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“When thou shalt rise above the plane of delusion
Then shalt thou cease to disturb thyself
Regarding doctrines, philosophies, disputations
and other useless trimmings upon the cloth of spiritual thought.”
from the Bhagavad Gita
Dr. Bill Craig, chairperson of the Kansas Autism Task Force, reported today that the House budget committee has approved $1.1 million in additional funding for the HCBS Autism Waiver program which provides early intervention services to children with autism. This would increase the total of number of funded positions on the waiver from 25 to 100.
Dr. Craig cautions, “Now, we need the support of the Senate Ways and Means committee to seal the deal. If we get that, then it won’t need to go to conference where Politics could get in the way.”
This committee will be meeting over the legislative break which concludes April 29.
Please contact members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee as soon as possible and ask their support for this additional funding.
Also, Two additional measures that would benefit the autism community of Kansas will be considered by our legislators when they return for the Omnibus session which begins April 30:
Increased funding of the Tiny-K program
Senate Bill 365
SB 365 would eliminate the Developmental Disabilities Waiver waiting list, which provides services to individuals with ASDs age 5 and over.
Matthew 24:9-13
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
“…when he bowls a 37 for crying out loud, voters are going to wonder if he’s one of them.”
This is a pretty important metric that David Brooks speaks of.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/opinion/18brooks.html
Does the fact that Obama can’t seem to deliver the knock out punch say anything about his candidacy?
Since we have not had a ‘community thread’ in forever I’ll do it here. I think that the Kansas tourism people should be taking advantage of the gasoline and airlines situations and encouraging us to vacation close to home. Last summer I took the grandkids to Hutch to see the Cosmosphere and play at the Eden Prairie water park. On another short ‘weekend’ type trip up to Rock City (north of salina) for rock-climbing and then to the zoo up there. The boys had a blast.
There are numerous attractions scattered around Kansas and surrounding states. With travel dollars stretched (and the general unpleasentness of much travel today) perhaps Kansas should move to ‘harvest’ some of our vacation dollars.
I’d like to see the Eagle print a supplement section with short jaunts around the state – logical advertisers (to pay the bills) would be bed&breakfasts etc in our various communities across the state.
Question to me fellow bloggers – both left and right: How many are curtailing cross-country vacation travel this year due to costs or hassles? Might we still need to “get away”?
An Abridged Primer for Naive Pennsylvania Voters
(with apologies to Theodor Seuss Geisel)
I-am-Scammed, I-am-Scammed, Vote-scammed-I-am
Vote-scammed-I-am With black-box spam!
I do not like this vote fraud plan!
Do you like Diebold machines?
I do not like them, Scammed-I-am. I do not like Diebold machines.
Would you like them here or there?
I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere.
I do not like Diebold machines. I do not like them, Scammed-I-am.
Would you want them at your polls? Tampering with the voter rolls?
Would you rig the ballot box? Would you cheat with phony locks?
No ballot box with phony locks. Not at the polls, no voter rolls.
I do not like them here or there. I do not like them anywhere.
I do not like Diebold machines. I do not want rigged black-box schemes.
Can they? Are they? From afar? Cheating? Robbing? Yes they are!
They would, they could, cheat from afar.
They are cheating, you will see. They don’t want us to be free!
All I want is to be free. Not squeezed to death! You let me be!
I will not trust a sealed black-box, the one that’s called “OK” by FOX.
I do not want them at the polls to jigger up the voter rolls.
I do not like them here or there. I do not like them anywhere.
I do not like Diebold machines! I’m full to here with black-box schemes!
Say! In the dark? Here in the dark! Would you, could you, in the dark?
That’s where they rob you, in the dark. They give your vote to other men.
You may not see it, but it’s plain there in the dark without a pen.
Not in the light for all to see I do not like them, Sam, you see.
Not at the polls. Not in a box. No hanging chad. No lying FOX.
I want no Diebold machines there. I do not like them anywhere!
You do not like them. So you say. Try them! Try them!
And you may. Try them and you may, I say.
Sam! If you will let me be, I will try them. You will see.
Say! I like Diebold machines — vaporized by laser beams!
I like them smashed by monster trucks! I like them fertilized by ducks!
And I will leave them in the rain, and in the dark, under a train.
Beneath a car. Dropped from a tree. They’re all so damnable, you see!
So I will take this damned black-box, and I will feed it to a FOX.
Yes! I will smash it with a sledge. And I will grind it into shreds.
Yes, I will burn them here and there. Say! I will crush them ANYWHERE!
I do so like Diebold machines! I finally see just what you mean!
© 2008 Dann McCreary (aka creator)
- Permission to copy with attribution granted.
This past January, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) introduced the Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act (H.R. 5036), which proposed a last minute, federally-funded push to help states and counties phase out paperless touchscreen e-voting machines before the November presidential contest. In addition to setting aside $600 million to fund the implementation of a paper trail in the states and counties that rely solely on paperless touchscreens, the bill has a number of great audit-related requirements that would go a long way toward ensuring the integrity of our elections.
Holt’s bill passed the House of Representatives Committee on House Administration with unanimous, bipartisan support, only to be blocked by House Republicans on a near-party-line vote when it reached the floor. The White House also spoke out against the bill, opposing it on fiscal grounds.
Rep. Holt then blasted House Republicans in his own statement.
“I’d like to ask the opponents how much spending is too much to have verifiable elections in the United States. I note that many people who opposed this legislation supported spending almost $330 million in recent years to provide election assistance in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. I would have hoped those who supported efforts to export democracy abroad would be equally committed to strengthening democracy here at home,” Holt said.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080421-pa-primary-will-be-unauditable-gop-blocks-e-voting-reform.html
Air travel is out of the question for me for a long while.
I went up to Kansas City on a recent weekend to visit the National WWI museum, the Truman Library as well as an art museum. It provided a great get-away.
I miss the Community thread as well Ben. I think that a weekly post would suffice, it can be added to.
Personally, I’m not going anywhere vacation wise. Several relatives haven’t indicated any change in plans for their vacations (Florida, Hawaii and Caribbean).
I agree that more could be done to support local attractions. I know from personal experience, that spending a night or two away from home to see an attraction that is local to the area is well worth it. It gives the feel of a vacation and is relaxing as well as enjoyable.
Ron Paul’s The Revolution: A Manifesto is ranked #3 in Nonfiction at Amazon. And that’s before any national media exposure for it, which we presume will occur beginning on the official release date of April 30 (though the book is in bookstores right now).
Now that one big political hurdle has been leaped, let’s the State of Spinsylvania be the next contest where the Democratic candidates will fight over delegate scraps. Spinsylvania is of course, the states remaining and where political rhetoric will be sharp-toothed and back biting will appear common.
On March 23rd, 2008 Ron Paul released a statement that marked the five year anniversary of the U.S. going into Iraq. Not surprisingly he had some harsh honest words.
“From the beginning, the march to war was paved with false assumptions and lies. Senior administration officials claimed repeatedly that Iraq was somehow responsible for the attacks of September 11, 2001. They claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. They manipulated the fear of the American people after 9/11 to further a war agenda that they had been planning years before that attack. The mainstream media was complicit in this war propaganda.”
(Source)
“The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.
Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration’s war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized.”
(Source: NYTimes)
GLOBAL COOLING UPDATE
“THE scariest photo I have seen on the internet is http://www.spaceweather.com, where you will find a real-time image of the sun from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, located in deep space at the equilibrium point between solar and terrestrial gravity.
What is scary about the picture is that there is only one tiny sunspot.”….
“…We cannot really know, but my guess is that the odds are at least 50-50 that we will see significant cooling rather than warming in coming decades.”This is where SOHO comes in. The sunspot number follows a cycle of somewhat variable length, averaging 11 years. The most recent minimum was in March last year. The new cycle, No.24, was supposed to start soon after that, with a gradual build-up in sunspot numbers.
It didn’t happen. The first sunspot appeared in January this year and lasted only two days. A tiny spot appeared last Monday but vanished within 24 hours. Another little spot appeared this Monday. Pray that there will be many more, and soon.
The reason this matters is that there is a close correlation between variations in the sunspot cycle and Earth’s climate. The previous time a cycle was delayed like this was in the Dalton Minimum, an especially cold period that lasted several decades from 1790.”…
“…We cannot really know, but my guess is that the odds are at least 50-50 that we will see significant cooling rather than warming in coming decades.
The probability that we are witnessing the onset of a real ice age is much less, perhaps one in 500, but not totally negligible.
All those urging action to curb global warming need to take off the blinkers and give some thought to what we should do if we are facing global cooling instead.
