Palin Says Daughter, 17, Is Pregnant

[doc]

Here, I'll give you one really good reason to avoid Obama.

Barbara Streisand supports him.

OK, I'm going to bed. Remind me to give you the "invade Iraq" discourse. And why I agree with it...

[Iron Cross]

With 360 Million people our choices have come down to these 2 idiots. It simply blows my mind sometimes. Then again we are the country that elected Bush twice. Just goes to show how flawed our system really is. Anyone with any real ability to lead the country how zero chance of actually getting elected. Instead we get 2 morons talking about each other like we are back in High School voting for prom king. I've always found elections personally insulting to my intelligence. I could probably make a better president than either McCain or Obama since I speak 3 languages (Arabic, Mandarin, English) and have a degree in GLobal Security. But there is not a chance in hell of me ever succeeding in politics due to my non-religious views.

[liutangsanzang]

What u say about the necessity to be religious to get elected in USA is very different from Europe. Religious choices never comes in line in France. But of course there are other biases, like how one is selected inside a political party. It also has a lot to do with conformism to certain standards.

I think one question the USA has to face in this election is the feeling of world public opinion that the USA are being too unilateral. Can the future president changes this increased isolation? That will need dialogue and the diagnosis that many earthlings think the USA thinks too much about himself as a leader. Not sure that is the trend of McCain. True or not, Obama gives more the feeling that he will change a bit the attitude of the USA.

[Iron Cross]

In Europe its also normal for the french president to have a mistress. In the US thats a major scandal. This country has the mentality of a 5 year old when it comes to sex. Its somewhat ridiculous.

[liutangsanzang]

Doc, please dont escape mi questions about who is behind McSame. If u do, i ll think there is something unclear about that and u ll have a responsabiliti in increasing mi paranoia.

Ironcross, if u think u have energi that can be used in politics to help everi sentient beings, there r mani wais u can do something. Get inside a political parti even if u dont reach power u can still have influence. Other than that there r local organizations, NGOs, trade union.

I ve done a bit of work with socialist parti, trade unions and local organization and though there are limits, some positive aspects can also be found. And i m not the new buddha, so i dont think mi opinion is so important but still can have the feeling to be useful.

Om mani pedme hung

[zachsan]

With 360 Million people our choices have come down to these 2 idiots. It simply blows my mind sometimes. Then again we are the country that elected Bush twice. Just goes to show how flawed our system really is. Anyone with any real ability to lead the country how zero chance of actually getting elected. Instead we get 2 morons talking about each other like we are back in High School voting for prom king. I've always found elections personally insulting to my intelligence. I could probably make a better president than either McCain or Obama since I speak 3 languages (Arabic, Mandarin, English) and have a degree in GLobal Security. But there is not a chance in hell of me ever succeeding in politics due to my non-religious views.

Translation:

It's a sticky subject. The conservatives outright hate this guy, the liberals outright love him. There doesn't seem to be an inbetween.

I think you're just avoiding (intentionally or not) the mounds of very civil and non-polarized discussion that's going on about the two candidates. Especially on the internet, this isn't hard to find at all if you're interested.

His tax policies have historically been proven to be disadvantageous.

Here's an article contending that Democractic presidents have been historically better for the economy than Republicans. Haven't read it yet but thought I'd link for the hell of it. Definitely goes against the conventional wisdom.

[doc]

Are democratic presidents better because of their actions, or because they tend to follow in republican's footsteps? There's a lag time between government actions and economy changes.

[Iron Cross]

Maybe its because Republican presidents tend to screw things up more so they just appear to be better. Who ever follows Bush will look like a great leader by comparison. Still under Clinton we had a balanced budget and a surplus. Bush took that and gave us the biggest deficit and the largest national debt ever. Saying there is a lag time is just trying to credit the republicans with everything good and the democrats with everything bad. YOu would probably say clinton did nothing it was just a lag time from Bush senior. Bush W isnt the problem its just lag time from clinton. The next president wont be the reason things turn around tis just lag time from Bushs policies now. I see it all makes sense to me now. LOL Please...

[Maestro]

i think its a one party system, i dont think it matters who votes. i think obama is definately going to be president. i dont think he will be assasinated. i think our economy is going to be screwed for awhile and the middle class is going to dissappear. only rich and poor.

doc ur a rich bastard so u ok.

im probably going to end up living like a bum, in a cave doing drunken kung fu, on a mountain somewhere.

thats if i dont get tasered to death like this guy;
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqAVvlyVbag&feature=related"]YouTube - UF Student tasered at John Kerry Speech[/ame]

[onesp1ng]

doc why should the US have gone into iraq?

