Morning Must Reads: Communication

Still clueless………..
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http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2010/08/biden_weve_seen_this_movie_bef.html
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Biden “the White House Attack Dog” comes out in defense of his boss, Obama
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Clearly this Administration does not get it. The economy which they have been in charge of now for over 20 months + is beyond the “ditch”.

The economic outlook is more bleak by the day.
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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/85b58588-af4e-11df-a172-00144feabdc0.html
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Asian markets continue retreat from risk…..also the Dow opened on expected lows, continues it downward spiral. Barney Frank and Chris Dodd’s damaging housing policies are becoming more and more evident as a major part of the whole problem.

What did I miss?

Om nom nom nom.

“Petroleum-eating bacteria – which had dined for eons on oil seeping naturally through the seafloor – proliferated in the cloud of oil that drifted underwater for months after the April 20 accident. They not only outcompeted fellow microbes, they each ramped up their own internal metabolic machinery to digest the oil as efficiently as possible.

The result was a nature-made cleanup crew capable of reducing that reduced the amount of oil amounts in the undersea “plume” by half about every three days, according to research published online Tuesday by the journal Science.

The findings, by a team of scientists led by Terry C. Hazen of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, help explain one of the biggest mysteries a mystery of the disaster: Where has all the oil gone?”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449352676306326.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
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Plunge in Home Sales Stokes Economy Fears

Last but certainly not least……….
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http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2010/08/23/yes-folks-hindenburg-omen-tripped-again/
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Yes Folks, Hindenburg Omen Tripped Again

It’s hard to get eggcited about how the Senate operates.

“The Senate’s yearlong failure to pass a food safety overhaul has hampered the ability of the Obama administration to quickly recall the 600 million eggs connected to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened nearly 2,000 people, experts and lawmakers say.

The House approved its version of the food safety bill in July 2009 — that was more than 60 recalls of Food and Drug Administration regulated products ago, according to a report by the Make Our Food Safe coalition. But the Senate has continued to drag its feet.”

One of America’s most LIBERAL courts, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently voted to allow the Government………..IE Barack Obama to track your every move with GPS.
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Oh how sweet it is.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599201315000

The dead and dying Lame Stream, far left liberal partners in crime………CBS records another LOW in ratings. Is Couric getting payback now for her cute tactics she used on Sarah Palin? Are people tuning her out? We can only hope.
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http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/evening_news_ratings/cbs_evening_news_ties_alltime_low_171613.asp

Not to sound too geeky, but there’s a big ol’ oxygen-depleted dead zone at the mouth of the Miss. River – a result of man’s fertilizer runoff, untreated sewage and assorted garbage – currently the size of Massachusetts (living things don’t even bother). This has existed for decades, long before the oil spill. Maybe the microbes hadn’t had a bite to eat until the oil washed up. All that said, we still don’t know the complete effects of what’s still uncollected below.

Which just goes to show how serious some politicians are about deficit reduction.

“In a letter to Senate members on Monday, the Tax Relief Coalition, an umbrella group which includes the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, among others, said the Senate should go through “the regular order of committee hearings and markup, followed by floor consideration” as it considers extending Bush-era tax cuts.

Democratic leaders generally want to extend cuts only to the middle class, and could try to use procedural shortcuts to pass such legislation.

If the tax bill were to go through the Finance Committee, a number of centrist Democrats could join with Republicans to produce a bill that extends Bush-era tax breaks for all income levels, say people with knowledge of the Senate’s closed-door negotiations on the tax bill. And Democrats may not have enough votes to amend an across-the-board extension bill, if such legislation were to reach the floor.”

Yes, I’m sure President Obama is making up a list of political enemies in need of tracking as we speak. Come on, Rusty. One Court, with limited jurisdiction, made this decision, a decision that is very unfortunate, but will be abused time and time again by law enforcement agencies, not the President of the United States.

I guess centrist Jews are the new Muslims are the new Latinos are the new Black are the new…(still hard to keep track of what’s the current object of the Daily Hate)

“‘Politically correct Judenrats like New York Mayor Michael Boomberg and Scott Stringer (Manhattan Borough President) and domestic enemies who are supporting the mosque – with open ties to Islamic Terrorist organizations and supporting states are doing nothing more than erecting a giant middle finger to be trust at the victims of 911… which includes all of civilized Mankind,’ [former Tea Party Express spokesman and current leader of the tea party support group Citizens for Constitutional Liberty Mark] Williams writes.

It’s unclear exactly what Williams means by the term ‘Judenrats,’ but as you can see from the context, it’s highly unlikely he’s using the word as a term of endearment. As you may or may not remember from your World War II history, a Judenrat were the local Jewish councils that Nazis put in charge of administering the ghettos. Not exactly the kind of thing most people often call American Jewish politicians like Bloomberg and Stringer.”

