Tom Toles for July 22, 2013

That’s what happens when the current POTUS never stops campaigning.

The prez didn’t forget how to divide a nation.

In the first place NO human government is in any way perfect. And so you are correct that they have not always maintained the correct attitudes towards our fellow human beings. And that is indeed the negative of human governments throughout the world!

At the same time however they have maintained programs such as social security that have lifted literally tens of millions of our senior citizens out of abject poverty. Our government has built the infrastructure that gives all of us the available electricity that allows even relative poor people to communicate on such forums as this one. Is that not a form of love towards our fellow human beings, especially the middle class, and even the relatively poor?

Besides which, I and other more moderate posters (such as, Respectful Troll, who is not a troll at all) are not the ones doing all of this one way complaining all the time. That is my principle disagreement with the more extreme on this site. Reasonable and even respectful criticisms of our governmental actions is a welcome and healthy thing. But the constant "Obama is evil! Obama is evil! Obama is evil! gets old very fast (and yes, GW Bush is evil also got old)! I know that you understand this, as I have also seen some reasonable and moderate posts (as well as some relatively extreme sarcasm) from you on this site.

“Government is a problem when you have an Administration where you can’t anyone in it, that is not lying or taking the fifth.”They should have learned from their predecessors in the Bush Administration and simply refuse to testify under oath.

Actually, that probably would

We call that cancer.

Having problems reading I see.

Thank you for asking, Mr. Robinson,I can’t speak for Mr. Landers, but I get paid by the post. However, for word counts that exceed 500, I get penalized 10% for every additional 25 words. I am actually in debt to GC. Very frustrating. However, I do get occasional bonuses based on quality and tone of replies received. The polite and funny ones, like yours, don’t pay very much. Thank you for the grin and the chance to exercise my own sense of humor…. such as it is.Facetiously, but Respectfully,C.

Great comment, Ionizer. My feelings exactly.Sincerely,C.

I have nothing against the man personally, I don’t know him well enough and from everything I’ve read, he’s a good family man. Actually Robert, I have agreed with BHO on his use of drones to kill terrorists and his keeping Guantanamo open for the worst of these terrorists.Other than that, he has taken a Take it or Leave it attitude to all those that disagree on the best solutions to our countries problems. Like many ultra-liberals, he feels that if you don’t agree with him, then you don’t have Americas best interest at heart.No compromise, no bringing people together, just a My Way or The Highway attitude.

I’ve noticed here and elsewhere that a constant conservative criticism of Obama is that he is in “constant campaign mode.” Yes he is, and more so since the last election. That’s because the Republicans, particularly in the House, have nothing to say to anything he wants to do except NO NO NO. When he started his second term, I said I expected him to govern like Augustus, governing by decree with no help from the legislature. I hope he keeps it up; if the GOP wants to take part in governing, they have his phone number.

Kevin Robinson: Like you, they get “paid” by the post. Unlike you, they discuss the issues rather than some sound bite ordered by that Australian who bought US citizenship for a 20 million US dollar bribe to Newt Gingrich. (A bargain, since the Australian dollar is worth more.)

Conservatives whine about actors, so they elected the first acting president, complete with Alzheimer’s, who would make appointments at every turn in the attempt to PROVE “government is the problem” (and make it so.).

I loved it when they started having Reagan march a couple doors down the hall at the White House to the lectern so they had “proof of life”. Too bad it didn’t hide his deteriorating mental status, but “conservatives” haven’t been concerned about mental status since they picked Ron, to run California into the ground, THEN they attacked the nation with him.

A very mild rebuke, and I am sometimes wordy. But these issues are NOT sound bite issues. If they truly ere, then perhaps thye would all have been solved by now!!

Not a bad response. I thank you for your kind consideration! Please remember however, that Christ also told us to render unto Caesar what was Caesar’s (monetary taxes). And the Roman government of that time was far harsher about Caesar’s taxes than our own could ever be. There certainly were no elected representatives in the Roman Empire (at least for the places that Rome conquered such as Palestine). Yet Christ himself not only helped Roman soldiers, he even praised some of them. Have you ever seen some of our more extreme anti governmental types here ever praising governmental employees? To say nothing of the fact that Christ even asked a “Publican”, a Jew who collected taxes for the Roman government, (the most hated of Jews at that time). And that particular Publican was Matthew, who even had the incredible privilege of writing one of the Gospels!

By the way, Christ, also considered the Temple to be his Father’s very house. And so when it was turned into a place of buying and selling, and even a bank, instead of a place of actual worship by the Jewish leadership of that time, Christ like any good Son, was somewhat peeved at those responsible. It is just about the only time in the Gospels that Christ ever exhibited any real degree of anger at all!!

And unfortunately we all are human, and that means that we also all deal in some degree of hypocrisy at one time or another. Much to my own shame, I too have committed this sin from time to time! So Christ (knowing what was actually in the hearts of men) would only be telling the truth when he accused (especially the Jewish leadership of that time) of being hypocrites. And even knowing this about us, HE STILL FORGIVES US!!!

Here is a test for Alzheimer’s.

This is really clever and a bit challenging. As we older people are concerned with Alzheimer’s disease, this puzzle may help dispel some fear. It’s easy to put together if you are not affected by Alzheimer’s disease, but impossible to do for someone with the disease. Give it a try. It is a moving puzzle. http://www.brl.ntt.co.jp/people/hara/fly.swf

Wow, that added absolutely nothing to the discussion except to make conservatives look stupid. Nice job.

Apparently, by the posts I read here, Christians must not belong in government. The rubric seems to be “Jesus mentioned people, not government.” But since government is made up of people, and Christians run for and win office, then being in office absolves them of their responsibility as Christians? I think many self-identified Christian politicians will be mightily surprised at the pearly gates!

SABRSteve: They also have a Conservative government, so what else would you expect?

“What an embarrassment he is to us.”To you perhaps. Don’t attempt to speak for me.

“But, why must conservatives be so negative ??”It’s the curse of conservatism. Even George Will, a penultimate conservative, once commented that conservatives were just sad and disappointed people which made them bitter.Liberals are usually happy because they work for progress, and every step forward is a small victory.Conservatives are unhappy because they work against progress, so every step forward to them is a major defeat.Since the world progress with or without them, they are doomed to be forever disappointed.

“I’m not negative. I’m positive you’re wrong.”.Geez, talk about dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. Well done, Mr. Conservative, you’ve proven the very point you sought to deny.