I think the only reason he hasn’t done this already is because his pen is out of ink from writing all the signing statements on laws he doesn’t feel like obeying.

Pow! Zing! KaBoom!

Shared disgust for our leader warms the cockles of my heart.

What is a cockle anyway and why is it nice when they're warm?

-nab

The day after NAB posted this, newsweek posted an article at http://www.newsweek.com/id/71814 saying he won't have to pay the money back and the Army is investigating if other injured soldiers received similar letters. I'm glad to hear this has been resolved.

Ok... Since I didn't know the answer to your question nab I had to go look it up. Here is what I found..

One of the meanings of "cockle" is the chamber of a kiln: in reference to the heart, it refers to the chambers, of which there are four (two atria and two ventricles). The heart has always been associated with emotions, especially love, excitement and fear, probably because when we feel a strong emotion we feel our heart thumping and beating faster. So when something "warms the cockles of our heart", it is a reference to something pleasant that makes our heart beat faster and makes us feel good. It is probably also the origin of the saying that something gives us that "warm and fuzzy feeling".

John Frith, Paddington

Learn something new every day...

As for President Bush, while I don't agree with everything he's done I just don't understand the hatred he has engendered in so many people.

Thanks for looking that up, Wayne, I've been waiting on tenterhooks for the answer. Now if I only knew what a tenterhook was.

As for why W is despised with the white-hot vehemence of an exploding gas stove, you might recall 4 to 6 years ago when W was the National Savior, Unifier, and the American Civic Pontifex Maximus.

Now to me, the POTUS is just a glorified civil servant whose office has accrued more power and importance than the Founding Fathers ever intended. But from some reason, folks seem to want to endow semi-divine status on it. There is nothing great about getting 51% or more in an election.

It makes sense then that if people are going to bestow hysterical but undeserved adoration and moral authority on someone, that person will alternately inspire an equal amount of enmity and contempt.

As for me myownself, I have no special scorn for W, at least no more than I hold for any of the other gas bags that have occupied that office. His bad luck was being president during the age of the Internet, when it is harder to keep your corruption and ineptitude a secret, and you can fact check any statement instantly. Saint Abraham and Saint Franklin would have faired just as bad.

WOW! Its nice to have a day off to actually reply to some of this.

I have a different perspective on the war than most people due to the fact that my best friend is from Israel and her husband was very high placed in the American embassy in Israel when they met. I have heard the personal side of the story of the middle east. How it has touched peoples lives, and how it continues to touch and destroy lives every day (on both sides).

While my friend and her husband fully support the war and the president, myself, I have to say that I support the troops. What was done to the soldier was a callous clerical error. It was probably set up for people that left the military under different circumstances and the wounded soldiers got mixed into the paperwork.

When dealing with government agencies you have to realize that there is never a gray area until you make a fuss and show them that sometimes BLACK and WHITE mixed together will always make gray (basic art class ).

It's so nice to see you back, Sunndew.

As to Wayne's question about why Bush generates such hatred, I have a simple response.

Bush led us to a war in Iraq that was doomed to failure from the very beginning. He misunderstood intelligence (or ignored or manufactured it) and brought about an economic and military catastrophe for America - as well as tarnishing our reputation for diplomacy in the eyes of the rest of the world. His failures regarding the Iraq war have cost tens of thousands of people their lives and placed us in debt for which countless generations will be paying.

But we all know that. So let me focus instead on the man, not the president.

He's insincere.
He's arrogant.
He lies.
He's as phony as a carnival barker.
He's divisive..
He calls himself "The Decider".
He gives real Christians a bad name.
He talks like English is his second language.
He's an extremist.
He pretends to be deep when in fact he's as shallow as a shower puddle.
He doesn't listen.
He's secretive.
He smirks.

While you question why Bush garners such strong feelings among so many people, my question is how anyone in America could honestly believe that this man is worthy of even the tiniest respect, much less entitled to the office in which he serves.

-nab

When speaking of "Bush", I assume most people are referring to the Bush Government. I personally do not hold Bush accountable for U.S. woes simply because I do not credit him with enough intelligence to make such decisions. The real power lies with Cheney, Pearl, etc.; Bush is merely a gullible puppet who will happily retire to his ranch while the common man suffers from his party's economic policies.

Irish - 30 November 2007 07:13 PM

I personally do not hold Bush accountable for U.S. woes simply because I do not credit him with enough intelligence to make such decisions.

ROFL! SO TRUE!

The reason for the hatred is simple! You're a liberal and hate the fact that you're wrong about Bush!! All of yor arguments are old, worn out, and simply untrue. As bitter as you may be, you know I'm Right and you're wrong. That's o.k. I accept you for who you are, not what you think( if you can call it that).

Bad intelligence combined with Saddams desire to make it seem that his country had more war capability than it actually had, combined with the real possibility that Al Qaeda would move it's operations to Iraq when driven from Afghanistan is what decided Bush to go in and make a "Regime Change" in Iraq.

Jeeze.... There are so many arguable points in that above statement that I'm tempted to delete it....

As to the war being a failure? The fat lady hasn't sang yet. And if the Iraqi Gov't can get it's act together I think we'll be out of there, for the most part, in a year or two.

Then it will be a question of how long it will take another dictator to gain power, throw remaining US forces out and become an enemy of the US.

Oh.. Sunndew. Love your Avatar!