Baracks self assesment

Sounds like a good idea to end abuses. If you don't like it, don't ask to borrow my tax dollars to buy your home.
BTW, interior photos have been available for years through MLS archives. We used them all the time prior to serving search warrants. We loved the virtual tours.

JoeinNY wrote: It is just after the right wing propaganda machine spent 2009 and 2010 telling us how every job lost, puppy that died, iraqi target bombed, solar panel company failed, etc was the fault of obama and his evil plans to destroy democracy and impliment a muslim caliphate that somewhere along the way we got the faulty impression that one guy immediately and pervasivly effected everything in the country the second he took office as president.... are you saying this might not be the case?

No not really.

Riley wrote: Three guys, Romney, Gingrich and Obama are standing on the dock at a CCF reunion and each are looking to hitch a ride with someone for the day, which one do you want in your boat?

Any of the three would make for an interesting day. I think Gingrich would be the most fun and most likely to chip in for gas. Are any of them boaters Like GW is? Can I put him on the list?

So declining growth and increasing unemployment are not sensible arguments? You have a pretty high bar..... for others.

john b wrote: BTW, interior photos have been available for years through MLS archives. We used them all the time prior to serving search warrants. We loved the virtual tours.

Exactly my point, the government says it's to help to help secure the housing/financial markets, but it's just a matter of time before some cop or government agent is accessing this info for other reasons. It's a potential big government invasion of privacy.

Riley wrote: john b wrote: BTW, interior photos have been available for years through MLS archives. We used them all the time prior to serving search warrants. We loved the virtual tours. Exactly my point, the government says it's to help to help secure the housing/financial markets, but it's just a matter of time before some cop or government agent is accessing this info for other reasons. It's a potential big government invasion of privacy.

You're 15 years behind Riley.
Most investigations use private databases compiled by private businesses. They know everywhere you go, everything you buy,(those grocery store preferred customer cards are great. They tell all what you eat, drink (bourbon, scotch, beer, wine, whatever), if you smoke, if you use condoms, for men, if you prefer tampons or pads for the women ect), every website you hit, and every credit card purchase you make. Any professional licenses you hold, who your neighbors and friends are. You are tracked with your tollway transponder, a record of the speed you drive between points can be sold to insurance companies by the toll authority in some states. Remember the first transponder used to beep when interrogated? They did away with that the first year so you don't know when its pinged. Your license plate is recorded by cameras and run each time you pass one. Many squad cars run nearly every car they are near in traffic with their cameras and character recognition technology.
In addition the unpatriotic act dispensed with the need for warrants for the federal government to read your email or listen to your phone conversations. That is a Bush legacy.
I am not a conspiracy theorist, this is modern realityand these are the things you agree to give up for convenience. The convieince of a credit card, cell phone, credit rating, a few cents off on your groceries, not having to stop for tolls ect. The government does not do this, private industry does. The government just subscribes to the services and pays a fee.(except registration information)
As the saying goes, you can't unring the bell or unpost the post. Once its out there, its out there.

If you would like a little reading on how your internet traffic is monitored, check out this Boeing company with a little Google search on Narus, a Boeing company. You can start here if you like.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narus_(company)

John, I'm not saying it's the only intrusion or the worst intrusion, but a new intrusion that I think is significant and that the public does not know about, and that the privacy issue regarding the UAD has not even been brought up since its inception. You being former police ought to know better than most the creative ways information like that can be used. I think the IRS would love haveing access to it. I don't know where you got 3 years in the business from. If I'd been doing it for the government, I'd be retired for awhile now and working towards my second pension.

you guys do realize he is half white too, so we wont use the word hate, we'll use dislike

JoeinNY wrote: I dont see how you can argue with anything close to a straight face that the crash under bush had been growing since 78 so it wasnt his fault but that obama could have had a better effect in 3 years than he had so our now slow but steady recovery is his "fault"

That is the problem. YOu can't see, or rather you can only see things from your point of view. It is ok for everything blamable on Bush and end it there, but heaven forbid we callout the great Obama for he can do no wrong. Sorry Joe, it's just not that simple. There are many more variables.

harddock wrote: Obama, sorry were full. I can not be a hypocrite here. I just don't like him.

Eric, I went back and reviewed the last 20 before your post and this is all I saw. I hope you are not saying this is racist. Are we at the point where you can not like bush for a thousand different reasons but the only possible reason to not like Obama is that he is 1/2 black?

I have not had the time to read all these posts, has there been any mention of the rising debt and what it will ultimately do to our country? (regardless of who is in charge?)

Interesting advertizementRomney vs Obama

Better economic news today, time will tell.

While this conversation is growing tiresome it is a new request so I will comment on how I as a lifelong moderate see things

- National debt now the size of our GDP, with no slowing in sight.


