patrick.net

Hey, I can put the preview function on this page too... OK, it's done. Seems to work.

Pretty good for a ten year old!

You might want to consider this problem: husband: lifelong Repub until last election, FIL: lifelong Repub, me: Independent but have voted mostly Repub. We all can't stand the woman and think she's an idiot. We were scared for our country watching her following swell because we thought she'd get us into WWIII. Also very po'd at the Republican party for what they've become. You wouldn't believe how many conservatives I know who feel that way. I don't think the party cheerleaders understand how polarizing she is. Can you win w/a divided party? Can you afford to lose any more membership?

IMHO she's too whiny, and too many ethics issues. She was the gov, stepped down because she didn't want to be a lame duck (she said). But she was voted in, and bailed on the state. Of course, she started bailing the day she accepted the vp nom. I think she'd be a horrible president.

"she didn’t want to be a lame duck" So you're saying she's Daffy and her popularity is down? Or are you saying she's a quack? Or a feather head with no pluck? Well, waddle it be? Is her goose cooked? And who's gonna pick up the bill? Was it all just a foul pond scheme?

Tenpoundbass says

I’d love nothing more than a two term Palin presidency, to Slap America out of stupid and the Notion that our only valid choices is either one of the two busted broken parties running around the world embarrassing me for America every chance they get.

Oh please. Palin agrees with 100% of the Republican agenda. The reason that the GOP turned against her is because she became a great big joke -- a caricature of the right that drove the independents screaming in terror. Name one GOP policy that Palin isn't a supporter of. Name one of Palin's policies that isn't in full agreement with the GOP. On the other hand, a Palin presidency might convince the left leaning states that the union needs to be dissolved, which is probably the best outcome for the people at this point. Let the whackos elect whackos to run their countries and keep them out of everyone else's business.

jabailo says

Destined to lead. Destined for the White House. Sarah Palin is the real champion of the middle class. That is why the media attacked her. She would have prevented the puppet Obama from shovelling 2 Trillion of our money to the DOW and Wall Street.

Or destined to continue on her path as national scapegoat for the republican party? time will tell.

Sarah might become an independent. The Republican elite don't seem too happy with her. After Obama's over taxation damages the economy further along with brutal inflation in the wings, the populace will be out for blood. (no pun) The liberals are slowly discovering that Obama is a bankster suck up who likes his Oreos double dunked.

jabailo says

Sarah Palin is the real champion of the middle class. That is why the media attacked her.

Champion of the middle class? Where do you get your weed? Which of her stated policies and objectives supports the middle class? Her opposition to health care, her support for big oil, or her support for cutting taxes on the rich? Perhaps you think her theft of $480m in federal funds for the bridge to nowhere was helping the middle class somehow? No? How about her outright lies in claiming that she didn't want the money in the first place? Only a moron would believe that she is any different from any other Republican. Every single stance that she has ever taken has been right in line with the GOP agenda. She's pro-war, anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-stem cell, pro-gun, anti-union, pro-death penalty, pro-creationism, and a global warming denier. How is that ANY different from ANY OTHER mainstream GOP candidate? Claiming that she's "different" is intellectual dishonesty. She has the exact same agenda as every Republican leader since Nixon. By the way, "the media" didn't attack her. The left attacked her (obviously, just as the right attacks leading democratic figures), and Comedians mocked her for coming across as a complete idiot and not being able to speak coherently. The GOP doesn't like her because they think that she cost them the presidency. I don't think that's entirely fair though -- it was GOP who lost the election. The real Presidential race in 2008 was the Democratic primary.

By the way, “the media” didn’t attack her. The left attacked her (obviously, just as the right attacks leading democratic figures), and Comedians mocked her for coming across as a complete idiot and not being able to speak coherently.

The media did attack her. They attack everyone, and she's no different. But she did make it easier...

elliemae says

he media did attack her. They attack everyone, and she’s no different. But she did make it easier…

Which "media"? Other than the left (who attack every leader on the right), and Comedians, who was attacking her? Was Fox, WSJ, or any other right wing media outlet attacking her?