“What About Germany?”

“Many people are now holding Germany up as proof that austerity is good.

There are a number of reasons that’s foolish, among them the fact that Germany’s austerity policies have not yet begun — up to this point they’ve actually been quite Keynesian.[...]

Basically, here’s the German story: it’s an economy that didn’t have a housing bubble, so it wasn’t caught up directly in the bust. But it’s very export-oriented, with a focus on durable manufactured goods. Demand for these goods plunged in the early stages of the crisis — so that Germany, remarkably, had a bigger GDP decline than the bubble economies — but has bounced back since summer 2009. This has pulled Germany back up; exports to China have done especially well.

If there’s a slam-dunk argument for austerity in there, it’s remarkably well hidden.”

Low ratings @ CBS has little to do with KC’s “cute tactics” with Miss Prissy…not even karmaic (?) in nature as you wish they were. Are said “tactics” – asking cerebral questions like “which newspapers do you read” – prove a “liberal” bias? Put down the crack pipe. For once.
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It’s the business of news that’s causing low ratings. All of the networks are suffering @ the dinner hour because 1) an aging demographic watches less TV news, 2) the 24/7 news cycle – you can get news from cable, at your computer or on your phone, 3) more talk-radio-on-cable opinion programs and 4) the bottom line at Disney, GE and CBS dictates less $ for news-gathering, ergo less revenue stream. Evening news is considered somewhat of a loss leader in 2010.
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Prime time for network news, on the other hand, is pretty successful (60 Minutes, 48 Hours, Dateline, 20/20).
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In the 1990s CBS sold a bunch of big affiliates to New World (don’t even think it exists anymore) which, in turn, was bought out by Flox Broadcasting. This hurt CBS’ presence in many major markets because people had to turn to unfamiliar stations.
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As a side note, in North FL the Washington Post-owned CBS station in ’03 decided to go independent ’cause station management, in its opinion, couldn’t afford to live off the $40-some-odd miillion a year CBS was paying it to run its programs versus going it alone and keeping all the revenue it makes. (I haven’t watched the station ever since since Dr. Phil and Oprah don’t appeal to my viewing habits.)
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Long story short, new technology plus viewing habit changes is drastically altering how we view broadcast networks and TV in general. Which begs the question, Rust/Freep:
If you’ve got “the most powerful name in news” and “the #1 cable news network” why don’t you peddle your stupid-@&% opinions there, have an orgasmic good time and leave the arena of rational thought entirely??

Social Security and The Old Jedi Mind Trick.

“Pat Toomey supports replacing much of Social Security with a system of private accounts, but denies that this is privatization — and denounces those who use the term:

I’ve never said I favor privatizing Social Security. It’s a very misleading — it’s an intentionally misleading term. And it is used by those who try to use it as a pejorative to scare people

Oh, my. Back in the 1990s the Cato Institute had something called The Project on Social Security Privatization, which issued papers like this one from Martin Feldstein: Privatizing Social Security: The $10 Trillion Opportunity.

Then the right discovered that “privatization” polled badly. And suddenly, the term was a liberal plot — hey, we never said we’d do that.”

“If you’ve got “the most powerful name in news” and “the #1 cable news network” why don’t you peddle your stupid-@&% opinions there, have an orgasmic good time and leave the arena of rational thought entirely??”

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I have an idea, why don’t you troddle on over to Daily Kos or the big Huff’nPost. Now that’s an idea!

“Biden conceded that the economic recovery was not proceeding as fast as the administration had hoped, but claimed there was “no doubt we’re moving in the right direction.”"
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Jobless claims 500,000

Sales of Existing Homes down 27.2%

New Homes Sales down 12.7% 276,000 annual rate lowest since series started in 1963

Durable goods Bookings +0.3 Ex-Transport -3.8%

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No wonder liberals gets their news and facts from Comedy Central, most of the liberal politicians could host their own show.

‘Cause I, unlike you apparently, don’t have to justify wrong opinions by sharing them with like-minded people.

No the major point is that their were no tax hikes. The economy is growing. We will see if that’s short-lived as the leftists are now whining for tax hikes

Also, Too:
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[Jonathan Cohn eggsplains how food safety became scrambled].
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“Like Reagan, Bush was skeptical of government interference in the market. And, like Reagan, he appointed officials sympathetic to businesses that wanted to avoid the cost of complying with new federal rules. It was not until 2004, five years after Clinton had proposed the new egg rules, that the Bush Administration issued actual regulatory language. And by 2009, when Bush left office, the administration still had not finalized the rule.
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William Hubbard, who was associate FDA commissioner from 1991 until 2005 and now advises the Alliance for a Stronger FDA, tells TNR that the delay was not accidental:

The FDA simply couldn’t get through to the White House. They were very hostile to regulation. … I was told that each time FDA tried to get the rule cleared through OMB, the response was that there were “not enough bodies in the street,” — that the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths did not rise to the level to justify greater regulation of egg producers. Obviously, public health officials felt strongly that there was a strong justification, but the prevailing attitude at the time within the Administration was that regulation was an evil that should be avoided unless there was a compelling argument for government action.

