DISQUS

macsurf · 2 months ago

I think Mr. Manuse, is reading too much into Tuesday's election results.

To be sure, the defeats of Gov. Corzine in NJ, and the Dem gubernatorial candidate in VA, were not good news for the Dems.

But Corzine was never widely popular in the Garden State and, with many younger and ethnic voters not participating in Tuesday's off year election in NJ, most of whom would have voted Democratic, I'm not at all surprised Corzine lost.

In VA, even as a Democrat, I believe the Dem candidate deserved to lose. He ran a lousy, slip shod campaign.

But, contrary to your asserion that Tuesday's results represent a rejection of the Dems; "far left" agenda; I think the extremist agendas that was soundly rejected was the "far right" agenda of the Palin/ArmeylLimbaugh/Beack wing of the GOP.

Conservative candidate Doug Hofman's defeat to a Democrat in a congessional that has voted Republican since the 1870's is far more telling of the rejection of the far right, religious extremist agenda Hoffman, Palin, et al represent, than the defeats for the Dems in NJ and VA do the mythical "far left" agenda of the Dems.

Conservative2TheCore · 2 months ago

Wrong....Hoffman, running unaffiliated, had single digit name recognition less than one month before the election. If the GOP candidate, who dropped out, was taken off the ballot, Hoffman would have had enough votes to win.....and if Hoffman didnt' run, Dede would have soundly beaten the Democratic candidate. Geez, you're listening to Nancy "We won yesterday" Pelosi too much.
Heck even James Carville on Campbell Brown admitted this was a huge wake up call to Democrats that moderates were running away from the left, and in his entire life, he's never seen the conservative so motivated....and if the Dems didn't get back the motivation they had in 2010, it would be a disaster. JAMES CARVILLE!!!!

macsurf · 2 months ago

Sorry C2C, the 23rd in NY has been solidly GOP for nearly 140 years.

hoffman's defeat, thanks be to God, was a clear repudiation by mainstream voters of the kind of extremism the small, but loud, far right base of the GOP embraces in a historically GOP district.

I agree Tuesday's election was a wake up call, but for both parties..

Obama and the Dems have to decide if they are going to be democrats again, or if they're going to become democrats again, or moderate republs wrapped in a Dem cape.

I think it was Harry truman who said that when Dems behave like Repubs, the Repubs will win every time.

Obama needs to be MORE aggresive in his domestic agenda and that may well mean an expanison of the stimulus so that it helps the working class as much as the first part of the stim pulled the economy back from the bring and beneffitted the investor class.

the Republicans have to decide if they want the once great party of men like Abraham lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower, Henry Stimson, and Henry cabot Lodge to devolve into a 21st century version of the igorant, 19th century Know Nothing Party, and have it led by the likes of yahoos like Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck.

If that's the course the GOP chooses, it will relegate itself to minority sratus for years.

Today's "Know Nothing" faction in the GOP may be loud, they may get big press coverage, thanks to their antics and their enablers like Beck and Limbaugh, but they represent a very small percentage of the electorate and stand very little chance of carrying a national election.

heck, they couldn't carry the 23rd in NY and that's been Repub for nearly 140 years.

kbinpm · 2 months ago

Mac I was waiting for your Beck-blaming comment. Today unemployment went to 9.9 percent even after we spent 757 billion dollars. We borrowed another 165 Billion to run our country this week. With the democrats in total control of the legislative and executive branches the same is going on as when Bush was our president. Spend, spend,spend. If you believe like I do our national deficit threatens all we are you cannot support any party that continues to add fuel for the train to wreck.

LoLattheUS · 2 months ago

"Today unemployment went to 9.9 percent even after we spent 757 billion dollars."

10.2%

Conservative2TheCore · 1 month ago

mac, the independent and GOP candidate combined to garner more votes than the Democrat. If Dede were taken off the ballot, Hoffman would have won....Please remember that less than three weeks ago, Hoffman had single digit polling number, and still only lost a few percentage points. Spin it however you want....I agree Micheal Steele is an idiot and should resign, but let's not make NY-23 into something that it wasn't. It was the GOP's seat to lose, no doubt, the late rally by Hoffman and the 5% of the votes that Dede stole clearly showed that NY-23 is still a conservative district.
Losing NJ is a better barometer of the state of the nation than NY-23... Isn't your blaming of an unpopular incumbent similar to the presidential election in 08? The results were an indictment of Bush.

itsallover · 2 months ago

Very Well written sir. Its all about the spending-Nobody on the left understands that. We're obstructionists because we want the government to reign in spending. lets get our financial affairs in order, then address Healthcare REFORM, the first step to that is Immigration Reform, Once you remove the factor leaching the system, then address tort reform as the Republicans have offered. Health REFORM must include a clause that no American tax dollars will go to illegal benefits.This is a major cause of the crisis the industry is in.

macsurf · 2 months ago

Itsallover,

Will you stop the immigrant bashing, or did you just get done watching Lou Dobbs or Glenn Beck?

Illegal immigrants, contrary to what lying media whores like Dobbs and Beck claim, and their yahoo followers accept as gospel, are not responsible for all the nation's woes.

The Kaiser Foundation did a study that found the biggest factor in public hospitals' dire financial straits is not uncompensated care doled out to illegal immigrants but to the millions of native born and legal foreign residents who have no health insurance.

The Congressional Budget Office, a govt office you conseravtives all pointed to supportively when it questioned the numbers Dems were putting out about the liekly costs of health care reform, released a study last year stating that illegal immigrants do impose some costs on local and state governments via services they receive but that those costs are "modest" and that, although no mechanism was in place to measure those costs at the national level, the CBO said the word "modest" would also most likely apply.

Illegal immigrants ARE NOT destroying our health system, it is the number of Americans with no health coverage that is doing that.

In terms of the "illegal immigrant crime wave", according to the Department of Justice, only 1.6% of inmates in state and federal custody are also under the jurisdiction of Customs and Immigration, meaning they are in the country illegally.

And, the DOJ study found, the vast majority of that 1.6% are iin custody SOLELY for immigration violations and irregularities and NO OTHER criminal activities.

Why don't you do a little research before you spwe your erroneous and ignorant xenophobia into cyberspace?

kbinpm · 2 months ago

Mac- Illegal aliens killed more American citizens last year as a result of murder and drunk driving than soldiers that have died in 8 years of war. They are a drain on our society. We spend tens of billions chasing them, incarcerating,prosecuting and deporting them. Look your arguement that we don't spend that much is weak. I say start there. Secure our borders and see what happens. You ignore the effects of drug trafficing on bordering states. What is that cost on the lives of American citizens? I'm not sure there is a price for that.

macsurf · 2 months ago

KINGPIN, that's my new name for an arrogant SOB like yourself, you never mention that the reason why the drug cartels can wreak such havoc and exert such power is because the DEMAND for the drugs is here in the US.

That demand is not limited to urban ghettos, or Democratic libearls.The demand is high in very upscale communities like Andover, Newburyport, Plum Island, and Portsmouth.

This may shock you, but two years ago I went to a fundraiser for, and donated to, a GOP state senator on the North Shore rfor whom I have great respect.

It didn't take me long to figure out a VERY select group of young, up and coming, Republican, "conservatives", who were sneaking off into the swanky library in the house where this fundraiser was being held were snorting cocaine.

Don't bash immigrants KINGPIN.

You reveal yourself as little more than an ignorant bigot and xenophobe when you do.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

Do you care to actually back that statement up with facts- or are you just going to leave such a wild comment out there with nothing more than your words

macsurf · 2 months ago

Show me THOSE stats kingpin.

Conservative2TheCore · 2 months ago

mac, can you link the DOJ study? Clearly the study doesn't include "deported in lieu of prison sentences"

Also, i find it ironic that you support a study that says only 1.6% of illegal immigrants in custody are under the jurisdiction of Immigration....Umm, doesn't that suggest that 98.4% of the ILLEGAL immigrants (Yes, they are here ILLEGALLY, thus breaking the law every day) are walking the streets????

macsurf · 2 months ago

I honestly don't know how to do that "link" thing I'm embarrassed to say. i remain very lo tech and only semi skilled when it comes to using all the computer has to offer.

I heard a spokesperson from the DOJ refer to the study when he refuted claims by a woman on Lou Dobbs show after she claimed Federal Bureau of Prisons statistics show that 30% of state and federal inmates are non US citizens, and a "...majority of them are believed to be illegal immigrants".

the DOJ spokesman found the womans Federal Bureau of Prisons statitics claims very interesting, given that, at least up until the time of this exchange about 15 or 18 months ago, the prison bureau didn't compile data on inmates' immigration status.

The DOJ, however does, and that is where the 1.6% figure comes from.

You'll get no argument from me that our immigration system is broken and needs overhaul.

But some of the scapegoating of Latin immigrants, regardless of their immigration status, is beyond ugly, it's downright unChristian.

the Southern Poverty Law Center is compiling data on the growing numbers of assaults by Anglo Americans on Latino immigrants, and even people perceived as Latino, and the numbers alarming

Much of the violence directly corelates with much of the xenophobic, often patently false, rhetoric spewed by clowns like Dobbs and Beck.

people need to come here legally, no doubt about it. But let's not forget, many Latin immigrants, be they documented or not, have been encoraged to come here by both government and business practices because they provided a variety of American industries with a cheap pool of labor to do the jobs, at least until this meltdown, that many Americans weren't willing to do.

They don't deserve the ugly scapegoating being hurled their way, especially when for the vast majority of those here who are undocumented their only crime is their lack of proper documentation.

Working in the restaurant industry when I'm home in states for the summer, I would rather have a latino immigrant working in the back of the house, whether they are documented or not, than most of the gringos who apply for those jobs in kitchens, which are not the most glamorous but rank among the most important jobs in the house.

You know why? The latino immigrant virtually always shows up for work. They often want to work six days a week as many hours a day as possible because they either need to to house their family here in the states, or they want to send as much money as they can back to their families still in their home country.

Most of them have a strong work ethic, and unlike many of their gringo counterparts who work in the back of the house, you rarely ever encounter them coming to work drunk or high on one drug or another.

They are almost always pleasant team players, and, believe it or not, many have a depth of true religious faith that puts many of America's faux christian right wing gringos to shame.

