Jobber of the Week

Uh... This is exclusive to liberals? My Libertarian friend often refers to the 1950s as a period of blissful ignorance. So, I don't really get that. Funny you bring that up though.: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...8-2004Feb5.html

Yeah, that's why they get all that money and everything. Most NASA projects (such as these rovers) cost a lot less than they used to, but it's not so much what you're saying as who's saying it. I know how much you love the military and it's current level of funding, so it's pretty amusing to sit and read you talk about the space program as though it's got a bunch some group of sharp-tongued lobbyists trying to get a huge slice of the budget. I'm going to disagree with you here, but if in the future I concede to being wrong, at least it reinforced my talk about privatizing. I'd like to go to Zebulon-8 and look for the Zebulonians and their fabulous Space Cheese, but I'd defer the situation to a better educated person who can figure out how possible it is and whether it's worth sacrificing things currently going on to do it. Oh yeah, and the additional money he DID promise? No announced cut or anything about where that money is coming from. I guess he'll put it on charge.

Ditto.

If you mean the NASA thing, I don't think it's going to cause him to lose. In fact, I think the idea was to try and provide a Kennedy-esque moment of leadership conveniently quick after people on both sides got angry at him for Medicare and immigration. The thing that a lot of people didn't see is the side effects of directing NASA to focus entirely on this "to the Moon, then to Mars" thing. Things like the Hubble Telescope aren't related to the anything as close as the Moon or Mars. They're meant to look way out there. It was recently stated that when the power supply on the telescope runs dry, they will not be running a maintenance mission to keep it going. All the money and manpower is going to Bush's moon/mars plan. So, basically, a politician is telling a group of astronomers, astronauts, and scientists who are far more informed and experienced in this field than he is, what to do. I'm always uncomfortable when that happens, doesn't matter who it is or what party they're from. If privatizing the space program would get rid of this kind of thing, then damn, I'm sold.

Not like Good Ol' Pops had anything to do with him getting that post in the first place, oh hell no.

Damn. I forgot to answer some things in this post of yours. Clinton wasn't really backed by liberal activists until it was obvious he was going to be the nominee. He played much of the same "work both sides" game that Bush is. All current funding is going to the Mars mission. He has dedicated all of NASA's time and energy into this Mars thing. That means that non-Mars related astronomy, such as the Hubble, will simply have to be forgotten about as they misfunction or fade out. No Child Left Behind called for $5.6 billion to be spent on title 1 schools. Congress approved. Bush's budget allocated only $1 billion.

I think the point is that most people view Vietnam as a bad war, although that does not mean they view all war as bad and never accomplishing anything. The point of Kerry talking about his service is that a guy who's seen a bad war can better tell the difference between a war going well and a war going badly. It's talking out of both sides of his mouth. He wants to impress the undecideds while still letting the Christian Coalition and it's allies know he's still on their side. And unlike Clinton, it's incredibly transparent. Doesn't change that what Bush presented to Congress and what Bush put in his budget was wildly different. I don't know how it makes him look less like a right-wing extremists than he previously appeared to be, because at the very least he never said anything as stupid as, say, Pat Buchannan when it comes to the subject of immigration. If he had stayed the course, he at least wouldn't look like he was pandering. He didn't. Now he does. Here's one I can remember right off the top of my head. The FBI used the Patriot Act to look into the finances of a Las Vegas strip club owner? who was under investigation for political bribery. Not terrorism.

My guess is Howie won't be remembered beyond in passing in the future, though you can look for him to be speaking at your nearest moveon.org rally in the next five years.

I don't know what's more shocking, the amount of opinion and loose journalism in that article, or Mike sort of indirectly supporting Al Sharpton.

And then dropped funding for it. The TV ads for this crack me up. "It's like more Medicare!" Spun up to make it look like the Democrats (and actual conservative Republicans) were upset about it for no reason. By banning the government to negotiate drug prices, everything has been tossed in the hands of HMOs, or more accurately, drug companies. While it's true that without the drug companies there wouldn't be a drug in the first place, this freedom to let the companies make a sharp jump in their prices means that sick people who aren't rolling in wealth are going to have a much harder time getting their medicine. It actually makes life harder on the people the TV ad is trying to spin to. You tryin' to make me not like the guy? Well, take a look at his 2000 backing. Social conservative activists ahoy! The Patriot Act powers are being exercised against people who are not terrorists! That right there is a violation of the trust expressed to the people by the administration that the act was a temporary change in law for use in catching terrorists. Then please, hit them for me. I don't know about you, but I like scientists driving the NASA organization, not politicians. Bush barely increased NASA's budget, but he did order that all their money now go to Mars exploration. This means that a lot of good projects, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, will now be scrapped when they naturally expire, as all funding is now going to Mars.

