Time to hang out the “Gone fishin’ sign once again
Last week, we were talking about having a soul-themed edition of Travelin’ Music, and I still think that’s a great idea. But not tonight. When we all step aboard the Soul Train, I want to be here. And tonight, I’m not.
In fact, as I mentioned in comments earlier, I’m not going to be around for the next two weeks. And unlike my recent cross-country “vacation,” this time I’m not bringing you with me. As Rick said to Ilsa, “Where I’m going, you can’t follow. What I’ve got to do, you can’t be any part of.” I’m headed out to the high desert of Oregon again for a couple of weeks of whitewater rafting, fishing and camping, and among that region’s many charms is the fact that cell phones and computers are utterly useless out there.
So for tonight, I’ll leave you with this, a piece that serves as the official theme song for the group of guys who have made this same trip annually for almost 20 years now. In fact, somebody at work asked me the other day whether I was ever going to get too old for this trip, given that we run the trip ourselves, without guides.
“Maybe someday,” I told her. “Someday when I’m dead and buried, that is.”
Be kind to each other while I’m gone.
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2,404 comments Add your comment
Normal
August 10th, 2010
1:00 pm
how ’bout now?
Normal
August 10th, 2010
1:01 pm
Yeah, Baby!!!
Normal
August 10th, 2010
1:07 pm
This is a long read (4pages) but I think I learned something…really.
http://www.thenation.com/article/153929/aig-bailout-scandal
@@
August 10th, 2010
1:09 pm
is it time…
how ’bout now?
Yeah, Baby!!!
Normal, you just ain’t normal.
Geez!
TaxPayer
August 10th, 2010
1:15 pm
The GOP destroyed this nation’s economy. And at this point, I’m fine with finishing the job and letting the US file for bankruptcy. After all, it is this nation’s greedy with everything to lose. Turn the billionaires into thousandaires. Big deal. The one thing the poorest have already learned how to do is survive. Let’s find out of the richest can do the same without their beloved dollar bills.
Normal
August 10th, 2010
1:17 pm
I can’t remember who I got this site from, but if this hasn’t been posted before here it is now. If it has been posted before, it’s worth rereading. Eyes wide open.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20481
Normal
August 10th, 2010
1:18 pm
@@,
Has it taken you this long to figure that out?
Curious Observer
August 10th, 2010
1:32 pm
TV Channel 2 in Anchorage, Alaska is reporting that former Sen. Ted Stevens is one of the dead found in the single-engine plane crash.
theyeshaveit
August 10th, 2010
1:56 pm
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the great state of Alaska, there is this….
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail??blogid=95&entry_id=69752
Normal
August 10th, 2010
2:37 pm
Good post, eyes!
Del
August 10th, 2010
3:06 pm
If you watched the entire video feed you would have seen Palin handle a personal attack with dignity, tact and grace which actually turned a confrontation into something far more cordial. Zany or whatever his name is didn’t show the entire video he just showed you his own version of an eye role and wanted you to believe Palin was being dismissive. Typical MSM far left propaganda, just more Lemming Aid.
popeye
August 10th, 2010
3:24 pm
Del … I agree with your assessment of the back and forth. I don’t agree with Sarah Palin on much of anything, but she handled the confrontation admiralbley…Michelle Bachmann is just plain bat sh*t crazy in a Joe McCarthy kind of way!
Normal
August 10th, 2010
3:30 pm
dignity, tact and grace?
Rolling your eyes at anyones occupation, no matter what it is, is not
acting with dignity, tact and grace. Come on Del, you know better than that.
popeye
August 10th, 2010
3:45 pm
Johnny Carson….Had to have been a democrat!
http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/johnny-carson-gives-156-million-to-charity-from-beyond-the-grave–1458
Del
August 10th, 2010
4:14 pm
Normal,
Did you watch the entire video? popeye, is certainly no fan of Sarah Palin but he watched the video and agreed that she handled it well. BTW…while I like Palin as a person, I don’t see her as presidential material but you need to be fair.
TaxPayer
August 10th, 2010
4:20 pm
“I hate to have to say this,” he continued, “but I think it’s very clear: [Republicans] don’t want to see things get better. That’s why they’re obstructing the small business loan bill which by every calculation they should have been for… If you looked at the numbers last week — private sector jobs went up. Not by as much as they should have, but they went up. The job loss was because of the kind of public sector job layoffs that this bill would have avoided if it had passed a month ago. So that’s the other point is that there’s frustration, that [Republicans] are kind of benefiting politically from their economic obstruction.”
