The Politics Thread

[Dan]

I agree Luke. But don't forget you can split existing topics up though.

[Luke]

I agree Luke. But don't forget you can split existing topics up though.

I am aware of this, thanks, and I may do that Dan. Ed's already on the 'search' case as he thinks there may already be a similar politics-related thread.

My point was actually meant more as a reference note for future consideration as opposed to what might be done with the renaming/splitting of this particular thread, i.e. if one is posting in a topic and they suddenly decide they want to go off on a significant tangent, talking about something else in order to generate discussion around that, then be mindful of the fact that new topics can be posted at the click of a button. Anyway, this is going down a road of discussion re: posting etiquette and moderating the forum, which is completely off-topic.

[Ed Burns]

Thank you for changing the name. Now we can continue a broader discussion on Politics in general.

[DARTH NKO]

Eggs,bottles and shoes have been thrown at the former prime minister Tony blair as he attended a book signing in Dublin. It happend as he arrived at Easons on o'connell street in the city to sign copies of his autobiography. The missiles, which were thrown by anti-war protesters, did not hit Mr blair. four people were arrested just to let you guys know another thing when people throw things at former world leaders why do they miss hitting them?

[DragonPlay]

From one of Obama's college class mates:

Rahm Emanuel cynically said, "You never want a crisis to go to waste." It is now becoming clear that the crisis he was referring to is Barack Obama's presidency.

Obama is no fool. He is not incompetent. To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within.

Barack Obama is my college classmate (Columbia University, class of '83). As Glenn Beck correctly predicted from day one, Obama is following the plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at Columbia University. They outlined a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system with government spending and entitlement demands. Add up the clues below. Taken individually they're alarming. Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to turn the United States into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority that desperately needs government for survival ... and can be counted on to always vote for bigger government. Why not? They have no responsibility to pay for it.

-- Universal health care. The health care bill had very little to do with health care. It had everything to do with unionizing millions of hospital and health care workers, as well as adding 15,000 to 20,000 new IRS agents (who will join government employee unions). Obama doesn't care that giving free health care to 30 million Americans will add trillions to the national debt. What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government. Who but a socialist revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill in the middle of a depression?

-- Cap and trade. Like health care legislation having nothing to do with health care, cap and trade has nothing to do with global warming. It has everything to do with redistribution of income, government control of the economy and a criminal payoff to Obama's biggest contributors. Those powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns NBC, MSNBC and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants. They will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party to keep them in power. The bonus is that all the new taxes on Americans with bigger cars, bigger homes and businesses helps Obama "spread the wealth around."

-- Make Puerto Rico a state. Why? Who's asking for a 51st state? Who's asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government entitlement addicts in the middle of a depression? Certainly not American taxpayers. But this has been Obama's plan all along. His goal is to add two new Democrat senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters who are dependent on big government.

-- Legalize 12 million illegal immigrants. Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America. But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who can be counted on to support big government. Add another few trillion dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical, education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security.

-- Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go? It went to Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions -- including billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across the country. It went to save GM and Chrysler so that their employees could keep paying union dues. It went to AIG so that Goldman Sachs could be bailed out (after giving Obama almost $1 million in contributions). A staggering $125 billion went to teachers (thereby protecting their union dues). All those public employees will vote loyally Democrat to protect their bloated salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America. The country goes broke, future generations face a bleak future, but Obama, the Democrat Party, government, and the unions grow more powerful. The ends justify the means.

-- Raise taxes on small business owners, high-income earners, and job creators. Put the entire burden on only the top 20 percent of taxpayers, redistribute the income, punish success, and reward those who did nothing to deserve it (except vote for Obama). Reagan wanted to dramatically cut taxes in order to starve the government. Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes to starve his political opposition.

With the acts outlined above, Obama and his regime have created a vast and rapidly expanding constituency of voters dependent on big government; a vast privileged class of public employees who work for big government; and a government dedicated to destroying capitalism and installing themselves as socialist rulers by overwhelming the system.

Add it up and you've got the perfect Marxist scheme -- all devised by my Columbia University college classmate Barack Obama.

This sums up perfectly everything he's done to date and is trying to do. This man is nothing short of a traitor and should be dealt with accordingly.

