The Doonesbury "Say What?" thread

[TheHuckster]

Also, Iran has a better record of trans gender rights than the United States.

Quite honestly that's completely shadowed by their record on homosexuality rights.

[catcul]

Quite honestly that's completely shadowed by their record on homosexuality rights.

Sadly, you are correct. After all, Iran is a four letter word.

[catcul]

Why do people who aren't Christians hate us? They look at us and say, “You’re just a bunch of Bible thumpers who are homophobic and you don’t love anybody.”
We’ve brought that on ourselves. I don’t think we’re showing the love of Jesus. Gay people are asking for equal rights under the law, and we've got Christians saying “God hates you.” I get so angry because that’s not true! God loves you! Jesus walks with the gay community! I think Jesus says, “I love you just as I love someone who is not gay. I love you as a human being. I just love you.”

I had homophobia. I know what that’s like. But I was wrong to fear like that. God reached deep within my heart and changed me. Now I have gay friends and colleagues. There is no difference between us. Gay people are human beings, and I’m going to love on them just as God told me to love all human beings. God told us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Maybe if more of us did that, Christians wouldn't be so hated everywhere we go.

-- San Francisco relief pitcher Jeremy Affeldt

He is absolutely correct. It's too bad more Christians are more like him.

Giants reliever Jeremy Affeldt urges Christians to be more accepting of gays

[lordlundar]

"Neville Chamberlain got a better deal from Adolf Hitler...Dooms the Middle East to yet another war...Going to end with a mushroom cloud somewhere near Tehran."
—

Sen. Mark Kirk on Iran negotiations

The second one is particularly funny. It implies the Middle East isn't in a war.

[s_stabeler]

not to mention that it actually is an extremely good deal. (a complete halt to enrichment was never going to happen, but what has been achieved is a reduction of about 75% in the number of centrifuges- meaning it would take longer for Iran to get enough uranium for a bomb- a reduction on uranium stockpiles, PLUS the hardest site to do anything about ( one buried underground( is being completely shut down IIRC. Oh, and inspectors have the right to visit any suspected sites for a clandestine progra, and have unrestricted access to the known ones- with one particular site being modified to reduce the chance it is used to develop a plutonium weapon.)

Basically, the only way the deal could have been improved is if the iranians completely stopped enrichment- but then again, compromise is a four-letter word to the people criticising Obama over this, so I'm hardly surprised. ( oh, and as for the 10-15 year limit, that is merely the point at which the measures are reviewed- yes, they my well be lifted at that time ( and considering that apprently the CIA are reporting that the Iranians genuinely aren't interested in getting a nuke, that is NOT a bad thing) but thye coudl equalyl be tightened.)

Either the people criticising Obama over this wanted the Iranians begging to be allowed to have a nuclear industry ( which THEY ARE PERMITTED UNDER THE NPT) or they wanted a war. And I think I know which one. ( and considering what happened to the last two countries the US attacked... Iran might be a pain in the ass sometimes, but at least their leaders are better than IS.)

[lordlundar]

"There's a man-made lack of water in California... It is liberal environmentalists who have brought us this tragedy...A classic case of liberals being willing to sacrifice other people's lives and livelihoods at the altar of their ideology."
—

former HP CEO and possible GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, on the drought

If you can wrap your head around this logic path you are a better person than I am.

[s_stabeler]

it's not SUPPOSED to make sense. Why? two reasons. 1) it's an attempt to create a debate on a topic where none actually exists- so that they can demand no actions be taken that could improve the situation, because the cause is "still up for debate" 2) the intyended audience is people that take their word as gospel- why bother making your arguments make sense, when they will be taken as absolute truth anyway. ( it's similar to how religious fundamentalists will bang on about the Bible/Koran/Whatever religious text says, while ignoring the parts that don't agree with their own opinion.(the principle I operate under, incidentally, is that 1. the bible might be the word of god, but it's people that have translated it- so any arguments should be on what the relevant deity actually meant, not on the specific wording the bible uses. 2. A deity can change their mind- if there is a general recognition by members of a religion that a particular part of religious scripture makes no sense at all, then it might be a sign that the deity in question has changed their minds on that particular but of dogma. 3. (related to 1.) all religious texts were written down by someone. Until i get absolute proof that the relevant diety was controlling that person's hands, then I refuse to believe that said text is 100% the word of the deity.)

[lordlundar]

"The president is trying to make you think it would be 150,000 heavy mechanized troops on the ground in the Middle East again as we saw in Iraq. That's simply not the case. It would be something more along the lines of what President Clinton did in December 1998 during Operation Desert Fox -- several days of air and naval bombing..."
—

Sen. Tom Cotton on destroying Iran's nuclear capabilities

And why do you think that if it's not possible to do that to America's stockpiles (and it largely isn't, they're designed to withstand such attacks) that it would be entirely successful with Iran's nuclear program?

(This doesn't even factor in place that Operation Desert Fox pretty much killed any hopes for positive relations in the region as well)

[Andara Bledin]

(This doesn't even factor in place that Operation Desert Fox pretty much killed any hopes for positive relations in the region as well)

I kind of think that's the point.... >_>

[s_stabeler]

And Desert Fox was considered legally dubious at the time. Does Cotton *Really* want to piss off the regional powers in the middle east just as the politicians appear to be (largely) acting like adults for a change?

That's not even factoring in the fact that any stockpile WILL be hardened against this exact kind of attack. (that's not even counting if Iran decide to get cute around the definition of espionage or piracy, or even terrorism & execute any pilots shot down.)

[lordlundar]

"Rap has no connection to music. It is a rhythmic pulse made by machines for people who don't mind putting their brains into neutral. Then you have someone reciting high school poetry over the top that sounds angry, vindictive, bitter, and in many cases sociopathic. Rap sounds like it comes from someone who has a brain the size of a pea, rattling around in a bass drum."
—

Frank Sinatra, Jr.

Eh, artists have been slamming other styles for centuries. This is nothing new.

[Andara Bledin]

Ah... the sound of an old fogy rattling his cane and shouting at the kids to get off his lawn...

Spoken word and free verse have been around longer than he has... you'd think he'd realize that. I mean, rappers are nothing more than the latest cycle of their ilk; last time around, they were called beatniks. You'd think he'd remember that from his childhood.

[lordlundar]

And just to prove my point that this is nothing new:

"The most brutal, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear...Fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people. It smells phony and false. It is sung, written and for the most part played by cretinous goons and by means of its almost imbecelic reiterations and sly, lewd -- in plain fact dirty -- lyrics it manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the fact of the earth. This rancid smelling aphrodisiac I deplore."
-- Frank Sinatra, Sr., 1957

[the_std]

What type of music is he referring to there? I would assume rock and roll, but I don't know for sure.

[lordlundar]

Given the time frame and particular terminology Rock and Roll is the safest bet. Not that it matters much because as I said this sort of thing goes back centuries.