The American people will understand. Their suffering is for the good of the Grand Old Party and its upper crust. For without them, there can be no trickle down.
Lance
August 10th, 2010
4:21 pm
Taxpayer-
The one thing the poorest have already learned how to do is survive.
Yeah right. They have learned to survive on the tax dollars of others. You take away the wealth of this nation and you will take away the tax dollars that allow the poor NOT to live in third world conditions. Seriously, when the rich have no money, where do you think the funding will come from to support things like WIC? You would be condemning children to starvation.
TaxPayer
August 10th, 2010
4:27 pm
Lance,
How DID people ever manage to survive before the advent of the rich to care for them! I mean, who would have ever thought that a little stip of printed paper could be so versatile. Why there’s boiled dollars and fried dollars and dollar gumbo and … .
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
4:33 pm
When I hear folks coming down on the poor the way they do, does the concept of a jacquerie have no reasonance? One reason you dole out to the poor is to keep them fed, clothed and housed so they don’t come at the more affluent with pitchforks. Even if one doesn’t have a sense of charity, a sense of self preservation should have some appeal.
larry
August 10th, 2010
4:38 pm
It would take a bigger tax hike than 4.6% to take away the wealth of this country.
TaxPayer
August 10th, 2010
4:41 pm
“He asked me to marry him way too early,” she revealed. “And he wasn’t divorced yet [from his first wife Jackie Battley]. I should have known there was a problem.”
Those darned Democrats! Running around on their wives and then getting called out by their wives… which one was it this time…
Marie
August 10th, 2010
4:44 pm
Oui oui, josef. The things one must do to appease the masses.
stands for decibels
August 10th, 2010
4:47 pm
When I hear folks coming down on the poor the way they do, does the concept of a jacquerie have no reasonance?
Well no, it doesn’t, because there’ve been no serious incidents of class insurrection in this country in the living memory of most Americans. (The Bonus Army was probably the last Big One.)
It's heeeeeere
August 10th, 2010
4:48 pm
It’s all coming down to the Fed.
With the economy sputtering and Congress all but shut down until after the November midterm elections, the Federal Reserve is now the last, best hope of restoring growth and getting Americans back to work.
But after exhausting its conventional policy arsenal, the central bank is considering measures of last resort never tried in its nearly 100-year history. No one knows whether they will work. But some Fed watchers argue that the central bank can no longer afford to wait for clearer signs the Great Recession is over.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38642931/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy
Depressed yet?
Mick
August 10th, 2010
5:01 pm
josef
“There will always be poor among us”, paraphrasing what jesus said. It’s all about the self, in particular republican thinking these days. Therefore, but for the grace of god, there go I. Compassion, pity, and humility don’t mesh too well with a lot of capitalists. Electing obama has had a boomerang effect. It was a watershed event but naysayers have been able to parlay fears of this man big time. It’s payback time for their hero – gwb. We did have a near financial meltdown in sept. 08. Obama or any democrat was walking into the lions den. FDR gave us a template on how to keep america working but the revsionists cannot deal with the facts. This is a perilous time in america. The one positive is that once we have completely bottomed out, there is no where to go but up. I
Pogo
August 10th, 2010
5:02 pm
We have an economy that is built upon consumerism, not industrial production and we currently have a government that is totally anti-business and anti-industry (reference the “Obama sanctioned” new powers of the EPA and the Dodd “financial reform bill”. The federal governments bills must be paid from the private sector. Government created jobs by definition are a drain on the economy. Their existance is equivalent to cancer cells devouring its host even though it is not in the cancers best interest because ultimately when the cancer cell number becomes too great, the host dies. The USA is the host and progressive politics is the cancer. And when I say progressive politics I am speaking about both major parties. Bush was one of the worst, but not THE worst. That infamous title should be held in reserve for Obama. History will prove this out.
Currently there are fewer and fewer private sector employers that are willing to hire employees and expend capital because they know that they are dealing with an Anti-Business president and an anti-business congress. A shrinking number of working taxpaying Americans are paying the interest on the interest of our federal debt and they are getting sick of it. What is left of the American industrial complex is un-certain what this administration is going to do next with taxes, with union capitulation and with any number of other things. This is exactly what happened in the great depression when Roosevelt played around and experimented with progressive ideology. Unfortunately, it took WWII to pull us out of that because the the country finally acknowledged that they must rely upon the private sector of the US economy to pull us through it. Government deficit spending simply would not do it. So, for all you “Taxpayers” (who I am quite sure is totally mis-named) and “UsInUK”, it is pretty plain that you really don’t care what happens to America as long as you get yours and you don’t have to pay for it. So, for those like these two, if your consience will allow you to stay on this blog all day long not working while preaching that we don’t pay enough taxes, then so be it. You are the worse off for it.