We need to find a way to allow people wh've lived and worked in this country for, say, five years who've done nothing else wrong except that their papers ar not in order to not be given not a fast track to "citizenship", but perhaps a five probationary alien resident work status that, and when they complete that probation successfully in accordance with all the guidelines, they can begin the long and cumbersome process of applying for naturalized citizenship which could well take another 3 to 5 years, and if they have any other legal problems besides a parking ticket, they get shipped home.

And we need to reform the system so that any new immigrants coming in to work are doing so with full and complete legal documentation.

But the ugly scapegoating really needs to stop, and the people who engage in it should be called for the bigots that they really are.

LoLattheUS · 2 months ago

"Southern Poverty Law Center" -

Not exactly a champion for law and order traditional Americans, so take what they say with a grain of salt.

macsurf · 2 months ago

Why, because they hold to account ignorant white bigots who believe in their heads they are the only "real" Americans?

PastBlast · 2 months ago

Simply type in the website address in you post. such as www.eagletribune.com

ipso_facto · 2 months ago

Should using 'incorrect' Social Security numbers be considered a deportable offense? If not, what other felonies should be excused for 'improperly documented' immigrants? Can United States citizens be granted the same leniency?

hardcore2thebone · 2 months ago

We are and have been paying for illegals health care all along under Bush administration and now you complain that you do not like it!
Where were you then?

Conservative2TheCore · 2 months ago

Umm...we were complaining then, too. Don't you remember the Kennedy/McCain Amnesty bill?

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

I read your letter and its full of lies and half truths.

Let me remind you it wasn't "a clean sweep." The
Democrats picked up 2 congressional seats including New York's 23.rd. People did not want to be dictated to
by Sarah Palin.

You blame the president for the ecconomy. Well who made this mess? When Bill Cliinton left office we had a surplus of several trillion dollars and Bush blew it.
But none of you Republicams are adult enough to admit it. You over grown babies.

Your health care bill is a joke. It adds more to the deficit and adds to the uninsured.You were in office for 8 years and did nothig because the Republicans are in bed with special interests and they don't want health care reform.

PastBlast · 2 months ago

Now let's be somewhat honest here. President Bush really helped screw this situation up, but it really started as President Clinton was leaving office. The technology/internet bubble burst wiping out trillions of dollars of market gains. Which then cause a huge decrease in tax dollars collected in capital gain taxes to vaporize.

Also under President Clinton, with the help of Congress, Fannie May and Freddie Mac were allowed to reduce their reserves and capital because it was more important to let everyone buy a house than be fiscally responsible. (The American Dream)

This allowed for the limited controlled financial industry to come up with new products. Bundled or package mortgage products which the credit rating agencies gave A+ rating too.

Bottom line, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Yet trillions of dollars were spent on the products and when the bubble burst, we are where we are at today.

Lesson learned? There was a reason years ago the simple bar to buying a home was 20% down and mortgage payment should be no more than 30% of gross income. Guess what, we don't all need to buy homes. If you can't afford, rent.

Also don't let short term budget projections define whether we can or can not afford something. The CBO and congress are not very good at coming up with long range projections.

Lastly, common sense rules. If you don't have the money in the bank to fund it, don't spend it.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

While I agree with your comment about the bubble being ready to break as clinton left - i completely disagree with your analysis of fannie and freddie...

I have done some research on this and while the basics of fannie and freddie set the stage - it was the Gramm-Leach act in 99 that overturned Glass-Stegall that sealed the deal. this is the bill that allowed banks to run wild - and they did - the speculative practices killed the banking system. When glass-stegall was repealled it was a republican controlled congress under a republican president!

the year before the repeal 5% of lending was sub-prime -after the repeal the sub-prime lending jumped to a high in 2008 of 30% - and this is when the crash occured. If banks still had to live under Glass-Steagall - it would have been a different story. They would not have had the freedom to take so much risk.

PastBlast · 2 months ago

I used Fannie and Freddie as just one example. The whole thing was a house of cards.

One thing I do now for sure is that congress is like Boston weathermen. They get it wong more than they get it right. This holds true for both parties.

What this country needs now is a good shot of common sense. Instead what do we get? New bills which are thousands of pages long trying to "help" us. We should inact a law which says no bill can be submited to congress that is over 500 words. This would require congress pick one small issue at a time and actually get it fixed.

MSLPatrick · 1 month ago

I agree with that, unfortunately we live in Mass and there seems to be a shortage of "other" candidates. Please not that neither option, incumbent or opponent are viable at this point, but I digress.

Until we have options to vote for and keep the Congressman in check, looks like we are doomed to live in their Utopia and not ours.

bigkahunah · 2 months ago

PastBlast, correct the lies of the Clinton administration of which there were plenty(he lied more than Bush ever thought of) came all tumbling down in his last year of office. Whomever won between Bush and Mr Climate was walking into a devastating falling economy as all those IPO's. went belly up ENRON, World Com and tons of other. The lies of the business world, Fannie Mae and Clinton, none of them ever told the truth.
"I never had sexual relations with that woman, which one are we talking about, so let me get back to running the country" Bill Clinton talking about Monica

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

We had a recession cause everybody knew Bush would screw up. If the election hadn't
been stolen we would not had a recession and
911 would never have happend.

Get_Your_Facts_Right · 2 months ago

errrrr .... do you have any facts to back up these rather strong unsupported assertions?

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

Well, Bush knew we were going to be attacked and did nothing.

Get_Your_Facts_Right · 2 months ago

He did????

Can you elaborate on that?

That's a rather serious charge ...

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Ok, now the freak is exposed.

Sorry to bother your lead-poisoned mind with my previous posts.

Carry on! Can I get you another lollipop?

Conservative2TheCore · 1 month ago

Wait, I thought Bush and Cheney planted the explosives...

macsurf · 1 month ago

GYFR, I don't believe Bush was "life long friends" with Osama.

But the ties between Osama's father, with his multi billion dollar construction empire and companies like Bechtel, a company in which the Bush family was/is a major investor, and private equity entitities like the Carlyle Group, on whose board GHW Bush long served, are well known and established.

In addition, let's not forget that in the 1980's the Reagan/Bush administration provided huge amounts of economic and military aid and technical assistance to the "Young Mujahadeed" in Afghanistan, which was the beginning of the both the Taliban and al Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden was a well known and respected fighter in that US backed movement to drive the USSR out of Afghanistan.

It was also in the 1980's that the Reagan/Bush administration backed Saddam hussein to the hilt, despite his well known reputation as a brutal, murderous dictator.

There used to be a photo floating around the internet of Donald rumsfeld, acting as an unofficial emissary for the Reagan adminstration in Baghdad - he was actually working for the Bechtel corporation at the time - at birthday bash for Saddam in one of Saddam's palaces. Rumsfeld was presenting Rumsfeld with a pair of 24K gold riding spurs and actually declared the "Butcher of Baghdad", to be a man with whom the US '...could do business".

It was an old NY Times photo I think but, interestingly it quickly disappeared from the net once the invasion began.

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

...because Osama loved Al Gore.

Brilliant deduction, Archimedes.

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Everybody knows Bush & Bin Laden are life long friends.

Conservative2TheCore · 1 month ago

Why are we looking for him in Afghanistan, then??? Why not pick him up at the Crawford Ranch on Thanksgiving?
You, my friend, are completely lost.

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

"it was more important to let everyone buy a house than be fiscally responsible"

Yup. The root of the whole damn thing. Then Bush didn't stop it because everyone's more afraid of being called racist than doing their damn jobs.

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

Clinton also was directly responsible for letting Osama escape several times, because he didn't want to offend other Arab states.

No Osama, no 9/11. No 9/11, no excuse to invade Afghanistan let alone Iraq.

But damn it was peaceful during Captain Fellatio's reign, wasn't it?

Blame the doctor who finds and attacks the cancer, not the doctor who let it metastasize for 8 years.

Thecityofsin · 2 months ago

If you read the news or watch it from time to time President Obama's popularity is still around 58 % In NJ and VA.

The People did not vote against the President but did vote for change in VA. & NJ!!

And do not give me that bull! President Obama has only been office for only 10 months Compared to 8 years of Republican rule and record spending that more spending then the democrats.

I find it as a Joke that Former George W Bush was some kind of hero well he put this country right down to the ground Just like his Father did in the 1990's.

The republican party is no better then the democrat party!! Plus it will not take over night to fix the mess that the Republicans put us in!!

I give the President an A +

zoloft · 2 months ago

And he has done far more damage in that time than the previous administration did in 8 years. At this pace you will look even more foolish trying to defend his record, oh say in 3 years when people will be hissing his name.

kbinpm · 2 months ago

there was not "republican rule" for eight years. The dems held the house and senate the last four years of Bush and noone blames them. The federal government, republican or democrat does one thing well... they spend and borrow trillions. It is happening with Obama as it did Bush. it will continue with Obama and we are only a generation away from a useless U.S. dollar.

macsurf · 2 months ago

Kingpin, just as with your post in the Gloucester times, your lack of historical and political knowledge is astounding. I would even say, on your behalf, embarrassing.

The Bushies controlled the White House for eight years, and their Repugnantican colleagues controlled the House and Senate for six of those eight years.

Just exactly where have you been?

Honesty_4Ever · 2 months ago

I think the republicans also controlled the house and senate under clinton....that's how the Graham/Leach bill got passed that overturned the regulations in place since the depression.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

What people miss is that on a National Level - the Democrats GAINED a seat.

If you look at the 2 gov's that lost their jobs - they were both unpopular. Also, it is not uncommon to see an 'adjustment' in an off year.

Republicans don't like to admit that the sins of their party lead to this mess. They point to freddie and fannie - but it was the repeal of glass-steagall that lead to banks going out of control.....

ipso_facto · 2 months ago

Sounds like a public school grading system.

stormwts1 · 1 month ago

Anybody have a problem with taking responsibility for one's own actions? Do we have a problem with taking care of are own friends and family or do we need the goverment to hold our hand? I'm for doing it myself. Anybody else?

Conservative2TheCore · 1 month ago

I second that.

stormwts1 · 1 month ago

If there was a test given in order to qualify to vote,the Democratic Party would never win another election. Why is the left full of all the uneducated,poor and ignorant. Answer: you get free stuff if you vote the big D. Every country has to have their group of fools.....

