SOLON wrote on Jul 28, 2008 1:45 AM:== A familiar name ==

If you are an old timer, perhaps you remember that great American, Bernard M. Baruch, the "Park Bench Statesman," who made his fortune on Wall Street, but whose great fame was his service to his country as an economic adviser during both World Wars I and II and as a confidante to six presidents. So Barack Obama is not the first notable American to bear this good name.

"Barack" is a word that is shared among several languages. First, it is a word in the Semitic family of languages. As such it has a root in Hebrew (written as BARUCH), a version in Aramaic (BEREK), a version in Arabic (BARAKA).

Regardless of how one spells the name, it gives two possible and not contradictory meanings. One is "a blessing from God," and another is "a blessing from God that the individual may pass on to others as a benefit to them." This is what Meister Eckhard called the "divine spark" within each of us.

Foreign kings, rulers, presidents, prime ministers and chancellors recognized a "divine spark" in Barack Obama in his recent visit to the Middle East and Europe. NY Times columnist wrote eloquently of this divine spark:

QUOTE: “... to dismiss Barack Obama’s magical mystery tour through old Europe and two war zones as a media-made fairy tale would be to underestimate the ingenious politics of the moment. History was on the march well before Mr. Obama boarded his plane, and his trip was perfectly timed to reap the whirlwind.

He never would have been treated as a president-in-waiting by heads of state or network talking heads if all he offered were charisma, slick rhetoric and stunning visuals. What drew them instead was the raw power Mr. Obama has amassed: the power to start shaping events and the power to move markets” END of QUOTE

Karl Two wrote on Jul 28, 2008 3:00 AM:I consider the letter by Frederick Chambers to be wrong on many counts. For example he says we are keeping oil prices high by continuing to fill the national reserve by $140 oil. The amount we were putting into the reserve is small compared to how much oil we would be getting daily from the coastal plain hundreds of miles north of the beautiful scenes in ANWR if the Democratic president Clinton had not vetoed a bill authorizing it 12 or 13 years ago. Yet the anti-oil people claim that would not have been enough oil to make any difference in our pump prices. However the money for that much oil from ANWR would be that many fewer billions of dollars going to foreign dictators who hate our country and way of life.
Besides that fact is the deception practiced by the anti-drilling people who advertise with pictures of beautiful parts of the park which are located hundreds of miles south of the dull looking northern coastal plain where a few more buildings would be built in an already inhabited area.

Karl Two wrote on Jul 28, 2008 3:07 AM:Mr. Chambers letter writer above implies th eadministration is still buying oil for the reserve.
But the Congress and president agreed a few weeks ago to quit putting oil for the rest of this year. So no more oil has been PURCHASED to put in SINCE THEN. However they CONTRACT for the oil WEEKS ahead of when the ship and pipelines deliver it. The oil being put in this month was purchased about two months ago.

Nature Lover wrote on Jul 28, 2008 3:36 AM:Al Gore is nuts. No matter what Congress does it could not cause us to replace our entire energy generation with clean energy within ten years. FIRST of all they would have to pass a law that any energy production project could override all previous enviromental laws already passed AND prohibit any lawsuits against the construction. SECOND: There is not enough manufacturing capacity in the United States to build the many turbines and generators and giant transformers which would be required. Even years ago after steel manufacturing in the US declined and lage production shifted to Japan, the orders for the large strong steel forgings to make shafts for turbines and generators had to be ordered two years in advance from Japan. England and other European Countries are having to try to build a lot of new modern power plants to try to meet the unreasonable reductions of CO2 their unwise political leaders have committed them to. There is not enough copper being mined in the whole world to meet these requirements. Do you have any idea how hard it would be to get a permit to make a huge copper mine. There is also not enough high quality sand used for solar panels to greatly increase their production. It simply is not going to happen. EU may try to meet those goals through carbon cap and trade, but if they push it they will mess up or even destroy the whole economy.

Nature Lover wrote on Jul 28, 2008 4:01 AM:A comment on Joan's letter about drilling in ANWR. She says her husband visited ANWR in 1997 on a 16-day hiking and rafting trip all the way to the Bering Sea. Far from being barren, he saw wolves, wolverines, musk oxen, Arctic foxes, Arctic hares, grizzly bear, caribou and 95 species of birds. She should rest assured that drilling in the costal community already inhabited by people would still leave the wolves, wolverines, musk oxen, Arctic foxes, Arctic hares, grizzly bear, caribou and 95 species of birds unscathed. It would not affect the wildlife and beauty of ANWR. You must realize we are talking about drilling on a tiny portion of it that is comparable to the size of a postage stanp on a football field. Only in this case it would not even be seen by the visitors to the scenic portions of ANWR.
How many people see a gas pump every week. Maybe 300,000,000? How many people go hiking and rafting in ANWR every week on average. 100?, 500? I doubt it is even 1,000. I don't know. I am certain we can drill all the oil currently planned, and several times that much and still leave the beautiful sights, trails, animals, and birds unscathed.

Bill wrote on Jul 28, 2008 4:20 AM:Oh, its deep in here this morning......

I need my waders today.

When people start claiming Al Qaeda is a member of the Geneva convention and thereby has a right to habeus corpis, I know its going to be a long day.

Habeus rights for enemy combatants were exclusive to those who signed onto the GC.

That is, until our SC ruled otherwise.

Bush was following 200 years of precendent and the court is who ignored history.

