Thinking about his situation, I think that asking for the morphine was likely lucid as he probably needed it.

Take care, I hope you will set me straight again. I know you will have a chance! 8)

Trey

While he requested morphine just before, the last lucid things Grandpa said, according to my mother, were to me: “Get out while you can” (his usual wry humor), then “Thank you” (while I was trying to thank *him* and getting too choked up to say it). That was the last time I saw him; he died a day and a half later, while I was holed up in a motel in the middle of California due to tule fog (quite an interesting start of December 25; just as well I don’t celebrate holidays). I am forever grateful both that he thought of me and told me so while he still could think and that I was not there for his actual death, peaceful though it was, so I can remember him in life.

And I appreciate your personal example, it was brave to post and helped me understand. I am sorry for your loss. I am also feeling incredibly blessed that my father’s last words were I love you. I wish it had been the same for you.

Trey

I have no political comment at all — really, I stay out of this stuff — but I’m guessing that the problem Todd had with your example as heard post-Katrina is that you were quoting someone with, as you seem to agree, legitimate reason to expect governmental aid due to extreme emergency, in the context of dependence on public money = bad. That is, something like quoting a terminally ill cancer patient who really wanted his morphine* in the context of saying watch out for prescription drug addiction!

* I use this example solely because I remember my grandfather’s last homecoming two days before he died, in which almost his only lucid statement was a request for the morphine. I am not making any generalizations here; please do not attack me for the quality of the comparison. I’m just trying to convey what I think someone else might have read a comment as, so there are a lot of filters here.

It is a little weird that they still haven’t provided full transcripts of the briefing. But I think that falls under the “Patience” category. Give ‘em a bit and I expect (hope) it’ll be up. If you’re really all that hot-and-bothered to find out what Gibbs said, go here (PDF link) and find out for yourself.

Oh, and emissions aren’t directly related to mileage. So your comments about a car that gets 1000 mpg are off-base.

Skip:

BushCo claims notwithstanding, many (most?) Gitmo detainees were not captured “on the battlefield.” Deciding what to do with them is legitimately a problem. Deciding what not to do with them is a little easier. Not destroying or misplacing evidence, obeying US law regarding prisoner treatment…stuff like that.

Nice point, I have not heard that record in years. Gotta git me one as it was milk spitting funny if I recall correctly.

Trey

“I promise you that whoever’s the president at the end of the week, I will attack him. I will wait the customary period after he finishes the oath for his hand to drop, but I will attack him…”

Now let’s think for a moment Todd. Not emotionally reason as that approach is so prone to gross mistakes such as you made, but let us think logically.

Read the words of my posts. Did I at any time say that the Katrina survivors did not deserve help? That would be no.

Was I addressing Katrina in any way shape or form? Again, no. As you read, you can see that I was giving context to a quote that someone else who emotionally reasoned found offensive. If I were critiquing the Katrin aide I would say things like “Those lazy rednecks should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps” or “My money should never go to those Cajuns, they should move from the swamps” or some other bigoted statement. But there is nothing even remotely like that in the post, is their Todd?

Would someone give up a week of their vacation to help people that he thought were scammers? That would be no as well.

So what happened Todd, was that you had an emotional response to someone who disagreed with you. You responded by thinking that I must be a bad person because I am against addicting people to OPM, or because disagreeing people just make you nervous in general. This makes no logical sense Todd. You can do better if you note your emotions but then pay attention to the words the other person said or wrote. The words matter more than your feelings when you are in a discussion. If you ignore the reality of the words, you are having an argument with your own emotional reactions and projections and that is not very productive or fun. Once you have ascertained what the other person actually said, then you disagree with them based on the points they raised and show them where they were in error.

For an example, see above. 8)

You see Todd, there is help that is effective and “help” that hurts people. It takes wisdom to distinguish between the two at times. Addicting people to OPM is never helpful.

Now, do you agree or disagree, and why? Let’s have a discussion. Or you can just call me a condescending asshole. Your choice! 8)

Trey