en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/1197836 Comments by Bretzky1 http://tv.breitbart.com/newt-ive-fallen-short-of-the-glory-of-god/#IDComment303234648 Yes, and you've fallen short of common human decency as well. Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:49:06 +0000 http://tv.breitbart.com/newt-ive-fallen-short-of-the-glory-of-god/#IDComment303234648 http://bigpeace.com/stzu/2012/02/01/russia-and-china-provide-cover-for-assads-syria/#IDComment282013515 The real problem that Russia and China had with the UN resolution regarding Libya wasn't that NATO used it as cover to oust Qaddafi, it's that it actually worked. I think the Russians and Chinese were expecting NATO to go for regime change in Libya and they were expecting NATO to get bogged down in a ground war, thereby further wrecking the West's image in the Middle East through the occupation of yet another Muslim state. When that didn't happen, the Russians and Chinese became much more reluctant to be cooperative over Syria. In reality, the U.S.'s interest in ousting Assad is not as cut and dry as one might think. Getting rid of Assad could be helpful in reining in Iran, but it might also make it more difficult to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian problem. On the other hand, the possibility exists that we could get the worst of both worlds--that is, a new Syrian regime that continues to ally itself with Iran and that increases its belligerence over Palestine. One thing that I doubt very much would happen is a Syria that cuts ties to Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah and that seeks out peace with Israel without reference to the Palestinian issue. By the way, if regime change is going to happen in Syria, it's going to be driven by Turkey, not the U.S. or Arab League. But, even the likelihood of Turkey doing something is very low. Thu, 2 Feb 2012 18:10:03 +0000 http://bigpeace.com/stzu/2012/02/01/russia-and-china-provide-cover-for-assads-syria/#IDComment282013515 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9SLA9TG0&show_article=1#IDComment281870959 It's a disgrace that Americans still buy fuel from Citgo. That's money that goes directly into Hugo Chavez's pocket that he uses to spread anti-American propaganda and to repress his people. Venezuelan oil imports to the U.S. should be zero because Americans refuse to support his evil. Thu, 2 Feb 2012 15:09:00 +0000 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9SLA9TG0&show_article=1#IDComment281870959 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9SKLGB80&show_article=1#IDComment280993830 "Profit" and "Chrysler" were two words I never thought I'd ever read in the same sentence again, except of course for the sentence, "Chrysler failed to turn a profit again this year." Wed, 1 Feb 2012 17:37:06 +0000 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9SKLGB80&show_article=1#IDComment280993830 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9SJCC100&show_article=1#IDComment278830759 Almeida's reaction to Clair's sentence is symptomatic of a big problem that we have in this country: overuse and abuse of the criminal justice system. The people who get imprisoned should be those people who present a danger to the public at large because they are serial offenders. Imprisonment as retribution for a single crime should be reserved for people who commit particularly bad crimes, like murder, rape, armed robbery, etc. To adjudicate acts like what Clair did to Almeida's son is why we have a civil justice system. Almeida's retribution should be through the civil justice system only. Of course, Clair did have to face criminal charges for defrauding the government, but even for that he probably shouldn't have done any jail time. Recoupment of the defrauded amount, a fine, and a prohibition against him ever practicing dentistry again would have been sufficient punishment under the circumstances. We put too many people behind bars in this country for actions that are much better handled through monetary penalties and the civil justice system. Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:00:58 +0000 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9SJCC100&show_article=1#IDComment278830759 http://tv.breitbart.com/newt-may-2011-i-fought-obamacare-mandate-for-two-and-a-half-years/#IDComment278667211 The funny thing is that Gingrich probably believes at this point that he was opposed to the individual mandate. It's like those middle aged guys remembering their glory days of high school sports and knowing that they got the big hit or made the key play to win the game when in fact they struck out to end the game or fumbled the ball on the hand-off. Memory can be a tricky thing. Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:28:27 +0000 http://tv.breitbart.com/newt-may-2011-i-fought-obamacare-mandate-for-two-and-a-half-years/#IDComment278667211 http://tv.breitbart.com/who-is-rachel-maddow/#IDComment276052371 Who is Rachel Maddow? She's an amateur Mary Lou Retton impersonator. Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:04:04 +0000 http://tv.breitbart.com/who-is-rachel-maddow/#IDComment276052371 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9SHD4PO3&show_article=1#IDComment276048089 400 million tons of coal with the current price of about $11/ton for Powder River Basin coal comes to about $4.4 billion worth of coal. I think I have some spare change around here somewhere that I can use to put a bid in. Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:58:01 +0000 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9SHD4PO3&show_article=1#IDComment276048089 http://tv.breitbart.com/newt-im-probably-going-to-win-south-carolina/#IDComment265983374 Um, no, no you're not. I remember him saying in early December that he was probably going to be the party's nominee as well. Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:47:23 +0000 http://tv.breitbart.com/newt-im-probably-going-to-win-south-carolina/#IDComment265983374 http://biggovernment.com/oftheeising/2012/01/15/is-this-any-way-to-pick-a-president-better-than-any-other/#IDComment265176772 There clearly are flaws in and improvements that could be made to the way that we select our presidents, but I can also imagine much worse ways to do so. The nominating process commences too far from the general election, which only increases the need for candidates to raise money. The process focuses far too much on personality and the personal lives of the candidates instead of on what's really important: policies and leadership. Absent a national crisis, the structural electoral system makes it nearly impossible for anyone who doesn't get a nomination from the Democratic or Republican Parties to get serious consideration for the presidency. But while these flaws are real, I wouldn't be willing to put in a place a wholly new system. What is needed are tweaks rather than radical reconstructive surgery. Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:50:25 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/oftheeising/2012/01/15/is-this-any-way-to-pick-a-president-better-than-any-other/#IDComment265176772 http://tv.breitbart.com/sp-downgrades-nine-eurozone-credit-ratings/#IDComment265062167 Having got burnt by being too lax on their ratings of mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations in the run-up to the housing market collapse, the credit-rating agencies are now going overboard on their sovereign debt ratings to prove that they aren't lap dogs. Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:36:39 +0000 http://tv.breitbart.com/sp-downgrades-nine-eurozone-credit-ratings/#IDComment265062167 http://tv.breitbart.com/podestas-bizarre-prediction-alan-simpson-will-run-for-president-on-third-party-ticket/#IDComment263776887 Simpson would have been a good presidential candidate 20 to 30 years ago. At some point, you have to be excluded based on age alone regardless of your viewpoints. The job of president is a demanding one that even people in their 60s find taxing, let alone someone who is 80 years old. Sat, 14 Jan 2012 03:44:09 +0000 http://tv.breitbart.com/podestas-bizarre-prediction-alan-simpson-will-run-for-president-on-third-party-ticket/#IDComment263776887 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9S5KSOO0&show_article=1#IDComment259809965 Is consumer borrowing surging because the economy is improving, or is the economy improving because consumer borrowing is surging? And yes, the answer does matter. The former is sustainable while the latter is not. Mon, 9 Jan 2012 21:25:34 +0000 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9S5KSOO0&show_article=1#IDComment259809965 http://tv.breitbart.com/romney-i-like-being-able-to-fire-people-who-provide-services-to-me/#IDComment259684232 Added Romney, "I also like having enough money to be able to afford health insurance in the first place and to be treated by a doctor." Mon, 9 Jan 2012 18:17:59 +0000 http://tv.breitbart.com/romney-i-like-being-able-to-fire-people-who-provide-services-to-me/#IDComment259684232 http://tv.breitbart.com/santorum-gets-in-heated-argument-over-gay-marriage-with-students/#IDComment257013497 First of all, I highly doubt that you can find such data because it most likely does not exist. Second, your example actually fits within the theory of social utility because I am sure that such a policy would, in fact, cause a decrease in social utility. I know I would resist with all I could any government that sought to kill off my family and friends. And I imagine the overwhelming majority of Americans would do so as well. There would be mass upheaval, if not outright revolution against any American government that tried to implement such a policy. Such a policy was actually attempted in Nazi Germany (although only against the sick, not the poor and old). And even Hitler, who certainly understood the extent of the power that he held in his hands over German society, tried to keep it a secret for fear of social unrest. Furthermore, traditional notions of right and wrong are neither simplistic nor antiquated, at least not when it comes to most of them. The notion of what is right and what is wrong did not develop in a vacuum and it was not delivered to mankind by some fictitious supreme being(s) from on high. it was developed by rational human beings who saw with their own eyes what damaging consequences for their societies things like murder and theft and lying held. Fri, 6 Jan 2012 19:15:22 +0000 http://tv.breitbart.com/santorum-gets-in-heated-argument-over-gay-marriage-with-students/#IDComment257013497 http://tv.breitbart.com/santorum-gets-in-heated-argument-over-gay-marriage-with-students/#IDComment256965132 "'So if you’re not happy unless you’re married to five other people, is that OK?' Santorum asked one student. 