ItPaysToLieCheat wrote on Jul 28, 2008 6:06 AM:The bailout bonanza has begun. All the deadbeats who lied about their income to get a home they couldn't afford, are being bailed out by sugar daddy, Uncle Sam. They cheated their way into a $350,000 home with a mortgage of $350,000, that's now worth $275,000 and the mortgage have risen. Sugar Daddy will now drop their loan to $250,000 and give them a guaranteed mortgage. We have crossed the road into the age of entitlement. Gee, I bought some GE stock a few months ago at $37 per share, and now it's $27. Can Sugar Daddy pay me a check for $10,000 too??
Hopefully, most of the deadbeats have abandoned the house and headed to the hills, but many have just stopped making payments and are living in the house for free. Unfortunately, this trick will crush our dollar even further, and real people will have to not only bail out the filth with higher taxes, but mortgage rates will have to rise to compensate. Hussein is drooling. Now he can say he kept the liars and cheats in their home.

Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 6:10 AM:>>>I would think anyone with his obvious high morals and superb "intelligence" would never have left that glorious paradise where only "qualified, white males" have jobs.>> Well, maybe his kids came home from 6th grade with their SB777 questionaire, where they must select their gender, and no doubt he got fired because the government who issues contracts to his company told them that not enough blacks and gays are employed there.

Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 6:21 AM:It didnt take long for the media to post the picture of the Tennessee murderer. The picture got up so fast because the slimeball was white. Had he been black or muslim the media would never have posted his picture.
And almost the same thing with Bush and his FDA. The whole world, that is except for Bush, the FDA, and the liberals who control congress knows the tainted tomatoes and peppers that made 100's of people sick, came from feces infected fields in Mexico. After 2 months, they hinted that the tainted goods "may have come from Mexico", but they have no intention of telling us what we already know. Mexico is poisoning us, and China is poisoning us, as Bush and Congress sit back and do nothing

TOO OLD wrote on Jul 28, 2008 6:53 AM:Nature Lover[-] wrote on Jul 28, 2008 3:36 AM: Why are you acting like a simpleton? Big Al gave the American people a environmental challenge as a goal. It is not a time limit. It is simply, as ole John McCain and GWB would say is a "time horizon."

Focal Point wrote on Jul 28, 2008 7:00 AM:Understanding what is true: The Roman Era lasted from the founding of the Roman Repulbic until the end of the Roman Empire. Some may argue that it continued under the name of the Byzantine Empire until 1453. The point is that laws and mores regarding homosexuality varied from empower to empower and from the state religion which varied from paganism to Christianity. I for one do not care. I care about the Constitution of the USA and the Constitution of the State of California. Both provide for the equal protection of the law of all citizens.

Oh Bill wrote on Jul 28, 2008 7:00 AM:As John McCain said, discussing human right, torture, Geneva and so on: it's not about them, it's about us. We Americans (most of us) believe in a certain standard of behavior. We (most of us) do not want our behavior guided by, or imitative of, the most depraved enemy. We believe in the rule of law whether or not bin laden or anyone else does. That's how most of us see this great nation. (BTW, once again, your argument yesterday for how brilliant Bush was to take over Iraq as a airbase location to fight AQ in Afghan/Pakistan still makes no sense to me. Both India and Pakistan are out allies. Once we routed the Taliban in 2002, the government of Afghanistan also became an ally. Seems to me that the opportunity to build or use airbases in all three of those nations is there, and was there before we invaded Iraq. So who needed Iraq for this purpose? Bill, I hope you are on Bush's payroll: you are his best, funniest, and last devotee. LOL)

TOO OLD wrote on Jul 28, 2008 7:04 AM:Bill[-] wrote on Jul 28, 2008 4:20 AM: Bill just does not get it. It does not matter if the Boy Scouts to Al Queda are not signatories of the Geneva Convention. They are not a nation or a government. The United States is a nation and a signatory of the Geneva Convention. We are obligated to abide by it for all "enemy combatants" seized on the battle ground and in arms against our forces. This subject already has been discussed ad nausea on this blog several times. John McCain is too darn old.

TOO OLD wrote on Jul 28, 2008 7:09 AM:Chuck[-] wrote on Jul 28, 2008 6:21 AM:
Don' worry, Chuckie. The free market will correct everything. Just need a few hundred dead people to identify the grower and the shipper. The people will stop buying their product. The President will do nothing because that is his job. The Congress will do nothing as they dine in the special sanitary Congressional cafeterias safe from poisoned foods. I can not stop them,however, from playing with lead painted toys from China. John McCain is too darned old.

Ms M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 7:34 AM:News headline this morning says that there are 78 dead and over 170 wounded in attacks in Iraq. The "surge" is working. And I am not gleeful!

Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 7:36 AM:A Bush administration official says the 2008 deficit will set record. Gee, da ya think? Despite record tax revenues to the Treasury, Bush handed $46 billion to the AIDS racketeers in Africa. He bailed out several banks and brokerage houses. He just bailed out FMNA and Freddie Mac, and now he's bailing out people who dont like the terms of the mortgage they agreed to. Where does it end?? Bush is a bigger liberal than Hillary.

Ms M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 7:50 AM:ItPaysToLieCheat
[-] wrote on Jul 28, 2008 6:06 AM:The bailout bonanza has begun. All the deadbeats who lied about their income to get a home....here's a question for you. Did the folks who were lending the money do an income verification, request tax returns, verify employment? These things were done by my lender when I purchased my condo in 2003. And you are blaming Barak Hussien Obama for this. My, my, my - sounds a little desperate to me. Sorry but Barak Hussien Obama did not have anything to do with this - your con buddies are in charge. They dropped the ball. I'm as angry as you are about the bailout not only of the borrowers but the bailout of the finacial institutions which doesn't seem to bother you. You know a few days ago there was a con who wrote about accepting responsiblity........

