en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/537977 Comments by motherseer http://candorville.com/2009/05/21/doctor-dog-part-2/#IDComment21980474 Apropos of nothing: Mr. Bell, :) I hope you are watching/will watch President Obama's remarks made at the National Archives today. I'm watching it right now, and I think you'll find a lot of your recent questions answered; and even if you're not totally satisified, I think you'll be gratified at the open and thorough way he's discussing the issues we've been addressing here concerning torture, photos, etc. And just to clear up any ambiguity - I'm a huge fan of your strip, and think it's one of the very few worthy strips around. Very often insightful, occasionally brilliantly so, and always entertaining. Thu, 21 May 2009 15:20:03 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/21/doctor-dog-part-2/#IDComment21980474 http://candorville.com/2009/05/18/mothers-day-part-1/#IDComment21840054 Susan will probably say something to the effect that his cluelessness is a defense against his too-sensitive true emotions (usually buried). Clyde - hmm, not sure. Maybe "What?" or "Tsk - (insert chiding remark in colloquial dialect here)." Tue, 19 May 2009 19:38:24 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/18/mothers-day-part-1/#IDComment21840054 http://candorville.com/2009/05/18/mothers-day-part-1/#IDComment21831034 You know, the people who complain about the guilt trips their mothers lay on them are usually the first to feel neglected if any of THEIR special days are forgotten. I'm just sayin'. Tue, 19 May 2009 18:01:21 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/18/mothers-day-part-1/#IDComment21831034 http://candorville.com/2009/05/18/mothers-day-part-1/#IDComment21830987 Me as well, Mr. Bell. :D Tue, 19 May 2009 18:00:19 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/18/mothers-day-part-1/#IDComment21830987 http://candorville.com/2009/05/18/mothers-day-part-1/#IDComment21830903 Couldn't agree more. Hear bloody hear. So don't buy commercial cards; send a nice note & make a phone call. But would a few flowers kill you? And if you live nearby, how about having her over for dinner? Don't judge a mom till you've walked a few miles on her pregnancy-swollen feet.;) Tue, 19 May 2009 17:58:41 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/18/mothers-day-part-1/#IDComment21830903 http://candorville.com/2009/05/19/mothers-day-part-2/#IDComment21825058 Excellent idea. :D Tue, 19 May 2009 16:38:39 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/19/mothers-day-part-2/#IDComment21825058 http://candorville.com/2009/05/18/mothers-day-part-1/#IDComment21824586 Agreed, it's not a criticism of the mother at all, but just wondering about the character's motivation (is that too Method?). But don't see that he thinks the crime is his own at all - people don't usually see guilt as a deserved penalty. I've often heard it referred to as a "useless" emotion, rather than one that (sometimes) is telling you you did something wrong. There IS useless guilt; but there's also deserved guilt, and I think Lemont is feeling he's a victim of the former rather than justly feeling the latter. Tue, 19 May 2009 16:29:22 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/18/mothers-day-part-1/#IDComment21824586 http://candorville.com/2009/05/19/mothers-day-part-2/#IDComment21823522 Absolutely right - the whole issue is irrelevant, and I can't believe all this heat is being focused on her. And since when does anyone give a sh-t what the Newt has to say? I can't believe (I'm awash in disbelief these days) how much airtime he's being given for his gasbag pontificating. I think he's just jealous about the attention given his fellow gasbag Rush. And speaking of fellows, I should have referred to "my fellow liberal Democrats" rather than my liberal Democrat friends. Tue, 19 May 2009 16:09:49 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/19/mothers-day-part-2/#IDComment21823522 http://candorville.com/2009/05/19/mothers-day-part-2/#IDComment21821009 :p:D Tue, 19 May 2009 15:16:28 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/19/mothers-day-part-2/#IDComment21821009 http://candorville.com/2009/05/18/mothers-day-part-1/#IDComment21819196 You know, I would have thought this was funny when I was the kid. Now that I'm the mom, what is this woman doing that's so bad? Wanting a call on Mother's Day? I used to have an aunt who would at times say melodramatically to her kids, "How sharper than a serpent's tooth..." (for those who aren't familiar, a Shakepeare quote that ends "...is an ungrateful child.") We used to think she was a gasbag. Now I feel her pain - not that my kids are ungrateful, but why she could feel like that. I know Lemont is supposed to be clueless a lot, but this is just deliberately mean. Is his mother supposed to be abusive, or just the pain in the a-- that kids always think moms are? Tue, 19 May 2009 14:31:15 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/18/mothers-day-part-1/#IDComment21819196 