Duluth.Talk

By jsc

March 5, 2008 7:12 PM | Link to this

I think people MUST stop re-electing the same type of person over and over again. The only person in the POTUS race to tell you EXACTLY what he will do differently is Ron Paul (he follows the Constitution of this land. He has done so ever since he became a Senator over 20 years ago).

People, PLEASE stop thinking of voting for one of the “main” contenders just because he’s black, she’s a woman, or he’s a “war hero” and labeled a Republican.

For God’s sake, THINK FOR YOURSELF and STUDY what a candidate stands for and has a PROVEN RECORD OF STANDING FOR.

There is too much at stake in this election for trivialities.

By Bruce Wilcox

March 5, 2008 9:25 PM | Link to this

The best why to understand where a candidate stands is visit their web-site. On the web-sites you can find detailed plans for a wide range of issues. The candidates are explaining, in most cases, great detail what they would like to accomplish and how.

Thirty second commericals and one hour debates are not really the forum to hear the all the details. The media care more about ratings than issues and rather keep stirring the pot to keep viewers interested.

Make the effort to a little research, you will be happy you did.

By Bubba

March 6, 2008 8:43 AM | Link to this

Here’s what I think:

1). Politicians play to the media. not the voter. The media gives instant feedback, the voters don’t. Don’t blame the media. The people gave up their will. Politicians will spend money where they get the most results.

2). I think most of us fall along the lines of socially liberal, fiscally conservative. We want politicians to exercise restraint, we just don’t want to sell our beliefs to do it. Democrats and Republicans are either-or. They are either socially liberal or fiscally conservative. We need both-and choices.

3). People get what they pay for. More people are voting in primaries because of the fight between Obama and Clinton. Problem is, they’re the same people, politically speaking. We have extreme choices because we as people don’t have enough energy to find something different. Shame on us.

I’m going fishing now. Turning off the TV, taking Waylon and Willie and the Boys.

By PoliticalMan

March 6, 2008 10:33 AM | Link to this

I sure would like to know what “Following the Constitution” means. The Constitution is a very, very brief framework for a system of gov. It may be about 0.000001 percent of documents that pertain to governance.

Our system, like all others, boils down to who gets what, by what means, and from whom. The libertarian idea that things just happen - or what is, is - is non-informative. Those getting a lot don’t want change, those not getting a lot want change, ie more.

By NICK

March 6, 2008 3:40 PM | Link to this

Want answers to your questions? Just ask the Democrats. They are the ones “fleecing” this country.

Read the AJC article on John Lewis. Another black, corrupt, race hustling, democratic elected offical, who will do or say anything to get elected.

By Time for an Overhaul

March 6, 2008 4:39 PM | Link to this

Think about this…..we have several tax breaks that expire within the next 12 months and both Dem candidates have said they won’t extend these tax breaks. In fact, Hillary has already said she’d eliminate those right out front.

We have a Democratic proposed spending bill(budget) that will exceed Bush’s proposed budget. If we think money for the working class is tight now, it is only going to get tighter when the tax and spend crowd gets in office.

This is another example of where we really need to understand WHAT these candidates intend to do and WHAT they plan to do to help stimulate the economy. Raising our taxes and increasing government spending is not a good place to start.

If Americans have to tighten their respective belts and spend less, it’s time we demand the same of our government!!!

By MrLiberty

March 6, 2008 4:46 PM | Link to this

RON PAUL DID NOTHING BUT SPEAK IN DETAIL ABOUT THE TRUTHS OF OUR ECONOMY, THE WAR, CIVIL LIBERTIES, AND EVERYTHING ELSE YOU ASK FOR.

Just look what happened to him. Your own paper was part of a conspiracy to discredit his campaign.

You don’t want to hear the truth. Who are you voting for for president? If its anyone else besides Ron Paul, then is is obvious that your talk out one side of your mouth and the other as well.

You had the chance to publically endorce Ron Paul and his principled stand for responsible government - but you didn’t.

THE TRUTH……YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH !!!!!!!

WHY ARE YOU ASKING THIS QUESTION THIS LATE IN THE GAME - @#%$&*#$?

Go Ron Paul!

By hitwriter

March 6, 2008 10:52 PM | Link to this

I don’t know about all that other stuff but I remember when Waffle House use to be a bargain and a value.

You didn’t have to ask for hash browns to be cooked in the ring. I could actually use the bacon (I wouldn’t) in my printer since it’s so thin now and the eggs must be coming from bulimic chickens.

Even the Waffles are shrinking!

They at least take credit cards now but that probably has more to do with their high prices than customer convenience. (Last time I got my bill for a family of five I asked for a loan app)

There’s more I could say but I’ll leave it at that.

By comp133xi7y

March 6, 2008 11:37 PM | Link to this

Lol…the stupidity continues.

Pray tell - how is it the Democrats who are fleecing people? The Democrats have had a narrow majority - barely enough to control who runs what committee - for less than two years now. For the six years before that, the Republicans have controled the House and the Senate.

Talk Radio - the last bastion of ignorant, uneducated morons.

As for Ron Paul - PLEASE. The man was running on a platform that suggested that the President could unilateraly dismantle Constitutionally established government agencies. He CAN’T, you kool-aid drinking idiots…he is a crack-pot IDIOT, and anyone who wanted to vote for him lacks the basic education to function in society.

Oh yeah - Ron Paul is going to abolish the IRS…except that the IRS is established by CONGRESS, you mouth-breathing IDIOTS. The president can’t OVERTURN a GOVERNMENT AGENCY by FIAT, even if “W” thought he was king.

Morons! Every damn one of you.

And let me laugh at the idiot who accused the Democrats of being the “tax and spend” party. Hey, MORON…your beloved BUSH has been SPENDING and not TAXING for nearly 8 years. That’s why we are in such a TREMENDOUS DEFICIT.

I would rather have a party that equals EXPENDITURES with REVENUES than a bunch of IDIOTS who SPEND and SPND and SPEND and don’t PAY for it.

Y’all deserve everything we get, if you vote for f*** McCain.

By JTW

March 7, 2008 7:21 AM | Link to this

I’m not sure that its really a matter of Republican vs Democrat, more that there is absolutely NO accountability on the candidates. The campaign promises for this election are the same promises I heard 4 years ago, and again 4 years before that… What’s important is not what a candidate will say to get elected, but what they do to keep those promises, and right now they don’t do anything. Lets give them some motivation… Record their Campaign promises, then at the end of each year, they get assessed on their efforts to fulfill them. If they did well, they get paid thier salary, if they did ok, they get part of it. If they didn’t try, they get Nothing. If they worked directly against their promises, then they are fined… Add an element of direct accountability, then you’ll see our elected officials really work to better our country!

