Schakowsky could do everyone a great public service by not running again:)

I have to disagree with Congresswoman Schkowsky's statements regarding the Stimulus Bill which was enacted in February 2009. We were told that the unemployment rate would not exceed 8 percent if the Stimulus Bill was enacted.

The Stimulus Bill was supposed to go to infrastructure spending ("shovel-ready jobs"). Instead it went to bail out state and local governments. Rather than reduce payrolls like the private sector, state and local governments kept spending as if there was no recession. There was no private sector stimulus and now we have the train-wreck of an economy. Throwing money at the public sector doesn't encourage economic growth.

We have 14 million unemployed Americans now and over 40 million Americans are using food stamps. Do we really want to do enact the President's Jobs Bill which is just the same old thing-spend, spend, spend, along with tax increases? All the proposal is is short-term spending and permanent tax increases. That's not the way to stimulate the economy.

Why not provide incentives for the private sector, instead of gimmicks. Presidents Coolidge, Kennedy and Reagan stimulated the economy with permanent tax cuts. Tax cuts keep the money in the pockets of those who earned the money and allow them to spend it as they see fit.

In September 1983 (13 months before the election of 1984), there were 1.1 million jobs created. 13 months before the election of 2012, there were 103,000 jobs created. Tax cuts work.

Rep. Schkowsky never met a government reg or program she didn't like. Everyone knows that the stimulus did not work. The government doesn't create jobs, it destroys them by ruining incentives to work. Jesse Jackson Jr., who I assume is allied with Rep. Schkowsky wants the feds to employ all of the unemployed and bail out all cities and states. Great! who will pay for that? Their goal is to make dependent the entire country and thus a permanent Democratic majority. Jan, our savior. Not.

I own a small business and I can say that there was absolutely NO motivation to hire any new employees because of the Stimulus bill in 2009. It will be the same on the current bill. All that happened was we lost our line or credit, borrowing for anything became non-existent and it took longer to get to work because the road crews were digging holes, patching them up and then digging them again. If the government wants to stimulate the economy, convince me that my business investment dollars will not go to increased taxes because I’m a Sub-S corporation. Offer some training because I cannot find trained employees and stop supporting the unions because if they come to my shop I will close down.

The purpose of the President's new jobs proposal is to once again subsidize Democrat constituentcies, who will in turn contribute money to Democrats as a way of saying thank you. In other words, it's a "money-laundering" scheme. Take in tax money and then disperse the tax revenue to Democrats.

And now you know why Democrats don't like tax cuts-they think that it reduces tax revenue which means there is less money to dole out, which, in turn, means smaller contributions to Democrats. Nice little game they are playing.

Average Cost per Person by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Source : www.oecd.org/dataoecd/46/2/38980580.pdf

--------­-­------ Per capita costs for the year 2009 ----------­------

United States........ $7,960 .... 100% of US per capita cost.
Canada................ $4,363 ...... 55% of US per capita cost.
France................. $3,978 ...... 50% of US per capita cost.
Germany.............. $4,218 ...... 53% of US per capita cost.
United Kingdom..... $3,487 ...... 44% of US per capita cost.
Japan................... $2,878 ...... 36% of US per capita cost.

Using the Canadian model and applying their per capita cost to the US population, we could cover EVERYBODY AND SAVE over $3,597 per person per year.

IMAGINE : No Fuss. No Bills. Everybody covered. No bankruptcies due to medical bills.
..........................................................................................................................
Look at the savings again :

That's $3,597 (In 2009 US dollars).
That's $3,597 per PERSON (for every man, woman and child).
That's $3,597 per YEAR.
That's $3,597 per person per year - EVERY YEAR.
That's $3,597 per person per year - EVERY YEAR - FOREVER.

We can no longer afford to ignore Single Payer.

Switch to Single Payer, save a trillion dollars every year, cover every man, woman and child, with better outcomes. Say goodbye to insurance company profits and bankruptcies due to medical costs.

Max/Stockman's comments are hilarious...now if we could only get another "30 year spree of phoney prosperity in this country"...I'll take that over the very real 4 years spree of poverty that we in right now.

Trust the likes of you to miss the point !

We wouldn't be in this "poverty" mess but for Reagan !

1. We exported thru the "free market policies" our very livelyhoods.
2. We made the banks too big to fail thru "deregulation" and we, the tax payers had to bail them out - we didn't have a choice, according to the former Goldman Sachs employee and the then Bush's Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson.
3. The same Reagan left the LARGEST deficit ever till then; what's more, the same Reagan, raised the debt ceiling EIGHTEEN times during his tenure.

When truth, painful as it has been, is hillarious to you, it just shows how detached you (and the GOp'ers) are from reality.

The REALLY sad and painful part is, the intial cancers seeds were planted some three decades ago, and we are led to believe by the right wing nuts that this can be cured in a couple of years !

An odd day on PATCH.

Two "journalists" using "frustrated" about politicians' delicate lives...but I don't remember these same propogandists using the word for the unemployed of our area, the tax-strapped homeowners, the college student coping with lazy teachers, nor readers of PATCH who have to put up with biased "news" articles. No relief here!

Max,

Glad we got Obama (and Quinn) in there now to rectify these problems. Now we have 10% unemployment and an extra war or two depending on who is counting.

At least we have Solyndra and the green industries to bail us out of our economic holes. Quinn's proposed government ownership of electric refuelling stations looks promising too.

An interesting take on history Max, but that's not what really happened. President Carter (like President Obama) sunk the economy with his policies and President Reagan came along and cleaned up after President Carter. Perhaps you recall President Carter's "mailaise speech". Reagan crushed Carter with an Electoral College vote of 489 to 49. During the Carter years, interest rates were above 20 percent. (Reagan clobbered Mondale in 1984 with an even more lopsided Electoral vote.)

Reagan revived the economy and did what it took to wring rampant inflation out of the economy. Not only that, he presided over the defeat of the the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Quite a remarkable presidency and quite unlike the presidency of President Obama.

Will the 2012 election be like the 1980 election. There is no doubt about it. Like President Carter, President Obama has lost the confidence of the American people. It's obvious that nobody pays any attention to President Obama any more.

The economy is just waiting for President Obama to leave office and then it will take off after a Republican landslide. As usual, all Democrats want to do is spend other people's money on their socialist schemes.

There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the American economy that a good conservative president, along with a cooperative Congress, can't fix. Repeal Obamacare and Dodd/Frank and stop the spending and it will be "morning in America" once again.

Max I think you should check your facts. The Great Obama will have the greatest deficit in just three short years. And what did it do? Still high unemployment and stagnant growth with no recovery in sight. Clinton had the luxury of a dot com boom. What he did was absolutely nothing… until the bubble burst. Obama now owns the economy and the new wars that he started. His failed economic policies show what happens when you elect someone with absolutely no experience running anything.
Oh and I loved Max’s explanation what Canadians come to the US for health care: “They don’t want to wait their turn.” Spoken like a true communist. Let’s spread the wealth!

Max is a little confused with his history. He thinks that Abraham Lincoln was a Democrat and that Jefferson Davis was a Republican. He also thinks that the Republicans started the Klu Klux Klan and were responsible for Jim Crow.

Sorry Max, but Honest Abe was a Republican and the Democrats started the Klan and were responsible for Jim Crow. Democrats also prevented civil rights legislation from being enacted in the early 1960's. The Civil Rights Act passed because of Republican votes for the legislation.

Max: "It is a measure of how far off base both parties are - but especially the Republicans - they had a chance to cut spending for 8 years and Bush didn't veto a single spending bill. They had a chance to cut entitlements and what did they do ? Nothing. They added Medicare Part D drug benefit, the largest entitlement expansion since the 60's."

And what exactly is your point? It would seem that Max is trying to justify the spending by the Obama Administration and the Pelosi Congress by talking about spending in the Bush Administration. Conveniently, Max neglects to mention 9/11 and the spending which resulted from the terrorist attack.

The public debt has grown far more substantially under the 3 years of the Obama Administration than the 8 years of the Bush Administration. Data from the OMB tells the story. The OMB data shows how the spending exploded after Nancy Pelosi became the Speaker of the House.

Both parties? Yup, you are so right.
And they have made the system so that an attempt to breakaway from the two parties usually hurts more than it helps.

Max: "A majority, if not all, of the people on Medicare are happy with the system and they have a choice in "private" insurance."

"And even the New York Times admits that the program has hurt patients and has helped drive healthcare providers out of the Medicaid market.

The Times says that Dr. Saed Sahouri of Flint Michigan quit the Medicaid practice when Michigan reduced payments to physicians thereby making Medicaid uneconomical for him professionally. “My office manager was telling me to do this for a long time, and I resisted,” Dr. Sahouri told the Times. “But after a while you realize that we’re really losing money on seeing those patients, not even breaking even. We were starting to lose more and more money, month after month.” "

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2011/10/22/medisnare_meet_obamasnare

Sooner or later, the same thing will happen with Medicare (and Obamacare). Doctors are highly skilled workers, not just a commodity.

With an eye on 2012, here are ten important but sometimes counterintuitive facts to keep in mind:

1.      There is no austerity.

2.      There was no deregulation.

3.      You can’t trust Republicans on spending.

4.      Wall Street loves Democrats.

5.      People who voted for Barack Obama on civil-liberties grounds are fools.

6.      If you aren’t for massive entitlement reform, you’re for massive tax hikes.

7.      But taxing the rich won’t close the deficit.

8.      The housing bubble was largely a political creation.

9.      Well-meaning politicians are just as dangerous as self-serving ones.

10.  There’s no way out of this jam without big cuts to popular programs.

The real debate isn’t whether to cut, only what and how much and when. (My preferred answers: almost everything, a lot, now.)

An excellent critique. Only one thing to add-economic growth would help the situation.

US economic growth can be achieved by developing and utilzing our own energy resources. The energy resource deposits in the United States are larger than in Saudi Arabia. There is no reason why the United States cannot be energy independent, with a little help from Canada in the interim.

Wall Street Loves Democrats? I thought they liked the NFL to win the Super Bowl. The housing bubble was a political creation? I thought a more basic function of human greed at every level, some just played it at a much higher level.

The United States has larger energy deposits than Saudi Arabia???? Do not believe all you read as that simply is not true relative to crude and the type of energy that moves the world. Sure we have some coal and some oil but more than Saudi Arabia? They have the capacity to pump up to 12 million barrels a day for generations! The Saudis are our trump card relative to pricing and Iran.

Wall Street loves money and the game wherein the game does not present too many unknown variables. Home ownership has been considered the American dream and was really fast forwarded after WWII when so many vets needed housing. An unhappy returning army is a dangerous thing. Home ownership is driven by peoples lust for stuff and the thought that homes always increased in value and thinking it was a piggy bank. Not sure how the gov played into this. I would buy Wall Street before the Government, as they made billions from it.

This is kinda fun for awhile and then I need to start doing real stuff for the day. So now the Internet is the source we are to trust for accuracy? LOL. What is this debate of following FDR or Reagan? Are we so shallow or were FDR & Reagan such Icons of economics, that there are only two choices of direction. Why not common sense and a NEW direction with NEW leadership?

@Mad Max who pondereth: "The real debate is do we want to continue on the path set by Reagan or FDR."

R E A G A N ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Greatest president of the Twentieth century!

R O O S E V E L T ? ? ? ? ? ? Only control freaks scheme to keep those incessantly failed, costly, demeaning, dictatorial, socialistic, unproductive, neo-Marxian, people-suppressing, anti-humane, duplistic, loony policies.

Of course, if you don't like Reagan, then you could always use the Kennedy tax cut model. Kennedy and Reagan did the same thing-cut taxes to reinvigorate the economy-it worked for both the Democrat and the Republican presidents.

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money to spend." Greece ran out of other people's money to spend and that's where the US is headed if we don't get a handle on it. Socialism doesn't work-European socialism is in the mist of collapsing at present. What more evidence do you need that socialism doesn't work?

Given the choice between FDR's socialism and Reagan's capitalism, the choice is obvious.

Hey Clark, I see you enjoy the kool-aid. Keep drinking, my friend.

Sully: "Richard, once again your understanding of history is so skewed it's laughable."

Sully disputes the fact that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, that the Klu Klux Klan was the terrorist arm of the Democrat Party, that Democrats enforced Jim Crow and that Democrats opposed civil rights legislation in the 1960's. . Sorry, those are historical facts.

It's also a fact that the worst public schools in the US are found in big cities controlled by, you guessed it, Democrats. Just a coincidence I guess.

I dispute the fact that today's republican and democratic parties are the same parties they were earlier in our history. Your view is as usual, so simplistic that it really isn't worth much of a response. When is that move to Florida, by the way? Better hurry. Winter's fast approaching.

Until 2008 incomes adjusted for inflation of the bottom 20%, heck, all income groups has increased practically every year. So the rich get richer & the poor get richer. I got this off of the internet so it must be true - http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/historical/household/index.html .

"deficits don't matter", but US Federal Debt as a percent of GDP does. Under Bush, it inched up, under Obama it skyrocketed. I do not blame the president nearly as much as Congress who actually voted for the deficits.

US manufacturing as percent of GDP has held steady at about 15% of GDP since 1947, yet manufacturing now employs about 1/2 as many people in the USA. Shouldn't we blame automation for our manufacturing job losses, not free markets?

factcheck.org says the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act has probably made the crisis less severe than it might otherwise have been. The measure passed the House 362 - 57, with 155 Democrats voting for the bill. The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 90 – 8. Among the Democrats voting for the bill: Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden.

Mr. Barbieri: I did a little research for you. This is from npr.org on October 22, 2011 (today). NPR is a liberal media outlet, so you can trust it.

"Two years ago, America was importing about two thirds of its oil. Today, according to the Energy Information Administration, it imports less than half. And by 2017, investment bank Goldman Sachs predicts the US could be poised to pass Saudi Arabia and overtake Russia as the world's largest oil producer."

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/09/25/140784004/new-boom-reshapes-oil-world-rocks-north-dakota

Yes, we have more energy resources that Saudi Arabia, thanks to new technology. It's time to say thank you to Exxon/Mobil and all those other oil companies that are ripping us off at the pump.