““I don’t think you want me to waste my time to read every page of the health care bill. You know why? It’s statutory language,” Baucus said. “We hire experts.”

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Now I recall the left having an aneurysm over Cheney bringing in “experts” to discuss energy policy. I doubt we will see the same outrage from a ship full of fools that continue to pass laws or ignore laws that Americans want.

So are you arguing against majority rule or for more underhanded legislative tricks that you complain about Republicans using to pass a bill?

The growing consensus is that more and more people don’t like liberal solutions and the pols are running scared.

I hear that ginkgo biloba is good for that kind of thing...

“…former Bush senior adviser Karen Hughes came out against Cordoba House over the weekend. Hughes called on Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to move the project in order to ‘provide a path toward the peaceful relationships that he and his fellow Muslims strive to achieve.’

What was mystifying about her opposition, as TPM noted, was that she did not mention that Rauf had a long-term relationship with the Bush administration. Nor did she mention that as the Bush State Department’s chief of outreach to Muslims she participated with him in multiple bridge-building efforts to the Muslim world.

Here’s her explanation: Hughes claimed in a statement to me that she doesn’t remember any of the work she did with him. [...]

Rauf repeatedly participated in events with Hughes, who saw improving relations with the Muslim world as an imperative. Rauf even claims he met with her. So I’ll leave it to you to judge how likely it is that Hughes wouldn’t remember any of their work together.”

Ruth Marcus breaks down yesterday’s speech by The Boehner.

“There are times when I flirt with the notion that the country would be better off with divided government.

If Republicans took control, say, of the House, there would be pressure on both parties to behave more responsibly. The GOP would be pushed to stop carping and posturing, and start governing. Democrats would have political cover to make hard choices on entitlement spending, taxes and the like. As every politician knows, bipartisan cliff-jumping is a safer sport than going solo.

That’s the theory. Then there’s John Boehner.

The man who would be speaker outlined his agenda Tuesday in a speech to the City Club of Cleveland — economic policy reduced to, literally, five easy tweets. The Ohio Republican offered up a depressing blend of tired ideas, tired-er one-liners (“We’ve tried 19 months of government-as-community-organizer”) and cheap attacks.”

So, what’s happening over the next year?

“Fewer than 50,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, the White House said Tuesday, representing the final drawdown of American forces for the next 16 months.

At Tuesday’s White House press briefing on Martha’s Vineyard, where President Obama is vacationing, White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said this ‘reaches the goal’ set by the president as part of a transition to ‘full Iraqi responsibility.’

“Today’s announcement comes one week in advance of the end of August, the date that was set for the formal shift in the U.S. mission in Iraq from combat to support of Iraqi security forces,” he said.

‘On Sept. 1, our mission will shift and we will have a change in command in Iraq,’ Brennan added. ‘The president will be making a speech to mark this important transition.’

Brennan said some 94,000 troops have been removed from Iraq since Obama became president — a ‘truly remarkable achievement for our military and for the country,’ he said. “

More brilliance from the left in “helping” us save the planet.

But those places are becoming increasingly hard to avoid. Bedbugs, once nearly eradicated, have spread across New York City, in part because of the decline in the use of DDT. According to the city’s Department of Housing and Preservation, the number of bedbug violations has gone up 67 percent in the last two years. In the most recent fiscal year, which ended on June 30, the city’s 311 help line recorded 12,768 bedbug complaints, 16 percent more than the previous year and 39 percent above the year before. A New York City community health survey showed that in 2009, 1 in 15 New Yorkers had bedbugs in their homes, a number that is probably higher now.

Never mind the down side of economic hits, spread of disease and the lost of productivity. Add this to the world wide increase in malaria from the DDT ban. And the left wonders why there is so much opposition to their jihad of global warming.

“Democrats would have political cover to make hard choices on entitlement spending, taxes and the like.”

Heaven forbid they would ever stand on principle. But what you finally admitted is that the Democrats philosophy of liberalism sucks and that entitlements and spending that they feverishly push is wrong.

Well admitting the problem is the first step to recovery.

So the housing sales slump is the fault of liberals?
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That question I posed to you yesterday: If you don’t think more stimulus will work, then what IYO will?

…and I don’t have to constantly attach biased web links to my opinions either. They don’t make me look any smarter. Catch my drift?