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
5:04 pm
Marie
Mois, je ne suis l’etat, mais je voudrais de la brioche!
Lance
August 10th, 2010
5:05 pm
TaxPayer -
How DID people ever manage to survive before the advent of the rich to care for them!
Truth is people CAN survive without the rich. But since you and your fellow liberal brethren have not allowed them to make it without WIC, free school lunches, etc., for a few generations now, how do you expect them to survive if these things are suddenly taken away?
If you are saying they can make it without these social programs, am I to assume you are suggesting that we remove them?
Tell you what – let’s start our own third party. We will call it the common sense party. For every dollar you pledge to take away from social programs, I will pledge the same amount be cut from defense spending. On top of that, when we rule the world, we will raise taxes by the same percentage that we cut spending. You and I can have this whole national debt mess fixed in no time.
Mick
August 10th, 2010
5:06 pm
pogo
**Anti-Business president and an anti-business congress. **
Absurd statement. I mean, its OK if you hate democrats or everyone for that matter, but please think before writing something so ignorant that it doesn’t make any sense, period..
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
5:08 pm
sfd
That’s probably because we have managed to keep our poor fed, clothed and housed…FDR’s New Deal and :LBJ’s Great Society were programs aimed as much at staving off discontent as they were motivated by concern for the poor per se…
Mick
Not to mention the revolution of rising expectations…
Mick
August 10th, 2010
5:11 pm
josef
Well, congress passed the jobs bill, hope it helps the teachers out in your neck of the woods.
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
5:15 pm
sfd
Don’t forget the bread riots during the Wah-uh, either…Richmond’s was particularly violent and had many of the same characteristics of July 14…there were litterally hundreds though and the wealthy and middle classes were targeted…
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
5:17 pm
Mick
We’ve got our fingers crossed…the money still has to filter down through the levels of adminstrative hawgs at the slop trough of the public coffer. We’ll see.
@@
August 10th, 2010
5:27 pm
I’m likin’ what I’m seein’.
High-level Iranian officials have been making their way to Damascus in a bid to undermine a joint campaign by Saudi Arabia and Syria to weaken Hezbollah in Lebanon and thus diminish Iran’s grip in the Levant. The Aug. 3 border skirmish between Lebanese and Israeli forces appears to have been one of several ways Iran is trying to show Saudi Arabia and Syria that Tehran remains the authority in Lebanon. Iran will attempt to use a blend of threats and concessions to prevent Syria from straying any further from their alliance…
Hang tough, Assad.
@@
August 10th, 2010
5:31 pm
Oops! The above excerpt was taken from Stratfor. A fascinating article.
stands for decibels
August 10th, 2010
5:31 pm
there were litterally hundreds though and the wealthy and middle classes were targeted…
Looks like the news made it North…
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6745/
(seriously, thanks for that bit of history I must have missed. Didn’t know the unrest was as early as that.)
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
5:31 pm
I have a question. Where do some conservatives get the idea that we liberals operate under a different tax structure? A tax hike hits us the same as it does those on the opposite side of the aisle. We’re not on the public dole, we own businesses, we invest in the market…we don’t live and work in an alternate universe…we just prefer to see our tax dollars going to help another human individual rather than corporate bailouts of those “too big too fail…:”
stands for decibels
August 10th, 2010
5:32 pm
…and by “as early as that” I mean “as early in the war as that”…
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
5:38 pm
sfd
Another interesting aspect of that was that many Southern Democrats cited this threat as one of their reasons behind their support of FDR’s programs…
TaxPayer
August 10th, 2010
5:39 pm
Lance,
I am most certainly in favor of eliminating many of the current so-called social programs that you speak of. For example, the prescription drug program and the ag bill for starters. Then, there is the bill that provided billions to the oil industry in order to fund their off-shore drilling. And we should most definitely eliminate any funding for programs that provide highly processed foods for the masses. Anyone that thinks that funding companies that provide white bread and fried potatoes and canola oil cheese, etc., are doing good for any of us is really misinformed. Obesity/diabetes/tooth decay/increased health care cost — thy name includes junk food. Get rid of it all. I’d rather throw out some extra seed and let the folks come and pick what they want from my garden for free as long as they pick some for me at the same time. However, I do hope you are not thinking of cutting social security and medicare. After all, those programs are funded with taxpayer money and they help a lot of people. If we were to get rid of those programs and the associated payroll tax, well, it would not be a pretty sight for the compassionate amongst us. I suppose the Republicans would be okay with it though.