Every current republican candidate proposes massively reducing the tax rates that are at the lowest level since early in the last century and that is the biggest reason we keep running up the deficit and debt already. One more round of big tax cuts and we will get to the point where the interest rates we pay on public debt will go up and we will be where the europeans are.


- Continued major deficeit spending. -

Absolutely true - but the facts show that republicans despite talking about reducing spending dont ever actually do so.. they just spend
money that tends to benefit thier donors vs democrats who spend money that benefit thier donors. All things being equal the republicans donors dont need the help and already have more money than they can spend.

- ~50% of the population does not pay income taxes.

That number is close to right but the majority of those people still pay a higher percentage of thier income to taxes than Mitt Romney and warren buffet due to the regressive nature of fuel taxes, sales taxes, social security taxes, medicaid taxes, state income taxes, and property taxes.

Beyond that half of those people are retired and paid thier fair share of taxes back when they were building the damn country that the last lazy ass generation hasnt even seen fit to put a damn coat of paint on every now and then.


- ~50% of the population is getting foodstamps or other public assistance.

This number is wrong, not even close and not justifiable in anyway. Please provide any reputable source that backs it up



- A president who claims to want jobs immediately, as well as wants "all of the above" energy alternatives turns down a shovel ready pipeline project.

Fossil fuels are still subsidized at 4 times the rate of all alternate energy development in the us.. the pipeline is not shovel ready as the current path has already been rejected by the states involved. There is no doubt it will be approved once a path is found that doesnt endanger the water source for tens of millions of people. Again the group building the pipeline did not want congress to force the issue and asked for more time to work out the new route.

- New business mandates (Dodd/Fwank) that are smothering business.

Businesses have been putting up record profit and efficiency levels in the last two years.. there is no evidence these rules are somthering business. Lack of demand is slowing growth but the businesses are doing great hence the stock market has nearly doubled since obama took office.

- The government was at the root of the housing meltdown (hello Barney Fwank and Fannie Mae) because "owning a home is right" and everyone got a mortgage whether they could afford to pay it off or not. Yes, this happened well before Obama. This is probably the policy that led to the collapse in '08. Housing took everything else down.

Business greed driven by unregulated financial markets with people brazenly breaking the law and being rewarded for it combined with the fed holding interest rates at records lows for record amounts of time created a bubble. It was easily forseen and predicted by anyone with a pulse, but it was the only growth during the bush years so they were not going to pop it. Look into the new finacial vehicles that were created during the bush years to drive this market.. they dont pass the smell test. This was unbridled capitalism running amuck


- LBJ's "Great Society" put a lot of people in poverty dependancy and has held them there for generations.

There is work to be done there - but at the same time without a safety net capitalism cannot function well. People need to be able to take chances and start businesses without worrying that thier children are going to starve if one of thier customers fails to pay a bill. So what are your solutions? newt to his credit has thrown a few out there, but the general republican plan is to privatize and subsidize these services which doesnt get rid of them it just adds a bunch of companies skimming off the top.

- Entitlements have become a hammock, and not a safety net.

This is just a talking point.. I know dozens that have gone on unemployment at sometime in the past 3 years but are back to work... the vast majority of them will pay 20 times what they recieved in unemployment wages back in unemployment taxes over thier careers but it was worth it to them and society to have that net


- Etc, etc, etc.

So, its not just Obama, and even though I don't like his policies, its all big goverment policies that have sent this country down the wrong path. And, yes, Republicans have gone along willingly in the past too. My contentions are that we need to change these wrong-headed, "government can solve all problems" policies before its too late. I fear the Titanic is getting periously close to the iceberg and we all are looking right at it, but, only conservatives seem to see these issues and be concerned about them.

I just can't understand why all you "lefties" (and you all seem like nice enough guys...just can't understand your thinking) can't see these problems and the direction the country is headed. Are all of these issues I mentioned above good things? Help me understand your positions!


-Some problems can only be solved by the government, that is why our founding fathers created one. It has actually done a great job - the US is without a doubt the greatest country the world has ever known.

Government isnt easy - it needs constant adjustment. Most people in government today and business today for that matter are morons compared to those who put together the modern workings of our government after WWII. I blame tv frankly, and that those in the 40's did such a good job that we are now lazy and not hungry. People dont read, people expect to retire at 50 or 55 and be rich. People like to vote for people who tell them that the problems are easy to solve and that they are smarter, better looking, and all around more swell than those other morons who hate america because it is free. (you pick which side hates america).

I think we have a country of whiney brats - you cant fight two wars without having a deficit. You can't recover from this housing crisis anytime soon so you will not have a gang buster recovery. You cant trust people or businesses to act in anyones best interest accept thier own so you need rules to make sure they do that without taking advantage of someone else.

And you can't lower tax rates to solve a debt problem if a candidate doesnt accept that as the most basic of facts and we dont laugh them off the stage - shame on us