Rex Kickass

The city pays the Department a fee for each emergency that they are called out for.

The last eight years have caused a real unfortunate trend. The Presidential election never actually ends. Candidates started their campaigns in January of 07. It's now July of 08. The election is still 100+ days away. A lot of people act like every thing that happens now even matters. The truth is that a lot of people just aren't paying attention yet. There are so many other things that matter besides whether its Obama or McCain. Like actual issues before the Congress. And before local elected bodies. And going to the beach because its a wonderful summer day. People seem to be getting all apoplectic about the Presidential race. Like the election is in a week. The conventions are still six weeks away for cripes sake. So next time someone wants to get worked up about what Jesse Jackson said, or what Phil Gramm said, or what politician X said, they should just calm down, have an ice cream and enjoy their life, if they actually have one.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Jul 9, 2008 -> 11:01 PM) did it pass? so is medicare getting even more expensive? It passed rather comfortably. Medicare isn't getting more expensive. Medicare is just not going to reduce the amount that it will pay medical providers for medical services.

They voted on Medicare today. The vote was to stop reducing the amount of money Medicare pays to medical professionals for treatment. 99 Senators out of 100 made it in. Only John McCain didn't make it to Washington for the vote. Ted Kennedy, who is currently receiving treatment for brain cancer, did. Which is excellent.

Paying Credit Cards which were then used to buy this

Apparently, he's been a problem child for the school district registering a significant enough number of complaints over 11 years according to the article so maybe he should be removed from the classroom.

Thanks to another generous friend, I'm up to $215 for the week, which is bringing me less than $300 from my week's goal of $500 to raise. Your help is so important, both to my ride and to fighting HIV/AIDS. Any help you can provide would be great! http://ESAR6.kintera.org/RexKickass

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jul 9, 2008 -> 12:06 PM) Why were the Public Works employees not out there ANYWAY filling bags. Were they only going to save the town if they got paid? Some of them were called. Many of them may have been out there regardless. There's no way you or I will get to know that. If they were out there, they didn't get paid for it. The Fire Department is paid for it, however.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 9, 2008 -> 02:04 PM) Not to mention that, regardless of the preaching... tattooing his students?!?!?! I wouldn't think anyone would tolerate that in any setting. He wasn't tattooing them, just disfiguring them. Way easier to accept.

QUOTE (vandy125 @ Jul 9, 2008 -> 12:25 PM) As a citizen in a small state, I really dislike the idea of getting rid of the Electoral College. If that happens nobody will care about what is needed on our farms and away from the cities. Those all become fly over areas that the candidates will not care about. They pretty much are after the primaries anyway.

If we abolish the Electoral College, we'll need to establish a federal set of rules that offer a universal set of guidelines for voting and voting eligibility. In my opinion, you can't have one without the other. We elect nationally through fifty statewide elections.

The more I read to this, the more I'm realizing that this grievance has a lot more to do with the city's poor relationship with its workers than it does with who filled what sandbag. Here's the thing: if the city needs emergency sandbagging, and that work is in the purview of the Public Works department, they should be called in to do the work first, and then the Fire Department second. The grievance seems to be the opposite of what was actually done. Rather than calling in the people that the city pays to do this work, they called in the Fire Department. The union for its part alleges that this isn't the first time that this kind of thing has been done either. Then you have the chairman of the city personnel committee saying that all the public works department does is file grievances instead of actual work - so it points to a poor relationship in general I think. Actual article : http://www.wiscnews.com/bnr/news/293360

We're closing this thread because we think its starting to hurt discussion in the forum. If you have a specific issue in this election you'd like to discuss, start a thread based on its own issue. If you just wanna talk about how great your candidate is? Use the Democrat/Republican threads. Thanks!

We're closing this thread because we think its starting to hurt discussion in the forum. If you have a specific issue in this election you'd like to discuss, start a thread based on its own issue. If you just wanna talk about how great your candidate is? Use the Democrat/Republican threads. Thanks!

Fresh and new for your pleasure. This is a great place to talk about how great McCain is, don't you think?

The other one was getting bulky - so here's your new Democrat thread. Fresh and new for your pleasure. This is a great place to talk about random "I love Obama" stuff by the way.

A candidate willing to change his mind on an issue that reflects real-time events is not a concern for me.

Kinda cool. I love that Barack and I are on first name terms.

From what I understand, basically yes.

The donation stuff doesn't take paypal, but you can use your debit card through the website.

So your argument is that because other people will make Barack Obama a polarizing figure that he isn't worthy of your support, despite the fact that it is, by your own admission, not his intent to be polarizing or divisive? Obama does represent some form of real change, but wholesale change doesn't happen overnight. So in a year or two, the Obamatons that feel that Barack can do no wrong will feel wholesale disappointment. But the truth is, in my opinion, Obama will bring some sort of change to Washington - not as far or as fast as many people would like to see, but there will be some real change in the way Washington runs with Obama in the oval office. Not because he is anything special, but because he represents people who want some form of change. I'm sorry Kap, that you can't see that. I'm jaded too, maybe not as jaded as you, but Obama's candidacy represents something special that we haven't seen in decades. People power.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jul 7, 2008 -> 11:06 AM) Yea, because someone running for the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES should be someone who "play(s) psychological games" to get elected (your words, not mine). Thank you for making my point so nicely for me. Kap: politics is a psychological game.

Just to let you know, since I've heard a bit more about this story, that the woman was involuntarily committed, and was waiting for a bed. Because there were none available.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jul 7, 2008 -> 11:31 AM) RAH RAH RAH! IMPRESSIVE! WOOT! He's just messing with people's heads. Psychological stuff. WOOOHOOOO! Your post pretty much tells me what I need to know about Obama's substance, IMO. I think it says that Obama can fill a stadium. Which is kinda neat. Doesn't really say much else.

NSS: Thanks for your donation! It's do or die week for me, fundraising wise. In order to know that I have a viable shot at getting near my $3500 donation requirement, I need to raise $500 this week. With help from people like NorthSideSox and a few others, I'm off to a great start, having raised $185 so far. If you can help, I'd really appreciate it. The link to click and donate securely is right here.