Please, she is totally unqualified for any public office. She has a laughably naive and sheltered world view which is apparent to anyone watching her fumble through her interviews on TV. We gave her a chance, and found a governor so woefully unqualified to lead the US that she thought foreign relations with Russia meant waving from your front porch as you look out across the Bering Strait. You know what would be really funny? Let's have a game show where we bring presidential candidates up and ask them really basic questions about geography and foreign countries, like "Please point to Iran on a map of the world." I bet she'd fail even basic geography. Hell, I bet she couldn't even point to most US states. She could probably find California, Alaska, Texas, and Florida, but I bet she couldn't find much else... Now, regarding her hypocrisy as a so-called "conservative", this is all the proof I need to know that she not only took money for the bridge to nowhere, she promoted it in her race for governor: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/images/palin-nowhere-shirt.jpg (damn can't post pics)

I wouldn't vote for Palin for dog catcher. I didn't vote for Obama. I didn't vote for McCain. I voted for Ron Paul. If I had been in a state where it might have been close, I MIGHT have held my nose and voted for a mainstream repub or dem. Palin would have made it an easy choice as I would have had someone to vote against.

Tenpoundbass says

That stuff didn’t stop Bush now did it? Bush couldn’t tell the difference between WMD’s from Shineola, and he said New-que-lur around polite company. He was president twice.

Palin's dad isn't George H.W. Bush, and turd blossom won't have anything to do with her. I'm highly skeptical that the GOP would actually allow a non-white male be their candidate any time in the next 20 years. she could run as an independent, sure, but all that would do is split the GOP vote and guarantee another 4 years for the democrats.

This is the woman some like to compare to 'Jackie~O'??? I swear, the dog has more grace and poise than does it's handler. And where did she buy those jumbo~sized shorts? 'Big Dogs'? Her drinking doesn't surprise me one bit. Actually, I won't be surprised if it turns out she has been seeking refuge in stimulants and depressants.

Yeah elliemae, how about that bee hive state? This is how you deal with Utah and alcohol. 1. Order your home brew supplies out of state. 2. Have it delivered US mail if possible. Nosy Mormons need a warrant to open US mail... UPS, FedEx... That man on the puppet strings Orin Hatch just pops your box right open... We won't even get into how Orin's tan out oranges John Boe-hner's tan... 3. Brew and consume at home like it is the prohibition era. Remember, it is like that Star Trek episode with the "Will of Landru" and mind control cultist everywhere programmed to report on you. Keep cult members at bay, never let them persuade you to attend their "gatherings," or enter your house or for god's sake see your home made beer until you finish your phd and get the hell out of there... At least that is what my cousin told me... he did 3 1/2 years in Utah...

Just need a little yeast and some grapes and alcohol is inevitable. Wine yeast is better than bread yeast, but they both work.

Remember, it is like that Star Trek episode with the “Will of Landru” and mind control cultist everywhere programmed to report on you. Keep cult members at bay, never let them persuade you to attend their “gatherings,” or enter your house or for god’s sake see your home made beer until you finish your phd and get the hell out of there… At least that is what my cousin told me… he did 3 1/2 years in Utah…

I've spent most of my life here. I use the pioneer method, and do what the pioneers did. Yep, drive over the state line and buy alcohol in Vegas. :)

I need at least two drinks every time I read a post from OTS.

Tenpoundbass says

The “ONLY” person capable of “SAVING” this country, is going to be anything but an Republican or Democrat.

I agree -- but Sarah Palin *IS* a Republican. If she runs as an independent, it will be on the EXACT SAME AGENDA as whatever asshole the GOP plops out. The same agenda that has been failing since Nixon. How is that "independent"? Real change won't happen until we kick the lobbyists out and have citizen funded elections. After that we should focus on figuring out ways to reduce or eliminate political parties, which are the real root of the problem. When you read an article that talks about how passing legislation is going to be difficult because some PAC or lobbyist is going to "fight it", you know how wrong the system is. Speaking as someone who voted for Obama purely as the better of two crappy options last November, I would absolutely love to have some viable candidates without having "Democrat" or "Republican" next to their name on the ballot. Frankly, none of the smaller political parties (Libertarians, Greens, etc.) appeal to me either. I want politicians who are able to look at a situation and make the best decision, not the decision that happens to win votes or be most consistent with arbitrary ideology. I want politicians who aren't going to waste my time and theirs grandstanding on bullshit issues like defending "the sanctity of marriage" or resolutions honoring michael jackson.

