Steve
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Posts posted by Steve
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Obama hot mic gaffe; talks about his true feelings about Repubs, etc. I thought it would be much worse frankly when I read the headline. Expected some expletive deletives.
"I said, 'You want to repeal health care? Go at it. We'll have that debate. But you're not going to be able to do that by nickel-and-diming me in the budget. You think we're stupid?'" the president said.
Obama also complained about GOP attempts to attach a bill to the resolution to fund the government that would defund women's health services provider Planned Parenthood.
"Put it in a separate bill," the president said he told House Speaker John Boehner and his staff, CBS reported. "We'll call it up. And if you think you can overturn my veto, try it. But don't try to sneak this through."
The president also made clear he is no fan of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the GOP's Budget Committee chairman.
"When Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure... he's just being America's accountant and trying to be responsible-- this is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill--but wasn't paid for," Obama said.
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FARK - since before he was elected the birth certificate has been on line!
But lets not let the truth get in the way of a good story.
By the way, Oboma is a great disappointment
Even if he was proven to born here without a doubt there is still a debate of denying citizen ship to others who were proven without a doubt to be born here...if their mother wasn't invited formally.
While some of those same folks weren't opposed to a serious campaign several years ago to changing the rules to become President if you're foreign born when it was suggested Arnold Schwarzenegger would make a good President.
Still scratching my head over that one.
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the goverment wants less emission from cars right? They encourage us to use fuel efficient cars and give us incentives to buy hybrids, right? Well, I just heard on the radio Congress is seriously looking at taxing us per mile driven. The resson is they are seeing trends that indicate tha we are buying less gas at the pump (high price, some moving to public transportation, hybrids, less SUVs, more fuel efficient cars, etc) so people will(are) buying less gas and therefore less taxes from gas.
Ain't that some sh*t. The reason is that the money is needed to fix and repair roads, etc.
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North Dakota May Be the Best State in the Country to Live In
Some of the comments after the article was enough for me to give moving there a serious thought. The weather for one. Nothing to another. I'd need a satelite dish with all the channels in the known universe and ample access to porn. I'd also marry a 3rd world woman (or two) just to have something to do on Friday and Saturday nights.
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Rather than start a new thread I'll put this here.
Help the FBI crack a code and possibly solve a murder.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42348642/ns/technology_and_science-security/?gt1=43001
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Not that I agree or disagree. I just like beating HH and Flash to it. :nahnah:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/24/president-obama-has-lost-his-legitimacy-to-remain-/#
President Obama has lost his legitimacy to remain in office. The Libyan war has exposed the administration’s lawlessness and rampant criminality. If Republicans and conservatives are serious about restoring constitutional government, they will demand that Mr. Obama be impeached.
The war is going badly. The coalition is cracking; the strategic aims of the military intervention are not clear; Russia, China, India and Brazil oppose it; the Arab League is condemning the deaths of innocent Libyans caused by Operation Odyssey Dawn; and it appears that Moammar Gadhafi will succeed in clinging to power - defying the international community and humiliating the United States. Mr. Obama has called for Col. Gadhafi to step down. He has staked American prestige and power on helping bring about that end. The failure to achieve this will render America a paper tiger on the world stage. We will no longer be feared or respected...
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Geraldine Ferraro dies
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Unions are supposed to look out for their members - period. That's why they were formed' date=' not to be Mr Nice Guy.
[/quote']
What happens when you place these kinds of organizations into the current state of California, which is heavily regulated and legally imparts rights to workers never dreamed of decades ago.
Unrealistic pension structures and perks that cannot be sustained are part of the reason for the collapse of the auto industries in Detroit and the mills in Chicago. It ain't all corporate bad guys.
Like I said, I don't know. Our education system at the elementary and high school level pretty much sucks and lags far behind where it could be. The inflexibility of the Teachers Unions and their willingness to cling to the status quo, killing things like merit based pay differentials or the ability to can the a-holes who do nothing are partially responsible.
The groups that really need help -- migrant workers congregating in parking lots to be picked up or working the fields -- the unions could give a shit about them.
Anyway, you're right - money, power, politics is the name of the game.
I can say that the management of the steel mills in the USA did nothing but suck the $$$ out of the mills. While the rest of the world reinvested to update the equipment in their mills, the USA did nothing! I know, it was up front nd personal for me.
I did more upgrades in Japan, Taiwan and China then were ever done in the USA.
The USA management brought much of this on to themselves. The unions only worked to get what they could before the management sucked the business dry.
The car industry possibly killed itself as well. I know the unions are often to blame but shoddy cars were being made in the '70s from what I understand while the Japanese made sure they had good products on the road.