By Time for an Overhaul

March 7, 2008 8:51 AM | Link to this

comp133xi7y - such a nasty attitude and so condescending. Did you have a bad day and need to vent?

JTW - I agree with you! It’s campaign rhetoric, SSDD or maybe SS different election, but it’s all a bunch of talk.

I like the idea of performance reviews for everyone holding a public office, including judges.

As a employee of any company, you get appraised and that appraisal determines whether or not you keep your job, get promoted, get raises. It reinforces your accountability for your actions and how those actions affect the company, or in this case, our country.

We have too many people in public offices that do what is in their own best interest or that of special interest, too hell with the rest of us.

Some of these clowns with past so checkered, how can they possible justify telling the rest of us what we should think or feel or vote….Ted Kennedy comes to mind.

Over the past 8 years, it seems we’ve forgotten many of the wonderful (wink, wink) memories of the Clinton years….

By PoliticalMan

March 7, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this

If I’m not mistaken, elections are performance reviews of politicians.

It must be very distressing to Repubs to realize that the largest deficits by far have occurred under Reagan and George W. Under George W. the Repubs have basically controlled Congress and spending. Spending money that you don’t have is usually a sign of irresponsibility, unless there is a realistic plan of payback.

I rather suspect that most people except the Bible-thumpers and fat-cats are going to be only too happy to see George W. gone and hopefully the flip-flopper McCain be rejected.

By Bill Allen

March 7, 2008 1:09 PM | Link to this

Personally, I think we have come to the end of an era that should have been disbanded a while ago. So much of government today is rooted in tools set forth in the New Deal under FDR. Even FDR said that the New Deal was not meant to be a permanent solution. Rather, it was meant to bring a nation out of a Great Depression.

Rather than look at new solutions - “think outside the box” as it were (and, by the way, I hate that phrase) - our government has merely tried to build on precedents set forth in the New Deal, and later the Great Society (civil rights, education reform, etc.). In other words, we haven’t had any new thoughts. We’ve simply built on old thoughts that were never meant to be around as long as they have been.

Social Security, for example, was originally conceived to take care of widows and orphans. Today, it is a retirement account for workers. It was never designed to do that. Now that the baby boomers are coming to the age at which SS is available to them, they are quickly depleting the funds available to them, funds that were generated by a program that was never designed to do what it’s being asked to do.

Rather than come up with new ideas, we simply fight over the old ones - all in an attempt to work within established rules. The two parties now are stagnant - neither one can overcome their well-established prejudices. Meanwhile, nothing gets done, and the funds keep running lower and lower, and no one - Democrat or Republican - has the guts to say, “You know, maybe we shouldn’t be looking at the answers. Maybe we should be looking at the questions.”

Waffle House now sells biscuits. What is our government doing to change its paradigm? The answer to that question is not, “It’s time to change,” or “Stay the course.” I would like to find someone who wants a new 15 minutes of fame.

By Bruce Wilcox

March 7, 2008 1:38 PM | Link to this

Bill, no offense but where did you study history? Social Security was always designed, written up and voted on as a retiremnent program. You have to remember that the life span back then isn’t what it is now, we actually had a real workforce, we lost 63,000 of what’s left today. Most of the New Deal programs died when the war broke out like the WPA. Some stayed thankfully, like insuring our banks.

Bill remember this, everything we have today is built on our constitution. Lincoln started the first income tax to pay for the civil war, now we just charge it. FDR’s New Deal, LBJ’s Great Society, you always need a good foundation to build on.

We could always be like France, they’re on their ninth constitution since 1787. No amendments, they just rewrite it, it does have it’s pluses and minuses. Out with the old, in with the new.

By PoliticalMan

March 7, 2008 4:29 PM | Link to this

Thomas Jefferson suggested that we rewrite the Constitution every 19 yrs - his estimate of the length of a generation. In other words, let people be governed by rules established recently instead of those thought good by the dead. Even such ideas - heaven forbid - as property rights. Oh my god.

FDR was a patrician. But the guy and his left-overs from the Progressive Era realized we were in deep trouble and did something about it. A lot of what was done has been tremendously beneficial to our nation, like the Wagner Act (labor act), Social Security, and the Wages and Hours Act. And many, many more. Please tell me that you would not want to dismantle those Acts.

The ability to save for retirement is a huge issue in this country. I love the TV commercials that insinuate if only one would let the brokerage firms manage your portfolio, then retirement yrs would be bliss. The fact that vast numbers of people cannot even pay for basics, let alone accumulate maybe one-half mil for investments is just ignored.

I’m not sure what the answer is. Killing SS is definitely not it. Maybe we should just do people like we do dogs or horses - just put them down when they get old. Problem of retirement money now solved.

Or let the “free” market take care it. Now we get to hilarity.

By Tim

March 7, 2008 10:23 PM | Link to this

A 96 year old lady told me a story the other day that really made me understand how much we have gone backwards. Seems the lady was on Welfare when Lake Lanier was being planned. Her property ended up having a nice value, and the feds were going to buy it. When the Welfare people heard about it, they sent her a letter telling her that she was no longer qualified for Welfare, and that when the property sold, they wanted the money they had paid out to her returned. Wow. I’ll bet not many people knew that Welfare worked like that at one time. I didn’t.

By Bruce Wilcox

March 8, 2008 1:13 AM | Link to this

It’s like if you have to go into a nursing home, after any money you have in your banking or savings accounts is used up, then it’s your property they take. The government never misses a trick.

They talk about the feared Death Tax, that’s for only people that have more than a few million dolllars, little farms are protected right now. Now there is an issue to study where Fear is used to sell an idea to help a certain class of people that probably never got their hands dirty on a farm unless they fell.

By Michael H. Smith

March 8, 2008 2:20 AM | Link to this

Personally, I’m very sure we’ve been reintroduced to an error of the era that never should have been allowed to re-emerge from long ago, compliments of Clinton-Bush, Mr. Allen. From unfair so-called “Free Trade” to an unfettered form of capitalism that is in fact the reinventing of monopolies less kinder, less gentler than anything Teddy Roosevelt knew and sought to rein in that now skirts anti-trust laws under the guise of globalization where these new found Trust allude such laws that are unenforceable beyond our sovereign shores, to the wink n’ nod immigration system that allows millions of foreigners to enter this country for no other reason than to give business leverage over the wages within our labor market. Former Fed Chief Allen Greenspan, after retiring made a statement - more of a confession - that illegal aliens working in this country unauthorized contributed to holding down inflation during the Clinton years by suppressing the wages of American labor, introducing during that time a deflationary spiral, in fact.

