Posts made by Smacktard

@Cmdr:

A)  You’re completely off base, Smacktard, but your name says it all and I said I was done with you.

You keep saying that.

[B)  The 110th Congress was sworn in during the month of January, however, they did not pass any legislation until April/June.  I credit this to their inability to find matching drapes to their sofas, but it could be sheer incompetence on their part as well.  So yes, the crash in 2007 can be squarely landed at their feet.  They promised to take America in a new direction and they accomplished that mission objective.  We went from growing (sluggishly) to shrinking (moderately fast.) [/quote]

I thought you were “done with me”, but anyway what you posted is wrong. On Jan 10th 2007, the 110 congres passed a minimum wage hike. It was approved by the senate on Feb. 1 http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/house/1/votes/18/

Youre argument still doesnt make sense: the 110th congress comes in, does nothing (according to you) until May-june, and somehow that causes a Bear market in Oct.? Exactly what pivotal legislation was passed that got us into this mess? Because all I saw congress doing was passing a meaningless minimum wage hike, toothless ethics reform, and some supplmental funding measures for Iraq/Afghan. Everything else they tried was veteoed by Bush.

So exactly how is Congress to blame for the recession we’re almost certainly in?

However, I do think in the last week of August, we’ll not only have to wear rain coats to keep the blood from the feud off of us, but that we will most probably end up with Obama with a margin of two or three delegates - maybe Clinton with the same margin.  And, as we have seen from both 2000 and 2004, the Democrats don’t lose graciously, thus, we can expect September to be filled with court cases and recounts.

In the end, Obamas pledged delegate margin will be around 80-120. After Barac wins Missisippi, it will be like March 4th never happened (he’ll actually be further ahead). Hillary will have to win 65% of remaining delegates just to TIE Obama. Aint gonna happen with only 9 contests left.

The real fight will be if she wins the popular vote and Obama has a significant delegate lead.
In that case, they give it to clinton with Obama as VP. Without the popular vote, Hillary has no chance.

This means, even if a democrat IS elected, odds are the Congress will switch back to the Republicans.

Hastert’s seat just went Democratic. That was unexpected and doesn’t bode well for repubs in 08.

Yeah, Its kind of funny how fast the media coverage changes on obama or Hillary. two days ago, they were pratcically writing Obama’s obituary. Before Texas and Ohio, they were writing Hillary’s. Then he wins a small state with a gain of TWO delegates, and now hes got the big MO again. The press will be fawning over him like crazy after he trounces Hillary in Mississippi. Like Switch says, it may carry into Penn, but I think Hillary will probably get it by 5 or 10.

The Dems have to put these two on a ticket to beat McCain. McCain is also taking some flack for not releasing his medical records. he better pick a good VP…

Jen, educate yourself: http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Occ-GY/

(copy and paste it)

Chapter 18. We didnt lose a single soldier to German “resistance”. The biggest problem soldiers faced were reprimands for fraternizing with German women. There wasnt a SINGLE incident like the bombings that go on in Iraq every day. But read it yourself, youll see.

The 110th congress was sworn in Jan 4th, 2007. The stock market continued to climb until it peaked in July 2007. It peaked again in Oct. 2007. NINE months after Congress was sworn in. October was the beginning of the Bear market were now in.

I can make a similar argument: When Bush was sworn in the Dow was 10732. It closed yesterday at 11893. A grwoth of 1100 over 7 years. About 1% per year. Is Bush to blame for this anemic grwoth? No. If anything his tax cuts helped spur the economy (growth of govt. under Bush is a differnt matter), and 9/11 was devastating. likewise, the credit and housing crisis were now in, which is driving down the market and depressing the economy, has nothing to do with democrats or republicans.

I consider myself a conservative, but blaming everything under the sun on the opposition party is ridiculous. Correlation does not mean causation.

FYI, the stock market in Nov. 2006 was 12250. In Jan. of 2007 (new Congress sworn in), it was at 12,500. It didn’t hit 14,000 until June, 2007.

http://money.cnn.com/quote/chart/chart.html?symb=djia&sid=1643&time=5yr&Submit1=Refresh

I guess I hit a nerve there somewhere  :?

let me summarize my poistion: There is zero chance Barac will repeal the 1st amendment. He can’t do it himself, no congressman in their right mind would be his “patsy” on that, and there would be zero support for it. If you like, we can bet on it, I’ll give you 1,000,000,000-1 odds, and gladly take your money if Barac’s inaugaurated.

Japan: as Cobert says, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, its a duck, no matter what you call it. When your “police” have one of the most high-tech navies in the world, destory other country’s boats, and are deployed OUTSIDE your country, its kind of silly to still call it “the police”. What’s next, talking about the meaning of “is”?

