CLOSED!!Political Discussion - A Place to &quot;duke it out&quot; (7400+)

Top 1064. Aug 17, 2003 3:55 PM

» Fred2000 - Re: Energy Policy Problems are the Fault of both sides

In response to message posted by Kirk:

" But the ecofascists prefer we keep all the oil wells in the Middle East where they leak oil and pollute there rather than our ANR where we could have all sorts of laws to protect the environment."

Kirk... There are reasons for paying attention to the environment. I live close to Niagara Falls and can say with a high degree of accuracy that given the choice of which side to visit, American or Canadian, 99% of tourists would choose the Canadian side.

While many people accuse the Canadians of being too socialistic, they do know how to get some things done. A 40 mile area along the shores of the Niagara river from Fort Erie to Niagara On the Lake, is a garden of swimming holes, fishing holes, beaches, parks and boat launching sites. They have several first class golf courses near the cataract, historical sites, eating spots and museums. The plants and power equipment is well hidden and not an eye-sore by any means.

In contrast, the American side is a picture of chemical plants, landfills, empty and boarded up fire traps and dangerous railings that almost no one comes to see. Remember this is one of the wonders of the world we talking about.

The Canadian side is where thousands of people visit, play and stay. On the American side, you could fire a cannon without hitting anyone.

Needless to say when I take my guests to see the falls, it's the Canadian side they get to see and they are usually shocked when they see the contrast between the two sides of the same attraction.

By the way, they generate a good deal of their revenue for that reason and our side is going bankrupt. Think of the jobs they generate there. We seem to be penny-wise and pound-foolish.

-- posted by Fred2000

Top 1065. Aug 18, 2003 4:23 AM

» Fred2000 - Buffett speaks...

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Buffett says property taxes too low in California. What does that say about the constant whining by ultraconservative "Freeloaders"?

By JIM WASSERMAN, Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Comments by a billionaire adviser to Arnold Schwarzenegger that California's property taxes are too low drew sharp rebukes Friday from fellow Republicans, and highlighted the dilemma for a rookie gubernatorial candidate who has revealed little about his views.

Among the chorus of critics responding to the remarks by investment mogul Warren Buffett was Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, himself stung by a poll released Friday that showed growing support for his ouster in the Oct. 7 recall election.

"Lord knows we have some things in California that cost a lot, but property taxes are not one of them and nobody is going to change this," Davis said at a Los Angeles elementary school.

Buffett, Schwarzenegger's economic adviser, bumped his candidate into a controversial light with remarks in The Wall Street Journal about one of California's most sacred tenets, the 25-year-old tax revolt called Proposition 13.

-- posted by Fred2000

Top 1066. Aug 18, 2003 6:27 AM

» collguy - Some Bush firsts

Here's a record tobe proud of. The first President since Hoover to preside over a net job loss (barring millions of jobs being crested in the next year). The first President to increase the national debt by 25%. This guy makes Gray Davis look like a financial genius.

-- posted by collguy

Top 1067. Aug 18, 2003 8:02 AM

» DellaO - Democrat/Socialists Kill California...

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...and are aiming at the nation.

Annie hits another home run!!!!

The Democrats' laboratory: The host organism dies

Ann Coulter

August 14, 2003

In June 2002, the liberal American Prospect magazine was hailing California as a "laboratory" for Democratic policies. With "its Democratic governor, U.S. senators, state legislature and congressional delegation," author Harold Meyerson gushed, "California is the only one of the nation's 10 largest states that is uniformly under Democratic control." In the Golden State, Meyerson said, "the next New Deal is in tryouts." (Can't you just feel the tension building?)

Just a few years before that, the impresario of this adventure in Democratic governance, Gov. Gray Davis, was being touted as presidential material – which wasn't nearly as insulting a thing to say to a politician back then as it is now. Analyst Charles Cook said Davis was "a major player in the Democratic Party," with qualities that would "serve him well should Davis try to test his national ambitions." Davis' fellow Democratic governor, Gary Locke of Washington, called Davis "truly the rising star among governors across America, and among Democrats he's so highly respected as one of the new breed of moderate, centrist Democrats." The only Davis adjective he left out was "money-grubbing."