Now while one side rallies to set a false wage floor in a government guaranteed minimum, the other side assures a false wage ceiling in demanding every available job be filled by some willing worker, foreign if need be, by any means necessary, legal or illegal, to provide business a government guaranteed protection that a labor shortage will never occur to drive wages up much beyond the government guaranteed set minimum. So populism, I seriously doubt bears any fault in this failure, nor does the Square Deal FDR borrowed from his cousin TR. Every American deserves fair play said Teddy Roosevelt and nothing more. Not much fair play in the things I’ve just describe is there Mr. Allen? In fact it seems a rather rigged game against the American working man and woman of this country, wouldn’t you say?

The New Deal was nothing more than Teddy Roosevelt’s old sense of fair play, given to Americans during a time when even a fair hope seemed to lay in despair. My father’s generation lived through those times. The stories they related to me is somewhat at odds with the history thus far relayed. It was a time when money and jobs were scarce. Older workers held all the jobs that were to be had, as the younger would-be workers couldn’t find jobs. Social Security was introduced to encourage these older workers to give up their jobs, so a younger worker would have an opportunity at employment. Social Security was never meant to replace incomes, it was only meant to supplement, aid, older workers in retirement. Unfortunately Mr. Allen, as with many of the ideas brought to life by the Roosevelts, as it seems with all things that start out good, the feel good elitists take to tweaking perfectly workable solution into something never envision or would they be acceptable to either Roosevelt, if they were alive today.

As I’ve said before, every socialists Democrat after FDR has tried vainly to out Franklin FDR by expanding his limited social programs into an eternal life of their own. As the older generation that lived through the depression era used to say of the WPA (We Piddle Around) they would prop up shovels along roadsides all day long and do little of nothing else; for everyone that held a shovel three supervisors stood watch. I guess now days we’d call them the State DOT.

Can’t say what we’d call LBJ’s great society recipients, they mostly lie around make babies, smoke dope, watch Oprah and Jerry Springer on TV with a remote control in one hand and a bag of chips in the other, then complain about how little money the government is giving them. I’m sure the politically correct elitists would call them the underprivileged and the less fortunate of our society.

FDR’s WPA and CCC required people to actually get off their butts and do something for the taxpayer money they received. It is what we conservatives often refer to as workfare. Unfortunately, the Republicans had just as soon outsource workfare to some foreign worker at a cut rate price or award a contract to some scallywag contractor using illegal alien workers while they b*** about the Americans they force into LBJ’s great society!

With all the infrastructure that is falling down around us in this country, with all the foreclosures and many more coming to fore, with all the jobs lost and as it appears more will be lost, Mr. Allen, do you still think old thoughts can’t serve in a new time and place, in the dimension of now?

Every American deserves fair play and nothing more, a square deal and nothing less. I’m strongly committed to seeing domestic national service for our young citizens (which does not include foreign-service in the peace core, Mr. Obama), for every year of domestic national service a year of paid college or technical schooling. We have needs to secure our borders and ports and woefully few border patrol officers to man the posts. We need law enforcement officers and too few applicants. We have health departments that should be expanded to provide healthcare to those U.S. citizens whose incomes fall below 150% of the poverty line were young men and women can train hands on to become the doctors and nurses this nation needs in hopes of making healthcare affordable to all U.S. citizens.
I’m equally committed to seeing workfare, not welfare and unemployment insurance that now serves as the porous safety net where so many simply continue to fall through and fail. If you want public assistance, fine, but you will have too work for the taxpayers even if that means sweeping the streets or cleaning government office buildings. Want to advance out of a low standard of living and off public assistance, fine, invest in your own future by returning to the taxpayers a community service for training and education that will allow you to improve your worth in the private sector.

At this very moment, homeless people are being recruited by the hospitality industry that once sought foreign workers. Some in New Yuck, New Yuck (sic) are collecting the old yuck from the grease traps of restaurants, which is being refined into bio-diesel and other forms of alternative fuel. Were these menial task seem to represent dead end jobs they both are applicable to sectors that will see explosive growth and demand in the coming years as our population grows older and energy demands exceed supply. With a small amount of additional training, cross training and a State Labor Department that is aggressive in marketing Georgia’s workers the possibilities are limitless. What should be limited by design are things like generational public assistance, unemployment and underemployment.

I have to disagree somewhat Mr. Allen with your assessment on Waffle House and biscuits. You know biscuits are rather old and commonplace. The failures of the New Deal Square Deal you talk about, is not in their foundation as originally laid down, it was in the detours we allowed our politicians to build that has taken us away from principles of that underlying bedrock.

By Bruce Wilcox

March 8, 2008 6:30 AM | Link to this

“Can’t say what we’d call LBJ’s great society recipients, they mostly lie around make babies, smoke dope, watch Oprah and Jerry Springer on TV with a remote control in one hand and a bag of chips in the other, then complain about how little money the government is giving them. I’m sure the politically correct elitists would call them the underprivileged and the less fortunate of our society.”

Mr. Smith when did you become a racist, it is unusual for you, usually it’s only illegals who cause every problem possible?

Your view of history is very poor to say the least, if it wasn’t for FDR your parents would still be farmer’s. You do realize Mr. Smith that the biggest expansion and increase of pay-outs happened under your Fearless Leader Bush don’t you?

I realize when you awake from the fog you must have been in when you wrote that rabbling, your’ll regret it.

Top O’the Mornin to Ya Mr. Smith.

By Bill Allen

March 8, 2008 8:45 AM | Link to this

Mr. Smith,

Good to hear from you again.

I think that you articulated what I attempted to so ineptly: “The failures of the New Deal Square Deal you talk about, is not in their foundation as originally laid down, it was in the detours we allowed our politicians to build that has taken us away from principles of that underlying bedrock.”

To me, it isn’t that I think these programs are or were failures. Rather, I think that we have lacked leadership creative enough to expand and further develop the good works that they did. “Every American deserves fair play and nothing more, a square deal and nothing less.” “…with all things that start out good, the feel good elitists take to tweaking perfectly workable solution into something never envision or would they be acceptable to either Roosevelt, if they were alive today.”

I think what we should be saying to our politicians is, “That was yesterday. What are you going to do for me today?” The questions that we have today are not easily answered. There are no “10 simple words” to address the issues. I don’t want handouts. I’ve no wish to deny a business man his profits. To me, it seems like our political arena views these as “either-or” propositions. I think they should be “both-and” propositions.

How do you do that? I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t. But I’m willing to listen to suggestions.

By the by, yes, biscuits have been around for a while. Nothing new, to be sure. I’ve always wondered why Waffle House didn’t do it sooner. Old ideas can work.

By Michael H. Smith

March 8, 2008 9:01 AM | Link to this

I would have to say you are a bit confused, bigots like you usually are reluctant to accept things outside the confines of their prejudice.

