Why would anyone's bubble burst because of what this lady's neighbor says? And who goes to the supermarket parking lot with a tape recorder? This doesn't sound so much like a recalled conversation as it does an amateur screenwriter’s jab at slanted political commentary. That's how I "digest" the piece's "implications."


Yes, that was a great post by the Anchoress. There is another one that has just appeared in shrinkwrapped

http://shrinkwrapped.blogs.com/ b...uicidal_na.html

which dovetails with this in unexpected ways. I suggest you read it, Dr. Sanity. It has helped to quell my anger at the left for their destructive behavior. Of course, it must be opposed for our survival, but at least I now feel that they only need "correction" rather than "punishment".
What a great way to end the old year!


The neighbor's credibility goes out the window when she claims Condoleezza Rice has balls. I submit that she has none--neither literally nor figuratively.


Why would anyone's bubble burst because of what this lady's neighbor says?

Isn't she the "common man/woman" that GWB is supposedly not in touch with? Or, Jeff and Mitzell (one and the same?) do you consider yourselves examples of the common man? In any event, from my perspective you two talk like the elites you consider yourselves to be. And we'll see whose bubble bursts in 2006.


Yeah, I'm an "elite." I'm unhinged and looney and whatever else you guys need to project on your opponents.


As I vividly recall, the DEMS thought they had a lock, nay, a landslide chance of beating Bush in 04. Their catatonic reaction to the FACT that 3 million more Americans voted GOP than DEM was priceless. Yes! WE OUTNUMBER YOU! Ha! And this when they were pulling out all the stops, "Vote or Die" campaigns of all the Pop culture stars (*can you imagine the angst and holier-than-thou-righteous-anger the NYT would have if Republicans ran a "vote or die" campaign?)

Dems have been living in a bubble for decades: they truly believed the USSR would be around for a looooong time...right up till the time it ceased to exist.

Now they believe there is no war on terror, that the greatest threat to "their way of life" is the GOP or nebulous "religious right".

They definately believe the economy is tanking....even though we've just had our 14th quarter of economic growth - the longest run of success in 30 years.


ooohhhh jeffie wants us to think he has balls--literally and figuratively. Well, I say to you--if the shoe fits, wear it. And you wear it so well!


And John, if you lost $20, and then found $2, you wouldn't say you gained $2, you'd say "I'm still $18 in the hole."


I like Jeff.


The economy added 2 million jobs in 2005. Meanwhile in other news, the housing market, esp. new constructions was up, up, up in 2005. Who was buying all those new homes if more and more people were out of work?

If America discovered $20 trillion in some natural resource, but it would cost $20 billion to harvest/obtain, the Libs and Dems and NYT would howl "America stands to lose $20B in energy bust...women and minorities hardest hit, evil republics hope many die of starvation while they burn $100 bills to light cigars"


John, where can I find the statistics of how many jobs were lost during W's 1st term? I just want to get this all in perspective. When you say jobs have been added, have we at least gotten back to zero yet?


> I submit that she has none--neither literally nor figuratively.

WHACK! Shut up, mitzell, until you have something actually useful to say.


> I like Jeff.

WHACK! Shut up, mitzell, until you have something actually useful to say.


> John, where can I find the statistics of how many jobs were lost during W's 1st term?

Jeff, a clue for you: There's this new thing, called The Internet!!!

...And it's wonderful for doing research!

...And you're already using it!!



Why the HELL should we bother doing research for YOUR "refutations"?


WHACK!


Well, dipshit, I just asked because all the info I've seen says your boy W lost a lot more than he's "created." So, if you've got something, anything, that says different, maybe you could try backing up one of your quote-unquote facts. Or is smart-ass banter all you've got?
KA-POW (ugh, I feel so dirty)


And why don't you go WHACK-off to some pics of your favorite she-male, Ann Coulter?


You're all worthless and weak.

Now, drop and give me 20.


To get back on thread, 2006 will certainly be an interesting year and somebody's bubble is going to burst depending on the outcome of the midterm elections. My money is on the Dems delusional bubble; since they are excellent at snatching defeat from the jaws of political victory. As LLB suggests, they are getting further and further away from the common man and becoming the party most out of touch with the real world.


I wonder if that neighbor stopped to catch her breath! She said a lot and most of it true.


One of my dear leftist friends expressed amazement and incredulity when I informed him that the top 50% of the wage earners paid 94% of the tax revenues. He said he'd have to check on my numbers, because he'd never heard anything about that before.