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Imagine that. The past 30 years the GOP has promoted this mega-company thing with unfettered free-market theories (and simply ignoring or repealing any anti-trust or monoploy laws). Well, that's what happens: just like in Teddy R's day, the near-monopolies get greedy because they can. Natural fallout of bad policy...
What are you gonna do about it? Six banks control 70% of the banking in the USA. If they wanna charge you $20, you'll have little choice but to suck it up.
And they have been ativetly trying to end credit unions. Not sure how it is now but to show you how this ATM fee is so much bullsh*t, I recall a credit union I belonged to that had no fees at ATMs from other credit unions.
Fee income from ATMS, etc. is lucrative for banks, very lucrative.
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WTF?!
ATM fees are on the rise at some of the country's biggest banks.
Chase, for example, is testing out $5 fees for non-customers. That means if you stumble upon a Chase on your way to dinner and decide to take out 20 bucks, you'll pay a 25% fee. And that doesn't even include what your own bank charges you for going out of network, which is typically around $3.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Want-cash-from-an-ATM-Pay-a-5-cnnm-2010047842.html?x=0
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So, let me understand this. I owe Bank of America money on a car loan or credit card I can't pay because I lost my job and I could go jail but if Bank of America owes money they can get bailed out by my tax dollars?
Okay, got it.
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p.s. Care to explain this?
<< In some ways one could argue that American vets in the Vietnam war fought on the side that had an unjust reason. >>
So South Vietnam was wrong to oppose a takeover by communist guerrillas supported openly supported by Hanoi?
The view by some that we should not have been there. That it was the South Vietnamese' war and not America's. Which was what the anti war movement was saying and it seems their view of it is what is now accepted as being the "correct" one.
I'm not saying its my view but in my history classes about the war (and it was before my time), the commonly held belief by the professors and the book was that it was not our war to fight.
My brother was in it so I would not like to think he fought for a wrong cause. He did his duty like any soldier for his country.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20110304/us_time/08599205598100
On Civil War Anniversary, Confederate Group Stirs Debate
Interesting article. I know there are a couple forumites who have an interest in it.
My best friend in college was very proud of his being the ancestor a confederate soldier. He also hated the klan for turning the confederate flag into a symbol of hate. He used to joke he hated the klan more than blacks do.
Anyway, he had mixed feelings. He said he admired that many fought proudly as any soldier would but acknowledges that had the south won, it would have kept slavery going longer and he hated that legacy of the south.
Soldiers respect other soldiers who fought bravely and valiantly at times I've been told. Maybe some of you vets can confirm that. I've heard that some vietnam vets respected the fighting spirit of the NVA and the viet cong.
One thing I would find strange personally would be if I was a vet of a side in a war that was deemed the side that had an unjust cause in the first place by history at least. Confederate vet, German vet from WW2. In some ways one could argue that American vets in the Vietnam war fought on the side that had an unjust reason. Apologies to vets of that era. Just that there are many that said we shouldn't have been there in the first place but that's not to take away from those that fought proudly for their country.
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Many states, especially southern states always feared federalism and wanted to retain state rights. However, they've f*cked up their economies so much they not only welcome but sometimes beg the federal government to get involved.
The recent economic crisis exposed what was already there. That some states were teetering on the brink. Some cities have been insolvent. Some states are next.
The federal government directly or indirectly inlfuences what used to be city or state functions.
Education. No Child Left Behind K-12 and grans/loans on the university level.
Roads/Highways are now federally funded.
Law enforcement - Clinton's 100,000 cops program.
I want to know why the American voters were asking presidential candidates what they were going to do about the local crime rate? They have no faith in their state and local governments to do anything about, that's why.
Health care is now partially a federal responsibility. What do states do nowadays other than DMV functions? Really.
California is completely f*cked and its BOTH parties fault. Their trump card is that they are too big (and important) to let fail. In a strange way (and admittedly its a slight reach), the world economy is linked to California. Its often said that when American sneezes (economically), the worl catches cold. Its been an accepted truism by economists that when California sneezes the American economy catches cold. California would be a G8 nation if it was independent.
The only way the American economy can survive is for a change in culture. We have to become a savers like the Japanese are famous for. This is not good for the economy. The government needs us to spend to fuel the economy. However, we are chided for taking on too muh debt to do so. A mixed signal.
