On the surface, and in general, I am in favor of not taxing investment income.

Romney: No tax on investment gains (interest, dividends, cap gains) for income levels

 

I don't like Romney much, but I think he has a decent idea here.

 

Are you ready to go into the implications of taxcuts again? I think Tex has been busy enough in the other threads, he might have to give up sleep

Are you ready to go into the implications of taxcuts again? I think Tex has been busy enough in the other threads, he might have to give up sleep

 

I should be clearer. I don't mind cuts, but there has to be cuts in spending. Balance a smaller budget and I would be happy.

Are you ready to go into the implications of taxcuts again? I think Tex has been busy enough in the other threads, he might have to give up sleep

Eh, I already know your thoughts, and I think you know mine. I don't agree with Romney relying on economic growth for the cost, but in general, I think he has the right idea. I don't think any spending should ever rely on projected or expected economic growth - its too risky. It should be an accounting-wise money-for-money trade off.

 

Let's give all the current taxpayers (i.e. voters) tax cuts and make the millions of new workers pay for them when we kick out the illegals . . . FREE MONEY WHOO WHOO

 

I'll be quiet now. Balanced budgets are so old fashioned.

I won't immediately laugh this off as the mad rantings of a lunatic...but has anyone else heard anything about this from any other source other than the mouth of this former Senator?

Freshly minted GOP White House hopeful Fred Thompson puzzled Iowans yesterday by insisting an Al Qaeda smoking ban was one reason freedom-loving Iraqis bolted to the U.S. side.

 

"They said, 'You gotta quit smoking,'" Thompson explained to a questioner asking about progress in Iraq during a town hall-style meeting.

 

Thompson said the smoking ban and terror tactics Al Qaeda used to oppress women and intimidate local leaders pushed tribes in western Anbar Province to support U.S. troops.

 

But Thompson's tale of a smokers' revolt baffled some in the audience of about 150 who came to decide whether the former Tennessee senator is ready for prime time.

 

"I don't know what that was about," said Jim Moran, 72, who had driven from nearby McCook Lake, S.D.

I won't immediately laugh this off as the mad rantings of a lunatic...but has anyone else heard anything about this from any other source other than the mouth of this former Senator?

Sooner or later, AQ will ban something that just about everybody is against. Most people won't even take sides, until something happens that effects them. With smoking as prevelant as it is over there, I can imagine that being a huge issue for some.

Sooner or later, AQ will ban something that just about everybody is against. Most people won't even take sides, until something happens that effects them. With smoking as prevelant as it is over there, I can imagine that being a huge issue for some.

So in other words, you have no idea what he's talking about either, but if he was making sense it'd be really cool?

you're really reaching for a conspiracy or scandal on this one.

So in other words, you have no idea what he's talking about either, but if he was making sense it'd be really cool?

 

But the 72 year old guy they quoted from SD, he knows what is going on there...

I'll bet this was covered in a secret Hollywood briefing

 

It's a long campaign, I'm going to dismiss that one and see what else he says.

you're really reaching for a conspiracy or scandal on this one.

No, I just think it's a fairly embarassing slipup if he's totally pulling things that random out of his arse, and I haven't been able to thus far find anything on the Google suggesting anything other than "he totally made it up".

Does that mean that if you don't smoke in a bar, the terrorists will have won? I say, "Smoke em out!"

Does that mean that if you don't smoke in a bar, the terrorists will have won? I say, "Smoke em out!"

But that's a WMD and we can't use those types of weapons.

 

Leave it to the bloggers to provide a little more information on this...

 

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/drilling-for-justice.htm

 

Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) had tarnished its name here by publicly attacking and murdering children, videotaping beheadings, all while imposing harsh punishments on Iraqi civilians found guilty of violating morality laws prohibiting activities like smoking. The AQI installed Sharia court had sanctioned the amputation of the two “smoking fingers” for those who violated anti-smoking laws. In part because local sentiment was shifting against it, AQI synthesized with other groups and undertook an image makeover, christening itself “The Islamic State of Iraq.” But the new name was just lipstick on a pig here.

