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The Buzz
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Politics Uncensored!
23 members
Subgroup of How to Network and Make Friends
Caution! This is raw politics... take the gloves off! Have fun and keep an open mind!
Tyler
Public Enemy speaks the truth!!! + -
Check out my new Public Enemy remix!
ferrin
RE: Public Enemy speaks the truth!!! + -
SUVs R wasteful
The Bailout + -
some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.
"It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number."
Wow. If it wants to see a bailout bill passed soon, the administration's going to have to come up with some hard answers to hard questions. Public support for it already seems to be waning. According to a Rasmussen Reports poll released Tuesday, 44% of those surveyed oppose the administration's plan, up from 37% Monday.
Kelly
RE: The Bailout + -
Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.
No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just read the first four paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday's New York Times and you can see what the real deal is:
"Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.
"Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.
"At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.
"Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury's proposal to buy up bad assets of financial institutions."
Unbelievable. Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they are going to clean up like bandits. Even Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for his firm to be hired (and paid) to "consult" in the bailout.
The problem is, nobody truly knows what this "collapse" is all about. Even Treasury Secretary Paulson admitted he doesn't know the exact amount that is needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out of his head!). The head of the congressional budget office said he can't figure it out nor can he explain it to anyone.
And yet, they are screeching about how the end is near! Panic! Recession! The Great Depression! Y2K! Bird flu! Killer bees! We must pass the bailout bill today!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Falling for whom? NOTHING in this "bailout" package will lower the price of the gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING in this bill will protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this bill will give you health insurance.
Health insurance? Why are you bringing this up? What's this got to do with the Wall Street collapse?
It has everything to do with it. This so-called "collapse" was triggered by the massive defaulting and foreclosures going on with people's home mortgages. Do you know why so many Americans are losing their homes? To hear the Republicans describe it, it's because too many working class idiots were given mortgages that they really couldn't afford. Here's the truth: The number one cause of people declaring bankruptcy is because of medical bills. Let me state this simply: If we had had universal health coverage, this mortgage "crisis" may never have happened.
This bailout's mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that has been accumulated in the last eight years. It's to protect the top shareholders who own and control corporate America. It's to make sure their yachts and mansions and "way of life" go uninterrupted while the rest of America suffers and struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich suffer for once. Let them pay for the bailout. We are spending 400 million dollars a day on the war in Iraq. Let them end the war immediately and save us all another half-trillion dollars!
I have to stop writing this and you have to stop reading it. They are staging a financial coup this morning in our country. They are hoping Congress will act fast before they stop to think, before we have a chance to stop them ourselves. So stop reading this and do something -- NOW! Here's what you can do immediately:
1. Call or e-mail Senator Obama.
DC Address: The Honorable Barack Obama
United States Senate
713 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1305
DC Phone: 202-224-2854
DC Fax: 202-228-4260
Electronic Correspondence: http://obama.senate.gov/contact/
Homepage: http://obama.senate.gov/
Tell him he does not need to be sitting there trying to help prop up Bush and Cheney and the mess they've made. Tell him we know he has the smarts to slow this thing down and figure out what's the best route to take. Tell him the rich have to pay for whatever help is offered. Use the leverage we have now to insist on a moratorium on home foreclosures, to insist on a move to universal health coverage, and tell him that we the people need to be in charge of the economic decisions that affect our lives, not the barons of Wall Street.
2. Take to the streets. Participate in one of the hundreds of quickly-called demonstrations that are taking place all over the country (especially those near Wall Street and DC).
3. Call your Representative in Congress and your Senators. Tell them what you told Senator Obama. Go here to find their phone numbers.
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin...
When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay. Each and every one of you reading this knows that basic lesson and has paid the consequences of your actions at some point. In this great democracy, we cannot let there be one set of rules for the vast majority of hard-working citizens, and another set of rules for the elite, who, when they screw up, are handed one more gift on a silver platter. No more! Not again!
Kelly
P.S. Having read further the details of this bailout bill, you need to know you are being lied to. They talk about how they will prevent golden parachutes. It says NOTHING about what these executives and fat cats will make in SALARY. According to Rep. Brad Sherman of California, these top managers will continue to receive million-dollar-a-month paychecks under this new bill. There is no direct ownership given to the American people for the money being handed over. Foreign banks and investors will be allowed to receive billion-dollar handouts. A large chunk of this $700 billion is going to be given directly to Chinese and Middle Eastern banks. There is NO guarantee of ever seeing that money again.