[Veritas]

I'm sorry, but that's one of the biggest hunks of junk I've ever read. It's both misleading and factually untrue. I apologize if you can't see that.

[Veritas]

Okay, I actually have the time to tackle some of these myths.

-- Universal health care. The health care bill had very little to do with health care. It had everything to do with unionizing millions of hospital and health care workers, as well as adding 15,000 to 20,000 new IRS agents (who will join government employee unions). Obama doesn't care that giving free health care to 30 million Americans will add trillions to the national debt. What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government. Who but a socialist revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill in the middle of a depression?

The new health care bill has been cited by major economists and the Congressional Budget Office, and pretty much every independent review, as extending health care benefits to around 32 million people, and will actually reduce the deficit over time. The Congressional Budget Office is a bi-partisan commission who's job is to count the money without political effect. They're not run by Obama, nor were they run by Bush. The CBO estimates that the deficit will be reduced by $182 b. over the first decade, and $1.2t. over the second. It's a short term investment for a long-term gain, and the money spent is recouped within 10 years.

Having said all of that, the idea that regulating the health care industry has something to do with some sort of unionization conspiracy is ridiculous. The amount of unionized workers has decreased from 16% to 9% in the last 50 years, so adding more jobs that are in unionized professions won't really bring us back to the evil times of the 60s. Finally - and this is something that nobody has ever really talked about - President Obama didn't write the bill. This bill came from the Senate, and was authored by the Health and Finance Committees. The Senate and House passed it. Obama asked the Congress to send a bill to him, and they did. Then he signed it. So you should really be calling Max Baucus (D-MT) the traitor, because he was the prime author.

-- Cap and trade. Like health care legislation having nothing to do with health care, cap and trade has nothing to do with global warming. It has everything to do with redistribution of income, government control of the economy and a criminal payoff to Obama's biggest contributors. Those powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns NBC, MSNBC and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants. They will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party to keep them in power. The bonus is that all the new taxes on Americans with bigger cars, bigger homes and businesses helps Obama "spread the wealth around."

Full scale cap and trade has been ruled out by Congress at this time. Of course,cap and trade has existed for awhile when it comes to acid rain. That came around in 1990, by the well-known traitor George H. W. Bush. The first voluntary cap and trade participation came during 2003, of course, when George W. Bush was in office. Obama committed, publicly, during his campaign to a cap and trade system, but it hasn't really come into being yet. Instead, Congress has voted for clean energy spending.

-- Make Puerto Rico a state. Why? Who's asking for a 51st state? Who's asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government entitlement addicts in the middle of a depression? Certainly not American taxpayers. But this has been Obama's plan all along. His goal is to add two new Democrat senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters who are dependent on big government.

Puerto Ricans! Some of them have been asking to become members of a state for some time. Plebicites have been held regularly to see if they want to join the Union. In fact, George W. Bush was the one who decided to do regular reviews, not Barack Obama. President Obama has had little to do with Puerto Rico. The Congress has supported a few different methods to ask the Puerto Ricans, and one is currently on the floor. This isn't something Obama has had a hand in, it's a Congressional issue. If Puerto Rico decides to join the Union, who is the US to say no?

(by the way, Puetro Rico already qualifies for all federal "entitlement" programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Unemployment, and Welfare, so, statehood would only add new taxpayers. Oops.)

-- Legalize 12 million illegal immigrants. Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America. But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who can be counted on to support big government. Add another few trillion dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical, education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security.

Well, the various immigration reform proposals in Congress probably won't allow all 12 million illegal immigrants to naturalize. It will likely be based on a lot of factors - including ability to pay taxes. If 12 million new productive members of society started paying taxes, would that be a bad thing? Both the two points have the assertion that Hispanics - Puerto Ricans and illegals - would do nothing but leech off the system. I'm sure many of them would, and do, get and hold paying jobs. This is a scare story. "The illegal immigrant is gonna take your MONEY".

The real solution to illegal immigration is three-fold. 1) Allow naturalization of productive members over a period of time. Basically, let people get green cards who are already in the US. 2) Reduce restrictions on immigration. If people want to come work legally, let them. 3) Fine the living shit out of businesses and people who hire illegals. $50k per illegal, first offense, and it doubles each subsequent offense. No jobs for illegals would mean no illegals.