Tenpoundbass says

Just a quick question, how much worse could she possibly be?

That's what you idiots said about GWB and look how much worse it was. I guarantee you if Al Gore was elected president in 2000, things would be a lot better now.

LOL Kevin! Elliemae, I didn't know you live in Utah now... I used to live there a while back. Yeah, the private club laws were annoying, but I hear they just repealed them finally! Yay! They still have absolutely idiotic liquor laws though, like you can't have 2 beers in front of you, which actually encourages binge drinking. Here's the scenario: 1. You're sitting down to dinner at a microbrewery, enjoying a nice ale. Your beer is almost finished, just a couple inches in the bottom. 2. Your waitress comes by to check on you, see how you're doing. "Would you like another beer?" 3. "Sure," you reply. She comes back a minute later with another beer. 4. She stands there holding the beer and says, "I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to serve you another beer until you finish the first one." 5. You chug the first beer, and get drunk faster, then she sets the second beer in front of you and goes merrily on her way. How is this supposed to protect people from overindulging in alcohol? When I enjoy a beer, I want to enjoy it at a leisurely pace. I don't want to be forced to chug my beer like I'm in some college drinking game. This is what happens when you let crazy religious nuts write liquor laws.

Tenpoundbass says

Just a quick question, how much worse could she possibly be?

How much worse than who? She could be a lot worse than Bush, who in turn was a lot worse than Obama -- there's a LONG way you can fall. Another war or two would be awesome. That's really beside the point though -- you aren't going to "fix" politicians, so you might as well go jump off a bridge now if you think any candidate has any chance of doing that ever. Every democracy on this planet is full of dumb fucks and dipshits who waste time and money on dumb things. We put up with it because the alternative is some form of dictatorship (fascism, monarchy, empire -- take your pick), and dictatorships are entirely too unpredictable to be pleasant to live in. Democracy always has been and always will be a bunch of dumb asses elected by a bunch of other dumb asses that tries to muddle through and make society work. So far it actually works pretty well.

Our laws have never made sense. It used to be that they couldn't mix a drink for you, but would sell mini-bottles instead. So each drink they served had a full mini-bottle in it. But we're making progress - we can sell full-strength beer on tap now. That'll make people come here now. Utah's the new party state!

I think this is a great idea. Second term!!

I've been wanting to do the view count thing for a long time and finally got to it. Great to see the numbers change almost every time I reload the page. > Patrick have you considered putting navigation on the bottom of the page, or at least an escape link back to the forum’s topic list? But I do have navigation at the bottom of the page, at least to the main forum page and each forum's topic list. Is it not visible, or not what you meant? Thanks for the suggestion!

For better or worse, this is still a democracy. People made their choice last Nov so apparently they like his economic philosophy regardless of its long-term effects (and, frankly, lessons the history teaches us). He told exactly what he was going to do (see the whole wealth re-distribution controversy) and the majority clearly was in favor of it. Just look at CA, nobody has ever lost an election here for flying the state into the ground with all kinds of free-for-all. Or do you remember how Athens, that ancient precursor of the US, voted themselves into the Peloponnesian War which ultimately ruined both Athens and Sparta? Or who invented the word demagogue which is so pertinent today if you know what I mean :) ? There are very deep questions lurking under this wave of left populism. Every single great country/culture which ever failed was rotten from the inside, not destroyed by foreign enemies. And the science has no answer why, when or exactly how a society decides to destruct itself. So I feel sorry for you and myself but chances are we are observing forces of historical proportions at work here. No amount of logic and reason could be enough to prevent it. On the flip side, there could be cases of real hard-working Americans hit hard by the recession somewhere where new houses cost, say, 200K and not 800K-1M. And very well could be a good idea to help them. But personally I have no illusion about who is the target audience for all those Democratic initiatives. So grab a chair and prepare to witness mighty Titanic meeting its destiny.

>> handing out Free Health Care to the irresponsible care to explain this?

