Rex Kickass

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Sep 23, 2010 -> 12:25 PM) I used to fly every day for business and its not so much the flying I hate, its the taking off and landing. I've done KLM to Amsterdam and it was a great flight. The jet lag got me pretty good though. KLM service is really good, I have to say. The worst jet lag I ever had was Iceland in November. I kept waking up at Sunset which is like 3 in the afternoon there. I don't think I saw daylight for more than 30 minutes a day when I was there.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 23, 2010 -> 08:27 AM) Any overnight flight, do everything humanly possible to get some sleep. As stated by others. Actually, NW and KLM both operate flights from the US to Amsterdam, and yes, they code share - though that was before Delta bought NWA, so I am not sure how that works anymore. Delta, KLM and Air France all have a Joint Operating Agreement for Transatlantic service. So essentially any Delta flight between the US and Europe can also be considered a KLM or Air France flight. In some markets, Delta flies the routes to Amsterdam - in other markets KLM flies the route to Amsterdam. Same thing with Paris. Alitalia is joining this joint venture as well, but I don't know if they have truly activated yet. Delta actually runs the call centers for KLM/Air France in the US, so for transatlantic routes, they are essentially the same airline.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 23, 2010 -> 11:10 AM) Which is exactly the plan. This is why these kind of provisions are the first coming on-line. They want to drive the private companies out of business so that they can step in as the government. Obama knew public opinion couldn't do it all at once, so they instead made sure they would do it in steps, demonizing all of the way, just like anything else the Democrats want to control. I wish that was the plan, but I'm trying to figure out how requiring insurance companies to have 31 million additional customers within the next five years is going to bankrupt insurance companies.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 22, 2010 -> 01:38 PM) So basically, they're more than likely full of it. Turns out they weren't. And it should be noted that the blogger isn't asking for a head to roll, just an apology. From the Atlanta Journal Constitution http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-e...-it-619348.html

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Sep 22, 2010 -> 04:41 PM) [/b] Yea that's my biggest problem from a half hour of searching, it appears early January still means to close to New Years, so the prices are jacked up. It's about triple to fly that week compared to the week after. I'll have to confirm when I actually have to be there, as all I know is early January. PM me with your dates and I'll see what I can find for you.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 22, 2010 -> 01:50 PM) Bell, CA. Til you're caught anyway.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 22, 2010 -> 12:22 PM) Seems a bit odd that someone would take the time to investigate the source of a comment like that. Comment sections on blogs and websites have these types of things ALL the time. I seriously doubt he just randomly decided to check the source of that comment. Unlike a CNN or Yahoo story, that doesn't happen all the time on his blog. When I kept a blog and I got a nastygram, I always tried to figure out who it was.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 22, 2010 -> 09:47 AM) I wouldn't be surprised if that is a frame job. It is way to convenient, with a ton of info that really isn't public. So you think a blogger in Brooklyn planned to have a random Republican Senator framed by planting someone to hack a wifi connection in Atlanta to make a comment on his blog post? Doubt it. And this frame job wouldn't make sense. If he really wanted to punish someone, it would be one of the Republican Senate candidates running for reelection, Chambliss is not up for reelection in November, as far as I'm aware. To his credit, what little it deserves, Senator Chambliss seems to be taking this decision extremely seriously. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/0...estigating.html

Republicans block debate on eliminating discrimination on employment within the military. A gay blogger posts on it. Followed by a reader comment of "All f**gots Must Die." Blogger tracks the IP of the comment, traces it to one of two Senator's offices. Either Saxby Chambliss or Johnny Isakson (both Senators from Georgia) who have offices that are not far apart. And by not far, they mean in the same building. http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/09/all-f...s-must-die.html

Democrat energy tends to peak later in the election season. But, if you wanna talk about a house effect. Pollster has a great tool that lets you look at aggregate polling numbers and filter out certain pollsters. Rasmussen has dominated the cycle with news, because it polls more often than anyone else. If you take a look at the numbers for this election, you can see why it suddenly seems like control of Congress might not be as much in question as currently advertised. Generic Congress Question (all phone based pollsters with Rasmussen included) Republicans 46.4, Democrats 41.7 (all phone based pollsters excluding Rasmussen) Democrats, 43.8, Republicans 43.8

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 20, 2010 -> 06:30 PM) ? I don't see that. Then again...I'm not sure I see "The race" as opposed to "the hundreds of individual races". I don't think balance of the Senate is in question. I could see a 53 or 54 seat majority for the Dems in January, smaller - but 59 is pretty high historically anyway. The house is the big question, and theres enough question marks without reliable polling right now to give a strong indicator. A lot of places where Dems should be vulnerable in a year like this year, they don't appear to be. What looked to be strong challenges in NJ seem to be fizzling out (NJ-3, 6, 12) as an example, although no means assured. The question is whether or not the Dems can execute a great ground game. The tea partiers are energized, but the truth is - I don't know that many other Republicans are right now realistically.