Ms M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 7:54 AM:Chuck
[-] wrote on Jul 28, 2008 7:36 AM:..Bush is a bigger liberal than Hillary....no Chuck, Bush is desperately trying to work on his legacy. He is attempting to right all his wrongs. Unfortunately he doesn't have enough time left. It is going to take generations to fix Bush's mess!

Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:01 AM:>>>Did the folks who were lending the money do an income verification, request tax returns, verify employment?>>> What does that have to do with anything. If you ask me for a loan, and with your signature you affirm your ability to repay me and I make you the loan, how does it become my fault if you decide not to repay me. Do liberals take responsibility for anything?? Its really pathetic that liberals blame the lender because the borrower refuses to pay his loan obligations. Now, the government is bailing out borrowers instead of putting them in leg chains and orange jump suits

Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:04 AM:>>"Barack" is a word that is shared among several languages>> Good for him. He takes a Muslim name and now has to pretend he's Christian to move up the ladder

Oh Ms M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:13 AM:You fail to understand the conservative mind, such as it is. They scream about government being too big, being in our business too much. So they elect their guys, and deregulation increases. Disaster almost always ensues because the market in the real world is not the ideal, moral, clean market of their fantasies. There will always be a LOT of people willing to cut corners, make the quick buck, and some of these will find out where that line can be pushed. The housing problems are, among other factors, a reflection of laizzez faire conservative philosophy. The punch line, of course, is that they then turn around and somehow, against all logic and facts, blame "liberals". Chuck is just a very simpleminded, immature version, but the approach is widespread.

Greenergy wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:19 AM:Nature Lover at 3:36 a.m. and 4:01 a.m. is the perfect example of "can't do" Republican pessimism (at 3:36) and complete failure to grasp the energy issue regarding drilling at ANWR (4:01).
John Kennedy inherited a second-place, failed space program and set the goal for us to go to the moon.
FDR won World War II. This is "CAN DO" Democratic optimism.
Regarding ANWR, we do not need this "tiny portion comparable to a postage stamp on a football field"!
There is a much larger National Petroleum Reserve right next to ANWR, with billions of proven reserves, ALREADY APPROVED, that the oil companies are just sitting on!
First drill in the leases already approved.
Second, Restore the requirement that all drilling from public lands be marketed domestically first - it is our oil!
Third, develop alternative clean renewable energy so we don't even need oil in the future!

Oh Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:20 AM:The borrower, I'd say, DOES have responsibility for paying back what is owed, and I'm a liberal who believes in personal responsibility (in other words, a real liberal, not one of your straw ones). The lenders belong in either an institution for developmentally disabled people or in a school for learning about ethical practices. If we had tape recordings of the things lenders said to people that they were offering loans to, do you think you would find any misleading statements, lies, half-truths? Would you be willing to wager that in their spiels they told borrowers the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about the risk the person was taking? Are these behaviors not blameworthy as well? Or is it a conservative rule that only the littlest guy has personal responsibility for his/her behavior? (By the way, do you believe that only liberals took out these loans? LOL)

Ms M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:26 AM:Chuck
[-] wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:01 AM What does that have to do with anything. If you ask me for a loan, and with your signature you affirm your ability to repay me and I make you the loan, how does it become my fault if you decide not to repay me...Gee Chuck, so just anyone can walk into a financial institution, ah let's say homeless Joe Blow, and apply for a $500,000 loan and the bank will give it to him on his signature..hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Oh my hahahahahahahahahahaha. Pathetic!

gracchus wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:30 AM:chuck, obama is a christian. lincon's parents gave him the hebrew name abraham, but he wasn't jewish. einstein's parents gave him him the name albert, but he wasn't gentile.
besides why do you write as though it is a liability to be a muslim. do you really believe that muslims are bad people?
but my main point is don't lie about obama. unless you can provide good evidence that he is indeed a muslim, don't call him one.

Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:32 AM:>>Gee Chuck, so just anyone can walk into a financial institution, ah let's say homeless Joe Blow, and apply for a $500,000 loan >>> If homeless Joe Blow tells the bank he's homeless and unemployed, do you think the bank with give him the loan. Just because your type thinks its perfectly ok to lie to banks and then blame the banks, doeesnt mean its right

Ron wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:33 AM:I want to Thank "Mark" {Jul 27} @11:34 PM, for his kind words.

"I just want them home, safe with their families, just as I hope that for all our soldiers."

So do I.. so do I.

Matt wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:35 AM:Bill, I think you miss the point. No one has argued that enemy combatants are treated differently under the Geneva Convention. Where Bush failed, and where we as Americans should be embarrassed, is that we have not proven anything against any of those individuals, terrorists, radicals, et al... yet we have imprisoned them for years. It is a violation of basic human rights that America has followed since birth. Treat e.c. the way the deserve to be treated, but make sure we know that those imprisoned are e.c., not just people caught in the middle. We need to prove our case to the world about these people, not lock them up as though they don't exist.

Boat wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:35 AM:Bill,

I have to say I agree with Mrs. M about your post yesterday in re: airbases in Iraq. We have a rather large airbase in Afghanistan proper - Bagram - which had been a Soviet base. Plus some of our aircraft, such as the A-10 & AV-8B can essentially operate from a dirt road. And we have "leases" on bases north of Afghanistan in one or two of the other "Stans." Granted, they are not the most stable places in the world and they are essentially extorting us but they are within a short flying time of Afghanistan.