[liutangsanzang]

Here are speeches by Colin Powell and COndoleeza Rice about the reasons why the US wanted the UN go to war in Iraq. No wonder why some countries got suspicious.

So Doc would u call it lies and will u support it in the next elections? Take care of ur Karma!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfQ-v_ByR30"]YouTube - COLIN POWELL UN SPEECH[/ame]

[dogchow108]

Translation:



.

Holy shit dude I damn near fell out of my seat when I saw that shit.


I am so using that.

Although I can understand IC's frustration. It really seems that regardless of what's out there we are repeatedly presented with the grimy bottom the chimp barrels when it comes to who we get to vote for.

[zachsan]

Are democratic presidents better because of their actions, or because they tend to follow in republican's footsteps? There's a lag time between government actions and economy changes.

That article had a few comparison tables and one of them was comparing the economies on a 1 year delay (so if Bush Sr. served 89-92 inclusive it counted 90-93 inclusive, etc.) You can't really correct much more than that without basically just saying the president has a negligible effect on the economy, which goes against the conventional wisdom but after all might be true. Anyway the article was interesting.

Although I can understand IC's frustration. It really seems that regardless of what's out there we are repeatedly presented with the grimy bottom the chimp barrels when it comes to who we get to vote for.

I agree that we have a pretty shitty choice in front of us, but at least it's some kind of choice. There are enough countries out there that are actually governed by a one-party system. I've bitched about this same thing plenty myself, but when we're a couple months away from an election is not the time to just throw up your hands and say "**** it".

[liutangsanzang]

Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, "to spend more time with her family"? Having stayed in purdah for weeks, she finally agreed to a third interview. CBS's Katie Couric questioned her in her trademark sympathetic style. It didn't help. When asked how living in the state closest to Russia gave her foreign-policy experience, Palin responded thus:
"It's very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America. Where—where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to—to our state."

There is, of course, the sheer absurdity of the premise. Two weeks ago I flew to Tokyo, crossing over the North Pole. Does that make me an expert on Santa Claus? (Thanks, Jon Stewart.) But even beyond that, read the rest of her response. "It is from Alaska that we send out those …" What does this mean? This is not an isolated example. Palin has been given a set of talking points by campaign advisers, simple ideological mantras that she repeats and repeats as long as she can. ("We mustn't blink.") But if forced off those rehearsed lines, what she has to say is often, quite frankly, gibberish.


Couric asked her a smart question about the proposed $700 billion bailout of the American financial sector. It was designed to see if Palin understood that the problem in this crisis is that credit and liquidity in the financial system has dried up, and that that's why, in the estimation of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, the government needs to step in to buy up Wall Street's most toxic liabilities. Here's the entire exchange:

COURIC: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?
P
ALIN: That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that

This is nonsense—a vapid emptying out of every catchphrase about economics that came into her head. Some commentators, like CNN's Campbell Brown, have argued that it's sexist to keep Sarah Palin under wraps, as if she were a delicate flower who might wilt under the bright lights of the modern media. But the more Palin talks, the more we see that it may not be sexism but common sense that's causing the McCain campaign to treat her like a time bomb.

Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start. The next administration is going to face a set of challenges unlike any in recent memory. There is an ongoing military operation in Iraq that still costs $10 billion a month, a war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is not going well and is not easily fixed. Iran, Russia and Venezuela present tough strategic challenges.

Domestically, the bailout and reform of the financial industry will take years and hundreds of billions of dollars. Health-care costs, unless curtailed, will bankrupt the federal government. Social Security, immigration, collapsing infrastructure and education are all going to get much worse if they are not handled soon.


And the American government is stretched to the limit. Between the Bush tax cuts, homeland-security needs, Iraq, Afghanistan and the bailout, the budget is looking bleak. Plus, within a few years, the retirement of the baby boomers begins with its massive and rising costs (in the trillions).

Obviously these are very serious challenges and constraints. In these times, for John McCain to have chosen this person to be his running mate is fundamentally irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, it is simply not true.

[onesp1ng]

[ame="http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=C6urw_PWHYk"]YouTube - Matt Damon Rips Sarah Palin[/ame]

for the first time, i agree with a movie star...lol...