First Mr. Wilcox where do you get this idea that illegal aliens are a race?

Second where do you get the idea that people who accept poverty easily are a race? And just in case you have a skin color in mind to attach to public assistance, as bigots usually do lying in between “their sheets”, for the record I think it will be found that whites comprise the greatest number receiving public assistance in America.

Thirdly exactly what forms the basis of this social crutch you seem so dependent upon that you call anything other than human a race, is it from some weak need to put everything in a neat category that fits your bigotry?

Among human beings little child the differences among us simply are not significant enough to merit a race according to science. A recent study has underscored that conclusion found in the “Out of Africa” theory.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080221-human-genetics.html

As for history, your views there are worse than poor. LT 5000 happened to be closer to the actual historic record on the Bay of Pigs affair, by the way. And now you have been confronted with Social Security facts.

}

From wekipedia:

Creation: The Social Security Act

The Social Security Act was drafted by President Roosevelt’s committee on economic security, under Edwin Witte, and passed by Congress as part of the New Deal. It was controversial when originally proposed, with one point of opposition being that it would cause a loss of jobs. However, proponents argued that there was in fact an advantage: it would encourage older workers to retire, thereby creating opportunities for younger people to find jobs, which would lower the unemployment rate. Historian Edward Berkowitz subsequently contended that the Act was a cause of the “Roosevelt Recession” in 1937 and 1938. However, the program has gone on to be one of the most popular government programs in American history.[8]

}

A fair representation of Social Security can be found on wekipedia were it will be noted the various expansions that this program has undergone and that one of the greatest expansions happen under LBJ .

One other correction to Mr. Wilcox’s historical record concerning NAFTA were he wrongly credited H.W. Bush. NAFTA was signed into law by none other than William Jefferson Clinton.

A return of your morning greeting, Mr. Wilcox, the only cordial thing in your statement.

My only regret upon awakening came by the foghorn of your inane bull blowing.

By Michael H. Smith

March 8, 2008 10:04 AM | Link to this

Yes Mr. Allen businesses do deserve the expectations of a profit, a very healthy one hopefully. However, businesses should never be guaranteed a profit by government through any means of government wage control in what is known as a Free Market. Adam Smith’s views on Free Trade never included treatment of labor as a commodity, as a unit of labor said Theodore Roosevelt. Such abuse only robs the human spirit of its’ dignity and creativity, a price too high in my opinion to pay in profiting the robber barons of any age.

By PoliticalMan

March 8, 2008 4:57 PM | Link to this

Mr. Allen, you are not being particularly consistent here. You say the New Deal and the Great Society are old school and should be disbanded. You mention civil rights and education reform. You want them disbanded? And you want a new direction - but you give no hint of what that is.

I think that for one period in nation’s history (1933-1965), there was some serious thinking about what gov could do to bring about a fairer society - one that worked for all of us. We’ve lost that. Knuckleheads like Nixon, Reagan, Gingrich, and the Bushes have this bizarre notion that the rich will trickle down wisdom and benefits to us all. They call it free markets. And they layer on a heavy layer of God on top of all that so that they can sell it to the masses. To have someone of so limited ability as GW Bush be elected president with such inane notions (not ideas becasue the man does not think) basically says that he has duped 50.1 percent of us with sheer nonsense.

You want to propose change? How about proposing getting corps off of our backs. Get rid of NAFTA which is a sop to corps. Stop H-1B visa programs and the like. Stop pharmaceutical companies from using gov-paid-for research and robbing us with their pricing. Get a realistic educational system - one that works for us all and is practical, including re-training later in life. I don’t know what you think needs to be changed. I do believe that the current pattern of thought among Republicans will drive this country right over the cliff. We will be vulnerable because they will kill the middle-class in this nation. Look around. They have been and are doing it.

By Bruce Wilcox

March 8, 2008 9:46 PM | Link to this

Mr. Smith, like LT, you have a very limited knowledge of history, whatever Rush feds you it seems.

While it is true that President William Jefferson Clinton did sign NAFTA into law, are you even trying to suggest that this wasn’t H.W. Bush’s baby? That H.W. Bush did not meet, set-up and negotiate the entire package, even lobbying on the Hill for it to pass, is that what you want us to believe?

As far as the Bay of Pigs, you’re telling me that President Kennedy had the CIA round up hundreds of Cubans, trained them, and find transports for them in three shorts months before the failed invasion, that Ike didn’t start the process back in the early fall? Next you’ll be telling us Ike didn’t get us into Nam back in 1954 against the Geneva Accords, before looking foolish, check the dates on “The Wall”.

The Medicare Drug Expansion was the biggest government give away, mostly to the drug companies. The drug companies were so happy with the republicans and the one who pushed it pass, he quit congress and became a million dollar a year lobbyist for the drug industry.

It seems to be a patteran with Republican Presidents of dumping problems on the next President to clean up.

The last Democratic President left a surplus, which bush quickly blew on a tax cut for the rich.

Mr. Smith, use something besides talk radio and wekipedia for your history lessons, get to a library quick before they’re all closed to pay for the “Field of Dreams”.

By Michael H. Smith

March 8, 2008 11:24 PM | Link to this

Yeah right, Mr. Wilcox. Rattle on…. It is all you are capable of, you are ever so full of bull.

By Bill Allen

March 10, 2008 8:51 AM | Link to this

PoliticalMan,

I never said the New Deal and the Great Society should be disbanded. To the contrary, I think that the concepts developed in these eras were thoughtful and indicitive of creative leadership, addressing very real problems with “outside-the-box” solutions. Perfect? No. I think the implementers of these ideas would also agree with that assessment.

They would also say, I suspect, “We can only lay the foundations. We leave it up to future generations to expand, develop, or scratch these ideas and continue to work at it.” Much like our Founding Fathers, I think. The one thing they knew was that they didn’t know everything. The majority (not all), were white middle to upper class farmers and traders who developed a concept called the United States of America, knowing full well that they could not possible conceive of or foresee every problem that future generations would encounter. All they could do was create a framework within which these problems could be addressed. Very thoughtful, if you ask me.

But I digress. My point is not that these programs aren’t and weren’t failures. My point is that the leaders whom we have elected to expand, develop, or scratch these ideas have lacked the thinking, of late, to move forward. The world is changing, as it always does, and yet - to me, anyway - our leaders seem mired in continuing stale debates, of striving for mediocrity.

I love that the people in this country have such a wonderful diversity of opinions. I wish that our leaders would explore the range of this diversity, rather than confine their arguments to “bleeding heart liberal” or “bible thumping conservative.” Eras like the New Deal and the Great Society explored that range of diversity. I suggest that these eras were not the end results of fixing problems, but the beginning of new solutions. I don’t want “either-or” leaders or ideas. I want “both-and” leaders. It is our job, as citizens, to demand that we find these leaders - not leaders who will “stay the course,” or say “time for change” because it makes for a good sound bite. I want leaders who will think outside the box.