It will be difficult for people to face the truth when their reputations, careers, government grants or hopes for social change depend on global warming, but the fate of civilisation may be at stake.”
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23583376-5013480,00.html
—————-
We all should hope that the reduced solar activity that we are seeing normalizes soon. Can you imagine spending all that is being contemplated to fight global warming, and then wished we hadn’t? Global cooling would be much worse than global warming.
The most powerful statement from the above post…
“It will be difficult for people to face the truth when their reputations, careers, government grants or hopes for social change depend on global warming, …”
Anybody ever wonder about the nic “outlander”?
I did.
And so I asked outlander, live and face to face, why he chose that nic.
He said it was because he saw himself as not of this world but of the next. And so he chose the nic to keep him mindful of that.
Now all due respect to outlander’s belief…needs, but I do not think much credence should be given to someone focused on some OTHER world.
It’s a Biblical reference Junior.
Believers in Christ no longer belong to the world, but to their father in heaven.
but I do not think much credence should be given to someone focused on some OTHER world.
And the credence given to the author of the story he posted?
And how much credence is given to one who views about half of America as his sworn enemy? One who wishes to “plow them under”?
Go figure…
Remember all, that if you tell JR anything, he will try to use it somehow to his advantage.
His apparent point now is that if you look forward to the next life, you care nothing for the future of this one that our children will live in.
JR is a sad person.
This issue is too important. And so I must be blunt.
I’ll just let those who deny global warming and human addition to it stand on their own posts.
They are not the most well regarded or…rational folks.
“His apparent point now is that if you look forward to the next life, you care nothing for the future of this one that our children will live in.”
That is in fact my assessment of your take outlander.
I did say I was going to be blunt.
I am also being entirely honest.
And again I point to
“It will be difficult for people to face the truth when their reputations, careers, government grants or hopes for social change depend on global warming, …”
The shills that second “The sky is falling”
An one who desires to “plow under” about half of Americans.
Credibility? Yeah, not so much.
I am also being entirely honest.
When you can’t deny the message, attack the messenger.
JR, you have proven yourself in recent months to be irrational and selfish. As far as I’m concerned, you are now scroll over.
As I said, I’ll let the deniers of global warming stand on their own merit.
Or the lack thereof.
I cite 3 of such here this morning.
I respect outlander. But I do not think him rational on this and other matters.
I respect Sol. Ditto above.
And they stand with “Regular”.
The company you keep, ya know?
Sol, I agree that: “It will be difficult for people to face the truth when their reputations, careers, government grants or hopes for social change depend on global warming, …” is well phrased.
The reason that I post a “Global Cooling Update” is simply to point out that uncertainty that exists with regard to the climate. It is nuts to think that there is a global thermostat. I would think that this reduced solar activity would be significant news. Why do you have to learn about it outside the MSM?
And you outlander would call a pregnancy as a result of rape a “gift from God not to be trifled with”.
You are NOT scroll over. Folks like you demand constant supervision and refutation.
“In almost every way, Clinton remains a distinct underdog in the Democratic race. But the results from Pennsylvania mean she will continue to fight on.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/22/AR2008042202959_2.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008042203224
Unlikely to win, but cannot quit. Hmmm…
Why do you have to learn about it outside the MSM?
You have to follow the money. The big story that some cling to is global warming. When that hits headlines or even page two, the GW alarmists eat it up and buy more copy.
The scientists that ‘find evidence’ of human caused global warming get more grants and notoriety with each piece of ‘evidence’ they produce. Look at Gore.
And I have noticed a trend away from Global Warming to Climate Change. That covers their butts either way it goes. If you think about the pollution we generated in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s when we industrialized… DAMN. It would seem that willey nilley pollution like we had then, accepting the alarmists’ view point, it should be 110 F at the north pole in February.
test
“And I have noticed a trend away from Global Warming to Climate Change. That covers their butts either way it goes. ”
That is NOT the reason. The reason is that climate change also covers things like changes in rainfall patterns, storm tracks, intensities etc that accompany warming. A couple of degrees in and of itself is not the biggest problem; it is the ‘rest of the story’ that is really beginning to cause harm.
From JR:
“I did say I was going to be blunt.
I am also being entirely honest.”
What he didn’t say, of course, is that he’s extraordinarily self-rightous, increasingly unbalanced, and an idiot. Amazingly, he’s become exactly what he claimed to oppose so stridently.
It is a shame to see what used to be a coherent poster and worthy opponent reduced to paranoid ramblings. Get help, JR.
Ben,
Has the global average temperature increased since 1998? Serious. I linked to an article here a few days/weeks back.
Did you catch it? A contributer to the BBC had it on the web. A GW alarmist strong armed him/her into changing the story sans facts.
Unlikely to win, but cannot quit. Hmmm…
————————–
I know how far fetched what I’m about to say is, but diving right in anyway…
Do you think it’s possible Senator Clinton wants McCain to win?
Maybe because:
Four more years of no solutions for today’s serious problems (actually making worse) would ensure the Republican Party must remake themselves or face oblivion.
The majority of Americans won’t be patient enough for the real solutions and the next president has a greater than even chance of being a one-term presidency.
What do you think? Should I just admit my mind has gone off the deep end (again!) or is there any possibility??
Steven–
I’m actually going to write a speech for Obama and send it to him.
The title is
“Nobody said it was going to be easy”
Clinton represents the entrenched business-as-usual in Washington. Every Congress-critter, every bureaucrat, every lobbyist, and most importantly, every talking-head and newspaper reporter and magazine publisher has benefitted from the status quo.
They like the way it is now, because they have all benefitted from it.
Giving power to the powerless. Nobody said it would be easy.
Wresting the nomination from a political dynasty. Nobody said it would be easy.
Taking government back from the moneyed interests that run our lives and profit mightily from it. Nobody said it would be easy.
Building on the things that unite us instead of cynically profitting from the things that divide us. Nobody said it would be easy.
Winning an election by inspiring people to the positive rather than repelling them from one’s opponent. Taking the high-road to victory. Nobody said it would be easy.
Something like that . . .
What do you think? Should I just admit my mind has gone off the deep end (again!) or is there any possibility??
(crickets chirping)
The thing I can’t figure out is how they managed to create a plastic that doesn’t crack when Hillary pretends to smile.
The majority of Americans won’t be patient enough for the real solutions and the next president has a greater than even chance of being a one-term presidency.
That sounds pretty solid to me Linda.
Four more years of no solutions for today’s serious problems (actually making worse) would ensure the Republican Party must remake themselves or face oblivion.
I don’t think so IMHO. Look at the crap the GOP offered up for this cycle.
“Nobody said it was going to be easy”
HillBilly already gave a ““Nobody said it was going to be easy” speech from a pulpit with her Arkansas Twanged out preacher speech.
GMC–
Well . . . at least it was nice of you to admit that J R used to post things of value.
I don’t remember you saying that when he was apparently writing things that you found valuable.
Taking government back from the moneyed interests that run our lives and profit mightily from it.
Obama made 4.2 million last year. that sounds pretty moneyed to me.
Run our lives? C’mon cappy, you are the most socialist person on this blog. Of course you want the government to run your life. It is what you demand. Cradle to grave, capn wants the gov’ts hand. What a hypocrite.
Uh oh GMC is stalking me again.
Capn? linda?
Obama distanced me with his own words. And he distances those of us who do not trust him more every day.
SO I have a challenge for you.
You show me the con that I can work with.
Find me one, just one con that can be budged.
Will we ever have a day when posters aren’t attacked?
Don’t we all have ample opportunity to disagree with the positions and opinions of posters without getting personal?
And then, why does somebody always have to be wrong?
Regular–
Really? Hmmm, unconscious plagiarism on my part then . . .
Why would Hillary say it was not going to be easy, though? I’m not disputing your comment–I’m just pointing out that it’s nonsense for her to say that.
This is the woman that never did anything on her own except marry Bill Clinton . . .
Here’s the video mocking HillBilly’s speech and the phrase similar to yours, but not exact.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=egJ8NtvVFs8&feature=related
Your 9:37 is unworthy of you Capn.
Sol – YES:
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/RickyRood/comment.html?entrynum=62&tstamp=200802
a) The black line is observed temperatures. Red is modeled with a combination of natural and anthropogenic forcings.
b) Model of natural forcings with observed. The deviation of observed from natural is very clear.
So, to answer your question – while under ‘natural forcings’ (volcanoes, sunspots, ENSO) we would have expected fluctuations around a horizontal mean we have instead seen fluctuations around a rising trend.
J R–
So you like Hillary because she vows to NOT work with anybody except other libs?
That’s going to be a kind of small ruling coalition.
Besides, I’ve felt for a long time that Bill & Hillary are Lieberman before he removed the fictional D next to his name.