'Reason says that if you think it’s okay for two [individuals to marry], then you have to differentiate for me why it’s not okay for three,' he argued later." That's actually a rather easy question to answer. History has taught us that societies with a large number of relatively young (under age 35), unmarried men tend to be prone to high levels of violent crime and social unrest. There is a statistically significant correlation between the percentage of a country's population that is both young and male and the likelihood of mass social unrest. Polygamy contributes to this condition because the more women who are in plural marriages, the fewer married men there will be. Furthermore, there is ample evidence from societies where plural marriage is permitted that the women in such marriages rarely ever enter them freely. That is, the great majority of women in plural marriages would much rather be in monogamous marriages. So, contrary to the arguments against same-sex marriage, there are practical, non-moral reasons for why plural marriage should be prohibited. Plural marriage contributes to increased levels of violent crime and social unrest and is often imposed on unwilling women through social, religiously- and/or culturally-based pressure. Those who argue against same-sex marriage, however, base their position either on unsubstantiated or verifiably untrue social utility arguments (e.g., permitting same-sex marriage will "undermine the institution" of marriage) or on their desire to force their moral system on to others (which, since he is a Christianist, is what I suspect is Santorum's motivation). Fri, 6 Jan 2012 17:58:35 +0000 http://tv.breitbart.com/santorum-gets-in-heated-argument-over-gay-marriage-with-students/#IDComment256965132 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9S1IT8O0&show_article=1#IDComment253919107 I don't see how the Supreme Court lets this pass. Not long ago, the Court held (in Kyllo v. United States) that using heat detection devices to scan homes without a warrant was an illegal search under the Fourth Amendment. The dissent claimed that the search was not illegal because the homeowners in question had essentially thrown away the heat from their homes, which made them public (much like when you throw something out in the trash and the police do not need a warrant to search through it). The majority opinion, however, said that the use of such devices constituted a search under the Fourth Amendment because the technology was not in general use by the public. If you say that drug-sniffing dogs are a sort of technology, then this would be an illegal search because they are not in use by the general public. Tue, 3 Jan 2012 16:55:37 +0000 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9S1IT8O0&show_article=1#IDComment253919107 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.e4f1b364fd07e8476d59485790bab2ff.711&show_article=1#IDComment249377074 While I am an atheist, I can rather easily state that this is not about religion. Religious compulsion is nothing more than an excuse that people make up so that they can act in the manner that they would like. "God commands it," is merely the cry of those who want to act in a manner contrary to human dignity, but who can find no rational reason to support such behavior, so they use religion as an excuse. Even if religion didn't exist as an excuse, they would still find some other excuse for their behavior (just look at what the Communists and Nazis did, both of whom were openly hostile to religion). This is about a society where the men do not have respect for the women around them unless they metaphorically bow and scrape to them and remain subservient, both in mind and body. Women who dress "provocatively" threaten those mores because they are making a statement that they choose not to be subservient, which threatens the power of the men who dominate the society. Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:03:44 +0000 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.e4f1b364fd07e8476d59485790bab2ff.711&show_article=1#IDComment249377074 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9RFPCSO1&show_article=1#IDComment234250819 "With last word, Blagojevich to ask for mercy" No kidding. What did you expect he was preparing to do: give the judge the double-barreled bird? Wed, 7 Dec 2011 17:28:50 +0000 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9RFPCSO1&show_article=1#IDComment234250819 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9RFOO480&show_article=1#IDComment234242433 "Egypt military wants to oversee constitution draft" The first thing that popped into my head when I read that article title was a bunch of guys in military uniform standing with automatic rifles on a ten-foot high platform surrounding a hundred or so guys dressed in suits while they "debate" the new constitution. Wed, 7 Dec 2011 17:03:08 +0000 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9RFOO480&show_article=1#IDComment234242433