Greg Pietersma › Comments

Thanks Dan, appreciate the tip - Greg Pietersma

So here is what I am trying to do - Search for 'Ontario' - most if not all the results are from "lastfmfeeds". I can search other provinces with out issue. Any ideas? This is not a beta problem because the same thing happens in the non beta version. I cant seem to create a search to eliminate the lastfmfeeds feeds. - Greg Pietersma

"-from:lastfmfeeds" should work but doesn't right now. We'll get that fixed during the beta period. For now, you can use "ontario -room:lastfmfeeds": http://beta.friendfeed.com/search... - Dan Hsiao

It was normal Obama: sounds good, but when you really listen, it makes very little sense. http://friendfeed.com/e... - ComicList

Truth is, intellectually, Obama is very similiar to GWB. He has many of the same blind spots and most likely will make many of the same mistakes, if not more. - ComicList

Tain't that he's a lightweight its just that he cain't talk good English. Er, sorry, "Inglisch" ... There, thats better. An' don' be goin' all new-que-lar on him, neither. - William Meloney

I enjoy how genuine Barack and Michelle are in front of the camera. George and Laura always seemed to be putting on an act. - Jared B. Luther

Wasn't just so lovely and refreshing? I'm sorry, but had 8 years of an idiot in charge; complete sentences is almost a shock to the system. - Bob M. Montgomery from twhirl

@Bob, remind me to, no matter how I disagree with him, not call our upcoming President an idiot. That would be wrong of me. Thanks. - ComicList

@ Gregory Lent: That is the one place where I cringed. That bit of FUD in regards to bin Laden is pointless, and it's too bad Kroft didn't follow up with some actual journalism and point out the logical fallacy of the bin Laden discussion. - Bob M. Montgomery from twhirl

@Leather, to be fair, Obama supporters who call him "well spoken" mean that in reference to GWB. Of course, Obama has quite often had issues expressing or forming a thought. But we won't see any books or lists of Obama slipups, even though there are plenty of examples. - ComicList

He said "well-spoken president" not "well-spoken black man". It drives me nuts when people inject race for no other reason than to be righteously outraged. - Bob M. Montgomery from twhirl

@ Chas. LePage. You lost. Get over it. The snark is not necessary. - Phil Boiarski

@Phil. I did not lose. I did not vote for Obama, but from what I understand, his victory means we all won. Not snarky in the least. My criticism of him is sincere and respectful. I have not and will not resort to calling him an idiot, or stupid, as many did and do to GWB. PE Obama honestly does often sound wonderful, but when I read what he actually said, it either makes no sense or has no relation to history or reality. - ComicList

@Charles - Hilarious sour grapes - you are one funny guy! - Dave Hodson

Having "George Bush" and "intellectual" in the same sentence violates the laws of physics. Rather, it just makes us look bad that we elected him twice. - Joe Manna

@Joe - There's no surer path to societal collapse than electing intellectuals to public office. The Bolsheviks were the smartest, nerdiest, scholarly Russians of their generation, and they managed to kill 20 or 30 million of their fellow Russians. What's important is good judgment - Bush has it. Obama might have it or he might not - we'll certainly find out. - Rob Sterling

@rob s, bush has good judgement???? come on... - don loeb

@don, absolutely, most of the time. The only good judgement I've seen from Obama so far was the decision to use the internet in a big way to win the campaign. But then, his main skill so far has been to be elected or nominated to positions. There's no evidence of good judgement in other situations. - ComicList

@don: Yeah, Bush has good judgment. I know the media has made Iraq and Afghanistan out to be disasters, but it seems to me that conquering countries with 60 million combined population with the loss of less than 6000 US troops is one of the greatest military feats of all time. And then he overthrew their dictators and set up transparent, mostly-democratic regimes friendly to us. It's gonna look pretty good in the history books. - Rob Sterling

No it isn't Rob when you factor in the ACTUAL cost of the wars...Over TWENTY THOUSAND Americans seriously wounded...An estimated ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND dead Iraqis...huge fiscal costs...the looting of precious Iraqi artifacts (which could and should have been avoided)...etc. - Alex Scoble

@Alex: Number one I don't think there have been 100,000 dead Iraqis, but even if there were, even that number would be very low compared to how many normally die during wholesale invasions. Number two, that's the best you got? Artifacts went missing? Remind me to give a crap. Hussein had two chances to avert war with the U.S., in 1991 and 2003, and both times he made very bad choices and his people didn't challenge him. Now they have a democracy and can challenge freely. - Rob Sterling