Witness Hillary vowing to nuke Iran to save Israel.
Gee, thanks, Hill. Fight one terrorist state to protect another one. That’s not my fight.
The 9:44 was uncalled for too Capn.
Just what has Obama ever done?
Besides sucking up to the right I mean?
Sorry, J R.
Every time I see Hillary, she reminds me of a bad actress portrary a bad actress running for president.
She may be sincere when she says things. The trouble is, she never seems sincere.
I’m no scientist, but it looks like the temp is well above and below what was predicted.
Also, as a non scientist, who determines if they got the model right?
I think you’re right, Linda. If Hillary can’t get the nomination she would definitely want the Obamaman to lose. If he wins he will also be the presumptive nominee in 2012. If he loses, she can spend the next four years positioning herself for the run in 2012.
I think that is the same reason that if the Obamaman gets the nomination she will not in any circumstances accept the VP slot. If by some chance Omamaman picks her as the VP. . .and if by some chance the Obamaman/Hillrod ticket wins. . .if I was the Obamaman I wouldn’t take any midnight walks with my VP in Fort Marcy park!
Well, Hillary did vote to give Bush the power to go to war in Iraq.
She was also for NAFTA right up until she was against it.
Ben, with reference to your vacations closer to home — if you haven’t visited the salt museum at Hutchinson it is well worth seeing. We went last fall and will return as it’s a work in progress.
I’ve been thinking about this too, Hank.
Under normal circumstances, Hillary would be the logical choice for VP.
But her scorched earth tactics against Obama make it hard for him to pick her.
If you can’t trust Obama to answer the three o’clock phone call, if Obama doesn’t have the experience to be president even though McCain does(as she has said), how can she then run as second fiddle to this untrustworthy, inexperienced man.
Had she run a decent, honorable campaign, she could have positioned herself for VP.
But she isn’t interested in party or principle.
She’s interested in power. Her power.
linda – been there – fascinating.
Hank – Hillary would have zero chance in 2012 if she is perceived as helping elect McBush.
Sol – the models are then matched against the observed – and it matches much better with the composite (anthro and natural) than with natural alone.
I have to go.
Here is where I will leave it.
Because of what he has said, I cannot vote for Obama.
Now, who among you Obama supporters could not vote for Senator Clinton? And your reason?
A few links that agree that temperatures have not increased since 1998.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7329799.stm
http://www.newstatesman.com/200712190004
http://www.ontheborderline.net/?p=5442
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/04/09/do0907.xml
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2008/040408_cools_off.htm
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/opinions/20082204-17218.html
http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/info/warming/
We have a bitch that is a lawyer, married to a lawyer running against a lawyer married to a bitch that is a lawyer on one side.
On the other we have a war veteran married to a lady that owns a beer distributorship.
Any questions?
Oil Prices hit $120/bbl.
The graph linked below cannot even keep up with the price increases since the Democrats took control of Congress!
You see the price of oil in January 2007 – when the Democrats took power? $60. Sixty Dollars!
Now? $120. One Hundred and Twenty Dollars!
THAT IS A 100% OIL PRICE INCREASE SINCE THE DEMOCRATS TOOK POWER!!!
http://www.oilnergy.com/1opost.htm#since78
HLP,
Act the sexist fool much?
There’s who you want to work with Capn.
Hank I mean.
You all get a room.
Quid pro quo: Petraeus defends Bush’s Iraq debacle, Bush helps Petraeus burnish his credentials by appointing him as CENTCOM commander.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/international-usa-military-centcom.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
This hand washes that hand, etc.
The GORACLE blaming Bush’s about not paying attention that Iraq was promoting terrorism and developing Nuclear, Biological and Chemical weapons.
And now the Democratic Party National Choir and Kazoo Band will sing and play the “Amnesia Requiem #1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h6gehCPvpk&feature=related
(chortles)
CapnAmerica
Posted April 23, 2008 at 9:37 am | Permalink
The thing I can’t figure out is how they managed to create a plastic that doesn’t crack when Hillary pretends to smile.
————————————————-
Saving this one. Great bumper sticker material!
Regular–
I was thinking . . . it would be perfectly acceptable for Obama to steal Hillary’s lines.
Did you see her speech last night: “yes, we will!”
Sh!t.
No passing resemblance to Obama’s signature “yes, we can!” or anything.
Pure co-opting.
*****
I can’t vote for Hillary, J R. I might as well be honest about. But it doesn’t have anything to do with Hillary’s supporters.
I don’t make up my mind about candidates because of their supporters.
If I had one glimmer that Hillary was willing to put party and principle ahead of winning, I would vote for her.
But when she says she landed in Bosnia “under sniper fire” and viciously attacks her Democratic candidate as a risk to national security.
F*** that.
Who needs RepubliCONs when we’ve got Hillary doing their job for them?
Dear Nazi,
And, as your cited link shows, the price of oil has more than QUADRUPLED since George Bush stole the Presidency.
Keep trying, Nazi. Keep trying.
Did you see her speech last night: “yes, we will!”
Sh!t.
No passing resemblance to Obama’s signature “yes, we can!” or anything.
Pure co-opting.
—————————————————-
You know Capn, if either candidate could come up with a 4-word sentence, that would truly overwhelm the intellectual capacity of their audience.
THAT IS A 100% OIL PRICE INCREASE SINCE THE DEMOCRATS TOOK POWER!!!
Congress doesn’t set the price of oil, the market does. If you want to place blame, place the failing dollar (how much value has been lost) and day traders/wall street.
Earth to Max – the Democrats do not CONTROL Congress; they only have some level of influence. With the combination of cloture and veto the Republics can still block any real action.
BTW, it looks like Hillary only won by 9 points at this point when you round the decimals they way they should be rounded–Clinton, 54.3 – Obama, 45.7.
Not only that, but 3 percent of the Philly vote hasn’t been counted yet.
That’s where Obama blew her out of the water.
This nine point victory may end up being more like eight points.
The Clinton and her media minions have a habit of over-stating her “wins.” See for instance Texas in which Obama actually got more delegates.
CFUK’R, look at the trend line Clinton started in 1999. Straight up from there to $30 when Bush took office.
It took 6 years for Bush to take that to $60.
It took 15 months for the Democrat Congress to take it from $60 to $120.
Democrats do not want to drill for oil in the USA. And the Democrats keep funding the Iraq war.
But then, you Radical Libs are used to talkin out of both sides of your mouths.
I am extremely offended that Hank’s choice for words of a female candidate is ‘bitch’. How about we start calling Bush “president nutsack”. He’s assisted by VP “dick-sucker”.
That’s ok, he shows his sexism by supporting the candidate who calls his wife a c*nt, so what it to him to call Hillary a bitch.
Max you are profoundly full of shit. Gas was still just barely over a buck when Clinton left office, so don’t even go there. How on earth can you even TRY …I mean that takes some very very serious denial man. that’s a downright lie.
SolDevVB
Posted April 23, 2008 at 10:21 am | Permalink
THAT IS A 100% OIL PRICE INCREASE SINCE THE DEMOCRATS TOOK POWER!!!
Congress doesn’t set the price of oil, the market does. If you want to place blame, place the failing dollar (how much value has been lost) and day traders/wall street.
————————————————–
True. Then Congress should cut spending, balance the budget, stop printing phony money increasing the money supply, and the value of the dollar will go up.
Oh, and drill for oil in the USA, which will increase the SUPPLY, and drive the Price of Oil Down!
But . . . but . . . but . . . Max?
I thought Bush was tough enough to stand up to Congress.
Even when you blame others, you still end up blaming Bush.
Ditto and ditto, P-Mom.
You go, girl!
Political_mama
Posted April 23, 2008 at 10:23 am | Permalink
I am extremely offended that Hank’s choice for words of a female candidate is ‘bitch’. How about we start calling Bush “president nutsack”. He’s assisted by VP “dick-sucker”.
That’s ok, he shows his sexism by supporting the candidate who calls his wife a c*nt, so what it to him to call Hillary a bitch.
Political_mama
Posted April 23, 2008 at 10:25 am | Permalink
Max you are profoundly full of shit. Gas was still just barely over a buck when Clinton left office, so don’t even go there. How on earth can you even TRY …I mean that takes some very very serious denial man. that’s a downright lie.
————————————————–
P Mom, go get laid and have some coffee.
Then you will be more fit to blog.
Capn stop whining about Hillary’s win already…my god. The woman is making a comeback, face it. Obama hadn’t been tested against the spin machine, and he’s not holding up so well. This is mild compared to what is gonna come and I want someone who’ll be able to weather the storm.
Life is a Btich.
So don’t vote for one!
