EL-DUDERINO

You have the Colorado one reversed. They voted 73-27 to NOT define human life at the moment of conception. And with that ALL of the ballot measures attempting to limit Abortion in any way shape or form failed, some by wider margins than others (the one in Cali is still processing at the moment but as of 11:50 EST it looks like it will fail). Maybe you can explain this to me, and I want real reasons not talking points, why is it so wrong to allow two people who love each ot

Affirmative Action certainly had it's place but it is outdated at this point, and to be honest it is a racist program. I believe Colorado had a ballot initiative to get rid of it but I'm not sure if it passed or not and I don't care enough to look it up. It would be nice if programs of that ilk would go away, but I doubt they will. Even with Obama as the President racism is still alive and well in this country unfortunately. Hell in my state over 20% of voters claime

[quote]Those employees should get themselves a better job if they want to live more comfortably. It should not be the responsibility of the Govn't to give them money that they are not earning.[/quote] I can't speak for LW but I don't think she was saying that the government should be handing things out to the employees in that situation merely that the employer should pay the employees better rather than donating to charities for a nice tax deduction. Sometimes people don't real

[quote]Mmhmm, they sure do bring out the worst. Heck, politics in general does. I really don't get why though, we're just tearing ourselves apart. Stuff like that tends to makes me believe that United States is an oxymoron.[/quote] A big part of the reason politics can bring the worst out in people is that people get too emotionally involved in the issues that they are fighting for. It quickly turns into an us vs. them issue where you are either in 100% agreement with the person

If you're a fan of the NOTA option on a ballot might I suggest voting for Nader as he is a proponent of that stance. I, like Dr. Guy, would much rather vote for Bob Barr this year unfortunately he wasn't able to get enough signatures to make it onto the WV ballot so I am left with McCain (no thanks), Obama (no thanks), crazy ass Cynthia McKinney (no thanks) or Ralph Nader (palatable candidate, I did vote for him in 2000). And as I always say if you can't find any other candidate

[quote]I just returned from Maine and was told by many in different conversations over the period of a week that the local "talk radio" station which basically had those you mentioned plus alot more disappeared. Yep. They took it all off the radio and turned the whole station into some sort of sports talk radio instead. [/quote] This may not be a product of politics as much as it is of the business of radio. Radio is one of those mediums that can switch formats literally overnig

[quote]you would realize it was our country's wealth.[/quote] I'm sorry to say but you are wrong. The only wealth that the country has is the taxes that we pay every year. That's it, the rest of the wealth is earned or traded for by the American people. Yes the Fed can put money into the system or remove it from the system but that just changes the value of each dollar through inflation and deflation. Whether you like it or not the wealthy earned every dollar i

[quote]Which by the constitution, is an illegal state.[/quote] This is the first that I've heard of this, please explain how West Virginia is an illegal state.

[quote]I say throw them all out and start over. [/quote] I could not agree more, which is why I am going to be voting against as many incumbents as I can. Unfortunately too many of them are running unopposed in my state, but I guess that just means that Donald Duck will be getting a vote for an awful lot of offices this year.

You want to hear about another nasty little loophole that equates to a pay raise? In WV (I think in Charleston) there is a circuit court judge who is up for re-election this year, he is unopposed so he will obviously win, yet just this week he decided to "retire" which means he's entitled to a pension of about $81K/year. This means that after he wins the election he could return to work as the circuit court judge making about $116k/year plus the pension of $81k/year for a grand to

My thoughts exactly. Our entire economy needs a major correction, that is part of what is happening now if the government would just get the hell out of the way and let it happen. We need to return to a time when people, myself included, actually saved money up to make big purchases rather than putting it on a credit card and paying it off later. We need to return to a time when we lived within our means and stopped spending just to keep up with the neighbors. It's goi

This is why pay raises for elected officials should be up to the electorate NOT those that are elected. We should be the ones to approve pay raises so that it can be done based on performance rather than a whim.

