southsider2k5

QUOTE(Athomeboy_2000 @ Feb 7, 2008 -> 02:09 PM) She's not really putting herself out there. She is LOANING the money. meaning, she has to be paid back. One of the last checks she writes in the primaries, will be to herself for $5,000,000. Oh well that makes it totally different... Please. Would she be able to have that money if the Clinton's weren't multimillionaires? No. That makes her no different than Bloomberg or Romney. Its the typical hypocrisy for them to rally against something they are doing themselves.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Feb 7, 2008 -> 02:08 PM) The current health insurance industry is a case study in inefficiency, bureucracy, and redundancy.\ Personally, I would lean more towards stiffer government regulation but still allowing the private sector to work it out. But something bothers me about them deciding to deny a liver transplant based on the bottom line and not medical opinion. Let me put it this way. If someone decided your job was too important to the public, and that you now had to do twice as much work at half the pay, would you still be doing it?

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Feb 7, 2008 -> 01:58 PM) Because the private sector makes decisions to deny treatment based on the bottom line and not medical opinion. That's just the nature of the beast. And, clearly, something has to be done. Costs are going through the roof. Th government already pays almost half of all medical costs. I don't think it is any coincidence that the more government has gotten involved, the worse care has gotten, and the more expensive it has gotten.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 06:03 PM) On this issue, I think the Clintons are correct. Ah good old Clintonian double-talk... Guess who has spent $5 million out their own pockets, and is still slipping in the polls...

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Feb 7, 2008 -> 11:41 AM) A big part of the problem though is that within a few years...no one will be able to afford it. I'll defer to the Congressional Budget office (non-partisan) on this graph: If we don't reform the system...if we keep the private system we have now...who pays for that mess? 30-40% of GDP by the time I'm looking at retiring. Government intervention is not going to make things better in the health care field. I have said it before, and I will say it again, adding people to the system isn't going to improve the level of care. In fact if you take the profit motivation out of the field, you will get people who work in medicine leaving the field for more profitable areas. Think teacher burnout. The more the government requires of them, the more of a shortfall of teachers there are. Go figure. The government might be able to force medical providers to cut costs, but there are going to be serious problems with the system if they do. These are the same people that take months to get you a passport or a social security check, why does everyone assume that they can handle medicine better than the private sector?

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Feb 7, 2008 -> 12:29 PM) You'd be surprised how many Democrats I ran into Tuesday who said they wouldn't vote for Obama because his middle name is Hussein. Therefore he must be muslim. Wow.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Feb 7, 2008 -> 11:37 AM) Bill Clinton is a former President and a HUGE part of her campaign. I'd say its fair to judge her on it. And she has injected him into the campaign. That's what makes it fair game. If he was on the sidelines that would be another story.

QUOTE(Athomeboy_2000 @ Feb 7, 2008 -> 11:53 AM) I just don't get the reasoning behind the hatred. Free and independent thought seems to not be acceptable. i just coined a phrase... "Dictatorship of Thought". you dont agree... off with your head. it just seems wrong. You dont see Ted Kennedy BLASTING Joe Lieberman. Yet you have the core right declaring war on McCain. Seriously? Some of the venom I heard towards Lieberman totally sounds like what McCain is getting right now. It was ugly during the re-election.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 7, 2008 -> 12:48 PM) Except that Huckabee would be destroying in a general. I doubt the mainline GOP wants Huckabee to be the nominee. The right wing doesn't care. I could totally see an endaround of the rest of the party.

It is an interesting move, because now it gives the right wing someone to get behind. Even if Huckabee isn't their choice, they like him a whole lot better than McCain.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 03:15 PM) Well, the valuemaking plan everyone points to is health care. And Obama's plan is voluntary. Purely. So what's socialist about that again? I'm not going to speak for Kap, but who pays for this voluntary system? The people who need it, can't afford it.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 03:33 PM) Well, based on what we knew at the time, I reluctantly supported the war effort. But based on what is known now, and how rushed and unreliable the data actually was, I'm against it. But your basic principles for going to war have not changed. The reasons why we were told we went to war changed. But your basic stance that you want to benefit as many people as possible has not changed... Being fiscally conservative has not changed at all. The people who are saying they are is the problem. I have noticed that this seems to be a pretty reasonable growth of people. It always seems like censorship breaks down by age groups. Younger people more against it, older people more for it. I use to believe that unions benefited the majority of workers, now I believe it is the minority of workers. Like the fiscal stance, it isn't the need for unions that has changed, its the unions themselves. Sort of. I am talking about major things. Abortion, what it takes to go to war, death penalty, rules for the economy etc. There is a basic set of principles that make up these things and they really don't change as life goes on.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 04:30 PM) Its actually Jaffa Bagels, I always confuse it with Haifa Cafe because that place gives out a million fliers. And Union Station also has a sandwich place that has some interesting things, but the drinks are pre-made and in ice so its kind of watered down. And Lou Mitchell's is good,its a nice place for breakfast. The Snuggery, which is just off of the old grand hall, correct?