It was about time the media stopped kissing his butt. I see MSNBC still is though. Olbermann I’ll never watch again.
President Bush’s sense of humor and compassion. Some think he isn’t a great speaker. I think he holds his own quite well.
Oh yes, he takes a shot at Senator Obama in the video as well. :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dii3mzMQ3SQ&feature=related
You know that’s funny I was just thinking about sex…
Cousin of Colombia’s President Arrested for Ties to Death Squads
Colombian authorities have ordered the arrest of President Alvaro Uribe’s cousin for suspected ties to paramilitary death squads. Mario Uribe is a former senator who has been one of Alvaro Uribe’s closest allies for years. Uribe’s arrest could hurt Colombia’s bid to secure a free trade deal with Washington. Last night, Mario Uribe attempted to avoid arrest by seeking asylum in the Costa Rican embassy in Bogota, but Costa Rica denied the request. Colombian human rights activist Ivan Cepeda criticized Uribe for trying to avoid being arrested.
Ivan Cepeda: “It’s an unprecedented occurrence that a senator of the Republic, who is being required by authorities, is fleeing justice and appeals for political asylum so that his crimes and acts remain unpunished in Colombia.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/23/headlines#1
Hillary and Bush support Columbia. Anyone know where McCain and Obama stand? Betting McCain will follow Bush.
HUGE, HUMOUNGUS VICTORY FOR HILLARY IN PA!
Winning 55% of the vote she won 52 delegates!
Obama with 45% of the vote, only gained 46 delegates.
Obama’s 139 delegate lead was cut way down to 133!
Net gain for Hillary is 6 delegates. BFD.
Right on que…
Bush Urges Congress to Approve Colombian Free Trade Deal
Meanwhile, at the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America Summit in New Orleans, President Bush urged Congress to pass the Colombian free trade deal.
President Bush: “An agreement with Colombia would level the playing field. And a failure to pass an agreement would send a terrible signal to our neighborhood. The Speaker of the United States Congress has killed this bill, unless she gives us a date certain for a vote. It’s a bad decision on her part. And it’s bad for our hemisphere to have the United States of America turn its back on a mutual friend like Colombia.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/23/headlines#1
Hillary claims “The Tide is Turning”!
And her campaign manager is making the argument to steal the nomination thru the SUPER DELEGATES –
“Hillary has won all the states we have to win in the general election,” Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe told FOX News after the race was called, touting the fact that Clinton won Pennsylvania despite being largely outspent in the state by Obama.
That’ll p-o Obama and his supporters when he doesn’t get the nomination. Too bad.
Drugging of Guantanamo Detainees Comes Under New Scrutiny
The Washington Post reports at least two dozen former and current prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere say they have been given drugs against their will or witnessed other inmates being drugged. The allegations have resurfaced after the release this month of a 2003 Justice Department memo that explicitly condoned the use of drugs on detainees. In the memo, former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo rejected a decades-old US ban on the use of “mind-altering substances” on prisoners. Instead, he argued that drugs could be used as long as they did not inflict permanent or “profound” psychological damage. Legal experts and human rights groups say that forced drugging of detainees for any nontherapeutic reasons would be a particularly grave breach of international treaties banning torture.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/23/headlines#1
Water boarding on acid. That must be a trip.
Court: Ex-EPA Chief Can’t Be Held Liable for 9/11 Statements
A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that former EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman cannot be held liable for telling residents near the World Trade Center site that the air was safe to breathe after the September 11 attacks. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit by residents, students and workers in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn who said they were exposed to hazardous dust and debris from the fallen Twin Towers after September 11.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/23/headlines#1
WTF !!! YOU gotta be $HITTIN me !!!
Rage
Posted April 23, 2008 at 1:09 am | Permalink
P.S. I see I missed Montana & SD, to say nothing of what will happen and MI and FL. But they don’t go until June 3.
Actually, there are other problems, because I rather lazily went on a 100% assumption, but the poll numbers don’t add up to 100%. That’s what happens when you do on-the-fly mathematics in the middle of something else! And I’m tired.
So Hillary wins by a landslide!
More seriously, the numbers would reasonably adjust in Hillary’s favor. I also made a couple stupid typos that screwed both of them. So, assuming. . .oh, screw it, I’ll just do it right!
Since formatting’s a hassle presume Clinton on the left, Obama on right.
I’ll leave delegates unassigned for the gap in polling percentages. Readjusted figures, Obama’s rounded up as Clinton’s.
KY 37 16
WV 22 11
NC 55 70
IN 39 43
OR 28 34
MT 8 5
SD 8 11
___ ___
197 190
So, assuming the jaws of life are not required, going thru SD on today’s poll numbers, it would actually slightly break for Clinton.
Of course, today’s polls are not tomorrow’s, so the conservative approach is that it ain’t over ’til it’s over.
————————————————–
Nice analysis Rage.
7 more primaries and Clinton gains 7 (Seven!) more delegates?
She’s only behind by 133! (After gaining 6 in PA)
Here’s our government, pissing away our money!!!
Homeland Security Scrapping, Replacing Sub-Par Virtual Fence Along Arizona-Mexico Border
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
AP/Arizona Daily Star, David Sanders
A 98-foot ‘virtual fence’ tower laden with radar, sensors and sophisticated cameras west of Arivaca, Ariz.
TUCSON, Arizona — The government will replace its highly touted “virtual fence” on the Arizona-Mexico border with new towers, radars, cameras and computer software, scrapping the brand-new $20 million system because it doesn’t work sufficiently, officials said.
The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff officially accepted the completed fence from The Boeing Co.
With the decision, Customs and Border Protection officials are acknowledging that the pilot program to detect illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border doesn’t work well enough to keep or to continue tweaking.
Sol – no surprise that our ‘royal executive’ will claim that he and his staff are above the law. And, since they have been able to appoint so many compliant judges they get their way.
Dear Nazi,
Just the sort of moving the goalposts one expects from a fascist suck-up like you. To say nothing of the lack of class shown in your address to women who post on the blog.
A self-hating, misogynistic fascist; if we didn’t know better, Max, we’d say your hatred and fear of women is really…jealousy.
Come out of the closet much, Max?
GratefulDave – note also:
“Boeing was awarded an $860 million contract to provide the technology, physical fences and vehicle barriers.”
Gee, isn’t that the same company that is so mad because they lost the tanker bid?
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Bush regency:
Top Justice official admits Abramoff fueled his regal life
By Marisa Taylor | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 email | print tool nameclose
tool goes here
WASHINGTON — A former senior Justice Department official admitted Tuesday that he did favors for clients of lobbyist Jack Abramoff while accepting free meals at upscale Washington restaurants and luxury-suite tickets to sports games paid for by Abramoff’s former firm.
In court papers, Robert E. Coughlin II acknowledged using his position as a department official to help Abramoff’s former firm, Greenberg Traurig, including campaigning on the firm’s behalf to secure a $16.3 million grant for a Indian tribe to build a jail.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/34549.html
Political_mama
Posted April 23, 2008 at 10:23 am | Permalink
I am extremely offended that Hank’s choice for words of a female
__________________________________________________________
Be offended then. I am extremely offended that you advocate the death and destruction of a child’s life at the leisure of a woman. Does that mean that abortions will stop? Does that mean that you should be silenced?
Of course not. That means that I am offended. Whoopie $hit. Then I shouldn’t blog here or scroll past your murderous posts, or post opposition to your statement. The fact that I am offended, or your offense, amounts to less than dried $hit.
I am sick to death of “I’m offended” and you have to change such and such. Bull$hit. If you are offended BE f’ing offended and move the f on. Who the hell do you think you are that your little emotions amount to dried crap? If something offends you, then don’t be around it.
Who the hell do you think you are that your little emotions amount to dried crap? If something offends you, then don’t be around it.
You in the sense of Americans in general, not any one person in particular.
True. Then Congress should cut spending, balance the budget, stop printing phony money increasing the money supply, and the value of the dollar will go up.
Stop messing with the interest rate.
Allow the market to readjust itself. Banks will fail, people will lose their homes. They took the risk. This is the outcome.
Disband the secretive Federal Reserve.
End the income tax.
End the entitlement society/mentality.
End foreign intervention.
End foreign occupation.
HELL YEAH
11:01 Sol – right on!
Why don’t you run for office?
Oh, and Sol, 10:55 and 10:58 were pretty good too.
Not offended at all!
Today we’ve “evolved” to pu**y-footing around every issue. We can’t take a stand on anything, less we offend someone.
Nuthin wrong with taking a stand for what is right. And actually having a reason for your position is sorta nice too. Or you can choose to be a kool-aid drinker.