MassMiddleMan · 1 month ago

Nice try - but again - you are wrong....as it turns out - Blue states have higher average IQ's than Red states - - it has been published in a number of places - - While it goes up and down form year to year - Red states get one to two of the top 10 spots in IQ - -

Why do you feel the need - the desire to degrade someone because the think differently than you do?

rpmtohz · 1 month ago

Your blue states have the highest number of welfare, so I doubt it has the highest intelligence.

MassMiddleMan · 1 month ago

Man- you just love being wrong - try some FACTS for a change - this from an article and study from the WSJ:
Twenty-three of the 30 largest states, which account for more than 88% of the nation’s total population, see welfare caseloads above year-ago levels, according to a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal and the National Conference of State Legislatures. As more people run out of unemployment compensation, many are turning to welfare as a stopgap.

The biggest increases are in states with some of the worst jobless rates. Oregon’s count was up 27% in May from a year earlier; South Carolina’s climbed 23% and California’s 10% between March 2009 and March 2008. A few big states that had seen declining welfare caseloads just a few months ago now are seeing increases: New York is up 1.2%, Illinois 3% and Wisconsin 3.9%. Welfare rolls in a few big states, Michigan and New Jersey among them, still are declining.

more coming

MassMiddleMan · 1 month ago

from the last full study - look how many RED states are in the top 10
# 1 California: 1,085,627
# 2 New York: 341,004
# 3 Texas: 333,435
# 4 Pennsylvania: 207,429 at time was red
# 5 Michigan: 202,469 at time was red
# 6 Ohio: 188,108
# 7 Tennessee: 180,466
# 8 Washington: 140,721
# 9 Indiana: 140,571
# 10 Georgia: 132,003

MassMiddleMan · 1 month ago

there are other reports out there that show similar statistics....go look and find them - btw - i do watch fox news - it is pure entertainment - - it is the equivalent of watching a demolition derby - new and creative ways to simply crash the truth.....quite creative

Honesty_4Ever · 1 month ago

They look and act like Barbie dolls... painfully embarrassing entertainment... substance be damned...go for the sound bite.

Conservative2TheCore · 1 month ago

MMM, please don't go down this road with the Blue States being smarter again....You can't say one state is smarter than another....you have to break it down even further, because a state like MA has multiple top notch universities, which skew the numbers due to the population of people surrounding them. However, if you break it down closer (say blue town / red town or blue zip code / red zip code) you'll see a much different result. My money goes on red zip codes having higher IQ's than blue zip codes.

stormwts1 · 1 month ago

There is nothing I could say to possibly degrade the left any further. Any person who holds beliefs dangerous to the stability and safety of my family and country is an enemy. It is not about thinking diffrently. It's become much more than that. Time to fight.

macsurf · 1 month ago

Paranoia WILL destroy ya, my friend

MassMiddleMan · 1 month ago

You go...time to fight - awesome!
Guess you forgot it was time to fight when we left Afghanistan to go into Iraq under false pretenses....guess it wasn't time to fight when Bush cut taxes but kept spending levels the same (raising the deficit in the process)...when he passed NCLB and didn't create funding for it (more in the whole!)....when he pushed through the patriot act without any security provisions for basic americans......when we tortured people going against the Geneva convention....

but hey - there is a democrat in office - time to fight.....

Pathetic

stormwts1 · 1 month ago

Basic fact about goverment healthcare..if you take anything for free from your goverment,you offically are not an American. Lazy and stupid people are not welcome here. Time for you to get the hell out.

MassMiddleMan · 1 month ago

I feel sorry for you - honestly, deeply sorry for you.

stormwts1 · 1 month ago

Thank you! You don't know what we Americans go through trying to deal with people like you. Thanks again.

MassMiddleMan · 1 month ago

Yeah I know - without sanity to help provide guidance in your life - what would you do!

stormwts1 · 1 month ago

Without sanity??? I would be a Democrat.

MassMiddleMan · 1 month ago

Touche'

A.Lincoln · 2 months ago

Taking care of sick people is a "far left agenda"?
Jesus was a Liberal, evidently.

rpmtohz · 2 months ago

Taking care of sick people? You mean like robbing our seniors of their medicare to give it to medicaid? Or do you mean like stealing money for the handicap and disabled to give to entitlement programs? Or how about laying off more firemen and policemen so they can put more "homeless" people in hotels? Democrats are a bunch of hypocrites that will destroy our freedom and liberties for their entitlement programs. Just like they will destroy the healthcare of 85% of the people for their 15%. We need jobs not entitlement programs. Private sector jobs but according to Obama capitalism failed. 20% of people on welfare and 40% of people government employed and our capitalism failed.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

Don't just make stuff up - - what money was taken from the handicaped and disabled?

The health care system for seniors was reworked - they will NOT lose services - - I have listened to both sides and attended conference calls to learn more - apparently - that is too much work for you to do. Please - get educated on this bill before you continue ripping it apart.

rpmtohz · 2 months ago

while you watch your indoctrinated news you cry because they show some family with hardship and want more money fo welfare. you don't get upset with the abuse and mismanagement. You don't get upset when the democrats just keep adding entitlement programs, nope you just cry for more taxes to support the irresponsible. They play you suckers for everything they can and being the gullable people you are you follow like the sheep you are.

The Democrats have been pro-life for more years then you have been around. The Republicans have always been pro-choice. If you bother to look at the healthcare bill it proves it. The fact is we already have laws regulating abortion but the Ddemocrats don't support it.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

Ok - now you simply have NO idea what you are talking about - - and I mean NO IDEA.....
How is it that you vote for a candidate when you have no idea what the parties stand for!

rpmtohz · 2 months ago

I am 60+ old and lived through most of the things you blame the Republicans for. I have gone from a low income to middle class with hard work and provided for my family. I have paid taxes to suppot the democrats social programs while I had to work more hours to support myself.
Don't tell me what the democrats represent. You are the one with no idea. You have been too sheltered all your life to know wha the truth is. For over 40 years I have watched the democrat party destroy what htis country stood for. Even by your own narrow mind you admit that it is my obligation to support your entitlement programs. What you call human rights for the poor is a violation of the rights of the working people. The democrat party has misused our government for decades and that is why we are in the financial problems we are in. I haven't tried to defend the Republicans. I just tried to help you see the truth of what the democrat party stands for and the hypocrites they are.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

You keep telling me that I told you what you must do.....I did not - I have simply stated that there is a vote - that is the way this country works....the majority rules. What you call a violation of rights is not so - - with all of the cases before the supreme court - none have overturned the programs we have in place....I have also stated that I thought that some social programs have been expanded beyond what they should have been .... you have this tremendous hatred - in the end - respect the process...you do have a right to complain - as I am sure you vote - you seem very passionate...but the voters put in place people to implement programs they ran on - obama is doing nothing less than what he committed to - and some would argue he hasn't done enough!

rpmtohz · 2 months ago

I am not saying you specifically but refering tothe party you support. the democrats are no diferent than the republicans. They represent their own special interest groups/ You say the people vote for it but they don't. Under false pretense they pas bils like the "GayRights" that if allowed the people would overturn it. I am not trying to get into that discussion right now. I am just trying to make a point about whether the people relly vote or if the politicians are more interested in their special interest groups. Any and all bills written by our politicians are supose to be for the good of ALL of the people. Not special interest or who buys the politicians. Our welfare started out to aid disabled and disadvantage people to assist them into becoming independent. The democrats have turned itinto a big business am exploit the system. People no longer attemft to get off the system because they can't afford to get off it. They buy te votes for those who want the support. Then their are the seniors. Unfortunately they listen o the lies about how the democrats will provide more support for them and then take money away from our seniors. They have been using our SS and medicare to support welfare and medicaid.

I*f democrats are given teir way we would pay mosst of our paycheck to government for taxes. This is what you want?

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

Destroying the private insurance industry to force rationing and therefore "an equal and inadequate distribution of healthcare resources for everyone" is the far left agenda.

Who's Jesus?

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

Wow - what exactly do you watch???
No one is destroying a private insurance industry - keeping it honest - maybe - - providing options - yes. But no one is rationing healthcare in this bill - - really - use facts - not talking points please..

Michelle · 2 months ago

Wouldn't you think that "private insurance"/HMO are the reason why the healthcare system and its costs are so outrageous?? There are medical procedures that don't last more than 15 minutes and cost OVER $5,000!!! If healthcare costs were made more affordable then the burden would also be taken off of medicaid and thereby off of our pockets as well...but do you really see that happening??? From doctors that hand out disability cards to pharmaceuticals creating epidemics to expose the "miracle cure/vaccine" that will cost of course an arm and a leg...if not out in the open we get hit with the bill silently through taxes... Think about it...lately we've been having about 1-3 mystery illnesses/epidemics PER YEAR!!! Why is that???

It's all a vicious circle and a perpetual catch 22...that only the big fish get profit from... who is really to blame???

rpmtohz · 2 months ago

Do you recognize the cost of the equipment to make that procedure to be 15 mins or the cost for the hospital? Of course not. You just believe that things should be cheap. You don't see the amount of people on medicaid eing the problem but the cost of the services. No wonder you need more government you are to narrow minded to see the truth.

Michelle · 2 months ago

ON THE CONTRARY...with all due respect Sir/Maam...
I worked in a hospital and although some equipment and staff for certain procedures are costly others are not...believe me if you look into it, alot of procedures are way overpriced...

and frankly Sir/Maam, it IS a CATCH 22 not all but alot of people on Medicaid are on it because they can't afford medical care themselves even if they do work and they can't afford it because the cost of healthcare is too high and the cost is high because in the end the healthcare field knows they will get paid more than likely by the government which ultimately translates into You and me and the rest of our tax dollars... its a viscous circle

Larry the Watchdog · 2 months ago

You really are out of your mind. Neither the cost of equipment, medical teams of HMO's is why healthcare is in crisis mode...It's the Pharmaceutical Companies and their lobbyist!!! They sell to every other country in the world at a fraction of what we pay as citizens to this great country. Take the blinders off, while the medical advances have been great, they are useless if you don't have the medicine to cure the finding. Kinda like a mechanic putting your car on a diagnostic machine and not having the tools to fix his findings.

rpmtohz · 2 months ago

Well let me tell you some fcts. I happen to service hopital equipment.
First before a hospitl cn byt a iece of equipment it has to be certified by many reulaing orginizations. This certification has to pass these test for your protection. then after a period of time it has to be recertified.