I am sorry but there really is no way that you or anyone else for that matter will be able to convince me that there was any justification for the war in Iraq. Attacking Iraq for 9-11 would have been like attacking Peru for Pearl Harbor. And all of the other arguments are specious at best. WMDs - he was bluffing. He was a bad guy. Yeah, he was. So is the guy in Iran. So are the leaders of Saudi Arabia, North Korea, China, many countries in Africa, the "Stans", Central & South America and a whole lot of places. Are we going to go around and systematically replace them all?

Let's face it, if the Iraqis & Saudis were exporting broccoli or asparagus we wouldn't give them the time of day.

I do support our people that are over there in Iraq & Afghanistan. I believe that now that they are there they should be given everything that they need - up armored humvees, MRAPs, good leadership, showers that don't electrocute them. Everything. But, at some point, in the not too distant future, they need to hand it off to the locals. After all, how many Iraqis fought in our Civil War?

Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:36 AM:You know, Hussein did the right thing. The wounded troops in Germany didnt want to see him anyway, especially after Hussein accused them of bombing and killing innocent civilians at will. But, I guess if Obama and Soros paid for the Beatles to play at the hospital where Hussein was giving the speech, he might have drawn a crowd.

Faux Chuckles wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:37 AM:I am waiting for the day the government sets aside $300B to help me with my down payment as a first time homeowner. I say that that money would do more good for the housing market if it went to those of us that decided to sit out a housing bubble caused by greed and supidity on both sides of the loan desk. Bringing new money into the housing market will help it recover much faster than bailing out the inept and greedy by refinancing their poor judgement.

Ms M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:41 AM:Chuck
[-] wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:32 AM:>> Just because your type thinks its perfectly ok to lie to banks and then blame the banks, doeesnt mean its right. now Chuck just what did I say that made you think it was acceptable to lie? My type - what is my type. I go to work each day, and my house note is directly deposited each month on the 3rd. I have never been late paying anything. I am a VERY responsible person who takes care of my debts. So yes, please let me know about my TYPE. I was using this example to show you just how ridiculous your statement is. Only a dishonest institution would loan money to someone who is not capable of paying.

gracchus wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:44 AM:chuck, please inform us when obama ever accused us troops of bombing and killing innocent civilians.

Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:45 AM:>>>>I care about the .... Constitution of the State of California.>>>>

Just what is your opinion of the California state attorney general who fails to ensure that no illegal aliens vote in the California elections, because of his personal agenda of having as many illegals vote as possible?

Bemused wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:48 AM:Methinks one note Lancelotti protests too much. Hmmmmmm

Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:49 AM:>>>Bringing new money into the housing market will help it recover much faster than bailing out the inept and greedy by refinancing their poor judgement.>>> Exactly. Why congress is interfering in the free markets is beyond belief, except of course to the liberal who blames the banks because the borrowers refuse to repay when the market value of their homes dropped below the mortgage balance. Like good little liberals, they packed up and ran for the hills, or worse yet, they just stopped paying and are living there for free

Ron wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:52 AM:Now, correct me if I'm wrong here, Joan Suffredini. But is not OIL a naturally occuring Earth product?
Hence, it's natural?
Where it naturally seeps from the earth's crust? And methane, also a naturally occuring Earth product, bubbles to the surface?

Oil sounds pretty natural to me.

Heckuva job W wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:56 AM:From the AP QUOTE BAGHDAD - In the flatlands north of Baghdad sits a prison with no prisoners. It holds something else: a chronicle of U.S. government waste, misguided planning and construction shortcuts costing $40 million and stretching back to the American overseers who replaced Saddam Hussein. [...] In the pecking order of corruption in Iraq, the dead-end prison project at Khan Bani Saad is nowhere near the biggest or most tangled. Bowen estimated up to 20 percent "waste" — or more than $4 billion — from the $21 billion spent so far in the U.S.-bankrolled Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund. It's just one piece of a recovery effort that swelled beyond $112 billion in U.S., Iraqi and international contributions. ENDQUOTE People like Bill, who find Iraq the glory of the brilliance of Bush, should pay attention. The brilliance was there: distributing billions and billions of taxpayer monies to his pals in the oil and war profiteering businesses. Conservatives will scream to high heaven if a politician suggests taking one of their tax dollars for an elderly homeless person (or even a vet), but for some reason just love shoveling tax dollars by the gazillions to war profiteers. Go figure. Maybe they file it under "the cost of our freedom" or some other lie.

I agree with Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:59 AM:I don't think we should bail out the borrowers either. But I also don't think we taxpayers should bail out the lenders or the banks. I also don't think we should subsidize big oil or other corporations with our taxes, nor should we give them sweet deals on our public land. Nor subsidize farmers, nor lease land cheap to big lumber or mineral miners. Let's have everyone be responsible for personal behavior. Right Chuck?

Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:02 AM:>>>I also don't think we should subsidize big oil or other corporations with our taxes, nor should we give them sweet deals on our public land. Nor subsidize farmers, nor lease land cheap to big lumber or mineral miners. Let's have everyone be responsible for personal behavior.>>> Why dont you list for us all the subsidies you list in your fairy tale.?

Legal One wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:04 AM:Chuck[-] wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:01 AM: Business 101 Chuck. The law of contracts and fiduciary responsibility. Get it. Read it.

Oh Please wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:06 AM:Chuck[-] wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:32 AM: Banks are obligated to ask questions and get accurate answers about prospective borrowers and loans. The applicant did not lie. The banks and mortgage people ignored the answers.