But, because immigration reform is, at best, still on the table, this is just conjecture and boogeymen.

-- Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go? It went to Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions -- including billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across the country. It went to save GM and Chrysler so that their employees could keep paying union dues. It went to AIG so that Goldman Sachs could be bailed out (after giving Obama almost $1 million in contributions). A staggering $125 billion went to teachers (thereby protecting their union dues). All those public employees will vote loyally Democrat to protect their bloated salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America. The country goes broke, future generations face a bleak future, but Obama, the Democrat Party, government, and the unions grow more powerful. The ends justify the means.

Well, let's see. The money that went to Goldman Sachs was sent there by the TARP bailout...which was signed by which president? George Bush. NOT Barack Obama. The stimulus did go to create many government jobs, because that's what government spending does. It also creates construction, etc. But the stimulus worked fairly well. It wasn't perfect, but it kept millions and millions of Americans from going on those hated entitlement programs. Most of the jobs created by the stimulus were temporary, but they keep people working.

GM and Chrysler only employ around 75,000 people currently in the USA. The reason the government bailed out those companies was complex, but could you imagine if they folded? Chrysler, for instance, builds the M1A1 Abrams. Who would service the tank if Chrysler was out of business? Would you hire Toyota or BMW? Yes, there's politics there, but the US without an auto industry is a US without claws.

Finally, the US isn't broke. It's not even close to broke. Yes, the debt is the biggest it has ever been in raw value, but in %GDP (the way all debts are actually measured), it's not even half what it was at the end of World War II. The recession is all but over. Growth has returned to most countries around the world; if it wasn't for the Eurocrisis with Greece, we'd be out of it by now. The US will have a weak economy for another year, but then it'll be back to full strength, and then deficit reduction can become a priority.

-- Raise taxes on small business owners, high-income earners, and job creators. Put the entire burden on only the top 20 percent of taxpayers, redistribute the income, punish success, and reward those who did nothing to deserve it (except vote for Obama). Reagan wanted to dramatically cut taxes in order to starve the government. Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes to starve his political opposition.

Obama doesn't want to dramatically raise taxes. In fact, the US tax burden is the lowest it has been in decades, because the first thing he did in office was cut taxes as part of the stimulus bill. The only tax increase currently on the table is the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. When they expire, yes, taxes will go up - back to their Clinton levels. You know, the last time the budget was balanced.

Not only that, taxes on the rich aren't even CLOSE to what they used to be. In the 1910s and 20s it was upwards of 80%! We're talking about 45%. A lot of money, but it's not as bad as it once was historically, and the 1920s weren't a bad time for the US at all. The 1930s were, and that's why the tax code changed dramatically since then.

But, and here's the kicker: you can't have everything you want. You can't cut taxes and keep spending the same, and most Americans would never approve of removing expensive government programs like medicare and welfare. You gotta pay for it, which means taxes. And cutting taxes to the rich, by the way, doesn't work. Trickle-down economics was a bad idea in the 1980s, and it didn't work in the 2000s either. Put the taxes back where they were when the US was running a profit.

This man is nothing short of a traitor and should be dealt with accordingly.

You can't be a traitor if you run a platform saying you will let the Bush tax cuts expire, spend on a stimulus, get health care and Wall Street reform done, and then do it. Obama didn't hide any of this stuff. He said in his campaign, time and time again, that he was going to let the tax cuts expire. He was going to spend billions on a stimulus. He was going to try to fix health care.

The American people voted for it.

Maybe they have some buyer's remorse. That's great, but you can't complain he's a traitor. There's nothing in the Constitution that says "Thy shalt not have government programs," nor "thy shalt not spend at a deficit", nor, "thy shalt not add more States to the Union". It's only "traitorous" to the people who think that his ideas are bad ones. Which is a different discussion.

Most of the crap in that article is just that: crap. Lies, falsehoods, and misleading sentences.

[Ed Burns]

From one of Obama's college class mates:

Rahm Emanuel cynically said, "You never want a crisis to go to waste." It is now becoming clear that the crisis he was referring to is Barack Obama's presidency.

Obama is no fool. He is not incompetent. To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within.