Second unless you are involved in the maintenance you have no idea what the hospital goes through to care for the patients and working staff. The cost is unbelievable.

When you look at a medical procedure all you see is what is affecting you at that time. Take hert surgery. 25+ years ago they had to cut you wide open to do it. Today they have reduced that procedure and is less costlier.

There are things that could help reduce these cost but not the amount you think they can do.

People on medicaid? These are the people on welfare. That is about 20% of the population. Don't go blaming the poor guy who works a $10/hr. He deserves medicaid because he is at least trying to support him/herself.

I have no problem with welfare or medicaid. But the Democrats have inflated the amount of people collecting their free ride the working people are going broke to support them. They do it because of votes and as long as they can work on your compassion and sympathy, they will rob the country blind.

LoLattheUS · 2 months ago

I know one country that is happy Obama is office, and the Congress controlled mostly left, our pals in India. India appears to be into gambling. They are gambling that our dollar is going to be so weak, that they bought 2 million metric tons of gold from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Anyone here think the United States in NOT in trouble? Looks like India is planning on buying more of "us" than the Chinese, and bet the house on it.

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

India and China also have NO intent to sign on to ANY climate control measures.

The dumb Americans will sign anything that allegedly saves penguins and forces us to live in the forest with squirrels. Meanwhite, the Indians and Chinese will prosper and end up owning everything west of the Rockies.

macsurf · 2 months ago

Buford, I don't know if China will sign the climate treaty next month or not.

But China, realizing there is big money to be made in green, cleaner energy technology, are spnding untold billions to retool their industries to make them cleaner, more efficient, and profitable.

The Chinese, after all, despite their totalitarian government, are, when it comes to money, as my chinese partner here in Costa Rica likes to say, "the Jews of the Orient".

Once they saw the potential for profitability about a year ago, they picked up the ball and started to run with it.

macsurf · 2 months ago

In addition, Buford, China already does own abig chunk of this country thanks to GW.

He looted our Treasury to give tax`breaks to his rich cronies and patrons, then started two wars we could not afford because he drained the Treasury on his buddies' behalf, so had to borrow billions and billions from China.

Great guy, that GW Bush

NH_Chris · 2 months ago

Well written Andrew. Many people feel the way you do and we are not all in NH or New England for that matter. It is nation-wide.

I remember when the Democrats were a party of integrity -- before they sold out and were taken over by the loony Liberals and Socialists. They made their pact with the Devil to get into power and now the Nation suffers.

I think Newton's Third Law applies here in that the Left is pushing so hard for what is wrong for America that they are going to push this country to the Right. I hope it happens before it is too late.

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

I agree that they are loonier than in the glory days of hanging blacks and Jim Crow (southen Democrats all of them).

And they're certainly more anti-war (when they aren't ALL VOTING FOR THE IRAQ INCURSION because they will later claim they are too dumb to do their own research on the subject) than their predecessors:

116,000 Americans dead - Wilson/WWI
405,000 Americans dead - FDR/WWII
140,000 vaporized Jap civilians - Truman/WWII
36,000 Americans dead - Truman/Korea
58,000 Americans dead - LBJ/VietNam

Republicans, by comparison, surely are the warmongers among us.

300 Americans dead - Bush41/GulfWar
5,000 Americans dead - Bush43/Afghan-Iraq

macsurf · 1 month ago

Buford, you are technically correct that it was white Southern Democrats who were among the most racist people in the country.

But you selectively leave out than when the GOP saw the anger the passage of the Civil and Voting Rights Acts unleashed among white Southern Democrats, the GOP actively recruited those racists into its ranks.

Nixon even named it the "Southern Strategy".

LBJ fully understood more than four decades ago that by signing those two bills, he was ceding political control of the South and much of the West to the GOP for decades to come. But he signed them anyway because he knew it was the right and just thing to do.

And the GOP, in the four decades since then, became masterful at playing the race card over and over again.

I'm sure you remember Willie Horton, and the campaign of GHW Bush playing the big black boogie man card and slamming Mike Dukakis for the prison furlough program. But I bet you don't remember that it was REPUBLICAN Governor Frank Sargent who initiated the furlough program, not Mike Dukakis.

macsurf · 1 month ago

Another thing Bufford,

If you look at the cumulative death toll in Vietnam, you will see that two Republican presidents were in power for more of the time US involvement intensified in Nam than were Democrats.

US military involvement in Vietnam began in the very early years of the Eisenhower administration, it ratcheted up under JFK, but really didn't din't become a full scale US military intervention until LBJ became prez and lied to the nation about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, not so unlike Bush and Cheney lying about Saddam's involvement in 9-11 to rationalize the invasion Iraq.

After LBJ ended his reelection bid in 1968, Nixon, like LBJ, lied to the nation again. This time claiming on the campaign trail he had a "secret plan" to end the war, all the while he and Kisinger were plotting the expanion of the war into Laos and Cambodia.

The bbulk of the 58,000 dead in Nam occurred between the period after the escalation following the fictional Gulf of Tonkin Incident, and 1975 when the Viet Cong drove US forces out of Nam with their tails between their legs, which occurred on REpublican President Gerald Ford's watch.

So, Johnson expnded the war in 1964/1965, but was out of office four years later. Nixon was in office four five years and escalating the war every step of the way, and then Ford was in office for a year when Saigon fell.

Let's see, that's four years for a Dem, and six for the Repubs. I'll bet the majority of 58000 dead hapened on Nixon, and to a lesser extent, Ford's watch. Which, by my estimation, given the fact Ike set the whole ball in motion, in the 1950's, means Vietnam was, in reality, much more a Republican's war than it was a Democrats.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

Do you remember at all WHY we are in this mess? I mean - really - were you aware of any of the mess that occurred under the Republicans? Just checking to see if you are now just reading the paper - or if you were following the downfall of our economy under the republican leadership years.

seealotofthings2 · 2 months ago

I remember why we are in this mess -- it was your buddies Barney Frank and Chris Dodd that started the avalanche and yes there is video to prove it but of course people like you will always be in denial.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

No - as I posted above...
Dodd and Frank put in place an ability (that was controlled at the time- regarding fannie and freddie -
However, - it was the Gramm-Leach act in 99 that overturned Glass-Stegall that sealed the deal. this is the bill that allowed banks to run wild - and they did - the speculative practices killed the banking system and got us to the point we are now in.

When glass-stegall was repealled it was a republican controlled congress under a republican president!

the year before the repeal 5% of lending was sub-prime -after the repeal the sub-prime lending continued on an upward spiral to a high in 2008 of 30% - hence - the crash.
If banks still had to live under Glass-Steagall - it would have been a different story. They would not have had the freedom to take so much risk.

NH_Chris · 2 months ago

From what I understand of that time period, Clinton was President and he must of signed that bill into law. Glass -Stegal was a Depression Era law that Clinton was in favor of modernizing so that American banks could be more competitive world-wide. One of the sticking points, ironically, was the Community Reinvestment Act, which sets rules for lending to poor communities. After the bill was signed, Rubin (Clinton's Treasury Secretary), accepted a sweet deal with an investment bank.

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

Just vote in 2010. If you enjoy arguing with the metally defective, great. Many of us do. If it just upsets you... stop.

(note to Libs: Why do we say mentally defective? Because not even the German National Socialists aborted their own healthy progeny. Even monsters instinctively protect their own. Where does that leave you?)

rpmtohz · 2 months ago

What part of 100% mortgage or high risk mortgage was a major cause of the failure. We went through the same thing back in the late 80s. The real estate industry collapsed and the banks were in failure. The government regulate the banks to need 20% down payment. Clinton and the Democrats pressured Fammie Mae and Freddie Mac to take the loans with government guarantees. These very guarantees are the very cause of the financial mess we are in.

The Democrats have done such a nice job under Obama they now require 3% downpayment but will give home buyers government money to reduce that burden. This will guarantee another real estate failure an more government debt.

By the way mr pro-choice, did you see how the democrats changed their minds on the healthcare bill about abortion? Aren't you the one who states they are pro-choice? Nothing but a bunch of hyprocrites. They will lie about anything to get the vote of you sheep.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

Can you have some sense of reasonableness - - The Democrats do support pro-choice, along with education to try to curb unnecessary pregnancies....but they are understanding enough to know that while the majority of Americans support a women's right to choose - having the government pay for it would cross the line. I mean honestly, some common sense is needed in the discussion.

It is not hypocritical - it is being realistic - it is also following the will of the people .... 60% want a public option - they are tired of insurance companies screwing the customers....and a majority will NOT support publicly funded abortions - I was on a conference call with N. Tsongas - and this issue came up a number of times -people want the bill - but do not want this paid for and covered by the plan

rpmtohz · 2 months ago

You are the same hypocrite as the party you follow. By your own admission you want frre choice but pro life. as well. It just dependes on how you feel that day apparently. It just proves how the Democrat party is nothing but a bunch of hypocrites. Depending on who they are speaking to they make the false promises so the sheep will vote for them and then go on and tax people for their entitlement programs.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

I don't think I can argue with you because your world is so black and white - and this is not anywhere near the world we live in. I am for a woman's choice - because I do understand (not that I could live in 'her' shoes) the difficulty of the choices they make. I also want more education so that young women don't put themselves into a situation where they must make this choice. Abstinence only programs do not work. I would prefer to see a more enlightened approach to educating our youth, with abstinence as part of the program - but not the only discussion point.

Hypocrite - you seem to not even understand what your party's position is on abortion and gay rights. I know exactly what I believe in. And I am consistent in my beliefs.

If you think the republicans are pure - you are naïve. It has become a cult - not a political party. They are even turning on their own.

rpmtohz · 2 months ago

It is not my fault you don't know the difference btween right and wrong. You are so educated that you cn make excuses for wrong to be right but it really doesn't change it. I think education has already proved it has no control over abstinence. It is moral values that have better control. A woman has the right to decide. But as long as there arrogant and self righteous people out there they will try to dictate how people should live their lives. You obviously fall in this catagory.

