To those who voted.

[bnwitt]

I would venture to say that our country has perfected apathy and is trying dependence on for size at the moment. Both of your quotes are well known to me and have long been part of my perspective and personally held conclusion of the state of American affairs.

It is only a matter of time before we return to bondage. We have already taken many of the necessary steps toward that end. This is why I continue to say..."Vote against every incumbent!" We must produce an electoral earthquake that upends the footing of our greedy and dishonest representatives. I have in recent years updated my statement to not just vote out the incumbent, but also to vote for non-major party affiliated candidates when they are available. Non cooperative chaos would be better in the three branches of government rather than allowing cooperative control by either party.

But alas, I have been watching each election become more and more bizarre:

"I want a chicken in my pot."
"I voted my pocketbook."
"I voted for him because he was handsome." (Told to me by a woman about Bill Clinton???)
"I wanted to make history by voting for the first black president."
"I wanted to make history by voting for the first female vice president."

With and electorate sporting this much stupidity we are doomed.

[CaseyJones]

I just gotta laugh over "my politics are bigger than your politics". Who said it's all bullshit a buncha pages ago? 'Cuz it is....

I'm watchin' the news today, buncha talkin' heads tryin' to figure out "where the bottom is" and whether we're in a "bear market rally". C'mon, y'all... I've said it before, I know bullshit when I see it. I'm not sayin' any of you are right or any of you are wrong, it's just that we can't see the forest 'cuz of all the trees. The way I see it is really simple, I took a long long ride through the countryside, I see what I see. What I see is a lot of big commercial and industrial real estate wif "Space Available" signs on it. You can't see that from Wall Street and you sure as hell can't see it from Washington. All those factories and all those offices shouldn't be empty, they should be full of workers. Our teenagers need to take their noses out of their video games and make things so that when they have to make things... they know how.

All those McMansions built up along the ridgelines in what used to be pasture are a hideous indication of lopsided distribution of wealth. I can't tell you how to fix that but I'm pretty sure it ain't right. Hell, for what "they" pay Ford's CEO "they" can pay 200 autoworkers.

Those big windmills along the ridgelines look pretty good to me. Too bad, so sad... can't chop ridgelines into little lots and build McMansions on 'em once the windmills are there.

Come to think of it... the McMansions wil sort themselves out... given time. "We" stopped buildin' giant houses in what, 1898? Wif little birth control pills we don't need giant houses in 2008. Oh, we want em 'cuz "bigger is better". Don't need 'em. Give 'em time, they'll rot like every Victorian white elephant that's too big to heat and too expensive to restore is rotting.

It's like we all went on an epic bender and now we all know we got a problem. Near as I can tell we all agree we got a problem, that's progress. There were signs this was comin' like the canary droppin' dead in a coal mine. Those Wall Street boys don't use canaries so they can't tell they got a problem until their equity keels over in its little gilded cage.

The Canadians still have the best tit bars in North America.

[stink]

Does this sum it up?
________
HERBALAIRE VAPORIZER REVIEW

[bnwitt]

I just gotta laugh over "my politics are bigger than your politics". Who said it's all bullshit a buncha pages ago? 'Cuz it is....

I think that was me.

Those Wall Street boys don't use canaries so they can't tell they got a problem until their equity keels over in its little gilded cage.

Well I don't agree with that. The Wall Street fellows are plenty intuitive. Fact is, however, they don't have a problem. Retired American investors do. And believe me they knew we had it before we did. They've got their golden parachutes and our reps bailing them out. No problem for them, their canary is still singing. It's small time America's money that is gone with the wind if they were in the market.

I got out last year and went into cash just because I thought 1.5 trillion in debt to China was a bad thing for the market when you couldn't lower the prime rate any more. So many people said they didn't see this coming. The signs were like Mt St. Helens. But you have to do your own research. You can't trust a broker. Broker's are just lazy thieves.

The Canadians still have the best tit bars in North America.

Well get them while their hot. Thanks to the Canadian governments tax increase on served alcohol pubs and tit bars are drying up left and right.

[CaseyJones]

Those Wall Street boys don't use canaries so they can't tell they got a problem until their equity keels over in its little gilded cage.