Doggone/GA
August 10th, 2010
5:41 pm
“Where do some conservatives get the idea that we liberals operate under a different ”
Come on Josef, you already know the answer to that. Once “you’ve” made the distinction that “we” are better than “them” it’s easier to tell lies about “them” – because “they” don’t matter as much as “we” do.
stands for decibels
August 10th, 2010
5:42 pm
Where do some conservatives get the idea that we liberals operate under a different tax structure?
J-nix, I suspect (based on the typical verbiage, not saying everyone, YMMV…) many online conservatives posting here think they earn way more than dirty-hippie liberals, who only work long enough to be able to get laid off, at which point they can bask in the luxury of that super-generous unemployment compensation.
In short, conservatives are pumped up by the GOP to think of themselves as the winners, and while considering most progressive/liberal/dirty-hippie types as losers/leeches who “pay no income taxes.”
Which is, I agree, personally infuriating; I pay a decent chunk of change in federal income taxes (beyond FICA/Med) every year, after taking the deductions Uncle Sam permits for mortgage interest and the like. I’m more than willing to pay more in taxes, so long as we’re doing worthwhile stuff with the money, and most of the time we are.
How you can live to adulthood as an American and so thoroughly loathe your own country that you don’t want to fund it, is something I’m not even going to try to understand, because every time I do my head starts to ache.
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
5:42 pm
@@
Assad is an interesting one…he’s a secularist and wants to keep the Islamacists at arm’s length…
@@
August 10th, 2010
5:43 pm
House Democrats are planning more than 100 events around this week’s anniversary of Social Security to attack Republicans who want to reform the popular entitlement.
The Democrats’ Social Security push was prompted by calls from GOP leaders for changes to the program.
House GOP Leader John Boehner (Ohio) said last month that the retirement age may need to be raised from 67 to 70 to help close the gap between what Social Security raises and spends. Boehner, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, wouldn’t say whether Republicans would campaign on that issue, but said that the country needs to have an “adult conversation” about its fiscal problems.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/113429-house-dems-are-hoping-to-turn-tables-on-the-gop-with-social-security-push
MoveOn.org and unions are in opposition to those adult conversations.
Don't Forget
August 10th, 2010
5:43 pm
@@
August 10th, 2010
5:27 pm
I’m likin’ what I’m seein’
Did you see this from June?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISSAz2Yg3ms&feature=related
The middle east may hate Israel but they aren’t stupid. They realize an Iran with nukes will try to dominate the region.
RW-(the original)
August 10th, 2010
5:45 pm
josef,
If you believe all this massive spending under the Democrats for the last four years and Obama for the last two have only been help for the poor or disadvantaged (which I’m assuming you mean when you say “another human individual”) then I think you may have taken leave of your senses. I’m not into bailouts either. I’m more in a starve the beast mood.
This new open blog is kind of cool. No need to look any further than the last few comments and jump in, existing conversations be damned.
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
5:48 pm
sfd,doggone
I’ve said it before, but I’ve got a good life and am I some traitor to my caste-class because I want others to have it this good? It just don’t make no sense to me.
TaxPayer
August 10th, 2010
5:48 pm
Pogo,
I’m out of cheese and bread. Could you deliver some to me. Just come on in and drop it beside me on the recliner so I won’t have to get up and take a slice of cheese for yourself as a tip. K. Thanks in advance.
RW-(the original)
August 10th, 2010
5:49 pm
Do you suppose it’s dawned on the Democrats that if they would get around to doing their budget they might not have to rush through “emergency” spending bills all the time?
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
5:53 pm
RW
Ah, and what makes you think I agree with the Democrat’s fluffing the pillows for their own partners? The Obama administration is Bush Lite…It qualifies me as a nut of the lunatic fringe, but we could have taken all that cash, divided it equally among the citizens of this country, and given every body a share…some would have gone on a spending spree, some would have put it in the bank, some would have invested and some would have stuffed it in the mattress…but it would have boosted the economy far more than all this bail-out cr*p…
stands for decibels
August 10th, 2010
5:54 pm
the retirement age may need to be raised from 67 to 70 to help close the gap between what Social Security raises and spends
I guess I couldn’t convince John of Orange to read this before he opens his fat again, could I?
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20100808,0,1359956.column
The old age and disability trust funds, which hold the system’s surplus, grew in 2009 by $122 billion, to $2.5 trillion. The program paid out $675 billion to 53 million beneficiaries — men, women and children — with administrative costs of 0.9% of expenditures. For all you privatization advocates out there, you’d be lucky to find a retirement and insurance plan of this complexity with an administrative fee less than five or 10 times that ratio.