That’s very open ended, I know. I don’t have answers. I don’t even know all the questions. I do think, though, that every issue begins with a discussion. And so, here we are. :-)

By Michael H. Smith

March 10, 2008 10:30 AM | Link to this

Tell you what, Mr. Allen, let’s take a few of the major problems or issues if you will, and consider what is at stake: Energy, Healthcare, and Security.

I don’t know what Jesus would do, don’t know what the founding fathers would do, what I do know is, that if as a nation we cannot find the right answers on these three alone we soon may find ourselves in some rather great difficulty in the coming days. I do know that our leaders in Congress on both sides don’t want the answers, they are too caught-up in ideology, represent too many special interests and they are too well satisfied with what they are doing, to do any of us any good.

Energy, by way of example: Brazil became energy independent in three years using ethanol. France produces 70% of their energy through nuclear power. And, while members of Congress speak in terms of 20 30 40 50 years down the road in achieving some small amount of freedom from oil the resources and technology exist today to end our addiction to oil.

Here’s an interesting little car that a company in India will soon make commercially that boast a range of about a 1,000 miles at up to 96 mph with a tiny fill-up of about 8 gallons of gas, ethanol or bio-fuel. So the headline reads, Air Powered Car coming to U.S. in 2009 to 2010 at sub- $18,000. I’m waiting on mine, how about you Mr. Allen. We shall see if this is too good to be true. If it is true, Congress will probably be too good to allow the thing into the U.S. There are other cars that use little to no gas around but this one I choose because of the sticker price.

Here’s the link to Popular Mechanics. It may not work because of the underscore, though, if you would like to read the write-up just go to their site and type Tata Motors in the search box and it will provide a link that will work.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4251491.html

Keep in mind that about 60% of our energy consumption is derived from oil used in automobiles, mostly foreign oil bought from our enemies.

By PoliticalMan

March 10, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

Bill, I only noted your comments on 3/7, 1:09 PM. Perhaps I read too much into that. Anyone, your explanation is accepted.

I think the notion of being a ideologue is pretty interesting. Are both Democrats and Republicans equally ideologues? For those that are historically challenged, gov assumed a greater and greater role in our lives, because huge business interests became so powerful that they could run people into the ground. Progessives and New Dealers didn’t just wake up one day and think they should advocate gov control. No, they realized that powerful businesses were incapable of moderation and the average man had no power to force change. It is a very practical stance to hold that gov must have a role in regulating our economy. History supports that. On the other hand, the idea that so-called free-markets with unregulated business interests will lead to a situation that works for us all is blatantly wrong. If someone insists on an idea that is clearly historically in error, that person could well be an ideologue or just stupid. I’m not saying all Democrats are good and smart and all Republicans are ideologues and stupid, but I will say that Democratic thinking is more grounded in the reality that exists for most of us.

By Bill Allen

March 10, 2008 12:58 PM | Link to this

I think Jesus would say, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”

Yes, I’ve heard of the Indian car. I heard they were going to (or are) sell them for $2500. I heard it in passing, so don’t hold me to it. Personally, I have physical limitations in that I can’t drive a manual (I know how, I just physically can’t), and I do need a little room to get into and out of a car. I’m not pooh-poohing the idea, I’m just saying “show me.”

Energy. Oil is the primary reason for the success of the American economy over the last 100+ years. Not just oil itself, but the innovations in manufacturing, technology, and growth revolving around oil and the products that use oil.

Lately, it’s been one of our major economic “boils.” Labor issues. Pricing. You know, after the crisis in the late 70s, it would have been a good idea to say, “okay, now that prices are so low, let’s put in an energy tak. If oil goes above, say, $60/gallon, the tax will kick in.” Today, we would have new funds for alternative energy research, a built-in conservation incentive…. 25 years ago, the Middle East was our friend. They boosted production, which helped us accelerate our economy, and served as a tool for the U.S. to battle the Soviet Union on an economic front. Today, the US finds itself in a similar position as the USSR then - straining because we have to rely on resources that we cannot provide for ourselves within our boundaries. As you so eloquently say, Mr. Smith, “our leaders in Congress on both sides don’t want the answers, they are too caught-up in ideology, represent too many special interests and they are too well satisfied with what they are doing, to do any of us any good.”

Kudos to Brazil. They thought outside the box. Are we saying that we lack the resources and leadership that can be found in Brazil? I think this question should upset people more than it does.

By Bill Allen

March 10, 2008 1:23 PM | Link to this

PoliticalMan,

I don’t think that a good leader has to be defined by whether he is a Democrat or a Republican. If anything, I think that the parties limit leadership potential by forcing independent thinkers to fall within their party lines. Live down to expectations, as it were.

And I agree with you when you say, “…powerful businesses were incapable of moderation and the average man had no power to force change. It is a very practical stance to hold that gov must have a role in regulating our economy. History supports that.” One good thing about our two-party system is that, when one party gets too gluttonous in its zeal to fix an issue, another comes in to “balance things out,” as it were. That’s the bad thing. Stone soup. Remember that story? Guy starts off with a stone and water, then he gets the other villagers to contribute a beet here, a carrot there, etc., until he has a real soup. The end. In our government, though, they say, “No, wait. Let’s add some all-spice. Oh, and some cheese. And some chocolate. And some Ex-Lax, because this stuff is gonna bind us up….” A good leader would say, “No, enough. Let’s move on.” Our politicians today, in my opinion, say, “No! There’s still more stuff to add to the pot.”

I don’t consider myself to be either a Republican or a Democrat. I know many people who, when they go into the voting booth, click either the Democratic or Republican ticket. What a shame. I would rather be persuaded than be an automatic lever-man.

Great discussion, y’all!

By Bruce Wilcox

March 10, 2008 11:41 PM | Link to this

Al Gore suggested in the early 90’s a dollar tax on gas, the people were ready to tar & feather him and run him out of town on a rail. He wanted that extra dollar to go into research of alternative fuels, he dared think outside the box. Look where we are now, just imagine if we took Al Gores suggestion back then, even with a the added dollar back then it would be still cheaper than it is now.

By Michael H. Smith

March 11, 2008 2:23 AM | Link to this

We have more than enough R&D already to get this thing going and off the ground. What we need is action, less talk about talking about doing the job. If the government mandated that all federal government cars purchased after mid-summer 2008 must meet 100 mpg by means of alternative energy i.e. ethanol, bio-diesel, air, electric or any combination thereof and removed federal tax from alternative fuels for a period of time, things would change very quickly. Al Gore is dead wrong now as he was then. Taxation is a form of punishment, it stifles creativity. Incentives gives birth to creativity and rewards it. Therein lies a great difference between liberal thought and conservative thinking. Gore would say tax and restrict. I would say entice and reward, punish only those who refuse to create, a.k.a. big oil and certain car makers.