For over 200 years our Constitution and Bill of Rights has made this country what it is. Now the "Righteous want to tell people how to live. Our education teaches irresponsiblilty and unaccountablilty.

By the way. I never said the Republicans are pure. I said given the choice I would pick the Republicans over the Democrats because with them I would have a better chance of freedom and liberties guaranteed to me by our Constitution.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

Sorry - but you are WRONG AGAIN...here are facts:
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPs...
Again - try educating yourself.....
You make statements that with one simple search - can be proven wrong.
These are FACTS.

Also - I will say it again - you preach PRO-CHOICE - but the REPUBLICANS ARE AGAINST THIS......
Honestly - I sent you link after link to prove this - but you still - CONTINUE - to be WRONG.....

If you want freedoms and liberties - it is the DEMOCRATS that support people living their lives as they see fit without
Telling them what is right/wrong. Republicans tell gays that their lifestyle is wrong....hey, it is not for me - but I
Don't believe they should have fewer rights because they are gay!

I know the difference between right and wrong - I know facts from opinions....

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

I'll say this s-l-o-w-l-y for you...

Conservative abortion doesn't exist.
Liberal abortion is divine.

2Smart4U · 2 months ago

Perhaps you are unaware that, thanks to Obama, we taxpayers are already paying for abortions and forced sterilizations in China, India and elsewhere - a despicable program that former Pres. Bush steadfastly refused participate in. Watch and learn. When the Pelosi "Healthcare" plan gets put through - and it will - you'll see. They won't just harvest the elderly and terminally ill, they will snuff "defective" children as well, all for the "greater good," to keep costs down...

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

I feel sorry for you.

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

The one thing we NEED is state funded abortion. They line up to eradicate their own progeny. Why would anyone want to stop this?

hardcore2thebone · 2 months ago

To Manuse or is it Manure,
Obama had nothing to do with the deficits and therefore, your comments and priorities are mixed up mixed up.
Where were you when Bush created the biggest deficit in history. Stop watching Fox news and the oxycontin man and get the real news from another source. Also, did you hear the latest about the Gop attorney, Roland Corning ( former legislator) who was caught by police in his car and in a cemetary with an 18 yrs.old girl, viagra, sex toys etc.etc. ?
This man is over 65 yrs.old and like the rest who preach family values, do the worst things imaginable.

Conservative2TheCore · 2 months ago

So, Bush deficit...bad.
Obama deficit...good.
yeah, umm...I believe it's wonderful fiscal thinking of liberals that you need to spend more money to get out of debt, and take more money from the public to pay for it....take it from the same people that create the economy.
No wonder we're in such a mess.

Wow...a GOP attorney has an affair with a girl over the age of majority....amazing...you know what? You convinced me....every member of the GOP is a horrible human being, not worthy of living on this earth.

So, since the GOP preaches morals and family values, and some stray off that path, everyone is evil? And, what exactly does that say about the Dems? That it's ok to "do the worst thing imaginable" because we don't stand for family values? Seriously, think about what your'e saying.

BTW....Tim Geitner, who oversees the IRS, which collects taxes, forgot to pay his taxes....twice. Charlie Rangel, who presides over tax legislation, forgot to pay his taxes!
But, that's ok, right?

PastBlast · 2 months ago

C2C do you remember what that stain on Monica's dress was?

The Dems are alaways good little boys and girls.

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

If Republicans preach morals and family values why did Sarah Palin's daughter come home knock up?

spmart0 · 2 months ago

For the same reason the Democratic President (CLINTON) got caught doing Monica in the Oval Office. Everyone has bad poeple in their camp. Don't throw stones unless your side has done "NO"wrong!

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

I WILL TO throw stones. Democrats don't preach "family values." You self
ritious phoneys are not going to to tell me what to do. You cant answer the
question

Conservative2TheCore · 1 month ago

Oh, and let's not forget, being FOR taxes while forgetting to PAY taxes....Or being against lobbyists while accepting cash from lobbyists. Or posting bills online for all the world to see for 72 hours, unless, of course, there's something in the bill you don't want the world to see...
Please, Alex....you've got the market cornered on "phonies".

Conservative2TheCore · 1 month ago

I believe the concept of "self righteous phony" is best demonstrated by the limosine liberals...who let their limos sit outside idling with the A/C on while attending an Al Gore speech in NYC on global warming, after flying on a private jet from California....Or, owning a 27,000 square foot mansion that consumes 10x the energy as the average home....Or claiming to be for the working class, while never so much as lifting a finger for anything but a entitlement....Or being a champion for women's rights, while leaving one to drown, and another to be raped. Or clamiing to be for the war in Iraq before being against it.
You still want to go down that road, Alex?

bigkahunah · 2 months ago

Ask Bill Clinton he must have been involved somehow. He prays on all woman young and old. I know all those woman are lying.

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

Look. I asked a question and I want
answer

macsurf · 2 months ago

Yup, big kahuna and then there was Karl Rove getting a White House press pass clearance fo his "main squeeze", an ex gay male prostitute named Greg Gannon whose job it was to serve as a plant at WH press briefings and asked questions framed in such a way that allowed Ari Fleischer, and then Scot McClelland, to answer those questions in a way that "spun" favorably for the WH message of the day.

Gay friends of mine who are politically connected in DC tell me the practice continued until the late Tony Snow came on board as press secretary and because he had real integrity, even if I didn't agree with him much politically, put a stop to the practice.

Conservative2TheCore · 1 month ago

Umm, and exactly how have things changed in this administrations press conferences? Planted questions, soft balls, hand picked questioners, and no follow up questions that "trip up" the president...not to mention the exclusion of certain news outlets while allowing "amatuer journalists" like Huffington Post ask questions.

While we're on the subject of "gay male prostitutes", hows Barney Frank's boyfriends herion habit going? Is he using the profits from his brothel to buy the herion?

Get_Your_Facts_Right · 2 months ago

I've heard more than once that the percentage of young girls in fundamental Christian churches (like Sarah Palin's) who get pregnant out of wedlock is actually higher than the percentage in the general population.

Anybody have any first-hand insight into that?

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

FACT: Stop paying women to have babies, and they will suddenly remember what a condom is. Baby-daddy won't get any if he doesn't wear a raincoat.

The party that supports enslaving women with unplanned babies and monthly pittance checks is to blame.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

What the poster who you replied to said is true - look it up. For all the talk about welfare babies - the larger percentage is in the conservative south where they teach abstinence only......they are stuck in 1800's - republicans push bills that are abstinence only education.......

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

Here is a report - by state - that proves that you are wildly mistaken about the problem.....but then again, why let little things like facts get in the way of degrading posters, pushing your opinions as facts....

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPs...

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

here is a link with facts that prove your dribble to be wrong - - but then again, why let facts get in the way of disparaging a person's views or arguing your opinon as facts...
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPs...

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

WOW! Imagine that

2Smart4U · 2 months ago

Your claim is wildly incorrect. If you want factual teen pregnancy rates, you'll have to seek sources other than your imagination. According to just one study released last November the overwhelming majority of teens becoming pregnant - or impregnating others - were those who watched the most TV, particularly those programs that focused on sex. You know, the ones that glorify it and show it's all fun and recreational with no responsibility, risk, or consequences. Plenty of previous research reached the same conclusion: More sex and starting at younger ages. Sorry, but there is no data to substantiate your claim.

Get_Your_Facts_Right · 2 months ago

"Your claim is wildly incorrect. If you want factual teen pregnancy rates, you'll have to seek sources other than your imagination."

Just a point of clarification, 2Smart:

If you read my post closely, you would have noted that I did not make a "wildly incorrect" "claim" sourced from my "imagination." I simply stated what I've heard, and asked if anyone had any first-hand insight into whether it might be true.

That said, do you have (1) a link to the study you referenced and any (2) other factual information supporting or shooting down what I have heard re pregnancy rates of young girls in fundamental churches?

macsurf · 2 months ago

2smart4 u, go to the web sites of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the websites of states' departments of public health, the data collected by both privately and publicly funded health organizations that provide services, especially to teens in trouble.

The GOP Bible thumpers in those states who mandate "Abstinence Only" health and sex ed for teenagers are responsible for more teen pregnancies and teen ABORTIONS, than us loony, left advocates of "Abstinence Based" health and sex ed here in the northeast.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

No - he is absolutely correct - here is a 2006 report by state that shows that macsurf is CORRECT - again - get facts - use facts - post facts - not what you hear on tv or you think is right, your opinion - here are facts....

It also proves that BuforPussor is wrong in his welfare state babbies issue
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPs...

macsurf · 2 months ago

NOT 2smart, the only person citing sources that are figments of anyone's imagination is YOU!

You really out to change you're handle to 2dumb2tobebelieved!!

macsurf · 2 months ago

Get your facts right, 2 smart 4 u is not so smart.

I spent fifteen years in public health advocating "abstinence based" health and sex ed for teenagers.

It's an approach that, over all Massachusetts and most New England and northeast states embrace.

Those states have some of the lowest teen pregnancy, teen STD, and teen abortion rates in the country.

States in the south and west, like Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Utah, and, yes, Sarah palin's Alaska, where the religiously extremist Bible thumping wing of the GOP has political power and mandated 'Abstinence ONLY" health and sex ed have some of the highest teen pregnancy, STD, AND abortion rates in the entire.

And, FYI, in relation to adults, those states dominated by all those sel righteous, faux Christian, right wing GOP extremists, have some of the highest DIVORCE rates in the country, while a state like loony, left wing, liberal,socialist, Massachusetts, along with most New England and northeastern states, rank among the lowest in divorce rates.

So, it all begs the question; Who are the real champions of "family values" and protecting the health of America's youth? The data, and sarah Palin's own family history, reveal that it is not the ignorant, lunatic, know nothing Bible thumpers now trying to hijack the once great party of men like Abe Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Barry goldwater.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

here is a link for your point:
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPs...

Conservative2TheCore · 2 months ago

By the way, since my last post, I've been searching for any bit of evidence that Roland Corning was married. I can't find any....
So, since there was no evidence of prostitution, the girl was 18, and no evidence he (or she) was married, this is nothing more than two people having a romp in a car....no charges brought, either.
Nice try HC2B....this has nothing to do with "family values"

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

You stupikd moron. It's discusting. There's nothing more sickening than an old man with a young girl. Hope he drops dead.

