“I think most people underestimate Sarah Palin. I think some of the folksy idiotic statements she makes are on purpose. At the beginning perhaps she did so to get a feel for how much ignorance was out there and/or tolerated. I think she may have almost everyone fooled. She's smart, cunning, vicious, sexy, outspoken. She speaks to the fear of many working people. She lets the industrialists and financiers know she will support what they have done and will do. Many Republicans don't like their own party, and she pushes that too. Don't let yourself be fooled; she could become the next president of the US.”
“A smart politician tells people what they want to hear. When elected, they do what they had planned to do all along. Most people don't want to believe that they are responsible for their own fate so when a politician tells them to look at someone else as the culprit, it goes over really well. We, and the whole world, are in this mess because of ourselves. That means me too. We keep doing the same thing and hoping for a different outcome. That's called insanity. How many of you vote for someone because they are of the same party as you? Or keep voting for someone and don't even know how they vote on issues? Really pay attention and do research to find the truth on issues? Still have and use credit cards? Aren't paying down your mortgage as fast as possible? Buy a new car when you don't really need one? The list is almost endless. Until each of us make changes, things won't get any better.”
“Funny you should ask about shovel ready projects. Humm! Here in northeast Tennessee, roads were repaved, bridges rebuild or repaired, fire people and police people got extra training, and that's just a few. We're very rural and sparsely populated and we can see those 'shovel ready' projects.”
“For those who know nothing about the libertarian philosophy, let me give you one example. In their world there is no such thing as the commons. What does that mean? Everything is owned by an individual. There would be no national forests, no national parks, no people owned oil reserves or coal reserves or anything. Because there is no such thing as the commons, everything would be sold to the highest bidder. You child died from spoiled food. Don't buy that product again. Laws that you could sue wouldn't exist. Government protections from predator corporations wouldn't exist. Anarchy to the max.”
“Libertarianism - the ideology espousing the freedom of hundreds or thousands of people to be maimed or killed every year so that business can be free of regulation.”
“The Republican rationale was that the enactment of this legislation would have been onerous to small business. Don't forget all the Republicans except Collins and Snowe voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Act. BTW the newly re-elected Senator from AK wasn't there to cast her vote. Hutchinson (R-TX) voted no also. The arguement made by the Republicans was spurious to say the least. But then Republicans made the same arguement against paying people, mostly men then, of color would cost 'small' business too much. They continue to throw up false arguements to hide behind their desire to make this society a caste system: rich and poor.”
“The Dems in the House should not let anything dealing with the tax cuts come up for discussion or a vote. Let them all expire. The Republicans said that the Dems shouldn't pass any legislation during the lame duck session. Hold them to it if they start crying and whining. Let the Republicans draft legislation in 2011. Then let's see what it says.”
“And we should do everything the Republicans tell us?
They've been doing their best to prevent any legislation from passing for the last four years.
If that's what they want, I say the Democrats pass everything they can until Jan. 1, 2011. Then dig in their heels and say NO to everything Republicans propose. Let them taste their own hypocrisy.”
“The Taliban was not a part of the militants who ran off the Russians. The Taliban was created by and supported by Pakistan to quell the unrest in Afghanistan after Russia left.”
“Well now. I guess we're China's war machine. We send our young men and women to fight and die so that China can exploit this region and make billions and billions in profits. We're such saps.”
“That's what I don't understand. Why isn't the President and the Democrats shouting from the rooftops that SS isn't part of the deficit. It is by law totally funded from FICA taxes. It can't, by law, run a deficit; it must be self-sustaining.”
“That is true, however again, someone other than Obama is guiding the public discourse and setting up the agenda. Now he is on the defensive and anything he objects to is going to be fodder for Faux News and the TP.”
“Don't you just love the right's mantra that we have the 'highest' corporate taxes of anyone. Of course they fail to mention that corporations end up paying almost nothing. We, as a people, are such dopes.”
“If Democrats, including the Prez, supports this and it happens, the Democrats are toast. The Republican will of course support it. I am beginning why we even have a government. I thought the purpose of government was to provide societial structure and enough control to prevent barbarism and finally, but most important, to protect its citizens.”
“Actually, it would be much easier to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire and write legislation cutting taxes for the middle class, raise tax rates for those making $250,000 or more per year, and cutting defense spending by 50%.”