Well, I guess not. You won't find those stats in The Nation or in Howard Zinn's books.

It's easy to wrap oneself in a blanket of phony self-affirming pseudo-knowlege--as long as you ignore your own lying eyes. And my friend still resides secure in his bubble.


Wait, wait...let me get this straight. If someone makes $1 million dollars, they pay a lot more taxes than someone who makes $25,000? Holy crap, what a newsflash!!! Does 20/20 know about this???


It only took this woman a little longer than a majority of us who are true Democrats to see that what calls itself the democratic party is not very democratic.
It is illustrative that no matter what the subject both Jeff and Mitzel use it to make themselves the center of attention. Its all about me and everyone knows the Nation has credibility unmatched by any other source.
If one is truely interested in the facts the research possibilities are endless, but you have to go past finding someone who states what you want to hear and maybe question some of your opinions and read a number of others who might disagree with you.
You can always rely on personal attacks, but that only denotes an inability to state your case in an intelligent manner.
A good friend of mine who just died was a Liberal that I respected. We use to argue and disagree until we were exhausting everyone around us. He joked that we never changed each other's opinions, but he enjoyed my company because I was knowledgeable and caused him to think. I will miss him because he could at least agrue his points in a reasoned manner and forced me to analyze why I thought the way I thought.
In the long run we both realized that we wanted many of the same things. The only difference was in how one got to that solution.
Too much of the rhetoric from the left now consists on name-calling, sophistry and not even an attempt to present a reasoned argument. Really is kind of sad that you can dismiss most of it as drivel and ignore a salient point that might occur in the mids't of all that drivel.
It is not unusual for someone in the demoratic party to recognize that it isn't very democratic.


"The democratic party is not very democratic."

Dennis, this has been the reoccurring theme of your posts for as long as I've been posting here, and I can't help but counter with "The republican party isn't for the public." The culture of corruption that is festering in this administration should horrify you as an American. But instead, you let it slide because your side is “winning.” (actually, made it does freak you out, who knows?)

Your comments that I need to "go past finding someone who states what you want to hear" is quaint, considering that the Doc's original post was about her finding a democrat saying what SHE wanted to hear. Irony. If I just wanted to hear from folks that agree with me, what am I doing here? Most of my posts state ideas that I would really like discussed in an open forum. Sometimes I do fall victim to emotional name-calling and sarcasm, but more often than not, I'm trying to engage people. I want to understand where people are coming from. What is this "it's all about me" stuff about, anyway? This blog isn't called "DrJeff." Isn't the point of having a comments section to allow people to comment? Have I ever spoken in the first person here (If you smelllllll, what the Jeff...is...cooking!) I know that's a fairly obscure reference, but I really don't understand. Your anecdote about your dead friend may seem like you're trying to make this argument all about you. I don't think so, but some could see it that way I suppose...


Jeff(#2) - what you said about taxes is misleading as it only applies to the middle- and upper-middle classes. The very rich (top-1%)don't pay their fair share. Consider the Kennedys with their Fiji Trust Fund or the year that Kerry/Heinz disclosed that their effective tax rate was less-than 2% of their (reported) income. But, wait...ooops! They're Democrats of the Eeeyore Party who want us all to pay our fair share. How could that be?


Dennis:

"It only took this woman a little longer than a majority of us who are true Democrats to see that what calls itself the democratic party is not very democratic."

A "little longer"?

I doped that out back in the late 70's...and I'm a 3rd generation union seaman.

Drilling oil wells in the ANWR would provide LOTS of union blue-collar jobs, but which party is AGAINST it?

The Democrats.

So- Greenie Eco-extremists swing a "bigger dick" in the Democratic party than Organized Labor does,eh?

Hey Democrats...you remember that next election, m'kay?

Maybe the caribou and harp seals in the ANWR will vote for your clowns...I sure the fuck won't.

(Note: purely domestic issue...no mention whatsoever of the GWOT).

Regards;


How many jobs could be provided in the production of an alternate fuel source? If we would develop one and be at the tip of the spear, America could once again be at the forefront of a global industry. We could all swing "bigger dicks" and get the dollar back to where it should be, as the most valuable currency on the planet.


> And why don't you go WHACK-off to some pics of your favorite she-male, Ann Coulter?

jeffey, you're just pissed because she's got more balls than you'll ever have.

It's probably why you dhims hate Condi, too.

WHACK.


> Well, dipshit, I just asked because all the info I've seen says your boy W lost a lot more than he's "created."

DON'T BOTHER TO POINT US TO YOUR "info" -- just make unsupported assertions.


