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| Who's really better for the economy |
| 2008-09-03 08:08:16 |
Is A Republican President Really Better For The Economy? | Boom2Bust.comThe University of Nevada-Reno economics professor also uncovered the following while conducting the economic comparison between Republican and Democratic presidential administrations from 1949 to 2005:• Unemployment Rate- Republicans 6.0%, Democrats 5.2%• Change In Unemployment Rate- Republicans +0.3%, Democrats -0.4%• Growth of Multifactor Productivity- Republicans 0.9%, Democrats 1.7%• Corporate Profits (share of GDP)- Republicans 8.8%, Democrats 10.2%• Real Value of Dow Jones Index- Republicans 4.3%, Democrats 5.4%(in logarithmic growth rates)- Republicans 2.8%, Democrats 4.4%• Real Weekly Earnings- Republicans 0.3%, Democrats 1.0%• CPI Inflation Rate- Republicans 3.8%, Democrats 3.8%I've always respec...
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| Watching the news |
| 2008-08-03 11:00:42 |
I was wathcing the morning shows this morning (I can do that now that I'm back in the States), and I came to a few interesting conclusions.First is that George Stephanapolous is a terrible interviewer. I watched him spend more than ten minutes on a a single questioned asked, answered and re-asked trying to force that answer that he wanted to hear. Instead of covering the depth and breadth of the issues facing our nation, he was busy trying to trick Nancy Pelosi into saying something she clearly didn't mean to say.The Second is that Republicans are still incredibly skilled at political spin. I often wonder if they all go to some kind of political spin school. When asked how McCain can attack Obama on his cap and trade system, when his is almost identical, Tom Ridge avoided the question ...
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| Why didn't I think of that? |
| 2008-06-29 03:48:02 |
How gun makers can help us - Los Angeles TimesHow would gun companies go about reducing gun deaths? The main thing to emphasize is that this approach relies on the nimbleness, innovation and experimentation that come from private competition -- rather than on the heavy-handed power of governmental regulation. Gun makers might decide to add trigger locks to their guns, or to work only with dealers who meet certain standards of responsibility. They might withdraw their semiautomatic weapons from the consumer market, or even work hand in hand with local officials to fight gangs and increase youth employment opportunities. Surely they will think up new strategies once they have a legal obligation and financial incentive to take responsibility for the harm their products cause.Here's a novel th...
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| Don't buy it |
| 2008-06-20 02:16:52 |
With High Gasoline Prices, Offshore Drilling Is Gaining Favor - NYTimes.comSeveral elected and appointed Florida Republicans have publicly shifted their positions in the past week. Senator Mel Martinez said Tuesday that he would consider drilling as long as it is at least 50 miles off the coast. Nicki Grossman, vice chairwoman of the Florida Tourism Commission, said Wednesday that the high price of gasoline might be more of a threat than drilling.Mr. Saunders, a Republican from Naples, said his opinion started to change after oil rigs near Louisiana survived Hurricane Katrina without major spills that reached the shore.He did not mention that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita did cause 124 smaller spills that released more than 700,000 gallons of petroleum products, according to Coast Guard esti...
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| The death of the Neocon? |
| 2008-06-19 01:49:22 |
Relax, liberals. You've already won | SalonFor 40 years, the radical right tried to destroy the domestic and international order that American liberals created in the central decades of the 20th century. The people who are known today as "conservatives" are better described as "counterrevolutionaries." The goal of Barry Goldwater and the intellectuals clustered around William F. Buckley Jr.'s National Review was not a slightly more conservative version of the New Deal or the U.N. system. They were reactionary radicals who dreamed of a counterrevolution. They didn't just want to stop the clock. They wanted to turn it back.Living in Europe gives one a strange perspective on the changes and public opinions of the US. Obviously I am far removed from the everyday conversations, and the nights ...