I'm not sure that a gallon of gasoline will ever be 15 cents a gallon again like it was in the 1960's, but the price of gasoline will be going down and we'll be free of the Middle East. No need to spend $30 thousand on an electric car.

Of course, Rich. The cause and effect are so obvious, right? That is, in your limited mind anyway. Do you ever question your lord god, rush?

donate - www.buildtheborderfence.com

"As a result, Obama has brought in more money from employees of banks, hedge funds and other financial service companies than all of the GOP candidates combined, according to a Washington Post analysis of contribution data. The numbers show that Obama retains a persistent reservoir of support among Democratic financiers who have backed him since he was an underdog presidential candidate four years ago."

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2011/10/21/guess_whos_still_raking_in_wall_street_campaign_cash

Sorry, Rich... my caustic posts? The truth if, if a decent, sane republican were running, Obama wouldn't have a chance, nor would he deserve it for being the weak, spineless president he as been thus far. Course it's kind of hard to get anything done when you have the opposition blocking every single thing you do just because you're dem, and not because it's the right thing to do. To hell with the country, just as long as republicans take over the white house. My "trashy" posts, Rich? Why, because I dare disagree with what you think you know? Sorry dude. You have no clue.

Actually Sully, there are a number of good candidates running for the Republican nomination for the presidency-Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann and Newt Gringrich. Anyone of these folks will be able to defeat President Obama at the polls and is fine with me. After giving this months of thought, I'm inclined to favor Newt Gringrich (since Sarah Palin is not running), at least at this point in time. Normally, I would prefer a governor or former governor.

Scary thoughts, I guess it is almost Halloween. I am all for electing a NEW president and administration, but having Sarah Palin for your first pick and Newt as your second is a scary thought particularly since I think you may be serious. Palin is a country bumkin that would be a disaster and embarrassment and fortunately she knew she had no chance at the nomination. Newt is a dinosaur like Mccain was and you left out the only actual likely candidate which is Romney or Perry. It seems likely that Perry and Cain will not stand the pressure of the media and therefore likely will not be the candidate. It is also likely that Obama will drop Biden in favor of Clinton, as he needed Biden the first time but not this time and if he were to win, the democrates would have a great chance with Clinton in 2016. Having said that, I think we need Obama who has had a real job for almost 4 years now, 1 as senator and 3 as president, back to community service which is a segment he is most likely better suited to. Don't get me wrong, he is bright and has had some success but economics, health care and financial reform are not among them.

"The study looks at factors that affect state prosperity and economic outlook, such as tax burdens and population change. What's clear is that red or red-leaning states dominate the top positions while blue states have the dubious distinction of dragging in last. In the economic outlook section, for example, the top 20 states are bright red or lean red, while eight out of the bottom 10 are very blue: New York, Vermont, California, Hawaii, New Jersey, Illinois, Oregon and Rhode Island."

"Why won't some of these blue-state fiscal basket cases learn the lesson that a state can't tax and spend its way to prosperity? Well, for one thing, many of them have been hoping for a federal bailout--and President Obama tried. A Wall Street Journal article points out that about $200 billion of the president's misnamed "jobs bill" was little more than a state bailout for teachers and construction workers."

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/10/red_states_rising.html

Richard, who was the president who first bailed out the banks? Who signed TARP into law? And gee, how terrible that Obama wants to help out America's infrastructure (education, construction projects by asking millionaires to fork out a whole $500 more a year. Just terrible. Pardon my mistrust of anything "American Thinker" has to say.

Palin isn't tainted with political corruption? Are you kidding? You really have no idea do you? Your ignorance really knows no bounds.

Sully: "And gee, how terrible that Obama wants to help out America's infrastructure (education, construction projects by asking millionaires to fork out a whole $500 more a year."

Sully, I assume you are joking-$500 additional per year? Perhaps you might want to redo your arithmetic. $500 per year isn't going to pay for an additional $400+ billion in spending-it won't even cover the interest payment. Try dividing $400 billion by $500. That would mean that there are 800 million milionaires and billionaires in the US-that's more than twice the population of the entire United States.

Now I am beginning to understand the problem-you can't even do arithmetic (with a calculator). No wonder spending trillions is no big deal to you-you have no idea what a trillion dollars means.

Okay Rich, if you must be so literal. An additional amount on top of the other proposals in order to keep teachers, police, firefighters, and construction workers employed. How dare millionaires be asked to contribute a little more to their country, despite the fact that most Americans agree with a tax hike on these so called job creators.

"The TEA party folks got it figured out and that's why the Democrats hate the the TEA party. The TEA party folks want to put an end to the money-laundering scheme."

That's hilarious, Richard, considering who's funding the tea party.

Richard, Richard, Richard... you are so misinformed I'd feel sorry for you if your weren't so obnoxious about it.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/biden-takes-senate-republicans-to-school-on-tiny-millionaires-surtax.php

The answer to your question? That would be the Koch brothers. Look 'em up.

How do we know we need more teachers, police, and firefighters? You really need an answer to that one?

They told us that the unemployment rate wouldn't exceed 8 percent if we passed the $800+ billion Stimulus Package in February 2009. They told us that the Stimulus Package would fund "shovel-ready" projects. They told us that Obamacare would "bend the cost-curve down". They told us we could keep our health insurance plan if we liked it. That told us 18 months ago that the economy was improving.

They told us that we had to pass the Obamacare bill to know what was in it.

Sully denied that the population of Chicago was decreasing and that it was the same now as in 1920. Sully told us the "millionaire tax" was only $500.

All of the above is false information. Why would you believe anything that Democrats say? Why would anybody believe what Sully says? He can't even use is full name.

“Former [Obama Administration] OMB director Peter Orszag came clean yesterday at the Financial Times Conference On The Future Of America, admitting that the Obama stimulus program in 2009 – a one shot $787 billion deal, was absolutely wrong in structure. It should have been invested in segments, and spread over time to keep the momentum on restoring growth. Orszag admitted this crucial mistake for which he is partly responsible … is what has given us this period of stagnation… High unemployment, low growth follows.”

Appearing on MSNBC this morning, Austan Goolsbee, former chair of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, said “he wouldn’t have backed the ‘cash for clunkers’ program or the home buyer tax credit passed in 2009 to stave off further economic distress.” Why? “Given it’s taken this long [to recover],” Dr. Goolsbee said, “I don’t think you would do that short-run stuff.” This revelation came just a day after President Obama insisted that “all the choices we’ve made have been the right ones.”

Well Rich, it's been fun, but now I must leave your fantasy world and return to the real one. As a functional adult with adult responsibilities, it's time to get off of fantasy island. BTW, the remarks regarding the stimulus did not refer to the stimulus itself being a failure, rather, the watered down version insisted on by the republicans was not effective. PS- good job changing the context or ignoring many of the issues brought up in previous posts. Excellent job of doing your best Fox commentators impression.

I miss Sully already!

Palin is not tainted by Government because she does not have a CLUE about it!

All of a sudden, we're learning about how terrible our public school facilities are. Sort of interesting that our school buildings are falling apart just in the last couple of months-like they weren't that way 4 months ago.

An excellent article about the link between the "Pass This Bill!" legislation and our public school buildings. They must really think we are stupid.

http://townhall.com/columnists/kyleolson/2011/10/24/union_case_for_jobs_bill_underscores_governments_ineptness

"Across the country, unionists infer that the money for public education has simply vanished. It’s absurd. The reality is America is continuing to spending more per student on education than at any other time in history. So where is it all going? Are the rats carrying bags of money away?

Of course not. What we’re witnessing is the cost of government education going up, largely due to union labor contracts. In addition to a negotiated raise, most employees also get a “step raise” – which means their pay goes up regardless of their effectiveness. Additionally, the cost of employee retirement and health care benefits are continuing to escalate, and many employees pay nothing toward those costs.

Simply put, revenue is not keeping pace with the expenses. So instead of dealing with the expenses – ie.their benefits and perks – the unions want to increase government revenues, even though thousands of taxpayers are suffering from the recession."

http://townhall.com/columnists/kyleolson/2011/10/24/union_case_for_jobs_bill_underscores_governments_ineptness

Again from NPR:

Governor Bobby Jindal, a conservative Republican, won re-election in Louisiana on Saturday with 66 percent of the vote. I'd say that was a landslide. It's hard to say that 66 percent of the voting public in Louisiana is Republican, so a whole lot of Democrats must have voted for the conservative governor too. The unemployment rate in Louisiana is 7.2 percent.

Will a similar landslide occur in the presidential election in 2012? If the Republican nominate an actual conservative, it is my opinion that the answer to that question is yes.

Governor Jindal is well liked on both sides of the aisle in Louisiana as the first non corrupt Governor since the Louisiana Purchase. He is intelligent, affable and young. I would bet he can even speak some Cajun! Any conservative will not do either in Louisiana or on the National ticket.
There are as many idiot conservatives as there are idiots Liberals! Your Palin for example! Although she could improve foreign relations, as Berlusconi thinks she is hot, I am thinking the Hotter Moroccan would win that tussle. Although, a gun toting Momma from the Alaska wilderness might entice the old man! Newt? Give us a break, what does he have a 4% following. Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich told a reporter to "go home" when asked about his fundraising numbers Thursday in Des Moines, as his debt-ridden campaign struggles to raise cash. Embarrassing revelations about having a six-figure revolving account at Tiffany's and taking a cruise with his wife to the Greek islands in late May have contributed to the perception of Gingrich as unserious and a spendthrift. Since then he has eschewed private planes for commercial flights. NPR, glad someone listens to it as I think my tax dollars support that and I too listened one time when I was in the middle of Nebraska driving and that was all that was on! If Obama dumps Biden and takes Clinton, it will be a very tough campaign! Only one Republican candidate stands a chance and that is Romney. Don't make me vote Obama again!!!!

Richard:

Here is your NPR: ENJOY LISTENING

Michele Norris, a co-host of the popular NPR program, "All Things Considered" is to temporarily step down from her hosting duties, as her husband has accepted a position with the Obama 2012 campaign.

Actually Richard, Mr. Barbieri is an international entrepreneur that has paid literally tens of millions in taxes, served as an Army Special Forces Officer and has only voted Democrat in a few races wherein the candidate was the better person. You see, I am Republican but I am not as shallow as to be limited by a label or to think I can only vote for a Republican. I vote for the person that I believe will contribute the most value. PS, I voted Bush twice :) However, in the last election it was clear that our 2 wars were carried out brilliantly initially, but unfortunately for our fighting men and women, deteriorated into the same uncertain end plan that we had in Vietnam. Give us a capital to capture, but do not ask us what to do after the fact. All governments need change and I believe a change of parties can be a positive thing for the country now and then.

Finally McCain, you would think an ex (Special Forces), guy would be all in, was a dinosaur that had not really done much, he picked an idiot for his running mate which showed that any choice was a better choice. Being white, I was proud that a black American was president in my lifetime, he just is not up to the job, black, white or green! We need a business guy who can make things happen and Romney is likely that guy. Perhaps he will even marry Cain or Perry to the ticket depending on how thing work out. Thinking that Obama and Clinton would make sense for the Democrats is nothing more than common sense It will be their strongest ticket and potentially give a path to the future. I hope it is the economy "Stupid" and that he will not get another term but if Newt or Palin were to run, so would I to the other ticket :)

Super, I am not sure that credentials matter, I just have never been called a democrat:) Anyway, I have businesses and kids to manage so I am out of here. LOL

Internationally known engineer, Richard? In your own head maybe. It's really funny that even your own sense of self is so warped. Wiped out Scheck's star witness? According to whom? You really believe these fantasies, don't you?

Sully told us he was too busy to post just yesterday, but here he is back again.

http://www.innocenceproject.org/docs/willingham/L_fm_Richard_Shulte_082510.pdf

You know what they say, Rich. All work and no play... Actually I'm taking a break to make my world famous fajitas. (Uh oh... maybe that makes me illegal. Mexican food, you know).

Oh regarding your little link there... Doesn't really seem to prove anything other than you disagree with the findings of several other experts who investigated the matter. Perchance that has something to do with your idolation of Rick Perry?

But I digress. This has nothing to do with the topic at hand. My apologies.

From the London Telegraph:

"Telegraph readers already know about the "shale gas revolution" that has turned America into the world’s number one producer of natural gas, ahead of Russia.

Less known is that the technology of hydraulic fracturing - breaking rocks with jets of water - will also bring a quantum leap in shale oil supply, mostly from the Bakken fields in North Dakota, Eagle Ford in Texas, and other reserves across the Mid-West.

"The US was the single largest contributor to global oil supply growth last year, with a net 395,000 barrels per day (b/d)," said Francisco Blanch from Bank of America, comparing the Dakota fields to a new North Sea.

Total US shale output is "set to expand dramatically" as fresh sources come on stream, possibly reaching 5.5m b/d by mid-decade. This is a tenfold rise since 2009."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8844646/World-power-swings-back-to-America.html

Right Rich. You weren't invited to do anything with that case. You interjected on your own. And you were discarded. And fracking? In other words, to hell with the environmental damage it does and also to hell with the people in the area who are affected health-wise. No surprise there Rich.

Oh Rich.., you caught me. Yes all, I AM Joseph Biden, vice president of the United States. I was sent here to discredit Mr. Schulte because he just cannot be fooled and we don't want him telling the rest of the world what he knows. We've tried and tried, but nothing we do seems to work. He's just too smart. All I can say is, thank God he doesn't run for president. All the corruption, wasteful spending, and lies would immediately desist. Richard, please don't tell the people that our country's infrastructure is really in top shape and that there really aren't any poor or hungry people out on our streets. And Lordy, don't tell them climate change is all a hoax or that the environment is really not in danger at all from pollution or anything else we may throw at it. And definitely don't tell them that Barak was really born in Kenya and was smuggled into the country to take over for the Muslim Brotherhood. Thanks buddy- I know I can count on you.

I guess I was wrong about Sully actually being the VP. The real VP would have mentioned all the rapes and murders that will occur if the evil Republicans don't pass the Jobs Bill.

Vote for us if you're against rape and murder. That's a catchy slogan. They need a new slogan-Hope and Change ain't going to work for them in the 2012 campaign

Note the difference between the Democrat Party's approach to improving the economy and the opposition party.