THIS is why we don't respect you, jeffey -- you make claims and then, (particularly!) when asked for data, you just repeat your claims, instead of providing any basis for rebuttal or argument.

Either put up or shut up.

WHACK!


> Holy crap, what a newsflash!!!

"Too dumb to pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the heel."

No, it means that out of the total federal income which is derived from income taxes, 94% of that amount is paid for by people above the median income. It's even more extreme when you look at the top 10%... something like 85%.

I realize, in your Marxist world, that seems fair. Personally, I've never seen outright slavery as fair, though.


> The culture of corruption that is festering in this administration should horrify you as an American.

Stuff a SOCK in it jeffey.

As though the Dhimmicrats are friggin' SAINTs in this department --

Why was almost half of all US Federal Highway Funding -- for a couple decades spent in West Virginia? Didn't have anything to do with the head of the committee in charge of it being a Democrat... no, not at all. The just won life's lottery Yeah. That's the ticket.

Corruption sucks -- which is why one of the best ways to curtail it is to stop giving the government money to spend on stuff

Idiot.


> Danny Lemieux

What you say is largely true -- but, guess what -- it has ALWAYS been this way.

The whole Income Tax notion was sold to the public as a "soak the rich" scheme -- but the dodge had already been put in place before it was pushed, in the form of tax-free "foundations".

By the time the law got passed, the Rich Bastards had already transferred all their assets into these "Foundations", and were immune to it.

So until you find a way to charge an income tax on someone who, in point of fact, really doesn't work at all but derives money from returns on assets (much of which capital will shift outside the country IF you actually DO manage to come up with a mechanism for taking it from them consistently!), the whole income tax scheme is nothing but a way to play the lower classes against the middle and "lower-upper" classes...

In other words, the income tax is flat out bullshit. The ones who do the most for this country are the ones who get F***ed -- most people with very high incomes from any kind of work (i.e., as opposed to asset-derived income) have that income because they bust their asses for it far more than someone who makes less (that does not mean no one who makes less is inherently a goof-off, but it is relevant in somewhat indicative that they tend to be "workaholics").

... then the plebes vote to take more money away from them because they outnumber them.


> How many jobs could be provided in the production of an alternate fuel source?

Go ahead, jeffey. This is an area I pay special attention to --

Go ahead and step into my parlor and tell me which "alternative fuel" you think is sooooo all-fired wonderful, yet, somehow, some entrepreneur here or new company there -- in the USA or in some other nation -- isn't already working hard to make it a reality.

Go on. Speak out. Express your opinion. (tap, tap, tap goes the rubber mallet against the palm of my hand)...


> We could all swing "bigger dicks" and get the dollar back to where it should be, as the most valuable currency on the planet.

My god. Two amazing stupidities in as many sentences.

Impressive.

In case you did not notice, the dollar is ALREADY far and away the currency of choice on this planet.

The Euro? Hell, they can't even get people in Europe to like the things. The only way they've gotten anyone to use the damned things is be fiat.

The Yen? Been soft since the early 90s.

You got some OTHER currency in mind?

Here's a simple measure:
How much does that other currency get counterfeited?

THAT tells you how much people want the currency in question.


Okay, in sequential order here...

1) Man Coulter has more balls, but the same number of adam's apples. And Condi has balls? Has she ever had an thought independent of W?

2) As far as the dems being saints, I can't remember ever saying that. I've repeated (for the slow ones like you, O-Douchey-Fag) stated that they're all politicians and shouldn't be trusted farther than you can throw them.

3) Well, okay, let's talk "info" about jobs. Since everone tries to spin everyone else on this, where can the average joe find stats that factor total jobs gained, minus total jobs lost since W took over? I'm assuming, since you feel so passionately about it, you must have seen these numbers. You wouldn't fly off the handle in a bold-type hissy fit without knowing, would you?

4) What am I, a scientist? If I knew the secret to alternative fuel, why would I be talking to a douche bag like you? But, since I don't have the answer, we shouldn't bother? Fossil fuels like oil have, by definition, a limited life span. Even a freeper spaz like you can understand that. Think of the boon it could provide for America on every front, economically, technologically, labor...the benefit would be staggering and outweigh lost oil company profits 100 fold. If you're against alternative fuel, then you just don't give a shit about anything.

5) As for the yen/dollar thing, you might want to take a look at this: http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/17/.../markets/forex/

We're actually at a two year high in comparison and we're still down 118.80 -1.

