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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: geode00 who wrote (142955)	10/24/2008 3:24:37 PM
From: jlallen	33 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

Sweeping generalizations about "right wingers" which are the basis for most of your demented rantings are every bit as ignorant as posts which would allege that all Italians are greasy mafiosi, all blacks are lazy and shiftless, all Irish are drunks, etc..... Very ugly....very untrue and very, VERY ignorant... You should be ashamed of yourself, as should anyone who responds to these sorts of posts of yours as if they had any substance....or deserved to be responded to with anything but disgust at the ignorance they betray. J.

To: geode00 who wrote (142955)	10/24/2008 3:50:48 PM
From: Kevin Rose	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

Although some Republicans may think that way, I believe the vast majority don't. I think they believe that people make of themselves what they will, and people can overcome any odds if they work hard enough. They also believe in conserving what they have achieved. I think what they may lack is in an understanding of the inequities of our society. While our inequities are less than almost all other countries, they do still exist. And although there are those who overcome these inequities to be highly successful, the fact is that most don't because of lack of opportunity, support, education, and luck. And then there are Republicans who do understand this inequity, but believe it should be dealt with not by government, but by the private and religious sectors. Just my opinion - I cannot see into the minds of anyone...

To: geode00 who wrote (142955)	10/24/2008 3:52:07 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 173976

U are so mis-informed...............sad U are allowed to vote...........

To: geode00 who wrote (142955)	10/24/2008 4:06:09 PM
From: GROUND ZERO™	2 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 173976

If obambo raises my business taxes, I'm going to fire people to cover that additional cost... so, how does that create jobs? TIA GZ

To: geode00 who wrote (142955)	10/24/2008 4:46:05 PM
From: jlallen	1 Recommendation Respond to of 173976

Looks like I'm not the only on who thinks you are an ignorant bastage..... LOL!! J.

To: geode00 who wrote (142955)	10/24/2008 6:45:28 PM
From: Brumar89	1 Recommendation Respond to of 173976

Thats the worldview of the left - "we are the annointed good people", they believe, at war with the benighted conservatives. Its sheer bigotry employed for psychological purposes. You get an enemy to demonize and hate and also get to feel like you are virtuous and special just by hating the evil ones. The path to righteousness doesn't involve having to do anything righteous, no sacrifice - you just have to hate the evil conservatives. Read Thomas Sowells 'Visions of the Annointed' - he wrote an entire book about this.

To: geode00 who wrote (142955)	10/24/2008 7:39:31 PM
From: ManyMoose	Respond to of 173976

Why don't you crack your geode and try to sell your brains at a rockshop?

To: geode00 who wrote (142955)	10/25/2008 1:03:51 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 173976

Voters Still Not Putting Full Faith Behind Mystery Candidate Obama By VICTOR DAVIS HANSON \| Posted Friday, October 24, 2008 4:30 PM PT Lame-duck Republican President Bush's dismal poll ratings have descended to those of Harry Truman's when he left office. The Democratic majority in Congress will probably widen after the election. Republican nominee John McCain has not run a dynamic campaign. Gen. Colin Powell, George W. Bush's former secretary of state, has now enthusiastically endorsed Barack Obama. Barack Obama has drawn fervid followers and outsized crowds, as shown here Thursday in Indianapolis, yet in a year that has Democratic landslide written all over it, he is still only seven or eight points up in the polls. Is it because he remains as much an enigma as a messiah? The country is in two unpopular wars — amid the worst financial panic of the last 80 years. Not since prophet of change and newcomer Jimmy Carter ran against Gerald Ford (post-Watergate and the lost Vietnam war) have voters been so eager for a shake-up. Why then is the charismatic Barack Obama not quite yet a shoo-in? Easy. Voters apparently still don't know who Obama is, or what he wants to do — and so are still not altogether sure that Obama is the proper antidote to George Bush. After more than a year of campaigning, he still remains an enigma. Old Friends Obama promised to be the post-racial candidate who would bring us together. But when asked in March 2004 whether he attended regularly the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama boasted: "Yep. Every week. Eleven o'clock service." The healer Obama further characterized the racist Wright as "certainly someone who I have an enormous amount of respect for." And Obama described the even more venomous Father Michael Pfleger as "a dear friend, and somebody I interact with closely." Obama can dismiss his past associations with Bill Ayers as perfunctory and now irrelevant. But why then did an Obama campaign spokesman say Obama hadn't e-mailed with or spoken by phone to Ayers since January 2005, suggesting more than three years of communications — in a post-9/11 climate — after Ayers said publicly that he had not done enough bombing? From ACORN To . . . Obama's campaign shrugged when legal doubts were raised about the sloppy voter registration practices of ACORN — an organization that Obama himself has both helped and praised. Yet Obama was once a stickler for proper voter documents. In 1996, he had all of his Democratic rivals removed from the ballot in an Illinois state primary election on the basis of sloppy voter petitions. Many of Obama's surrogates, from congressional leaders like Rep. John Lewis to his running mate, Joe Biden, have suggested that the McCain and Palin candidacies have heightened racial tensions. Do such pre-emptory warnings mean that one cannot worry about Obama's 20-year relationship with Rev. Wright or long association with Father Pfleger? It's also unclear exactly what Obama's message of "hope" and "change" means. The hope part turned a little weird when Obama, in prophetic fashion, proclaimed, "We are the ones we've been waiting for," and later put up Greek-temple backdrops for his speech at the Democratic Convention. If we didn't get that supernatural message, Obama also promised of his election that it would be the "moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." And change? Obama himself has changed positions on FISA, NAFTA, campaign public financing, town-hall meetings with McCain, offshore drilling, nuclear and coal power, capital punishment and gun control, his characterization of Iran, the surge in Iraq, and the future of Jerusalem. So change from what to what? Under Sen. Obama's tax plan, nearly half of all income earners wouldn't pay federal income taxes. He also offers billions in cash payments to millions of those people. And he promises to pay for that loss in revenue by upping taxes on those in the highest income brackets, who already pay the majority of existing income taxes — and who could also be subject to proposed higher payroll, estate and capital gains taxes. . . . A Mighty Leftist Is that a tax-cut policy or more a redistribution of wealth in search of forced equality — what Obama himself apparently calls to "spread the wealth around" or what Biden once suggested was "patriotic"? A Martian who reviewed Obama's past elections in Illinois, the various associations he once cultivated, his brief voting record in the Senate, and the positions he originally outlined when he announced his presidential campaign might objectively conclude that America could elect either the most far-left or the most unknown presidential candidate in its history. I just hope that it is still not racist or McCarthy-like — or blasphemous — simply to suggest that. © 2008 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