We have to look to ourselves. Young urban couples and singles figured that out. Gentrification which is really a big word for living in or near the 'hood...lol...was because housing prices put a home in a good neighborhoo so far out of reach young or youngish middle income people started buying the more affordable homes adjacent to neglected neighborhoods. I saw it Philly. Its happened in other cities. Its happened outside of America. Brixton, in south London has changed due to gentrification.
So, if Americans could change their spending habit. Live within in their means, it won't matter as much what the goverment does. We'll always be taxed to death by the powers that be. So, we should live accordingly with that knowledge and forego that new car, the over priced neighborhood to impress people we don't like. Wait a little longer to have kids.
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Texas is trying to emulate Arizona and pass its own illegal immigration law. Its such BS. If you hire illegals it can be jail time (180 days) and 10 grand in fines...except if you are a homeowner and hire an illegal to be maid or cut the grass.
Bill: Hire An Illegal, Go to Jail — But Maids Are OK
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My view of the '70s with relation to energy is with the oil embargo that occurred and having to be involved economically, politically and militarily in a middle east that in the best of times is a quaqmire and the worst of times brings a nation into wars and the target of terrorism, why we are still married to the idea of an oil based economy.
While not being able to completely ween ourselves off oil, why we don't try as much alternate forms as engery as best we can where we can (solar in the warm areas, wind in areas where it occurs constantly, natural gas, nuclear energy, etc.)
Why doesn't America lead the G7 nations in a commitment away from oil? The rest of the world will have to follow. They would have no choice. It would create its own new industries and jobs. Millions of new jobs. Just like the movement from modes of transportation created new jobs. Railroad stocks were the biggest majority of the NYSE in the 1800s. Probably a quarter of all jobs, directly and indirectly were tied to it (farmers, factories, etc, who had to transport goods, even baseball teams relied on rail).
Big oil is the problem. Big oil has bought off the Congress and sometimes the white house and its the power of big oil that is as much at fault for our insane energy policy as much as anyone or any group can be blamed.
I'm not anti big oil, I'm just anti any non elected entity that weilds power over an elected body.
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A lot of you may disagree but I think the FBI' cause was flimsy at best. I think his lawsuit has merit.
Student files lawsuit over FBI's GPS tracking
A community college student who says he's never done anything that should attract the interest of federal law enforcement officials filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the FBI for secretly putting a GPS tracking device on his car.
Yasir Afifi, 20, says a mechanic doing an oil change on his car in October discovered the device stuck with magnets between his right rear wheel and exhaust. They weren't sure what it was, but Afifi had the mechanic remove it and a friend posted photos of it online to see whether anyone could identify it. Two days later, Afifi says, agents wearing bullet-proof vests pulled him over as he drove away from his apartment in San Jose, Calif., and demanded their property back.
Afifi's lawsuit, filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, claims the FBI violated his civil rights by putting the device on his car without a warrant. His lawyers say Afifi, who was born in the United States, was targeted because of his extensive ties to the Middle East — he travels there frequently, helps support two brothers who live in Egypt, and his father was a well-known Islamic-American community leader who died last year in Egypt.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110303/ap_on_re_us/us_gps_tracking_warrants
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Okay, a little mindless frivolty in the USA thread. This is a reunion of sorts for the show Family Ties. Its just the husband and wife from the show. I had no idea that Meredith Baxter..well..watch the clip. Don't wanna spoil it. My feminine side came out a little and I think I got glazy eyed.
Other things on there as well. Mindless crap perhaps but at least a departure from the serious political stuff.
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Texas demographer: 'It's basically over for Anglos'
Looking at population projections for Texas, demographer Steve Murdock concludes: "It's basically over for Anglos."
No surprise there. In the 19th century and into the 20th century we went through a lot of demographic changes due to immigration as well as racially with slavery in parts of the country.
A few major American cities are the first to 'fall'. Philadelphia, Detroit and other cities become predominantly black since the '80s and LA, Houston and San Diego will be non white faster than the states they are in. Mostly brown but a lot of Asians in LA at least.
My only fear is if we risk losing our sense of 'Americana'. The 19th century immigratns adopted the culture of what it means to be American as well as our strong sense of nationalism. Given our history in the U.S. black americans have always seemed to be proud to say they are American when they travel abroad from what I can tell, I know am. Will the newer folks do so?
Its made a bit murky with the Mexican Americans strong sense of nationalism to a country so close by. They often don't seem so proud to be American. Same with some Puerto Ricans and even Cubans. Irish and Italian Americans often are proud of their ancestoral home but push come to shove they are largely extremely nationalistic about America. -
I keep telling you guys we are no longer a free and fair republic.
And I keep telling you' date=' you are more free here than any where else.
