Rough Road Review

Speech could easily have gone over big at Fort Bliss (what a name) or some tiny venue like a Middle Eastern restaurant...Somebody is not thinking clearly...The speech was thin, and the compulsory praise of the fighters was overdone. Now he is going to make the same mistakes in Afghanistan, in an unwinnable situation.

'Don't let government touch my Social Security or Medicare!' What a bungling bunch of rotters are with the anti-gov and tea party crowd. If SS were done away with, there would be a mass suicide on the DC Mall! that would put the onus on these shameful demagogues.

FDR had a credibility and a vocal genius that no one has matched save perhaps JFK but he didn't have long in office...Obama is mistrusted by too many underinformed people to be of much use as a national consoler. People still doubt he is Christian or even a citizen. FDR could hark back to his patrician origins and sound like a lefty aristocrat, which was persuasive during the Depression

It's never been a very mature state; the fury of the politics and the gun lobby and the ant-intellectualism make it one of the proud to be stupid places on earth...There will probably be a resurgence of the kind of politics Palin, Bush, et al really believe is real.

More of the Bush legacy I am afraid. The suicides are indeed monstrous; the capacity for these so-called leaders to keep sending these folks back to that disaster area is beyond tragic. Thanks for the post. Wish we could do something about it all

Mexican TV all abuzz with this Arizona thing...It seems bigger news than the cartels...People glad to hear of a judgment abridging it some...

This attempt to revalue the disgraceful Bush presidency is typical of the kind of lies that keep the right and Fox, etc going...They deliver half-truths and distortions and a certain quantity of fools eat it up...Bush Jr and his gang will not salvage much good pint in history, so far as one can see...

Right on and about time...Blowhards is the right name for these obstructionists.

This stupid waste of lives and money is a replay of Vietnam in many ways. There will be no victory, there is no real partner in this chaos and the only reason Obama has to pretend it is important is to shore up his right wing, or blue-dog Dems who think being tough is still the biggest plus of leadership. The thing will slowly dissolve in its own mire, but not before there will be much ado about the nothingness of `victory` which is a crying shame.

The feeling of another´s pain is somewhat the difference between humans and many other creatures, but humans have a capacity particularly in the US to think everyone is on her own and if we lend a helping hand we are enabling the feeble or something along those lines...It is beyond heartless to see so many people who just need to stay alive long enough to catch their breath and maybe find some work being treated to this kind of sanctimonious rot.

I know what it is like to feel a sense of return. I just returned to Hawaii where the North Shore seemed so wonderful I wanted to move back. But we mostly move on, and there is always the potential of getting stuck. Your poetry keeps you moving I would sususpect.

I ilved next door to Jeff and Patty in 1968 in Hauula where I was serving as a VISTA volunteer. I remember wonderful times with Jeff and Patty. Trent was about 4 years old and Pete was born while we were neighbors. I used to baby-sit. I was new to Hawaii and to the world of surfers (coming from inland New England), but I knew Jeff was the real thing. He was devoted to the ocean, sailing, surfing, and most especially to Patty and his young family. Love to Patty. Aloha, Jeff.

As horrible as the Shoah was, it is high time that there be a kind of re-arranging of principles in this disupute...This kind of aggressive move against the Gaza flotilla is terrible press for Israel. A two state solution has to come from somewhere, and it is time some kind of mediation begin again. Hillary Clinton would be a good moderater of the first new efforts.

Good notalgic feeling in this, Mr. Marin; we are glad to have your finding a quietus amid the chaos of our times. The poem is a good meditation on late considerations

In the land of the fierce and irrational individual who stands tall in his inexact condition of being a True American, we can see such weaknesses as living on the government's acknowledged accountabilty to seniors as nothing but a soft-hearted handout. In reality, these deficit hawks never look to where the big money is being spent: wars, tax cuts, corporate bailouts. Given the generosity of so many advanced nations for its citizens who need help (or when they need help), the US is way behind the rest of the world.

Emanuel's attempt to put a glaze over the Afghan fiasco should be stopped. He should be sent packing with McChrystal. Afghanistan is a bottomless pit of corruption, losses and more losses. Get the hell out of there, and admit it was not a winnable deal.

This kind of idea psychologizes what in fact is downright stubbornness in these parties. There is the smallest chance a kind of mediation would actually get some of these callous idiots to agree on something, but don't hold your breath.

The conspiracy theorists have Obama doing all this to stop drilling. The truth is another matter; BP are pigs in the floating oil and the Republicans are right in the muck as well

Determined to give no quarter the right has rallied to criticize the $20 billion compensation fund set up by BP and the White House. The criticisms are so wide of the mark that they are laughable and would deserve no comment except that they are made with such pomposity. No less a commentator than David Brooks has contended that creation of the fund undermines the rule of law. In his view the guy who lost his fishing business to the oil slick should file a lawsuit against BP and if and when BP is found to have been negligent then and only then should the guy be entitled to compensation. He, like the instigator of the whole “controversy” Joe Barton, makes the assumption that BP resisted creation of the fund. A nanosecond of reflection would tell you otherwise. BP has conceded that the failure of its well resulted in a national disaster and stated quite publicly that it would compensate all who suffered losses. There is no large controversy. BP is already on its knees. No one has to bring them there. No arms were twisted. There was no shakedown. Indeed, the only legitimate criticism I can see is that the government has relieved BP of the unpleasant responsibility of administering the relief it promised and taking the heat for the inevitable glitches. BP gets credit for stepping up with dollars and hands the administrative nightmare over to the government. That guy who lost his fishing business to the oil slick can now go someplace, file a claim and get some money. His interest in whether BP is a villain or an innocent victim of unpredictable circumstance is nil. He has lost his livelihood. Undermine the rule of law my foot, David Brooks. To the extent that the White House’s effort means quicker delivery of money to victims it has done precisely what I would want my government to do: Cut to the chase. That it had to take BP out of the limelight of public opprobrium as far as it could to get the result was a downside it was willing to tolerate. I am too.

Tour de elegance. You had me at "with their sewn mouths" and after I was all in for a wonderful ride. I will not forget this piece. Thank you.