To: geode00 who wrote (142955)	10/25/2008 1:05:04 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

From Dreams of My Father:'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.' From Dreams of My Father : 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race.' From Dreams of My Father:'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.' From Dreams of My Father: 'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.' From Dreams of My Father:'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself , the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.' And FINALLY the Most Damning one of ALL of them!!! From Audacity of Hope:'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.' * If you have never forwarded an e-mail, now is the time to Do so!!! We CANNOT have someone with this type of mentality running our GREAT nation!! I don't care whether you a Democrat or a Conservative. We CANNOT turn ourselves over to this type of character in a President. PLEASE help spread the word

To: geode00 who wrote (142955)	10/25/2008 1:11:13 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 173976

Are 401(k)s safe from congressional Democrats? By JAMES TARANTO If you have a 401(k) or equivalent retirement plan, you've probably been watching nervously the past few weeks as your nest egg has shrunken owing to the current turmoil in the markets. Well, it could be worse. But don't take heart, for what we mean is it could get worse. The market turmoil has some politicians on Capitol Hill eyeing the end of the 401(k) as we know it. Workforce Management reports on a hearing of the House Education and Labor Committee earlier this month: A plan by Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic-policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, contains elements that are being considered. . . . Under Ghilarducci's plan, all workers would receive a $600 annual inflation-adjusted subsidy from the U.S. government but would be required to invest 5 percent of their pay into a guaranteed retirement account administered by the Social Security Administration. The money in turn would be invested in special government bonds that would pay 3 percent a year, adjusted for inflation. The current system of providing tax breaks on 401(k) contributions and earnings would be eliminated. "I want to stop the federal subsidy of 401(k)s," Ghilarducci said in an interview. "401(k)s can continue to exist, but they won't have the benefit of the subsidy of the tax break." Ghilarducci outlined her plan last year in a paper for the left-liberal Economic Policy Institute, in which she acknowledges that her plan would amount to a tax increase on workers making more than $75,000--considerably less than the $250,000 Barack Obama has said would be his tax-hike cutoff. In addition, workers would be able to pass on only half of their account balances to their heirs; presumably the government would seize the remaining half. (Under current law, 401(k) balances are fully heritable, although they are subject to the income tax.) Sounds pretty unappealing, doesn't it? But in her congressional testimony, Ghilarducci offered a sweetener: Short-term I propose . . . that the Congress allow workers to swap out their 401(k) assets, perhaps at August levels, for a guaranteed retirement account--just a one-time swap. . . . How would this work? You go back to your districts and meet up with a 55-year-old who had had $50,000 in his account last month and now has $40,000 in the account. He can swap out that $50,000, valued in August, for that guarantee of what would become, if he retires at 62, a $500 a month addition to Social Security. A 55-year-old who lost 20% of his 401(k) because of the recent stock market decline was investing more aggressively than he should have, given his age. Ghilarducci proposes to reward this imprudence in exchange for dramatically limiting everyone's ability to take risks (and enjoy the corresponding rewards) and for greatly increasing government control of Americans' retirement funds. It is by no means a certainty that Congress or a President Obama would embrace such a proposal, but this is a direction in which things may move if the Democrats make big gains next month. Mistakes Were Made The New York Times recounts the sad story of Jody Crispin, a 39-year-old mother of two from Virginia Beach, Va. In 2006 Crispin decided to buy her first house, for $205,000. The $1,650 monthly payments wouldn't be a problem, given that she earned a six-figure income selling ads for a Web site. But soon after she closed on the house, things went wrong for her at work. Her sales commissions started declining. "Then in August of that year, after a supervisor reassigned some of her clients to another staff member, she made a decision she came to regret: 'They told me they were giving accounts I made to someone else. I quit.' " She did not have another job lined up. She thought about becoming a real estate agent, but realized it was not an opportune time to go into that