Focal Point wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:10 AM:Chuck[-] wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:45 AM: He should be replaced or impeached. Please provide the evidence of the allegation?

Oh Please wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:12 AM:Chuck[-] wrote on Jul 28, 2008 8:49 AM: No one is living anywhere for free. Foreclosures are being implemented.

Ron wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:19 AM:This is how you know, the people fighting the Sunrise PowerLink are kookier than Al Gore, because The Pope even acknowledges the need for re-building the nation's grid delivery system to transport that energy from where it is produced to where it is needed.

I never thought the day would ever come, but.. Al's right on this one.
With our national electrical infrastructure being 46 years old {all expert's acknowledge powerlines/grids have a 40 year life span} We need to set about the task of rebuilding the powerlines, and pump this clean, green energy to our cities, against the will of this malignant minority.

Fairy Tale example wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:26 AM:From the Grist blog, quoting a report from Taxation institute QUOTE Oil and gas companies do benefit from a lower corporate income tax, and they'll reap billions in tax breaks thanks to the recently passed energy bill, but Big Oil is not alone. According to a 2004 report [PDF] from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, bigger breaks from 2001 to 2003 went to the aerospace, transportation, industrial and farm equipment, telecommunications, and electronics industries. Here's some context: on a scale of corporate tax rates from 0 to 29 percent, aerospace paid a measly 1.6 percent; oil weighed in at 13.3; and -- oh, just to randomly pick one -- publishing was taxed at 23 percent. ENDQUOTE Add to this what oil pays to lease public land. Add to this the fact that the taxpayer cleans up their messes. Well, the list COULD go on. If only conservatives really believed in the free market...but they don't: they believe in government welfare (funded by you and I) for the corporations. They justify this by saying that this, being good for big business, is good for everyone. Nice theory. Who is "everyone"? The executives, certainly, for whom the Bush years have been a golden age. Low-wage workers in other countries are better off, at least financially, and get to show off their family values by working side by side with their children. So the taxpayer helps encourage big business, the heads of which stuff their pockets and give jobs to near-slave labor elsewhere. Then they blame it all on the unions. Great scam. Feels so good to blame unions for the plight of the American homeless while I take my private jet to see how my factory in Vietnam is doing.

Ron wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:29 AM:When first proposed, the Sprinter was supposed to cost $60 million.
When finished, it was $484 million, that's about $1.3 million per mile.
And we have some clown complaining about war profiteering in Iraq.
Dude, this Government is out of control, and has been.. for decades.

This is why the Government needs to be smaller, so you can keep a better eye on it. It's so massive, that different sides, sections, do not talk to each other. After watching the Sprinter being built, I can also then understand how $4 billion is lost in some warehouse in Iraq.
But, I digress...

Couple of things...
He says: "We now have a state-of-the-art rail system at a "bargain price" of $484 million for passengers who were previously using the existing Breeze bus system."

No, Henry Sanford, what we have is a 19-th century choo-choo.

Bargin? At full capacity as planned, the Sprinter would still require 70% of operational costs to come from sales taxes, not rider fees. Hardly "a bargin."

He then says: "This money has to come from somewhere."

Yeah, from those who do not ride the thing, but are paying $4.50 a gallon.

"The taxpayers should demand more accountability and prudent stewardship of public funds."

Yeah... good luck with that one.

I understand, they want to build MORE bargins.

A terrorist attack on our soil wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:30 AM:From the AP QUOTE KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - An unemployed man accused of opening fire with a shotgun and killing two people at a Unitarian church apparently targeted the congregation out of hatred for its liberal social policies, police said Monday. ENDQUOTE Oh, wait. He wasn't a Muslim but a conservative Christian. So it wasn't a terrorist act. Sorry. My mistake.

Rail Road Crossings wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:34 AM:Excellent ideas regarding the use of the "grids" already in place.

Asteroid wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:35 AM:Nature Lover
[-] wrote on Jul 28, 2008 4:01 AM:
Very god points, sir. But you’ve taken fact and applied common sense to form your argument. The liberal, as we know, has no common sense and a low regard for arguments that make sense. The majority of the people in this room are liberals and leftists, for the most part your words fall on deaf ears. But I enjoyed it. Thank you.

Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:40 AM:The news is reporting that the police say man shot Tenn. churchgoers over liberal views. Maybe he's on to something. Thats exactly what the Islamists are doing, and the liberals want to surrender to them to give them the free run of the planet. And since liberals side with the Islamists on spying and incarceration, they will probably side with the TN murderer, at least as long as Bush is president

Ron wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:43 AM:"SOLON" @1:45 AM seems to be working overtime trying to impress us with Barack Hussein Obama's Muslim name.

Hey, eh.. Solon. His name could be Joe, or john, or Jack, for that matter, the guy is still a socialist. American socialist, Muslim socialist, all work the same way.

But, I am curious...

With all of your research, did you find that it was a Muslim tradition, and customary to pay tribute? As in, paying Iraqi's to fight for us, and not for the other side? To give us valuable intelligence? To use their land, thier homes, their property for our own purposes. Were you aware, that this tradition, this custom goes back centuries? And the first American politician to encounter this was Thomas Jefferson?
Who tried to work out a diplomatic arrangement, but was told by the Pasha of Tripoli, that he, a Christian, was not even a man, in the eyes of the Muslim people, according to the teachings of the Koran? And that is why Jefferson owned a Koran, so he could familiarize himself with this teaching, and the "muslim mind", as taught and practised for centuries before?

That would be some good reading. No?

Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:44 AM:>>>In the pecking order of corruption in Iraq, the dead-end prison project at Khan Bani Saad is nowhere near the biggest or most tangled.>>> Ever since Katrina Bush has funded everything that way. He just throws money at it, no matter what the cost, and the IG is so incompetent, he doesnt institute controls over the money, he just whines in hindsite when there isnt an audit trail

sdraoul wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:46 AM:Mr. Chambers is deficient in his thinking and legal rationale. It is and was not agaisnt the law to listen in to telephone calls placed from overseas into the U.S. from suspected terrorists. If you think so, then go back and impeach FDR who opened mail in and out of the United States during WWII in clear violation of law.

Mismanagement of a federal agency is not a "high crime and misdemeanor" plus the Katrina problem was not of the Bush Administration but of the New Orleans Mayor and the state governor.

As for 9/11, considering the 1993 attack on the WTC and the attacks on the U.S.S. Cole, Khobar Towers and several American embassies, why wasn't Clinton impeached for those miscarriages of policy and execution of law and order?

Mr. Chambers needs to read election results and then read the Constituion. His political views aren't worth the paper they are printed on.

His vote is just that, his vote. His opinion, like his vote, is his opinion. His knowledge of the Constitution or understanding of current events, however, severely lacks in proof. It is just his opinion.

I'll wager he has never read the Constitution.

The Adminsitration DID NOT conjure up evidence to take us to war. It did not.

The Congress of the United States voted overwhelmingly to go to war and it did so on the evidence. Each Congress member was able to see all the intelligence and then the majority voted to make war. Anyone who thinks otherwise simply doesn't know how our government works.

Mr M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:55 AM:Jimmy Carter, you are the father of the Islamic Nazi movement. You threw the Shah under the bus, welcomed the Ayatollah home, and then lacked the spine to confront the terrorists when they took our embassy and our people hostage. You’re the runner-in-chief.
Bill Clinton, you played ring around the Lewinsky while the terrorists were at war with us You got us into a fight with them in Somalia and then you ran from it. Your weak-willed responses to the U.S.S. Cole and the First Trade Center Bombing and Our Embassy Bombings emboldened the killers. Each time you failed to respond adequately, they grew bolder, until 9/11/2001.

Mr M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:56 AM:John Kerry, dishonesty is your most prominent attribute. You lied about American Soldiers in Vietnam. Your military service, like your life, is more fiction than fact. You’ve accused our military of terrorizing women and children in Iraq You called Iraq the wrong war, wrong place, wrong time, the same words you used to describe Vietnam. You’re a fake. You want to run from Iraq and abandon the Iraqis to murderers just as you did the Vietnamese. Iraq, like Vietnam, is another war that you were for, before you were against it.

Mr M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:58 AM:Ted Kennedy, for days on end you held poster-sized pictures from Abu Ghraib in front of any available television camera. Al Jazeera quoted you saying that Iraqi’s torture chambers were open under new management. Did you see the news, Teddy? The Islamic Nazis demonstrated another beheading for you. If you truly supported our troops, you’d show the world poster-sized pictures of that atrocity and demand the annihilation of it. Your legislation stripping support from the South Vietnamese led to a communist victory there. You’re a bloated, drunken fool bent on repeating t he same historical blunder tha t turned freedom-seeking people over to homicidal, genocidal maniacs. To paraphrase John Murtha, all while sitting on your wide, gin-soaked rear-end in Washington.

Mr M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:59 AM:Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Carl Levine, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Russ Feingold, Hillary Clinton, Pat Leahy, Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer, the Hollywood Leftist morons, et al, ad nauseam: Every time you stand in front of television cameras and broadcast to the Islamic Nazis that we went to war because our President lied, that the war is wrong and our Soldiers are torturers, that we should leave Iraq, you give the Islamic butchers - the same ones that tortured and mutilated American Soldiers - cause to think that we’ll run away again, and all they have to do is hang on a little longer. It is inevitable that we, the infidels, will have to defeat the Islamic jihadists. Better to do it now on their turf, than later on ours after they have gained both strength and momentum.

Mr M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 10:00 AM:American news media, the New York Times particularly: Each time you publish stories about national defense secrets and our intelligence gathering methods, you become one united with the sub-human pieces of camel dung that torture and mutilate the bodies of American Soldiers. You can’t strike up the courage to publish cartoons, but you can help Al Qaeda destroy my country. Actually, you are more dangerous to us than Al Qaeda. Think about that each time you face Mecca to admire your Pulitzer..

Mr M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 10:01 AM:Yes, I’m questioning your patriotism. Your loyalty ends with self. I’m also questioning why you’re stealing air that decent Americans could be breathing. You don’t deserve the protection of our men in uniform. You need to run away from this war, this country. Leave the war to the people who have the will to see it through and the country to people who are willing to defend it.
No, Mr. President, you don’t get off the hook, either. Our country has two enemies: Those who want to destroy us from the outside and those who attempt it from within. Your Soldiers are dealing with the outside force. It’s your obligation to support them by confronting the AXIS OF IDIOTS.
America must hear it from you that these self-centered people are harming our country, abetting the enemy and endangering our safety. Well up a little anger, please, and channel it toward the appropriate target. You must prosecute those who leak national security secrets to the media. You must prosecute those in the media who knowingly publish those secrets.
Our Soldiers need you to confront the enemy that they cannot. They need you to do it now.

Vistan wrote on Jul 28, 2008 10:20 AM:Ms. Lord,

If you have an accident or heart attack in Los Angeles, San Diego, or anywhere else, who paid for the hospital you go to? The real world is a little bigger than your world.