MaxGrobnik posted;
“Why don’t you run for office?”, in reference to the SolDevVB post.
DITTO!!!!
C’mon guys, I don’t have the brain power nor the background. In fact I am just parroting my party’s platform.
Take a look at what Dr. Paul is saying. He is still in the race and gaining delegates.
Take a look at what Bob Barr is saying. Haven’t researched him much, but he seems to have the same ideas as Dr. Paul.
But thanx guys. That was awesome of you to say.
Run Sol Run! Run Sol Run! Run Sol Run!
“A chicken for tacos in every pot, and a Michigan made, fuel efficient car in every garage”!
Has a nice ring, no?
Run Sol Run!
EPA scientists complain about political pressure.
Survey shows hundreds of EPA scientists complaint about political pressure.
H. JOSEF HEBERT
AP News
Apr 23, 2008 10:54 EST
Hundreds of Environmental Protection Agency scientists complain they have been victims of political interference and pressure from superiors to skew their findings, according to a survey released Wednesday by an advocacy group.
The Union of Concerned Scientists said that more than half of the nearly 1,600 EPA staff scientists who responded online to a detailed questionnaire reported they had experienced incidents of political interference in their work.
EPA spokesman Jonathan Shradar attributed some of the discontent to the “passion” scientists have toward their work. He said EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, as a longtime career scientist at the EPA himself, “weighs heavily the science given to him by the staff in making policy decisions.”
But Francesca Grifo, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Scientific Integrity Program, said the survey results revealed “an agency in crisis” with low morale, especially among scientists involved in risk assessment and crafting regulations.
“The investigation shows researchers are generally continuing to do their work, but their scientific findings are tossed aside when it comes time to write regulations,” said Grifo.
The group sent an online questionnaire to 5,500 EPA scientists and received 1,586 responses, a majority of them senior scientists who have worked for the agency for 10 years or more. The survey included chemists, toxicologists, engineers, geologists and experts in the life and environmental sciences.
The report said that 60 percent of those responding, or 889 scientists, reported personally experiencing what they viewed as political interference in their work over the last five years. Four in 10 scientists who have worked at the agency for more than a decade said they believe such interference has been more prevalent in the last five years than the previous five years.
Timothy Donaghy, one of the report’s co-authors, acknowledged that a large number of scientists did not respond to the survey and said the findings should not be viewed as a random sample of EPA scientists.
Nevertheless, said Donaghy, “we have hundreds of scientists saying there is a problem” with assuring scientific integrity within the federal government’s principal environmental regulatory agency.
Asked to respond to the survey, Shradar, the EPA spokesman, said, “We have the best scientists in the world at EPA.”
The EPA has been under fire from members of Congress on a number of fronts including its delay in determining whether carbon dioxide should be regulated to combat global warming. Johnson also has been criticized for rejecting recommendations from science advisory boards on a number of air pollution issues including control of mercury from power plants and how much to reduce smog pollution.
In the survey, the EPA scientists described an agency suffering from low morale as senior managers and the White House Office of Management and Budget frequently second-guess scientific findings and change work conducted by EPA’s scientists, the report said.
The survey covered employees at EPA headquarters, in each of the agency’s 10 regions around the country and at more than a dozen research laboratory. The highest number of complaints about political interference came from scientists who are directly involved in writing regulations and those who conduct risk assessments such as determining a chemical cancer risk for humans.
Nearly 400 scientists said they had witnessed EPA officials misrepresenting scientific findings, 284 said they had witness the “selective or incomplete use of data to justify a specific regulatory outcome” and 224 scientists said they had been directed to “inappropriately exclude or alter technical information” in an EPA document.
Donaghy said that EPA management was aware of the survey, which was conducted by the Center for Survey Statistics & and Methodology at the Iowa State University. He said while some EPA managers initially instructed employees not to participate, the EPA’s general counsel’s office later sent an e-mail to employees saying they could participate on their private time.
Backlash to the housing/mortgage bailouts:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/21/real_estate/bailout_backlash/index.htm?postversion=2008042310
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Why should American taxpayers have to pay to bailout reckless lenders and borrowers?
The website Angryrenter.com, launched just last week, has a vitiation demanding that Congress not pass any bailout programs that reward risky borrowing and lending. To wit: “Let the free market sort it out!”
The petition is gathering 40 to 50 signatures per hour, according to spokesman Adam Brandon, who adds that the site is already getting 15,000 visitors a day.
“There’s a huge segment of the country saying, ‘We don’t want our money used for a bailout,’” said Brandon”
This is an area in which I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I have sympathy for some who were duped into abd mortgages and hope some real good plaintiffs’ lawyers have a field day with that. On the other hand the speculators etc deserve little sympathy in my opinion.
Another factor that makes me want some sort of ‘bailout’ is the impact on neighborhoods if a lot of houses go empty. Instant blight inflicted upon neighbors.
Sol – run locally. I’d love to see you at City Council the next time they are talking about subsidizing another over-priced bar.
Has a nice ring, no?
Damn straight.
subsidizing another over-priced bar.
LMAO. You gotta be $hittin me !!!
I’m in Michigan though.
“Olbermann I’ll never watch again” — p.m.
Nancy Grace is more your style anyway.
and hope some real good plaintiffs’ lawyers have a field day with that
Problem is most of the predatory brokers have dissolved the companies and walked away with fortunes.
Another factor that makes me want some sort of ‘bailout’ is the impact on neighborhoods if a lot of houses go empty. Instant blight inflicted upon neighbors.
Michigan has turned into a virtual ghost town/state. Lots of foreclosure signs. Not much of an impact yet.
Finally Pelosi is called to put up or shut up:
““Two years ago this week, you stated that House Democrats had a ‘commonsense plan’ to ‘lower gas prices,’ ” the letter said. “In light of the skyrocketing gasoline prices affecting working families and every sector of our struggling economy, we are writing today to respectfully request that you reveal this ‘commonsense plan’ so we can begin work on responsible solutions to help ease this strain.”
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/house-gop-challenges-pelosi-for-gas-price-plan-2008-04-22.html
This is my problem with all of the candidates also. They tout plan to conquer all of the worlds woes that they will only reveal if elected.
We needs these solution now. Join me in calling for leadership of both parties to do an early reveal.
“SolDevVB” shares –
“Michigan has turned into a virtual ghost town/state. Lots of foreclosure signs. Not much of an impact yet.”
You’ll see it in a lot of subtle ways if you look for ‘em. Homeless will start squatting in empty houses.
We’re seeing the beginning of the ghettoization of suburbia. Overland Park, once the epitome of middle-to-upper-middle class communities, is cluttered with payday loan places on commercial corners. In another era and another neighborhood these outfits would be recognized for what they are: loan sharks.
They tout plan to conquer all of the worlds woes that they will only reveal if elected.
Sounds like double colon’s offer of affordable health care to the ‘needy’.
cluttered with payday loan places
They are everywhere up here. They are now regulated by the state.
Linda,
Will you ever see the idiocy of your own statements?
(And that is not me calling you names, but rather pointing out the absurdity of your comments)
In one sentence you say why can’t we just disagree with each others opinions without being personal and in the next you wonder why someone has to be wrong.
What do you think disagreement is? If I think you are wrong, I disagree with you.
Someone has to be wrong when 2 people present two different opinions that each think is true but are contradictory.
Don’t we all have ample opportunity to disagree with the positions and opinions of posters without getting personal?
And then, why does somebody always have to be wrong?
Sorry,
Those last two sentences were Linda’s words, forgot the quote marks.
“Don’t we all have ample opportunity to disagree with the positions and opinions of posters without getting personal?
And then, why does somebody always have to be wrong?”
America, land of the free?
U.S. prison population dwarfs that of other nations
By Adam Liptak Published: April 23, 2008
The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.
Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations.
Criminologists and legal scholars in other industrialized nations say they are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American prison sentences.
The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation, according to data maintained by the International Center for Prison Studies at King’s College London.
China, which is four times more populous than the United States, is a distant second, with 1.6 million people in prison. (That number excludes hundreds of thousands of people held in administrative detention, most of them in China’s extrajudicial system of re-education through labor, which often singles out political activists who have not committed crimes.)
San Marino, with a population of about 30,000, is at the end of the long list of 218 countries compiled by the center. It has a single prisoner.
The United States comes in first, too, on a more meaningful list from the prison studies center, the one ranked in order of the incarceration rates. It has 751 people in prison or jail for every 100,000 in population. (If you count only adults, one in 100 Americans is locked up.)
The only other major industrialized nation that even comes close is Russia, with 627 prisoners for every 100,000 people. The others have much lower rates. England’s rate is 151; Germany’s is 88; and Japan’s is 63.
