24 responses so far ↓

• 1 Yellow Dog // Aug 28, 2009 at 12:16 pm

  Jake, this is nice and all that, but when the hell are you going to say something about the growing Ken Lucas/Steve Beshear scandal? The latest is that Beshear had that DINO campaigning for Robin Webb on state time. I am for Robin Webb, of course, but now that it’s over, someone should send an Open Records request to find out how much Lucas used state funds dedicated to our VETERANS for Jeebus-sake to score some political points. I know first hand!

• 2 Ray Re // Aug 28, 2009 at 1:43 pm

  Seven feet of water. Air pocket. House with light on right down the road. RIP

• 3 Belknap Banquo // Aug 28, 2009 at 5:03 pm

  Ray, you must really enjoy sleeping on the couch.

• 4 Novena // Aug 28, 2009 at 6:48 pm

  “The Dead Cannot Defend Themselves”

  Ray, I usually appreciate your comments. The one on Ted Kennedy was beneath you. He can’t defend himself now, but ask most historians to list the greatest U.S. senators of all time. The man you reproach so disrespectfully will be among the top few on that list.

• 5 Conservative // Aug 28, 2009 at 10:13 pm

  The dead cannot defend themselves. Neither can they really tell what happened they were left to die in a submerged car by a drunken party boy from an influential family.

  Wonder if they have waitress sandwiches in the afterlife?

• 6 kager // Aug 28, 2009 at 10:35 pm

  Novena, if he’s among the top few those so-called historians are bat-brains.

• 7 jake // Aug 28, 2009 at 11:19 pm

  I can’t be everywhere all the time… but if someone has details, they should send them my way.

• 8 Mark H (Not Hebert) // Aug 29, 2009 at 12:23 am

  If taking other people’s money and redistributing it to others makes you great, then you are correct. Ted was one of the greatest Senators ever.

  I’ll leave the Maryjo comments to others. Ted seemed like a decent guy. However, I would challenge you Novena to give me one example of something he promoted that didn’t involve regulations forcing mandates on others, or taxing others to give benefits to those of his choosing.

  He certainly had longevity and influence, but I’m not sure he was one of the greatest. Then again, in Ted’s defense, the term “greatest senator” is kind of a oxymoron.

• 9 Novena // Aug 29, 2009 at 1:42 am

  “Public Mandates & Islands Unto Yourself”

  Mark, you leave me with narrow margins, so you can sort out which of the following might meet your qualifications among Ted’s accomplishments:
  –great advocate for civil rights
  –courageous vote against the Iraq War
  –Americans with Disabilities Act
  –Family and Medical Leave Act
  –fought for AIDS research
  –co-sponsored workplace safety legislation
  –Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIPS)
  –18-year-olds’ right to vote act
  –MLK, Jr. national holiday
  –co-sponsored Meals on Wheels program
  –equal funding for women’s college sports
  –health insurance portability
  P.S. I need to wake up Mitch–the list is too long for his reading habits.

• 10 Novena // Aug 29, 2009 at 7:29 am

  “A Benediction–Sort Of”

  I note that there has been no word from the Pope on Ted’s death. However, a Vatican official has announced, “In Rome, Kennedy is a nobody.” That official forgets the same could be said of his boss in more than half the world.

• 11 Kay Leigh // Aug 29, 2009 at 10:53 am

  Ray, Kennedy was severely punished. Two months suspended for leaving the scene of an accident. The same any one else would have received.

• 12 Mark H (Not Hebert) // Aug 29, 2009 at 2:03 pm

  Ted’s accomplishments:

  –great advocate for civil rights
  (Give him that one. Certainly better than Senator Byrd’s record}

  –courageous vote against the Iraq War
  (Opinion, history will be the final judge)

  –Americans with Disabilities Act
  (Good idea, but bad legislation that is abused)

  –Family and Medical Leave Act
  (Mandate)

  –fought for AIDS research
  (Should have fought for anti diarrhea research. Kilss exponentially more people, but not as politically sexy)

  –co-sponsored workplace safety legislation
  (Mandate)

  –Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIPS)
  (Another good cause, but done through an unfunded state mandate)

  –18-year-olds’ right to vote act
  (Democratic voter bill. Come on, how many 18 year olds are republicans?)

  –MLK, Jr. national holiday
  (Nice gesture, but great?)

  –co-sponsored Meals on Wheels program
  (Give him that one)

  –equal funding for women’s college sports
  (unfunded mandate again….I see a pattern)

  –health insurance portability
  ( I call major BS on this one. If he was for portability, he would push to separate insurance from employers and have everyone in one national pool instead of pushing for a public “option” and takeover)

  Like I said before, I think Ted meant well, I just think he could have been greater, if he had empowered people to be self-sufficient instead of making them increasingly dependent on the government.

