No spin zone/Politics

The Democrats have the opportunity to prove their point. "The Bush tax cuts caused the massive deficits". All they need do is allow them to expire.

BRING IT ON

Just found a pretty neat site for listeming to police/fire. Just click on the live audio tab slap in your zip code under the map and it will show a list of live broadcasts for your area that you can listen in on.
http://www.radioreference.com/

Several states have applied for waivers, letting them off the hook for their responsibility to get ballots to those pesky combat troops. If their gonna move half way around the world they don't deserve to vote. Hangin' out in those summer paradises, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Several states have decided to override the Electoral College by requiring all of their votes to go to the candidate that gets the most popular votes, nationally. To hell with the voters in their state.

Convict's votes and may have swung Al Franken into office.

What is happening to my Republic?

here's an interesting article I came across from investing legend Doug Casey. something I've long suspected...




From Doug Casey in Conversations with Casey:

Along with the Greeks, the Romans form the base of Western civilization. We know a lot about Rome now, and they were people exactly like us. And the rise of Rome does in many ways parallel the rise of America. Its rise, its peak - and at this point I think you can even see its decline reflected in the distant mirror of Rome.

We see the same change from a republic to a highly bureaucratized state with tentacles all over the world and great importance placed on the military. The population relying on welfare (after the time of the conquest of Egypt by Caesar, most of the grain and olive oil, the two big commodities of the ancient world, were no longer grown in Italy; they were imported from Africa and given for free, or nearly free, to the people in Rome). Even what went on in the Circus Maximus, the Coliseum, and their many copies in smaller cities, has its parallel in today’s massive football events - not to mention cage fighting and other grisly sports. The big one, of course, is the gradual destruction of the currency.

Quite interesting to me is that in the days of the republic, Roman coins portrayed mythical figures, like gods and goddesses, and ideal concepts. They changed to portraits of the emperor after Caesar.

In the U.S., 1913 - which was a pretty bad year overall, with the initiation of the income tax - was the year the first coin with a dead president’s head on it was introduced, the Lincoln penny. Before then, we only had things like Liberty, Indians, buffaloes, etc. on our coins. Since then, all our coins have had dead emperors on them. We started out with semi-mythic figures like Washington and Jefferson. But now we do the recently dead - Roosevelt, Kennedy, Eisenhower.

It’s simply wrong to put the features of your rulers on the coinage. And the Romans, before Augustus, agreed. And, of course, gold was taken out of daily circulation in 1933, silver in 1965, and copper from the penny in 1982.

Nothing new.

Has anyone noticed "The Conservative Women" are better men than the milquetoast squishes that presently head the Republican Party? The girlie men vs. the female grizzlies. I'll take the women, every time.

goldenrod wrote:BP, like Lucy, has some splaining to do. Their pipes leaked in Alaska, their refinery blew up and, now, they're leaking in the Gulf. Are the Brits really that incompetent? Probably!

After a month of catastrophic leaking it appears the damage may be overstated but troubling. Big bad headlines. "10 mile wide slick" which, on an oceanic scale, is pretty damned small. "Plume? Oxygen depletion under the immediate spill" which, on an oceanic scale, is really small.

Gulf heat, calm seas and favorable weather have all helped.

As a teaching device this inexcusable debacle has put drillers and government on notice. Don't trust safety devices that aren't testing "perfect". Be prepared. Don't fry your employees.

In the end, why are we drilling 5 mile deep wells in 1 mile deep water when shallower sources are available?

Where's the goddam oil? When Tony "the fop" Hayward talked, somebody should have listened. Not to mention some notables that tried to calm the panic. Bad news is "great" news to the media and they created a doomsday narrative, destroying the economy of the Gulf Coast. As a slave, to the liberal media spin machine, Obama added insult to injury.

The gang that couldn't shoot straight has caused massive, long term economic damage to Southern "Red" States because of a temporary, ugly event that has caused little long term damage.