P.P.S. From talking to people I know in DC, they say the reason so many Dems are behind this is because Wall Street this weekend put a gun to their heads and said either turn over the $700 billion or the first thing we'll start blowing up are the pension funds and 401(k)s of your middle class constituents. The Dems are scared they may make good on their threat. But this is not the time to back down or act like the typical Democrat we have witnessed for the last eight years. The Dems handed a stolen election over to Bush. The Dems gave Bush the votes he needed to invade a sovereign country. Once they took over Congress in 2007, they refused to pull the plug on the war. And now they have been cowered into being accomplices in the crime of the century. You have to call them now and say "NO!" If we let them do this, just imagine how hard it will be to get anything good done when President Obama is in the White House. THESE DEMOCRATS ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS THE BACKBONE WE GIVE THEM. CALL CONGRESS NOW.
SUVs R wasteful
The End? + -
FORT STEWART, Ga. (Army News Service, Sept. 29, 2008) - The exercise scenario was a sobering one: a 10-kiloton nuclear device detonated in America’s heartland, quickly overwhelming civilian responders.
Military leaders who recently trained for this response say they are now thinking differently about how to move equipment, extract the injured and take care of people following this type of attack.
Last step on the list:
Suspend the rule of law
SUVs R wasteful
Educational level of each presidential candidate + -
Occidental College (Los Angeles) - 2 years studying Politics and Public Policy.
Columbia University (New York) - B.A. Political Science with a specialization in International Relations.
Harvard Law School - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude, Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Law Review.
Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and a B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 of 899.
Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester - Business Administration.
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - General Studies.
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - Journalism.
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester.
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism.
Ron Paul:
B.A. from Gettysburg College (1957)
M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine (1961)
Ralph Nader:
AB Princeton University, magna cum laude, 1955
LLB Harvard University, 1958.
Peace
RE: Educational level of each presidential candidate + -
Greens
Constitutionalists
Socialists
Communists
etc etc etc
...else edit the subject line.
And I notice that years are associated with Nader and Paul, but not for the others.
SUVs R wasteful
RE: Educational level of each presidential candidate + -
Peace
RE: Educational level of each presidential candidate + -
finis
Marat
RE: Educational level of each presidential candidate + -
I think this is more than sufficient, thank you. The only ones I care about at the moment are the ones still in the running.
ferrin
RE: Educational level of each presidential candidate + -
Semper Fi
RE: Educational level of each presidential candidate + -
EvilTwin
RE: Educational level of each presidential candidate + -
SUVs R wasteful
Musicians can no longer perform + -
Bill
RE: Musicians can no longer perform + -
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1594053/...
DJ
RE: Musicians can no longer perform + -
SUVs R wasteful
RE: Musicians can no longer perform + -
RATM and anyone else has the right to assemble and the freedom of speech to say whatever they like.
It is thanks to the US Constitution we have not succumbed to unchecked fascism or runaway communism like Europe.
Bill
RE: Musicians can no longer perform + -
EvilTwin
RE: Musicians can no longer perform + -
Marat
RE: Musicians can no longer perform + -
Plus what do you actually know about Russia? What was the last time you were there?
SUVs R wasteful
Where is your money going? + -
Highway Fund Shortfall May Halt Road Projects
Article Tools Sponsored By
By DAVID STOUT and MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: September 5, 2008
WASHINGTON — An important account in the federal Highway Trust Fund will run out of money this month, a situation that could hamper completion of road and bridge construction projects across the country, Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said on Friday.
Because the trust fund’s highway account is draining away, the Transportation Department will have to delay payments for projects, Ms. Peters said at a news conference. Since money from Washington typically pays 80 to 90 percent of the cost of federally aided road work, states with shaky finances may have to consider curtailing projects.
Ms. Peters said her department would begin to dole out money from the fund each week on a prorated basis. For instance, if there is enough money to cover only 80 percent of the payment requests the department receives for federally financed local projects, the agency will pay only 80 percent of each request initially, making up the difference later.
“Time and again, the president has warned Congress of the pending shortfall and submitted fiscally prudent budgets to close the gap,†Ms. Peters said, in remarks that reflected the political nature of the long-running debate over how to pay for road building.
SUVs R wasteful
RE: Where is our money going? + -
Wed Sep 3, 2008 7:00pm EDT
By Tabassum Zakaria
BAKU (Reuters) - U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday the United States had a "deep and abiding interest" in its allies' security in the Caucasus, while Russia said U.S. support for Georgia was stirring up instability.
The United States later announced $1 billion in aid for rebuilding Georgia after last month's five-day war with Russia, a move likely to further strain ties with Moscow.
On a visit to Azerbaijan, Cheney also said the United States must work with the oil-producing ex-Soviet republic to create additional energy export routes to Western markets.
....
Fred
RE: Where is our money going? + -
SUVs R wasteful
RE: Where is our money going? + -
EvilTwin
RE: Where is our money going? + -
SUVs R wasteful
Your flower is a terrorist + -
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Fred
RE: Your flower is a terrorist + -
Semper Fi
RE: Your flower is a terrorist + -
Fred
RE: Your flower is a terrorist + -
Semper Fi
RE: Your flower is a terrorist + -
EvilTwin
RE: Your flower is a terrorist + -
SUVs R wasteful