kapkomet

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 3, 2008 -> 05:32 PM) And the liberal in me will reply that you are correct, but you also have to give people some basic level of services to allow that incentive to work. It doesn't matter if you have a 0 tax rate on any income over a million dollars, a big incentive to earn that much, if you don't have health care and you wind up bankrupt because you can't afford treatment of that arm you broke. Combine this with tort reform, some reasonable market standards, that's as far as I would take it for government interference. Otherwise, the market needs to take care of it.

And all of a sudden, McCain is the liberal media darling again. Now why is that? Now I'll tell you... It's because the conservatives have vetted Huckabee and can't stand the idiot. The media was salivating over Huckabee because he would be easy fodder to become the "right wing nut" during the nomination process and leadup to election day. As YASNY pointed out, McCain is nothing but a jackass in an elephant suit, which is why people like NSS like him. Think about it.

QUOTE(KipWellsFan @ Jan 3, 2008 -> 05:26 PM) Getting way off topic now but what the heck... This isn't that complicated. The liberal agenda is that the rights of the individual to equal opportunity(not conidition) is paramount. This can be transferred to the health care issue in that everyone should have equal opportunity to health care with reasonable exceptions acceptable in a democratic country. I think some conservatives make the mistake of thinking that people of lesser means are neccessarily that way because they have failed in life for this reason or that reason. But not all people of lesser means are that way and deserve to be treated with dignity and humanity. The true conservative will tell you that there needs to be incentive for people to succeed. Why should I go and get the education levels to work in a highly technical field, if the government will just hand me everything anyway? That's one thing I give Billy "BJ" Clinton credit for, and that was welfare reform. You have to incentivize people to get off their lazy ass, and actually DO something to earn what they get. Otherwise, we all become mindless drones and just do enough to make the state continue to feed us all. I'm sorry, I'm totally against that. Dignity and humanity is a basic tenet and should be respected as such by all humans, not my government telling me what the definition of dignity and humanity should be. It's not their place.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jan 3, 2008 -> 04:36 PM) That sounds like universal health care to me. It must be a God send. Because after all, it's our government that should give us this stuff. Nevermind bettering yourself and getting to the place where you can take care of things... my government should do it for me.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jan 3, 2008 -> 04:44 PM) Hillary Death I agree, and I'm being serious. You think George W. Bush has destroyed this country? Hillary will run it to hell.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 3, 2008 -> 03:45 PM) I have to agree. McCain has made some bad calls, but overall I think McCain is much more honest and more invested in the fortunes of the country than Huckabee. I agree with that as well.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jan 3, 2008 -> 03:06 PM) Russert did his damnedest to trip him up and couldn't do so. Paul is running on the GOP ticket because his stance and policies are the basis for conservatism. That's what the GOP used to be and what he is trying to get it back to being. Bush43 is not a conservative and has sold out the conservatives nationally, like Huckabee did for Arkansas conservatives. Huckabee is a jackass in elephant's clothing, so to speak. And so is McCain. I LOVE your analogy. A jackass in elephant's clothing... fodder for a new sig...

If Clinton finishes third (or worse, ESPECIALLY worse)... :) It will make my day.

Predictions: ObamaClintonEdwards or ClintonObamaEdwards or EdwardsClintonObama or .... .... To be honest, I just want it overwith, because I'm tired of hearing about who is going to win Iowa. At that point we will at least have an indication of momentum and nothing more.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 3, 2008 -> 12:52 AM) Because I'm fully convinced there are things that the government can and must do for Americans to maintain and improve upon their current quality of life, and eliminating the government would be a gigantic step backwards. I'll leave it at that level, the principle level, without elaborating here. I would also find it to be very difficult for him to win the Democratic primary, btw. Why does the GOVERNMENT have to do this for you, Balta? I find it to be better if government leaves us the hell alone. Now, not to the levels that RP is talking, but... certainly, I don't want my government telling me what doctors I can or cannot see, for example. And if you think that is not what is going to happen, don't kid yourself.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 2, 2008 -> 08:18 PM) What a load of crap. The guy is polling in early states like IA and NH higher than many of the candidates being invited in both parties. And here is why you always hear me say, both parties do this to the "anti-establishment" candidates.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 2, 2008 -> 07:47 PM) Before and after the Parade, a variety of people decide to march down the open street since they have an audience of a million people or so, and others wanted to make statements about specific acts in the parade. The "God kills sinners" people have been there bookending the parade every year I've been there. This year we also had a block of Ron Paul people walking, a group of Taiwanese people protesting the decision to allow China to enter a float celebrating their Olympics, and I'm told Cindy Sheehan was somewhere in the area although I didn't see their group marching. The floats and the whole presentation are quite impressive up close. For about 2 weeks out here we get to see them being constructed slowly on the news as the networks all take a few moments to broadcast from the construction sites. Not sure what else to say, it's an impressive undertaking. It's one of the few parades that I would love to see in person...