By PoliticalMan

March 11, 2008 4:24 AM | Link to this

Taxation is punishment? Taxes are the cost of doing society’s collective business.

Let’s take fixing the nation’s infrastructure. Where is the incentive for a private firm to start repairing bridges? Who pays? The answers are none and noone.

Therein does lie the difference in thinking. One may have a realistic idea of how to pay for needed services, the other has wishful thinking preferring to rely on some sort of nebulous free-market. Of course free-markets are all about me, me, and me. Not necessary dirty work.

By Katie

March 11, 2008 6:56 AM | Link to this

I don’t understand why anyone would want to eat at a Waffle House—yuk!!! Unless of course you’re constipated and need to eat something in order to get your bowels irritated enough for a huge relief..

By Bill Allen

March 11, 2008 9:02 AM | Link to this

You have interesting points.

Mr. Wilcox - I think that Mr. Gore’s timing was a bit off, in my opinion. The offer would have set better if made during the Reagan or Bush administration. Especially after the “Read my lips” event.

Mr. Smith - tariffs are a form of taxation, and have been used as a tool to protect American business interests. One could make a valid argument, I think, that tariffs could help to “slow down” America’s entrance into the global market, thus giving business a better opportunity to find better footing. I share your reluctance in noting that taxation can stifle creativity. However, I also note that unfettered business practices can be one-sided and, in the long run, unfair. It is a challenging discussion.

PoliticalMan - A very valid point. Our infrastructure is used by everyone, businesses and people equally. Maintenance does not pay for itself. I think the issue of taxation, as Mr. Smith suggests, cannot be punitive in nature. That said, I don’t think anyone truly minds paying their fair share. Politics, I guess, is the divining rod used in finding that well of fairness. We need more good discussions like this one.

Katie - Waffle House rules! “Nuff said. :-)

By PoliticalMan

March 11, 2008 9:12 AM | Link to this

Katie,

If you grew up around here, Waffle House is probably viewed more favorably, kind of like the Varsity.

WH food is about the same as most places. I’ve never gotten sick after my many visits.

By the way, WH is one of the few establishments of its size where you might just find the CEO operating the grill. I know that for a fact.

By Michael H. Smith

March 11, 2008 10:24 AM | Link to this

Mr. Allen - We agree on so-called unfettered capitalism that breeds in reality monopolism or as we have today incorporated offshore into mercantilism via a typical China Inc. It is this that probably keeps me from embracing what is now so-called laissez-faire which departs with Adam Smith’s Free Trade. When governments and businesses are married at the hip there is definitely no free market in existence.

Obama happens to be right on this issue of turning corporate taxation around 180 degrees from where it now stands. He is dead wrong on the importation of labor via immigration and amnesty. Call him half-a-loaf, unlike John McBush, no-loaf-at-all.

By Michael H. Smith

March 11, 2008 12:19 PM | Link to this

Taxes truly are punishment PoliticalMan, more government means more taxes. Taxes do serve to that end as a reminder to beat us all about the pocketbook when gluttonous for more government services and programs. In my not so humble opinion, society could afford to do better with less collective business.

By Notre Don't

March 11, 2008 12:22 PM | Link to this

Hey, Numbnuts … you live in Atlanta. Nobody’s condo will be worth more 5 YEARS from now. Unless you live in Chicago, San Fran, etc … a commuter city like Atlanta will never have high condo prices.

By PoliticalMan

March 11, 2008 12:28 PM | Link to this

Most of us get upset when a loved one dies due to a bridge collapsing or an overworked air traffic controller permits a plane collision or when a job is lost because a corp takes advantage of no labor standards or tariffs. But then there are others who take the view that everything will work itself out in the end. What’s a few deaths or dislocations as long as taxes are low?

By Bruce Wilcox

March 11, 2008 12:49 PM | Link to this

Because Gores idea was canned I can imagine all the possible benefits that never happened.

Set a time table, say 2003 for 95% oil free economy. The 5% would have to take into account heavy machiney, grand-fathered autos. We may have enough of our own oil for no imports would have been needed.

Clean air, really clean, no Gore movies.

Now that dollar tax, since we will be using a lot less fuel, keep the doallar on there and invest in mass transit systems for every major city and rebuild the inrastucture of the country.

All thinking outside the box got him was Nobel, an Oscar and a Emmy.

By Phil

March 11, 2008 12:51 PM | Link to this

Waffle House…Gimme two eggs over easy, sausage patties, grits and hash browns smothered with cheese and toast with a big glass of chocolate milk……Dreaming in Indiana

By JC

March 11, 2008 1:26 PM | Link to this

what sucks is that so many things about this economy are beyond most American’s control and then some nitwit comes along and says that you’re hurting for money because you’re living beyond your means. how in the world do rich well connected people get ordinary middle class people to spin their manipulation for them? how can people not blame the oil companies for high prices but are so willing to promote their spin that some hippie won’t let them build a refiniery? this kind of ignorance from ordinary people that are so willing to shoot themselves in the foot is totally mind boggling!

By Michael H. Smith

March 11, 2008 1:34 PM | Link to this

Taxes are not low and the money from them is ill spent. That is why we have bridges to nowhere and bridges falling down.

By Patty Melt

March 11, 2008 1:52 PM | Link to this

“Taxes are the cost of doing society’s collective business” - sounds like communism to me, brother politicalman. I hear Kid Rock is going to be “working it” at the Duluth Waffle House today - like you said - as Waffle goes, so goes the nation. We’re all going to be scattered like disgruntled Ron Paul supporters, smothered with Obama’s visions of change, and covered by Shrillary’s failed socialistic ideas.

By Bill Allen

March 11, 2008 1:53 PM | Link to this

I see both of the issue. Adam Smith’s view of laissez-faire works perfectly well when applied to a “vacuum,” a situation completely void of emotion or greed. People are incapable of doing that, and so government must step in to moderate. Taxation is required to “maintain the machine of government.” In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need it. Last I heard, though, Eden still wasn’t taking reservations. :-)

The problem with taxation and the government, like unfettered business, is that it can very easily get out of control. Money (and taxes) are power. That power should be used by citizens. Too often, it is used by politicians. Earmarks, for example. Is there really so much difference between Ted Kennedy and Ted Stevens? The money for The Road to Nowhere could fix other bridges, hire more air traffic controllers, to start. How much more efficient could our schools be run without the heavy-handed input of teachers’ unions?