This year and next, the program’s costs will exceed its take from the payroll tax and income tax on benefits. That’s an artifact of the recession, and it’s expected to reverse from 2012 through 2014. The difference is covered by the program’s other income source — interest on the Treasury bonds in the Social Security trust fund.
That brings us back to this supposed $41-billion “shortfall,” which exists only if you decide not to count interest due of about $118 billion.
And that, in turn, leads us to the convoluted subject of the trust fund, which for some two decades has been the prime target of the crowd trying to bamboozle Americans into thinking Social Security is insolvent, bankrupt, broke — pick any term you wish, because they’re all wrong. The trust fund is the mechanism by which baby boomers have pre-funded their own (OK, our own) retirements. When tax receipts fall short, its bonds are redeemed by the government to cover the gap.
Despite what Social Security’s enemies love to claim, the trust fund is not a myth, it’s not mere paper. It’s real money, and it represents the savings of every worker paying into the system today.
@@
August 10th, 2010
5:55 pm
josef & DF:
I’ve been watching the backdoor negotiations with Syria for years. With bated breath, of course. I’d love to exhale.
stands for decibels
August 10th, 2010
5:56 pm
It qualifies me as a nut of the lunatic fringe
no no no… you merely require drug testing, per our lovely and talented WH press sec’y.
stands for decibels
August 10th, 2010
5:57 pm
opens his fat again, opens his fat yap again, what-evah…
gotta run. later, kids.
Disgusted
August 10th, 2010
5:57 pm
Yes, let’s raise the retirement age, but don’t you dare raise the income base on which Social Security taxes depend. We can’t have people making $500,000 per year paying Social Security taxes on the entire amount. That’s for the little people, as the late Leona Helmsley would say. Way to go, Boner. Let people work till they’re senile, but be sure to take care of those rich folks.
RW-(the original)
August 10th, 2010
5:58 pm
The Obama administration is Bush Lite
When it comes to spending willy nilly I’d say they’re more Bush on Steroids than Bush Lite.
Scout
August 10th, 2010
6:01 pm
Just in case someone didn’t see this the other day :
“The flag does not fly because of the wind that blows it,
The flag flies because each soldiers’ last breath blows by it.”
Oraig P. Jacobi, Col. USA (Ret)
TaxPayer
August 10th, 2010
6:02 pm
All this talk about massive spending makes me dream of the good old days when Republicans were in office and tax cuts flowed as freely as war spending and ag bills and prescription drug benefits, all thanks to that Chinese-issued credit card. If we put the Republicans back in charge, will they make their tax cuts permanent and maybe even throw in an extra one for good measure. Will they get rid of that no good payroll tax once and for all. Will they restore our AAA-credit rating with the Chinese so things can get back to the way they were. I only need about forty more years, based on current life expectancies for us non-impoverished white males here in the states. One can only hope for such change.
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
6:03 pm
sfd
Why drug testing? That’s a part of our economy, too. Sure, the junkies would go through their share in a flash, but that would itself be a boost to an important sector of the economy…
@@
Assad has had to “make haste slowly,” but he’s already seen in Egypt and Jordan the benefits of coming to peace terms with Israel…he still has to deal with the Baathist hydra…not a machine to mess with lightly…
TaxPayer
August 10th, 2010
6:10 pm
Another 10 billion spent to save teacher’s jobs! The nerve of those Democrats. That money should have gone to the private sector. Perhaps to fund some F-35 components. Something of value.
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
6:13 pm
RW
If the GOP was in control, they’d be spending like a French sailor on leave, too…it would just be in a different bordello…
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
6:15 pm
It’s a sad commentary when we have to say “$10 billion to SAVE teachers’ jobs” rather than “$10 billion to HIRE more teachers…” We have a truly warped sense of priorities…
@@
August 10th, 2010
6:17 pm
josef:
It’s when we withdraw from Iraq, that Syria and Iran will go head to head. Syria has, throughout the Iraq war, been supporting the Baathists. It should get interesting.
RW-(the original)
August 10th, 2010
6:21 pm
josef,
As bad as the GOP was the last time they never spent anywhere near what this crowd does so I’ll agree that the priorities might be different but I don’t think the amount would be anywhere near.
I’m not even sure we really know what the priorities are since all we really do these days is set up giant slush funds under the guise of “saving” jobs. Jobs that likely were never under any threat of being lost, but teachers cops and firefighters do make nice straw (wo)men.