The median among all nations is about 125, roughly a sixth of the American rate.
OK Dave you solution is???
ksgrm writes:
“This is my problem with all of the candidates also. They tout plan to conquer all of the worlds woes that they will only reveal if elected.”
Nixon won in 1968 with a “secret plan” to end the war in Viet Nam.
Politicians will say what they think will get them elected.
Nothing new here folks.
Native that is my point. We can be better voters if we demand better answers and not more of the same. We need solutions and not ‘more of the same’.
“Someone has to be wrong when 2 people present two different opinions that each think is true but are contradictory.”
Let me propose 2 absurd possiblies:
1) Both people are wrong
2) Both people are 1/2 right
How often does it happen in R.L. where people hold contradictory/oppposite views and one has to be right and one has to be wrong? I would think not very often.
Ksgrm…then vote for Obama.
ksgrm,
One of the largest contributing factors to our prison situation is the democratic selection of judges. Judges, in an appeal for re-election, try to demonstrate their tough-on-crime stance to a population filled with fear by handing down more and longer sentences. So, two things 1) people need to jettison all this fear that the culture tries to instill and 2) Judges should not be elected to office.
And 3) all non-violent crimes should be dealt with by some other means than incarceration.
Tom Tomorrow on our media culture:
http://action.credomobile.com/comics/2008/04/bad_apples.html
Steven,
The very meaning of the word “contradictory” means that they are two opposing views.
Yes, both can be wrong, but both can’t be right.
Either way, someone is wrong even if it is both people.
It happens all the time.
Funny stuff, Rage!
Steven,
Are you a believer in Postmodernism?
Nathan:
This statement is false.
This one is, too.
Nathan,
I am not surprised that you would contend the above happens all the time.
After all, isn’t “nuanced” a French word?
Nathan, see the post at the beginning of this thread.
It specifically addresses and answers the problem of duality in existence. Written over 5000 years ago but dead on for today’s world.
Awesome link KSgrm. I’ll post some more from that link:
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/house-gop-challenges-pelosi-for-gas-price-plan-2008-04-22.html
The House GOP leaders’ letter points out that the price of gasoline has spiked $1.18 since Democrats took over in January and stands at $3.51.
Steven,
So, you say that people presenting contradictory opinions where someone is wrong happens not very often.
I say that people presenting contradictory opinions where someone is wrong happens all the time.
Those are two contradictory statements. Both can’t be right.
We can argue about what “not very often” and “all the time” means, but basically they are opposite statements.
One of us is wrong or both of us could be wrong and they happen half of the time….
Either way, someone is wrong.
Forgot this part:
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/house-gop-challenges-pelosi-for-gas-price-plan-2008-04-22.html
In a press release dated April 24, 2006, Pelosi said, “Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices by cracking down on price gouging, rolling back the billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, tax breaks and royalty relief given to big oil and gas companies, and increasing production of alternative fuels.”
2) Judges should not be elected to office.
Then they are appointed? Doesn’t that open the game to stacking the deck politically?
You mean the state actually egulates the “loan Shark” places. I do admit the decors is better than the dark blue Chrysler and the Guy named Vinnie with the baseball bat, but not much has changed.
Steven,
Are you a believer in Postmodernism?
“Postmodernism is a developing set of perspectives that call into question the Western modernist assumption that Truth or an objective reality can be possibly known.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism
The above is more correct, in my humble opinion, than a predilection to black and white thinking on everything.
It is ultimately a trade off, is the comfort of black and white thinking worth the loss of attendent appreciation of the realities of life? To me it is not, and I believe it is up to all to decide on how they wish to think.
There are some things that I am more or less black and white on. Usually, it is a bad idea to murder someone, for example.
On the whole construing thing, a friend of mine used to say “the map is not the territory.” I agree with that.
“darkanonm” adds –
“You mean the state actually egulates the “loan Shark” places? I do admit the decors is better than the dark blue Chrysler and the Guy named Vinnie with the baseball bat, but not much has changed.”
Well, no. Not when the loan sharks write the “regulations.”
The real scandal after nearly 30 years of Reagan/Gingrich/Shrub isn’t what illegal, it’s what’s become “legal.”
darkanonm,
They regulate the interest rate (still loan sharking, but consistant), how many check cashing places you can owe to, repayment program, military borrowers, etc.
I don’t really see it as helping. The folks that go there are desperate and they get soaked.
Steven,
What you call black and white thinking the article and I call:
Truth or an objective reality.
It is not about comfort for me. If anything, it seems like it is more about comfort for those who choose not to believe in truth or objective reality.
As you say, “I believe it is up to all to decide on how they wish to think.”
Basically, that is the comfortable thing to think, why take a stand on what is true when you can say no one is correct?
How you might wish to think doesn’t make what you think true.
As someone in a scientific field who has no problem lecturing others on their ignorance of scientific theory, I am rather surprised that you would be as deep into postmodern thinking as you are.
Ironic “I think.”
2) Judges should not be elected to office.
Then they are appointed? Doesn’t that open the game to stacking the deck politically?
Judges should be selected from the jury pool.
Grateful_Dave,
There must be at least a dozen factors you are not even looking at to determine our prison population size relative to other coutnries.
We have a very violent cultrue compared to many others.
We have different standards of law enforcement and punishment as well.
China executes many of it’s people as well.
I could go on and on.
Simply comparing our prison population relative to other countries is not a vey objective look at WHY we have more prisoners and proof of that even being a problem.
Greatful_Dave,
If judges were selected from the Jury pool who would have the legal knowledge and expertise to make sure that sentence guidelines were met and enforced?
Nathan you beat me to it but I was going to say that a pick pocket or theif would merely have his hands cut off in many countries. A great deterent and no reason to jail them. Immediate executions for suspected or proven murders. No reason to jail.
The history of those numbers might be more interesting than the numbers.
Steven, Nathan:
The modern paradigm of postmoderism is really that “truth” is socially constructed.
As for Steven’s half-and-half example, well, one may quibble over the proportions, but it’s easily demonstrated as a possibility:
Person A: Barack Obama is a black man, and a muslim terrorist with ties to Al-Qaeda!
Person B: No, Barack Obama is not a muslim terrorist! He is a Christian, and has been personally endorsed by a risen Jesus Christ!
It should be evident to all that neither person would be completely wrong or completely right. :)
How nice to have to point out the obvious to Nathan. . .again. :roll:
Native I really at one time considered voting for Obama. After all how much damage could he do in 4 years. Then I looked more closely at the man. His arrogance to others in my opinion give him a feeling of superiority he hasn’t earned.
His choice of friend does matter to me. I know in my own circle I tend to pick those most like me so we don’t waste our time with arguments all of the time. Bill Ayers does matter to me. His 20 relationship with a racist minister does matter to me.
For this reason I will be for McLame are the dems call him.
“As someone in a scientific field who has no problem lecturing others on their ignorance of scientific theory, I am rather surprised that you would be as deep into postmodern thinking as you are.
“Ironic ‘I think.’”
I sincerely apologize if I have seemed as though I was ever lecturing you about science or anyone’s ignorance thereof.
I believe what makes one a good scientist is a humility about what one does not know and the abiity to consider that what one believes and what is accepted wisdom may not be correct.
While you are a good man, as near as I can tell from my limited contact, I am relieved to no end that we see things very differently. I suspect you may share that relief.
And in closing I would like to only say:
I am he is you are me and we are all together…
Puk, Puk, achoo…
I am the Walrus.
Rage,
You didn’t have to point out anything to me.
Instead of one objective statement, you mixed in 3 into one sentence.
Of course, when you are making several objective statements in one sentence and compare them to several objective statements made in another that some could be true in both and some wrong in both.
Duh.
What next? Are you going to tell me that 2 + 2 = 4 and pat yourself on the back for pointing out the obvious?
“Immediate executions for suspected or proven murders.”
Yeah, screw that innocent until proven guilty bullshit – kill ‘em all now and let God sort it out.
To Hell with due process, they must be guilty of something!
WS Clark,
I wouldn’t want to insult your reading comprehension, but ksgrm was talking about what other countries are doing and that is probably some of the reason their prison populations are not as large as ours are.
Okay, Nathan, how’s this:
Person A: I propose that air is approximately 40% nitrogen, 40% argon, and 20% oxygen.
Person B: I propose that air is approximately 78.08% nitrogen, and the remainder are trace gasses.
Person A is closer on the oxygen figure, way off on the nitrogen, and the argon.
Person B is dead-on on the nitrogen, but leave outs oxygen entirely.
Both are right and both are wrong, on the same claim. Person A is worse on the exact figures, but makes an arguably worse error that person B, as oxygen is necessary than animal life.
