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

To: TimF who wrote (144081)	10/29/2008 4:54:12 PM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

Khalidi is a professor of Middle East Studies at Columbia University and a longtime friend of Obama's. Khalidi has publicly criticized Israel, but he and Obama have both said they hold very different opinions on Israeli issues. McCain also has ties to Khalidi through a group that Khalidi helped found 15 years ago. The Center for Palestine Research and Studies has received more than $800,000 from an organization that McCain chairs. from the latimes

To: TimF who wrote (144081)	10/29/2008 6:23:01 PM
From: geode00	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

No, it cannot. They are joined at the hip. You don't hand over money without first perceiving you will receive something in return for that money. Sometimes it's product you want, sometimes it's a service you feel you must have, sometimes it's to avoid being audited....you can't isolate that from the behavior of giving up money. If you believe that people act in their own best interests and that the 'market' solves all human behavior issues then people should be leaving society in droves for a better life elsewhere. That they are not indicates that the payment of taxes for services works for most people. It isn't perfect but there aren't better alternatives out there right now. Working off the books is not bartering if cash changes hands. I'm thinking of an economy where there is no profit in bartering, merely a 1-for-1 exchange of goods and services. The IRS might like to figure out the worth of things in dollar amounts but it hardly seems worth the trouble. In order to live in society with more than say, two people, you need some sort of agreement which ends up looking rather like government. You can call it what it is but living in society necessitates living with a government or else it's just anarchy. I don't know at what point government becomes too big or too little. That's pretty subjective. What is too much government to one person seems like just enough to another. China has yet another melamine problem. This time it's eggs. Should government regulate the amount of such chemicals in foods or not? Is that too much regulation or not? edition.cnn.com