It isn’t either Republicans or Democrats. It’s both Republicans and Democrats. They both make it work, and they both screw it up. Reasonable people can have reasonable discussions, as is evidenced by this exchange of ideas. Except for Mr. Wilcox. C’mon, dude. An Emmy? :-)

Notre Don’t - My condo has increased in value by 30% since I purchased it. No, I didn’t buy it to play the market. However, I would want to sell it for a little more than what I paid for it.

Numbnuts? Yeesh….

By lagert

March 11, 2008 2:13 PM | Link to this

If things are tight and you are not happy about changing your spending habits, Have you ever thought about getting a second job or working more hours at your current job?

By Bruce Wilcox

March 11, 2008 2:29 PM | Link to this

largert, why should any of us have to do that, the feds, yeah our money, are giving $200 Billion more to the stock market today in another bail-out.

The taxpayer is now subsidizing investors, great free market system we have.

By Bruce Wilcox

March 11, 2008 2:42 PM | Link to this

Patty Melt, socialistic ideas, you think that “We The People” should subsidize, corporate welfare, bad investments and the hosuing collapse? The last time we had a bail out like this it was for the Saving and Loans scandel under H.W. Bush, if thats not socialism, nothing is.

By Lagert

March 11, 2008 3:13 PM | Link to this

Wilcox,

What is easier changing the things you are complaining about or just work a little harder. I ask because I do not know. I guess I hace just a simple mind set. If I do not like the balance of my bank accounts I go and find more work to so that I can get back to my comfortable balances.

If people spent as much time working as they do crying and complaining thay would not have much to complain about.

Wilcox, Hard work never hurt anyone.

By Bruce Wilcox

March 11, 2008 3:32 PM | Link to this

I didn’t complain, I asked a simple question, it’s clear you cannot grasp the concept of a government that is $9 Trillion dollars in debt bailing out investors, yet doing zip for the common man. If you believe in corporate welfare fine, I believe helping the common man first, if people make bad choices and investments, I don’t think it’s the governments responsinlity to bail them out, seems you do, just different viewpoints.

Lagert, I’m retired and quite comfortable. We have a election coming, I’ll be doing my part to change things.

By Lagert

March 11, 2008 3:39 PM | Link to this

Good luck to you doing your part to change things, i wish you the best.

I gave up on the goverment a long time ago, therefore I take care of myself.

By PoliticalMan

March 11, 2008 6:02 PM | Link to this

Patty Melt,

Maybe you think that the concept of society is bogus. Maybe, we are really just a bunch of automatons. Wind us up we bump into each other while remaining oblivious. Come to think of it, that may be what we are. The idea of consensus or heaven forbid, a collective idea, is pretty ridiculous. I think a smart guy years ago talked about divide and conquer. We are divided; are we conquered?

By Michael H. Smith

March 12, 2008 2:27 AM | Link to this

I say we pretty much agree Mr. Allen. There has to be checks and balances, unfortunate they seem to have all been defeated so perfectly by imperfection. We certainly could do with less tax if those in our government were interested in doing what is best rather than what is best for them to get re-elected.

Of course laissez-faire can never work, because there will always be those who will seek to gain leverage, an unfair advantage, as we see now occurring in this so-called Free Trade Globalization. No one is truly willing to “let it be” and forgo the temptation of profit that market manipulation brings.

By Cat

March 12, 2008 2:45 PM | Link to this

There is a great solution to our taxes and government spending. It’s called the Fair Tax. It taxes everyone and you are only paying taxes on what you buy. So the biggest spenders (like paying $100,000) for a car, will pay the most taxes. www.fairtax.org

I know Clark Howard endorses it!!

By SOME DUDE

March 12, 2008 2:58 PM | Link to this

LADIES AND GENTS ITS A GOOD ONE IN HERE TODAY! LOVING IT!!!!!!!

By Lee

March 12, 2008 3:21 PM | Link to this

I am a consultant working in the government sector. There is an astounding amount of waste. The issues are not all the politicians fault but the fault of the employees and staff of whom they are in charge of, supposely. The government have a Merit system and if the employee is Merit, then you have little control.

I exists in government b/c the employees don’t have the skill set to do his/her job. I setup and install new systems and train them later for support. There is little vision of the overall environment and the employees care less. They get their paychecks and look for the retirement packages. So, not anything gets done.

I have seen good Officials try to do good things. But, if it does not go over well with the employees, they run to the media and demonize the Officials. The media plays a very negative role in government.

From what I’ve seen in the past 4 years, government is not hard. The hardest things are trying to figure out who is connect to who.

If the media do an assestment of the efficiencies of government instead of reporting dirty politics, then the public would demand change in the function of government.

Oh, it not just the Officials sleeping around, there are married employees creeping during the day on the clock burning tax payers dollars.

Look at the employees more!!!!!!!!!

By Time for an Overhaul

March 12, 2008 3:25 PM | Link to this

I am in total favor of a fair tax, this system we have now is killing all of us stuck in the middle. Keep this up there won’t be a middle.

It certainly would not hurt to stop spending billions of dollars to fund countries in an effort to buy their compliance. They never really comply and all that money lines the pockets of the dictator and what he doesn’t lavish on himself he uses to build his arsenal against us.

Just think of the things we could do to improve the economy, energy alternatives, employment, education, immigration reform, etc. if we spent this money domestically. It just makes to much sense. We could create a lot of jobs in this country by focusing on this country instead of trying to fix all the ails of other countries!!

By Karen

March 12, 2008 3:52 PM | Link to this

Things won’t change until the American People change. We have got to get out of the “consumption mentality.” Once we stop believing that things such as bottled water are nessacary to survive, then perhaps the rising prices will cease.

Here’s the deal… We started paying well over $2.00 a gallon for gasoline in 2005… Remember the lines at the pumps when the threat of paying $3.00 hit the air? Well, here we are 3-years later, adjusted to paying an average of $2.85 a gallon and now it looks as though we are headed for the $4.00 mark by the end of this year. Yet, I’m looking out the window of my office as I write this and I still see multiple gas guzzling SUVS riding up and down the street as if nothing has changed.

As a single parent shopping has become something of an adventure. Basically we are going without, but guess what? I’ve come to realize that we don’t have the stuff I used to buy anyway. Tap water with a filteration device works perfect.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m missing the convience of single serving pre- made meals and being able to toss a bottled water at the kids when they say they’re thirsty instead of getting a glass from the cupboard and getting it from the kitchen sink, but hey I’m burning calories and actually losing a couple of unwanted pounds because of the extra work it requires for me to “have to do something.”

Basically, it is only as bad as you let it get in your mind, and that is an area that the government can’t control unless you allow them too.