Herman Cain and Rick Perry have both come out with plans to reform the tax code and grow the economy through the private sector and putting unemployed folks back to work. President Obama's Jobs Bill proposes to spend money in the public sector (and increase taxes on the private sector to pay for it).

Essentially, the difference between the two parties come down to this-the private sector vs. the public sector. Do we want to grow the public sector or do we want to grow the private sector?

The State of Rhode Island is a good example of where politicians chose to grow the public sector. Now Rhode Island taxpayers are the hook for a trillion dollars of debt. It would appear that there will be a mass exodus from Rhode Island or Rhode Island will default on its pension obligations.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/10/rhode_island_looking_more_and_more_like_greece.html

Be careful what you ask for-you might just get it.

Hey Rich, maybe you should forget about Florida and head to Canada instead. I'm still waiting for Obama to take away everybody's guns and put people in secret internment camps. You guys said he was going to do that, so when is it going to happen. He's been in office for three years. What's the hold up?

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-renew-america-columnist-warn-obama-will-seize-dictatorial-power-through-your-tv

Let's talk about reality, Richard. My comment was tongue-in-cheek. But as usual, you wouldn't understand.

Right...

So Rich- help me out here buddy. I'm going to guess you're somewhere in your early to mid fifties. Still capable of working a full time job and aiding the economy. So how does one as talented as yourself have so much time to post on the Patch? You may notice (or not) that I do a majority of my posts at night or on the weekends. That's because I work, and therefore, pay taxes. I buy things to help put money out there. i pay relatively high taxes so that this country doesn't go broke and can provide for its citizens. All of it's citizens, Rich, not just the top 1 percent. What do you do, Rich?

Hey -
I'm just a by-stander on this one.....but kudos to Richard for voicing his opinion under his real and full name.

And if this published comment/quote is from you, Richard, it answers Sully's question.
FROM AUGUST 31, 2009: "But there were also many vocal dissenters such as Richard Schulte, an Evanston resident who said he feared "socialized medicine."
"I think the United States has the best health-care system in the world," said Schulte, a self-employed engineering consultant who said he currently has no health insurance. "The public option is going to eliminate private insurers."

I miss Forest's posts! Come back, Forest!

Thank you for your input, Jennifer, however, that does not answer my question. I'm self-employed too.

"The Republican Alternative

Last week, Senate Republicans led by Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced the Republican jobs plan, the Jobs Through Growth Act. House Republicans have already supported or even passed several components of that plan."

The plan overall includes 28 components likely to create an overall economic boom if enacted. There's your Republican alternative, President Obama. "

http://townhall.com/columnists/peterferrara/2011/10/26/obamas_alinskyesque_jobs_plan/page/2

The Obama jobs program (more unemployment):

"HOW'S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN' OUT FOR YA? (CONT'D): 205 to lose jobs after Piper decides to mothball Altaire jet program.

So Obama bashes private jets, private jet sales then plummet, now a bunch of jet-making workers lose their jobs. Hope and change!"

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/10/obamas_stimulus_failagain.html

Richard:

I cannot believe I am still involved in this somewhat redundant and most certainly rediculous dialog at this point! UNFORTUNATELY, my email is inundated with Patch Posts! Just wanted to say do not fret about the poor private jet workers! First of all, usage of private jets is up not down and secondly, as you can read above, Newt is keeping them busy:)

Wow Rich- you da man! I had no idea just how prominent you are. Golly, I think I may swoon over how great you truly are. I sure wish I could get published in Plumbing Engineer. I now worship the ground you walk on. All hail King Richard.

Hey Rich- any clown can get published. Hell, even little ole me has been. And quoted in an article? Really? That's makes you... what?

Oh I'm sorry. What do you do NOW? This is 2011, not 2002.

This is an explanation for Mr. Barbieri's statement that if Romney is not the Republican nominee, he will vote for Obama:

"The MSM, on the other hand, is orders of magnitude smarter than the Republican establishment, and rightly recognizes that a Romney nomination, at a stroke, would suck all the energy out of the Party and create the best possible scenario for an Obama victory."

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/the_premature_coronation_of_romney.html

"Continue looking carefully, and positively, at Cain, Gingrich, and Perry. All three are very much alive, and each is a highly credible and qualified conservative candidate behind whom the overwhelmingly conservative Republican Party could enthusiastically unite and whom those same voters could carry to victory."

Demcrats want the opposition party to nominate Romney because Romney is as popular in the Republican Party as dishwater.

Governor Bobby Jindal (conservative Republican) from Louisiana who won re-election with 65 percent of the vote (in the election held on 10/22/11) on the 2012 presidential election:

"Republicans don't do well, Jindal says, "when we are not consistent with our principles." The coming election, he adds, needs to offer a clear choice between "a permanent central government in Washington and a conservative approach" that will achieve what everyone says must be done -- Social Security and Medicare reform, a transformed tax code and smaller government. He calls November 2012 a "tipping point election." "

http://townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/2011/10/27/bobby_jindals_triumph

And now you know why Democrats want Romney. Romney is none of what Governor Jindal thinks we need in a nominee and Jindal is correct. We need a clear choice between a bigger government liberal and a smaller government conservative-let America make the choice on which way to go.

Again, I will say that I intend to vote for the best candidate. I happen to think that Romney is well qualified and could really care less if he is a conservative or liberal Republican, Mormon or Baptist as I care only if the guy is capable of handling the job and moving us forward. Having said that, I will reiterate that Perry & Cain are still in the running and it would not be out of the question that 2 of the 3 could be the ticket in any order, if they can stand the media attention and do not tweet photo's:)

I do not want to vote Obama. However, an Obama/Clinton ticket would be a tough ticket and if a lessor Republican ticket were offered with some dinosaur, Newt, or Idiot, Palin were on it, I would have an easy choice as I do not pick the choices but I do have a choice on which person I want in office versa the opponent.

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offered his solution to the debt ceiling problem:

"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.

*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*_

1. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are voideffective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.

Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.

Time to OCCUPY Congress!!!!!

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

President Obama's new student loan program (from the Atlantic Monthly):

"The monthly impact of the president's new effort for most Americans paying off college debt will be between $4 and $8"

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/10/obamas-student-loan-action-wont-have-much-impact/247411/

Thanks for your help Mr. President.

More pension fraud. . . your tax dollars hard at work.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/27/usa-railroad-fraud-idUSN1E79Q0TY20111027

Mr. Biden, that's how our tax dollars are being used. Time to get rid of all gov't pensions and go to a self-funded retirement system.

Of course Richard. Your answer above is very believable. So using email also allows you to read all the propaganda sites you read and post comments incessantly day after day. Sure- that's plausible.

Oh yes, a bunch of conservative talking heads with a collective IQ of 99. That is impressive, Rich. With you on board, I suppose that IQ soars to about 106.

Please, Rich. Neither side holds an advantage on intelligence. You're going to have the same normative distribution, so that argument is simply to justify YOUR belief that YOU know more than anyone else. If it makes you feel better, go ahead and believe that. I won't stop you. But the fact that you take at face value every single thing Rush, Hannity, Malkin, et al say, I must question your ability to think anything out on a deeper level. The three of them alone say some of the most absurd things ever spoken in the English language that it makes me wonder how any educated analytically thinking adult can accept that hogwash as real.

A little on the law that's holding the US economy back. Based upon this poll, it would seem that the US Senate should vote to approve the House bill (approved in February 2011) to repeal Obamacare and send the bill to the President. If the President is really interested in putting unemployed Americans back to work, he would sign the repeal bill.

"Only 34% of Americans now support Obamacare, according to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation monthly tracking poll. The previous low was 39% back in August of this year. The law's popularity peaked at 50% in July of 2010. A bare majority, 51%, now have an unfavorable view of the law, the highest percentage ever."

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2011/10/28/wow_george_will_savages_mitt_romney

This article also addresses Mitt Romney's candidacy. It refers to Mitt Romney as the Michael Dukakis of the 2012 election.

Rich, if ignorance is bliss you should be the happiest man on Earth. However, since your ignorance is based on misplaced anger, fear, and misinformation, I doubt that is the case. Perhaps adding teachers, policemen, firefighters, and other public workers to the ranks of the unemployed would bring you some much needed relief.

By the way, dems oppose Obama's healthcare plan more because it doesn't go far enough. It never did and that was known from the beginning. Obama weakened it as much as he could to try to compromise with the repubs, but compromise is not possible under this group. Obama was and is a fool to believe it ever was. His lack of backbone and his embrace of corporate America (along with republican obstructionism) are the reasons he has not been the president he could have been.

IMHO, O squandered opportunities and sold his very base out time and time again. A glaring example is the dropping of the Public Option in HCR. We, as a people, thru our representatives, have given away way too much in HCR without getting a Public Option - a way for the people to express their support and vote with their feet to move AWAY from the corrupt, decripid private for-profit health insuance scam WHILE GIVING AWAY A WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY TO CONTROL HEALTH CARE COSTS.

I will take every opportunity to expresss my disappointment and disgust at O. His squandering of the opportunities to win the republican support has cost the majority of the people. He has moved too far right for my liking and I am thinking Romney may not be bad alternate to O since he will move left to gain the democrats' support - AS LONG AS THERE IS ATLEAST A DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE, IF NOT BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS !

I agree with you Max. If there were a sane republican running in 2012, i'd most likely just not vote, but with some of the nuts in the hunt now, that would be hard for me to do. (I might like Romney a little better had he not taken a cross-country drive with his family with the dog strapped in on top of the car like a piece of luggage!).

So Rich, you think for-profit insurers give a damn about their clients? A bureaucrat who knows nothing about medicine is going to always do what's best for you? Because that's what you're saying. And your little example of Max? That's what you believe when you buy the propaganda you listen to. As I said with respect to the gun issue, you guys keep saying these things over and over and over again, yet they have not happened. It's 2011 and you still have your guns. At what point to you figure out you are not being given the truth by your right wing pundits?

A lot of propaganda that you continue to fall for Rich. A right winger's wet dream you are (please pardon my language, but it seems fitting). There's no response to you Rich because your comments are just so pathetically foolish.

Richard/Sully/Max/forest/etc. -

2 questions:
1. After 170 comments of back and forth ranting, aren't you all kind of exhausted?
2. You guys might have more in common than you think. Is it Pollyannaish for me to suggest that you try to find 1 thing you agree upon?

I'm just fascinated by the # of posts and the emotion. It's like watching an MTV "reality show" play out on the Patch.com.

In a way your comments. (Richard-Max-Sully-Forest).are indicative of the problems in our country today. You take positions, name call and basically look foolish trying to demean each other. All this while acomplishing nothing The name calling and inanae sarcassim totally negates anything you may had said with any value. Basically all of your comments have been pathetically foolish.

"The problem in America today is not the discourse above, but the lack of interest in politics by most Americans."

Prove it.

And I feel that letting the misinformation that Richard continues to post go unchallenged is what has created the polarization that has hit this country since Reagan deregulated the media. We get one side peddling outright lies to suit their purposes while the other side does nothing about it. All these "sources" Richard uses to prove his point have one thing in common- they are all right wing, corporate sponsored, republican shills.

Eva, I'm curious- did you attend any Occupy Chicago events?

George Will:

"Republicans may have found their Michael Dukakis, a technocratic Massachusetts governor who takes his bearings from "data". . . who believes elections should be about (in Dukakis's words) "competence," not "ideology."

In other words, Mitt Romney would be a competent manager of the bloated Federal Government. That's not what we need at this point in history. We need radical change, not someone who will just manage the bankruptcy of the United States.

Richard, I am all for free press, free speech, etc. It is misleading propaganda via Drudge, Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Malkin, and the like that I find dangerous, offensive, and plain false. They have one purpose in mind- scare the people and build their anger. Scare them regarding anything "different"- the black man, the foreigners, the socialists and communists, the internment camps, the death panels, (not to mention taking their guns away)... Nothing based on reality; simply get enough people scared and angry and use their emotion as a weapon. It's as simple as that. It's worked perfectly on you.

I don't want to ask unpleasant question, but is the condition of Illinois, Chicago, Cook County and Evanston the result of the good work of liberal Democrats?

And again Rich, wherever you're getting your info regarding the health of those states, I'm afraid it's false. If the shenanigans in Wisconsin were exactly the same under dems, you'd be apoplectic.

Jim, I've never stated I approve of Chicago politics. I can't stand Emanuel and the fact that Obama wanted him on his staff was a huge red flag. Emanuel is hardly liberal, though. Illinois politics is a joke, just like so many other states. It doesn't matter which letter is behind their names. Pols. are pols. and in it for themselves and their buddies.

With all due respect, our current political and cultural mess didn't start yesterday. It is many bad decisions and choices piled on one another without regard for consideration 0f unforseen consequences. Eventually, social cohesion comes undone and you are all back to an outhouse and growing your own food ( in which case you probably will need a gun just like every farmer did in times gone by)

Relative to Obama, anyone who wants to understand him shoulkd read Cloward-Piven, Jon Rawls and if you want to understand Chicago Politics (including Emmanuel) read Mark Russo's "Supermob".

I am well aware of the past's impact on the present. I agree with you, Jim. Nothing happens in isolation. Years and years of bad policy and partisan politics cannot be fixed overnight. Until there are changes in election laws (the most notable for the time being, the ultra conservative "Citizen's United" Supreme Court ruling), elections will continue to be paid for and bought by corporate interests. In addition, lobbyists must not be afforded so much access and power in Washington because at this point, THEY are the ones influencing out leaders. Our government doesn't serve the people. It exists for the corporations.

one of my daughters is a candidate for the city council in a large American city. There is not a corporate interest in sight in her district. It is all unions, both candidates and money. The point is that an ordinary person doesn't stand much of a chance without either union money or corporate money.

Well at least we have term limits in Illinois; one term in office and one term in prison.

The answer in Illinois, Chicago and Evanston will be apparent in another few years when the effects of out-migration kick in. Illinois has lost billions in income and tax revenue over the past ten years and will continue to do so, leaving those least likely to be able to support the state. Then the politicians who ruined the place will all be in Arizona and Florida and no one will remember who ruined the place. Too bad. For a pretty good factual snapshot, checkout this Illinois Policy Institute study based on IRS data. http://illinoispolicy.org/uploads/files/Migration1-12.pdf

Marginalization of one's opponents (and destruction of them) was defined by Saul Alinskky as name calling, ridicule and lying if necessary. Who taught Saul Alinsky his "rules"? Frank Nitti did. Nitii was Al Capone's master organizer of just about every money making orgabization in Chicago and later in Los Angeles and New York.
That probably says something about the current "Chicago way". It would seem that it is not popular to discuss the content of ideas but only the "perspective" of the discussion.