QUOTE(Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 2, 2008 -> 07:53 PM) The name on the deed is a now deceased relative who had no children. It's not the original owner, but a wife of a descendant. Eww. This could get really ugly.

Got to find the title... until then, you're spinning your wheels. You can actually sometimes find this on a county website having to do with property taxes...

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 2, 2008 -> 06:03 PM) This year's smattering of Rose Parade pictures can be found here, if anyone is interested. Wow, what's with all the hate Jesus and Jesus saves stuff all over the place? Also, I really think the floats are cool... the detail is amazing. What do you think after seeing it up close?

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 2, 2008 -> 05:58 PM) I hope and pray that whomever gets into the White House in 2008 has the brains and the guts to work with Congress to truly prioritize getting us onto non-fossil fuels. Fast. It's probably not going to happen... at least for a while.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080102/oil_prices.html

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jan 2, 2008 -> 05:51 AM) Anyone ever been to Montreal? I'm going up there to see the Hawks play in a week, staying only a couple of days. Anyways, I want to go to the casino there, the big 'Casino de Montreal'. Of course I want to make a trip there but when checking their website I didn't see anything about Texas Hold'em (the game I'd be playing there). I thought a hold'em area was pretty standard to most casinos -- I'd be pretty dissappointed to go there and find out they don't have any hold'em tables... Take notes for me, because I'll probably be going later in the year.

I think Alexis gets to go home today... she's been doing really well and everything's been a-ok (fingers crossed for the going home part).

Well, I guess McCain would be better then Guiliani, Huckabee, or Romney. But I still don't like him much either. Man, these candidates are all a steaming pile of poo.

Hmmmm....

QUOTE(jasonxctf @ Dec 27, 2007 -> 10:29 PM) apparently the US administration has repeatedly denied requests to beef up security around her, per her request, and those on the foreign relations committee. us administration thoughts were that its Musharaff's responsibility to protect her and that his people were to be trusted to carry out that responsibility. QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 28, 2007 -> 01:22 AM) Since the U.S. started dumping tens of billions of dollars into the Pakistani security services that were supposed to do the protecting of her, and perhaps since the U.S. arranged for her return to the country and arranged for the power-sharing agreement that was supposed to stabilize that country. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071231/ap_on_..._pe/us_pakistan Now I'm sure, that somehow, this is still George W. Bush's and/or America's fault.

QUOTE(Steff @ Dec 28, 2007 -> 04:47 PM) We are soooo lucky in regards to her sleep habits. She's up to 5 a night on a regular basis. BTW, I sent you an email regarding the x-mas card. Seems no one in your state got our mail. We got it, Christmas Eve. Sorry, I just saw this thread again... we've been slammed in the past couple of weeks.

I am EXTREMELY disappointed in Fred Thompson. What a waste.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 31, 2007 -> 07:18 PM) Except that Iowa isn't taking out the lower tier candidates. How is that a realistic model? All the polls I have seen published that are valid on their face (large enough sample, not oddly biased like ARG, not sloppy methods like Zogby) show a 3-way statistical dead heat. Edwards has momentum. I am not sure why Obama's momentum stagnated recently. Clinton hasn't had any for some time. Yea, but wouldn't this be exactly what happens using the 15% factor? The lower tier would essentially get thrown out, right?