Barack Obama is my college classmate (Columbia University, class of '83). As Glenn Beck correctly predicted from day one, Obama is following the plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at Columbia University. They outlined a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system with government spending and entitlement demands. Add up the clues below. Taken individually they're alarming. Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to turn the United States into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority that desperately needs government for survival ... and can be counted on to always vote for bigger government. Why not? They have no responsibility to pay for it.

-- Universal health care. The health care bill had very little to do with health care. It had everything to do with unionizing millions of hospital and health care workers, as well as adding 15,000 to 20,000 new IRS agents (who will join government employee unions). Obama doesn't care that giving free health care to 30 million Americans will add trillions to the national debt. What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government. Who but a socialist revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill in the middle of a depression?

-- Cap and trade. Like health care legislation having nothing to do with health care, cap and trade has nothing to do with global warming. It has everything to do with redistribution of income, government control of the economy and a criminal payoff to Obama's biggest contributors. Those powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns NBC, MSNBC and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants. They will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party to keep them in power. The bonus is that all the new taxes on Americans with bigger cars, bigger homes and businesses helps Obama "spread the wealth around."

-- Make Puerto Rico a state. Why? Who's asking for a 51st state? Who's asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government entitlement addicts in the middle of a depression? Certainly not American taxpayers. But this has been Obama's plan all along. His goal is to add two new Democrat senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters who are dependent on big government.

-- Legalize 12 million illegal immigrants. Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America. But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who can be counted on to support big government. Add another few trillion dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical, education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security.

-- Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go? It went to Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions -- including billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across the country. It went to save GM and Chrysler so that their employees could keep paying union dues. It went to AIG so that Goldman Sachs could be bailed out (after giving Obama almost $1 million in contributions). A staggering $125 billion went to teachers (thereby protecting their union dues). All those public employees will vote loyally Democrat to protect their bloated salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America. The country goes broke, future generations face a bleak future, but Obama, the Democrat Party, government, and the unions grow more powerful. The ends justify the means.

-- Raise taxes on small business owners, high-income earners, and job creators. Put the entire burden on only the top 20 percent of taxpayers, redistribute the income, punish success, and reward those who did nothing to deserve it (except vote for Obama). Reagan wanted to dramatically cut taxes in order to starve the government. Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes to starve his political opposition.

With the acts outlined above, Obama and his regime have created a vast and rapidly expanding constituency of voters dependent on big government; a vast privileged class of public employees who work for big government; and a government dedicated to destroying capitalism and installing themselves as socialist rulers by overwhelming the system.

Add it up and you've got the perfect Marxist scheme -- all devised by my Columbia University college classmate Barack Obama.

This sums up perfectly everything he's done to date and is trying to do. This man is nothing short of a traitor and should be dealt with accordingly.

More Glenn Beck/Tea Party rhetoric. If more people believe the Tea party will change anything to be more favorable in fixing this Countrys' current issues, get ready to understand that the same Conservative ideals they believe in will lead to the same Trickle down Economics, and near depression we had at the end of George W. Bush's terms in office. What's wrong with letting the Bush Tax Cuts end? Nothing. The top 1% should pay their fair share. The raise in Taxes for the middle class will be quite negligible, like that $300 check I received back in 2003, when the Cuts went into effect. Oh yeah, that also came right back out of my Tax Refund in early 2004. Letting those Tax cuts expire will generate between $500 Billion, to $800 Billion into the Budget yearly. With the Combat Mission ending in Iraq, the added money from the expired Bush Tax cuts will go to reducing the Budget Deficit.

The Healthcare system before the Healthcare Bill was passed, was spiraling out of control. Insurance Companies were unregulated under George W. Bush, which led to astronomical rate increases under his 2 terms. The current Bill will cap those rates so average people can save money when buying insurance.

The Wall Street Financial reform will put regulations back on the commodities Markets, which were de-regulated by Bush. That's why you went from paying $1.29 in late 2000, to $4.29 a gallon in 2008. Thank George W. Bush for that. I guess according to Glenn Beck, it's bad to have regulations on something ike Gasoline. I guess it's better according to him to pay 4 times as much for gas, and oil, than it's actual value. It's funny you bring up MSNBC, and CNBC. Most of the panelists on CNBC don't agree with some of Obamas' strategies on the Economy, but since TV News agencies are being brought up, it's funny how Fox News supports the misinformation that the Tea Party's using. Fox News is basically funding the Tea Party. Thank The Koch Bros., and Rupert Murdoch for the funding. The Tea Party would have no grounds to stand on without the Billionaires' funding it.