Richard, you are so terribly mistaken in everything and there is absolutely no getting through your ignorance. You believe what you are told by every right wing pundit under the sun. You go ahead big guy. Feel secure. Maybe one day you'll learn. Probably not, but hey, a sucker's born every minute. That will always be the case. If I had about 36 straight hours I'd be happy to refute, with proof, every point you have mistakenly made. If you want to brag that I'm just ducking you because I have no facts, go ahead. Make yourself feel better if you need to. I don't have the time or inclination to waste more words on you.

"Reversing Illinois’s out-migration problem requires an understanding of why residents
are leaving. . . .In economic terms, out-migrants are expressing their “revealed preferences” by moving to another state more in-line with their preferences and values. . . "

"Keep in mind that Illinois’s comparative disadvantage in tax burden will soon widen with Governor Pat Quinn vowing to sign a 67% increase to the Illinois income tax."

"People are most inclined to move to states with lower taxes (especially estate taxes), lower union membership, lower population density, lower housing cost and warmer weather. . .The data shows that people and their incomes are leaving Illinois for states that fit most or all of these characteristics. Florida in particular stands out.
But it is notable that Illinois lost taxpayers to each of its border states: Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and Kentucky."

Leaving Illinois An exodus of people and money January 12, 2011

“After years of historic deficits, this new Congress will commit itself to a higher standard: pay as you go, no new deficit spending. Our new America will provide unlimited opportunity for future generations, not burden them with mountains of debt.” — Nancy Pelosi during the gavel acceptance speech, January 2007

Sorry, but it's almost Halloween and I thought we all needed something really scary. Couldn't think of anything scarier than Speaker Pelosi. Boo!

"Millions Still Without Coverage: One of the goals of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [Obamacare] was increasing health care coverage for Americans. However, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that 23 million people will be uninsured even with the new law. "

http://www.heritage.org/research/factsheets/obamacare-hurting-those-who-need-health-care-the-most

Wow this just keeps on going! Ok let us clear up the Europe thing as I have indeed lived and conducted business there for many years. Europe is not more sophisticated than America in anyway. It is however, different in many ways. For example, Americans live to work while Europeans work to live. Europeans tend to have different social values on several levels and Europeans tend to think in terms that are beneficial to them and not necessarily to us.
Greece is not Europe per se and in modern times has never been a rich country. They should never have been allowed into the Euro Zone in the first place. Their issues are broad based financially and this has a dramatic effect on a struggling populace that again, has different values and a very different work and social environment than us. Europe would love to let them go but unfortunately it creates a domino effect within the union. Greeks do not want to tighten their belts and become poorer because of their government and the EU dictating that they must. They will likely vote no and the government will fall along with the market, until they bite the bullet with much encouragement and a few back door deals. Even China and Russia would be hesitant to invest in Greece without the EU taking responsibility for the money given.

Part 2
Economic destruction is far from an Illinois issue as evidenced by the above comments on Greece. In today’s world a hiccup on one side of the world is felt everywhere. Our issues are not easy either but we are still viewed as the safe haven, sans the Swiss Franc. However, the flip side of that is in every difficult situation there is opportunity. Right now Ireland, Spain, Italy and the USA are providing opportunities for those bold and able to wade into those economies.
We need help from our government and we need to reorganize the financial system with controls to allow an even playing field as believe me, those that made fortunes off of the mortgage market are still making fortunes. REIT's are hot right now! We have a government unwilling and unable to make those changes because they have sold out to donors. I believe Buffett said to end the issue in 5 minutes, just do not let anyone run another time if we are in a deficit.
I will vote for the person(s) that I feel will be able to make a difference and if that is to choose between 2 evils, I will make the best decision I can. Listen, our brightest and best are not running for or running the government! They are making money! I cannot vote for someone just because they are a "republican" or "democrat." Actually, I am starting to like Huntsman :)

Canada is a very small country that is not an extension of the USA. Their issues are VERY different and thier way of handling is different. You also have a population the size of California and again, a much different social and financial structure than the USA. They also can effect their economy with Oil and Natural Gas. Their goal is to balance their budget in 2014. By cutting government expenses by 4 Billion Dollars! How many days does it take the USA to spend 4 Billion Dollars on our wars? Asking Canada to run the USA is like asking palin how she views foreign policy! We have Trillion Dollar problems not a 4 billion dollar problem! Go get a starbucks and smell the coffee:)

This information is from the Huffington Post:

"This year's math scores are the highest to date since 1990, when the test was first administered. But the scores remain dismal: Only 40 percent of fourth graders and 35 percent of eighth-grade students are performing at or above a level defined as "proficient." In reading, despite average scores reaching a similar peak, only 34 percent of students in both grades were rated "proficient." "

"The Obama administration has increased Department of Education spending by 40% annually since taking office."

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/11/obamas_gets_a_failing_grade_on_education.html#ixzz1cYLOY0Eq

More Federal spending on education hasn't improved our schools. What's wrong with America's public schools?

We could reduce Federal spending on schools to 2008 levels and we would get the same results. There's a big budget cut that would do no harm (except to those who are the recipients of the Federal windfall profits in education).

Why aren't taxpayers demanding that our children actually get an education in our public schools? It's time to "blow up" the entire education system in the US and replace it with a system that actually serves our children, not the adults who work in the system.

"The Heritage Foundation explains that, unless we increase taxes drastically, “spending on Medicare, Medicaid and the Obamacare subsidy program, and Social Security will consume all revenues by 2049. Because entitlement spending is funded on autopilot, no revenue will be left to pay for other government spending, including constitutional functions such as defense.” "

http://townhall.com/columnists/richtucker/2011/11/02/careful_where_you_point_that_finger

No money for roads and bridges. No money for research. No money for anything, but these 4 programs. That's only 37 years from now.

You may not be around to see that day, but what about your children?

Is this the kind of America that we want to live in? Sounds like Greece to me.

Richard,

Parent(s) who are concerned about the school system have two inexpensive tools at their disposal; reading to their children every day and using the kahnacademy.org for math. Of course the parents have to be motivated. Very simple.

I hate to gloomy about the future but it might be too late for theUSA. to a certain extent it is a severe principle-agent problem with both the principles and the agents being corrupt. I smell trouble brewing.

". . .Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) speech on "Saving the American Idea" at the Heritage Foundation on October 26, 2011:

"The American Idea is not tried in times of prosperity. Instead it is tested when times are tough: when the pie is shrinking, when businesses are closing, and when workers are losing their jobs... That's when the temptation to exploit fear and envy returns - when many in Washington use the politics of division to evade responsibility for their failures and advance their own narrow political interests."

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/capitalism_in_crisis_surely_you_jest.html#ixzz1ca6xE3kI

It's about jobs. . . .

"Dear President Obama and Congress:

Put the Gulf back to work today. Last year’s temporary moratorium on deepwater drilling and continued slowed permitting have forced nearly 20,000 Americans across the nation out of work – from rig workers and tugboat operators to truckers and farmers, and thousands in between. Moreover, stalled development of our critical energy resources threatens another 380,000 jobs nationally and has driven up gasoline and diesel prices as the Gulf of Mexico moratorium and permit freeze force consumers to rely increasingly on overseas oil.

If Washington wants to restore our economy, it needs to start in America’s own backyard. Open the Gulf."

http://g04.openthegulf.net/

Sounds like a plan to me. The cost to the US Treasury for this plan-$0. In fact, putting Americans back to work in the Gulf will increase revenue to the Treasury.

Putting Americans back to work and increasing gov't revenue at the same time-why didn't somebody in Washington think of this (a year ago)?

What are we waiting for?

Hmmm... what's this?

Oh go ahead- spin.

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=112281&rss=true

Sully, I read the article to which you referred. Rather than just reading the headline, you might want to read the entire article.

"President Barack Obama announced in May that his administration would grant one-year extensions to certain companies operating in the deep waters of the Gulf. The goal was to give oil companies additional time to drill on their offshore leases following a moratorium on deepwater activity that lasted from May to October 2010.

The typical deepwater lease is 10 years."

Note the use of the words "certain companies" above.

The article documents interference by the Obama Administration in the drilling business in the Gulf.

Thank you for making my case. As I said previously, Sully is involved in a disinformation campaign-the term "disinformation" is a polite word for lying.

"Nearly 15% of the U.S. population relied on food stamps in August, as the number of recipients hit 45.8 million.

Food stamp rolls have risen 8.1% in the past year, the Department of Agriculture reported, though the pace of growth has slowed from the depths of the recession."

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/11/01/some-15-of-u-s-uses-food-stamps/?mod=wsj_share_twitter

45.8 million Americans using food stamps-life in America under the Obama Administration. When is the Obama Administration actually going to start addressing the recession, rather than making it worse?

Right, Richard, right.

The ultimate in socialism:

"Cuba's government employs more than 80 percent of the workers in the island's command economy, paying wages of just $20 a month in return for free education and health care, and nearly free housing, transportation and basic foods. Castro has said repeatedly that the system is not working since taking over from his brother Fidel in 2008, but he has vowed that Cuba will remain a socialist state."

Sounds like heaven on earth. I wonder if Sully lives in Cuba-probably not, but I'm sure that he would like to bring the Cuban economy to the United States. Free health care in Cuba and $20 a month-that's what we call living high on the hog. Can't wait.

Maybe the President could bring the Cuban economy to the US by executive order-no need to get those evil Republicans involved.

(Yawn).... Oh, I'm sorry Richard. Did you say something?

The record:

"Total U.S. government debt was $10.6 trillion on Jan. 20, 2009, the day Obama was inaugurated. By this week, the U.S. debt had increased $4.4 trillion to $15.0 trillion in total.

When Obama took office, the unemployment rate was 7.8 percent; by the beginning of last month, it was 9.1 percent. This represents 14 million people unemployed. Another 9.3 million are employed part-time who would like to be employed full-time, and there are an additional million people who have given up looking for a job. Total unemployed, underemployed and discouraged workers equals 25 million Americans.

There were almost 46 million people receiving food stamps at the end of October, up from 32 million when Obama took office.

According to a U.S. Census Bureau release on Sept. 13: "The nation's official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent, up from 14.3 percent in 2009. ... There were 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010 ... the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published." "

Jackie Gringrich Cushman

http://townhall.com/columnists/jackiegingrichcushman/2011/11/03/one_year_countdown

Obamanomics is poverty-nomics. O.B.A.M.A.-One Big Ass Mistake America. One more year of this train-wreck.

Pictures from Occupy Oakland:

http://michellemalkin.com/

Makes you proud to be a communist, doesn't it Sully. Thank God for the 2nd Amendment.

Gosh I'm really flattered that you think of me so often, Rich. The truth is though, I'm already in a relationship. I'm so sorry.

"To test socialism versus capitalism, we would have to take one or more countries with similar social and physical characteristics and divide them in half. After assigning a different economic system to each country, we would then sit back for fifty years and observe what happens.

But this experiment has already been performed through an accident of history. We know the answer. At the close of World War II, Germany and Korea were divided into socialist and market economies. Socialism failed dramatically. East Germany had to build the Berlin Wall just to keep people from fleeing. North Korea is still in the stone age. A satellite photo taken at night shows South Korea ablaze with the light of civilization. But North Korea is dark, both literally and metaphorically."

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/does_america_deserve_obama.html#ixzz1cjPYY2zh

Signs at occupyoakland:

"Death to Capitalism"
"Capitalism killed my rights"
"Fight Directly for Communism" "International Communist Workers Party"
"Capitalism Must Go" "Party for Socialism and Liberation"
"Anti-Capitalist March"
"Redistribution or Revolution"

President Obama and Nancy Pelosi said they support the occupy protests.

"In contrast to Wisconsin, Illinois raised income taxes and sales taxes 66 percent and 46 percent respectively this year but still has not closed the state’s budget deficit that started at $15 billion.

The state [Illinois] still faces about an $8 billion shortfall, including $8 billion in unpaid bills. The state also has unfunded pension liabilities of close to $80 billion, the largest deficit in the country. That’s not bankruptcy; it’s much, much worse: It’s Greece."

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2011/11/04/gov_scott_walker,_grown-up,_spanks_occupy_chicago_children

Wisconsin has a balanced budget thanks to Governor Walker's reforms. And now you know the difference between Republicans and Democrats-balanced budgets vs. spend, spend, tax and spend some more.

Oh, Sully. You are a heartbreaker indeed.

I tried to be gentle.

November 3, 2006:

Nancy Pelosi: "While we are glad there is some good news for the American people, this jobs report does not fundamentally change the fact that President Bush's handling of the economy is not good for America's middle-income families," Pelosi charged in a statement released after the Labor Department put out its October numbers.

"The President has the worst jobs record since the Great Depression, and the economy is slowing due to the housing slump. The budget and trade deficits as well as public debt levels have all climbed to record levels," Pelosi said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,227390,00.html#ixzz1cpomeIZG

"Pelosi was not to be outdone, however, firing back at the president who she claimed had "the worst jobs record since the Great Depression," in spite of Friday's news that the October jobless rate fell to 4.4 percent, the lowest it has been in more than five years."

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2011/11/04/october_unemployment_rate_90_percent

4.4 percent unemployment in 2006.

Do you miss me yet? Yes, we do Mr. President.

How did you do it? That's easy-tax cuts for everybody that pays taxes.

Golly. Joe Biden first, now a communist. You certainly are easily threatened, aren't you, Rich? And revisionist history to boot. Please, keep up the entertainment. I love your fictional recreations!

Communitst? Living on the north shore? Sully, is your family aware of this?

They are being wisked away to Moscow as we speak. Now that we've been discovered, I'll have to enter the witness protection program and begin anew. Well, I always knew it couldn't last.

Well, it was really just a matter of time before a real American was to expose your true nature. For shame, Sully. For shame...

Da.