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
6:21 pm
@@
Syria will also play the Kurd card…they’ve loosened up on their Kurds (good deals coming from Iraqi Kurdistan) while Iran has cracked down on them. Turkey is the wild card in that scenario, though, and the rapprochement between Syria and Turkey has it’s own Byzantine angles…
barking frog
August 10th, 2010
6:25 pm
If we can’t have free love, we should, at least, have cheap love.
Scout
August 10th, 2010
6:27 pm
Headline: “Iran warns ‘we have dug mass graves for your soldiers’ in response to U.S. attack threat”
Hey, you reckon we could get them to straighten out that mess in Arlington ?
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
6:27 pm
RW
The priorites are as they have always been…a pr gambit and three card monte…
Paul
August 10th, 2010
6:28 pm
Del
The Left’s escalating obsession with Anything Palin is getting just plain creepy.
Guess all the reality shows must be repeats and they need something to focus on –
@@
“appears to have been one of several ways Iran is trying to show Saudi Arabia and Syria that Tehran remains the authority in Lebanon. Iran will attempt to use a blend of threats and concessions to prevent Syria from straying any further from their alliance…”
Like that’s gonna make Syria and Saudi Arabia feel all warm and fuzzy and knuckle under.
TaxPayer 5:39
Regarding everything but the prescription drug plan for seniors, I’ll say ‘yup.’
Josef nix
“Assad is an interesting one…he’s a secularist and wants to keep the Islamacists at arm’s length…”
Syria banned wearing the burqa a couple weeks back. While the press lambasts France for talking about it, there wasn’t a peep for Syria.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/145208/SYRIA-BANS-THE-BURKA/SYRIA-BANS-THE-BURKASYRIA-BANS-THE-BURKASYRIA-BANS-THE-BURKA
RW-(the original)
“Do you suppose it’s dawned on the Democrats that if they would get around to doing their budget they might not have to rush through “emergency” spending bills all the time?”
Isn’t there a name for people who treat regularly recurring events as an ‘emergency’?
“Oops, surprised me again! Wow!! How did that happen?”
josef nix
“The Obama administration is Bush Lite”
Robert Gibbs is gonna get you…
“Referring to the “professional left” Gibbs said: “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian health care and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality.”
He continued: “I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/08/10/robert-gibbs-and-the-professional-left/
sfd 5:54
“the retirement age may need to be raised from 67 to 70 to help close the gap between what Social Security raises and spends”
It’s the least we can do for younger workers for saddling them all with debt we incurred.
@@ 5:55
“With bated breath, of course. I’d love to exhale.”
Try through your nose? Then search out some Colgate and Scope?
Scout
August 10th, 2010
6:29 pm
NOW I COULD GO FOR THIS !!!
Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitutio:
“Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the
United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or
Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the
Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the
citizens of the United States .”
@@
August 10th, 2010
6:32 pm
josef:
Turkey, the Kurds, and the PKK are also in negotiations. And Turkey is part of the backdoor negotiations…more quietly so.
@@
August 10th, 2010
6:35 pm
Paul:
Try through your nose? Then search out some Colgate and Scope?
You’re talkin’ to a woman who thinks Vladimir is hot.
I can’t help it. He’s HOT!
@@
August 10th, 2010
6:37 pm
Oops!
And Turkey is part of the backdoor negotiations with Syria.
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
6:42 pm
PAUL
The Syrian move on the burqa was decidedly a secularist move…they are taking the Turkish approach…more PR toward a “move west…”
I need to be drug tested, eh?
@@
Turkey’s Kurdish policy has been the biggest hold up in EU membership and they’ve got to come up with something concrete and the PKK has already made it clear that it is the force to be dealt with in the occupied territories (not so much in Kurdistan itself) and Turkey is trying to drive a split into the Kurdish independence movement by co-opting the PKK…I think it may well backfire…way too much damage has been done over the last century…but, in that corner of the Middle East, who knows what will happen…
Paul
August 10th, 2010
6:43 pm
@@
His riding bareback and barechested got to you, eh?
Paul
August 10th, 2010
6:44 pm
@@
This you? Couldn’t see if there were stilettos or not -
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/bputey-callb-vladimir-putin-leaves-wife-for-model-dancer/2008/04/18/1208025425083.html
TaxPayer
August 10th, 2010
6:47 pm
“Some critics continue to assert that President George W. Bush’s policies bear little responsibility for the deficits the nation faces over the coming decade — that, instead, the new policies of President Barack Obama and the 111th Congress are to blame. Most recently, a Heritage Foundation paper downplayed the role of Bush-era policies…. Nevertheless, the fact remains: Together with the economic downturn, the Bush tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years.”