http://www.blogrunner.com/snapshot/D/0/ ... tea_party/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/opini ... .html?_r=1

We can go on all day long about the shortcomings of the current system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtnE4C9Gv5U


Consult the video of Bush's 2 terms in Office if you believe that the Republicans, or the Religous Right will do anything positive in changing the economy for the better. Here's 8 years of highlights in 8 minutes that still show they won't. Sure it's a spin on the news, but seeing as you jump on the bandwagon that Republicans say Obama's all about spending, then I guess you forgot about 8 years of Reagan, 4 years of Bush Sr., and 8 years of W. Bush. All 3 had record spending agendas during their terms as President.

Here's some actual numbers, on the Debt:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/dow ... or=c&local


Here's a graph on the Deficit the last 110 years. We're not even close to the worst % of Deficit to the U.S. GDP either. That was during World War II.

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/fed ... chart.html

Here's some projected numbers on what people would pay when the Bush Tax cuts expire:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/What-high ... 4.html?x=0

It's also been said that Obama wants to keep the tax cuts for the 98% of the people who don't have Billions.

[Ed Burns]

Bump.

In the wake of a possible run for President by Sarah Palin, I'd like to offer up this video as to why this would be a catastrophic mistake by the American people if they were to vote her into office.

I give you Sarah Palin butchering 3rde grade History of Paul Revere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS4C7bvH ... ture=share

Good old Failin Bailin Palin. Seriously her stupidity is frightening, and the fact there's people dumb enough to blindly follow that moron like retarded puppies is even more frightening.

[Speed Demon]

Omg, are you fucking kidding me? I never thought that someone in America could actually be that stupid, but Palin proves me wrong all of the time. Makes me ashamed to be American. I hope to God this woman never makes it in the office, not because she's female, but because she wouldn't know what she was doing or what she's talking about. We would be doomed to hell.

She made alot of Americans look bad in that video.

[Ed Burns]

The problem is, people are following her like blind fools. What's sad is, that immediately after this went viral, and news agencies started picking up on it, she started backtracking on it like the dumb ass she is. There's people on online forums that say we should stop slagging her, and if we dislike her so much, we shouldn't comment on her at all... Those are her followers.... They can't defend that level of stupidity, so they blast everyone that blasts Palin... They'll bring up Obama's 57 States remark, but he hasn't had the repeated fits of stupidity in the media as Palin has.

She really has no business running this country. She's been proven a corrupt moron, who stepped down from the Governor's Office in Alaska due to the fact she was under investigation, and from what I've read, They were pretty close to proving everything she was under investigation for... She's a total moron, and anyone thinks that she'll do better in the White House than Obama has, especially with the mess Obama incurred, (Yes, jobless claims were already on the rise then, Wall Street crashed, GM was bankrupt, and Big Oil was getting a hefty subsidy, which they are today, when Bush left Office after 8 years of largely ignoring the Economy...), Is a total fucking moron... I wonder if Glenn Beck will suddenly appear on here, and say that Palin's version of Paul Revere was sheer genius...

[Speed Demon]

*Blows dust off this thread*

As most of you know, Obama signed a bill for 85 billion dollar cuts in spending. He blamed the GOP for the dumb bill. I agree, it is a dumb bill, but Obama needs to put his foot down with these fucking Republicans in the Senate and let him know he's the HMFIC. They're the problem, they're not willing to compromise with him. I think they're purposely going out of their way to make him look like he's the problem when in actuality, it's those assholes. The sooner the Dems take control of the Senate, the better.

[Ed Burns]

The Dems have control of the Senate by a count of 54 to 46. The GOP's using the filibuster to stall Bills in the Senate... The GOP has control of Congress by a count of 234 to 201. I can see a huge turnover in Congress. Their job approval rating is 9% as of right now, which in all honesty, has me baffled how most of them were voted back in for another term. It's proven fact that Boehner doesn't want to work with President Obama... It's also been said that the Senate, and Democrats in Congress have introduced Legislation to limit the amount of filibusters to 1, and the time the GOP can use to block a vote... In other words, it'll make them shit, or get off the pot...

