helenofjoy wrote: 
How about an email campaign?

I am wondering how to get outdoor outfitters to donate tents, yurts, teepees and other outdoor gear to the Haiti cause.  These could be airdropped in by helicopter to military folks to distribute along with water and food.

 musik_knut wrote:
You mean "President Obama" don't you?  Seems disrespectful.

 musik_knut wrote:You live in your own world, that is for sure. But hey, it is your world, your view, and as long as you are happy with it, you are more than welcome to it.

Now go recapture that boat before it disappears from our shores altogether. I'll wave you off...

 romeotuma wrote:  Almost every leader rebuffed Mr. Obama's approaches...his foreign policy is a mess...when the French lecture us on the realities of geopolitics, we're working it backwards. he twice flew to Copenhagen, twice he came home with empty hands...NATO has almost stiff armed him...he has insulted our best ally, The British, at every possible turn and did so from almost his first day in office...he has riled Israelis like no other President...China toys with him, even going so far as to lecture him on Capitalism...Russia offered nothing after Mr. Obama stated he would erase plans for missiles in Poland and radar in The Czech Republic...and three months before that decision, he praised the leaders of those countries while noting the political hell they took for taking on missiles and radars...he was beyond timid in offering vocal support while Iranians were dying in Tehran's streets as they protested tyranny...in March, he declared a new policy for Aghanistan, by mid-August, that policy was again being renewed and that oddly coincided with a number of prominent elected Democrats protesting his March policy. He has proven on foreign policy to be as pliable as taffy lying in the summer sun...and world leaders now know it and use it against The US...*to wit, China...* And then, there's Iran and nuclear business...how many deadlines, how many lines in the sand, from Mr. Obama? The most recent was Jan. 1...that date has come, it has gone...as did all the deadlines...all the declarations of consequences...all the huff and puff and what is yielded? An Iranian thumb in Mr. Obama's foreign policy eye...they too, toy with Mr. Obama. He offered an open hand, they bitch slapped it away, repeatedly. His naive approach to other countries, built on the egocentric notion that his wit and charm would woo them is seen as weakness, greeted with contempt and snickering...it is Mr. Obama who is pushed by others *not that we mush push them, but they do indeed push us hard and often*.
On fiscal policy, NO pork laden bill would find his John Hancock...sorry, but that's been laid to rest with the pile of other chants of change...and even today, Mr. Obama speaks of reigning in spending...do you buy that? If so, I have some fabulous beach front property located just West of Las Vegas that you might be interested in...
Huge popular support? 50%, the average poll value, is NOT huge. he is teetering on unpopular support...*and no, as some think, I did not fabricate that number* his policies are all on the negative side of support, so say polls. *and no, still not making this stuff up*
You should study the history of Gitmo...Cuba is not providing it to us...try not to lecture me on something you just stepped in...*better double scrub your feet...*
Haiti would have drawn universal help no matter who is POTUS...the tsunami help was not predicated on 'damn that Bush!'...another barking point my friend and without warrant...that was a stretch on your part.
I know some find Mr. Obama fully capable of walking on water and at some point, he'll find reason to demonstrate that...I know some think he's the cat's meow...he is, as he told us, the one we've been waiting for...and I don't doubt some folks burn candles for their new Messiah...*oh how hard it must be to see that their Messiah is a mere mortal now in a free fall from a perch once so lofty, he was deemed by some to be the greatest man to ever breathe*
Mr. Obama allowed Congress to shape the stimulus package...he allowed for months, Congress to cobble and patch together health care reform, cap and trade...sorry my friend, but for the most part, Mr. Obama has been a bystander while others do the heavy lifting *and that has been his political MO ever since he first took an elected office going back to The Illinois Senate...your Messiah follows, he does not lead on affairs of State...the only ones he leads are those now fully blinded to him...I would suggest in as gentle manner as is possible, you are one who follows without eyesight to the realities of Mr. Obama's standing with most, his foreign policy meltdowns and his general lack of leadership*
It's going to be a long year...enjoy! as always, with warm regards.

 romeotuma wrote: 

Upper right-hand corner. 

Less than half of us are buying his snake oil. Why buy anyone's snake oil?  It's probably Valvoline in any case.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 

those liberals feeling let down want an even harder leftward pull...they would not likely be pleased no matter how far left Mr. Obama or Congress tried to steer us...there are some on the right who would caterwaul if a President and Congress didn't pull hard enough to suit them. those folks are on the extreme ends of the spectrum...they concern me.

 musik_knut wrote: 
Tell that to all the liberals who are feeling let down re: War, Health Care, etc etc.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 

ummmm....sorry to differ: in order to capture your Party's Flag, you run to their more hardened positions...if you win that, you then campaign in the middle. Mr. Obama, for the most part, dished out shop worn Democratic dogma, sprinkled generously with touch phrases like hope and change, then ran decidedly in the middle where he has not been since his election. His drift Left is well noted and I think that is borne by the falling support for his policies. I think a fair assessment of his tumble lies partially or perhaps greatly with his allowing others to 'shape' him by erecting legislation while he tagged along.

 musik_knut wrote: 
People don't know left from right anymore. You think he campaigned to the center and is governing from the fringe? Not the way I see it, and that would be contrary to conventional wisdom that says most succesful candidates campaign to the fringes and govern from the center.