If only people would deal with the facts, perhaps we could make progress.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 10th, 2010
6:55 pm
Robert Gibbs says leftwing critics of Obama ‘ought to be drug tested’
Baghdad Bob Gibbs finally said something I agree with, heh, although it would be a waste of a perfectly good drug test, just sayin…
How about some psychotherapy instead?
@@
August 10th, 2010
6:56 pm
Paul:
His riding bareback and barechested got to you, eh?
Naahhhh, he puts out fires.
He took off Tuesday in a Be-200 firefighting plane and then moved into the copilot’s seat. Television footage showed him pushing a button to unleash water on blazing forest fires about 120 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Moscow.
Manly Putin.
After hitting the button, Putin glanced toward the pilot and asked, “Was that OK?”
Little boy, Putin.
The response: “A direct hit!”
The stunt was classic Putin. In past years, he has copiloted a fighter jet, ridden a horse bare-chested in Siberia and descended to the bottom of Lake Baikal in a mini-sub. Just last month he drove a Harley Davidson motorcycle to a biker rally.
From a woman’s perspective, Putin is one of those men who’s best kept at a distance. Wouldn’t wanna live with him.
@@
August 10th, 2010
6:59 pm
Just so the jay’s left-wingers know, Congressman Keith Ellison has called for Gibbs’ head.
Paul
August 10th, 2010
7:03 pm
TaxPayer
So the author says
(Cost of Iraq War plus cost of Afghanistan War) minus [DOD costs that would have occurred anyhow plus specific funding not kept offline] plus (revenue lost as a result of tax cuts less any additional revenue generated through specific provisions of the cuts) equals nearly the entire Obama deficit record?!!?
I didn’t include any calculation on how to compute ‘economic downturn.’ Strikes me as another magic asterisk.
I liked this from the report regarding the cost of the downturn: “(including the cost of steps necessary to combat it), ” which
includes voluntary actions taken by Democrats (every dollar of the stim bill) and lays it on Bush! Remember, Republicans came in closer to Pres Obama’s tax cut and spending mix on the stim bill than what Democrats passed –
Spinnnnnnnnn………….
RW-(the original)
August 10th, 2010
7:04 pm
Congressman Keith Ellison has called for Gibbs’ head.
Ellisson is the Muslim right? I hope he didn’t use those words since some of the “peaceful followers” of Islam take that one literally.
Paul
August 10th, 2010
7:06 pm
@@
Evidently that 24-year old doesn’t have the sense or life experience to see that.
Personally, I think any guy who’d walk out on his spouse after all those years to marry someone less than half his age is a pig.
As far as the young bride, if prostitution were legal this sort of thing might not happen as often.
Paul
August 10th, 2010
7:06 pm
RW-(the original)
So…. a Democratic Congressman made a terrorist threat, eh?
RW-(the original)
August 10th, 2010
7:09 pm
a Democratic Congressman made a terrorist threat, eh?
Paul,
Pretty much gaveling them into session qualifies as that.
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
7:13 pm
PAUL
“…if prostitution were legal…”
Are you for legalization? EOI…
RW
“Pretty much gaveling them into session qualifies as that.”
I’ll agree to that!
Paul
August 10th, 2010
7:22 pm
josef
Well, lessee….
If prostitution were legal…
Pimps would be out of business. Assaults by them would be gone. Gov’t could run it. Health checks would be mandatory. Disease would reduce, health care costs would decrease. And…
tax receipts would go up!
What’s not to like?
EOI,
Oh yeah, and marriages might survive.
“”My Frank, when he was alive, used to go up there every Saturday. I took it as a blessing!”
Middle-aged lady interviewed on Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 10th, 2010
7:25 pm
– Save Our ‘Stimulus’ (SOS) Act
– ‘Recovery Summer’ Bailout Act (Cash for Flunkers)
– Delivering Unions a Major Boost (DUMB) Act
– Helping Election Expenditures, Hurting American Workers (HEEHAW) Act
– Democracy is Strengthened by Clearly Leveraging and Optimizing Special-Interests’ Effectiveness (DISCLOSE) Act
– Holding Union Bosses Over Until Card Check Act
– Rescuing Incumbent Democrats Is Costly (RIDIC) Act
– Summertime Cash for Union Bosses Instead of Spending Cuts for Taxpayers Act
– Frivolous Act of Ineffective Largesse (FAIL) Act
– Naming These Things Hasn’t Gotten Us Anywhere, So Why Bother? Act
KKKash for kkklowns, just suggestin…
@@
August 10th, 2010
7:25 pm
josef:
I’ve often wondered whether this “Turkey wants to join the EU” wasn’t just hype. The main opposition comes from Germany and France who are in their own struggle for leadership status. The EU is unraveling.