Jobless claims 500,000
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Because the economy sucks. Something independent of government control. If you want more people to be hired, the companies need to hire more people. They are sitting on massive amounts of money.
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Sales of Existing Homes down 27.2%
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This has to do with the rate of foreclosure starting to slow down. This means banks are repossessing and selling homes off as quickly as they were.
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Plus, we all know there was a housing bubble. That means homes were selling at expensive prices before that were not justified. It is a wonder anyone is selling houses at all outside of foreclosures.
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New Homes Sales down 12.7% 276,000 annual rate lowest since series started in 1963
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Frankly this sucks. I know builders, personally, who haven't been building since this whole crash began. But the fact of the matter is that the market is saturated. So long as it is saturated (and it will be for years), you can't expect people to want to build, especially when it costs less to buy and there are a bunch of great deals out there.
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Anyhow, its hardly a political matter aside from the number of people it effects. This number will not go back up for a long time. No amount of policy will change this unless it engenders another bubble, and a crash down the road.
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No wonder liberals gets their news and facts from Comedy Central, most of the liberal politicians could host their own show.
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But seriously, you can't expect the economy to go back to the way it was. That was an unhealthy, unsupportable position. Its time to embrace new ways, new sources of energy, and new economic models. The old has failed
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Bring on the new.

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G_C, for the record 8.4 does NOT apply to you

The Daily Show gives us a Very Good Reason to stop watching FNC.

(9 minutes, 38 seconds of your time well spent…)

Not killing bugs = global warming. WHAT???

Thx. After w**k, I promise!

“So the housing sales slump is the fault of liberals?”

Yes, small businesses which are tied heavily to the housing market is not hiring. Companies are hoarding cash o their balance sheets. Why? They fear HC reform, regulation and higher taxes. All meaning higher costs to them. Some of these are still not defined. We have the great liberal pols who didn’t even read bills they passed so the damage or costs may be large. So no hiring, no income no home sales.

How do we re-start stop the spending and the shameful guise of “stimulus”. The past stimulus packages were nothing but corrupt payments to liberals political allies. Pensions and benefits at all levels of government needs to be revamped. Social Security needs to be means tested. Government spending needs to be slashed not cut but slashed. Creating a positive environment for businesses will be a beginning. We have already wasted the stimulus money to a point where we can’t afford more and must now rely solely on the private sector which means the government needs to get out of the way.

“Bring on the new.”

You did with the election of the Dems controlling both houses of Congress and the WH and in less than 2 years it has been an abysmal failure. Or to quote Churchill,
“Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy.”.

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“They are sitting on massive amounts of money.
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And sit they will as they are worried about the costs of HC, higher taxes and more useless regulation.
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“Anyhow, its hardly a political matter aside from the number of people it effects.”
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Your ignorance is showing again. All have been the result of government meddling and policies that lead to a disincentive to produce.
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Everything is changing. People are taking the comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.”

Will Rogers

He must have known you

If I say:
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“All of what you said are ‘fixes’ to the problem resulted in what got us into this mess to begin with”
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would you believe me?

Oh foggy, you don’t think I have any friends in the swamp. That is so cute. Thank you for being so sensitive.

Actually it applies to everyone, I think.
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Some of the links I post come from people who have a personal slant to their opinions. Other links are more fact-driven. Where it gets muddy is where facts are manipulated to support opinion. Anyway, with regards to posting links here, there’s not much space between Rustyblog and Freeper and I; we all have our reasons*.
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The difference is in the attitude. I like to think that I’m not rabidly partisan/impervious to fact/unwilling to admit fault/logically deficient/generally arsehole-y like the aforementioned wingnuts, but that’s more up to what y’all think, not me…and – no offense – I’m generally apathetic as to how virtual strangers see me.
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(*As for my own motivations in posting, I can state that I’m not trying to justify or prove anything here. I’m (again) also pretty apathetic as to whether anyone believes that. Bottom line, I enjoy sharing a few thoughts about current events and the (rational) discussion that (sometimes) ensues.)

I would believe you think that, but you are wrong.

The criminalizing of lending standards and no oversight or prevention of oversight of Fannie and Freddie (Thank you Barney Frank) were the key drivers to the real estate bubble. The left can keep repeating it was not but they are only deluding themselves.

Now we have the government fixing problems that didn’t exist or they created and business is concerned they are going unchecked. Hence no jobs!

You did with the election of the Dems controlling both houses of Congress and the WH and in less than 2 years it has been an abysmal failure. Or to quote Churchill,
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Sorry, church hill is dead, and wrong in some cases. Socialism is not "evil" when used in moderation. Just like Capatilism isn't evil when used in moderation.
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I must disagree that it has been a failure. It is only beginning and hasn't finished yet. The economy has leveled out and found a bottom. It may not be recovering, but the stimulus stopped the descent. Ultimately, stimulus can't fix the problem. It was never intended to. Tylenol doesn't fix a broken leg.
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And sit they will as they are worried about the costs of HC, higher taxes and more useless regulation.

