JaneAusten

http://discussions.latimes.com/20/lanews/la-na-hagel-20130107/10 So the consensus is that the Chuck Hagel nomination is anti American now? That's what I heard one commentator say. Next up, the republicans accuse Huntsman of treason.

I can't say it's unexpected but i's really a shame. She became the sacrificial lamb for Libya and there probably is some merit to the republicans wanting Kerry's democratic senate seat

I think there is a difference between being popular and rootable. Merle makes a great villain, the actor is fantastic, and he and the actor playing Daryl was brilliant casting, in terms of siblings. But if he were going up against Rick or Glenn or even his brother I doubt the audience would be rooting for him. Ultimately on this show, he and the Govenor will both die at some point.

Remember the group is going to have new members, Tyrese and his team. But no way is the group going to accept Merle if thats the plan. If that is how the story progresses, I can see Daryl at some point killing him, after being torn and wanting to believe his brother is on their side. And I wonder what they are going to do with or about Michonne. She's grown on me, and I'd love her as an antiheroine, her persona fits that characterization, but they need to give her more motivation and a backstory. I'm glad the Govenor is going to stick around. He's a fascinating character, sort of a Jim Jones type. He's the kind of villian I like, charming and a believably honorable and brave image, who is a pure sociopath. I like my villians to stay villians so I don't want him reformed and ultimately he still needs to die.

That's why I laugh when people call MadMen a hugh hit when it barely draws 1 million viewers. One of the most overrated shows ever.

The ratings have seems to waver between 10m to 11m viewers a week(not counting the second airing of the episode) and from a 5.0 to 5.6 18 to 49 demo. And their audience from what I've read is about 50/50 male/ female. This is amazing. Most TV shows skew female on the major networks outside of sporting events. On cable, TWD is only second in ratings to Monday Night Football on ESPN.

I'm glad I've mostly stayed off the online experience as it related to The Walking Dead. I think the endless fangurl pimping and hate ended up contributing to my disappointment of daytime. I can't believe that couples from TWD are being pimped. But then L&O SVU boards were full of, I recall, endless pimping of Bensen and Stabler Any character with decent writing can be given purpose. I think Lori could have been redeemed as a character if they had wanted to, but death is also part of TWD's world and her death has helped propel Carl particularly into a more mature character. Andres makes complete sense to me. She went from losing her sister to going darker with that to Dales death(who I think was almost a paternal figure for her) , to a feeling of abandonment by the tribe she was part of, to being saved by someone who didn't want to be close , to almost dying, to finding "paradise". Her wanting closeness, security, a safe haven, and wanting to connect to anyone makes complete sense. I think she's finally getting a glimpse that all she imagined is not as it seems and will likely cause another evolution of her character. It's why I can't give much credence to online hatred and rambling. It's all based on at the moment not the journey.

I noticed they are doing another New Years marathon. NYE and NYD will be re-airing all the episodes starting with Season1 up until the present.

I don't t think they are deliberately keeping blacks out of the show but I do think up until Michonne came on, they really didn't give or invest much in any of the other black characters. That's going to change with Tyrese , who IMO has already gotten more focus than T-Dog ever did. Maybe the complaints have resonated with someone with the show.

That was a pretty awesome episode and cliffhanger.Merle has been exposed. He lied to the Govenor about Michonne. Good to see Tyrese.

I'm not sure a takeover of the prison would have any great impact now. In the comic, it was taken over and a lot of people died. Lori and her baby died in the prison raid in the comic. I can see Rick and Daryl being captured and Michonne going back to the prison and helping them out before the team gets to them. I do agree it's,too soon for The Govenor to die. We,really don't know much about him yet and I think we will likely learn he killed his wife and child before the zombie apocalypse, showing he was a sociopath long before it started. Daryl won't choose his brother and I suspect DaryL will either kill him defending the group , Michonne ends up killing him, or maybe he does die nobly saving his brother. I think Daryl has become too protective of the group to turn on them now. I'm warming up to Michonne finally and sense there is a lot more to her being a loner and expert in survival than has been exposed so far.

I think most of these folks are in survival mode. The old Rick likely would have saved him. This Rick is more about protecting his shrinking tribe. Living in a world that's just about getting from day1 to day 2 causes different facets of your survival instincts to surface. I don't think them shoving that old man out of the cabin was meant to be shown as heroic or just, only about doing what one feels is needed to make it to tomorrow.

I think you're dealing with a dynamic that has changed/evolved/deteriorated depending on his you want to view it. There was a time when people like Rick wouldn't have batted an eye and would have accepted him in where a Daryl back then would have probably killed the man no questions asked. Now it's just about survival but even with that while Rick has certainly become darker, someone like Daryl has shown a side of himself that may had never evolved or been shown before and Glenn has grown by leap and bounds, showing compassion, courage, and fierceness. The show despite the gore and such which I know the diehards love, is a fascinating study of human nature, as you see how different types of people react in the face of survival and a kind of hopelessness.

That seems to be a mentality of some but I don't agree with it. The only war where we had a draft where there huge polarization was Vietnam and that was because it wasn't our war, no different than Iraq. WWi started out with a good percentage of the population wanting us to stay out of it. WW 2 was in some ways the same until Pearl Harbor. Families tend to take a,different view of war and the draft when it involves a war that you really have no place in. And sending Americans into combat should be a thoughtful decision, not just some factless decision of alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction. People in this country might have given greater thought to Iraq if those men were forced into serving another countries interests versus our own.