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

DisGusting, brain trust.

Sorry he offends you with his attraction to women.

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

He's a dirty old man

bertcj1 · 2 months ago

Rush Limbaugh is a radio personality who got hooked on oxys. Obama is the PRESIDENT who snorted coke and smoked weed.What say you to that. ? Nothing I assume

Conservative2TheCore · 2 months ago

Of course not.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

Personally- I don't care about either.....

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

For once you're right. The presidednt snorted coke in his youth. Dumbell got hooked when he
was an adult.

Honesty_4Ever · 2 months ago

I believe you can add George W Bush to that list also... coke...dui... then religion

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

Yeah, but Bush doesm't remember.

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

It's cruel of you to blame surgical patients who become hooked on prescription medication.

Do you also blame rape victims for being pretty?

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

Don't ask me to feel sorry for that ignorant, self-rituous jerk.

macsurf · 2 months ago

bertcj1, Obama experimented with a little weed and coke as a colege student - as did MANY of his generation.

Limbaugh became an Oxycontin junkie as an adult, sent his Latina housekeeper into the street to illegally cop the drug for him repeatedly, and then violated the terms of his court settlement by getting caught by Customs with prescription Viagra that was not his prescription.

To even compare the two is ludicrous.

zoloft · 2 months ago

How do you figure that? He has been president for a year. The deficit has grown during that year. You are also a pompus ass. Open your eyes if you can't open your mind.

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

1) He's a college professor by trade. Not a businessman or executive of any sort. Why would anyone expect him to be able to solve fiscal problems? Give him a break.

2) He was elected because he's 1/2 white. Democrats don't seem to be very supportive of black people. They oppose school choice and enslave blacks with welfare and repeated chidings that they aren't smart enough to get an education and raise themselves to excellence, but must continue to vote for Democrats who'll provide free money and cheese if they reproduce (without a father in the house... read welfare law) far beyond their ability to properly care for the children.

Is really quite a well thought out racket, but clearly has destroyed the previously rock-solid black community, work ethic and family unit since 1964.

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

YOU RACIST. What difference does it make what color the president is. He's doing a great job. I'm reporting you.

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

She wasn't found 10 hours later in his submerged car after he'd left the scene, swam to his hotel and consulted with aids and attorneys before reporting her there? Weird.

macsurf · 1 month ago

srormwts1,

It is you who is not a "real" American.

You just think you are.

Are the tens of millions of elderly who get free Medicare not American?

Are those with disbilities living on SSDI not American?

Are the children who go to public schools with no tuition charged not American?

Are qualified students who receive Pell Grants and other government educational assistance not American?

No one I know is asking for 'FREE" health care. We are asking for the creation of a competitive counterweight to the virtual monopoly the private health insurance industry has in determing what the industry will or won't pay for and, as a result, giving the industry power to decide who lives and who dies in the United States of America, all the while ripping off ordinary self employed, and people who must cary their own coverage because their employer does not offer it with exorbitant monthly premiums, high co-pays, and, when all is said and done, often crappy coverage.

rpmtohz · 1 month ago

Do you have something against our Constitution and Bill of Rights? You think we became the wealthiest and strongest nation in the world because of a freeloading society? What will finally penetrate your thick skull, when we become another third world country. You people are incredible. We have entitlement programs that are literally choking our country and you want more entitlement programs. All you want to fault is republicans for not raising our taxes.

stormwts1 · 1 month ago

I agree! Let the states take care of their own. The federal goverment can keep the military up and take care of the infrastructure. We shouldn't need the goverment to survive. Strong state goverments....weak federal goverment sounds perfect. Large goverments have NEVER done anything well. They have wasted money and time for decades.Time for change...get it,time for change...

Ronzo9 · 1 month ago

Well now its the govt who decides who lives and dies, if it comes to a choice.....I will trust private healthcare over the govt any day of the week.
Welcome to the beginning of the end of a free society as we know it.

rpmtohz · 1 month ago

Yes and if you don't live by their standards they will tax you.

Ronzo9 · 1 month ago

That wasn't me, I have been agreeing with you all along.

rpmtohz · 1 month ago

Sorry I know. I tried to delete the comment but it wouldn't let me.

MassMiddleMan · 1 month ago

Listening to either fox news, limbaugh or you read the republican talking points - what you did not do is read the bill.

stormwts1 · 1 month ago

I want the goverment to do its job and nothing else. Keep us safe and build a few roads. Anything above and beyond that is out of bounds. If my family is in the need for something,my wife and I will provide it. If we can't,it shouldn't be your problem. Why would someone wnat the goverment to provide for them? Seems creepy,at best!

rpmtohz · 1 month ago

Why don't you try listening to some of it. Maybe you might learn something.

A.Lincoln · 2 months ago

Conservatives: Let the sick children and seniors die if they can't afford insurance.
Democrats: Keep your current healthcare plan if you like it, but if and when you need help now you can get help.
FOX News parrots: "Obama is black! He's gonna microwave kittens!" "There's some secret invisible code written in Kenyan on the back of the bill that sets up commie death commitees and forces abortions on the white wimmins!"

rpmtohz · 2 months ago

Really? I din't se the Republicans steal $500 billion from medicare to give to medicaid.I didn't see the Republicans give SS to immigrants who never contributed a dime to the system.

If you bother to take the time it is the Democrats who will take away benefits from your "sick" children and then lay off firemen and policemen.

macsurf · 1 month ago

rpmtohz, no but you saw GW bush loot our Treasury on behalf of his rich cronies and political patrons at the very same time he led the country into expensive wars on two fronts, which meant he had to raise the money for the wars from somewhere, so he started borrowing big time from bankers in Beijing to cover his fiscally reckless rear end and, given that I am now part of an extended Chinese family given my relationship with my partner, I can tell you this; when a Chinaman, whether an individual or the government, loans another money, they do so fully expecting repayment - WITH interest.

How China will collect on the debt Bush incurred with them remains to be seen but, marky my wotds, collect they will.

rpmtohz · 1 month ago

At $4 trillion dollars I would say Obama and the democrats far exceeded Bush spending. BTW it was the democrat controlled senate and congress that sold our debt to china. You want to blame the republicans because they reduced our taxes? It wasn't the democrats who increased our government size and entitlement programs? Now I can understand why people can't balance a checkbook and why you idiots have big credit card bills.

A.Lincoln · 2 months ago

Medicare and Medicaid are both programs administered by the same federal agency: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
So you're saying the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services "stole" from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to give money to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services?
Which FOX TV show convinced you of that?

rpmtohz · 2 months ago

Medicare is paid for by people who contribute to it along with the matching funds by the employer. Medicaid is paid for by taxpayers with their income tax. It was originally a seperate trust fund. But just like SS, medicare has been robbed to support your welfare trash.

A.Lincoln · 2 months ago

"It is estimated that approximately 60 percent of poor Americans are not covered by Medicaid." "...the fastest growing aspect of Medicaid is nursing home coverage."
Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
-------------
"Welfare Trash"? The conservative's list of who they want herded into their gas chambers and then burned in their ovens grows again...

rpmtohz · 2 months ago

With 20% of the population on welfare your numbers are political lies. They have better coverage than anyone who buys medical insurance. Wuth every hospital in this country has financial assistance for those with lower income, these people lose everything because they are frefused full medicaid coverage.

Welfare trash = people who will not be respnsible for themselves. Immigrants that the democrats have imported to go on our welfare system. Do they deserve the gas chamber? Of course nto but I would let them starve if they refuse to provide for themselves. I would let a drunk freeze to death if he refuses to get help and change his bad habit. It the persons own needs are not enough to motivate him/her than whos fault is it? don't ask me to support this trash. No one forced them into that condition. No one stopss them from changing but as long as there is a system to support them why should they change?

MassMiddleMan · 1 month ago

these people you call trash are human beings - - you, I am not so sure what you are anymore....and why the moderator continues to allow such derogatory comments to be placed here - it is beyond me....

this is their policy ...
We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable

when will they implement it?

HampsteadGrandpa · 2 months ago

Tuesday's elections? You mean New Jersey and Virginia? The governors' races? Those elections? While the politicians most likely ought to be looking and possibly gauging, it doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to understand that the elections had more to do with the incumbents' personal unpopularity than anything else.

A conservative sweep in 2010? We'll see. The American public doesn't want a far right agenda any more than it does a far left one. It ought to be cause for concern that the far right fringe would call the likes of Arlen Specter and Olympia Snowe "liberals." Certainly, those who employ that sort of irrational name calling have no place in a position of authority.

Conservatives had the chance to provide meaningful legislation around health insurance; they chose to do nothing, knowing full well that was not a solution, just "more of the same." If yesterday's vote is an indication that change is coming, conservatives have one more chance - in the Senate - to step to the plate and offer something other than what they have been; you know, leave the industry alone; make insurance coverage mandatory for all - and see that they pay mightily for it; and, make sure medical history counts in determining policy acceptance and cost. That may be change the far right can live with - not the rest of us.

When Americans voted for change in 2008, they were reeling from eight years of ineffective government, crippled by an administration that saw it as a threat to business interests (as opposed to the people's interests). They understood - because President Obama had told them so - that change wouldn't be accomplished in the first year, or even the first term. They also understood that the process of giving power back to the people would involve a great deal of time, energy, and money.

Americans are indeed intelligent people. But - that we perceive things differently shows we are diverse. There are just as many of us who have made our voices heard at Town Hall meetings and in letters to our representatives that we need health care reform. Since conservatives don't seem to want to listen to those concerns, those of us who want to see meaningful change will consider what progressives are offering. At least they're listening.

Conservative2TheCore · 1 month ago

Actually, Gramps, there were no less than 4 republican alternatives to health care reform...none of which were debated on the floor of the house, as they were quashed by Pelosi. Look it up...I'm not lying (and, no, I didn't hear about it on Fox)

rpmtohz · 1 month ago

Actually according to the Republican minority leader they had 40 bill written and the emocrats refuse to debate any of them. That is acording to an actual senate debate.