For its part, Turkey may have begun to realize that it already has the best of both worlds. It is a full member of the single European market and it receives substantial aid from the EU, but it faces minimal interference in its internal affairs on matters of social policy, fiscal affairs, human rights, or democratic governance. Why in the world would they want to join? In fact, fewer Turks do. A Eurobarometer poll in late 2009 showed that only 45% of Turks support EU membership, down from nearly 80% in 2004.
http://www.benzinga.com/10/08/421751/turkey-will-never-join-the-european-union
RW:
Those were my words, not Ellison’s. I should’a put an (ISH). Ellison wants him fired.
Paul:
As far as the young bride, if prostitution were legal this sort of thing might not happen as often.
Mistresses are prostitutes. Don’t know many wives that would put up with one though.
Don't Forget
August 10th, 2010
7:28 pm
TaxPayer
August 10th, 2010
6:47 pm
If only people would deal with the facts, perhaps we could make progress.
The far right wants nothing to do with either.
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
7:39 pm
@@
I have been following that “best of both worlds” scenario and it does seem to have an appeal…Turkey’s dream of being the bridge between east and west seems to be gaining currency as well…the current party in power has met with resistance in it’s push toward the east culturally…and the children of Ataturk do still have a strong voice, particularly in the military..like you say, they have their own internal divisions…
PAUL
I agree on the legalization of prostitution…of course, though, it would have to be subject to blue laws!
larry
August 10th, 2010
7:43 pm
The Boehner gets Upset at the Tanning Tax Act
The Tax Cuts dont add to the Debt Act
The Just Because we supported until the President did Act
The I Played Golf 119 Times this year Act
The I Want the Unemployed to Stay Unemployed to benefit me Politically Act
The If I dont get my way, there will the Second Admendment solutions Act
The I want to get rid of Social Security Act
The I dont like David Gregory asking Boehner “gotcha” questions Act
The I believe people ought to be able to view animal crush videos Act ( A Paul Broun Favorite)
The Party of NOOOOOOOOOOO
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 10th, 2010
7:54 pm
Mucho Monies for Muttering Morons Act (MMFMMA) Just sayin…
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 10th, 2010
7:58 pm
We Don’t Want Apples, We Want obozobucks Act, just sayin… (WDWA, WWoA, JS)
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 10th, 2010
7:59 pm
It’s Your Kid’s Future, Why Should Queers Like Us Care Act (IYKF, WSQLUCA?)
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 10th, 2010
8:06 pm
I wonder if Nathan Deal realizes how many libs are clutching their pillows for his victory?
TaxPayer
August 10th, 2010
8:15 pm
Paul,
The author that I was reading said:
The events and policies that have pushed deficits to these high levels in the near term, however, were largely outside the new Administration’s control. If not for the tax cuts enacted during the presidency of George W. Bush that Congress did not pay for, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that were initiated during that period, and the effects of the worst economic slump since the Great Depression (including the cost of steps necessary to combat it), we would not be facing these huge deficits in the near term.
While President Obama inherited a dismal fiscal legacy, that does not diminish his responsibility to propose policies to address our fiscal imbalance and put the weight of his office behind them. Although policymakers should not tighten fiscal policy in the near term while the economy remains fragile, they and the nation at large must come to grips with the nation’s long-term deficit problem. But we should not mistake the causes of our predicament.
Spin! What spin.
josef nix
August 10th, 2010
8:18 pm
IR/YW
@ 7:59
I’d sure hate to be in line behind you on the Day of Judgment while you try to explain your way out of this virulent hatred you hold for so many groups you have determined in your meglomaniacal mindset to be unworthy…you really do take the cake…
Paul
August 10th, 2010
8:23 pm
TaxPayer
The ‘cost of steps necessary for economic recovery’ is nebulous and includes amounts, as noted, that were whatever Democrats wanted to spend.
There was nothing to state how the costs of the wars were computed. Many such ‘costs’ I’ve looked at would’ve happened, war or no war. Some include all personnel costs, for instance. Others include flying hour costs, even if they weren’t additive to the war effort.
Like I’ve said, question the process by which the answer was derived. And the answer forms the basis for his conclusions. If the data’s faulty, so are the conclusions.
barking frog
August 10th, 2010
8:31 pm
If Nevada has legal prostitution and the Constitution
guarantees equal protection, why can’t a prostitute
practice her trade in Georgia?