You cant make it in the US? Where you gonna go? Have fun trying it in China![/quote']
Comnbine the removal of civil liberties with the country becoming practically economic non viable for lower and even some middle class wages and you're better off in other places. At least in Europe there is a social safety net. I'd much rather get sick or laid off in Germany than Germantown, Tennessee.
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Federal Income tax came about during the civil war. If it wasn't for the Federal income tax, the Union might have lost.
It was temporary. It was rescinded after the war, along with a few other war time acts. The modern income tax came about to pay for WWI and they kept it. It was supposed to have a max of 10% as well.
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I keep telling you guys we are no longer a free and fair republic.
The most dangerous time for the righs of Americans is when there are economic, social or military problems. Our rights are stripped under the premise that its an emergency.
History is replete with examples. Income tax came about during WWI and was supposed to be temporary. Price and wage freezes, etc. during WW2. The taxing, reducutions and changes to social security all came during recessions.
911 has ushered in the Patriots Act and either the introduction of programs to limit or remove certain civil liberties.
I'm no big fan of big labor. In a few companies and industries (education for one) I've sometimes seen unions as an obstacle to progress.
However, collective bargaining has always been a mainstay of their rights since unions came to power. The bad economy in the rust belt has forced unions to make huge concessions for the past 30+ years. If unions are going to die make it a natural death and not murder.
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Purely coincidental that I saw two stories of interest that are black related. I checked my calender and its Februrary so I'll call it my Black History month contribution to this forum. :nahnah:
Now, this is rediculous that Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas hasn't uttered a word in oral arguments going on 5 years. Whether one agrees with his politics or not, its a travesty. The court is the last chance for justice. He really should place a higher respect on that august body.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_newsroom/20110221/pl_yblog_newsroom/the-fast-fix-a-judge-of-few-words
The 'blackest' surname in America is Washington. My guess for 2nd is Robinson. Ironically, there are a fair number of us named White...lol.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110221/ap_on_re_us/us_the_blackest_name
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I'm no big fan of Hillary. She's a political opportunist. However, in her defense, its not up to her to determine who or what is a threat. Its what we pay secret service for. You don't interrupt your speech. You go on and ignore the person. That's what anyone is supposed to do. Take away the power of any protester and ignore them.
The problem is an overreaction from law enforcement. In this day and age its understandable to be wary of any one who would do what this guy did but it has to be tempered with respect for our civic liberties.
We haven't had freedom for decades. At least freedom from what we understand it to be. It started with Hoover's FBI who litterally spied on citizens. Brazenly. While we were all decrying secret police actions in the USSR we had our own version.
Post Hoover, we still have domestic spying in the person of the super computer echelon that reads our emails and even the mail is not deemed private any longer. There is no expectation of privacy for that at all. There is an electronic profile of all of us from various corporations, websites and the like that the government can and does create a fairly good description of our lives from if need be.
We all believe we live in an America that does NOT exist. Perhaps never really existed for close to a hundred years.
Usa Thread
in Non-Thailand News
Posted
With regards to the birther thingy. What's a Hawaii birth certificate supposed to look like anyway and wouldn't he have to show one in grade school? Every state has its own birth certificate its not standardized in all 50 states.
I assume he had has had a U.S. passport since childhood since he spent part of his schooling overseas. He'd need that or a naturalized citizen certificate to get one wouldn't he? Its never been an issue before in his public life. It would have be a family secret that was guarded from birth so the question begs why do it in the first place?
What would have been the big deal back then if he was born in Kenya and brought to the U.S.? He could easily become a citizen if he wasn't already by the citizenship rules at the time?
If its a replacement, those things get lost all the time. Hell, I'm not sure I still have mine. My parents should have it but I am not too sure. Also, how do you get a replacement without the state being certain you were born there in the first place?
It all smacks of the conspiracy theories about Clinton ordered killings of people in the '90s.
With regards to the budget, BOTH parties spend too much money. I know the Dems will spend but at least I know what they'll spend it on. The Republicans spend when they are in and lately its been wars, defense and the difference is I don't know exactly what they'll spend it on. They always seem to be thrifty when the Dems are in power but they spend as much or more when they're in power. Its why I lost faith in them. They don't do what their party platform says and add in the fact the social conservatism stuff from having too many religious zealots in the party. I am no fan of the Dems normally and like my Dems centrist but as it stands I'll go with them.
If the Republicans get smart and show some love to Ron Paul, I'm back in. Till then its all noise to me. I may not agree on Ron Paul on everything but he's got integrity. He appears to be a person that won't be a tool of the powers that be. His more conroversial ideas will never see the light of day.