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| McCain's sleight of hand |
| 2008-06-19 01:49:00 |
McCain on Iran: Bush all over again | SalonThe problem with McCain's alarmist rhetoric throughout the presidential primaries and now in the general campaign is that he's got the Iran problem almost entirely wrong. Notwithstanding his deep résumé on national security matters, his statements seem to reflect little understanding of the realities America faces in terms of dealing with Iran. Moreover, despite how highly he rates the problem, and his own foreign policy credentials, McCain seems to have no clear plan for actually dealing with Iran.Ever since 9/11 the Republican party has been using terrorism like a blunt instrument to beat the American electorate into submission. In every argument and every debate, they remind the world that they are, for what...
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| Fight the smears |
| 2008-06-13 02:56:35 |
I'm not entirely sure it's in the best interests of a candidate for the US Presidency to create a webpage outlining all the lies and smears that his opponents have created. On the other hand, perhaps it is in fact the best way to diffuse the situation.The Obama camp has created a site that details the smears, and rebuts them with truth. I read through it, and was both surprised at the absurdity of some of the lies, but also impressed with how easily they are dispelled.For those who support Obama I recommend keeping a link to this site readily at hand to combat any forwards or statements from people you know. Send it out in bulk or just send it to those who have something to say, but read it yourselves so that you will know the truth.www.fightthesmears.com
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| It's the economy stupid |
| 2008-06-11 02:18:49 |
McCain, Obama present different views on taxes | Reuters"We're going to scrub every agency of government and we're going to make them justify their existence. And if they can't, they're going to go out of existence," he said on CNBC.Democrats argue not enough cuts could be made in the federal budget to pay for McCain's tax cuts, which Obama said would total $300 billion.So here we are in the race for the national election. Obama is keeping the argument about the economy, which I think is wise. I still believe most Americans would come down on his side if the race were about national security, but his footing is less sure.So instead the race is about whether the rich or the poor should carry the tax burden for our country. Historically the rich have alw...
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| Wouldn't it be nice? |
| 2008-06-09 01:48:23 |
Why the oil boom will eventually bust - Jun. 6, 2008The oil bulls are correct in their explanations of why prices have jumped. It's indisputable that worldwide demand has surged, chiefly driven by strong growth in China, India and the Middle East. It's also true that most of the world's reserves are controlled by governments in places like Russia and Venezuela that mismanage production, thus curtailing supply growth.But rather than forming a permanent new plateau for prices - as the bulls contend - those forces are causing a classically unstable market that's destined for a steep fall.Tully makes a reasonable sounding argument that high oil prices are only here temporarily, and that a shakeout is inevitable. He compares the run-up of oil to the recent housing market crash, the tech boom o...
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| Oh for f**k's sake |
| 2008-06-06 03:41:39 |
Philip Pullman leads author revolt against age banding for children's books - TelegraphMr Pullman told The Daily Telegraph: "I don't mind anybody having an opinion about my books. I don't mind a bookseller deciding they are for this age group or that, or a teacher giving one of my books to a child because they think it is appropriate."But I don't want to see the book itself declaring officially, as if with my approval, that it is for readers of 11 and upwards or whatever. I write books for whoever is interested. When I write a book I don't have an age group in mind.Here's a brilliant plan: we're facing a time in the US where our understanding of literacy has gone up dramatically, but our ability to teach it has not. We have forced many schools to make literacy the primary focus of educat...
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| What's amazing is that people don't see it |
| 2008-06-05 02:53:12 |
McCain: I'd Spy on Americans Secretly, Too | Threat Level from Wired.comMcCain's new position plainly contradicts statements he made in a December 20, 2007 interview with the Boston Globe where he implicitly criticized Bush's five-year secret end-run around the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act."I think that presidents have the obligation to obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation is," McCain said.The continued popularity or John McCain is somewhat astonishing to me. Exactly how do you support a politician that doesn't have a position on anything. I guess you go by his voting record. In that case John McCain is not a centrist.In any case he has decided that it's entirely OK for the President to wiretap Ame...
