EL-DUDERINO

The bailout is one of the worst ideas this administration has ever come up with. This financial crisis was completely avoidable and the only reason it wasn't avoided was greed. Why in the hell should the tax payers be on the hook to pay for the poor practices of the greedy? When the sub-prime meltdown first started about a year or so ago the banks involved should have restructured ALL of the sub-primes loans so that the people could keep their houses and home values wouldn't

[quote]Medical Insurance is expensive for those who do not get it through their employer and supplementary insurance for those in copay situations can be expensive as well.[/quote] And don't forget about those who are considered "uninsurable" because they have a lot of medical conditions aka pre-existing conditions. For those people if they aren't able to get onto a group insurance plan through an employer they are pretty well screwed.

[quote]Ever wonder why kids don't bring any of their "papers" home for mommy and daddy to see? [/quote] I can't speak for the sex-ed classes today but when I was going through sex-ed throuout the early 90s we were encouraged to show our parents the work that we had been doing in sex-ed and discuss the topics with them. Did that mean that all kids did, no of course not, but we were certainly allowed to. If the parents aren't seeing this stuff and they want to they need to t

[quote]Actually, they couldn't afford even those low rates, primarily ARM's. The folks who got fixed-rate loans at those low rates (on their own homes) have made up a small percentage of the defaults. The majority of defaults have been related to ARM's & the drop in home values affecting 'flippers' or speculators. So the Fed is really not at fault - they actually helped reduce the cost of home ownership for the vast majority.[/quote] Where do you think the ARMs came from? Th

[quote]Lula, lula, lula...tisk tisk. The program is not designed to get young students sexually active, that's just your warped opinion, in my opinion. I truly believe, which may not be worth a hill-o-beans to you, that your religion is controlling your perceptions of reality, not guiding them in a positive manner. The program simply supports the choices of youth, just like your abstinence-only programs. Whereas you believe students can be trusted to make the "right choice" always, we realist

[quote]I've already covered this when I said there are those girls who think they're safe with the pill and then have sex with whomever making themselves very vulnerable to STD's. Kids tend to be very gullible and have a hard time thinking they would be contracting anything like an STD from a nice kid they met in class or maybe knew their whole lives. They never think it'll happen to them. [/quote] And as I have said this is where proper comprehensive education comes into play.

[quote]Instead, says the report, "In the classroom, the prevailing mentality often condones teen sexual activity as long as youths use contraceptives. Abstinence is usually mentioned only in passing, if at all."[/quote] If abstinence is only mentioned in passing then it is my opinion that it is NOT a comprehensive sex-ed class. My feeling on the subject is that comprehensive sex-ed should stress the importance of abstinence while educating the students on the proper use of contr

[quote]It is not the Feds Fault, it is not even the "hands off" fault. It is very much the "fairness" folks fault. Wanting to be "fair" they made sure that those not qualified would be able to get money.[/quote] But Doc one of the groups involved in making sure that people not qualified to get money could get it was the Fed. They lowered interest rates so much that they were essentially giving money away to the banks which in turn lended that money out to people who had no busin

[quote]We do have mixed economy...there's government interference in many aspects of the economy...it's what keeps things a little more ordered and buoyant.[/quote] And it's a delicate balance between overregulation and underregulation. The problem that we are seeing now is due to underregulation, no one was checking up on what the banks were actually up to with these sub-prime loans. Had proper regulations been put into place you wouldn't have had loan officers fudging lo

It's not letting me edit. That first line should read: "The blame falls on neither the Democrats or Republicans, at least not directly ."

The blame falls on neither the Democrats or Republicans, at least not completely. If you must blame someone just take a look at the Federal Reserve. The entity that had set interest rates so low that banks were clamoring to lend, lend, lend because the money was essentially "free". This caused the birth of the sub-prime loan, which is what got us where we are today. These sub-prime loans made it so that people, with really crappy credit who had no business borrowing mo

[quote]who is advocating ignoring anything? I'm not. Luls's not. [/quote] I never said that you or LuLu were ignoring the issue. I was making a general plea that if you (as in the general you meaning everyone) opt your (again the general your) child out of sex ed please do something to educate your child about sex whether it be abstinence or comprehensive. I may disagree with what method you may choose to educate your child with, but if you are doing it at home then you ca

[quote]There is another alternative - since they are "your child", how about you? (the generic you as a parent). That being said, most parents do not do it. As long as the program has an opt out provision, I see no problem with it. I personally do not see teaching Kindergarten students about sex, and would rather teach them myself at the appropriate time. But if parents dont care or want the school to, let them.[/quote] Finally a voice of reason. I too wouldn't agree