Well I don't agree with that. The Wall Street fellows are plenty intuitive. Fact is, however, they don't have a problem. Retired American investors do. And believe me they knew we had it before we did. They've got their golden parachutes and our reps bailing them out. No problem for them, their canary is still singing. It's small time America's money that is gone with the wind if they were in the market.

I still don't get it. Maybe wif a golden parachute you get out, you're o.k. and "screw you, Jack!" But that's not the way these guys think. It is and it isn't. It's not like you'd walk away from a poker game unless you were tapped out.

Hell, put me on as CEO of Ford, I'll take the $22 million and step down after a year. That's the last you'll hear from me, yup, you heard it here first, $22 million and I'll shut up. That's all the money I'll ever need maybe ten times over, easy. I can think of a charitable endeavor or two that I could get off the ground wif that kind of money. Betcha I could do a billion dollars worth of good... in time... wif $22 million.

But that's not the way the "Big Boys" operate. $22 million this year, another $22 million next year, even if the Feds eat up $8 million a year of that in taxes it's still a stack o' dough. I can't believe these guys have the balls to bungee jump into a market wif no bottom if they saw it comin'. They just don't.

[bnwitt]

Casey, you're missing a very important point when it comes to Mega Corp CEO's. Performance doesn't matter. These guys and gals can totally screw up one company after another and move on to the next one with impunity. The golden parachute is to insure massive income regardless of the company's performance.

I could give you example after example of a CEO tanking a company and then getting an even better deal at the next one. This has to do with Alma Matter and connections. It is not the world you and I live in. Google Lisa Hook for one small example. Oh there are so many others.

[fusionbear]

I am reading the Bio of John Adams right now and all I can say is that the US has gone way downhill...

I know I don't compare to the overall quality of knowledge, wisdom, and virtue of those great men that founded this country.

The change that the new administration is attempting to bring in will only pull us further away than what the founders of this great country intended.

Yes, it seems we are on the road to bondage rather than the liberty that the founders sought.

[Tubetwang]

I am reading the Bio of John Adams right now and all I can say is that the US has gone way downhill...

I know I don't compare to the overall quality of knowledge, wisdom, and virtue of those great men that founded this country.

The change that the new administration is attempting to bring in will only pull us further away than what the founders of this great country intended.

Yes, it seems we are on the road to bondage rather than the liberty that the founders sought.

We all due respect... you are reading the wrong book man...Keep the past in mind but...look forward...

This is 2008...8 years of Bush's doctrine helping his Oil and Wall Street buddies...yeah yeah...and all of these Auto CEO and his 1500 Banker friends...how can you let that happen???

It would'nt be so bad if the suckers who voted for him TWICE would pay the bill...but when the rest of the world is affected big time...and my prime rate goes up...i get upset...
yeah yeah!

Ho no...i'm being selfish again...

Here's a suggestion...read "Call me Ted" by Ted Turner.

My wife and 13 year old will be visiting my Mom in Cal this summer...we'll be driving the Lincoln Highway...i hope them cute little motels are still in business..

But then i'm a Lib...we'll bring the tent...

I'll shut up now...but i still believe in free education and health care...

[mlp-mx6]

I'll shut up now...but i still believe in free education and health care...

It is NOT free!!!! Stop calling it that. Calling it "free" is LYING about it - perhaps not intentionally, but that does not matter. Both things have a SIGNIFICANT cost to provide. Never forget that, and never pretend otherwise.

[mlp-mx6]

sorry, double-post due to web page error

[drhulsey]

...but i still believe in free education and health care...

You mean, education and health care paid for by somebody else, don't ya
Then, you're vulnerable to those who can restrict what treatment you receive and what you can learn And you can't complain: "Quitcher bitchin'. It's free "

Not my idea of Utopia

[Tubetwang]

Free education and free health care means...you walk in and get served...and the money comes from taxes.

Yeah i know...nobody like's to pay taxes...me included but although this system is not perfect, it's been good so far.

If i don't like the universal system, i simply move my ass to a private clinic...plenty of those around...as not all doc adhere to public health...A doctor will make more money working in the private system.

This has been my experience so far in countries that do offer such privilege...