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| Gay marriage battle |
| 2008-06-04 02:38:15 |
California set for gay marriage ballot showdown | Politics | Reuters"Values voters have even more reason to go to the polls in 2008," said Tony Perkins, a leading religious conservative who is president of the Family Research Council.Initiatives to ban gay marriage played a role in President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election as they propelled the Republican Party's conservative Christian base to the polls.Not that many months ago I read Barack Obama's last book. My girlfriend was trying to get me to understand him better as his campaign warmed up in the fall. It worked. Generally, I supported him somewhat before I read the book, but I threw al my support behind him after I read it.One area that has led to repeated conversations with my girlfriend and ...
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| It's over |
| 2008-06-04 01:53:59 |
So the final votes have been cast, and I have the advantage of being awake six hours before the East Coast. The last two primaries went as expected as Obama took Montana, and Clinton took South Dakota. The counts of delegates I've read show Obama with enough to clinch the nomination.Now Clinton could argue that Obama only has enough when you count his super delegates, and that they can still change their minds, but I hope she won't. It is really and truly time to call it a day. Time to do what she said she would do and get out there and rally the troops for Obama.I think the US has the best opportunity it's had in many years to really shake up Washington. Democrats could take a larger majority of Congress, and we could have a Democratic president, and maybe, just maybe we could get so...
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| Sad state of affairs |
| 2008-06-03 02:34:55 |
BBC NEWS | Americas | Medical charity helping US poorSome 60% of RAM's work is now carried out in the United States.On a wet, spring weekend he lands his vintage World War II aircraft - once used to drop American troops on D-Day - in Lafayette, Tennessee.He bought the plane to parachute medics into the jungle.Today he is unloading dentists' chairs from the plane into a pickup truck.It bothers me to read this kind of story. It makes me ashamed to be an American. I think it's awful that a charity set up to help the third world spends most of it's time on US soil helping Americans. What's worse is that so many Americans still don't want to fix the problem.The issue of making health care available to everyone shouldn't be controversial. It shouldn't even be...
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| Election Year |
| 2008-06-03 02:01:30 |
Senate Opens Debate on Politically Risky Bill Addressing Global Warming - NYTimes.com“There’s a great feeling all across America by people in small villages and towns to large cities to state legislatures and others: we must move and move now,” Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia and a co-sponsor of the bill, said as debate opened on the floor. “Do something. Doing nothing is not an option. Let us do something.”I Have to admit that I'm glad to see the Senate stepping up. Perhaps it's because the president's numbers are in the toilet, or perhaps it's because it's an election year, but I'm glad to see them doing something.I'd really like to see more details on the bill. I'm a big fan of cap-and-trade programs for carbon emissions. I...
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| Beaming power from space |
| 2008-06-02 01:50:27 |
How to harvest solar power? Beam it down from space! - CNN.com"A single kilometer-wide band of geosynchronous Earth orbit experiences enough solar flux in one year to nearly equal the amount of energy contained within all known recoverable conventional oil reserves on Earth today," the report said.The study also concluded that solar energy from satellites could provide power for global U.S. military operations and deliver energy to disaster areas and developing nations."The country that takes the lead on space solar power will be the energy-exporting country for the entire planet for the next few hundred years," Miller said.I've been reading more and more lately about some really unconventional means of generating power. Th...
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| I'm not really sure |
| 2008-05-30 02:01:47 |
Obama played hardball in first Chicago campaign - CNN.com"That was Chicago politics," said John Kass, a veteran Chicago Tribune columnist. "Knock out your opposition, challenge their petitions, destroy your enemy, right? It is how Barack Obama destroyed his enemies back in 1996 that conflicts with his message today. He may have gotten his start registering thousands of voters. But in that first race, he made sure voters had just one choice."Obama's challenge was perfectly legal, said Jay Stewart of the Chicago's Better Government Association. Although records of the challenges are no longer on file for review with the election board, Stewart said Obama is not the only politician to resort to petition challenges to eliminate the competition.After reading this article you might ask me, "Mark...