MassMiddleMan · 1 month ago

They did NOT have any bills -- they had ideas that they never put into a bill until recently -- I watch FOX with Cantor and HE said that they would have their bill ready for early this week....what - they didn't have enough time?
delay - stall - screw americans along the way - they had no intent on filing a bill - their ideas were considered and found to be lacking any real support of people who need it.

Now - you may say screw them - - your perogative - - it is not how I choose to live my life.....not telling you how to live yours - but like you, we live under the elected officials - like them or not. I suffered through 8 incompetant years - with a president who lost the popular vote the last time out....deal with it

spmart0 · 1 month ago

Actually and I can't believe I am going to support a Dems comment but in reality Bush lost the popular vote in both elections he ran in for president. He won only because of the electoral college. I remember the fiasco in 2000 because Gore took the popular vote by a good margin but Bush won the states that had alot of electoral votes (by a narrow margin). Obama won by a great margin because of Bush. He did loose any credability he had in his second term. I am a Rep but I even thought it was funny that the last year he was in office Gas went to over $4.50 a gallon in my area. Most of his friends worked in the oil buisness if I remember correctlly. As a soldier who served in Afghanistan in 2002 he let us do what we needed to do. I will say it as many times as I need too. A dem is good for the economy and a Rep is good when you are fighting a war. I wish we could find someone who is a good combo of the two and then we could see a great balance. I too watch both CNN and Fox because I fiind that is the only way to get a full story. Both will say there side or who they represent. I thought media was suppose to report with no bias. In theory all news stations should all report the same story the same way. My last statement is this, no matter who is in office we as AMERICANS should hope that person does well. In the end we are all in the same boat. One thing I have heard spoken in my part of the country is that at the rate this country is tearing itself apart it would not surprise anyone here if some type of revolt (in some capacity) happens.

MassMiddleMan · 1 month ago

I can't agree with you more - but your first sentence actually seems to be in conflict with your overall sentiment....in the end, a good idea, a fact - is a good idea or a fact- no matter what party it comes from. Thanks for your service in a tough war.

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

If healthcare insurance reform passes in the Senate, 2010 will determine if Americans support it.

If there's a Democrat bloodbath, they didn't.
If more Democrats win, or the balance remains, they did.

jmeister_1 · 2 months ago

Hell ya! When I voted back in 2000 I didn't want no right wing, neo-con agenda!!!! But I got stuck with 8 years of lame republican BS.

The vote was cast and the victor was the Democrats with the 2008 election. We got what we wanted and that is the way it is. Looks like the nation "did" want the Democratic agenda.

The reason the country went that way was because the did not want the far-right wing agenda.

If you want to address the far-left situtation then you need to counter the argument with the view of the far-right.

How about bringing things back to the middle and getting everyone on board with a solution? We need to push away the extreme left and right since neither is willing to work on a sensible solution. If we can get rid of the fringe space-cadets, then we can start to have some real discussion about the issues.

So I guess, yeah the nation does not want a far-left solution but then they don't want a far-right solution either. They want a real solution. That will only come with real discussion.

reprat · 2 months ago

Moderates, jmeister, that's what this country is in dire need of. Middle of the roadsters, that's what Clean Sweep Beacon Hill preaches. If we are going to save this country we need to start somewhere and CSBH's mission is to unseat all sitting legislators who no longer represent their constituents.
We start here in Mass and if successful, we take our message national in 2012. This is a ground floor opportunity for those who are serious and willing to do whatever it takes. To learn more, email ClnSwp092009@hotmail.com the website is in the process of being revamped as we speak.

jmeister_1 · 2 months ago

Holy Shite! A group that is not lop-sided? This I need to look into because it is hard to believe. This better not be a Barbara Anderson type situation.

Once you get the info out, I'll check it out.

Thanks for sharing!

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

Moderates may be what we need, but they're not who wins elections these days.

seealotofthings2 · 2 months ago

Bottom line -- All the Democrats are crooks and all the Republicans aren't a heck of alot better. This 2 party system stinks and we need someone that is truly for the people in all aspects. Not just one side or the other. Get rid of this 2 party system and bring on new ideas. Not more of the same because it gets us nowhere anyway! That guy in upper state NY had the right idea and for someone that was virtually unknown he did well even if he didn't win and he didn't lose by much. The people are starting to wake up to this big farce.

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

Amen. The 2 party system is, in effect, a monopoly. Why do you think they kept Nader (as fruity as he is) out of the debates?

He'd have us all wondering how many paint chips the other candidates ate as children.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

The pace of lost jobs cannot be blamed on Obama. The stimulus DID keep people in jobs and create new jobs - - did the economy continue to tank - yes. Most of this is because of the previous administration.

In the end, we just saw our first positive quarter. Unemployment will turn around. As people gain faith in the economy - you will see, jobs will be created.

The promise was wrong to make - but, the reality is that people are in jobs that would have been lost had it not been for the stimulus. Even republican governers recognize this!

bigkahunah · 2 months ago

Most of this is Clinton giving China preferred trade status and making Walmart the stores of the future. So much more is made in China. If you read the papers the Solar Company at Devens is ending their work to China next year.

itsallover · 2 months ago

heres an example of created Jobs. A school in Louisiana gets a $400,000 grant to train plumbers. 128 people apply to the program.....US government take----128 jobs created

Conservative2TheCore · 2 months ago

And, where do these plumbers work? How can you call that a job created or saved?
If UMass graduates 10,000 people this May, have they created/saved 10,000 jobs?

Conservative2TheCore · 2 months ago

MMM, you must be getting dizzy, with all that spin.
Honestly, I would have thought the democrats, and specifically the White House, would have avoided that statistic like the plague...."nothing to see here, move along.....look, a birdie!!!"

But, since I enjoy discussing these things with you, please explain how 650,000 alleged jobs saved/created, translates into 10.2% unemployment rate (and that figure doesn't include the severed employees, yet, who don't qualify for unemployment until the severence exhausts, and those whose unemployment has run out, despite the extensions)

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

If you look at the pace of job loss - it has slowed...it is simple physics...a body in motion stays in motion - a larger body in motion will take more time to slow and stop....the US economy is huge - the pace of job loss and the shrinking of our economy was on a historic pace. In the end, the stimulus DID slow the job loss - it did not end it.....it was not meant to. The goal was to keep it under 8 - it did not meet that - BUT, the job less has slowed and the economy is starting to turn around. Unemployment, or should I say - employment - will follow as we see more quarters of profit....it was a long steep fall, and it will took time and effort to stop the freefall - and now we must continue to turn the corner and climb the hill....we need to create positive momentum - -we have it in some parts of the economy - we just need more confidence so that people begin to hire and create momentum on the hiring side.

kbinpm · 2 months ago

Middleman your optimism on deficit spending astounds me. What is the limit that America can borrow before the dollar is worthless? Is it 25 Trillion 30,40 Trillion? At this pace we are only one generation away from that. Every social entitlement program including welfare and health care will not be sustained. Call your congressman and Senator like I did and ask the question. What is the most we can borrow before we go under? Good luck pinning an answer from them.

Light_Beam_Rider · 2 months ago

hmmmm ... if I remember my simple physics correctly, a larger body in motion can be slowed down and stopped as quickly as a smaller one if one applies more force to the larger body.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

Tell you what. Well find a smooth steep hill. You can roll a rock to me and I will roll a boulder to you. After 200 yards I will stop my rock and call the ambulance for you

Light_Beam_Rider · 2 months ago

Not if I were Superman and could apply a (super-human) force sufficient to counter the greater momentum of the boulder acquired as both it and the rock rolled down the hill under the force of gravity.

As a physicist who has also done some graduate work in macroeconomics, I'm not too sure applying laws of physics to the economy makes a whole lot of sense here, M-cubed ...

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

Now as it relates to your larger body comment. Wouldn't you agre that the stimulus was a very large body. Much is still not yet spent and we already realized a positive quarter of growth

Light_Beam_Rider · 2 months ago

As a physicist who has also done some graduate work in macroeconomics, I'm not too sure applying laws of physics to the economy makes a whole lot of sense here, M-cubed ...

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

The point is that the economy was in a free fall - work was needed to stop it and get it to turn around.....it is more complex than passing one bill and expecting a cure. The president himself said it could get worse before it gets better - it was a truthful statement. The stimulus did help curb job loss - it did not stop it - it did spur some investment and we finally had a profitable quarter. People need to be realistic given the pace that the economy was tanking

Conservative2TheCore · 2 months ago

Perhaps the pace has slowed due to those receiving unemployment coming off the books due to exhaustion of benefits, despite the extensions. It's a flawed figure. As I said before, it doesn't take into account severence, either. I know people who are living off severance and can't apply for un-enjoyment until they exhaust the severence. That could be a HUGE number of workers.

kbinpm · 2 months ago

Do you know how they counted the number of jobs created or saved? I don't. Today unemployment went to 9.9 percent. Between Bush and Obama we spent 1.4 Trillion dollars to stem this tide. It has failed miserably. The economy has always run at a cycle and hopefully we will recover all the jobs lost, but it will not be from the actions of Bush and Obama spending Trillions. This blaming of previous administrations is crazy. That would mean Bill Clinton was responsible for 9/11. I think not. Bush and Obama's fical policies are not that different. Obama's is just a little more extreme. Remember Obama said unemployment would not go over 8% with the stimulus money. He was wrong by 2 MILLION jobs lost. I think that is signifigant, I hope you think the same.

hardcore2thebone · 2 months ago

Please, check your spelling if you want anyone to consider you and the garbage you write

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

Look - it's a blog - there is no spell checker - do you really care? I don't....lets focus on key ideas and concepts....

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

How you can't see that the economy - which was in a free fall - is the responsibility of the previous administration is beyond me!!!