What the hell is the deal on this Chevy Volt? You overpay for this turd and then the government gives you 7500 that it doesn't have all so you can go 40 miles without using gas. After the forty miles you then become the same polluter you were with your twenty thousand dollar car. 40k for 40 miles, what a fucking joke. I think I'll go buy one , get the 7500 and then sell the damn thing for 38k and pocket the difference

ndssomluk wrote:What the hell is the deal on this Chevy Volt? You overpay for this turd and then the government gives you 7500 that it doesn't have all so you can go 40 miles without using gas. After the forty miles you then become the same polluter you were with your twenty thousand dollar car. 40k for 40 miles, what a fucking joke. I think I'll go buy one , get the 7500 and then sell the damn thing for 38k and pocket the difference

The taxpayer loses billions to GM's bailout and we only have to spend $7500 per vehicle to sell a car that is not profitable at $41,000. AMTRAK, US Postal Service, high speed rail (any rail), Ethanol. Let's all welcome GM to the central government conglomerate.

goldenrod wrote:

ndssomluk wrote:What the hell is the deal on this Chevy Volt? You overpay for this turd and then the government gives you 7500 that it doesn't have all so you can go 40 miles without using gas. After the forty miles you then become the same polluter you were with your twenty thousand dollar car. 40k for 40 miles, what a fucking joke. I think I'll go buy one , get the 7500 and then sell the damn thing for 38k and pocket the difference

The taxpayer loses billions to GM's bailout and we only have to spend $7500 per vehicle to sell a car that is not profitable at $41,000. AMTRAK, US Postal Service, high speed rail (any rail), Ethanol. Let's all welcome GM to the central government conglomerate.

Yes Golden and this should be the question on every real journalists list. Why the hell does this make good business sense? They wont ask it because they know it's just another shining example of how the government works and the unions have screwed up big manufacturing

And this, WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THE FLOODING IN PAKISTAN? Them fuckers have been getting money (billions) from us every year and now we know they have been helping the Taliban to kill US Service Men, Fuck them

While the Congressional felons are on parole for a while, 6 week vacation for us, the tax debate should ramp up. Bush Tax Cuts.
In a recent poll the public is totally lost with equal votes split between expire them all, expire cuts for the rich or extend them all. Several articles are being published, every day, spinning all three choices.

The truth is taking a beating at the hands of ideologues, on both sides.

No matter what your political persuasion, allowing all of the cuts to expire will be very painful. The states will lose revenue and plenty of it. The states that survive on sales taxes will go underwater and some more will be essentially bankrupted.

No matter what your political persuasion, allowing the cuts for the rich to expire will perpetuate the $300 billion revenue deficit, from the consumer class, and create little net revenue from the increasingly taxed business class.

If all of the cuts are extended, the BUSH DID IT mantra takes a hit because the Democrat Party will be admitting their doubt that "failed" Bush fiscal policies caused the deficits.

Stone me, now, because somebody has to say it. The Democrats are in a no win situation and the Republicans should get out of the way. If the cuts expire, I lose about $3,000 in 2011, the Country goes into a deeper recession and the states will all be broke. If only the the rich get increased taxes, I get my $3,000 WHOOPIE, unemployment stays at 10% indefinitely and noone's point is proven because the failure of the last 18 months goes forward. If the cuts are extended, the Democrat Party, the media and the leftist community should be ashamed of their false narrative about Bush's Tax Cuts.

Gulf crews prepare to start plugging well for good

My question: Why did they drill it in the first place?

Hank wrote:Gulf crews prepare to start plugging well for good

My question: Why did they drill it in the first place?

I always wondered why they couldnt loosen the nuts on the broken flange and attach another fitting on there?

Anchor Babies. Absolutely the craziest argument ever. No other country, in the world, has such a rediculous law on their books.

Repeal? It never should have reached the level of Constitutional Amendment, in the first place. But now we have the bus from crazyville.

Quote: "You can't pick and choose the parts of the Constitution you like or don't like". Oh, yes we can. The Constitution, explained perfectly in the Federalist Papers, was written to give us the choice to Amend or Repeal. STUPID doesn't have to last forever.

Repeal? Racist? I think not. Sensable? Probably.