Not perfect, but, so far so good...

I sleep better at night knowing that everyone is covered...

I'd hate to bail out Wall Street...

Don't mind bailing out the poor on health issues but...

To each is own...

[CaseyJones]

This is 2008...8 years of Bush's doctrine helping his Oil and Wall Street buddies...yeah yeah...and all of these Auto CEO and his 1500 Banker friends...how can you let that happen???

Simple answer... we're not hungry enough and we're not angry enough. We're too distracted.

My wife and 13 year old will be visiting my Mom in Cal this summer...we'll be driving the Lincoln Highway...i hope them cute little motels are still in business..

But then i'm a Lib...we'll bring the tent...

But then you're a hippy. You tellin' me yer microbus won't make it?

There goes yer street cred!

[stink]

Free education and free health care means...you walk in and get served...and the money comes from taxes.

Tube, kindly keep your hands out of my paycheck. You live in Canada; you obviously like it so stay there.

If i don't like the universal system, i simply move my ass to a private clinic...plenty of those around...as not all doc adhere to public health...A doctor will make more money working in the private system.

So, let me see if I?ve got this straight, you?re OK paying over 50% of your salary for ?free? healthcare but if you feel you?re not getting the treatment you want then you pay more money to go to a private practice???? You are obviously a child who got left behind.

I never commented on your particularly vile attempt categorizing me as the following:

You are fooled by money, greed ,power, ego and status...

When that million dollar home is paid off, you'll probably want a 100 million dollar home...only makes sense...

You'll be working your white ass off like there is no tomorrow...trying to get to the top of the food chain...

On the way there, you may get burnt out and suffer from depression...

You'll then loose it all and walk the street naked...

Only then will you experience how the poor live...

Not only are you one of the ?libtards? who feels the ?rich? owe you something, you are obviously racist:

You'll be working your white ass off like there is no tomorrow...trying to get to the top of the food chain

I mentioned in my previous posts that I DIDN?T like being poor so I did something about it. FYI I lived in a ONE bedroom apartment in 1988 which I shared with a roommate. Our rent was $635 monthly (accounting for 4.1% annual inflation that?s the equivalent of $1,439.75 per month in today?s dollars), I had a $330/month car payment and a $300/month child support payment. I couldn?t afford furniture so I resorted to getting a ?freebie? sofa from a friend and a loveseat from the dumpster (True story). I didn?t have a refrigerator because I couldn?t afford one. Instead we had a Styrofoam ice chest which was replenished on a daily basis. My coffee table was a wire spool and my bookcases were milk crates. My ?net? take home pay was about $1,500 per month. Subtracting out only the above mentioned items (totaling $947) that left me with $553. Out of that residual I still had to buy food, fuel, auto insurance and pay utilities. I was shitting Ramen noodles because it was about all I could afford.

I didn?t like it, didn?t like it one bit so I changed my life by putting MYSELF through college, changing jobs frequently in order to build my salary history and experience, became more marketable and am respected in my industry today. So for all my hard work and effort, I must now be punished by paying more to lazy trolls and crack whores squirting out babies because I?m part of the evil rich?

Did I also mention I paid over $57,000 last year in taxes alone? That?s more than a lot of folks earn ($27.40/hour). I?M NOT BRAGGING, I PAY MY SHARE??

Kindly keep your foolish opinions to yourself, try to get help with your racial hatred issue, stay out of debates dealing with US politics and continue receiving ?free? stuff in your homeland.

-Steve
________
ELEANOR (1973 FORD MUSTANG) HISTORY

[Tubetwang]

This is 2008...8 years of Bush's doctrine helping his Oil and Wall Street buddies...yeah yeah...and all of these Auto CEO and his 1500 Banker friends...how can you let that happen???

Simple answer... we're not hungry enough and we're not angry enough. We're too distracted.

My wife and 13 year old will be visiting my Mom in Cal this summer...we'll be driving the Lincoln Highway...i hope them cute little motels are still in business..

But then i'm a Lib...we'll bring the tent...

But then you're a hippy. You tellin' me yer microbus won't make it?

There goes yer street cred!

We'll be using the Yaris this time...The dog and parrot will stay home...for lack of space...