Then it will be THEIR FAULT that the economy doesn't recover. You want more people to work? You hire. You don't want the government to do it, it has to be done by private business.

Your ignorance is showing again. All have been the result of government meddling and policies that lead to a disincentive to produce.

As I recall, the housing bubble agitated by the gas, education, and tech bubbles caused this whole mess. Government enables some of these bubbles. Business actors cause them.

Everything is changing. People are taking the comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.”
Will Rogers

If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane. -- Jimmy Buffet (Relevant but off topic quotes for great justice!)

“I must disagree that it has been a failure. It is only beginning and hasn’t finished yet.”
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Oh it is finished. The public is in an uproar, the Dems are running scared and the Vice-Clown has said all the heavy lifting is done. They won’t attempt anything else before the elections.

Their crowning achievement health care- they ignore or at least don’t focus on the lie it will lower premiums and decrease the deficit.

Come the November election, voters will give socialism last rites.

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“Then it will be THEIR FAULT that the economy doesn’t recover. You want more people to work? You hire. You don’t want the government to do it, it has to be done by private business”

Well your ignorance is showing again. The objective of any business is profit — not jobs. If the environment is bad they will re-trench until they can make an intelligent decision concerning the return on investment.
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“The housing bubble agitated by the gas, education, and tech bubbles

Here is a flash for you Sparky, gas caused by government regulations and the fact we had no capacity to refine gas so low supply equals high gas prices and not to mention no cohesive energy policy except “oil bad”.

Education- More more spent with no tangible result. And the left and government response – MORE MONEY.

Tech? Plenty of blame to go around. Wall Street was cheerleading but the general public ignorantly went along. Maybe we should license investors instead of brokers.
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“If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane”

But the comedians that were recently elected is another type of insanity

freekin’pathetic is saying that killing off birds will help control insects. As we all know, birds don’t eat insects, they eat at birdfeeders. Add to that no insect has ever developed a resistance to DDT or any other poison ever used against it.
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He saw that on Fox I’ll bet…

Grape, Obama is not ending the war in Iraq; he is violating SOFA terms and breaking campaign promises. He needs to be called out, not congratulated.
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The administration is dropping troop levels to “50,000 – from 112,000 earlier this year and close to 165,000 at the height of the surge”, and adjusting the language, not the scope of operations: “What soldiers today would call combat operations — hunting insurgents, joint raids between Iraqi security forces and United States Special Forces to kill or arrest militants — will be called “stability operations” — that’s it (link).
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Meanwhile, they are “planning a remarkable civilian effort” in Iraq. The State Dept will employ “up to as many as 7,000 private contractors” to pick-up the slack. Several thousand Blackwater lunatics, as opposed to more accountable soldiers, will be responsible for “training the Iraqi police” and defending “five fortified compounds across the country, …operate radars to warn of enemy rocket attacks, search for roadside bombs, fly reconnaissance drones and even staff quick reaction” (link to follow).
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It’s sleight-of-hand: We ended military operations since the troops now run “stability” operations; and the State Dept, with their small army of mercenaries..well, they’re not the military.
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Plus the Shia dominated “Iraqi security forces” regularly clash with Sunni-Awakened communities in bloody conflict- we’ve taken sides in a civil war- and they’ve had no government since March.
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The Admin is doing a PR job, it’s BS.

…link to follow
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/world/middleeast/19withdrawal.html?_r=1

To put it more simply so you have a shot of possibly understanding:

The left’s religion is environmentalism and collateral, damaging consequences of their dogged pursuit be dammed.

Another example. Getting rid of the incandescent light bulb for global warming (which is on the ropes). The mandated replacement? Mercury. And where will it end up? Landfills and water supplies. But there heart was in the right place. Maybe but their heads are up their arse

I repeat my post from above:

No wonder liberals gets their news and facts from Comedy Central, most of the liberal politicians could host their own show.

“I like to think that I’m not rabidly partisan/impervious to fact/unwilling to admit fault/logically deficient/generally arsehole-y like the aforementioned wingnuts”

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To test your theory and opinion. Please go to RedState.com and post the same stuff. See how long you last.
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You are an even bigger joke than your pal Exiled “formerly neo”.

He needs to be called out, not congratulated.
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I wasn’t aware that I was doing either of those things. I just asked what was gonna happen next…and thanks for answering.
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The Admin is doing a PR job..
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Well, yes…Comes with being The Admin.

My fluorescents end up in the recycling bin. Where’s yours go? Oh, wait, you use firesticks.