Korea and Germany: these were once warzones, many years ago. Now they’re not and havent been for many decades. Iraq has been a warzone for five years. It will continue to be a warzone as long as we have any significant force in Iraq. This is unavoidable. Thats not to say we should pull out, but McCain is delusional if he thinks we’ll ever have a peaceful presence in Iraq, like we do Germany, Japan, or Korea.

The idea that we’ve been fighting a German “insurgency” for SIXTY years is a product of insanity. You cant possibly beleive that, but I have no clue why you would throw that out there.

His THAC0 just took a big hit.

/tasteless

+1 golden halo for Gary. I GM a group that uses HERO system, but we wouldn’t even be playing if it weren’t for D&D.

@Cmdr:

Senators can repeal them, evidentially, since we have Campaign Finance Reform which directly violates the 1st Amendment.  If Senators can, then Presidents can.

SCOTUS has already ruled on Mccain-feingold in 2007. It’s constiutional. Besides, only members of Congress can sponsor legislation. The president can’t. This is basic civics.

And Japan has police forces with military training.  They do not have a standing army, which is why they use ours.

You said Japan has (I quote) “NO MILITARY”. They clearly have an advanced navy, an airforce, and SDF forces that are serving in Afgainistan and Iraq. They also spend about $50 billion a year on their “nonexistent” military.

How many soldiers died in Korea in the first 10 years?  How does that compare to Iraq?  Yea, thought so.  Please go sit in the corner with the pointy hat now and get back on topic.

Um, theres a difference with the Korean WAR, and the peaceful occupation that’s gone on for the past 50 years. The point was that Americans have put up with soldiers in Korea because theyre not getting blown up and shot over there. It will be impossible to keep 100,000+ soldiers in Iraq without them getting shot at and blown up. There will always be pressure from the public to get out. the longer it goes on, the more pressure will build up.

Germany’s taken 60 years to beat into submission to the point they stopped killing our troops with insurgent tactics after World War II. They didn’t just roll over and play dead after the war, you know.

This REALLY needs to be clarified. What the hell were you talking about?

@Cmdr:

Germany’s taken 60 years to beat into submission to the point they stopped killing our troops with insurgent tactics after World War II. They didn’t just roll over and play dead after the war, you know.

Serously, what the hell are you talking about?

Japan did roll over and play dead after the war, but they also have NO MILITARY of their own right now.

That would be news to the Japense SDF forces who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq with us, and the Jap navy that sunk a N. Korean ship in 2001.

“Japan’s navy is considered the most formidable of these three branches, and among the most sophisticated in the world.”

http://www.cfr.org/publication/10439/

Korea’s still considered a war zone, after 50+ years.  Iraq’s a war zone, but it’s only been 5 years.  Cuba’s considered a war zone after what, like 100 years?

How many soldiers were killed in Korea and Cuba in the last 10 years?

However, to gag people and slander them just for disseminating the facts about your name, or poking fun at you because your ears are a little larger then normal, or  no one has ever seen you in a skirt, or whatever, is patently unAmerican as it is an abridgment of your freedom of speech and your freedom of the press. (Notice, it’s not freedom of the news media, it’s freedom of the press.)

No one is saying they CANT say it. the point is, using barac’s middle name is a clear appeal to bigotry. Theres a reason Mccain apologized. the discourse should be about the issues and not what someon’s name is.

If he cannot handle people poking fun at his facial features, is he going to repeal the First Amendment to stop us from doing it as a President?

presidents can’t repeal amendments.

@JWW:

@balungaloaf:

obama has to get a clue sometime here.

after saying after he’d withdraw from iraq, he’d go back in to attack al-qaeda(even though al-qaeda is already there :roll:)

Agreed. This comment on his position is quite absurd. It is obvious he is grasping at straws. And the fact is the USA will be in Iraq for a LONG time. No different than S.Korea, Germany, Japan, Cuba, Balkans, Philippines (did we get out of there yet? I think so)

Hopefully our presence in Iraq will contribute to this country’s future success and prosperity.

It’s naive to compare the bloodless benign deployments overseas with the occupation in Iraq. Iraqis will never be happy with a sizeable American force in their country. some may see the necessity of having our troops there (because the alternative is so much weorse), but there will always be plenty others who will view it as an occupation by the “Great Satan” and an affront to Islam.

@Cmdr:

Iranians in power have hated us since we helped Iraq stop their invasion.  That’s Reagan’s fault, not Bush’s fault.

There was the Shah before that. weve been meddling in the MIddle East long before Reagan.

@Cmdr:

Actually, Jermo, I’ve spoken to the “enemy”

Have you?  Or were you warm and comfy here at home?