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| More about gas prices |
| 2008-05-29 02:24:05 |
Gasoline prices | Salon TechnologyEven the people who have spent their entire lives studying the price of oil don't know for sure how to weigh each factor for responsibility in the total equation. Perhaps the safest thing to say is that it's all in there, in my $65 receipt. Kidnappings of oil executives in Nigeria and the nationalization of Exxon-operated facilities in Venezuela. Chinese economic growth and hedge fund manipulation. ANWR and air quality. The price of gas in the United States is a consequence of global economic growth, rising standards of living, greed, politics and the stresses induced by 6.5 billion people going about their business on a planet with limited resources.Gas prices continue to break record...
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| On the elections |
| 2008-05-28 02:10:25 |
So the primary season is drawing to a close. The final week is FINALLY here. What does that mean exactly? Well, Hillary is still putting up the good fight, and if it weren't for her less than honest tactics I might even be rooting for her at this point. Unfortunately, she's out there fighting for bringing back Florida and Michigan, which she opposed until she needed the votes, and now her husband is on the campaign train talking about a conspiracy to keep her from winning.Bill Clinton: 'Coverup' hiding Hillary Clinton's chances - CNN.comThe former president added that his wife had not been given the respect she deserved as a legitimate presidential candidate."She is winning the general election today, and he is not, according to all the evidence," Clinton said. "And I have never seen a...
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| The stuff of nightmares |
| 2008-05-26 02:35:58 |
Does Constitution apply to enemy combatant on U.S. soil? - CNN.comIn early 2003, he was indicted on charges of credit card fraud and lying to the FBI. Like anyone else in the United States, he had constitutional rights. He could question government witnesses, refuse to testify and retain a lawyer.On June 23, 2003, Bush declared al-Marri an enemy combatant, which stripped him of those rights. Bush wrote that al-Marri possessed intelligence vital to protect national security. In his jail cell in Peoria, Illinois, however, he could refuse to speak with investigators.There are few things in the world that scare me, and few that should scare you, as much as the President of the United States having the power to invade your home, arrest you, and hold you indefinitely without trial. I can't even...
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| Is it any better? |
| 2008-05-21 02:21:15 |
Has life in Iraq improved? | Salon News"They say it's better, but I wonder if it's really better," muses Maj. Kelly Dickerson, a U.S. Army reservist and a civil affairs officer who is trying to help the 4-64 Armor Battalion of the 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division reinstate basic services in southwestern Baghdad. Dickerson's current project is to bring sewage-pumping trucks into the lowlands of Risala, a Shiite militant stronghold where stagnant lakes of raw sewage flood squares and streets. The idea that having human waste pool outside one's home is somehow a sign of progress doesn't sit well with Maj. Dickerson.Not to long ago a pass by reader tried to make a point about how much better off Iraqis are now that the Americans have arrived. I forget now, and am too lazy to check, what my ...
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| Wait, I'm confused |
| 2008-05-21 01:57:14 |
House passes bill to sue OPEC over oil prices | Politics | Reuters"This bill guarantees that oil prices will reflect supply and demand economic rules, instead of wildly speculative and perhaps illegal activities," said Democratic Rep. Steve Kagen of Wisconsin, who sponsored the legislation.The lawmaker said Americans "are at the mercy" of OPEC for how much they pay for gasoline, which this week hit a record average of $3.79 a gallon.I'm not really sure I understand. How exactly is suing foreign oil producers supposed to lower gas prices? Aren't they likely to pass on any damages lost directly to the consumer? And if we try to stop them from doing that, can't they just choke off supply?What's worse is that OPEC will be the first to tell you that the US is rapidly falling off the top of t...