  He was one to bellow loudly on the Senate floor about having an exit strategy from any military conflict, however, his social legislation always seemed to lack that very same component.

• 13 kager // Aug 29, 2009 at 2:39 pm

  Yellow dog, if you know so much “first hand” then file an official complaint, present your evidence and move the issue into more than your whiney griping.

• 14 Novena // Aug 29, 2009 at 2:53 pm

  “Mark, Novena and Ted”

  Mark, by your own admission and calculations, I count about three examples of huge acts/actions promoted by Kennedy that did not “force mandates on others” or “tax others to give benefits to those of his choosing.” You asked for only one. How about it, my libertarian amigo? Your idea of government is so small and narrow that you might have Ron Paul wondering. Those ideas might go over in Texas, especially when/if it secedes.

• 15 Ray Re // Aug 29, 2009 at 2:57 pm

  It’s a very expensive and comfortable couch, Banquo. Baby knows I’m an educator, of sorts, and I’m just trying to give a little history of the great Lyin of the Senate . Heck, Teddie loved Chappaquiddick jokes, I hear tell. The Kennedys are a classy bunch.

• 16 Mark H (Not Hebert) // Aug 29, 2009 at 7:33 pm

  It’s easy to hand a homeless person a $20 bill and tell them to come back every week and there will be another.

  It’s more difficult to give the $20 for a few weeks and figure out a way to get them a job and house.

  I am not as much of a libertarian as I am a person who thinks it’s more humane and admirable to encourage and assist people in becoming self-sufficient. I feel the vast majority of government assistance programs trap their recipients and make them more and more dependent on government for their daily needs.

  I admire parents, teachers, mentors, or business people who push and motivate people to become self-sufficient, than a politician who gives out handouts and does little to change their situation.

  That said, I am realistic enough to realize there are always people who are going to be unable to provide for themselves and government should be there as a safety net. However, the vast majority of the needy should only need help for a period of time.

  Clinton’s welfare reform was a great example of legislation which moved large numbers of people off of the welfare rolls. As such, he should be applauded for it.

• 17 Novena // Aug 29, 2009 at 7:53 pm

  “A Man of Reason”

  Mark, thanks for your quite reasoned argument (as compared to some of the highly emotive, jaded comments on this particular thread). Though I don’t fully agree with your claims, it’s refreshing to see critical thinking instead of pure ranting.

• 18 Mark H (Not Hebert) // Aug 29, 2009 at 11:27 pm

  Likewise. It’s a pleasure

• 19 jaded dude // Aug 30, 2009 at 11:19 am

  Hey, what’s wrong with being jaded?!
  A few posts back, I remember a certain commenter on this blog getting enlightened on some unflattering information about the “great” Henry Clay.
  A scholar should always be extremely world-weary when it comes to famous historical figures; especially politicians!!
  Our human nature is pretty much inescapable, y’all.

• 20 Novena // Aug 30, 2009 at 11:42 am

  “Do You Know Obscenity When You See It?”

  Jaded Dude, I did correct my misunderstanding of some of Henry Clay’s actions. You do make a good point about being “world-weary” of historical figures. I was using “jaded” (not personal to you, BTW) in the sense of “cynically or pretentiously callous” when it came to judging a dead man (Ted Kennedy). Though no saint, I thought he didn’t deserve some of the tired, worn-out, and obscene assessments of several commenters. Even before his body was cold.

• 21 jaded dude // Aug 30, 2009 at 11:59 am

  I agree 100% Novena. Speaking ill of the recently deceased is just bad Karma! I didn’t mean anything insulting, you are arguably the best contributor to PageOne.

• 22 Novena // Aug 30, 2009 at 1:18 pm

  “The Unjaded Dude”

  jaded dude, I thank you for your decidedly non-jaded kudo. But we have a lot of wonderful contributors to Page One–yourself among them. Peace, my good man.

• 23 Jen Lear // Aug 30, 2009 at 4:09 pm

  Ray Re that house with the light on also had a phone. Rock on dude.

• 24 Novena // Aug 31, 2009 at 7:06 pm

  “Lights on in Cape Cod, Off in Iraq”

  Jen Lear, all those thousands of huts in Iraq had no lights. But we still bombed their residents to hell and back–when they didn’t do a damn thing against us. And it was a deliberately chosen course of action. Bush, Cheney, et al., make Ted look like a poor little lamb (his action, or non-action, was deplorable but not so deliberate as our war plan). In the past eight years or so, the U.S. has lit no candles for the world.

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