Around the time of the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, Davis was forced to announce that he would decline offers to be Al Gore's running mate. The Associated Press hailed the match-up, noting that Davis and Al Gore were "strikingly similar in background, outlook and demeanor." Perhaps their campaign slogan could have been "bland and blander."

Gore advisers cooed that "Gray would certainly be one of those names that would have to be in the mix." Both were said to be "cautious, moderate 'New Democrats.'" Both were veterans, after a fashion, of Vietnam, which would make a Gore-Davis presidential ticket the only compelling argument yet in favor of friendly fire.

California is, in fact, a perfect petri dish of Democratic policies. This is what happens when you let Democrats govern: You get a state – or as it's now known, a "job-free zone" – with a $38 billion deficit, which is larger than the budgets of 48 states. There are reports that Argentina and the Congo are sending their fiscal policy experts to Sacramento to help stabilize the situation. California's credit rating has been slashed to junk-bond status, and citizens are advised to stock up for the not-too-far-off day when cigarettes and Botox become the hard currency of choice. At this stage, we couldn't give California back to Mexico.

Democrats governed their petri dish as they always govern. They buy the votes of government workers with taxpayer-funded jobs, salaries and benefits – and then turn around and accuse the productive class of "greed" for wanting their taxes cut. This has worked so well nationally that more people in America now work for the government than work in any sort of manufacturing job.

Strictly adhering to formula in California, as the private sector was bleeding jobs and money, Gov. Davis signed off on comically generous pensions for government workers. Government employees in the Golden State earn more than the private-sector workers who pay their salaries – and that's excluding the job security, health benefits and 90 percent pension plans that come with "Irish welfare," as government jobs used to be called.

Economists refer to this backward ratio between public and private-sector salaries as "France." (Inasmuch as they are paid more and work less than private-sector employees, perhaps we could ease up on treating public schoolteachers like Mother Teresa washing the feet of the poor in Calcutta.) The public-sector unions repaid Davis with massive contributions to his re-election campaign.

Davis bought himself re-election and is now the most hated officeholder in America. The people of California are willing to plunge their state into humiliation and chaos just to get rid of him. The fact that Arianna Huffington hasn't been laughed off a stage yet is a pretty good gauge of the public's frustration with Davis.

And yet, Bill and Hillary Clinton and the rest of the Democratic Party think Gray Davis is doing a super job. Democrats have denounced the recall – a genuine citizens' revolt – as a "circus." According to recent polls, two out of three people in this overwhelmingly Democratic state want Davis out, and still the recall is being called a "Republican power grab."

Most touchingly, Democrats claim to be shocked at the exorbitant cost of a recall election. They were not such penny-pinchers when contemplating Enron-style pensions for school crossing guards. Nor did their fiscal conservatism kick in when Davis announced this week that he would sign legislation providing "intolerance and hatred control training" for all California schoolteachers. Yeah, this is the guy who wants another crack at straightening out the budget.

National Republicans had been enjoying watching the Democrats' petri dish disintegrate into a parasite's paradise and are reluctant to let Davis go. So there were long faces all around when the Terminator threw his hat in the ring. No longer content to play an evil robot, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger will now be running against one. Far be it from me to tell Republicans to stop enjoying the Democrats' pain, but California is about to fall into the ocean.

Either Schwarzenegger will dismantle the government employees' Versailles Palace, or California will continue to be a laboratory for failed liberal policies.

-- posted by DellaO

Top 1068. Aug 18, 2003 5:13 PM

» Fred2000 - Ann Coulter exposed......

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For an accurate evaluation of Ann Coulter, see the Rush Limbaugh thread.

-- posted by Fred2000

Top 1069. Aug 18, 2003 5:30 PM

» Fred2000 - Who does he tie his brain behind his back for?

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A lady caller asked Rush a question he couldn't answer. He hemmed and hawed like Ozzie Ozbourn caught in the act. The question? Why do you always oppose every proposal to conserve our resources regardless of how sound it might be?

The troops (ditto-heads) are getting restless. Some are even starting to think and question. Does anyone have an answer Rush can use? Help the old boy out since he has half his brain tied behind his back.