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| Green thoughts |
| 2008-05-20 03:06:31 |
So thanks to rapid increases in the price of gas in the US, Americans are finally getting on board with changing their lives to be more green. Now admittedly most people are really just interested in reducing their own costs, but its a start. So in response I thought I might start keeping attentions focused on ideas and articles in this arena.For a start, most people assume their best bet for reducing costs and helping their environment is to go out and get a brans spanking new hybrid car, or perhaps something even more green like a electric plug in or a new smart car. I'm a fan of most of those options, but I wanted everyone to keep something in mind. New cars not only cost a lot of money, they cost a lot of carbon. First consider getting an efficient used car.Go Green -- Buy a Used ...
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| I Can't seem to get away from McCain |
| 2008-05-20 02:28:31 |
McCain agrees with Bush on farm bill veto | Politics | Reuters"I would veto that bill, and all others like it that serve only the cause of special interests and corporate welfare," McCain said in remarks prepared for a speech in Chicago.So McCain wants to veto the bill because it doesn't reduce subsidies to rich farmers enough, and says that he would veto any such bill. Yet strangely he supports the Bush tax cuts and wants those to be made permanent. How do those two things go together? How can you support tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans but not for farmers? Someone please tell me the distinction. Can't figure it out. Ok how about this. We give tax deductions to the nations wealthiest people because they buy votes, while we want to reduce subsidies to farmers because food prices are high which buys votes.Sounds about right.
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| Clinton's rhetoric |
| 2008-05-19 01:35:06 |
Clinton: 'Think about this as a hiring decision' - CNN.comClinton encouraged her Kentucky supporters to vote in the upcoming primary, saying Sunday, "If we get everybody turned out, it's going to send a great message to our country that you don't stop democracy in its tracks.""You don't tell some states that they can't vote and other states that have already had the opportunity that they're somehow more important," she said.You know, I've been reading a lot lately about what happened to Clinton. It's a fair question. Just before the primary season began, and after almost a year of campaigning Clinton was undoubtedly the prohibitive front runner in the democratic race.Then somehow the wheels came off. over the course of the next weeks and months her cam...
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| McCain must be dizzy |
| 2008-05-17 06:25:50 |
McCain denies 'flip-flop' on Hamas, blasts Obama - CNN.com McCain said the United States would not be able to avoid a dialogue with the Islamic militant group."They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another," he said at the time. "And I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas, because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice ..."But it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."I am constantly amazed at the skill and speed with which McCain can change positions and then accu...
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| McCain helps developer |
| 2008-05-16 03:13:40 |
McCain action helped Arizona developer: report | Reuters Upset with a state law that restricted development around the base, SunCor representatives met with McCain's staff to lobby for funding, USA Today reported, citing the company's president at the time, John Ogden.The Air Force later paid SunCor $3 million for 122 acres near the base -- three times its assessed value and twice the military's estimated value, the newspaper said.I feel really good about McCain's attack on special interest groups. I feel confident that he will stand up and help secure hard working Americans in the fight against lobbyists. I feel that because of his solid record on this issue.What's really amazing to me is that McCain not only cl...
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| An incredible new low |
| 2008-05-16 02:21:39 |
Dems fire back at Bush on 'appeasement' statement - CNN.com The president, at Israel's 60th anniversary celebration in Jerusalem, suggested that some Democrats were acting in the same way some Western leaders did when they appeased Hitler in the runup to World War II."As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history," he said while speaking to Israel's parliament, the Knesset.He called it a "foolish delusion" to think the U.S. can negotiate with terrorists.Wow...I just...I can't...I don't. I hardly know what to say. I'm dumbfounded, shocked and appalled...