P.S. Lemme guess–the percentages are different statements now.
I’ll allow that if we reduce it to 2+2 scenario, yes, there is a right and wrong answer. I don’t think anyone’s disputing that.
“probably some of the reason their prison populations are not as large as ours are.”
Yes, I understand in England, France, Sweden and other European countries they regularly execute suspected murderers without trial or evidence.
Happens all the time.
Right?
I wanted to make a correction:
“I am he is you are he is you are me and we are all together.
“I am still the Walrus, however…”
The above was John Lennon’s conceptualization of an egoless universe which was either induced by LSD, or an example of existential brillance, or just maybe a combination of both.
Oh Nathan,
The absolute beauty of science is that it is not black and white. The scientific sense is than an absolute truth is unknowable: Also that knowledge is incremental.
It has always concerned me that people are willing to spend so much on a college education and then do their best to discard what they learned or should have learned. Very troubling, indeed.
This past cold winter, coldest since 2001, can be attributed in large part to La Nina, which appears right now to be setting us up for another very cold winter, due to the present cooling trend in the Pacific Ocean.
By the way, the Antarctic deep sea is also getting colder.
See news page
foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352241,00.html
and science page
sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080421195005.htm
and science page
sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080421111622.htm
It has always concerned me that people are willing to spend so much on a college education and then do their best to discard what they learned or should have learned. Very troubling, indeed.
In some circles, they call that “thinking outside the box.”
Here is one reason our prison population is so high.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_countries_by_gun_ownership
Nathan says we are a more violent culture: I believe you can figure out why that is by referencing the above.
We also have more people in prison because we have an uneducated population who reacts emotionally instead of rationally. Think of us as a nation of Nancy Graces. We also throw way too many people in jail for drugs. Plug a common name such as “Smith” into the Kansas Offender website, (http://www.dc.state.ks.us/kasper) and you can see why people are incarcerated. Drugs, drugs, drugs.
We are also hysterical about sex. Why are we putting dirty old men in jail for copping feels? You get more time for feeling an underaged breast than you do for nearly beating someone to death with a pipe or for armed robbery.
The final answer is: There are so many people in jail because this country is completely bats.
Ho Hum, another amazing, underrated, and underreported breakthrough in ethical adult stem cell research occurred, that will likely soon provide beneficial treatments and drug studies for heart patients. Dutch researchers at University Medical Center Utrecht and the Hubrecht Institute have succeeded in growing large numbers of stem cells from adult human hearts into new heart muscle cells. This method of growing heart muscle tissue from isolated adult stem cells is superior to what has been done with useless embryonic stem cells, and is moreover an ethical method of medical research and treatment.
Steven one thing I learned by completing my degree at 57 well after others were years into their chosen professions was this; Many that I sat in class with were very book smart but they were lacking in common sense. My life experience helped me out.
Rage,
You made the same argument, just dressed it up differently.
Each one of those statements has several claims.
Each one must be handled individually and can be wrong.
You even caught that just after posting it. So what is your point now?
parkay – I find the adult stem cell research to be especially interesting in that it eliminates the rejection issue if they can build parts from my own cells.
2nd warmest March on record – even WITH La Nina:
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=927&tstamp=200804
“Between February 2006 and November 2007, the globe set top ten monthly warm temperature records for 22 straight months.
had we not had a strong La Niña event this winter, March 2008 would have been the warmest March on record, since it missed the record by only 0.04°C.”
Steven,
Now you are shifting towards an absolute truth discussion.
Of course I understand that science shys away from absolute truth.
The discussion we were having was on truth claims and being wrong in discussion.
If you would like to come back to that one, feel free. Don’t create a strawman argument where you are setting me up and beating me down on things I have not said.
[Nathan(iel)] “Don’t create a strawman argument where you are setting me up and beating me down on things I have not said.”
Pot?? Meet Kettle!! LOL
Heh, Nathan, the answer is 42.
Discussion?
The final answer is: There are so many people in jail because this country is completely bats.
beber,
I agree. If we shut down the so-called war on drugs we could cut our prison pop. dramatically. The problem is, politicians don’t have the balls to do what’s right. They all do what will get them re-elected. And there’s too many people in this country that are so afraid of things they don’t understand that they would rather jail young innocents than re-evaluate their own beliefs.
If judges were selected from the Jury pool who would have the legal knowledge and expertise to make sure that sentence guidelines were met and enforced?
Judges currently don’t have the knowledge and expertise. They pick up a chart and read it.
“The problem is, politicians don’t have the balls to do what’s right. They all do what will get them re-elected”
Which are they elected to do? Vote their conscious, or vote according to those they represent? Not a slam here, it is a legitimate question. It can be said that if they do what they need to do to get reelected, they have most likely done in accordance with the wishes of the majority of their district. Isn;t that what they are elected to do?
If I think the drug dealer standing across the street from my grandkids schools selling drugs should be in jail – I am afraid of what and don’t understand what? And if we don’t send people to jail for having illegal drugs why don’t we expand that to include those who committ crimes such as armed robbery to support those habits. We could also expand that to include home burglaries to support a habit.ETC… Pretty soon we could turn our jails into schools. My idea of Utopia.
If we were to pick judges from the jury pool, who would instruct them in the admissability of evidence, the constitutional protections and requirements, the dealing with attorneys, not only statutory law but case law? Or do we just forget about those things?
Not a great idea.
ksgrm,
How many drug dealers have you seen over at the school?
If a person wants to do drugs, they are going to do them. If you send them to prison, they just do them in prison. When they get out, they just do some more. All the hysteria we can muster makes exactly no difference to them. Sending them to prison may make us feel better and seems like we are doing something about the problem but, in reality, we are spitting in the ocean.
Dave unlike you I think that a drug dealer in jail developing a bigger habit is better than one on the street supporting his habit by selling drugs to our kids. Silly Me!
ksgrm – grateful dave – I would make a bright-line distinction between a pusher and a casual user of drugs. there is a HUGE difference.
The pusher – jail – big time. The user – why bother unless he is causing trouble of some sort. Just like the guy who has a couple of beers -as long as not driving.
Ben I would agree with that premise but when you include all drug convictions under one umbrella how many are really in jail for ‘using’? I don’t think the numbers will tell us that. I think we have too many in jails but disagree with letting some off with no punishment. Why not just abolish the laws which are victimless. If not we will be in a position of overlooking abuses and law breaking.
I don’t include them under one blanket. However, from what I have seen most convictions are for ‘use’ and not for ‘commerce’.
“Why not just abolish the laws which are victimless.”
I agree. I don’t really see much difference between someone enjoying a margarita or someone enjoying a joint. I’d establish blood limits like we have with alcohol at 0.08 for driving and then treat them equivalently. I’d also hammer someone for selling to minors – regardless of which recreational drug. Right now I think some such drug sales to minors are felonies but some only misdemeanors.
ksgrm, if you think arresting everyone we can is going to put a dent in the drug business, you are being silly.
No matter how many people go to jail, drugs are always going to be available to anyone that wants them.
bth,
Legalization would put the pusher’s out of business. But, again, we as a country, are too afraid to try something new.
Frankly, I’d prefer the cocaine traffic in America be taken out of the hands of the Crips and the Bloods and put into the hands of Wallgreens.
I agree GratefulDave – however there still might be some casual ‘trafficing’ in weed since it can be home-grown. Not a lot of profit there though.
But you are correct – selling in regular commercial establishments would, in my opinion, be an improvement. I don’t know how many liquor stores and tobacco stores I drive by in a day. But I do not fear getting caught in a crossfire between competitors. I leave them alone; they leave me alone.
Many are trying to outlaw tobacco, and some think we should legalize drugs? How does that work?
I do think we need a more rationale drug policy. Perhaps legalization in some form, of some drugs. Of course, then the FDA can regulate them, and big pharma can make even more! An anathema to some. Not to me, but to some.
littlejohn,
If tobacco ever gets outlawed, we will see a black market larger than we can imagine.
Grateful_Dave
You are most certainly correct
Grateful_Dave
You are most certainly correct
“Many are trying to outlaw tobacco, and some think we should legalize drugs? How does that work?”
I would agree – however I know of nobody trying to outlaw tobacco. Can you give some backup for that claim?
“and put into the hands of Wallgreens”
Will see then see Walgreen’s employees walking down the street in bandannas, sagging, with bling and ball caps bumped sideways?
$30 for a carton of cigarettes… lasts maybe 5 daysd?? $30 for pot?? lasts a LOT longer!! And usually goes for more than one user as well… They arent trying to outlaw tobacco… just regulte where you can smoke, when you can smoke, what buildings you can smoke in… in some cases – what Town you can smoke in… But, by all means, lets legalize marijuana, and oh, yea, give people the right to own machine guns and silencers… But, heaven forbid, somebody walk a mile for a Camel!!