Ground Zero Victory Mosque. No discussion necessary. CORDOBA? Enough said.

'Un-Christ-like' intolerance of Cordoba House

Today's guest blogger is Skye Jethani: an ordained pastor, the managing editor of Leadership Journal (a publication of Christianity Today), and the author of The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity. He blogs at SkyeJethani.com.

Governmental, religious, and cultural leaders on all sides have already spoken, written, or tweeted about the proposed Islamic cultural center near the World Trade Center site in Manhattan. So when my friend Eboo Patel asked me to add my voice to the noise, I wasn't sure what new perspective I could offer.

An expert in constitutional law might see the Cordoba House controversy as a First Amendment issue and demand that the Muslim-Americans organizing the project be allowed to proceed without impediment. A politico might see the matter as an opportunity to score easy points with constituents (right or left) by supporting or denouncing the "Ground Zero mosque." And a member of the media might see the issue as a powder keg guaranteed to draw an audience and therefore pursue whatever means to keep the controversy alive. But I'm not a lawyer, a politician, or a journalist. I'm a pastor. And when I look at the matter it isn't the legal or political arguments that get my attention--it's the fear.

Some with objections about the Cordoba House say it would be disrespectful to the 9/11 victim's families and stand as an insensitive reminder of the religious intolerance that motivated the attacks. Certainly no one wishes to add any burden to the unimaginable pain already carried by these families. And although I do not know the organizers of the Cordoba House, I trust they share this sentiment as numerous Muslims were among the innocent victims on 9/11.

But objections to the Islamic center in Lower Manhattan have gone far beyond sensitivity to victims' families. Some are saying the Cordoba House represents a "beachhead for Shariah" in the United States. In his article opposing the project, Newt Gingrich wrote, "America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization." And a self-identified "Christian" website has been launched to fight the project. It calls upon other concerned Christians to take a "stand against evil" by donating to the site.

These examples, and there are many others, reveal how fear is being used to foment anger and political zealotry. Somehow we are to believe that the construction of a 15-story Islamic community center in New York City will be a tipping point leading to the decline of American civilization, the dissolution of Christian faith, and the reversal of hundreds of years of western legal precedent. Amid the panic, opponents of the Cordoba House might be shocked to discover that a mosque has been meeting in the same neighborhood, two blocks from the proposed Cordoba House and four blocks from Ground Zero, for the last 30 years. One wonders how our republic has survived? (Pardon my sarcasm, but sometimes humor is the best way to defuse irrational fears.)

Sadly the fear-mongering demonstrated by some opponents of the Cordoba House has become commonplace in our partisan society. Fear has proven to be a very effective political tactic for both conservatives and liberals, and it's also a guaranteed way for Christian ministries and non-profit groups to grow their lists and fill their coffers. This is what concerns me most about the present controversy--not the possibility of a Muslim community center near Ground Zero, but how many within my evangelical community are responding from the most un-Christian of motives: fear.

Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount are some of the most familiar, beautiful, and radical ideas found in the Bible (Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7). He calls his followers to give generously, put aside anger, vengeance, and greed, live without worry, and even love their enemies. Many read Jesus' instructions and admire their beauty but scoff at their impracticality. "In this world it makes no sense to love your enemies," is what I hear from Christians and non-Christians alike. And they are right. In a dangerous, chaotic, and threatening world where self-preservation is the highest goal, these teachings defy logic. This is why Henri Nouwen wrote, "Fear engenders fear. It never gives birth to love."

As long as we primarily view the world is a dangerous place, we will never find the power to obey Jesus' teachings. This is why he begins his Sermon on the Mount with a new vision of the world as a perfectly safe place for those who entrust themselves to Christ. He presents a world in which the poor, the forgotten, the mourning, and the meek are blessed by God; and a world where death itself is overcome. Only when we see this as a God-with-us world in which our lives and wellbeing are eternally in his care can we abandon fear and answer, by faith, the dangerous and irrational call to love. Perhaps this is why one of the most common commands in the Bible is "do not be afraid." Fear, not doubt, is the great enemy of faith.