Well your ignorance is showing again. The objective of any business is profit — not jobs. If the environment is bad they will re-trench until they can make an intelligent decision concerning the return on investment.
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The end goal may be profit, but you have to ask yourself why? To provide money for the owners and their employees which are necessary to do the proposed job. Jobs are sometimes more important to companies than profit. Without jobs, you don't have profit because ultimately there are no buyers. I will not say that all businesses know this and operate in their best interests. Humans are largely irrational creatures, as are businesses. Take a look at the wealth gap that is enabling this recession.
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That's the problem with a purely capitalistic mentality of increase profits! You don't take into account how valuable the money is compared to how valuable having a market is. It is possible to destroy a market and have a lot of money. But then the money becomes valueless against real goods.
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A wise entrepreneur understands that without jobs, there is no market.
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“The housing bubble agitated by the gas, education, and tech bubbles
Here is a flash for you Sparky, gas caused by government regulations and the fact we had no capacity to refine gas so low supply equals high gas prices and not to mention no cohesive energy policy except “oil bad”.
Education- More more spent with no tangible result. And the left and government response – MORE MONEY.

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I used to work in a business that dealt with refineries. And its true. There hasn't been new construction of new refineries in some time. I'm not sure that means refineries haven't been able to expand the amount of work they do at one facility.
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Beyond even that though, nearly everyone agrees that the gas bubble was caused by excessive speculation and by price gouging. There were no market fundamentals requiring rises in gas prices on the levels seen. The profits of gas companies, were, backed by a rise in prices. Which only furthers the point about the wealth gap.
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When the average home was under education & home debt already; and namely in a position where added financial stress would keep them from paying back on loans; the rise in gas prices helped facilitate the first failures to pay back on mortgages. Because a wealth gap had been established, the middle class and poor could do nothing but take out additional debt to meet their needs. This was a recipe for disasters, ultimately enabled by businesses who were not paying their employees enough.
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And if the argument is that it was impossible to pay them more, that means that our model of economics is broken. Our country can't afford cheap products meant to break, low wages which burden the system, and large amounts of personal debt necessitated by our transportation, energy, and education situations.

“Rust/Freep:
If you’ve got “the most powerful name in news” and “the #1 cable news network” why don’t you peddle your stupid-@&% opinions there, have an orgasmic good time and leave the arena of rational thought entirely??”

Since you decided to drag me into this one, I will oblige.

You seem to be suffering under the delusional that 1) you are rational and 2) because you disagree my opinion is stupid.

The reason to hang here is to call you and your fellow libs on your ongoing ignorance. As I have said before what really ticks off liberals is that your lies and ignorance do not go unresponded anymore. The everybody but us lies meme is tired and broken. Your world will never be the same.

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The end goal may be profit, but you have to ask yourself why?”

Once again your ignorance is showing. People start a business to do something they enjoy and to make a proft. Pure and simple.
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“Beyond even that though, nearly everyone agrees that the gas bubble was caused by excessive speculation and by price gouging”

The “everyone agrees” is liberal BS without a shread of proof. There have been countless price gouging inquiries usually called for by some rabid clueless liberal and as before — no gouging. You can keep repeating it but that doesn’t make it so.

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“Because a wealth gap had been established, the middle class and poor could do nothing but take out additional debt to meet their needs. This was a recipe for disasters, ultimately enabled by businesses who were not paying their employees enough.”

Truly you need to stay away from the crack pipe! So the defaults were caused by the rich because the low and middle class spent too much money on houses, cars, cells phones, flat screen TVs, Playstations, $150 Nikes, ipods etc. So they kept borrowing money to buy things they could not afford because of the rich and employers would not support their spending habits? Is that the story you want to tell? BWahhahah!

Get back on your meds-immediately

To test your theory and opinion. Please go to RedState.com and post the same stuff.
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And why would that be a good test?
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See how long you last.
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And what is lasting a long time in the comments section of a right-wing blog supposed to prove?
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You are an even bigger joke than your pal Exiled “formerly neo”.
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I guess you missed the “I’m generally apathetic as to how virtual strangers see me” part…especially the “generally arsehole-y” strangers.

Saw that last night. Great!
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Freep, were you to actually watch the episode, you’d see that it’s more than mere comedic punditry. Jon Stewart makes excellent and coherent points concerning Fox’s selective outrage at the “money” behind the Islamic community center, money that additionally funds Fox news itself.

“My fluorescents end up in the recycling bin. Where’s yours go?”
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I see all of the liberals are testing positive for stupid today.

“Where does it all end up? Fifty-five percent gets buried in landfills”

National Geographic

Another brilliant idea without any basis or thought

Great stuff, Rusty. Thanks for contributing.

“Jon Stewart makes excellent and coherent points ”

Perfect liberals will believe that a comedy show has “excellent and coherent points” but Fox is always evil and wrong.

What a sad, sick little world you have placed yourself.