"The first things a totalitarian gov't does is to take away the guns from its citizens.", yet three years in, you still have your guns, Rich. Maybe that should give you a clue that ya can't believe everything you hear. But what am I thinking? That would require actual thought. Sorry, my mistake. Oh, and you not feeling threatened? Yeah, you do. Scared to death as a result of the scare tactics used by your heroic right wing media. Job well done, Rush!

Komrade Sully: ""The first things a totalitarian gov't does is to take away the guns from its citizens.", yet three years in, you still have your guns, Rich.

Yes, that is correct, thanks to the United States Supreme Court (and the Founding Fathers who were wise enough to include the 2nd Amendment in the Bill of Rights).

Note the Obama Administration's involvement in "Fast and Furious". Just what was "Fast and Furious" all about? Gun control. Also note the Obama Administration's support of the International Treaty on Weapons at the United Nations recently. What's that about?-more gun control.

Our Founding Fathers were very wise men. See above for Thomas Jefferson's quote regarding the need for a revolution every 20 years or so to maintain our freedom. That's what the 2nd Amendment is all about-maintaing our freedom from a tyrannical goverment.

Note the President using executive orders instead of going to Congress and asking permission to spend additional funds. A president who believed in the rule of law would not be issuing executive orders, but would be going to Congress.

The Administration lost the 2010 election in a landslide. The Republican Congress was specifically elected to obstruct the President's reckless spending and that is what they are doing. Note that Senate Democrats also oppose the President's new "Jobs Bill". The Jobs Bill can't even get through the Democrat Senate. Democrats are obstructing the President.

Ooh... no other president has ever issued executive orders or made recess appointments, have they, Rich? And you said a totalitarian government, but Obama still hasn't incorporated this change. What's the hold up? What is he waiting for??? Where are the internment camps, Rich? And this 'landslide' you keep referring to? The landslide was nothing more than too many people not voting. Now they've seen the consequences of that, but it's too late. If the repubs. have their way, so many eligible voters will be kept from the voting in 2012 that we're assured yet again of a small turnout with democrats being the ones left out. I hardly expect you to understand that though, Rich, so don't worry. Don't waste your time trying to prove the untruths perpetuated by the republican party. You don't have to prove to me how easily misled you are. I already know.

The most recent poll taken on the popularity of the TEA party was 6 days ago in Colorado-it was a state-wide poll of all voters. The tax increase proposal was defeated by a margin of 2 to 1. TEA: taxed enough already.

2 to 1. I'd say that the TEA party message of Taxed Enough Already is very popular, at least in Colorado.

What happened to my links, Rich? Were they too threatening for you?

Of course, Rich, of course. By the way, when did this become the United States of Colorado? And just push polls, right? Sure thing Richard. It must be tough for you living in such isolation. That fantasy world just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Oh golly. I guess you got me Richard. Amazing that I keep learning all these new things I had no idea about myself. I guess i'm an atheist too. Golly gee whiz.

Here we go again. The Obama Administration is taking their sweet old time approving the proposed oil pipeline between Canada and Texas-more jobs lost.

Here we go again. The most simplistic poster on Patch. Richard, do you ever think before you say these things? No, obviously not. It's much easier to believe and hear what you want rather than to put any real effort into the process. Adios amigo. You ceased being funny. Now you're just pathetic.

Ahhh- there's that humor I've grown to love! Thanks Rich!

What happened to your previous favorites- Palin, Bachmann, Perry, and Cain?

Yep- all Obama's fault...

http://front.moveon.org/ever-wonder-what-the-top-1-makes-heres-your-horrifying-answer/?rc=fb.fan

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/opinion/the-senate-puts-millionaires-before-jobs.html

I'm sure you won't read these Rich. You'll probably have this deleted. The truth is hard for you. I understand.

Another Obama screw-up:

"Now comes another study and its conclusions aren't surprising. Washington Post:

"So were the naysayers right? It seems so. A newly updated analysis from economists at Resources for the Future finds that the actual benefits of the program were pretty meager. The paper examined U.S. car sales using trends in Canada as a control group, and estimated that about 45 percent of cash-for-clunker vouchers went to consumers who would have bought new cars anyway. In the end, the program boosted U.S. vehicle sales by just 360,000 in July and August of 2009 and provided no stimulus thereafter. What's more, the program increased average fuel economy in the United States by just 0.65 miles per gallon.

Now, there's a case to be made that that's better than nothing. For one, handing $3,500 vouchers to people who would've bought cars anyway still counts as stimulus. What's more, as the RFF paper found, the program reduced overall U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions by between 9 million and 28.4 million tons. But even so, that implies that it cost between $91 and $288 per ton to get those reductions - a pretty lousy bargain as far as carbon policy goes. . . ."

Of course we know that the Washington Post is an extreme right-wing newspaper. Oh, wait, I'm wrong about that. Even the Democrats at the Washington Post has figured it out.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/11/a_final_word_on_the_cash_for_clunkers_program.html#ixzz1d3rK9iLX

What the chart shows Richie, is that the top 1 percent's average income has risen from just over $400,000 in 1980 to $1,137,684 in 2008, while the bottom 90 percent's has stagnated at about $31,244 during the same time period. But what the hell- it's only 90 percent, right Rich? Oh, Moveon didn't publish this report. It just reprinted it.

Komrade, I forgotten more than you will ever know. The statistics which you cite above have been debunked on Townhall or on Human Events-forgotten which, or perhaps it was both. I'm not going to bother finding the article-you can read Townhall or Human Events and find it for yourself. I believe it was either Jon Ransom or Mike Shedlock who shredded your argument, or perhaps it was both of these two gentlemen.

What the statistics cited above don't address is income mobility in a capitalist society. With socialism, either everybody is poor (for example Cuba, North Korea, the Soviet Union, China) or you stay where you were born (European socialism).

The "problem" to which you refer is made worse by the Democrat socialist programs, like housing assistance, welfare, food stamps, etc., etc. These types of assistance take away one's self-respect and make people think that they can't do things on their own and that the only way they can survive is with gov't assistance-nonsense.

Those gov't assistance programs are all about buying votes with other people's money. They don't help the recipients (except those who are disabled).

Oh Rich, you crack me up. So YOUR sources are the only reliable ones. Sure thing. Okay, I tire of this. You're nothing but a broken record and your entertainment value has pretty much hit bottom.

This is rather interesting-as I was driving along listening to the Rush Limbaugh show today, I heard an advertisement for AOL technical services. AOL recently purchased the Huffington Post, a liberal internet publication.

If Rush Limbaugh was a "hate-monger" as alledged by Komrade Sully, would AOL (Huffington Post) purchase time on the Rush's show? Of course not.

Komrade Sully's comments regading conservative talk radio are just more disinformation being peddled by him. Radical leftists are experts at peddling disinformation.

You know who the radical left fears by who they try to demonize (with disinformation). Apparently, Sarah Palin was considered to be serious threat to the radical leftist agenda by the way Palin was attacked and demonized.

Now Herman Cain is being attacked by the liberal media. Tell me, what is Herman Cain accused of doing that President Kennedy or President Clinton didn't actually do? What is Herman Cain accused of doing that Senator Ted Kennedy actually did in 1968. There is no doubt as to what Presidents Kennedy and Clinton did with women. (President Clinton committed perjury in conjunction with his escapades and had his license to practice law revoked for 5 years.) There is no doubt that Senator Kennedy was responsible for the death of a young women when he ran his vehicle off a bridge in Massachusetts. If the behavior of these 3 esteemed Democrats is acceptable, then the accusation against Herman Cain are akin to jay-walking.

The Obama jobs program:

"No new drilling or new lease sales will occur during President Obama's term in office," predicted Washington Republican Rep. Doc Hastings, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. Hastings, who sponsored three measures that passed the House earlier this year to speed up drilling and open up areas along the East and West coast, Alaska and eastern Gulf to drilling.

"The Obama administration's draft plan places some of the most promising energy resources in the world off-limits," said Hastings, a Washington Republican.

Lawmakers from Alaska, who have pushed to tap its energy resources, hailed the plan as a positive step Tuesday.

But Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the top Republican on the Senate energy panel, said the permitting process would ultimately determine the success of the lease sales.

Shell Oil Co. paid the federal government $2.1 billion for petroleum leases in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest shore in 2008, the last time federal waters in Alaska were auctioned off. But nearly four years later, the oil giant has yet to drill an exploratory well because of lawsuits brought by environmental groups and delays in its air pollution permit.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/erikajohnsen/2011/11/08/such_a_tease_obama_administration_easing_up_ever_so_slightly_on_the_drilling_moratorium

Just grand. "Let them eat cake."

"So what are the reasons to be optimistic about America?

Many Americans are gaining clarity about the threat posed by leftism to core American values. They understand that the bigger the government, the smaller the citizen; that the death of God leads to the death of objective moral standards; and that the Marine Corps, not the Peace Corps, is the greatest force for world peace.

Many Americans are therefore fighting to reassert the primary American value of small government, the Judeo-Christian values upon which this country was founded and the idea that American exceptionalism is a moral category rather than a chauvinistic one. They're also fighting to reassert the fact that a strong American military is the only guarantor of peace on earth, and they're fighting against the racial and ethnic Balkanization of America."

Dennis Prager

http://townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/2011/11/08/optimistic_or_pessimistic_about_america/page/2

If these Americans win the next presidential election, I will be optimistic about America.

Along with the unemployment problem, we have major problems with our public schools. An educated work force is key to our children's future.

"School reform (from a classical liberal perspective) involves at least two things: school choice (i.e., putting the resources for education in the hands of parents, not the educational bureaucrats -- preferably by vouchers) and school employee accountability (i.e., tying teachers' compensation to their actual performance). Of the two, school choice is fundamental, because allowing parents and students to choose where they want the students to attend forces school administrators to worry about student retention, which in turn forces them to hold teachers accountable."

"In fact, tenure in K-12 was eliminated in Florida two years ago."

Read more:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/school_reform_is_making_advances_across_america.html#ixzz1dCrG70oY

"Many Wall Street occupiers are echoing the Communist Party USA's call to "Save the nation! Tax corporations! Tax the rich!" "

"Virginia has a car tax. Does the car pay the tax? In most political jurisdictions, there's a property tax. Does property pay the tax?. . . What about a corporation? As it turns out, a corporation is an artificial creation of the legal system and, as such, a legal fiction. A corporation is not a person and therefore cannot pay taxes. When tax is levied on a corporation, who pays it?"

"Therefore, it is people, not some legal fiction called a corporation, who bear the burden of the tax. Because corporations have these responses to the imposition of a tax, they are merely government tax collectors."

"Tax policies that raise the cost of capital formation -- such as capital gains taxes, low depreciation allowances and corporate taxes -- reduce capital formation. As a result, workers have less capital, lower productivity and lower wage growth. In 1980, Joseph Stiglitz, now a Nobel laureate, said that workers share the highest corporate tax burden in the form of lower wages. A number of economic studies, including that of the Congressional Budget Office, show that workers bear anywhere from 45 to 75 percent of the corporate tax burden. Adding to the burden is the fact that capital has the kind of mobility that labor doesn't. Corporate capital can flee to other countries easily, but workers cannot."

Dr. Walter Williams, George Mason University

This is a bit off topic, but is of general interest to anyone who lives in Evanston, Chicago or the State of Illinois. The article is about the funding of public employee pensions.

http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/city/in-focus-city-attempting-to-resolve-pension-crisis-1.2666591

Illinois, as might be expected, comes in at the bottom of the heap of all 50 states. Yes, Illinois has the worst funded public employee pensions of all the states.

How did that happen? The politicians who control the State of Illinois have been spending our tax dollars that should have gone into funding the pensions on other things. Hmmm, now which political party runs Springfield?

You may have heard the teachers' union advertise about funding of the teachers' pensions on the radio. The announcer says that it's the politicians fault for not properly funding the pensions, but the Democrat politicians who haven't been funding the pensions are supported by the teachers. Maybe the teachers should admit that they have been supporting the wrong political party.

How do we fix the problem? Easy-leave the State of Illinois for greener pastures before they raise taxes even more to fund the pensions. Anybody who stays in Illinois is going to get crushed with the pension bill.

But if everybody leaves, what's going to happen? I guess the public employees won't get the pension they were promised. Think about this the next time you vote. Quinn or Brady-the choice was obvious.

The unemployment rate in Michigan is 14 percent. Yes, that's right 14 percent. Any guess as to which political party controls Michigan?

Why is it that states where Republicans run the show are doing OK and states where the Democrats are in charge are in bad shape? Probably just a coincidence I guess.

The next time you vote, ask yourself that question before you cast your ballot.

Pedro B: "You keep mistakenly blaming CRA for our current economic predicament, Richard. Here's a little light reading for you. Learn a little. Stop listening to Hannity & Limbaugh. http://howdidthishappen.org/myths/ . . . ."

Pedro B, you are correct that the repeal of Glass-Stegall played a part in the debacle. The reason why Glass-Stegall was repealed had to do with competition between American and European banks. Since Glass-Stegall only applied to American banks, European banks had a competitive advantage over American banks.

The repeal of Glass-Stegall by itself did not cause toxic assets to be generated however. The toxic assets were generated by the goverments enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and the governments intervention in the mortgage market via Fannie and Freddie. The gov't creation of Fannie and Freddie allowed these entities to profit and covered all of these entities' losses. Given that situation, it allowed Fannie and Freddie to gamble since there was no down side to losses-it's a heads I win, tails you lose situation. In the event that Fannie and Freddie lost their bets, the taxpayers paid their losses. In other words, they got to keep their profits and taxpayers got to eat their losses.

"Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Pres. Reagan

I believe I heard that in a show on NPR.

One criticism I read (finger pointing) was regarding the government's drastic reduction of the federal funds rate from 2007 to 2008, which supposedly (on its own) depreciated the dollar and raised oil prices. While this seems like a decent enough line of reasoning, it's probably wiser to examine this in a greater geo-political context. (Psst- ever hear of India & China!) Sure, the resulting spike in U.S. gas prices probably contributed to the increase in home foreclosures, but the changes in federal funds policy doesn't explain this fully. In this sense, no the government didn't completely cause the crash.

Pedro B: "At *most* Fannie & Freddie handled a third of the bad mortgages. And it was the for-profit financial institutions that did the bundling of the bad mortgages. Again, it seems like you are getting your information straight from the Sean Hannity show."

I voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976. I'm old enough to remember the Community Reinvestment Act from when it was passed. This Act was also known as an "anti-redlining" law. 60 Minutes ran pieces on the practice of "red-lining" in the late 1970's. Back then, I used to watch 60 Minutes.

It was the CRA that caused banks to lower their lending standards. In the old days (before the CRA), it was 20 percent down. If you are forced to make bad loans, wouldn't you sell the loan if you could find some sucker to buy it? If the government hadn't intervened in the mortgage markets, there would have been no reason to reduce lending standards.

True, the CRA allowed minorities to get loans. And now, the minorities who got loans for which they were not qualified lost their properties and all sorts of other people with prime mortgages got screwed too. People with great credit before 2008 are losing their homes too.

All this is is a bunch of politicians buying votes. Once they got your vote, the politicians don't care. As soon as you cast your ballot, you've lost your leverage with the pols.

"Yes, CRA was one thing that affected lending practices. But you keep jumping the fence, amigo."

I agree with you that low interest rates were also a cause. Recall that interest rates were kept low by the Fed in response to 9/11. (That, in turn, ignited the housing bubble in 2002.) It is my opinion (not heard on either Rush or Hannity) that what "lit the fuse" of the debacle in 2008 was September 11th.

The terrorist attack on 9/11 was not only intended to produce mass casualties, but was also an attack on the American economy. Bin Ladin only caused 3,000 deaths on 9/11. The damage caused to the US economy was far greater than anyone realized at the time.

So we have the CRA, low interest rates, the repeal of Glass-Stegall and 9/11 all in combination to produce the debacle. If any one of these events hadn't happened, it would be my guess that the economic disaster would not have happened.

Despite the misery, it is my opinion that the economic train-wreck is actually a good thing. What the economic problems have done is get almost everybody's attention. Now that Americans are paying attention, we have a choice to make-continue on the path of European socialism or reverse course and go back to pre-1965 (Great Society) or even pre-FDR. The election of 2012 will determine what the future holds for America.

I would hope that Americans take a look at Europe and see that the European socialist model doesn't work and that we begin to reverse course.

Um Rich? Michigan's governor is republican. You know- the one who says it's okay to remove elected officials unilaterally with no vote by the people.

"By the way, Rich, did you happen to notice some of the results from yesterday's voting?"

Yes, Komrade, I did.

"Ohio voters just committed suicide by Union." Jackpine SavageToday 10:07 AM

On a more important note:

"In the other important Ohio race, ObamaCare was handed a big defeat by an even bigger margin that the unions: 66 percent of the Ohio electorate voted for a constitutional amendment that would prohibit being forced to buy health insurance. This revelas that even a pro-union voting base is angry at the ObamaCare mandate."

Time to repeal Obamacare.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/11/unions_win_a_round_in_ohio.html#ixzz1dGg19BNU

More David Stockman, read and learn, GOP'ers !
********************************************************
"...Bush's tax cuts for the rich represent a bastardization of Reaganism."

"The economy "did recover after 1982," he says, "but mainly because the Federal Reserve defeated."

Federal Reserve Chairman was Paul Volcker, a Carter appointee. Pity, Reagan, to this day gets all the credit, while Carter all the blame.

And, conservatives, including Norquist, conveniently forget that Reagan raised taxes ELEVEN times and raised the debt ceiling EIGHTEEN times !

Source : http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-the-gop-became-the-party-of-the-rich-20111109#ixzz1dHEw9eoH

SO MUCH FOR THE RIGHTS FISCAL CONSERVATISM !

How interesting Rich, that you can discount all the other results from the voting. It's such a simple world you live in, where you only see what you want to see and nothing else exists.

So, back to Michigan-the reason Granholm is no longer governor is term limits. Regardless, you asked who was in charge (now) and I answered. Sorry I had to point out your error.

Further, I never said I like Obama. I don't. I just don't blame him for all the ills of this country as you do, and don't believe, as you do, for one minute that the republicans will make this country stronger. Maybe for corporations and the ultra rich, but certainly not for most.

And finally, I wasn't aware Obama was removing elected officials and installing his own people everywhere. Where is this happening? That's just plain undemocratic!

So, try to get a little real, Rich, okay?

The Democrat stategy on the economy:

" "Never mind the milk, comrades!" cried Napoleon, placing himself in front of the buckets. "That will be attended to. The harvest is more important. Comrade Snowball will lead the way. I shall follow in a few minutes. Forward, comrades! The hay is waiting."

So the animals trooped down to the hayfield to begin the harvest, and when they came back in the evening it was noticed that the milk had disappeared. - Animal Farm, Chapter II"

Courtesy of John Ransom's column.

Comrade Snowball is played by Komrade Sully in the Patch version of Animal Farm.

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2011/11/10/ows_goes_all_ows_on_itself

Uh, when did GM become government, elected by the people whom they represent? GM is a corporation, Rich. I know you're easily confused, but at this point in time, corporations do not equal government. Sorry about that fella. But if the Kochs get their way, you soon may have your wish. And you may have heard of Bush's czars, but I have my doubts. So, you mean you do actually work? It's hard to tell with the thousands of posts you have on Patch. When do you have time for anything else. Gosh, I'm really sorry you have to earn a living under Obama. I guess you didn't have to under any other president, then? Lived on welfare, did ya?

So if you are unaware of the other results from the votes, I'd be happy to fill you in. I just have one question- if there is to be a republican landslide in 2012, shouldn't it have begun on Tuesday?

Richard, again- enough with the crap you learned on the Hannity show(!)

Excuse me, I don't own a television. I don't watch Fox News. I occassionally listen to Hannity, but he's just average. I prefer Rush and Roger Hedgecock.

Common sense is common sense. You don't need to listen to conservative talk radio to have commons sense.

Pedro B 9:10am on Thursday, November 10, 2011

"Are you stating that Reagan *didn't* raise taxes eleven times?"

The President cannot raise taxes or cut taxes. The Constitution grants that power to the Congress.

I'm sorry, but I'm getting tired of repeating myself. See the following if you're interested:

http://evanston.patch.com/users/richard-schulte

Pedro, energy independence within 10 years for the US was discussed at the top of this thread. Read it and weep.

This is sort of interesting. The article discusses the link between David Axelrod and the sexual harrassment allegations against Herman Cain. A very plausible explanation given President Obama past campaigns (for example, Jack Ryan).

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/11/president_obamas_godfather.html

Richard Schulte 9:37am on Saturday, October 22, 2011

Yes, the energy deposits in the US are larger than Saudi Arabia deposits. Obviously, you're not paying attention to the energy boom in North Dakota and Ohio. The unemployment rate in North Dakota is 3.5 percent and new BMW dealerships are opening up in West Virginia. There is a housing shortage in Bismarck, North Dakota.

There's oil and gas in North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York.

If we are allowed to develop these resources, it is predicted that the US will be energy independent within 10 years.

It helps to pay attention. Forget about the old media and try the internet to find out what's really going on.

Of course Richard, of course. Moving right along, are you still on the Newt bandwagon? If so, I wait with baited breath for your spin-

http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2008/12/analysis_how_freddie_mac_halte.html

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/11/lobbying_watchdogs_have_a_good_laugh_over_newt_gingrichs_historian_line.php

Anybody but Obama is the candidate that I support. Mickey Mouse is fine with me.

Oh yes! Just blame the 'Chicago machine'. ROTFL. Who in their right mind would lend any credibility to that blog you've cited?
<nice pop up on the bottom too, with the so-called 'ethnic mormon'; pandering to minorities much?>

I seriously doubt Ms. Bialik has fabricated the story. Are you aware that there are credible reports that they were seen together recently at a tea party event? Maybe you missed that memo. Sure, he 'doesn't remember her'.

"So now you are making assumptions about my views on black voters/black americans in general? You must be well over sixty years old, is my guess. Younger folks, especially those who keep up with politics and/or race relations, wouldn't go this route in a public web forum.

Most of my African-American friends/colleagues wouldn't touch Cain if he was giving away free money. They are smart enough to smell an extremist, corporate shill like I am."

Pedro, I am not afraid to talk about race, so go ahead and play the race card if you want. My comments regarding Democrats and black folks have been posted several times on Patch, but let me repeat them for you.

Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. Democrats are the party of slavery, the Klu Klux Klan and Jim Crow. It was Republicans who were responsible for the passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960's. The purpose of poor public schools in big cities is to keep black folks on the Democrat plantation.

Democrats don't care about black folks-all they want is their vote.

Go ahead and play the "race card"-I'm immune to your racist tauts.

Komrade Sully: "So, you mean you do actually work? It's hard to tell with the thousands of posts you have on Patch. When do you have time for anything else. Gosh, I'm really sorry you have to earn a living under Obama. I guess you didn't have to under any other president, then? Lived on welfare, did ya?"

Your bias seems to be getting the way of you seeing things clearly. Your assumption is that conservatives are ignorant/stupid people. By now you should have figured it out-Schulte is anything but ignorant or stupid. I make my living by thinking, analysing and writing. After 40 years of practice, it's easy to think and write.

I grew up in the St. Louis area, as did Rush Limbaugh. Maybe it's the river water, but a whole lot of sharp people come out of that area of the country. We believe in God and guns down there. Missouri is the "show me" state.

Good one, Rich! Really good! I didn't make that assumption about conservatives. I made that assumption about YOU based on your ridiculous postings. And water from the Mississippi? Another good one. By the way, I lived in Missouri myself. KC actually. There are a lot of good sharp people in that area. You just ain't one of them (nor is Rush).

"The Dems' narrative had the beauty of simplicity: those evil Republicans and their "fat cat" buddies on Wall Street did it! Vote for us instead!"

"That's because the Dems' narrative doesn't match reality. And it was reality which came crashing in over the last three weeks. It turns out that a lot of those "fat cats" on Wall Street -- or "millionaires and billionaires," as Mr. Obama likes to call them -- are Democrats."

Yup, President Obama is out fund-raising amongst the "millionaires and billionaires" he bashes. The President doesn't really mean it when he condemns those "millionaires and billionaires". He's just playing us for fools.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/the_blue_wall_street_blues.html#ixzz1dPTLVYtk

From PBS:

"Virginia Democrat, Woodrow Wilson, won both the 1912 and 1916 presidential elections. He encouraged the introduction and passage of discriminatory legislation, such as a bill passed by the House that made interracial marriage in the District of Columbia a felony. President Wilson made it a requirement to include a photograph with any application for a federal position, to facilitate the exclusion of blacks from government jobs. Wilson pushed for segregation of federal workers, systematically demoted black civil servants, and claimed nothing could be done to improve the situation of blacks in the country. He refused to meet with black leaders, to appear at black conferences on race issues, or to publicly denounce lynching. President Wilson's wartime administration relegated black Army soldiers to non-combat labor billets, claiming that blacks were unable to fight courageously. Under Wilson, the Navy only allowed blacks to serve as messboys, and the Marines did not accept blacks at all."

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/struggle_president.html

From PBS:

"Eisenhower [R], however, made a pivotal decision in appointing Earl Warren to the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1953. He unwittingly strengthened the Supreme Court in a way that made subsequent victories for civil rights possible. The Court's ruling on Brown v. Board (1954) made discrimination and segregation in education on the basis of race illegal, rendering Jim Crow schools unconstitutional. The resistance and outrage of Southern whites to the Court's decision forced Eisenhower to use federal military power to ensure the safety of black students who integrated Little Rock's Central High School. Eisenhower was surprised by the reaction to desegregation attempts, and called for passage of a Civil Rights Bill of 1957, which though watered down by the Senate, was a major step in pursuit of federal legislation that would end Jim Crow intimidation and segregation that persisted in the South."

Note that President Eisenhower was a Repubican. Note that President Eisenhower apponted Earl Warren to the Supreme Court.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/struggle_president2.html

Just more disinformation from Komrade Sully. Disinformation is a polite word for lying.

I guess that Komrade Sully will be telling us that PBS is lying too.

From PBS:

President Lyndon B. Johnson [D] was the most effective in the fight to end Jim Crow. President Johnson had a long history of working towards civil rights for blacks, having also worked towards the passage of the less effective Civil Rights Act of 1957. Johnson had become more personally committed to the cause of civil rights, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 strengthened his resolve to realize the ideals set forth by the administration. He worked tirelessly to ensure the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, rendering all Jim Crow statutes illegal. Nearly a hundred years after 14th and 15th Amendments were passed, all citizens, regardless of race, could reap the benefits."

Note that the 14th and 15th Amendments were proposed and passed by Republicans.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/struggle_president2.html

More from PBS:

"When legislation was introduced to protect blacks, Democrats convinced Republicans to join them in their disregard for civil rights and suffrage for blacks. Congressman L.C. Dyer of St. Louis submitted an anti-lynching bill in 1922 that was shelved when Southern Democrats threatened a filibuster in the Senate. Southern Democrats regularly blocked the efforts of a few liberal Congressmen to pass protective legislation for blacks. Republicans continually gave in to the demands of the Southern Democrats, and President Harding (1921-1924) did nothing to interfere, nor did his successors, until the late 1930s".

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/struggle_congress.html

Looks like that Komrade Sully is learning a lot from that dumb, ignorant jack ass Schulte.

"Hey rocket scientist-Do you even hear yourself when you spew this nonsense? Those (southern/formerly) democrats supporting slavery you refer to are now republicons."

First Komrade Sully denies historical facts and now Pedro B wants to deny the same facts.

Take a look around. Chicago is one of the most highly segregated cities in America. Mayor Daley built the high rise housing projects to concentrate black folks. The public schools in every major city in America are failing. Why are the public schools so bad in American cities? We have to keep black folks dumb so they vote Democrat. Educated folks figure out the Democrat game. Yes, those bad public schools are intentional-got to keep the black folks on the Democrat plantation.

Don't like it when somebody tells the truth, do you Pedro? Sorry Pedro, but the Democrat Party is the racist party-not everyone of course. (Senator Joe Lieberman seems like a genuine guy.) A leopard doesn't change its spots-Democrats today aren't any different from the Democrats of the 1860's, they just use different tactics.