6) And between the Jeffey stuff and the WHACK-ing...are you hitting on me? Dude, Kerry didn't win, so your dreams of same-sex marriage are out.

But, I am flattered.


jeff:

"How many jobs could be provided in the production of an alternate fuel source? If we would develop one and be at the tip of the spear, America could once again be at the forefront of a global industry. We could all swing "bigger dicks" and get the dollar back to where it should be, as the most valuable currency on the planet."

Hey, that's a GREAT idea...and I'm sure we'll charge right in there, what with the new cleaner coal technologies, liquified natural gas(LNG), and maybe that fuel cell thingie that the Prezzy-dent had his panties in a twist for...some day,,(if it's all copacetic with the neo-Luddite Greenieweenies).

I was more interested in the "now to 20years out" time span, though.

We KNOW there's reserves up there, so let's go get them, like yesterday.

The bills are due TODAY, bud, we can't AFFORD to wait until the market catches up with our designer line of dishwasher-safe rubber sex toys, y'know?

Or, like I said, airdrop your Democratic campaign literature to Eskimos and Caribou.

Regards;


"I was more interested in the "now to 20years out" time span, though."

As long as we keep thinking this way, we're gambling with our future. That doesn't make any sense. Every time I heard W say “we need to become less dependent of foreign oil” I was praying he’d drop the word “foreign” and just say “less dependent on oil.” It’s irresponsible to not be planning now for past the next 20 years. He was willing to abolish the current social security system for a crisis that may have been 40 years down the road.


Jeff,

I guess you are “trying” to be civil about your difference of opinion, so I am going to try to point out at least one statement of yours I find to be lacking.

You seem to keep talking about statistics of "how many jobs W has lost". This statement is ridiculous and shouldn't be considered part of a rational argument. People aren't actually employed by the government. If you think GWB passed a bill that has stifled the economy, than please point it out and we can talk about it. The idea that a President's first term (or 1st year for that matter) can make or break the economy is ridiculous. The economy was already slumping before GWB took office. As some people got more hopeful about a rebound....9/11 happened. We still only had a small amount of time that would actually qualify as a "recession". I don't attribute fault to GWB for the state of the economy prior to him attaining office nor for the effect the terrorist attacks are having. I believe his economic stimulation has been pretty solid as we are in somewhere around 14 straight quarters of domestic growth.

If you really want to "engage" people, than try to find defensible positions and stick to singular arguments. I've seen monkey shit fights that are more productive than this comments section.


So we agree W can neither be faulted for jobs "lost" nor credited for jobs "gained." I can live with that. I just get frustrated when people are faced with economic negatives and say well, reason a, reason b, reason c...but when faced with economic positives they say "IT'S BUSH, BABY." It just can't work that way.


Where have you seen monkey shit fights?


You all crack me up! Instead of arguing, go the the Bureau of Labor Statistics website (http://data.bls.gov/)and get the numbers:Total Non-Farm Labor: 1999 (130.5 million); 2000...the peak of the bubble (132.5 million); 2004...after 9/11 and the worst recession since the Depression...(132.4 million). Whatever you say about GW, he has pretty much restored employment to "Tech Bubble" levels, lowered personal taxes and given us an economy with solid growth indicators (and Jeff, anticipating your objections, contrary to popular Democrat mythology, National Debt as a percent of GNP is well within historically acceptable levels). For an even better perspective, you might want to compare that performance with that Democrat utopia called Western Europe.


I don't give two monkey-fight-craps about Western Europe. I just can't force myself. America is my utopia. I do care about this country, and saying we can and should do better doesn't mean I "blame America first" or make me a "gloom and doomer." (I'm not trying to imply YOU said that, but it's a common argument against anyone who says anything even remotely critical). On a whole, though, we need to start really looking critically at what TYPE of jobs are going to be growing in the future, and make sure we're doing everything we can to prepare ourselves to succeed in THAT marketplace. When labor-related industries were king, we ruled. As we transition to a technology based market place, I'm not sure we have that lead over the rest of the world anymore. We can't afford to be passed by by India, Japan, etc.


jeff:

"I was praying he’d drop the word “foreign” and just say “less dependent on oil.”"

What's your beef with oil? Do you have something better to to heat a home through a Minnesota winter?

Expect a little old grannie to go out and split firewood in the snow?

"As long as we keep thinking this way, we're gambling with our future"

No, ace, drop the "we" pronoun right there. YOU are gambling, in fact YOU are approving of bankrupting a lot of American workers in order to further your weird personal jihad against oil.