http://candorville.com/2009/05/19/mothers-day-part-2/#IDComment21818930 I have a question. When is the strip highlighting the hypocrisy of the right for their attacks on Nancy Pelosi? How has the CIA suddenly become this unquestionable bastion of honesty and openness? HELLO, it's their business to obfuscate! Why are so many of my liberal Democrat friends ripping her apart for saying they lied to her? And how has this become about what SHE said instead of about WHAT THEY DID? Those who act shocked at claims the CIA lied should think of Capt. Reynaud in Casablanca ("There's gambling here!") and dial back their outrage. Tue, 19 May 2009 14:24:48 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/19/mothers-day-part-2/#IDComment21818930 http://candorville.com/2009/05/08/just-following-orders-part-5/#IDComment21517987 This may seem like stretching the argument pretty far, but this is about more than the strip - it's about the question of when do you ignore the theoretical good in favor of the greater actual good? BTW, the torturers did the opposite of this: they ignored the greater, actual evil (many, many bad repercussions for their country in every way) in favor of what they as individuals wanted to do (I hate these guys, they're the bad guys, the POTUS says we can do it, the legal briefs OK it, etc.). Cedric only thinks this is the same as Republican-think because he's thinking too simplistically about it. Not everything is black and white (no pun intended) in the real world, and not everyone who asks that real-world implications be taken into account is a right-wing fascist. That's one of President Obama's great qualities, that he understands all the shades of gray in-between, and how to find where the truth lies among them. Fri, 15 May 2009 14:23:09 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/08/just-following-orders-part-5/#IDComment21517987 http://candorville.com/2009/05/08/just-following-orders-part-5/#IDComment21517968 Why? Because this is an exceptional time in every way, and we must be very, very careful to not be so theoretically righteous that we overlook the real-world implications of those positions. Existentialists still have values and ethics, but sometimes in the real world it comes down to: is stealing always wrong? what about if you're doing it to feed your hungry child? how about lying? what if someone you knew was a murderer, who had gotten away with it in the past, wanted to use you as an alibi - not for the ones s/he had gotten away with, but for a different one s/he actually hadn't committed? would it be wrong to say "no, I didn't see them there" to take a dangerous, evil person off the street? Fri, 15 May 2009 14:22:54 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/08/just-following-orders-part-5/#IDComment21517968 http://candorville.com/2009/05/08/just-following-orders-part-5/#IDComment21517834 I'm very glad to hear you're not insulted by my comments, because they were indeed intended as an argument between "friends," for lack of a better word. I very much appreciate, coming from a family of artists, the role of artist as societal conscience-pricker (no offense); and I do, in fact, agree with the position that everyone in the torture permission-commission chain should (ideally) be held accountable in some way. I did NOT mean that being anti-torture was an extreme position (cough*duh*cough); rather, I was objecting to the characterization of President Obama as a Nazi apologiste due to his efforts to find a way to deal with this that wouldn't automatically enrage & inflame the opposition. And I was also saying that, despite the hallowed obligation (and I'm not being sarcastic) of the artist to highlight societal ills and hold a mirror up to the less attractive sides of the American face, in THIS case I do think an exception is called for. Fri, 15 May 2009 14:20:24 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/08/just-following-orders-part-5/#IDComment21517834 http://candorville.com/2009/05/08/just-following-orders-part-5/#IDComment21493489 Yes, I thought he pointed it out in a way that characterized "Darrin's" (friend of yours?) strip as the work of an artist irritant who takes a position on the extremities of an issue, rather than that of an outraged supporter, as you both seemed to see him. He also did an excellent job of putting presidential decisions in historical context. You should try it sometime. As for your previous remarks: I'm rubber, you're glue, whatever you say bounces off me & sticks on you. Really, was that heap of insults your idea of fair debate? :P Have Ken explain it to you some more sometime. Fri, 15 May 2009 03:06:44 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/08/just-following-orders-part-5/#IDComment21493489 http://candorville.com/2009/05/08/just-following-orders-part-5/#IDComment21486867 Finally, a voice of reason. Thanks. Fri, 15 May 2009 00:21:43 +0000 http://candorville.com/2009/05/08/just-following-orders-part-5/#IDComment21486867