Alf wrote on Jul 28, 2008 10:29 AM:The letter from Frederick Chambers is right on the money.
We need to Impeach, prosecute and imprison the 3 primary culprits; GWB, The Cheney Branch and Pelosi. NOW!
Regards, Alf.

Real Estate Bailout wrote on Jul 28, 2008 10:31 AM:In 31 years as a real estate broker, I do not know of a single home I have sold that went into foreclosure, but there are home in my upscale neighborhood that are foreclosed. Next to my office was a loan officer who introduced me to the term NINJA Loan – “No Income, No Job or Assets.” He told me that there were those in our neighborhood who were buying way above their heads, but that the government wanted “home ownership” for the young and those barely making it financially, so there was pressure to loan with a tacit understanding that if things went south there would be a bailout.

The worst part of a bailout is the precedent it sets for future bailouts. Everyone will expect that buying a home is a fail safe option. It should not be a fail safe option for Buyers or lenders. It is a marketplace, where some win some lose – and the government should not be in the business of picking winners or losers.

People who buy homes as residences, and live there for many years seldom lose. Investors take their chances.

More bad news for yahoos wrote on Jul 28, 2008 10:32 AM:From the Times QUOTE Senior aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales broke the law by using politics to guide their hiring decisions for a wide range of important department positions, slowing the hiring process at critical times and damaging the department’s credibility and independence, an internal report concluded Monday. The report, prepared by the Justice Department’s inspector general and its internal ethics office, singles out for particular criticism Monica Goodling, a young lawyer from the Republican National Committee who rose quickly through the ranks of the department to become a top aide to Mr. Gonzales. Ms. Goodling, who testified before Congress in May 2007 at the height of the scandal over the firings of nine United States attorneys, introduced politics into the hiring process in a systematic way that constituted illegal misconduct, the report found. ENDQUOTE Note that this was a report of the Justice Dept itself, not Democrats in Congress. I hope they continue exploring the practices of the Bush appointees under Gonzales and others. Turning the Justice Department into an arm of the Republican party strikes at the very heart of our government. It's a practice typical of third world tyrants, using government appointees to further the power and domination of the party, rather than serving the people, as the law demands. I have a suspicion that with Bush/Cheney in charge, the more we are willing to look, hard and deep, the more lawlessness we will find. But it won't happen: the courage isn't there. Too bad. In a few months, all the vigilantes will be tossed out, and will take lobbying jobs that will make them all rich at our expense, instead of doing well earned prison time. When did loyalty to a party or an ideology come to replace patriotism in America?

Alf wrote on Jul 28, 2008 10:40 AM:What "Bill" at 4:20AM does not want to admit is that the Geneva Conventions were meant to be standards of behavior for those who chose to be signatories. Simply because Al Qaeda (they are a loose organization not a country) is not a signatory, or anyone else for that matter, does not mean that all bets are off when dealing with them.
One of the things that is supposed to make America great is that we do not stoop to the lowest level of behavior possible even if someone else does.
I realize that morals, ethics, the law and the Constitution mean nothing to GWB, but "Bill" do you also need to prove over and over that the same applies to you?
Regards, Alf.

Still waiting wrote on Jul 28, 2008 10:53 AM:I posted an invitation to talk about what you think would happen if there was another dramatic attack on US soil. Doesn't anyone have an opinion about this? Many here defend Bush on the basis of "there has been no attack since 911". Would you bail out on supporting Bush? Would such an attack help McCain, as his campaign chief said? Or would it help Obama, proving that Bush/McCain's policy doesn't work? Or do you think the nation would come together strongly as it did right after 911? No ideas?

Ms M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 10:55 AM:WASHINGTON — The White House has increased its estimate for next year's deficit to nearly $490 billion, a record figure that will saddle the next president with deepening budget problems in his first year in office, a report due out Monday shows....now you cons mark today's date. I wonder how long after Obama is in office that you cons (who are now in charge) will blame the deficit on Obama.

Alf wrote on Jul 28, 2008 11:18 AM:Well, "Still waiting" at 10:53AM, I don't know which candidate would benefit politically from another attack. I know that the "GWB's plan is working" crowd would be in for an extra large meal of crow.
On the other hand, it might give GWB the excuse he needs to use NSPD 51. If that happens, we, as a nation, are doomed.
Yes, I believe that we would pull together and I hope that we would keep our sights on the REAL perpetrator(s) instead of allowing the sort of underhanded, crap that GWB pulled in 2003.
I also believe that it is long past time to delete every extra-Constitutional, un-Constitutional power that GWB has taken. This for the purpose of regaining ALL our Constitutional Rights and regaining our COMPLETE Constitution.
GWB has used the Constitution for toilet paper for too long.
Regards, Alf.

Mark wrote on Jul 28, 2008 11:19 AM:Chuck you have reached new lows today. To make light of the incident in Ten. by saying it was based on the Liberal views is classless. The Church was more openminde toward gays and lesbians, women, etc..., you know, true Christians, in words and thought. The shooter was a close-minded regressive thug.Many people will sya that he represents many of what we call the Christian Right. I hope not, but deep down I don't think this man's ideas are isolated. He unfortunately acted on his warped ideas. The mentality of this man and many others in the US are unacceptable and shouldn't be ignored. The only thing that makes me feel better about your post is that most people who read these on a regular basis know what a joke you and your ideas are. Two people died and the man shot at people during a children's play. Your "wit" today was uneeded and classless. This wasn't a Liberal or Conservative issue. It was a tragedy. Period.