Watch your attacks or they will back fire.  It’s no secret the enemy would love nothing better then a liberal in the White House, preferably one who supports rapid redeployment of our forces elsewhere.  It’s also no secret that our friends, and they are many, in Iraq are terrorized we WILL elect a liberal who will stop Gen. Petreayus and all the good he’s done in just over a year.

So who would be most liked by the enemy?  Which of the candidates are talking surrender, which are talking staying the course?

Ron Paul is a liberal?

The nation is not ready for true conservatism. If it was, Ron Paul would be the nominee. instead we want to kid ourselves that we can afford to keep troops all over the world, afford to give every person health care coverage and social security and medicare, afford to run the printing presses night and day and call it “sound fiscal policy”.

What can you do though? were talking 50+ trillion in unfunded liabilities. Eliminating S.S. or Medicare is not politically possible. Heres some drastic options:

• cap medicare benefits based on income level- if you make more than $100,000, youre phased out of the program (no coverage at all for $150,000+). it sucks that people payed into it for decades, but if your making that much you can afford your own healthcare.
• double the medicare tax. If old rich people are going to suffer, then poor young people have to pay more.

That would at least buy us some time to get our fiscal house in order.

of course this will never happen. We’ll keep printing money and selling bonds until the inevitable crash happens.

We all know parents who try to live through their children (e.g, sports). do we reallly want to give those kinds of parents power to gentically tailor their kids?

to echo the person above me, its a stretch to think our soldiers in Germany are stopping France (of all countries) dreams of world domination. our presence in Europe is an anachronism.

Also, Barak is an admitted Christian, sworn into office on a Bible. if hes a Muslim, hes probably not going to get all those virgins by constantly lying about his religion.

@Cmdr:

60 Minutes interview a few weeks ago.

Also, he’s pretty much said he will NOT pull out of Iraq unless it is clear we have won in just about every Democrat Debate since last October at least.

And, since we cannot possibly use their records to determine what they will do (since you McCain supporters say his record means nothing, he SAYS he will secure the border, etc, etc, etc) then obviously the fact he voted against the surge and voted for the Shush Rush letter, etc have no bearing as to how conservative or liberal he is.  Obviously, based on what the man is saying, he’s the most conservative man this nation has ever seen!

This is a direct quote fomr the 60 minutes interview:

"“At a time when American casualties are down, at a time when the violence is down, particularly affecting the Iraqi population, is that the right time to try and set time tables for withdrawing all American troops? I mean you talked about…the end of 2009,” Kroft remarked.

“Yeah, absolutely. I think now is precisely the time. I think that it is very important for us to send a clear signal to the Iraqis that we are not gonna be here permanently. We’re not gonna set up permanent bases. That they are going to have to resolve their differences and get their country functioning,” Obama said."

that doesnt sound anything like what you’re talking about. it sounds like the opposite.

@Imperious:

Obama is not a liberal or a conservative. I think hes a Muslim which we don’t get to find out until he gets elected. Other than that he will pull out all our troops from around the world because why would he stop at Iraq? Korea, Germany, will also be vacated and the empty space will be filled with new enemies leading to strategic imbalances which will lead to war. And since hes a lover of peace he will have our enemies sign that paper for ‘peace in our time’ rather than defend our interests further eroding our positions globally.

New eneimes are going to flock to Germany if we leave and this will lead to war?

@Cmdr:

@Imperious:

Barrack Hussein Obama says whatever will get him elected. A great song and dance of words and platitudes. Good for him.

So if we are to take McCain on ONLY what he says in his speeches, then we should only take Obama on what HE says at HIS speeches and in HIS speeches (and interviews) he’s sworn NOT to withdraw a single soldier until well into his Presidency and only if it is self-evident that the battle has been won.

When did he say thiss? I’ve been followiung the election avidly, both sides, and I havent heard anything  remotely like this.

M36, we have the best military in the world. part of having that is sometimes coming down harshly on our soldiers when they screw up.

It would be different if the guy hadnt covered up what he did. those snipers were strung out and its hard to blame the guy for overreacting. but be a man and admit it. don’t plant a gun on the guy, lie to invesitgators, and pretend he was an insurgent.

Let me ask you: youve gone with 3 hours sleep a day for 3 days. you kill a civilian who gets to close. Maybe you should have handled things differently. But would you personally, as a Marine, try to cover it up and lie about it? doesn’t that go against the honor code you guys pride yoursevles on?

Hillary is going to attempt what Giuliana couldn’t do- write off a bunch of states for a month and hope for a big win. Shes basically going to concede the Feb primaries to Obama, and stake everything on Ohio, Penn, and Tex in March.

Can she do this? She might get away with it. Unlike Giulinana, hillary’s already won some big victiroes. but that’s a loooong time to go without a win. Meanwhile, Obama looks more and more like a winner.