Komrade Sully and Pedro:

Columns by Dr. Walter Williams (George Mason University) and Dr. Thomas Sowell (Hoover Institute) can be found on Jewish World Review:

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams1.asp

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell.html

Enjoy.

Komrade Sully, here is an election result that you didn't mention:

"Virginia Republicans added seven new seats to their majority in the House of Delegates, giving them two-thirds of that chamber's votes—the party's largest margin in history. The GOP also took over the Virginia Senate in results that were especially notable, given that Virginia Democrats this spring crafted an aggressive redistricting plan that had only one aim: providing a firewall against a Republican takeover of that chamber. Even that extreme gerrymander didn't work.

Every Republican incumbent—52 in the House, 15 in the Senate—won. The state GOP is looking at unified control over government for only the second time since the Civil War. This is after winning all three top statewide offices—including the election of Gov. Bob McDonnell—in 2009, and picking off three U.S. House Democrats in last year's midterms."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204358004577030481545613916.html

Yes, the Republican tsunami victory is coming ashore in November 2012.

Stop all the cutting and pasting. It's the same old crap.

Just a little bit about REAL history for ya, Rich-

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1751.html

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1366
"the Dixiecrat movement paved the way for the rise of the modern Republican Party in the South. Many former Dixiecrat supporters eventually became Republicans, as was highlighted by Strom Thurmond's conversion in the 1960s."

http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/page/347
"Dixiecrat faithful contributed the early leadership of many local and state citizen councils and served as a stepping stone to the Republican Party."

If you need more reading material, there's plenty to be found.

Hey Pedro- Yer name don't sound Amurican. You one of them illegals?

Welcome Comrade (although the term "comrade" is actually French, so maybe I should say Amigo!)!

Although, "Sullivan" means "little dark-eyed one", so maybe I'm an amigo too and never knew it!

Komrade Sully: 1:48pm on Friday, November 11, 2011

"Sorry to have to correct another error, but Lieberman is not a democrat."

Hmmmm. . . .imagine that? The Senator Lieberman ran with Vice President Al Gore in 2000. Hard to believe that the Democrats would put Senator Lieberman on the ticket if he wasn't a Democrat.

Today's Democrat Party is not the same party as the party of Truman and Kennedy. Lieberman is a Democrat. Obama is a socialist. I at least have respect for Truman, Kennedy and Lieberman.

Lieberman became an Independent when democratic voters in his home state refused to support him.

Pedro B: "Who said anything about Chicago *not* being a very segregated city(?) <The high rises are gone, btw.>

"So now you're jumping the fence again and labeling the Dems as the 'racist party'(?) I suppose this is no big surprise since, 1) you state you don't own a TV, and 2) you post so many messages here that it's clear you may not have left the house for quite some time now."

Yes, the Democrat Party is the racist party. Government assistance robs the recipients of their dignity. The whole purpose of welfare is to take away people's dignity and to keep them down. That's pretty obvious.

It's Democrats who constantly talk about race. Conservatives believe that it's the content of your character, not the color of your skin. Hence, race is irrelevant. The only reason I bring it up is because you made an issue of it.

Facts are facts, regardless of whether or not I left the house today. Actually, very little time is spent on these posts-you should try reading the Drudge Report, the American Thinker website, the Townhall website and Michelle Malkin's site. If it isn't on one of these sites, it's not worth knowing. No need to spend a whole lot of time-these sites are excellent resources to what's going on around the nation and the world.

Komrade Sully: "Lieberman became an Independent when democratic voters in his home state refused to support him."

Dumb response. Senator Lieberman's view didn't change. Putting a ketchup label on a jar of mustard doesn't change mustard into ketchup.

"Virginia state Sen. R. Edward Houck conceded defeat Thursday, dashing any Democratic hopes of hanging on to power in Richmond. . . .Reeves’s victory over the 28-year Senate veteran delivers the last bastion of Democratic power in Richmond into the hands of the GOP, which already controlled the House, the governor’s mansion and the attorney general’s office. Republicans have not held such sway in Richmond since the Civil War."

"I'll leave you with another development from Tuesday's elections -- which the Left insists was a crushing blow to conservatives: The Mississippi legislature appears to have fallen into Republican hands for the first time in about 130 years"

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2011/11/11/confirmed_gop_captures_virginia_senate,_mississippi_too

Komrade Sully, here's the beginning of the Repubican tsunami.

Pedro B 1:29pm on Friday, November 11, 2011

"Stop all the cutting and pasting. It's the same old crap."

Not really. You learned all about the sordid history of the Democrat Party courtesy of PBS. You also learned that the US is the #1 producer of natural gas and has more oil resources than Saudi Arabia. You also learned that the Democrats got trounced in Tuesday's election in Virginia and Mississippi and that the referendum on Obamacare in Ohio went 2 to 1 against Obamacare.

The reason for cutting and pasting is that it shows the source of the information. I'm just introducing folks who read this to the Drudge Report, Townhall, American Thinker and Michelle Malkin. These sources cut through all of the Democrat disinformation being peddled by Komrade Sully and by Pedro B.

Welcome to the Information Age. ABS, CBS and NBS no longer are the dominant sources of information in America. The truth shall set you free.

Komrade Sully: "I have to seriously wonder if you suffered a brain injury at some point. Your critical thinking skills are so limited, there has to be a reason why."

Yes, my critical thinking skills are so limited-that's why my work on the collapse of the World Trade Center towers earned several awards.

The reason that you can't fathom what you are hearing is that you surround yourself with people of like mind and never bother to take the time to look at issues from other perspectives. I voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976, was a member of the Sierra Club and NOW and lived in Silicon Valley once upon a time. I guess you could say that I've looked at things from both sides and decided that the leftist viewpoint defies common sense.

You are astonished by my viewpoints simply because you've never heard anyone express those viewpoints loudly and proudly. Since you surround yourself with radical leftists, you think that you are in the majority. Radical leftists/progressives are a small minority in this country, as we've seen in the elections in Ohio, Virginia and Mississippi. When the vote comes back 2 to 1 against Obamacare in Ohio, you know you've lost. Enjoy the next 12 months because things are going to be changing after the November 2012 election. The recession ends with the defeat of President Obama.

Obamacare:

"Throughout the Obamacare debate, President Obama repeatedly promised, “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.” Now, Gallup reports that from the first quarter of 2010 (when Obama signed Obamacare into law) to the third quarter of this year, 2 percent of American adults lost their employer sponsored health insurance. In other words, about 4.5 million Americans lost their employer-sponsored insurance over a span of just 18 months.

This is not what the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had predicted would happen. Rather, the CBO had predicted that Obamacare would increase the number of people with employer-sponsored insurance by now. It had predicted that, under Obamacare, 6 million more Americans would have employer-sponsored insurance in 2011 than in 2010 (see table 4, which shows the CBO’s projected increase of 3 million under (pre-Obamacare) current law and an additional 3 million under Obamacare). So the CBO’s rosy projections for Obamacare (and even these paint a frightening picture) are already proving false."

Once again, government predictions turn out to be 180 degree wrong-imagine that. Has the government ever been right about anything? I suppose just by sheer luck that they have.

Given the gov't track record on predictions, why would you believe the US gov't about what the temperatures on this planet are going to be in 50 years. They can't even predict the weather 7 days from now.

More jobs lost because of President Obama:

"Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement:

“More than 20,000 new American jobs have just been sacrificed in the name of political expediency. By punting on this project [Keystone XL pipeline project], the President has made clear that campaign politics are driving U.S. policy decisions – at the expense of American jobs. The current project has already been deemed environmentally sound, and calling for a new route is nothing but a thinly-veiled attempt to avoid upsetting the President’s political base before the election. It’s a failure of leadership."

Read more on Newsmax.com: Boehner: Obama Nixed Pipeline, Sacrificed Jobs

There is only one job President Obama cares about. As for the rest of America, "let them eat cake."

Komrade Sully: "Um Rich- you have no idea who I surround myself with., so you can stop with the ridiculous assumptions. And as someone who has close contact with both Stanford and Duke Universities, you can be assured I have heard plenty of strong republican viewpoints. I love the way you feel you have to keep giving yourself such credit as being the one and only holder of "truth". Another example of your simplistic thinking."

You fail to make a distinction between Republican and conservative-there is a (big) difference. (I am not a Republican, although I vote Republican 99.99 percent of the time. I didn't vote for McCain.) Sort of like you failed to consider Senator Lieberman a Democrat simply because he was not elected as a Democrat candidate. Senator Lieberman was the Democrat vice-presidential candidate in 2000. It's highly doubtful that Senator Lieberman would have been included on the Democrat ticket if he wasn't a Democrat.

My views are based upon common sense. Common sense is right 100 percent of the time. Your radical leftist viewpoints defy common sense. Pretty simple really.

Take a look at your comments on this thread-mostly taunting and insults. You simply can't argue your points based upon facts because you have no facts. In your world, it's all emotion and taunts. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but facts remain facts.

Un huh.

Just a few loose ends here to tie up.

Pedro B and others have contended that President Reagan raised taxes 11 times. This is an erroneous statement. The Constitution vests the power to raise or lower taxes with the Congress, not the president. The only thing that the president can do is sign the legislation or veto the legislation. The Democrats controlled Congress from 1955 to 1995-40 years. At the time Reagan was president, Tip O'Neill (D) from Massachusetts from the Speaker of the House. Pedro, the correct statement is that the Demcrat Congress raised taxes 11 times during the Reagan Administration. It is also correct to say that the Democrat Congress enacted the Reagan tax cuts.

With regard to the bad schools in Chicago, Democrats have controlled the City of Chicago since the 1950's. Despite efforts at desegregation, Chicago remains one of the most segragated cities in the nation and the Chicago schools have deteriorated. Given that the Democrats have held absolute power in Chicago for 60 years, clearly the Democrats "own" the segregation and poor schools in Chicago.

For years, Republicans have proposed ways to improve schools throughout the country-school choice. School choice has made head-way in a few cities-Milwaukee being one that comes immediately to mind. Who opposes school choice-Democrats.

If you oppose a viable solution to the problem of "bad" schools, doesn't that make you responsible for the "bad" schools?

One last loose end to tie down.

Komrade Sully has asserted that the two political parties switched positions with regard to civil rights and has asserted that Democrats are now the party which champions minorities. It is a fact that Chicago (controlled by the Dems for 60+ years) is one of the most racially segregated large cities in the United States. It is also a fact that black folks are fleeing Chicago and heading back south. Why would that be if those Southern States (with racist Republican governments) are so racially prejudiced?

In fact, race relations in the South are much better than in the North. (Having lived in New Orleans for 10 years (2000-2010) part time, I can confirm that to be the case.)

You may recall that all hell broke loose in Chicago when Harold Washington was elected mayor of Chicago back in the early 1980's. It was the white alderman against the black mayor.

Those bad schools in Chicago are intentional-got to keep those black folks in their place and voting Democrat. Educated minorities figure out the scam that Democrats are running and many become conservatives or Republicans. And now you know why such scorn is heaped on black folks like Justice Clarence Thomas and Herman Cain-Democrats are afraid of black folks seeing successful black people who are conservative Republicans.

Democrats have simply figured out another way of keeping black folks down on the plantation-bad schools and welfare.

The truth shall set you free.

Please accept my apologoies Mr. Barbieri, but one more post, this time about energy resources:

"Redneck wrote: The 400,000 jobs mentioned in this article is on the tip of the iceberg of how many jobs Obama is blocking in the US. The formation in CO, UT and WY that Ransom refers to is called the Green River Formation and is contains the same type of reserves as the Kreal in Canada from which the oil slated to flow through the Keystone Pipeline will come. Most of this lies under Federal Land so the production from this formation would also pay a handsome royalty to the US Treasury if it were produced. At a 20% royalty on 4 trillion barrels at today's prices that amounts to $72 trillion dollars in revenue without raising taxes on anyone. We would also save more than $540 billion per year in foreign oil purchases and keep the jobs and the money here. – in response to Obama's New Job Plan: Kill 400,000 Jobs Immediately

Dear Redneck,

I don’t know about your numbers, but they sound reasonable.

There are 600 years of reserves just in the formation you mentioned. That means that if we just took what we were using today, we could supply the country’s needs for 600 years without importing a single drop.

We tap existing energy sources here in the United States and we start a renaissance of the US economy.

There is a misconception that we have a shortage of energy in the world. We do not. Think about the energy released just by the splitting of a single atom."

This is a rather interesting read-an excerpt from the book "Red Army" written by Aaron Klein and Brenda J. Elliott.

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/harper/pdf/oct11/RedArmy._V151693478_.pdf

"In this original investigative work, the bestselling authors of The Manchurian President expose one of the most important untold stories of the decade: how a nexus of radical socialist groups have seized political power, shaped Obama’s presidential agenda, and threaten the very future of our country."

Komrade Sully, you should find this an interesting read.

This morning I heard about the waste of $500 million of taxpayer money over a political dispute regarding McCormick Place. A short time later, I heard about another waste of taxpayer money regarding the manufacturer of smallpox vaccine. (Do we really need a smallpox vaccine?-smallpox was eradicated before I was born.)

Of course, there is the Solyndra scandal. It seems that almost every week, there is another new scandal regarding millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars.

These scandals seem to have one thing in common-"pay to play" and large political donors. Our tax dollars are treated like Monopoly money by our politicians.

It is no wonder that folks have attacked Sarah Palin-she's honest and has integrity. Can't have an honest politician in Washington-hell, that would spoil all of the fun.

Those TEA party folks have figured out what's going on in Washington (and Springfield and the 5th Floor of City Hall in Chicago). No wonder the pols don't like the TEA party-the TEA party folks are honest, hard-working Americans.

And, oh yes, I almost forgot about the oil pipeline from Canada being held up by the Obama Administration. President Obama wants the Congress to pass his "Jobs Bill", but when it comes to real private sector jobs working on a pipeline we could use, the President says "no way, Jose". Jobs, we don't need no stinking jobs on no stinking oil pipe line.

To quote a famous Dem: "It's the economy stupid."

"The Keystone pipeline would have done what the President's hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus spending failed to do. It would have created thousands of jobs (tens of thousands, by some predictions), while generating $5.2 billion in property tax revenue for Montana, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas. And it would have done it all with private dollars--not taxpayer dollars."