Focal Point wrote on Jul 28, 2008 11:23 AM:Still waiting[-] wrote on Jul 28, 2008 10:53 AM: It would prove that the assertion that by fighting Iraq prevents terrorist attacks upon the USA to be incorrect. It probably would help McCain as Americans would react to the attack with their emotions rather than the grey matter. Yes, it would bring Americans together. But, this time. I believe that we would look and investigate before committing to invading another nation. Obama would look and investigate. McCain would be like Bush. He would saddle up and away we would go with shock and awe.

Alf wrote on Jul 28, 2008 11:30 AM:Well, "Ron" at 8:52AM, I gotta do this on general principles.
You asked for it!
Even if you're right,
You're wrong.
That felt better.
Regards, Alf.

Ms M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 11:36 AM:Mr M
[-] wrote on Jul 28, 2008 10:00 AM:...obviously no relationship to Ms M...I count my blessings on a daily basis.

Alf wrote on Jul 28, 2008 11:39 AM:As usual, "sdraoul" at 9:46AM relates half-truths at best. He says "The Congress of the United States voted overwhelmingly to go to war and it did so on the evidence. Each Congress member was able to see all the intelligence and then the majority voted to make war."
He does not say or admit that GWB cherry-picked precisely what Congress was allowed to see.
He does not say or admit that GWB, by presenting to Congress only those things which would bolster his cause, LIED.
How can anyone make an informed decision when they do not have ALL the facts?
But, then again, that is par for the course for GWB and "sdraoul".
Regards, Alf.

OBSERVATION wrote on Jul 28, 2008 11:41 AM:INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT states "Senior aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales broke the law by using politics to guide their hiring decisions for a wide range of important department positions, slowing the hiring process at critical times and damaging the department’s credibility and independence, an internal report concluded Monday."

To Still Waiting wrote on Jul 28, 2008 11:58 AM:If there were an attack on the US before George is out of office I would expect him to declare a State of Emergency and cancel the elections. Some people believe that is exactly what will happen.

Should the elections be allowed to continue, I believe the attack will help McCain, who is still at this time perceived to be the stronger leader on defense, as I don't believe enough people have been educated yet to get past the fear tactics of the Republican Party and will be duped again as they were in '00 and '04. I say "they" because I never voted for George Bush.

Do I think it will bring us together as a country like 9/11? No way. The credibility of the government has been trashed by Bush and Ilk; there will more likely be riots.

Ron wrote on Jul 28, 2008 12:31 PM:I want you to see how the Liberal mind works.... Take a look at "Still waiting"
@10:53 AM. And then, you tell me, if the only... The Only concern by this loon is: Who will win an election, because of another attack on our soil.

How sad it must be, to have a mind that works like this. How pathetic it must be, to have a stake in a political contest, when your American brothers & sisters are burning.

Sir, this is not a game, where one side gets points if America gets attacked! People die.
This is not a Republican or Democrat game winner, it's an American loser.
That's what it is.

SOLON wrote on Jul 28, 2008 12:32 PM:== It’s a Hebrew name ==

Despite all the attempts to educate Chuck, I must conclude his heart is so hardened with hate that he is uneducable. He still believes that if a parent gives her child a Jewish or Hebrew name the person is a Jew. He believes that if someone is given an Arabic name, that automatically makes the infant an Arab. How utterly silly of Chuck (see blog 8:04 AM).

Now Benjamin Franklin, the founding father, was give his first name by his parents. His first name is from the Hebrew, Bin Yamin, the son of the Right (hand), or son of strength, or the son of the South (yamin or right has lots of connotations). The "Bin" means "son of," just as in modern colloquial Arabic. Bin Yamin Franklin is not a dishonorable name because of its Semitic root. Nor does it make him related to Bin Laden. By the way, there are lots of Muslims named Bin Yamin.

By the same rule, bearing the name of JESUS does not make one the Christian Savior, nor does it make one a Mexican. What about Congressman Darrell Issa of California? ("Isa" means Jesus in Arabic). And we are all fully aware that Darrell Issa is neither an Arab nor Jesus the Christ.

Butt out, Chuck, until you can speak intelligently. You are displaying your absymal ignorance. Your took a name like CHUCK, but did it move you up the ladder of intelligence?

Chuck wrote on Jul 28, 2008 12:55 PM:>>>"Senior aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales broke the law by using politics>>>>
Boy, there is pure genius for you. How many conservatives do you think Clinton hired as judge, to run the state dept, to run FWS, etc, etc

Ms M wrote on Jul 28, 2008 12:59 PM:The surge is working, the surge is working the surge is um....well this article caught my attention:
...Despite the Optimism of the Neocons, which has pushed mainstream media coverage to be increasingly flowery about Iraq's political progress, in fact the country is poised to explode......There are at least three flashpoints for an explosion, any or all of which could blow up over the next couple of months. (Way to go, Surgin' Generals!) The first is the brewing crisis over Kirkuk, where the pushy Kurds are demanding control and Iraq's Arabs are resisting. The second is in the west, and Anbar, where the US-backed Sons of Iraq sahwa ("Awakening") movement is moving to take power against the Iraqi Islamic Party, a fundamentalist Sunni bloc. And third is the restive Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr, which is chafing at gains made by its Iranian-backed rival, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI)....the surge..heck wasn't the surge suppposed to give the Iraqi's time to get all this worked out...oh my!

SOLON wrote on Jul 28, 2008 1:02 PM:== The BIGGEST socialist ==

Ron, you have somehow overlooked the log (moat) in your own eye. (Ron’s blog 1:45 AM) There has been no big