Our current national healthcare plan: DON'T GET SICK. :(

Excellent response, Nick and welcome to the Forum :) dont_getit: The best thing you can do is maintain or work towards the moral and economic strength of your own household/family. Stay out of the stock market/bond markets as they are highly manipulated by programmed trading. Dmitry Orlov has a book: ReInventing Collapse which has two really good chapters, 4 and 5 where he discusses how to prepare and live in a collapsing society: Chapt 4 is “Collapse Mitigation” and Chapt 5 is “Adaptation.” he bases his observations and advice on his own experience facing the collapse of the Soviet Union and what occurred in the days, months, and years following that. There are lots of us. 8 States are in no need of bailout money. 49 percent voted for parties other than Democrat in November. Not any sort of mandate, but you knew that already, right?

I am very curious to know if the people here, and all over the country, screaming about socialized medicine, communism, etc have any plans to turn down medicare when they're old enough. If govt run healthcare is so terrible, it would seem as if they would pass it up and stick with their private insurance plans instead. But nobody ever mentions it. It's very curious. Some Guy, you'll be turning down medicare, surely. Right?

Some Guy says

Problem is, I don’t think that’s politically viable. There’s no way this country would ever allow a fully government owned and operated healthcare system. We have to set our sights on something that could actually be achieved.

Medicare and Medicaid??

Yeah, why don't we get rid of Medicare and Medicaid first, completely socialist, commie shit. No use to anyone, and wastes my tax money to keep someone alive so that I can pay their SS, sounds as commie as you get.

This has made me so angry. Why should unemployed homeowners be the only ones to get their housing paid for? I'm unemployed, but renting. Does that mean that Obama is going to start paying my rent now too? When the heck are we going to let SOMEONE suffer the consequences for bad decisions? whether it be Wall St. bankers or Main St. homeowners, apparently noone is too small to fail...

Ahh, another shitty Reuters article. I swear, they'd claim that the administration was "considering" nuking China if they could get a sound byte of some intern making a dumb joke. I'm sure that somebody in the administration mentioned this as an option at some point, but I doubt it would make much of a difference. If the home owners are under water and they lose their job, losing the home would be great for them financially, and it's a much better decision than wiping out their savings. If they still have substantial equity and they lose their job, they should probably sell the place and live off of the proceeds. I completely understand the emotional attachment to the place that you live, but it's really stupid to go completely broke for the roof over your head. Delaying repayment entirely isn't the worst idea in the world though. It actually has shown positive effects in the student loan industry. I'm skeptical that it would do much to help anyone right now, though. The real question though, is "how long"? If someone is unemployed for a year or two, there's a good chance that their home value will be further underwater by the time they find a new job (and there's a good chance that the new job will pay less than the old one). One last comment here though -- not everyone who loses their job is "irresponsible". Is the guy who was an auto worker for 30 years who gets laid off too soon to retire "irresponsible" for not saving 2 years of pay instead of the recommended 6 months? I'm not saying that the guy deserves special help by any means, but calling people like that "irresponsible" is just a woeful display of ignorance.

Some Guy says

You said it. Why does this society continue to insist that renters should be the shit that “homeowners” wipe off their shoes? So you overpaid for your house - why exactly should that make you one of the chosen people?

Government policies have favored ownership the world over for a very long time. There has been plenty of research that shows that stability in living environment is very good for society as a whole. Aside from ensuring lower crime rates and higher school performance, home ownership acts as a nice dumb investment vehicle for people who aren't capable of managing more complex instruments. That's not to say that I agree with the bailouts, but you really should understand the government's reasoning in their actions. Well, that and 80% of registered voters are home owners.

Aside from ensuring lower crime rates and higher school performance, home ownership acts as a nice dumb investment vehicle for people who aren’t capable of managing more complex instruments.

...or getting screwed in the backside by same. When was it that houses became thought of as investments, anyway? Unless FLW designed it, forget it.