So when I see leaders, both political and religious, stoking the fears of Christians regarding the Cordoba House project, it strikes me as profoundly un-Christ-like. Despite their stated intentions, those seeking to inflate your fears about the presence of Islam in America are not inspiring you to be more Christian, but less. They are not leading us toward faith in Christ, but away from him. Because where the raging fires of fear and anger are fed, the inviting glow of Christ-centered faith and love cannot long endure. And such provocations are not leading us to love our Muslim neighbors as ourselves, but instead causing us to believe that our wellbeing necessitates their misfortune. And such "us versus them" conceptions are antithetical to everything Jesus taught and modeled. It is not Christian faith.

Rather than seeing the growing visibility of Islam in the United States, whether through the construction of the Cordoba House or any number of mosques around the country, as a threat to Christianity and reacting out of fear, we can choose to seize this as a new opportunity to reaffirm our trust in Jesus Christ, love our Muslim neighbors, and seek what is good for them as a true incarnation of Christian faith.

I do hope the organizers of the Cordoba House project will proceed with great sensitivity to the victims' families, and will seek to increase their efforts to communicate how the facility and the programming it contains will honor the memory and sacrifices of those lost on 9/11. And whether or not the Islamic community center is built near Ground Zero, I can offer my Christian sisters and brothers this good word: Be not afraid.

Or, they could build their friggen mosque someplace else. Based on our Constitution, it is their choice. I just want them to make the right choice.

goldenrod wrote:Or, they could build their friggen mosque someplace else. Based on our Constitution, it is their choice. I just want them to make the right choice.

What most people are not seeing who support the Mosque is the fact that as soon as it's built The terrorists will be be using it as propoganda showing how they defeated the US and that committing these horrible acts will further their goals. It's rewarding the terrorists and that's unfortunate but true. The Muslims in this country should realize this and denounce it. It doesn't matter if it's there or down the street, as long as you pray does it matter what block it's on? I see it like this, The Muslims ask that we don't judge them by what the radicals do yet they don't mind rewarding them for their acts with this Mosque. Maybe they aren't as far removed from the radicals as we think

ndssomluk wrote:

goldenrod wrote:Or, they could build their friggen mosque someplace else. Based on our Constitution, it is their choice. I just want them to make the right choice.

What most people are not seeing who support the Mosque is the fact that as soon as it's built The terrorists will be be using it as propoganda showing how they defeated the US and that committing these horrible acts will further their goals. It's rewarding the terrorists and that's unfortunate but true. The Muslims in this country should realize this and denounce it. It doesn't matter if it's there or down the street, as long as you pray does it matter what block it's on? I see it like this, The Muslims ask that we don't judge them by what the radicals do yet they don't mind rewarding them for their acts with this Mosque. Maybe they aren't as far removed from the radicals as we think

Muslims danced in the streets, around the world, when the towers fell. Sounds "not"radical to me????

The Cordoba House is the idea of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a well-meaning American cleric who has spent years trying to promote interfaith understanding... he is not an apostle of religious war.
He is modelling his project on New York’s 92nd Street Y, a Jewish community centre that reaches out to other religions.
There has been a Muslim center 4 blocks from the World Trade Center for 27 plus years.

ndssomluk wrote:

goldenrod wrote:Or, they could build their friggen mosque someplace else. Based on our Constitution, it is their choice. I just want them to make the right choice.

What most people are not seeing who support the Mosque is the fact that as soon as it's built The terrorists will be be using it as propoganda showing how they defeated the US and that committing these horrible acts will further their goals. It's rewarding the terrorists and that's unfortunate but true. The Muslims in this country should realize this and denounce it. It doesn't matter if it's there or down the street, as long as you pray does it matter what block it's on? I see it like this, The Muslims ask that we don't judge them by what the radicals do yet they don't mind rewarding them for their acts with this Mosque. Maybe they aren't as far removed from the radicals as we think

As someone who has lived in large diverse communities most of my life,
i have always thought that diversity is part of our (America's) strength... not a source of division or insecurity.