The other issue to remember is that most, if not all, of the polls are based on popular vote not electoral. Just because there is a dead heat in a popular votes doesn't mean that there will be in an electoral vote which is the one that counts. As for who qualifies to be a respondent, any registerd voter qualifies. Most polls, as Doc pointed out, are done by land line polling but there are some done on foot which means that you have to be where the pollster is. This t

[quote]But you're assuming that kids being taught abstinence don't have any information. They do. Kids talk.[/quote] Do you really want your childs source of sex education to be other kids or the entertainment industry? I don't know about you but I would much rather they get the correct information from reputable sources, there peers are anything but reputable. Getting information from there peers is what leads to false information like you can't get STDs from oral sex get

[quote]I understand what you're saying and I also understand why you think it's best. Sounds good in theory but it doesn't work that way with the kids. That's why more and more kids are engaging in sex earlier and earlier. They see this as you advocating premarital sex. I think many parents are panicking and thinking there is no other alternative and there is. So rather than take the time with their kids they throw BC at them thinking that's the easy/best solution. [/quote] That's sim

[quote]First off I don't think there are "many" schools out there teaching abstinence only sex-ed. There are some but they are not popular. I absolutely believe they work...but when one girl gets pregnant like Palin, all the liberals start shouting out..."see it doesn't work." [/quote] There are many out there. And there are studies that have been done that prove that abstinence-only sex-ed doesn't do any better at preventing teen sex than comprehensive sex-ed, which brings me b

[quote]When you teach comprehensive sex ed in school as they are today, you are in effect giving these kids a green light. You can't say to a teen..."don't have sex, but if you do, take this (holding up a form of BC) with you." You're contradicting yourself and the kids know it. They take that as permission.[/quote] That is just plain wrong on so many levels. 1) there are many schools that teach abstinence-only sex ed. 2) The idea that teaching kids about birth con

[quote]I've said it before and I'll say it again....I'd much rather teach abstinence and have my child find herself pregnant (there are worse things than pregnancy) than to teach BC and watch them die from an untreated STD or AIDS by living a life of promiscuity. At least bearing and taking care of a child puts a curtail on sexual activity. [/quote] Huh? How does teaching the kids about birth control make kids promiscuous? I have never understood that line of thinking.&nbs

[quote]Regardless, the issue is moot, is it not? Didn't they recently discover that using certain adult stem cells produces the exact same result as those 'harvested' from embryos?[/quote] Yes and no. What they did was done through the use of viruses and would NOT be permitted for use in any actual treatments. What it did do was prove that at some point in the future it might be possible to revert adult stem cells into something similar to embryonic stem cells. Hopef

[quote]Federally Funding abortions[/quote] There are no federally funded abortions. I believe it was the "Hyde Amendment" proposed by Henry Hyde (spelling may be off) that made it so that the federal government would NOT fund abortions. Yes places like Planned Parenthood do get federal funds but those funds are NOT allowed to be applied to abortions. [quote]So, America, if you want change, start changing. You can't honestly expect one man to do it for you.[/quote]<

[quote who="stevendedalus" reply="13" id="1876216"] And the medical ones are what causes health care to be so expensive. Granted, but far from the only cause.[/quote] No one said that frivilous lawsuits were the only cause of high malpractice insurance, but they are primary contributors to high malpractice since most hospitals/doctors are more willing to settle a case out of court even if they aren't at fault for an injury to avoid the bad press that a court case would bring

[quote]Then why are there laws against suicide, selling your organs and using drugs? Seems that we are already legislating what you can do with your body.[/quote] And who is to say that we should have those laws on the books? Personally I don't think that suicide should be considered a crime, certainly not doctor assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. I also think that some, not all, drugs should be legalized.

[quote who="the_Peoples_Party" reply="9" id="1874742"]El, That's not necessarily true. Look at the Soviet Union or China both are Athestic. The founding fathers were mostly religious men who lived very religious lives. Religion was essentially a part of their lives. We try to make it seem like they didn't want that or a king. How, quickly we forget that they wanted to make Washington a king. If we look at the mighty Roman/Greek empires

[quote]Liberals just don't make any sense to me. I've tried. I'm surrounded by them as many family members are Liberals. They seem to be quite opionated but they lack substance. They don't go deep and it's frustrating trying to reason with them. They believe what they believe cuz they believe it to be true. When you try to get to the foundation of what they believe you find......there is no foundation. Heck, they don't even have a slab! [/quote] The same can be said for members of jus