Rex Kickass

Acetominaphen! Now with more iron!

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 9, 2006 -> 03:12 PM) She mentioned this as a separate item from the negotiations, it makes it seem like there is something else there. Actually she said that she wanted to make healthcare affordable for all Americans but wanted to start with that. The Federally subsidised student loans I got were handled by Sallie Mae, isn't that a quasi private company - like the Post Office? If the subsidies are for R&D, I think we have a right to expect a specific amount to be spent on specific types of R&D. If we're providing subsidies, I don't think its unreasonable to expect the companies who benefit to perform some action in return for the good of the country. Subsidies don't have to be cut across the board, and I'm sure they aren't applied uniformly. Yet the price of gas from corporation to corporation does not vary significantly. Putting conditions on subsidies, or scaling them back for some corporations shouldn't cause a significant price increase across the board. If it does, maybe it is time for regulation to return to the energy market.

NC 08 is still up for grabs? The vote total spread is a 400 vote margin roughly, with the Republican incumbent ahead. However, there are 1400 provisional ballots yet to be counted.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 11:26 PM) ouch. Dumb question: if you die while you're voting, does your vote still count? Outside of Chicago, I mean.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 9, 2006 -> 01:08 PM) so -what exactly is "fixing the medicare drug benefit?" Allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug companies to provide its patients with lower cost medication. Other insurance companies already do this. If its for loans yet to be offered, nobody. I'm sure that there are some ways to guarantee SSI for longer amounts of time that don't involve raising the FICA cap... but ultimately that's what is going to have to be done. The choice is pretty simple really - eventually we cut benefits or increase FICA tax to pay for it, should it be self serving. Again, I don't think we're just going to see a blanket reversal of corporate welfare. Unlike the poor who receive regular welfare, they can afford to spend millions on lobbying efforts that would prevent what you're talking about from happening. A compromise there is most likely. I think the idea of tying corporate welfare to benchmarks of acheivement is probably what's most likely. Let's give American companies a hand up, not a hand out.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Nov 9, 2006 -> 11:18 AM) My question is "how"? The minimum wage thing, I agree with. I don't like it, because it hurts a lot of businesses, but it's time to do something with that. The minimum wage hasn't been raised in ten years. If they just required a 3% COLA on it every year, we wouldn't have this debate every five to ten years and I think few businesses would notice. What's horsedookey about using the medicare purchasing power to negotiate lower prices with drug companies? That's not socializing medicine, it's giving the government the ability to do the same things HMOs and Wal-Mart does on their prescription plans. Actually, by raising the FICA cap, you can effectively increase viability for Social Security in the long term and it wouldn't cost the average American one cent more in taxes. You know what I'd love to see? Corporate welfare reform. Offer these big oil companies continued subsidies if they reach key benchmarks on a, b, and c. For example, expanding refinery capacity (by reopening mothballed plants and building new ones), devoting a percentage of their budget to research and development regarding further efficiency in consumption/production and renewable energy production. And I think that's what we'll end up seeing if anything happens there.

Nancy Pelosi on Huffington Post. (From Tuesday) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-nancy-pe...rs_b_33529.html

Last night, they called the Senate seat for Webb. The Senate is now 51-49 Dem.

It's technically true though. There is no "Minority Speaker".

The big guns right now are Guliani and McCain for the GOP.

I read somewhere that electricity availability in Iraq is now significantly less than it was pre-2003 because of Sectarian violence. Iraq is either going to go back to the stone age or not, and the presence of 150,000 troops won't change that given our current strategy. We need to find a concrete and comprehensive approach to improving stability and life in Iraq. That solution isn't necessarily military.

Mitt Romney not being able to lift his candidate up this year for MA-Gov puts a serious hurt on his 08 hopes.

I don't know much about the guy - but initial signs look pretty pleasing. He supports dialogue with Iran, seems to want to change course in Iraq, sounds like an improvement. Of course, he was involved/implicated in Iran-Contra. The nature of that needs to be disclosed too. Because if he doesn't have respect for our laws regarding foreign involvement, he sure doesn't need to be at a cabinet level.

The losing candidate can request a recount if the total vote difference is less than one percent. In that case, the state of Virginia would pay for the recount. Otherwise, it would have to be funded by the person asking for the recount. George Allen didn't want this seat, he wanted to use this seat to run for President. In Iowa early this year, he was saying that he was bored with being a Senator.... He'd already set up presidential organizations in Iowa and New Hampshire. A win via recount still keeps his presidential hopes dead, so why bother with the recount?

Kap, Two days ago, the President said that a vote for the Democrats is a vote for Al Qaeda. Give the wounded victim routine a rest please.

The totals are a little under 7000 votes with Webb ahead with four precincts left to report. Two of them have nothing left to report I understand and the other two precincts might net a handful more votes to Allen, but the key there being a handful (like a couple dozen). They did a recount two years ago for the AG race, and the difference in count and recount was less than 50 votes. Barring a miracle for the GOP, or Lieberman suddenly jumping ship or taking a cabinet spot, the Dems just took the Senate.

Lautenberg is going to run again in two years.

I'm glad that Lieberman didn't get the nod for it. I was sure that was what was going to happen actually. I wouldn't be surprised if Joe gets a nod for another cabinet post - because he's the only Dem leaning Senator the GOP has a chance of shaking off. I'm glad Rumsfeld finally got the axe. Hopefully, that means we can start undoing the damage he's done.

QUOTE(Steff @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 10:07 AM) Topinka is smelly and more corrupt than Rod. Steff: you are not the first person to tell me about Topinka's B.O.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 10:58 AM) Joke of the Day Q: What's the difference between Saddam Hussein and John Kerry? A: Kerry hangs himself. That's wonderful!

Pelosi's goals in her first days as speaker. 1. Adopt and fully fund 9/11 Commission recommendations. 2. Raise the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years. 3. Fix the Medicare prescription plan to allow the government to bargain for cheaper medicine prices. Real liberal agenda!

Congrats Mike!

If Schweitzer brought Tester to the Senate in Montana..... Please Governor announce that day!

Tester and Webb? Ran on something besides "We Hate Bush." Menendez in NJ, not so much. I'll concede that there were a lot of races we won today out of anger about the need for accountability in 2006. But that's something. Running on "we need to bring accountability back" which is what a lot of Democrats ran on is something positive in my opinion. But even when you talk about what the GOP did in 1994 with their Contract and whatever, their message was a little clearer - but it was still very much a message of "we need change." And that's primarily an "Anybody but a Democrat" message. Now, the hard work starts. Now Democrats have to earn those votes back in 2008. Which means Pelosi needs to work on getting her agenda passed. Impeachment? Won't happen. Investigations? Hell yeah, and they need to happen too. I know I'm getting all Mr Smith goes to Washington hopeful here, but I think that there's gonna be an emphasis on doing the right thing in Congress for at least a few months, if not a couple years. More so than we've seen since 1997. And that can't be a bad thing.

Webb is up by 12K votes. McCaskill won. Talent up by 4 points! Balance of power shifted! In my county, we elected our first Dem county commissioner in 20 years! This is a great night to be a democrat!