I agree - the stimulus was not able to create the number expected - nor stem the tide at the desired rate - but - it is clear that without it MANY MORE jobs would have been lost - - police, fire, teachers - in every state - in every town....just to start -- did it create the expected - no, mostly because the infrastructure of this country to make things happen is archaic!

kbinpm · 2 months ago

Middle man you miss my point. The economy did go south under Bush and is going to further south under Obama. The time it takes to recover will be longer because BOTH BUSH AND OBAMA SPEND ALOT OF FEDERAL DOLLARS! The answer is not more spending- the Bush deficits prove that. The answer cannot now be to run up more debt, it makes no sense. the only answer is reducing the actual size of government because it has become so big it's spending affects GDP. So many people think Bush and Obama have different fiscal policies-THEY DO NOT.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

Not sure I agree with everything you said - but I will admit - that as the economy continues to recover - we need to tradeoff govt jobs for private sector jobs - govt agencies need to be combined and some just cut - - having said that - i don't know of any other way to have kept us from a depression at the time - even most economists agreed

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

Wah. If Barry wants to get in the drivers seat, great. But stop whining and fix the ****ing problem.

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

Do you have anything to add here other than derogatory posts....the problem IS being fixed - the economy IS turning around....jobs WERE saved - jobs WERE created......the problem IS being fixed....as companies see a quarter or two of progess - they will then hire back.....

How old are you.... 'wah' - i mean really - join the debate - but you can at least be an adult - - unless this is how you talk to people in person - and then, i feel bad for you

zoloft · 2 months ago

Why not. He is the president

MassMiddleMan · 2 months ago

BECAUSE.....the speed of job loss and deterioration of the economy could not be stopped on a dime....there are economic factors in place and momentum....momentum must first be stopped so it can be turned around.....

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

Mass, you cant reason with these jerks.

BufordPusser · 2 months ago

No, but we take heart in the knowledge that people like you eradicate themselves via abortion.

alexmalvers · 2 months ago

Shut up. I'm against abortion, but unlike you facist, I don't have the right to force my rights on others.

bertcj1 · 2 months ago

Unemployment is now 10.2 %. Obama PROMISED it wouldn't go over 8% if his stimulus passed. What a disaster. Lets get jobs back before continuing with the radical left wing agenda. Then again,the more people unemployed,the more people need gov't health insurance.I can't feel sorry for the unemployed who voted for him,but all the others I feel real bad for.

Conservative2TheCore · 2 months ago

But...but...but....they told us the stimulus was working!!!! They're even considering Stimulus Redux!!!! How can this be????

jmeister_1 · 2 months ago

And how much was the war that Bush got us into?

The Obama promise seems to be only a slight slip in light of the costs that the US has incurred since 2003.

Seems that other promises have been made since 2000 that have not been kept. The one that gets me personally is the lack of funding for NCLB since I have two small boys in school right now.

Actually Bush broke more promises than the ones he kept (if he actually kept any).

Hey, lets look at it this way...what if the stimulus kept the unemployment down to 10% instead of it going up to 15%? In that situation, things look pretty good.

Hey, what's up with calling out a radical left wing agenda? Damn, we had 8 years of the radical right-wing agenda and it didn't do much good. Lets split the middle and do some moderation!


(Playing the Bush card and loving it!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3hp8Qaf_q0&fmt=18

hardcore2thebone · 2 months ago

hi ro ro did you get the message across?

Michelle · 2 months ago

To all those who have a problem with the elections process...(in Lawrence) this is a great week to sign up to work at the polls on election day...and become part of the solution!!!

We have another election coming up in December...if you can manage to take a day off ...the city pays you for your time =)

Go to the Elections Division is City Hall talk to Rafael and ask how you can help...

WE NEED NEW PEOPLE in the polls...preferably ones with a pulse!

*** PS ***

Unfortunately as transparent as my comment may have been...given the need of a select few to twist and weave words into a justification for their own stupidity and ignorance I must clarify that:

When I used the word PULSE I was referring to people of all ages...You needn't be an elderly person to be slow MOVING ... IF you have worked at the polls or atleast visited a few YOU would understand.

BUT ON THAT NOTE...The Elderly have for far too long carried the weight of civil duties such as poll working on their shoulders...and God love them they do try but some of these souls can barely walk or stand or even see all that well... It kills me that for many of the elderly this is seen as a chance to finally have someone to meaningfully interact with and engage in pleasant conversation or just plain see people, however, this is not about them...it's about the benefit, progress and positive outcome of the election and voting process as a whole.

As far as language goes ALL PRECINCT WARDENS MUST BE ABLE TO FLUENTLY AND FULLY SPEAK, READ AND WRITE ENGLISH and furthermore have a FULL UNDERSTANDING of the ordinances, laws, rules and regulations of the Elections AND voting Process... ALL POLL WORKERS MUST be able to communicate in ENGLISH given the legalities that may arise in the process HOWEVER...Given the makeup of the city SPANISH SPEAKING poll workers ARE A NECESSITY as well...perhaps even a floating Sign Language poll worker to go to whichever precinct needed to assist the hearing impaired would be a plus...

THINK UP SOLUTIONS...NOT STRIFE!!!

A.Lincoln · 2 months ago

Just a reminder, for those Rightwingers among us:

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

rpmtohz · 1 month ago

And we give them the freedom and liberties to pursue their dreams. It never says we will support you for the rest of your life. Equal rights and equal opportunity. Ever hear of it?

stormwts1 · 1 month ago

These days it means keep everyone the hell out....and get the left wing nuts out too because America hates them.

macsurf · 1 month ago

storm, I hate to break this to you, but what a vast majority of Americans, be they Democrats, Republicans, Independents, liberals, genuine conservatives not neo-fascists, and moderates, cannot abide is ignorant, hateful people like yourself and your idols like Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, and Dick Armey in politics, and the likes of Limbuagh, Beck, and Dobbs.

They, and people like you, make a lot of noise, but in reality, even with all the media hype, the truth is you and your ilk account for less than five percent of the American electorate.

It was sarah Palin's presence, especially after she started opening her mouth on the campaign trail, that, more than any other factor, cost Mccain the election.

In NY state last week a congressional district that had been solidly Republican for nearly 140 years roundly rejected the right wing whack job that Sister sarah Palin, Big Dick Armey, Ragin' Rush Limbaugh, and GaGa man Glenn Beck went to the mat for.

You, and your ilk, are a small but loud bunch of ignorant bullies who cannot engage in intelligent debate, you simply denigrate, demonize, and dehumanize those with whom you disagrre.

You and yours are, truly, a 21st century reincarnation of the 19th century "Know Nothing Party"

rpmtohz · 1 month ago

Know your party. Democrat = socialist party that will betray America and her Constitution and Bill of Rights. You are wrong. The working people are awaking to see the democrats for who they are SOCIALIST.

macsurf · 1 month ago

Only in your angry and paranoid mind, and similar minds like yours.

YOu far right wingers, Tea Baggers, whatever labe you want to give yoorsleves, account for barely 5% of the electorate.

You are, despite all the noise you make, an irrelevant fringe movement.

Get over yourselves.

The only reason why people hear what you say, not listen to you, is because you are so OBNOXIOUSLY loud.

rpmtohz · 1 month ago

We are loud because we are trying to wake up the brain dazed fools like you to see the truth. That doesn't appear to be working either. Maube you are brain dead.

thegrandvizier · 1 month ago

Dear Mr. Fox Puppet, Sorry, Mr. Manuse,
Thank you for giving me the opportunity of destroying each of your "points" one by one. First, exactly what message was sent to Congress last Tuesday? There were only two Congressional elections last week and the Democrats won both of them? So, according to you, that should make the Dems. nervous? Next, I guess only you were smart enough to know what the President was saying during the campaign, the rest of us were "fooled by the conservative rhetoric". I think your the fool. You have a problem with the deficit? You mean the one that existed when Obama took over? In the middle of an economic disaster left by whom? It wasn't a Democrat. No results from the President's economic policies? Gee, I heard that the credit markets are stable, the housing market is stabilizing, the economy grew by 3.5% last quarter, the number of new claims for unemployment declines every week. I'm sure you or Glenn Beck, or Sean Hannity, or any other of your blowhard mouthpieces would have done a much better job. NOT! I'm going to stop there for now because I don't want to tax the short attention span of many of the "conservatives" athat frequent this area. For now, just munch on what I wrote and tell me what your solutions to the economic collapse would have been. I will give you plenty of time. You might need to consult the Fox Nation website for your marching orders.

LoLattheUS · 1 month ago

"You have a problem with the deficit? You mean the one that existed when Obama took over? In the middle of an economic disaster left by whom?" -

You mean the one where the last two years of Bush where he was a lame duck President and Congress was controlled by Democrats, is that the one? Or, do you mean the Democrats by majority rule for over three years now, chair all the major committees that have oversight and subpoena powers? How did that work out? Wasn't our very own D-Barney Frank, the chair in charge of oversight, "dating" a Countrywide board member? Or did you mean the Cabinet nominees not paying taxes, including those in Congress involved in current legislation reform, those guys?

"the number of new claims for unemployment declines every week." -

Really? Public records show that it went from 9.8% to 10.2%, that doesn't look like a decline to me.

"economy grew by 3.5%" -

Pretty sure even POTUS pointed out that was due to his wonderful "cash for clunkers", it was especially great for the Japanese auto industry.

The only thing that matters is our dollar and it's strength, regardless of your political affiliation. I'm pretty sure I posted it elsewhere, but in the past 6 years, the dollar has lost 12% of it's value. Spending more money, on the back of a reserve we don't have, is not sound economics, for either party.

MassMiddleMan · 1 month ago

Wow - how dare you use facts - you know that you are only allowed to spout insults and dribble, call people names and use opinions as facts.

sorry - long night of reading just a bunch of nasty messages here and felt like getting in the spirit of things

thegrandvizier · 1 month ago

The deficit grew every year of the Bush Administration. He gave a large tax cut to the rich without reducing spending elsewhere. He started a war of choice which costs several hundred billion dollars every year (oh, yeah and cost over 4000 GI's their lives) he wasted billions of dollars on private contracts to Halliburton. He presided over the collapse of the financial markets and left an incredible mess. Now, I hate to bore you with proven economic principles, but as I asked in my previous post, what would you have done in Obama's place. He did the only thing that made sense, and that is to pump money into the economy to help keep it afloat. The alternative is what again? Anybody can complain about what someone else is doing wrong, but it's a lot harder to come up with solutions. What are yours? How about another tax cut for the rich? Or maybe we should have just let the banks and the real estate market collapse. The heck with those people who are losing jobs and facing foreclosure. This is American, right? We grit our teeth and take the consequences, right? No, wrong!