 

On the evening of the 24th I spoke with a local Iraqi official, Colonel Faik, who said the Muftis would order the severance of the two fingers used to hold a cigarette for any Iraqis caught smoking. Other reports, from here in Diyala and also in Anbar, allege that smokers are murdered by AQI. Most Iraqis smoke and this particular prohibition appeared to have earned the ire of many locals. After an American unit cleared an apartment complex on the 23rd, LTC Smiley, the battalion commander, reported that residents didn’t ask for food and water, but cigarettes. In other parts of Baqubah, people have been celebrating the routing of AQI by lighting up and smoking cigarettes.

 

Other AQI edicts included beatings for men who refused to grow beards, and corporal punishments for obscene sexual suggestiveness, defined by such “loose” behavior as carrying tomatoes and cucumbers in the same bag. These fatwas were not eagerly embraced by most Iraqis, and the taint traveled back to the Muftis who sat in supreme judgment. Locals, who are increasingly helpful in pointing out and celebrating the downfall of AQI here, said that during the initial Arrowhead Ripper attack the morning of the 19th, AQI murdered five men. Townsend’s men found the buried corpses behind an AQI prison, exactly where they’d been told to look for the group grave. Locals also directed Townsend’s men to a torture house. Peering through a window, American soldiers saw knives, swords, bindings and drills. AQI is well-known for its macabre eagerness to drill into kneecaps, elbows, ribs, skulls, and other parts of victims.

 

One local Mufti who was said to have always worn a hood and sunglasses—and to have somehow disguised his voice—was pointed out to the Iraqi Army this weekend, who promptly captured him. Iraqi officials said today that although they did not previously know that this man was a Mufti, his name had been on their target list. The Mufti is being questioned and his name has not been released.

Leave it to the bloggers to provide a little more information on this...

 

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/drilling-for-justice.htm

Hopefully, as time goes on, more of the people in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries will realize how inhumane their government would be if it was allowed to be guided by such absurdly hard-line principles as those promoted by AQ and the like. That could make things much, much better all over the world.

 

So we have at least one candidate reading blogs for news. I like that, willing to embrace new world media.

Leave it to the bloggers to provide a little more information on this...

 

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/drilling-for-justice.htm

Thanks. I'm fairly surprised it's actually out there, but impressed that someone found it.

Thanks. I'm fairly surprised it's actually out there, but impressed that someone found it.

 

We can find a blog that Bush is an alien, I'm not surprised that anyone can find anything.

We can find a blog that Bush is an alien, I'm not surprised that anyone can find anything.

Just so we are clear, are you discounting ALL blogs, or just the ones from embeded reporters actually over in Iraq?

No, I just think it's a fairly embarassing slipup if he's totally pulling things that random out of his arse, and I haven't been able to thus far find anything on the Google suggesting anything other than "he totally made it up".

 

in the words of the honorable Hawk Harrelson:

 

"c'mon.. streeeetch!"

 

Just so we are clear, are you discounting ALL blogs, or just the ones from embeded reporters actually over in Iraq?

 

Blogs in general. Nothing specific to this blog.

Blogs in general. Nothing specific to this blog.

 

you've never read my blogs, then... Facts and nothing but them.

Well, nothing in this thread's title says that we only have to be discussing candidates for 08...and considering that the big issue in 2012 is going to be how the Hell do we finally get ourselves out of Iraq...why not.

The US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, expressed long-term interest in running for the US presidency when he was stationed in Baghdad, according to a senior Iraqi official who knew him at that time.

 

Sabah Khadim, then a senior adviser at Iraq's Interior Ministry, says General Petraeus discussed with him his ambition when the general was head of training and recruitment of the Iraqi army in 2004-05.

 

"I asked him if he was planning to run in 2008 and he said, 'No, that would be too soon'," Mr Khadim, who now lives in London, said.

 

General Petraeus has a reputation in the US Army for being a man of great ambition. If he succeeds in reversing America's apparent failure in Iraq, he would be a natural candidate for the White House in the presidential election in 2012.

It's been a while sense we have had a (career) military man in that office. I'd give serious consideration to one. I wish CP would run.