America is plainly safer if its Muslim population feels part of “us” and not, as “them”.
We should be reminded of the difference... (a real one, not one fabricated for the purposes of political correctness), between Islam, a religion with a billion adherents, and al-Qaeda, a terrorist outfit that claims to speak in Islam’s name but has absolutely no right or mandate to do so.
The Cordoba House is not being built by al-Qaeda...

There was a Pew Research Center report about three years ago that concluded that most Muslim Americans were “largely assimilated, happy with their lives… and decidedly American in their outlook, values and attitudes.”... an attempt should be made to keep it that way by inclusion, so that American Muslims won't be converted to terrorism like Nidal Malik Hassan, born in America and an US Army major who killed 13 in a shooting spree at Fort Hood... or Faisal Shahzad, a legal immigrant who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square.
When one feels America and American regardless of our heritage or religious backgrounds, and realize the fact that we are a nation of immigrants, or accept America's greater religiosity and/or the separation of church and state, or the opportunities to rise, seems me that it would make it an easier place for Muslims to feel accepted and at home and be American.
And yes, i understand there is always a few in every group who will want to disrupt the peace and spread hatred and discontent, and i mean every group no exceptions.


Edit:
i think i heard this on Star Trek many years ago, dialogue between an Spock and another species...
The unknown species: "The wisdom of creation is in it's infinite diversity"
Spock: "Yes and meaning is brought to life through understanding"

Let me understand. As close to ground zero as possible, due to historic designations on other buildings, a particularly controversial Imam plans to build CORDOBA House (named after a Spanish victory mosque) with a scheduled start date of 9/11/11.

Moslems have an intention to peacefully coexist with Americans? They have a strange way of showing it.

American citizen, private property, freedom of religion...

What distance would be enough?
3 blocks, 1/2 mile, 1 mile, across town, not in my city... not in my country?

i've always been under the impression that one on the major ideas of American democracy was the value we place on freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.
Should one religious group in this country be treated differently than another?

egotarian wrote:American citizen, private property, freedom of religion...

What distance would be enough?
3 blocks, 1/2 mile, 1 mile, across town, not in my city... not in my country?

i've always been under the impression that one on the major ideas of American democracy was the value we place on freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.
Should one religious group in this country be treated differently than another?

If one has ever been in Lower Manhattan or on Park Place, you would see and realize that a 2 block distance in that area can be like the other side of town. Streets are narrow and buildings are tall, blocking the view of the next street.
Across the street from the proposed mosque is a 12 or 13 story building, almost the same height as the planned Cordoba House, so it won't be as reported... looking down on the Trade Center, the view for the most part will be a wall of windows.

On a historical note: in the late 19th century that area was known as Little Syria and was inhabited by Arab immigrants... Muslims and Christians from the Ottoman Empire.

egotarian wrote:

egotarian wrote:American citizen, private property, freedom of religion...

What distance would be enough?
3 blocks, 1/2 mile, 1 mile, across town, not in my city... not in my country?

i've always been under the impression that one on the major ideas of American democracy was the value we place on freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.
Should one religious group in this country be treated differently than another?

If one has ever been in Lower Manhattan or on Park Place, you would see and realize that a 2 block distance in that area can be like the other side of town. Streets are narrow and buildings are tall, blocking the view of the next street.
Across the street from the proposed mosque is a 12 or 13 story building, almost the same height as the planned Cordoba House, so it won't be as reported... looking down on the Trade Center, the view for the most part will be a wall of windows.

On a historical note: in the late 19th century that area was known as Little Syria and was inhabited by Arab immigrants... Muslims and Christians from the Ottoman Empire.

EGO, all I know about the area is what I hear or read about. They all say it's right next to ground zero. To me that mean , right next to an empty lot where the rubble has been removed. Here's my opinion, Don't build it next to ground zero. Two blocks away I would have no problem with personally. And to be completely honest I wouldn't care if it was next to ground zero if I didn't think the Terror groups would use it as propaganda and how they defeated the americans on our own soil.