business. She found a couple of other jobs, but was making far less than at her earlier job. By August she had missed three mortgage payments, and the bank foreclosed and sold her house at auction. Crispin proceeded to move in with an ex-boyfriend, the father of her 6-year-old son, whom she had apparently never married. "The arrangement is especially difficult, she said, because she still has feelings for him, though he is dating someone else and has made it clear that they will never get back together." This left her so "emotionally distraught" that last week she missed two days of work, and she worries she may get the ax. On Friday the ex-boyfriend told her to move out. "But she has saved only $130 toward renting her own place. So she posted a flier at Starbucks offering her big-screen television for sale, and, without a destination, began packing her van." The Times, in its Paris edition, headlines the story "The Personal Cost of the Mortgage Meltdown." To be sure, the story is a sad one, but what does it have to do with the "mortgage meltdown"? There is no indication that Crispin's mortgage was beyond her means at the time she took it out. By the Times's account, she lost her home because of a combination of bad decisions and bad luck. True, some of the latter was owing to unfavorable economic trends, but this could have happened at any time. The Times seems to be straining to fit it into the "mortgage meltdown" narrative. My Brilliant Shariah The Daily Lobo, student newspaper at the University of New Mexico, reports on a novel proposal for curing America's economic ills: The U.S. may be able to solve its financial troubles by being more like Middle Eastern countries. At least that's what Loretta Napoleoni, author of Rogue Economics: Capitalism's New Reality, said during a presentation in the SUB [Student Union Building] on Wednesday. She said the banking systems in Islamist countries operate according to religious laws and are more successful for it. . . . Napoleoni said that in Islamist finance, banks do not charge interest for loans and that this encourages entrepreneurs. "Money has to be invested," she said. "It has to be invested in the real economy, and through real growth, they can produce more money. This system could help us to get out of the current crisis." According to the CIA World Factbook, in 2007 Saudi Arabia, which practices Shariah (Islamic law) had a per capita gross domestic product of $19,800. Of course America might not quite be able to match this, since the Saudis have insane amounts of oil wealth. Probably we'd end up somewhere between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, a country that borders Saudi Arabia but has no oil to speak of, where the per capita GDP was $2,500. Then again, the per capita GDP of America was $45,800. So it's just possible we're doing something right. The Partisan Press Conservatives and Republicans have complained that the media are in the tank for Barack Obama, as did Hillary Clinton supporters back in the day. It turns out that this perception is widely shared. According to a new survey from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 70% of Americans "believe that the media wants Barack Obama to win the presidential election." Only 9% think the media are pulling for John McCain, with 21% saying they don't know or the media are neutral. Pew asked the same question in the four previous elections, and found a similar but far less dramatic pattern. In 2004, 50% said the media wanted John Kerry to win, vs. 22% for George W. Bush. The percentage who didn't know or said the media were neutral was as high as 31% in 1992 and has never been as low as it is today. To some extent, the media's perceived preferences may reflect a change in public opinion. After all, indications are that a higher percentage of Americans want Obama to win than wanted Kerry four years ago. But the increase in voter preference is unlikely to be anywhere near as dramatic as the increase in perceived media preference. Journalists' favorite candidate may win this time around, but their reputation for impartiality is taking a beating in the process. We're Not Prejudiced, We Hate All Groups Equally Yesterday we noted that Lewis Diuguid of the Kansas City Star had identified "socialist" as a code word for "black." In a column today, Diuguid predicts that Barack Obama will lose the election, because "the burning fires of racism" mean that "the majority is unlikely to elect an African-American leader." That is hardly an original prediction. What makes Diuguid's viewpoint unique, however, is that he attributes the loss of several other candidates--including those Obama beat--to prejudice: Ethnicity got bumped first when New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who's Hispanic, dropped his bid for the Democratic nomination for president in January. This country is building fences on the Mexican border and isn't ready to put a Latino in the White House. Religion got an "F" next when former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is Mormon, dropped out of the GOP bid for president in early March. He had the credentials, the experience, the money and good looks to be president. But Mormons I know say his faith was what likely did him in. They've explained that Mormons face discrimination that rivals what African-Americans have had to endure. Gender was the third to fall. Overpowering sexism is real in America. Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has been horribly treated by the media and the public, conceded to Barack Obama. Obama will face Sen. John McCain, who added gender on a lower tier by picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. A lot of GOP pundits are "hating" on her now. What's brilliant about this is that even if Obama wins, Diuguid doesn't have to give up his belief in enduring racism. He can just blame McCain's loss on sexism, or perhaps on bias against old people. Who Are You Calling 'Boy'? "Self-Described White Supremacist Charged With Biting Boy, 9"--headline, FoxNews.com, Oct. 22 This Bailout Business Is Going Too Far "Man to Be Reimbursed After Mice Munch of His Cash"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 22 'Yes, Elvis Is Still Dead' "Doctor Asked to Reevaluate King"--headline, KSBW-TV Web site (Salinas, Calif.), Oct. 22 At Least His Hands Aren't Idle "Satan Toils in Relative Obscurity"--headline, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Oct. 22 In Case You Were Wondering How Those Scandal Mounts Got Here "Catholic Left Scandal Mounts"--headline, Catholic League press release, Oct. 23 Accountants: Less Boring Than Actuaries "Hungary: Less of a Disaster Than Iceland"--headline, WSJ.com, Oct. 22 These Are the Last People Who Should Be Getting Handouts "State's Sex Offenders to Get Halloween Checks"--headline, State (Columbia, S.C.), Oct. 23 Still 15% Too Many "Only 15% Say Madonna Good Role Model for Women"--headline, Rasmussen Reports, Oct. 22 Someone Set Up Us the Bomb "U.S. Cities' Math Scores Split Compared to Rest of World"--headline, USA Today, Oct. 22 Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control "New York Man Claims Hindu God Appeared to Him in Plant"--headline, FoxNews.com, Oct. 22 "X-Rays Emitted From Ordinary Scotch Tape"--headline, MSNBC.com, Oct. 22 "Dog Sick From Eating Bra"--headline, Answers.com, Oct. 21 "Man Parades Bangladesh Streets With Decapitated Head"--headline, FoxNews.com, Oct. 23 "3 Million Kids Sick From Some Kind of Food"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 22 News of the Oxymoronic "Air Force Creates New Pilot Programs for Drones"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 23 News You Can Use "Lauterbach on Gardening: Save Praying Mantis Egg Cases if You Find Them"--headline, Idaho Statesman, Oct. 23 "Walking House Can Escape Floods or Unruly Neighborhoods"--headline, Daily Telegraph (London), Oct. 23 "Israeli Health and Beauty Spa Offers a Snake Massage for £40"--headline, Daily Telegraph, Oct. 22 "Your Age Affects What You Consider 'Old' "--headline, Times (Munster, Ind.), Oct. 23 Bottom Stories of the Day "Shatner Upset Takei Didn't Invite Him to Wedding"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 22 "Obama Brushes Aside GOP Criticism of His Tax Plans"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 22 "Nader Plans Whirlwind Tour of Massachusetts"--headline, Boston Globe, Oct. 23 "Al Gore Delivers Environmental Message at Harvard"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 23 "Bush Decides to Keep Guantánamo Open"--headline, New York Times, Oct. 21 "Hollywood Comes Out in Support of Gay Marriage"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 22 'Late Filing Syndrome' Charles O'Byrne, a top aide to New York's governor, is in a bit of hot water: He owed $300,000 in back taxes, which he did not pay until two days ago, after the New York Post revealed he was delinquent. The New York Times reports that his lawyer is trying an insanity defense of sorts: Gov. David A. Paterson's top aide, who failed to pay income taxes or file returns from 2001 to 2005, was afflicted by "late-filing syndrome," a condition that made it difficult for him to fill out his tax returns, his lawyer said on Wednesday. The lawyer, Richard S. Kestenbaum, said that he believed that the aide, Charles J. O'Byrne, despite an annual income of about $100,000 and an Ivy League education, could not bring himself to undertake the task of filling out his tax forms every year. Mr. O'Byrne and his doctor have described him as clinically depressed during that period. "Most times, with professionals, these are very high-functioning people who otherwise complete all the other ordinary tasks of their life," Mr. Kestenbaum said during a news conference in Manhattan. He's not a deadbeat, he has a disease. And just think, now that the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007 is law, once Barack Obama institutes universal health care, we'll all be able to get diagnoses like this. No one will have to pay taxes ever again!