There are only two ways to reduce the national debt: Increase taxes and/or cut spending. Neither option is "popular" and tend to lead to politicians losing their jobs so neither will ever really happen. The biggest problem that I see is that the government is too big, it has it's hands in too many places which is draining the finances, we need to seriously cut back on what our government does but like I said it isn't going to happen.

[quote]Boiled down? When was it ever not us versus them? It has been that way since the founding of the country. Look at things like the first Supreme Court case, or even just the politics to sign the Declaration of Independence. We haven changed in the big picture mate, just in what we argue about.[/quote] The "us vs. them" in the declaration of independence was this country vs. England. The problem today is that our country is extremely divided and every single issue is immedi

[quote]Don't take me wrong, but your country seems to have been built on self-mistrust and paranoia. [/quote] We weren't founded on self-mistrust but there was a healthy dose of paranoia in there. Our founding fathers didn't trust mob-mentality which is why we are a democratic Republic rather than a full on Democracy. Our founding fathers were also concerned about any one person (or group) gaining too much power which is why they built in the checks and balances into how o

[quote]I suggest that unity has to start in families.[/quote] To which I say good luck. Lead by example and hope for the best. [quote]how many benevolent ruler's do You know[/quote] As long as you happen to agree with them all rulers are benevolent. Of course if you happen to differ in opinion then it's a whole different story.

[quote]at the other party [/quote] But see this is my point, there aren't just two parties. It's not a matter of being pissed at "the other party" at least for me it's a matter of being annoyed with the corruption of the virtual two party system.

[quote]change needs to start not at the "top" in government but at home and next door.....with the people. that would be you and me[/quote] In a perfect world that is true. However in our current environment the system doesn't allow for that. Sure you may be able to change your household to be that way but the system has too much influence over the masses and getting everyone on board is going to be nearly impossible. I'm not saying that it isn't worth a try, at this

It would be so nice if any of those principles were possible. Unfortunately our political system has boiled itself down to a simple "us vs. them" mentality. Every issue is regarded as black or white no matter how many shades of gray may fall in between. As a result almost every one of your principles are negated. I'm not saying that we shouldn't attempt to get back to those principles, it's what our founding fathers would have wanted, but in the current political env

[quote]Going from 30 to 40 would not reduce payments that much either.[/quote] But going from 30 to 80 or 100 years might, and is at least worth looking into for the banks, especially the ones that are having a hard time raising capital to remain solvent. Something coming in from the mortgages is better than nothing.

[quote]OR extend 30 yr. mortgage to 40 yr. These two options could detoxify the loans and allow the financial world to get on with it.[/quote] I have been saying this since the sub-prime market started to meltdown a year ago. Although I would say extend the terms of the loan to whatever it takes to make the monthly payments affordable for the home owner even if that means terms of 80 to 100 years.

[quote]Only problem is, he has been in cahoots with domestic terrorists. You can decide for yourself whether that's important to you, but the fact remains. His political philosophy has been shaped and informed for at least the past 20 years by the likes of Ayers & Dorn, along with ACORN & the good Rev Wright. Again, you can decide for yourself whether that's important or not. And you can decide for yourself if focusing your anger on what you call 'disgusting' is helping you see the fo

[quote]I think it's disgusting that in the big wonderful country we live in our choice is reduced pretty much to either one of these two yahoos.[/quote] There are more than two candidates running for office. You wouldn't know it based on the media coverage but there are a slew of other candidates from which to choose. See if you can find your states ballot prior to the election and research the other candidates before you make your decision.

[quote]why is this man's message not so popular with the majority of voters?[/quote] Quite simple, the media tends to ignore him therefore very few people actually hear his message. The same goes for just about any third party candidate. The system is rigged for the Dems and Repubs to maintain their strangglehold on our country. [quote]but if you vote for him just because you don't like the other choices, well that's just as bad as the hardcore D & R's that onl

[quote]..but Nader is an old career politician too, just not so successful.[/quote] Last time I checked Nader has never actually held public office, nor is he responsible for the craptastic mess that this country is in today. I would prefer to vote for Bob Barr but unfortunately he didn't get enough signatures to make it onto the ballot in my state because the election rules are rigged to favor the two major parties.