 jadewahoo wrote: 

wow...do we see the spectrum through different glasses....Mr. Obama's actions are that of the Right? If Mr. Obama, who ran as a moderate, leans anymore Left, he'll be flat to the ground. Funny how we view him...   Perhaps on Afghanistan, he might be seen as 'Right'. But on almost every other policy or position, he's very much to the Left, at least in the opinions of many poll results.

 musik_knut wrote:Given the standards of measure, I would amend that to a reflection of reality:
NeoCons: 40%
RepublicCons: 34%
Right of Center: 21%

There are no true Liberals left in this country. Their boat was hijacked a lo-o-o-ng time ago. Look at President Obama... he is referred to as a Liberal, and yet his overarching actions are that of the Right. So it goes.
 

 jadewahoo wrote: 
There are reasons why 40% of respondents in a recent poll call themselves Conservatives, 34% Moderates and 21% Liberals...don't count out Conservatism in the US...it's alive, well and vibrant in the hinterland. That would suggest that as almost all things recycle, so will Conservatism and it will before long, be in the ascendency, despite the premature yelps of joy from the many that Conservatism has been consigned to a long lasting exile.

 JustineFromWyoming wrote: 
I wanted to sign the petition but it thought I was you - and I guess you've already signed so it wasn't available 

Think about this...

 musik_knut wrote:Hmmm. The topic I was responding to was whether or not Rush is a conservative.  I had my say. Nowhere was there an issue of Democrats and their standing. I don't recall mentioning Republicans, either. I don't know why you see it so fit to bring up such offbeat topics, but you do, and so you do.

My point still stands: There is a metaphoric boat in the cultural waters of America, and its name is The American Conservative. It is populated by the likes of Rush, Beck, Palin, Cheney, Robertson and other such hate-mongering fools. You may not like the name of the boat, because your once proud ship, now dry-docked, carried that name. Times change. If you continue to call yourself a Conservative, those around you will point to the boat that now sails the byways and say "There you go, your ship is over there." Your neighbors will shun you or worship you or just plain laugh at you, depending on how they feel about that boat and its inhabitants. You can infiltrate the crew of that boat and seek to wrest it back to sanity's shore, or throw rocks at it in the vain hope that it sinks, but make no mistake, you who cry out that the boat is misnamed are amongst the great ignored. The American Conservative has already cast its rope and set course for darker waters.

 Proclivities wrote: 

To their collective credit, Limbaugh, Beck, Boortz have hit on a recipe for wealth. Other than that, I have nothing good to note about them They are joined by the Obermann's and his type on the other side of the hate spectrum. The thoughts of Mr. Buckley live on...quietly in the minds of those Conservatives lacking a national voice. Who today speaks for me about smaller government, a less intrusive government, of fiscal sanity and prolife, a strong defense and limited foreign engagements and truly backs that up beyond lip service? No one. Those are core Conservative Principles, principles buried by modern day Republicans and so-called Conservatives in elected office. The few who do voice those principles are lesser players in a crowded field where the more strident voices drown out all others...

 musik_knut wrote: 
I agree, Limbaugh is an asswipe - and several other things.  I am not a Conservative, but it's apparent to me that the days of William F. Buckley-type Conservatives are over.  These alleged "mouth-pieces of the Conservative movement" (Limbaugh, Beck, Boortz, etal) seem to be little more than very well-paid barking dogs.  Their job is apparently "to make noise", and offer little else.   Well, that's info-tainment.

 jadewahoo wrote: 

hoo,
First, for your information so lacking, I am a true Conservative. Rush might speak for some Conservatives, but certainly not for me. He is of a mean spirit, with almost no compassion and he's a hypocrite of the highest order. As I look at Congress, I find damn few true Conservatives but many who speak as if they were and then act as if they don't know Conservatism. To wit, Republicans spent like the Democrats they always harpooned for their spending habits *which is why I have questioned the current Republican leadership on the Hill...all the same faces that acted, well, like Democrats and then were voted into the same leadership roles...you might as well reorganize the deck chairs on The Titanic*. Second, I would not call Republicans ideologues and not include Democrats, certainly those at the helm today: they are hardened and hardcore ideologues. This is why Government so often fails: Party leaders married to dogma driven by ideology without concern for counter voices and it happens to both Parties when in power. Many of us are set in our ways and have core convictions but sometimes you must set them (partly) aside for common good, willing to hedge here and there without a wholesale collapse of those principles. That is what Republicans did: they tossed all Republican core values and principles aside, became ideologically strident and failed to see their errors, or worse, simply repeated them in a compounding way. Today, Democrats are doing the same. One can make the case that Mr. Obama is following very much in the footsteps of Mr. Bush: watching their Party go against popular feeling while they go along for the ride. It's either a lack of clear leadership skills, or any skills, on both Mr. Obama and Mr. Bush that the same madness is being repeated: fiscal insanity, government intrusion, government expansion.
It's unfortunate that Rush Limbaugh is seen as the face of Conservatives. Today, a face that does not help Democrats is seen as theirs: Speaker Pelosi. And that's how it goes:  a big mouth full of fury and intolerance always seem to become the poster child for others of their ilk. In the case of Rush Limbaugh, he and I have nothing in common. I am a true Conservative, he is simply a true asswipe.
mk

 hippiechick wrote: 

heavy drugs...