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TroyinEwa/Perv
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Farm subsidies are going to big corporations nowadays. They were meant for small farmers, but the corporate farms have put them out of business. :p

 

 

And that was what I was addressing. The sad thing is the corporate farms are trying to get rid of the small farmer and we (our tax dollars) are helping them.

 

 

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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/victim-wants-white-supremacist-attacker-spared-death-penalty-203223143.html

 

The only survivor of white supremacist Mark Stroman's bloody rampage after Sept 11, 2001 is asking that his attacker be spared the death penalty Wednesday for his crimes.

 

In the weeks after 9/11, Stroman raided Dallas-area gas stations in search of Muslims to kill. He shot and killed Hindu immigrant Vasudev Patel, thinking he was Muslim, and Waqar Hasan, a father of four from Pakistan, while they were still behind their convenience store counters.

 

Rais Bhuyian, then 26 years old, was luckier. Stroman asked him where he was from, but before Bhuyian could answer, he shot him the face with a shotgun. Bhuyian played dead, recovered, and is now blind in one eye.

 

Surprisingly, Bhuyian has since started a wide-ranging campaign to get his attacker off Death Row, arguing that his death would not solve anything.

 

Wow. Hats off to him. I'd like to think I would have the heart to forgive but I am not so sure. I would like to though.

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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/24-Small-Towns-May-Lose-Air-nytimes-3674165086.html?x=0&.v=

 

24 Small Towns May Lose Air Service

Rural America, already struggling to recover from the recession and the flight of its young people, is about to take another blow: the loss of its airline service.

 

That was underscored last week when Delta Air Lines announced that it “can no longer afford†to continue service at 24 small airports. The carrier says it is losing a total of $14 million a year on flights from places like Thief River Falls, a city of 8,600 in northwest Minnesota that fills only 12 percent of the seats, or Pierre, the capital of South Dakota, where Delta’s two daily flights are on average less than half full.

 

Nationally, all major airlines have been reducing and sometimes eliminating flights altogether in small cities, as the industry concentrates much of its service in 29 major hubs, which now account for 70 percent of all passenger traffic, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

 

Delta’s announcement was especially acute because the airline operates in most of the small airports that receive a total of almost $200 million in federal subsidies to maintain air service under the Essential Air Service program. The subsidies are scheduled to expire in 2013 unless revived by Congress. Delta acquired many of those small-city markets in the Midwest when it merged with Northwest Airlines.

 

Two things, first I think this is another reason we need high speed rail intra and interstate. Second, I'm hoping the 'free market' does its thing and someone moves into those markets. Maybe make an 'enterprise zone' of sorts for airlines who operate in those areas similar to the subsidies but instead of subsidies, allow the costs of operation to be partially written off.

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http://news.yahoo.com/plan-offers-hope-progress-debt-talks-010404623.html

 

Gang of Six" provides hope for debt talks

The ambitious new plan, unveiled by a group of senators known as the "Gang of Six," offers a ray of hope in an increasingly grim standoff that has threatened the United States' top-notch credit rating.

 

Its not the story itself but I wanted to know who coined the phrase 'Gang of Six'? Its not helpful when members are being labeled with this and that.

 

Just saying.

 

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43848297/ns/us_news-life/?gt1=43001

 

The end of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'. The cynic in me says that its no coincidence that its coming so close to the election.

 

I recall reading an article where Gays as well as non Gays who were saying they were gay trying to get out of going to Iraq and the officer would sit there and say 'I'm gonna tear this up. No one has to know and you can still serve and you can be honorably discharged'.

 

It was when they were desperate for people. Funny how a need overcomes people's prejudices?

 

However, I think Obama is timing this to help his campaign. He's a politician (unfortunately I thought we were getting something else). He's not as bad as some claim but he's not done as well as I expected. Not because he's not capable. He's just become an insider.

 

Interesting thing with him and Bush was that their detractors were saying if they were elected to expect such and such and neither panned out. For Dubya it was his intellect. It wasn't his lack of intellect that made him unpopular. It wasn't even making bad decisions based on not being smart enough.

 

Obama was seen as inexperienced and that the job would overwhelm him. That hasn't been the case at all. If anything he's similar to JFK in that he has a very intelligent mind. Obama, to me, has governed centrist on things he shouldn't have and taken on battles at an inopportune time (National Health care) and spending unnecessary political captial on something the nation wasn't gonna sign on to at the time. He's too centrist on things he didn't have to be.

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http://news.yahoo.com/obama-press-statement-2200-gmt-220257502.html

 

Obama slams Republicans for rejecting 'fair deal'

 

US President Barack Obama confirmed Friday that tough budget negotiations with his Republican foes had collapsed and said he was willing to take sole responsibility for raising the debt ceiling.

 

Obama slammed his Republican foes for walking away from an "extraordinarily fair" deal and called new talks with congressional leaders on Saturday at 11:00 am (1500 GMT), adding he was "confident" that the nation would not default on its debt.

 

The president was speaking after Republican House Speaker John Boehner announced he was pulling out of talks with the White House on averting an early August debt default and would work with the Senate to reach a deal.

 

"I have decided to end discussions with the White House and begin conversations with the leaders of the Senate in an effort to find a path forward," Boehner said in a letter to members of the House of Representatives.

 

....Boehner and Obama were at odds on a range of issues, but a key sticking point was the White House's push for increasing tax revenues from the rich and wealthy corporations, something Republicans fiercely opposed.

 

 

I don't read much political stuff anymore because frankly its depressing. How much of this is political posturing? My Dem friends say that Obama is compromsing on cuts but the Republicans are not compromising on raising taxes primarily for the rich and corporations. Conservative friends are saying Obaama is using the bully pulpit and not playing fair. Who is right?

 

 

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I don't read much political stuff anymore because frankly its depressing. How much of this is political posturing? My Dem friends say that Obama is compromsing on cuts but the Republicans are not compromising on raising taxes primarily for the rich and corporations. Conservative friends are saying Obaama is using the bully pulpit and not playing fair. Who is right?

 

 

From the outside it looks really sad. The most powerful country in the world is able to agree on the basics of good governance.

 

The political establishment, i. e. the Dems and the GOP are looking like a bunch of sorry, more or less corrupt powerplayers, who have forgotten why they have been elected.

Nonetheless I still think that Obama still tries his best - but I am still not sure if is just lacking the ability to implement his political goals, or if the Zeitgeist and the political tide is just against him.

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