Alright, so rather than actually watch the episode, rather than investigate the validity of the points that are made, you choose to falsely label my political leanings and then dismiss the notion that someone might actually be capable of injecting wit into something serious. Get a sense of humor.

The story is simple.
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People are irrational. People do things for reasons beyond profit, long term, or short term gain. In many cases, people who do things even for those reasons can't predict the out come.
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An over abundance of credit was given to these people.
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Then, when the goods that were not luxuries became too expensive they could no longer afford the lifestyles they had before pressure.
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It is a fact, admitted by all economists, that the wage divide is growing. Had that money been distributed differently by business owners, or reinvested, then perhaps people wouldn't have had to pick between gas, groceries, or their mortgage. While I am sure bad loans were made, putting people in the above situation ultimately makes bad situation worse. It is insulting to insinuate that all people who lost their homes did so because they spent too much money on shoes, gaming systems, or other trivialities with out proof.
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Bad decisions were made by all. Business owners and the rich certainly share much of the blame for allowing it to happen. Someone had to make those loans, offer that credit, and sell those goods at the price they were sold at.


“Perfect liberals will believe that a comedy show has “excellent and coherent points” but Fox is always evil and wrong.
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What a sad, sick little world you have placed yourself.”

Now that Walter Cronkite passed, Time decided to ask Americans who their most trusted newsperson was. The results were overwhelmingly in favor of Jon Stewart.

And not a FOX personality in sight. As it stands, yours is the sick, twisted, little world.
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http://www.neatorama.com/2009/07/26/jon-stewart-names-most-trusted-name-in-news/

So the defaults were caused by the rich because the low and middle class spent too much money on houses, cars, cells phones, flat screen TVs, Playstations, $150 Nikes, ipods etc. So they kept borrowing money to buy things they could not afford because of the rich and employers would not support their spending habits? Is that the story you want to tell? BWahhahah!

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The extremely poor did not go into debt buying “stuff”. They went into debt trying to stay afloat. I know. Until 2 years ago I was on disability and had in fact raised 2 children as a single parent on SSI. In the late “90s I was offered a low interest credit card. In the mid 2000′s I was offered 3 credit cards. I didn’t have a job, or money in savings, but credit card companies were willing to advance me credit. I used those cards for things like clothes (KMart and WalMart sales mostly), food and yes, a prom dress for my daughter. (Naughty me). My kids never had cable, ipods or cell phones. We never even had a landline until I got onto a govertment program that allowed me to get local phone service at a discounted rate based on income.
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No amount of belly aching by the republicans can change the fact that the extremely poor were barely staying afloat while the middle class and wealthy were taking advantage of low interest rates to put second, third and even fourth mortgages on their homes to buy even more and more “stuff”.

“No amount of belly aching by the republicans can change the fact that the extremely poor were barely staying afloat while the middle class and wealthy were taking advantage of low interest rates to put second, third and even fourth mortgages on their homes to buy even more and more “stuff”.”

I don’t entirely disagree with you. Our duty as citizens is to protect and take care of the least fortunate. However the government has taken a position over the last 50 years to hand out dollars to all classes of folks and it is the poorest and least represented that suffer. The point of the government is not to re-distribute wealth but provide opportunities for everyone and then support for those unable to take advantage of those opportunities, if necessary.

We have had poor in this country since the beginning. We are probably doing the worst job in our history of taking care of those in greatest need. And you may disagree but that is a direct result of too much dependence on government.

Shepheredwong:

You demonstrated nothing but the sad state of affairs where anyone above the age of majority believes Jon Stewart is a news man. Keep in mind many still think Elvis is working with JFK in a 7-11 in Georgia too.

Since only the major news networks were listed (99%) of the vote one can conclude that they were the only choices and judging by your choice of website I would put you as one voting for JS and looking for Elvis.

See post #22

Brilliant,

he most centrally planned sector of the American economy is energy. The federal and state governments command utilities to buy certain percentages of their electricity from wind and solar, regardless of price. The federal government commands that ethanol be mixed into gasoline, again regardless of price. Governments subsidize favored “green technologies” with grants and tax credits. Meanwhile a non-green technology, the incandescent light bulb, has been banned outright.

“Socialists” did not make this mess. Every one of these distortions was championed by President George W. Bush and remains the declared policy of congressional Republicans. Republicans have chosen energy command and control because the market-maximizing alternative is an energy tax – and taxes are ideologically taboo.

http://www.frumforum.com/is-obama-a-socialist

The point of the government is not to re-distribute wealth but provide opportunities for everyone and then support for those unable to take advantage of those opportunities, if necessary.
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And how does the government support those unable to take advantage of "opportunities" with out "re-distributing" wealth?
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This is why the socialism is evil argument doesn't work. Redistribution of wealth (aka taxes) is necessary, especially in the case of natural monopolies (roads, bridges), and then in the other cases which you now describe. Situations where people can't take advantage of "opportunities," or people who were never provided with opportunities.
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The list of socialist programs in the united states is long, and for the most part everyone likes them.

