird in the forest? While the Chimp-bird shows you can fool all of the birds some of the time and some birds all of the time, all Eagle proves is that some birds will screech, NOT ENOUGH anytime, no matter how much you give.

Although I have always detested her, I thought she and the Times were right to stand on principle about protecting sources, etc. Boy oh boy was I wrong.

I was also sure Kerry would pull it out in November 04. *sigh* I even remember calling people giddily on election day telling them about the exit polls. *quadruple sigh*

and not realizing that many families have found this a viable option, which is their choice.
It's just that my personal -- and limited -- experience has been with home school families whose teaching parent is ill-equipped for the job, plus has motivations (including racism, sexism, and fundamentalism) which are more prominent than their desire for the child's most comprehensive education.
Home-schooling should be a choice which receives less judgmental derision (from people like me) for parents who truly take the job seriously and don't use their choice as a method of control, narrow-mindedness, and isolation.

a saint. O8)

But then that's alot to expect anyway

after the '04 election to make sure every vote would be counted.