Good news! Kansas has naturally occurring deposits of uranium…
OK, the bad news is it’s in the drinking water.
http://www.kansas.com/news/updates/story/382089.html
Very interesting gasoline price history chart.
http://www.randomuseless.info/gasprice/gasprice.html
“in some cases – what Town you can smoke in”
On this I would agree with you chas – a city has no right to tell you not to smoke in the privacy of your home.
BTH — There are a few cities that seem to be working towards that goal… Boulder, CO, is one… And I have heard about a couple of towns in CA… Omaha, NE, has some places where it is illegal to smoke OUT DOORS now… And it gets worse all the time…
On this issue you are likely to find this ‘liberal’ on your side.
“The discussion we were having was on truth claims and being wrong in discussion.”
Sorry, R.L. called me away for a long time. I think I have said what I have to say about truth claims and being wrong in discussion.
I did think we were discussing postmodernism and the question of if there were absolute truths. In fact you brought up the postmodernism question. I suggest you lighten up a little on the strawman claims – noone will likely buy that bill of goods.
I am going to watch a game show for a while. Will likely be back later.
“Why not just abolish the laws which are victimless.”
There are ALWAYS victims when it comes to drug and alcohol abuse. Just ask anyone who grew up with drug addicted and/or alcoholic parents or parents with a drug addicted or alcoholic child. The issue is not so black and white.
“Very interesting gasoline price history chart.”
Yes and notice how much gas has skyrocketed since democrats control the congress?
AmWay, are you capable of looking at ANY issue without trying to blame it on the Democrats?
Any?
Are all liberals democrats?
earth to Amway – Democrats do not CONTROL the congress. Beyween veto and cloture the Repubs can still block things.
“Are all liberals democrats?”
Do ya’ know any LIBERAL Republicans?
Not likely.
Seems the price chart has some mathematical problems in it — but that is only with a cursory look. However, there are 3 lines on the chart — But the chart’s proponent only mentions two of them. Not sure what that means…
Looks vaguely like a chart Neil Boortz was promoting about a year ago…
Mary – I agree. However I would draw a distinction between an occasional cocktail, beer, or joint and abuse.
Interesting that the price chart shows gas approaching $4/gallon at the beginning of 2008. I must have missed that particular QuikTrip.
Well Mary, I grew up with an alcoholic dad and a quadriplegic uncle who used pot for pain. My dad was a mean SOB when drunk, and my uncle and his friends who helped him…they played really good music and had a lot of good food.
Can you tell where I was victimized under drugs and alcohol….more alcohol not at all the drugs.
Well then, the answer must be yes. I know you don’t want to waste your time, but I have posted many, many posts where “blame” can be spread all around.
I wouldn’t use that particular word, but I have found fault with both major parties herein.
The price chart is questionable and kinda silly.
I did see a report today that gasoline hit $4/gallon in California. The reporter was standing near the pump and the camera came in close to the pump — $75 for 18 gallons. I quit watching.
“Looks vaguely like a chart Neil Boortz was promoting about a year ago…”
Well then it wouldn’t have reflected the democratic controlled congress and the 100%+ increase since they took power.
And I’ve heard charts called many names, but silly isn’t one of them.
Now you’ll never be able to say that.
Leave it to Beber the Molester to be for an old guy copping a feel on a teenager…much less an adult. That’s called SEXUAL ASSAULT you Jerry Garica wannabe freak.
It does rank right up there with beating someone with a pipe.
Apparently, the new democratic controlled congress hasn’t show itself to be bastions of fiscal responsibility. National Debt increasing drastically, inflation’s up, gas is skyrocketing up, and the economy is tanking.
Since they are fizzling on the economic front, and apparently have no control anyway – can anyone post what the 110th Congress has been successful at?
Any success stories at all?
So why’s it silly? Can you elaborate?
I’ve heard charts called confusing, loaded, inconclusive, better bar, graph, bubble, matrix, convoluted, and a number of other things at work.
But what makes a chart silly?
I believe the rate of incarceration fluctuates with the size of those disenfranchisd in the society being discussed. In homogenious European societies, a more social understanding of what causes crime in the first place, namely poverty and being disenfranchised, is more evident in their legal system. Drug addiction is viewed primarily as a health concern hence treatment rather that jail time is the norm. In the newer countries, like the US, having a polyglot of ethnics and minorities, the ability to really “belong” is less evident. In Canada, Australia and New Zealand the native peoples reflect an unacceptable rate of convictions, as do blacks and Latinos here. In recent years the rate of crime and drug related issues exploded within the Jamacain and Hatian communities of the UK and Canada, but sentencing is Eurocentric reflecting a lower incarceration rate. However you look at it, those societies with a well developed social concience and better distribution of the net wealth have fewer crimes. Those indicators are also present in their standards of living, education, and health care. The matter of judges/prosecutors elected or appointed is another matter entirely.
What makes the chart silly is that it shows nearly $4 gasoline at the beginning of 2008. I think he made it all up. “This is what I paid over the past 30 years” Yea, right!
Dictionary:
silly
(s?l’?) pronunciation
adj., -li·er, -li·est.
1. Exhibiting a lack of wisdom or good sense; foolish.
AmWay – you keep referring to the Dem-CONTROLLED Congress. Haven’t you ever heard of filibuster? They don’t control the congree until they have 60 Senators.
The republicans block everything the dems put up. Sorry Charlie, you can’t blame any of this on us. It’s all on the republicans.
Let us get a full majority where we can do what we want, and you’re going to see big changes fast.
I was curious. How is Governor Sebelius signing all these Bills in to effect if the Kansas Legislature is out on Adjournment? The Governor cannot sign anything Legislative into Law while the Legislatures are out of Session, to include Adjournment. we as citizens dont have Representation on these issues while they are out of session/adjourned. Machine Guns, Shotguns, Silencers and Cessena. “Legislation without Representation”!!!!!!!!! They have been out of session on adjournment since April 7th, not too return until April 30th 2008. The N.S.A. refuses to except the Kansas-Partnership Program, that has been in place for years. Their Chief councel is at 1-304-616-4590. He advises, “All citizens should arm themselves with service, machine guns etc:.. to deal with disputes with oneanother”. The current way works. It is the only way Police Departments and Sheriffs departments get “Service” type equipment , too include, UZI’s, Machine Guns etc:.. This equipment is for “SERVICE USE ONLY”!!! We, the general public do not need, “Service Assault Type Equipment” Why do we need AK47s to shoot rabbits??? Chief Councel Gary at the N.S.A., National Service Administration, is a dumba$$!!!! Herbert West III
“It’s all on the republicans.”
Ohhhh, so the dirty republicans hold the congress majority? What are you saying? Do you think you have to have 100% of everything before you take any responsibility for the actions of government?
You really are lost.
You blockhead you know full well how they block the legislations. Look here where the Republicans are blocking the Fair Pay Act- by filibuster, and the SCOTUS begged us to change the law so that it was more fair.
FCK Republicans.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/opinion/23wed2.html?ref=opinion
AmWy — orry, but thats just the way it is… The Dems have a technical majority — but not enough to pass legislation above a republican objection!! That has already b een documented enough on this Blog, as well as in Congress itself!!
Well said well spoken political mama.
But it’s gonna be different after November.
It has to be. Republicans have to be in the super minority.
Or America is through.
“The issue is not so black and white.”
Exactly, Mary. Your assertions that it is, are what?
I will be sending to my “lib” friends an email tomorrow to discuss what we should do in terms of a meet-up.
I have my veiws, which will be in the email.
Talk to you, tomorrow…
Steven
Nite Steven!!
Rage,
Not that there is anything wrong with it (no pun intended), but as usual, as you have been proven wrong the more logical a discussion gets, the more you turn to absurdity in response.
I suppose that is better for you than admitting you were wrong.
Steven,
I did indeed ask you about your belief in Postmoderism, but said nothing about science being bent towards absolute truth.
Which is why your snide comment about my understanding of science and absolute truth was little more than a strawman argument meant to be ad hominem attack.
Yeah, you did say what you had to say about Truth claims. And you were wrong.
Political_mama
Posted April 23, 2008 at 10:22 pm | Permalink
FCK Republicans.
================================================
PMom, you been thinking about that all day!
Many appointments tomorrow!!
Good night; Good luck!!
God bless – Whatever you conceive God to be!!
Blessings ALL!!
Yep. The worse things get, the more I think it.
And I guarantee you others think it too.
BTH, does Rod know what you are doing on company time?
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