They should reinstitute the draft and you'd see how willing Americans would be to support our involvement in foreign conflicts. One of the reasons the average American doesn't give a damn about foreign affairs and policy is that they don't see it impacting their everyday lives. A draft would change that. My dad fought in WW2, went to college and only went because the GI Bill gave him that opportunity but I guess in today's environment, he would be considered a taker and victim.

Thanks Brian and to be honest I couldn't say yeah or nah before in terms of respect because I really never quite understood why you supported the republican leadership, but I appreciate your taking the time. In all honesty, I don't think you and moderate left are that far apart, which I consider myself. I'm not an Obama fan , he's been a disappointment, but I think it's more a matter of the positions and vitriol I see on the right. I'm not a Harry Reid or Pelosi fan by the way either but I'm also not nor ever have been a fan of John McCains. And I am certainly a social liberal. But I've always been against Roe vs Wade for example, on the principle that it's not the governments business to decide what I can and can't do with my body, but sadly the social conservatives want to push their ideals, so the amendment was needed and still is to protect women's reproductive rights. Foreign Policy is a mess and has been for many years now but I do agree with Ron Paul is its time to quick sticking our noses and giving money to every country out there and take care of our own. We could fund 10 times over a REAL national health care program with all the money we give to everyone else and the money we spend defending other countries. In terms of deficits I agree, but I wish republicans who keep harping on the president about this yet go on to crow about Reagen would remember we reached record high deficits under him, yet he was allegedly one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century I'm told. I often wonder how a man like Franklin Roosevelt, who pushed programs like the WPA(which did have value in the longrun) but was attacked for much of the same in terms of domestic policies would fare in today's political climate of instant gratification. He was by the way, known as being more of a fiscal conservative. I do ask because you still didn't clarify why the republicans? What do you feel the republican leadership could offer that the democrats can't?

I want to understand and particularly to Brian and Max(who I do respect where has he been) do you really feel your party is moving in a positive direction? Forget Obama and the racism targeted at him or the media bias you may feel he receives, I really, as someone who feels there are core values the republican party espouses that's have some value, want to understand. But do the Tea Party type policies really espouse what you feel the core of this party should be? The party of the Bush family has never preached less government have they? It was under Clinton that government spending was actually cut. They are of the belief to use government to push their principles which is not fiscal conservatism that's for sure, it's big government and social conservatism. Bushs tax cuts have been maintained under Obama, the coffers of big business has grown, businesses as we know are cash heavy, yet none of these Bush tax cuts have encouraged businesses to invest and develop and hire and you can't blame Obama, frankly its an excuse and continues to be. The stock market is up isn't it. I see complaints about the market being down. But the Dow, NasDaq are all up from where they were 4 years ago. I don't want to see right wing or leftist columnists preaching, I'm really interested in your thoughts. Forget Obama, hasn't the public spoken this election by pushing against the extreme right in this past election and isn't there a lesson to be learned? Most new small businesses by the way, the foundation of America is what I keep hearing both parties talk about, are started by minorities and women, the 2 factions the republicans seem to cast aside.

If the republicans continue to embrace the tea party elements they will continue to nominate these radicals, and its this element that contols the money. IMO its big busienss in country that needs to decide what or who they want to endorse, as they have been the traditional supporters of the republican party in recent years and I think even they are intuitive enough to see the elements that are chasing mainstream support away. Luger was a conservative republican from Indiana and they(his own party) trounced him with that radical. Luger may have been a conservative but he also had a reputation for being decent and someone who was willing to reach across the aisle. The party can embrace its alleged ideals of fiscal conservatism and less government and win back some mainstream support and get off the more recent hypocrisy that has infiltrated their beliefs. If they don't, the party will become more radical and become a,fringe party over time. If they don't change they are already headed in that direction. Radicals may get the press for being outrageous, but elections tell us most Americans are moderate. That's been proven when the democrats were more influenced by radicals and now the republicans. This country needs a multi party system. There are enough IMO moderate republicans out there who get it and can hopefully help party evolve. If may be several years of losses before it happens, but it will occur IMO. Sniping at Obama isn't going to get them anywhere anymore. They should see that. It didn't really do them any good with their campaign against Clinton and isn't in their hate against Obama.

But you know that evil organization Planned Parenthood receives federal funding and you know they do evil things like provide Breast Cancer screening and promote STD prevention. I always find it amusing that personal responsibility is supposedly the mantra for some except when it comes to women being able to decide how to manage and control their own bodies or Wall Street magnates going bankrupt. Then I guess it's aok having the government stick their noses into people's " personal areas of responsibility" and dictate to them or bail their asses out by handing over billions of dollars.

Oh yes. I'm getting My hated govenors mixed up. Scott Walker will probably win reelection in Wisconsin with his anti labor BS.

High voter turnout today in the US tends to = more democrats getting votes. That's why all those states that elected republican governors in 2010 were those at the forefront of voter id laws and led voter suppression. I hope that moron Scott Walker in Florida gets beat for the fiasco again in Florida caused by his refusal to extend pre election day voting which by the way all his predecessors including Jeb Bush extended when they were Govenor.

By 2020 Texas and possibly Georgia will be swing states. I wonder how the right feels about that?

Uhm no I was referring to Libya

Ultimately it's the person in charge who's responsible and that's Obama. Most presidents have accepted responsibility for events as such in the pas.. What happens is those that serve who failed ultimately pay at some point. I'm sure the affair, after hearing the details, was going to end up being a problem but there is no question the CIA failed in terms of Libya and not having the intelligence to counter or prevent what happened.

Step number 1 is that the Bush tax cuts will expire this year and there is now NO CHANCE of maintaining them. We couldn't afford it anyway. So thats positive. We'll see what happens going forward.