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| Well it's about f***ing time! |
| 2008-05-15 02:41:29 |
Edwards backs Obama's White House bid | Politics | Reuters "There is one man who knows in his heart that it is time to create one America, not two, and that man is Barack Obama," he said, as Obama sat on a stool behind him.The long-awaited endorsement helped blunt the impact of Clinton's landslide 41-point win over Obama in West Virginia on Tuesday. That result barely put a dent in Obama's lead in the Democratic race for the right to face Republican John McCain in November's presidential election.I think it was always clear that Edwards leaned toward Obama. Perhaps his message sometimes seemed closer to Clinton, but not where it mattered. In reality I think Edwards has been holding out his endorsement in hopes of being on the ticket for whichever group was going to win.What that tells m...
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| Brings a tear to the eye |
| 2008-05-14 03:10:25 |
Bush says gave up golf in solidarity with Iraq dead | Reuters "I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the Commander-in-Chief playing golf," Bush said in an interview with Yahoo and Politico.com."I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal," he said.I was physically moved by this article. Fortunately I made it to the toilet. I'm sure the families of dead and crippled soldiers find real comfort in the fact that the president gave up golf so that he could be in solidarity with them.I'm sure when they speak to their pastors and friends they say to themselves, "Well, sure we've suffered a great loss, but you know the president gave up golf." Dear god save us from this man.
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| Feeding the SPR |
| 2008-05-14 02:11:29 |
Congress defies Bush on oil reserve - CNN.com "Purchases for SPR [the reserve] account for one-tenth of 1 percent of global demand," Bush said in April. "And I don't think that's going to affect price when you affect one-tenth of 1 percent, and I do believe it is in our national interests to get the SPR filled in case there's a major disruption of crude oil around the world."As usual I think our president simply doesn't understand the world from the perspective of the average American. The fact that oil prices will only go down a little means a lot when you depend on gas for your survival. Putting oil in the SPR while gas prices continue to break records is like funding your 401k while going bankrupt. Sometimes you just have to re-prioritize. Now my readers out there are almost surely...
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| You gotta love the War on Drugs |
| 2008-05-13 02:10:09 |
Ecuador Opposes Outpost in American War on Drugs - New York Times In 1999, American officials negotiated a 10-year agreement with President Jamil Mahuad to set up the elaborate airborne radar detection project at Manta, a port of 250,000. The deal did not require the United States to pay rent to Ecuador. Nor did it allow Americans stationed here to be judged in Ecuadorean courts for crimes committed in Ecuador. Nor was it submitted to the Ecuadorean Congress for approval.I don't think we pay nearly enough attention to the War on Drugs. It's gotten lost since the War in Iraq began. I guess that makes sense, when you consider how many Americans are being killed by the War in Iraq. Not to mention the billions of dollars spent.But just for fun let's recount some statistics I found readily ...
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| Politics at it's most political |
| 2008-05-13 01:34:59 |
House G.O.P. Adopts Change Theme - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog “Through our “Change You Deserve” message and through our “American Families Agenda,” House Republicans will continue our efforts to speak directly to an American public looking for leaders who will offer real solutions for the challenges they confront every day,” said the memo prepared for lawmakers.The party agenda is part of an effort to show that Republicans have ideas beyond simply blocking Democratic initiatives and supporting Mr. Bush on his multiple veto threats, some of which are looming over bills that could be before lawmakers this week.Only politicians could do this, and I have to credit Republicans with doing it so brazenly. How exactly does a sittin...
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| End of US Superpower |
| 2008-05-12 02:36:49 |
Who's the superpower now? | Salon When questioned about why Iraqis are paying almost a third less for oil than American forces in their country, senior Iraqi government officials scoff at any suggestion of impropriety. "America has hardly even begun to repay its debt to Iraq," said Abdul Basit, the head of Iraq's Supreme Board of Audit, an independent body that oversees Iraqi governmental expenditures. "This is an immoral request because we didn't ask them to come to Iraq, and before they came in 2003 we didn't have all these needs."I think this article might be a bit alarmist, but not so far off the mark. I think the author makes some really valid points, but misses a few key concepts.The most important was the USSR's inability to move and control money. I know the US is in a credit cr...