While you're at it, since mostly ditto-heads listen to Rush, who does he tie half his brain behind his back for??? Who would listen to a half brain and take what he says seriously?

-- posted by Fred2000

Top 1070. Aug 18, 2003 5:41 PM

» Fred2000 - The cast

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Arnold Schwarzenegger as Jesse Ventura
Warren Buffett as (who else?) Warren Buffett
Pete Wilson as The G-Man
George Schultz as a nobody
Rob Lowe as Larry Flint but not paralyzed from the waiste down
Hillary Clinton as the witch who falls off her broom

Er... not Hillary. She's a wierdo. smile

Say Arnold, didn't you recently have a meeting with Ken Lay?

I don't remember.

What advice have you gotten from Bill Clinton.

To say I don't remember.

Rush Limbaugh has been saying some nasty things about you. How do you respond?

I can beat him with one arm tied behind my back.

-- posted by Fred2000

Top 1071. Aug 19, 2003 6:15 AM

» Fred2000 - Arnolds campaign slogan:

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Arnold's political team may still be working on position papers, but the Web site team has already settled on a campaign slogan: "Pro-Kids, Pro-Jobs, Pro-Hope, Anti-Bad Stuff."

-- posted by Fred2000

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=st...

Top 1072. Aug 19, 2003 12:24 PM

» SteveT - Prosecutor: Janklow Ran Stop Sign in Crash

Prosecutor: Janklow Ran Stop Sign in Crash
Tue Aug 19,11:02 AM ET

By BERNARD McGHEE, Associated Press Writer

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Rep. Bill Janklow ran a stop sign before his Cadillac collided with a motorcycle at a rural intersection over the weekend, killing the motorcycle rider, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Investigators still have not determined how fast Janklow was driving, said Moody County State's Attorney William Ellingson.

But preliminary reports indicate Janklow went through the intersection without stopping, Ellingson said. He said Janklow's car traveled about 300 feet after impact.

Randolph E. Scott, 55, of Hardwick, Minn., died when his motorcycle collided with Janklow's car near Trent, about 25 miles northeast of Sioux Falls. Scott did not have a stop sign at his intersection.

Authorities are talking to five witnesses as they investigate the crash, South Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Jeff Talbot said. One of the witnesses is a second motorcyclist who was traveling with Scott.

The investigation should be done in the next two to three days, Talbot said. The results will then be forwarded to Ellingson, who will determine if charges should be filed, Talbot said.

Talbot also said Janklow's 1995 Cadillac has a black box, which records information such as how fast the car was going and whether the brakes were applied.

"We've recovered that and that's going to be analyzed to see if any information can be derived from that," Talbot said.

The crash has led to closer scrutiny of Janklow's spotty driving record. The former four-term South Dakota governor is a notorious speeder, picking up a dozen speeding tickets in a four-year period in the early 1990s.

However, Janklow has not been ticketed for speeding since October 1994, just before he was elected to his third term as governor. He served as governor from 1979-1986 and 1995-2002 before being elected to the state's lone House seat last year.

Janklow also got several speeding tickets during his first term as governor. He was warned in 1982 that he was in danger of losing his license after being stopped for going 80 mph in a 55-mph zone in Turner County. Janklow had received a similar warning in 1979 during his first year in office.

Janklow hurt his right hand and suffered a head injury in Saturday's crash. Chris Braendlin, one of Janklow's staff members, was traveling with him but was not injured, authorities said.

Janklow was on his way home to Brandon after attending an event in Aberdeen to honor Korean War veterans.

Blood was taken from Scott and from Janklow for testing and authorities expected to get results back sometime Tuesday, Talbot said.

Last month, doctors considered double bypass surgery after they found a narrowing of a main artery leading into his heart. But doctors ultimately decided the narrowing was just part of Janklow's natural physical makeup. Instead of surgery, Janklow said he would take some additional medications and try to lose weight.

In 1998 and 1999, he suffered life-threatening health problems and was hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic. He was diagnosed with and treated for diverticulitis, inflammation of the pancreas and diabetes.

Janaklow IMO is the only one that "had" a reasonable chance at beating Daschle in 2004. It is looking like manslaughter charges are unavoidable.

-- posted by SteveT