"Radical environmentalists act as if this is the first oil pipeline being built in the United States. We have 50,000 miles of oil pipeline in this country that have provided massive economic benefits with minimal environmental harm."

"So, block the XL pipeline if you think the environment will be better served by shipping Canadian oil an extra 6,000 miles across the Pacific in oil-consuming super tankers and then refining it in less-regulated Chinese refineries. In addition, be aware that replacing the Canadian oil means the U.S. also must import more oil by tankers, which are less efficient than pipelines."

"How President Obama Killed Thousands of Jobs"
The Heritage Foundation-Morning Bell

Pelosi denies insider trading allegations
By CAROLYN LOCHHEAD, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

http://www.chron.com/news/article/Pelosi-denies-insider-trading-allegations-2269237.php

Our legislators hard at work (making money for themselves). Martha Stewart went to prison for this.

"According to Heritage, a new book by Hoover Institution fellow Peter Schweizer shows that 80 percent of the money from the DOE Cash by Suckers program went to companies that were supporters of Obama.

According to Schweizer:

[A]n examination of grants and guaranteed loans offered by just one stimulus program run by the Department of Energy, for alternative-energy projects, is stunning. The so-called 1705 Loan Guarantee Program and the 1603 Grant Program channeled billions of dollars to all sorts of energy companies…

…In the 1705 government-backed-loan program [alone], for example, $16.4 billion of the $20.5 billion in loans granted as of Sept. 15 went to companies either run by or primarily owned by Obama financial backers—individuals who were bundlers, members of Obama’s National Finance Committee, or large donors to the Democratic Party."

Source (of quote): http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2011/11/15/graft_grows_with_government_gifts_to_green_cos/page/2

I believe it's called "pay to play".

Hey Pedro- watch what you say about being old! Not all of us are so grossly misinformed!

I know what you mean. I get the image of an angry old white man with white hair, a double chin, and a walking cane when I think of Rich. The type who screams at kids for walking on his grass.

"Now it's time for you to step up and learn something, old man. Your generation is so hyper-focused on the 'energy independence' issue, that you are myopic to what my generation (and my kids down the road) will have to deal with after you guys (and your corporate schills) are done sucking the oil out of the tar sands and massively polluting the environment. Pathetic doesn't give it justice."

No need for a response. Q.E.D.

Of course you know the Germans made motor vehicle fuel from coal in World War II (about 70 years ago). Making motor vehicle fuel from heavy oil is no problem. But there is no reason to make gasoline from that oil. The US is the #1 natural gas producer. The vehicles of the future will run on natural gas. Buses and large trucks are already beginning the conversion. Honda is already building cars for sale in the US powered by natural gas. Guess you didn't know that.

Besides the oil from Canada, there is an oil/gas boom in North Dakota, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York and there is oil in Wyoming and Utah. Plenty of oil to make gasoline with if that's what needed.

"I know what you mean. I get the image of an angry old white man with white hair, a double chin, and a walking cane when I think of Rich. The type who screams at kids for walking on his grass."

Komrade Sully, sorry to take so long to respond. I just got back from lifting weights at LA Fitness-been lifting weights for 40 years. It was a beautiful day out-I walked there. I always walk there even if the weather is not so nice. I usually walk about 5 miles a day.

I look pretty much the same as I did back in 2004. You can see my photograph in the June 7, 2004 issue of ENR. Just a little bit of grey in the temples now.

http://enr.construction.com/print.asp?REF=http://enr.construction.com/features/buildings/archives/040607-3.asp

You can also read about my exploits on the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on the ENR website.

THE TOP 25 NEWSMAKERS OF 2004
ENR Recognizes 25 Individuals for Industry Accomplishments Last Year
1/3-10/2005

http://enr.construction.com/people/people/archives/050103-2.asp

Yup, I am an internationally known award-winning engineer.

Well, maybe we don't need the pipeline:

"However, there is a quick and easy, but not so cheap, solution at hand: railroads. Railroads are often called on to transport oil when pipeline capacity is maxed out. Much of the giant Bakken Field in the North Dakota is now being rail served while waiting for new pipelines to be built. Shipping oil by rail costs more than a pipeline, but is more flexible, allowing shipments to wherever oil is priced the highest, and can be started almost immediately, compared to a pipeline which can take years to permit and build.

BNSF Railway is the major oil player in North Dakota, and its extensive lines into Canada make it the logical choice to ship most of the Canadian oil when all the alternatives are ruled out. Railroads typically charge several thousand dollars just to ship one tank car from the Dakotas to the Gulf, which move in 100 car unit trains. Canada could potentially supply many dozens of these trains daily if it totally committed to rail shipments, providing many new billions of revenue for BNSF.

Oh, by the way, you may know the guy who just bought BNSF, Warren Buffet. Is it just luck, or smarts, or something else?"

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/11/warren_buffets_keystone_bonanza.html#ixzz1dorqxBdK

Well how about that, Warren Buffet just bought stock in BNSF railroad-"pay to play"?

Gosh Pedro, it looks like we're in the presence of greatness. An internationally known award-winning engineer. Wow. Who cares if 99 percent of the population have never heard of ENR OR Richard Schulte? Move over Frank Lloyd Wright. Chicago's not big enough for the both of you.

Yes, Nixon did create the EPA and lucky for us he did. Too bad republicans want to dismantle it now and have no regulations on pollution-producing industries. Thanks for pointing out that the regulations have resulted in cleaner air for the most part. Well done!

Komrade Sully: "So now that you've read a far right media production saying something about not needing the pipeline, you've changed your mind? Really Richard?"

Komrade, besides debating on the level of a teenager, you don't appear to be a very good reader either. If you read the above, a pipeline is cheaper than transporting the oil by railroad (and is also safer from an environmental standpoint).

It's interesting that Warren Buffet will benefit financially if the pipe line isn't built. Based upon all the shenanigans going on with political donors being awarded big contracts revealed recently, this seems rather suspicious.

It's also interesting that Schulte has no problem using his full name and expressing opinions. Komrade Sully and Pedro B like to express their opinions, but hide who is they actually are. (I'd want to hide if I expressed such opinions too.)

Conservatives are accomplished people and don't mind being associated with their opinions. Apparently Komrade Sully and Pedro B have no accomplishments to their name and are embarrassed by their opinions.

Of course, Richard. Of course.

"The South, once solidly Democratic, is more solidly Republican than ever after the 2011 elections.

As the last state legislative races were called this week from the Nov. 8 votes in Virginia and Mississippi, the party of Abraham Lincoln now controls both chambers of every state legislature in the 11 former states of the Confederacy, with the sole exception of Arkansas. And Arkansas Republicans need to flip only a handful of seats in 2012 to make the trend unanimous.

None of this comes as welcome news for President Obama’s re-election campaign. In 2008, Mr. Obama was propelled to the White House in large part with breakthrough victories in such states as Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, but all three states now have Republican-led legislatures, with the GOP’s biggest gains in the 2010 elections."

"He said the election’s legacy may be the end of the distinction drawn by Mississippi voters between Southern Democrats and national Democrats, one that successful Democratic candidates in states such as Kentucky and Arkansas have tried to highlight in recent votes."

Source: http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/15/elections-give-gop-a-solid-hold-on-south/?page=2

The entire nation is voting for the opposition party, thanks to Obama, Pelosi, Komrade Sully and Pedro.

Thanks Komrade Sully and Pedro-you two geniuses are the best campaign advertising for the Republican Party that the Republicans have. Keep posting!

Hey Schulte- a kid i know ODed today so how about you take your delusions and stfu. Your ignorance is beyond any I've ever encountered. You broke the mold when they handed out shit for brains.

"The campaign debates of 2012 will be definitive moments in our national conversation. I think many instinctively know this. We will have on display some spokesperson for conservatism debating Obama and the Occupy America vision. It will impact perhaps every race in 2012. And many are now saying out loud what they've been whispering for months.

The debate stage matters more than ever before -- and on that stage, Newt is the best. The future of the Republic is at stake."

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/why_newts_surge_will_continue.html#ixzz1dxcFqSXA

Komrade Sully, I'm feeling bi-partisan this morning. I'm ordering Newt-2012 tee-shirts. I've been lifting weights for 40 years so I take a XL size. I'll get one for you too. What size should I order for you?

How about a tee shirt for yourself reading "I'm the most self-important person in the universe"? You're pathetic, Richard. Absolutely pathetic.

The effect of the "Stimulus Bill" of 2009:

"SESSIONS: And in the next 10 years, since you're carrying that debt and paying interest on it and the stimulus value is long since gone, it would be a continual negative of some effect?

ELMENDORF: Yes, it would represent a drag on the level of GDP beyond that, if no other actions were taken."

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/11/stim_money_will_be_a_drag_on_the_economy_for_10_years_cbo.html#ixzz1dzzdyTpD

Now the Congressional Budget Office is admitting that the Stimulus Bill of 2009 will have a negative effect for 10 years. That's 2019.

"Yes we can" (screw up the economy for 10 years).

Komrade Sully and Pedro, when folks turn to profanity and name-calling in a discussion, it means that they have lost the argument. You have no facts to back up your arguments and no facts to refute the information being passed along-that's what being a liberal means-no facts, all b.s.

You've exposed yourself and others who espouse the causes you support.

With respect to the OD, I assume that the OD was self-inflicted. (So sad, too bad. Nancy Reagan had it right 30 years ago-just say no to drugs. Pass it on. Why do you think they call it dope?) There are 14 million Americans who are unemployed and millions more who are under-employed. Those unemployed/under-employed people didn't ask to be put in that situation. The policies enacted by Democrats caused this train-wreck economy-how about some sympathy for those hard-working folks.

You two geniuses are simply too self-centered to care about all the Americans whose lives have been ruined thanks to your socialist agenda.

"Government is not the answer to our problem; government is the problem."

Ronald Reagan

Hate to tell you this Richie, but I have presented facts. You choose to ignore them because they don't fit your fantasy. Sorry Bud, but that's not my problem. And Pedro, your friends and work associates are correct. Only those who are extremely insecure about themselves feel the need to constantly "brag' on and embellish their accomplishments. I don't even need my Ph.D. to know that. Know what I mean, Rich?

For the sake of argument (and with nothing else to do at the moment) here ya go, Richie-

http://www.labor4sustainability.org/articles/pipeline-climate-disaster-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-and-labor/

http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2011/nov/15/americans-prosperity/solyndra-ad-president-barack-obama-taxpayer-money/

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/nov/17/david-plouffe/solyndra-loan-george-w-bush-david-plouffe/

http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2011/nov/16/rick-scott/rick-scott-us-regulations-are-most-difficult-world/

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/nov/15/rick-perry/rick-perry-says-federal-bureaucrats-will-take-over/

http://factcheck.org/2011/10/tales-from-new-hampshire/

Just a few items for your reading pleasure. i can come up with plenty more.

So predictable Rich.

Komrade Dr. Sully, it looks like my work here is done. I'll finish by quoting Marx for my favorite communist:

"A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five."

"Before I speak, I have something important to say."

"Either he's dead or my watch has stopped."

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book."

"I didn't like the play, but then I saw it under adverse conditions - the curtain was up."

"I have had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it."

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/groucho_marx.html#ixzz1e3Z37SJr

Just remember Sully, "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Ronald Reagan

Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs : The New Progressive Movement

"Thirty years ago, a newly elected Ronald Reagan made a fateful judgment: “Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.” Taxes for the rich were slashed, as were outlays on public services and investments as a share of national income. Only the military and a few big transfer programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ benefits were exempted from the squeeze.

Reagan’s was a fateful misdiagnosis."

Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/opinion/sunday/the-new-progressive-movement.html?_r=1

The Obama Jobs Bill: The Obama Administration kills another 200,000 (good-paying) jobs in Ohio.

"The Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP) recently estimated that drilling in the Utica shale, which is affected by the suspension of the mineral lease auctions, would produce up 204,500 jobs by 2015.

"The President’s plan is to simply say ‘no’ to new energy production," House Natural Resources Committee chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash, said to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar during a hearing pertaining to hydraulic fracturing. "It’s a plan that is sending American jobs overseas, forfeiting new revenue, and denying access to American energy that would lessen our dependence on hostile Middle Eastern oil." "

Source: http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/obama-usda-delays-shale-drilling-200k-jobs

Thank you Mr. President for screwing over the unemployed and underemployed once again.

Komrade Dr. Sully, sounds like what you've been trying to do.

"Don't meet your critics in a head-to-head debate; instead, marginalize what they say, ridicule their efforts, and plant evidence if their efforts don't look ridiculous enough to tilt public opinion in your favor."

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/white_house_involved_in_warmist_smear_campaign.html#ixzz1e5HRWOTJ

A Federal buget plan developed by the TEA Party Debt Commisson:

http://blogs.freedomworks.org/files/TeaPartyBudget.pdf

I thought your work was done, Rich. Apparently not. Guess this fixation you have with me is gonna be a tough one to break. Try all you want to feel superior and to convince yourself that only YOU know the real truth. It doesn't affect me in the least. The shame is that you try to convince others of this BS, and inevitably, those as misinformed as you will believe it.

Komrade Dr. Sully: "The shame is that you try to convince others of this BS, and inevitably, those as misinformed as you will believe it."

If it's misinformation, it should be easy to make a fool out of me. You've been trying for months now and you keep striking out.

The portion of my work exposing you and Pedro is over-it should be obvious to everyone now that you are a radical leftist kook and Pedro is just a youngster.

Komrade Dr. Sully and Pedro have been assisting the Republican Party and conservatives with their comments. You two geniuses need to keep posting!!! The more you post, the more you drive those independent away from the Democrats.

You're playing Russian Roulette with a 6 shot revolver and 6 bullets-good luck with that game.

Uh, Rich? I think the only thing that is obvious is your obsessive need to try to convince anyone who will listen (read) that you are somehow the only one who knows the know. and that anyone who disagrees with you is an inferior specimen. Your obsession with posting and taking for face value everything you read from right wing media sources indicates pretty much a lack of evaluative thinking skills or any independent thought at all. You automatically believe everything one side says without considering the merits, and you discount anything from the other side without even bothering to read or listen. That's pretty rigid, Rich, and not the sign of a rational adult. I don't need to make a fool out of you. Sorry.