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| Obama-Clinton 08? |
| 2008-05-12 01:54:34 |
Analysis: Could Clinton land the VP nomination? - CNN.com A person close to her, with whom her campaign staff has counseled at various points, said this week, "I think the following will happen: Obama will be in a position where the party declares him the nominee by the first week in June. She'll still be fighting with everybody -- the Rules Committee, the party leaders -- and arguing, 'I'm winning these key states; I've got almost half the delegates. I have a whole constituency he hasn't reached. I've got real differences on approach to how we win this election, and I'm going to press the hell out of this guy. ... Relief for the middle class, universal health care, etc.; I'm Ms. Blue Collar, and I'm going to press my fight, because he can't win without ...
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| What direction Cuba? |
| 2008-05-09 03:02:15 |
The US is no longer the only superpower in the world. As China develops and Russia recovers, the US finds itself increasingly under competition for the hearts and minds of world citizens. Add to this the unpopular wars that the US is currently fighting, and our less than stellar foreign policy of the last 8 years (to say nothing of the last 50), and it seems like the US should begin to rethink some of our strategies.The reason I bring this up is that I have been watching Raul Castro since he took over Cuba. VOA News - Bush Says Cuba Has Made 'Empty Gestures' at Reform President Bush says the new Cuban leadership is not serious about reforms. He says the transition to Raul Castro has produced only empty gestures.But I'm not convinced. Bush says that he ...
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| Age is an issue |
| 2008-05-09 02:33:12 |
McCain camp hits Obama over losing bearings | Politics | Reuters The McCain campaign said Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois who leads Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, was hinting at something when he used the words "losing his bearings."It was "a not particularly clever way of raising John McCain's age as an issue," said Mark Salter, a McCain adviser, in an e-mailed statement.First thing I would like to say is that I don't think Obama was making a reference to McCain's age. If he was, then I disagree that it was not clever. Realistically, it was so hidden in his statement, that I didn't notice it until the McCain camp pointed it out. Personally I think Obama was making more of a point that McCain often finds himself flailing wildly while l...
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| Obama wins N.C. |
| 2008-05-07 03:20:34 |
So Obama won in North Carolina with a pretty large margin, and Hillary took Indiana with almost no margin at all. I'm pretty sure this will cripple any momentum that Hillary picked up from her last win. The next few contests tend to favor her, but I'm starting to feel that even Hillary might have to start rethinking the merits of continuing her campaign.
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| Pastor problems |
| 2008-05-06 02:37:50 |
Glenn Beck: Obama's odd timing on Wright - CNN.com Obama's political excommunication of Wright is not only a sudden and stark departure from his vaunted Philadelphia speech on race -- it also appears to be retroactive. In his press conference he said about Wright: "I know that one thing that he said was true, that he was never my "spiritual adviser." He was never my spiritual mentor. He was my pastor. And to some extent how the press characterized in the past that relationship, I think, was inaccurate."I hate to give Glenn Beck any more attention. In fact I often try to ignore him as a rule. Unfortunately, in this argument I think he is expressing the views of an growing contingent of uninformed or really thoughtless people.I have many problems with the problem that Obama faces in deali...
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| Border Fence Horrors |
| 2008-05-06 02:06:58 |
Border-fence dispute snares rare jaguars - CNN.com Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told Congress that the agency continues to talk to some 600 landowners along the border to get their input. But in order to comply with the congressional mandate, he said, there is no time to deal with "unnecessary delays caused by administrative processes or potential litigation."After reading the article above you may or may not be in the least bit concerned. I guess it depends on whether you give a damn about the natural flora and fauna of the US. If you do care enough to believe that the government shouldn't be able to arbitrarily wave environmental laws, then I suggest you contact either Defenders of Wildlife or the Sierra Club, and get in on the ...
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