From Huffington Post - the best of Sarah's cringeworthy moments:

On July 31, 2008 Larry Kudlow interviewed Sarah Palin about a probe into an alleged scandal and asked her if she was interested in becoming John McCain's running mate. She replied: "But as for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does everyday?" On September 29, 2008 CBS aired one of the many parts of an interview Katie Couric did with Sarah Palin. In this particular installment, Couric asked "what newspapers and magazines did [she] regularly read..." and Palin responded by saying: "I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media." Couric pushed further asking "what ones specifically?" and Pain said, "Umm... all of them. Any of them that have been in front of me over all these years." It only got worse for Palin from there. A couple days later Couric showed another segment of the interview in which she asked which decision, other than Roe V. Wade, Palin disagreed with. Sarah responded: "Well, let's see. There's --of course --in the great history of America rulings there have been rulings, there's never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are -- those issues, again, like Roe v Wade where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So you know -- going through the history of America, there would be others but--" On October 2, 2008 Palin faced off against Joe Biden in their first (and only) VP debate. She said several hilarious things, but her winking is what most of us still remember and what gave Rich Lowry of the National Review "little starburts," most likely in his pants. On October 11, 2008 Sarah "I'm a hockey mom" Palin appeared at a Flyers game to drop the ceremonial first puck and was greeted by resounding "boos" from the crowd. On October 20, 2008 Sarah was interviewed by an NBC affiliate in Colorado, which passed on a question from a local third grader who wanted to know about what the Vice President does. Palin answered: "[T]hey’re in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom." Which is blatantly untrue. On November 1, 2008 Palin unwittingly took a call from a Canadian comedian posing as the French president. The fake Sarkozy suggested the pair go hunting together saying, "I just love killing those animals. Mmm, mmm, take away life, that is so fun." She responded, saying, "Well, I think we could have a lot of fun together while we're getting work done. We can kill two birds with one stone that way." The comedian went on to say his wife is "so hot in bed" and tell Palin that Bruni has written a song for her called "Du rouge a levres sur une cochonne" aka "Lipstick on a Pig." On October 5, 2008 Sarah Palin called Afghanistan “our neighboring country” during a speech to U.S. soldiers who must have thought, "This is what we're fighting for?" On October 15, 2008 Palin gave a speech in the Granite state and said, "I like being here," she told the crowd in Laconia, "because it seems like here and in our last rally too -- other parts around this great Northwest -- here in New Hampshire you just get it." The crowd was understandably confused. On November 13, 2008 Palin gave a speech that Jonathan Martin called "perplexing" and "jarring," because it was basically an old stump speech she gave a million times before she lost the election. Jonathan Capehart told MSNBC's David Shuster, "I watched her entire speech, and I had to remind myself that the election was a week ago, and this was not a McCain/Palin rally. Everything you heard at a McCain/Palin rally since she was selected as the Vice Presidential nominee since September, and even down to the same rhetoric was in that speech." On July 3, 2009 Sarah Palin announced that she would resign from the office of the governor, giving some a sigh of relief and late-night comedians a heart-attack. The speech was a little crazy: There was something about a fish and sports and a lot about politics and not quitting but then quitting. It was more confusing than when she explained politics to that 3rd grader. When Palin resigned she said that fighting unjust ethics complaints was immobilizing her. "I'm not going to let Alaskans go through a year of stymied, paralyzed administration and not getting anything done," she said. Someone asked how she would run the country if these accusations could stop her from running the state and Palin responded that the "department of law" protects the president. There's no such thing in the White House.

---------------------------- I prefer a candidate that can formulate a pertinent, educated response. If I wanted someone who was unable to do so, I'd vote for BAP33.

Well, I don't like it that most of us are subsidizing the lifestyle of these few commies in our country who takes advantage of our hard work to get their unlimited healthcare supply. I say abolish Medicare completely, what do ya think?

>makes the Democrats the most smug smart asses in the political arena. The Democrats are smug because the prior government (i.e. 1980-1988, 2000-2008) was recently run by a bunch of "cognitively challenged" sociopathic, theo-conservatives masquerading as competent adults, voted in by same. Momentarily, we have grown-ups in charge. Grown-ups who can see that national health care is a successful, paid-for fact in Canada and Sweden and that their countries are not impoverished hellholes with people dying of disease on the streets. Grown-ups who can see that capitalism sometimes fails (i.e. the financial system, the health care system, the energy supply system) and that it's not some kind of magic fairy that cures all ills. You need a mix of government and capitalism. You need a balance. You need both. Oh, and may I say smugly, "Grow up."