You want a better, cheaper and cleaner source of energy?
So do we all.
Have you come up with it yet?
No?

Then less talk...more work.

Because listening to your ilk's vague fantastical promises of could be-would be-should be isn't doing a damned thing to heat grannie's house, or keep your neighbor Billy Bob in a decent job, see?

"That doesn't make any sense."

And you wonder why you aren't winning national elections...

Regards;


Jeff - back in the 1980s the Japanese were going to rule the world. MIT's Dean of Business Lester Thurow, an icon of Liberal/Left thinkers at the time, even wrote a series of books about the inevitability of our domination by Japan Inc.'s superior economic model. Of course, this didn't come to pass and Japan, in hindsight, was found to be institutionally hide-bound and inflexible. Japan tanked! China and India will have their own problems to deal with. Right now, America's greatest advantage is our flexibility to deal with complexity and change. Don't get bummed about
the future, we'll deal with it! That's what makes us American. If you really want a good perspective on how to deal with the challenges of the future, read this (courtesy via Roger L. Simon): http://www.michaelcrichton.com/ s...complexity.html.


Hmm;

...(crickets chirping from jeff's direction)...

Maybe he's busy translating and printing up Democratic election campaign leaflets written in Inuit.

Regards;


Sorry cat, my internet's been down. My beef with oil has been stated clearly several times in this thread: there's only so much of it. It's going to end. Why wait till the crisis cripples us?


jeff:

" My beef with oil has been stated clearly several times in this thread: there's only so much of it. It's going to end. Why wait till the crisis cripples us?"

You mean this?

" If I knew the secret to alternative fuel, why would I be talking to a douche bag like you? But, since I don't have the answer, we shouldn't bother? Fossil fuels like oil have, by definition, a limited life span. Even a freeper spaz like you can understand that. Think of the boon it could provide for America on every front, economically, technologically, labor...the benefit would be staggering and outweigh lost oil company profits 100 fold. If you're against alternative fuel, then you just don't give a shit about anything."

A fascinating polemic, but a little short on the BTU content, y'know?

IOTW, it ain't heating my home, fueling your car, or keeping grannie away from the wood maul.

Is oil going to become scarce and exorbitantly expensive to produce?

I reckon so.

When is this going to happen?

Hell if I know.

I do know that the US has 300 years of coal (at present rates of consumption), in the lower 48 alone, but those same Greenies get all wroth over the idea of a coal fired energy plant or strip mine.

There's Liquefied Natural Gas, as clean burning as you could ask for, since it's methane,(a bit tricky to handle), but the last heyday of LNG was busted by a combination of market forces and, (you guessed it), Greenie scaremongering.

Then there's noo-klee-yur...and I don't think I even have to mention that further lest any Greenie readers have a conniption-fit.

So it seems, jeff ole chum, that it's the Democrats' Greenie extremist friends who, by your definition above, do not give a shit about alternative fuels, and therefore, don't care about anything.

And lastly...one day the Earth will either turn into a cinder or become an ice cube,(depending on who you read).

But that's not really a valid reason to go dig your own grave in your backyard quite yet, is it?

Open the ANWR to drilling and production already.

Regards;


Fuck the greenies. I'm worried about the children I hope to have in the next few years and the children I hope they have.


Actually, if need be, North America has oil deposits closely equivalent to Saudi Arabia's in the form of oil sands and oil shale (located in desolate areas far from human habitation and relatively devoid of wildlife). At some point, it will become profitable to extract it with minimal environmental impact. So, even as the dedicated search for energy alteratives continues, we hardly face an impending crisis. So, Jeff, pour yourself a stiff drink, sit down and wish yourself a Happy New Year as I will to Doc and all the other great contributors to this blog!


jeff:

"Fuck the greenies. I'm worried about the children I hope to have in the next few years and the children I hope they have."

Good, I would say your priorities are sorting themselves out correctly.

You're coming along.

And, just as a closing statement to our exchange here, just because I DO want cheap and abundant energy, and the jobs it provides, does not mean that I favor belching smokestacks pouring sulfur dioxide over an elementary school...and nor do I dump my used motor oil into a storm drain.

Fuck the Greenie eco-EXTREMISTS. If they're so fond of nature al fresco, why are they living in houses with indoor plumbing and central air-conditioning?

Regards;


loan refinance calculator loan refinance calculator loan refinance calculator // from paxil to zoloft from paxil to zoloft from paxil to zoloft


Name:

Email:

URL:

Comment:  ?

Commenting by HaloScan.com