http://thesoapbox.pillingold.com blog by Esgie Fri, 20 Oct 2006 03:52:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In the re-election race of his life, Republican Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio let the cat out of the bag this morning on Meet the Press. According to Senator DeWine, we're in Iraq for us, not for the Iraqis. Acting as though this is common knowledge, Senator DeWine appeared not ... http://thesoapbox.pillingold.com/2006/10/01/occupiers-not-liberators/ Just like opinions concerning the greater conflict in which the State of Israel has been embroiled for decades, the various positions people stake out with regard specifically to Israel's role within the region are often based on misunderstanding and ignorance. Reaction to the latest hostilities that have erupted in the ... http://thesoapbox.pillingold.com/2006/07/24/how-not-to-think-about-israel/ I want to start at the end and say I do not believe Al Gore should run for president again in 2008, or probably ever. The fact is, the man really just isn't a great politician. There's a reason his campaign was hijacked by consultants in 2000 who convinced him ... http://thesoapbox.pillingold.com/2006/06/03/the-missing-truth/ It should have occurred to everyone the moment the story broke: The Bush Administration's domestic spying scandal is not a constitutional crisis, or a case of an unchecked executive; it's about security, stupid. The National SECURITY Agency. It seems Karl Rove may already have successfully spun the story right into ... http://thesoapbox.pillingold.com/2006/01/29/this-just-in-the-nsa-keeps-you-safe/ That's it, we've finally done it. We've finally killed Martin Luther King. In 1968 he was martyred, and though the civil rights movement that he was such an essential participant in - and of which he remains the principal representative - splintered and fizzled beginning even before his death, his legacy ... http://thesoapbox.pillingold.com/2006/01/21/king-is-dead-long-live-king/ Nothing seems to cause rancor and vitriol, stimulate avarice and conspicuous consumption, and create division and controversy in America today like Christmas does. What a wonderful time of year. In the interest of trying to inject a bit of unwanted sanity into our winter revels, this seems like a good ... http://thesoapbox.pillingold.com/2005/12/26/holly-jolly-whatever/ Quick, define the term "Strict Constructionist." You failed the quiz, didn't you? Don't feel bad. That surely puts you solidly among the vast majority of American citizens (some of them in the highest levels of our federal government) who also have no idea what the term actually means. But if you're ... http://thesoapbox.pillingold.com/2005/11/22/if-it-walks-like-a-strict-constructionist-and-it-talks-like-a-strict-constructionist/ Really, where is Colin Powell? If there is anybody who can she some light on this entire Iraq War intelligence debacle, it's him. And who would the country trust more to tell us whether the White House was up to no good? Certainly Powell doesn't have perfect information since he didn't ... http://thesoapbox.pillingold.com/2005/11/07/where-oh-where-has-my-colin-gone/ On October 6th, the President appeared before the National Endowment for Democracy (the friendliest audience he could find using his now-notorious search methods) and made his best case for the War on Terror, since somebody had to finally respond to the critics. In the days leading up to it, the ... http://thesoapbox.pillingold.com/2005/10/31/the-war-on-terror-decoded/ Hurrah, hurrah. President Bush is back. No, President Bush is not John. But in the wake of the Katrina disaster, he has been attempting to make himself into something of a Lazarus. With his approval ratings in the basement, it's unanimous that the President's primary task is to try to rise ... http://thesoapbox.pillingold.com/2005/10/05/when-john-the-apostle-comes-marching-home-again/