So, I suggest that we all just “suck it up” and only spend money on things that we have to have which can be tricky because you have ask yourself “Do I really need this?” and sometimes we can convince ourselves we do when we really don’t.

Besides if we quit spending, there will become a surplus of items and the prices will come down… Trust ME!

Thats what I think!!

By Todd

March 12, 2008 5:41 PM | Link to this

Imagine that…two suspects charged with the NC student murder and one has an extensive criminal record. I’ll bet the juvy also does. Do you think there is a FATHER in the picture? - the vicious cycle continues. TRASH SPAWNS TRASH

By Dave

March 12, 2008 6:03 PM | Link to this

Early on in this comment thread JSC identified Ron Paul as a Senator, he’s not he’s a member of the House of Representatives.

And Bill, the author of the Blog, you need to use a spell checking and syntax program.

By PoliticalMan

March 12, 2008 6:38 PM | Link to this

The first thing to know about the Fair Tax is that it is proposed by Neal Boortz, who happens to be the biggest loud-mouth, stuffed-shirt, dumb-as*, egotistical personality around. Who can even stand to listen to him, let alone read his rantings. And yes the Fair Tax book is rant. It is half-baked nonsense. Since they know it is totally unfair they have come with a rebate scheme that wiil send checks for thousands. Yeah, right. Amazing since they are gov haters. They trust the gov to administer rebates? I know I will live long enough to see Boortz and Limbaugh disappear. I can hardly wait.

By fed up

March 12, 2008 7:07 PM | Link to this

“for the record I think it will be found that whites comprise the greatest number receiving public assistance in America.”

Try riding through the public housing neighborhoods aka”the projects” and tell us they are occupied by mostly whites, then go visit the public assistance offices and tell us that most of the applicants are white. In most communities your statement will easily be proven wrong.

By Katie

March 13, 2008 6:28 AM | Link to this

Karen,

By Katie

March 13, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this

Why should you care what type of vehicle I drive, whether it be an SUV or small compact? I pay for my gas, you don’t. Me filling my SUV up has nothing to do with the price per barrel of oil from the middle east. Besides, the US has it’s own oil that we could pump, we should be doing this.

By Katie

March 13, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this

Why should you care what type of vehicle I drive, whether it be an SUV or small compact? I pay for my gas, you don’t. Me filling my SUV up has nothing to do with the price per barrel of oil from the middle east. Besides, the US has it’s own oil that we could pump, we should be doing this.

By Michael H. Smith

March 13, 2008 11:13 AM | Link to this

Who said anything about “communities” or “projects”?

Ah, if you can’t stand the truth ,or the “greater number” represented therein, just change the statement to “communities”?

Of course the old, as a percentage, might have worked?

Okay.

Fact remains in the context in which the statement was made, RACE is a meaningless category, contrived only in the weak minds of people as “social crutch” used to support some need to promote a pitiful “race based agenda” that simply has no substance or foundation of merit to exist, according to science.

By Michael H. Smith

March 13, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this

We should be moving away from oil altogether, producing nuclear power, cellulosic ethanol and bio-diesel via any means available. The most promising of which appears to be algae at the moment. Not to mention that this algae to bio-diesel process offers a potential winning solution in carbon sequestering. A fellow from MIT discovered that algae thrive on flue gases emitted from coal burning power plants. Oops… that could mean the end of Al Gores carbon tax. But it is good to see Al winning something. He finally found his true calling - out of politics and into the arts.

By coverup

March 14, 2008 8:51 AM | Link to this

You gotta be kidding me. The lead story across the country is this: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4443788&page=1 and there is NO MENTION of it anywhere on ajc.com. What a bunch of liars this publication is.

By Smell the coffee people

March 14, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this

News across the country except the AJC:

Sen. Barack Obama’s pastor says blacks should not sing “God Bless America” but “God damn America.”

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor for the last 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago’s south side, has a long history of what even Obama’s campaign aides concede is “inflammatory rhetoric,” including the assertion that the United States brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own “terrorism.”

In a campaign appearance earlier this month, Sen. Obama said, “I don’t think my church is actually particularly controversial.” He said Rev. Wright “is like an old uncle who says things I don’t always agree with,” telling a Jewish group that everyone has someone like that in their family.

Rev. Wright married Obama and his wife Michelle, baptized their two daughters and is credited by Obama for the title of his book, “The Audacity of Hope.”

By Bruce Wilcox

March 14, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this

Spammer Alert.

Smell the coffee people, put on your tin-foil thinking cap and explain why McCain is ready to be president now, when the party dumped him for bush? What has changed except the amount of desperation on the GOP’s part?

By Smell the coffee people

March 14, 2008 12:54 PM | Link to this

Bruce, I would but you’re wearing it!

By 4 eyes

March 17, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this

Forget this politics sh*t My problem is Sam’s warehouse just tried to milk me $65.00 on my membership card yesterday. They are secretly charging you without even informing you on anything so watch out people. Your politicians are just the same in attitudes and being disloyal to the people of this country.

By Mark

March 18, 2008 2:12 PM | Link to this

Anyone that owns a vehicle with a V8 engine should pay 50% more at the pump. Exceptions: Construction vehicles, military vehicles, and buses. etc. SUV’s should be outlawed. Driving such vehicles for pleasure is simply unAmerican. Give tax breaks to those who purchase V6’s and under.

By Katie

March 19, 2008 5:55 AM | Link to this

Mark, I do pay 50% more at the pump. My tank is 50% bigger. What’s your point? I guess you think boats, RV’s and all other recreational vehicles should be banned? We should just go back to cave dwelling life styles? Play with rocks for entertainment?

By Gun Toter

March 19, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this

A comment on the first part of Bill Allen’s story… I know a couple of District managers with Waffle House and they too are feeling the crunch. The are “counting” their invintory more closely and “bashing” what is on the tickets to what is sold. So I say that tell you they are more cost conscious than they were a year ago. and by the way…. Mark, you are an IDIOT and should be banned from voting. Some of the other commets here just goes to show me the intellegence of some people….low.

By Mark

March 24, 2008 1:50 PM | Link to this

gun toter

“invintory”? And you speak of “intellegence” ?? What an ignorant redneck. You are the one who should be banned from voting. You can’t even grasp the english language.

Gun toting fool!

www.dictionary.com

By Mark

March 24, 2008 1:54 PM | Link to this

Katie

My defense rests. Thanks for playing.

By Mark

March 24, 2008 2:06 PM | Link to this

Why does Georgia allow illiterate inbreds to own guns? gun “toter” (is that english, or pig english?) sounds like another Gary Hilton. Take weapons away from retards, or people like “gun toter” will take innocent lives like other retards with guns!