Few polls came out today. Zogby's trash internet poll shows the Dems up by one on the generic Congressional Ballot Rasmussen (traditionally leaning GOP) had the Dems down 10. Gallup has the Dems up by one again too. (Three weeks ago, the media went into a meltdown when Gallup showed the Dems down 10.) PPP shows a more solid lead for Boxer in California, although word is that they are going to show a s***ty result for the Dems in Wisconsin tomorrow (Feingold down by double digits in Likely Voters, yet tied in Registered Voters) The race is starting to tighten up.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Sep 17, 2010 -> 01:00 PM) I wouldn't necessarily put Rand Paul in that category. Maybe not necessarily anti-intellectual, but definitely on the fringe and extreme side of things. He did argue on National Television this summer that private businesses should have the right to refuse service to people based upon race, when he offered his opinion that Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is unconstitutional.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 16, 2010 -> 09:05 PM) Joe Miller has some pretty terrible ideas, but I wouldn't put him quite into the same category as the other ones. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Miller_(Alaska_politician) More anti-science crap, though. He also accepted $14,000 in federal subsidies to grow and then to not grow barley on his farm in Alaska. Yet his position on the federal budget is: Somehow I don't think the founders had "giving business people a subsidy for farmland that they own but don't farm" on their mind when they wrote the Constitution.

Some narrowing in the Generic Congressional ballot over the course of the week, thanks to a new Politico/Battleground poll showing a tied generic ballot and a PPP poll showing a one point edge for Democrats in the generic ballot. The TPM poll average shows a 5 point edge for the Republicans on the generic ballot. That might still look like a huge gap, but on Monday, that edge was 7.1 points.

Unemployment claims fell again - this time to 450,000 from 453,000. A small drop, but most economists were expecting an increase because of adjustments from the labor day holiday.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 15, 2010 -> 08:52 PM) How? They're making her an adviser to avoid the confirmation process. I think he was talking about the Obama administration in general.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Sep 15, 2010 -> 04:59 PM) holy sh*t. how is it that we had this perfect balance in 1999-2001 where we were running a surplus, and ever since then both sides have been destroying it. we can't keep cutting taxes for anyone/everyone and we can't keep spending like crazy. Why cant we go back to the tax rates of 1999-2001 and back to those spending levels too? Part of that is inflation. Part of that is interest on the debt we pay. Part of that is military engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and part of that is TARP and stimulus for the economy. Also, restoring tax rates to what they were in 1999 doesn't mean that we will magically get the same revenues either. Revenues rise and fall based on economic performance. Just like tax cuts don't always reflect a revenue loss, tax hikes don't always reflect as rosy of a revenue gain as people picture. That being said, the sunset of the Bush tax cuts may be a huge step to reversing the deficits, although its not likely. What is more likely is a sunset of taxcuts for the top bracket (those making 250k+) and permanence of middle class tax cuts.

Portland Maine newspaper apologizes for reporting on a large festival celebrating the end of Ramadan as culturally insensitive because the story was published on September 11. http://www.pressherald.com/note-of-apology.html

So the Delaware Primary resulted in a 26 point swing to the Dems last night. PPP polled a Castle - Coons match up. Castle, the GOP member who lost the primary last night would be leading today 45-35. PPP also polled an O'Donnell - Coons match up. O'Donnell, the Tea Party approved GOP nominee is now facing a 50-34 deficit.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 15, 2010 -> 10:44 AM) Now wait a second...are those numbers being counted the same way? You said weekly audience...that's typically not how the numbers are given for TV programs...the ratings for TV programs are typically given as numbers watching a show per day. Is that 20 million people listening simultaneously, or is that 20 million people who tune in for some indeterminate length of time while on the 10 minute drive in to the office if ESPN radio is on commercial like this particular poster does? Right, its difficult to compare apples to apples with TV and radio. Especially public radio because audience estimates are done much differently (they usually aren't factored into publicly released arbitron data.) Usually radio is rated per quarter hour (5 minutes of listening within 15 minute time frames). So I should take this back, because there is no real way to make this comparison. The average Fox News prime time show will get 2 to 3 million viewers a night IIRC. But I can't really find a good way to compare apples to apples here.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 15, 2010 -> 10:32 AM) No, i'm not saying they're not "news," i'm just saying the format is so different that when you're discussing why people gravitate towards one news organization over another that has to be a factor. Most people get their news from the tv or internet, not the radio. The majority of NPR's coverage is news about random topics (I listen to it to, all those fancy sound bites included). I dunno, I mean I also listen to WBBM every morning. They give 3-4 minutes of headline news too, but you can only get so much information in that format. It's not the same as an hour long show with a host on TV where they can cover 15 topics. NPR's Morning Edition has a weekly audience of 20 million - greater than Fox News, CNN, or MSNBC.

Strange: We have had a lot of issues recently related to disrespect leveled at other posters and other posts within this forum. We want to keep this forum, but we want to make sure that it is a place where people are treated respectfully and we can actually have a conversation without it devolving into the internet nastiness that a lot of other forums feature in political discussion.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 15, 2010 -> 10:21 AM) And I think NPR doesn't even belong in this discussion. They pick so many random bits of news to report that it's hardly an up-to-date look on the days news, which is what most of the shows we're talking about provide (in addition to the fact that it's radio v. tv) I listen to public radio every day. And they report a three to six minute news summary every half hour, followed by in depth stories, many of which are not examined by everyone else. If you want to say NPR isn't news, you'd have to exclude pretty much everything outside of generic AP summaries, because its the same format that network newscasts use, as well as things like the Fox Report on FNC, etc.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Sep 15, 2010 -> 10:22 AM) But aren't you required to be a citizen (or have a work visa) to receive a drivers license? Or at least, shouldn't you be? Not necessarily, if that were the case, a driver's license would be considered proof of citizenship and/or legal residency. It isn't by the Federal Government. Not every state requires proof of citizenship to get a license, just proof of residency - and frankly, it shouldn't. Don't you think it would be better for all involved if the state DMV was focused on making sure that people were following the rules of the road and properly educated on driving rather than determining whether or not someone has the right to live in our country?