I used to do it myself until someone turned me onto the box. I love the fact that they import all of your information if you use them every year, so it literally takes me five minutes to do my federal and state tax returns. It is worth the money. Plus the efile option and getting your money in about a week and a half is sweet.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 03:20 PM) And I believe that is how most of America votes, representing their own personal interests, despite, at times, what is best for America. Yet the candidate should be about America's interests and possess none of their own. Something in there does not make sense to me. And with the world changing so rapidly, shouldn't we desire leaders who can change with it? What about the big issues REALLY changes? How much have your convictions and beliefs really changed?

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 02:36 PM) I can understand a person changing their voting based on what the constituents want, but don't try to convince me afterwards that that was really your position all along. I could respect someone who got up and said that it is my job as an elected representative to stand up for what my district believes in, no matter what I think of it. The problem is I do not think I have ever heard that. It is "I feel" instead.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 02:36 PM) I went with Ricobene's and was extermely dissapointed. My peppers were pretty much raw and I ordered some Pasta f**ioli and I got cream of potato. WTF?? I hate when I have a bad lunch You have to get the breaded steak if you go to Ricobene's. There is no point in going there otherwise.

Look for the terrorists with wetsuits or submarines.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 11:37 AM) Anyone have a good pepper and egg place downtown?? I am not a fan of the meal, but supposedly Lou Mitchells and G&G are good spots.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 01:40 PM) I'm really conflicted on that. If by anything to stay in power you mean doing what the majority of Americans wants, I'm not convinced that is a bad thing. If you mean sticking by a decision after you know it is wrong, that seems dangerous as well. Every movement by every serious candidate is scripted and weighed out. I'm not certain if Gary Hart was the beginning of that or just a notable example of what happens when you do not watch where and what you do. Interesting you mention the crying, Muskie cried and lost his chances, so Hillary crying was a gamble if it was scripted. So to me, it seems like she is being held to a different standard. Or, based on William Jefferson's conduct and Presidency, we are looking for similarities between the two, and that too seems wrong. Then we don't need Presidential candidates. All we need is supercomputers who can poll every second of everyday, and decide what 50% +1 of the country wants to do. I want to know that the person I am voting to represent me, is indeed going to represent MY interests. The issues that people use as a litmus test are important to them, and they are the reason they vote for certian candidates. If you can't trust that, what is the point of voting at all?

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 12:39 PM) I'm sure they might try. But everyone keeps forgetting, the national party and all those high end superdelegates WANT TO WIN IN NOVEMBER. All else is secondary. If this thing goes to convention without a clear leader, and they suddenly validate those states in some way, there will be a s***storm within the party that will be like nothing that has happened in our lifetimes. They will end up looking like asses, they will lose a lot of voters, they will see Obama and his supporters walk away from the nominee, and basically they'd be blowing the November election for themselves. There is a near-zero chance of them committing political suicide that way. All these conspiracy theories... just remember, these are realists running the party - they will do what is in their own best interests. And starting up that kind of mess, potentially blowing the November election, all for a candidate less likely to win in November even under the best circumstances? No way. They can't be that dumb. If they really pull the rug out from Obama at the convention, they are going to open themselves up to a world of hurt. After all of the nasty accusations after the 2000 and 2004 elections, they would look like HUGE hypocrates if they pulled a stunt like that.

I do not like people who do not have convictions. A person's convictions are what makes them who they are, and they tell you how they will handle themselves when they are in office. Its my biggest problem with Clinton, Edwards, and Romney, and its that they will say or do ANYTHING to get into office. The crying and the ruthless stuff are all apart of that game, just like the constantly changing positions over the years of her other opponents. I want to vote for people whom I KNOW what they will stand for, and how they will act in office. I don't get that from Hillary, amongst others.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 11:39 AM) I don't think it is the government owes you a retirement. If we have decided as a society it is better to feed and shelter the hungry and homeless, that would include the retired. I see social security, in part, as forced savings. It's the government saying, dammit, if we are responsible to feed and shelter you, we're going to mandate that you will contribute via payroll deductions. And as far as food and shelter, into the equation is reduction in crime and where to go for help. I'm as faith based as most here, if not more, but image a system where Churches ran all the soup kitchens. Would the Christian right really prefer a system where people listened to a Islamic or Satanic service in order to eat? I'm guessing not. I think the point he is making deals with choice. Its one thing to choose to help people, its another to be forced. Taking valuemaking decesions away from people and making them government based gets into murky territory.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 04:45 PM) And SS is posting to support our troops, let's all join him. Well that and making babies

So when is the last time we have had four major candidates left in the game at this stage of an election cycle?