It's also proven fact that Medicare, and Social Security are not entitlements as they'd like everyone to believe... If you pay into them via your taxes, how is that an entitlement? It's like buying insurance, and the Insurance companies denying you saying that coverage is not an entitlement... While Social Security was never intended to cover so many folks, it still does. That's what happens when you have a Population boom starting with the Baby boomers...

The idea to cut spending is a romantic thought... The problem is costs inevitably go up, so spending goes up. That's checks, and balances...

It's also proven fact that the Oil Industry is in the back pockets of the Government... Giving the Oil Companies a fat subsidy check is ridiculous, especially when you consider the RECORD profits they're making quarterly for the last 5 years... Subsidies were originally earmarked for struggling companies, not companies who are flourishing by price gouging the entire globe...

We're still in an Economy where Wall Street is doing great, and the rest of us are still struggling... Until Congress changes back to Democrat controlled, the filibuster process is amended, and revenue is increased to proper levels, i.e. the Taxes rates are equalized, and loopholes are eliminated, we're gonna continue to be stuck in this rut. Rich folks want everyone to believe that taxing them properly isn't the answer, and it'll hurt the Economy, but when this Country boomed in the 40s, and 50s, what was their Tax rate? 91%... The Rockefeller family was genuinely wealthy on a Bill Gates level in that time even though the Tax rates were so high...

[Speed Demon]

Listen to this one....

Republicans in Pennsylvania just launched a new billto redistribute electoral votes by congressional district instead of the traditional winner take all system. If their governor, Tom Corbett signs their bill, it would be disastrous. One of the most brazen partisan vote rigging attempts in modern history.

If the Republicans would have passed this plan before the last election, Mitt Romney would have carried eight of Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes, even though President Obama won the state by more then 300,000 popular votes.

That's crazy how far Republicans are willing to go. I'm part of the DGA (Democratic Governor's Association) so that's how I found out. For anybody in the Penn area, just look up Tom Corbett or DGA and convince Tom Corbett to veto that bill.

[Ed Burns]

They tried that in Ohio, yet Obama won the state even with the redistricting, the legislation, and all of the scare tactics. The thing is, if the people in PA are smart enough, it'll get petitioned to go on the ballet in November. Then it'll get shot down. The GOP knows that in 2016, if they don't get their act together, and get someone to rally behind, they'll have to resort to tactics like this to get someone in to the White House.

This Sequester is also a joke. It's been said in the Wall Street Journal that more American people side with the President on this issue right now, despite what John Boehner says. Boehner's spending tons of time on TV talking about how Congress doing nothing is great for the American people, and how the President isn't gonna get the increases he wants in revenue.

Even funnier, popular GOP Governor Chris Christie is so critical of the GOP led Congress that people are hopping on his bandwagon in droves... It's also funny how he's highlighting their lack of ability to do anything... The GOP is falling apart fast. I also see it as funny as how these Conservative Republicans who hijacked the Tea Party movement are now looking more, and more like a bunch of spoiled assholes instead of people who are genuinely looking out for the debt of this country. Even funnier if Mitt got in, they'd be spending, and spending, and spending right about now.

Here's how Warren Buffett would fix Congress;

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:

"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971 - before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure.

Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to SHARE this on Facebook or forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2012

1. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social
Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and
participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 12/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.

Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in
Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their
term(s), then go home and back to work.

I agree with Buffett here.

[Speed Demon]

Christie is the governor of my state, and he's doing all of that to make his fat ass look great leading into the Governor Elecition this November. If Barbara Buono runs against him, I will vote for her.

[Ed Burns]

I've been reading on him, and so far he's much more of a moderate, even leaning a bit to the left... Did you see I posted what Warren Buffett would do to Congress in that post? Check it out again.

[Speed Demon]

That's a damn good idea. I think Warren Buffett should be part of the White House if possible. It's bullshit how Congress and Wall Street fuck the middle class financially.

[Ed Burns]

The fact that these assholes get into Office, and make a career out of it makes me sick. Boehner was talking about the fundamentals of the Constitution, yet if he went by it to a T, he would've been a one term Congressman. I still believe they need to Amend the Constitution to make Congress, and the Senate one term jobs, and eliminate the Secret Service protection, and lifetime insurance these guys get when they're through with Office. Think of the Billions of $$$$$$$$ this Country would save then.