- Public Schools
- The army
- The United States postal service (perhaps as a historical footnote, I'll allow)
- Police
- Libraries
- Government is itself a socialist institution the moment it collects any taxes for anything. If that's what redistribution of wealth is.


This weeks Daily Shows have been outstanding. They bring wit and Truth to the absurdity of Fox and the reactionary right.
The right wingers on this site are afraid to watch the Daily Show and Colbert, I would gather by their comments, because they aren’t part of their echo chamber cult.
Both Stewart and Colbert have gone after Obama. However, the right wing brings so much more to mock.
And, truthiness hurts.

Fear and Loathing from the Right
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Death panels
Kenyan born President
Muslim President
Jihadist cells
Muslim community centers and mosques
Illegal immigrants, terrorists, using our benefits
Anchor babies: latent terrorists
Census evil
Secret socialists, commies
Anti-American
Black and brown people taking over
Take our guns away
Anti-Christian
Raise taxes on middle class
Gays will teach homosexuality to our children
Same sex marriage will destroy the sanctity of marriage
Openly gays in the military are a threat to security
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Anyone want to add to the list of fear tactics thrown out by the Republicans everyday.
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They continue their, unfortunately, tried and true method of using fear as a motivator.

gumonshoe: Thank’s for your contributions today.

Liberal commentary is the BEST comedy on the internet, bar none! Your sanctimonious rambling make me laugh out loud after a long day in the clinic. April, you lead the parade with your continued attempts to paint all conservatives with your broad brush. Let me respond to this latest attempt with a few observations about how WE view the left. Entitlement is your middle name, you are anti-military, anti-business, anti-free market, you want bigger and more intrusive government, you want to open our borders, you want to dismantle our health care system and socialize medicine and to fund all of this “nanny care”, you are quite prepared to bankrupt our nation. Does this about cover it, april, or did I leave out some entitlement program that might be your personal favorite? Yes, indeed, there are significant differences between right and left. The ONLY way our nation stays strong and prospers, is by choosing the RIGHT way.

“Since only the major news networks were listed (99%) of the vote one can conclude that they were the only choices…”
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So the mouth-breathers like you who were asked to name someone couldn’t remember the names Bill O’Reilly or Glen Beck (or do you think they were just too afraid to challenge the pollster’s choices and named one of them instead of their actual choice)? Face it, you and your fellow Teatards are a minority by far. The fact that you don’t realize it (and the fact that you sound like a middle-school drop-out) makes you all the more foolish and pathetic.

NewFreeinPA, a slight correction – Biden is not a WH attack dog. He is the duly elected Vice President of the United States of America.
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So until 2012, STFU.

“or do you think they were just too afraid to challenge the pollster’s choices”

No idea and more importantly don’t care. As I have advised other looney libs here, November is not far off, have someone take your belt and shoelaces away. Your end is near, unfortunately the country will have to suffer the consequences of the past 2 years for a very long time.

fearmongering with a touch of race baiting, homophobic tirade for good measure. I see you went with the libs classic playbook

Therein lies the problem you actually think the incoherent rantings and repeated distortions of the left are actually contributions. That must be French for excrement because that’s what most of the posts were.The same old tired crap that liberals pull out when the world is falling apart from their “fixes” (like now).

“especially in the case of natural monopolies (roads, bridges),”

Road and bridges are monopolies. Apr2563: and you think this was a contribution?

I swear the IQ of the liberals posting here most days wouldn’t add up to room temperature.

“No idea and more importantly don’t care.”
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Actually, I think it’s more important that you have no idea what you’re talking about yet are so brainwashed and arrogant you feel comfortable proving it in public on a constant basis.

A natural monopoly arises where the largest supplier in an industry, often the first supplier in a market, has an overwhelming cost advantage over other actual and potential competitors. This tends to be the case in industries where capital costs predominate, creating economies of scale that are large in relation to the size of the market, and hence high barriers to entry; examples include public utilities such as water services and electricity. It is very expensive to build transmission networks (water/gas pipelines, electricity and telephone lines); therefore, it is unlikely that a potential competitor would be willing to make the capital investment needed to even enter the monopolist’s market.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_monopoly

Its true most roads aren’t competitive opportunities. The point here really was that Government takes responsibility for all sorts of things and redistributes wealth to make those things possible. This includes roads. While you complain about “hand outs” from the government you accept things from the government every day.

You’re a hypocrite, or crazy, that’s all.

Someone I know asked, “Why can’t they just release oil-eating microbes into the environment? That would destroy the spill.” I replied, “And after that? What if they weren’t contained: what would that do to the petroleum we use?”

We are too dependent on that one source of energy.