Yeah, Rob because TWENTY THOUSAND seriously injured American troops is something to sneeze at. Thanks for supporting the troops. - Alex Scoble

I mean, you people do realize that the United States and Confederacy lost about 60,000 men in THREE DAYS at Gettysburg, right? And that represented about 10% of the total number of dead Americans by the time the Civil War was done - more than half a million. Apparently people think quite highly of that Abraham Lincoln guy, so yeah, I think historians will have a pretty favorable opinion of Bush's judgment. - Rob Sterling

Alex, again you show a great ability to ignore historical facts. Which, I'm sure, is convenient for your point of view. Obviously any loss of life in battle is a tragedy. But, your point of view is apparently that there should *never* be any loss of life, regardless of the cause. If you're a pacifist, fine. Say it. But this war has been the least costly (both in terms of money and lives) by far of any war this country has ever waged. - Gregory Pittman from twhirl

Rob, those lives were wasted. Terrorist attacks are up, we're less safe. Bush helped our enemies to damage the US. That's how history will remember him. - Rod Bauer from twhirl

Rod, terror attacks are UP? Where in the heck are you getting your news? That's completely false and you know it. - Gregory Pittman from twhirl

@Rob @Gregory - defending Bush ever-changing invasion rationale shows that you are still in denial about what a farce Bush has been. - Dave Hodson

Gregory. Yes, terrorist attacks are up worldwide. Where are YOU getting your news? - Rod Bauer from twhirl

Dave, I'm not in denial at all. I have registered here and elsewhere that Bush has been a less than effective president. History may (or may not) judge him harshly, but not nearly as harshly as you think it will. He's still by far a better president than Carter or Johnson ever were. But your hatred of him is unhealthy for you and for this country. - Gregory Pittman from twhirl

Rod, you're simply not telling the truth. Terrorist attacks are not up worldwide. Especially Islamic terrorist attacks, which would technically be the only ones germane to this discussion. - Gregory Pittman from twhirl

Bush had the judgment and the nerve to do what no other president found the strength to do, from the first stirrings of Islamic fundamentalism all the way through celebrity blow-job connoisseur Bill Clinton - he confronted it with a huge military deployment and open warfare. And he won - and that's what matters. Sorry to all of you rooting for American defeat, but Iraq is a victory. - Rob Sterling

To paraphrase Phil, "you won. get over it." - ComicList

Exactly. Bush won. America won. Get over it. - Rob Sterling

And the revision of history starts. . Bush lied about the need for the war, that may not be bad judgment but it is bad character. 2. Bush was repeatedly told by his own generals that he need more troops to do the job. The outcome from not following this advice was to have a protracted war that saw many more people die than necessary. He decided to go with Rumsfeld's theory of a small force. That was a horrible judgment call. 3. the US is losing in afghanistan more poor judgement. - Greg Pietersma

It's a waste of time to try to talk to people who deny the facts and history. Please just give Obama the opportunity to lead this country out of the mess we have OK, and don't stand in the way. - Rod Bauer from twhirl

@Greg Pietersma: OMG, a president lied! That would be 43 in a row, thanks. However, FWIW, in his 2003 SotU Address, Bush gave (I recall) six reasons for invading Iraq and only one of them turned out to be invalid. And that one invalid reason was given to him by the administration of celebrity blow-job connoisseur (also former U.S. President) Bill Clinton. - Rob Sterling

Greg, Rod, it is revisionist history to state "Bush lied." He did not. - ComicList

@Rod: Oh, don't worry. We'll show even more support and tolerance of Obama as you lefties have shown toward Bush, Palin and any other conservative who had the temerity to show his or her face in the mainstream media. (At least one or two minutes more.) Your jug-eared lightweight is going to regret ever leaving Hawaii. Or Indonesia. Or Kenya. Wherever the hell he's from. - Rob Sterling

Rod, you want us to give him an opportunity to lead? We're going to do just that (as if we had another option) with more respect than you show the current president. But, we can say with no degree of uncertainty that, to the degree that he gets what he wants, he will be a failure as president. And, in all likelihood, a one term president. There isn't a single policy he wants to... more... - Gregory Pittman from twhirl