Many of the primaries (since you dismissed caucuses) have reported higher than usual turnout. This would imply more usual joes instead of just the "extremists" who appear at every election. How's that bad? It makes a lot of sense compared to a bunch of chickenhawks talking about how we need to give war a chance. Bush is not extreme. Bush is simply whatever shade of Republican he can be to get re-elected. If that means signing a gay marriage ban with one hand while granting gifts to illegal immigrants with the other, well then so be it.

Well, we'll see then. The Meet The Press interview was pretty much the official first shot of his re-election campaign. I suspect he'll continue to be on the defensive for a while as the Iraqi intelligence stuff keeps on being a mystery. Also, the party and it's supporters has already begun the advertising machine ("Take that liberal freakshow back to Vermont!") so it's not like he's getting no exposure. Incumbents always do.

Since when has Vince cared about fans? No, no, honestly, I'm serious here. Brock Lesnar quickly achieved a very high record of "this guy told me to scram" reports, and he's held on the title a total of how many months across three reigns?

The Torch has changed their minds on what WMXX will look like several times in the past six months. I no longer take them at their word when it comes to this event, or the news that WWE would actually change WMXX so that house shows are more exciting.

"By far a vast majority of my tax cuts goes to those at the bottom."

Hey, guys? Almost all politicians are rich. Almost all politicians claim to be out for "working people." Almost none of them are. I haven't been online for the past week and this thread looks like it's quickly heading down in flames, but really, John Edwards represents the common man about as much as Bill O'Reilly and his $3,000 suit. I thought everyone in this forum knew that already, though.

Then we're opening ourselves up to more violence and more death. Crazies with explosives are already here. The problem is how you do that without threatening the typically peaceful Muslims who just want to live life without blowing themselves up or being blown up by someone else.

Yes, but we're not fighting Muslims. We're fighting Terrorism. Terrorism comes in many forms, both Mohammed Atta and Timothy McVeigh. The arab stereotype is an important issue, but another one entirely. That problem stems from fear and immaturity. Again, the government isn't establishing Arab-American Internment Camps. It's purely a social thing.

I think everyone who voted for Camejo in that race who wasn't registered Green was pretty sure that he wasn't going to win. A lot of Democrats did not like Davis. A *LOT*. So much so that, afraid Democrats would simply not come out to support Davis in the recall, Cruz broke ranks and entered with his "No on Recall, Yes on Cruz, Okey Dokey on the Hokey Pokey" campaign. My guess is that the Camejo record is based more on the large number of registered Greens compared to many other cities, as well as Democrats who hated Davis but couldn't vote for a pro-life Republican.

San Fran really IS that completely out there, although the new Mayor is the guy that drafted the original "care not cash" plan to stop giving money to homeless people (only food/shelter/etc.) If you remember my previous rants on the subject, it got approved by voters but then a Superior judge stepped in and ruled it illegal. So, that's to the bleeding heart Supe, we're still giving a hell of a lot more money to homeless than any other city around, and it's drawing in even more homeless. So, I like to think that if given several years, Gavin Newsom could clean up San Fran, though not as drastically as Rudy changed NY. SF just has too many forces of political nature working against anyone who tries to get anything done, but it's nice to have a new Mayor who isn't sitting around putting his favorite crooks in various office positions. As for SF's voting record, well..... The runoff election for Mayor was between a Green (Matt Gonzalez, a decent guy who's politics I do not care for) and a Democrat (Newsom.) No conservatives made it to the runoff. But the city is the home of the 60s peace movement and also considered a gay mecca. What the hell did you expect? If I had one complaint, though, it's that the kookyness of SF winds up reflecting on all of California. Outside of SF, California is really not that bad. But once you enter the city limits, you find this really weird world where politicians are seriously considering growing city-owned marijuana farms and paying homeless people to look after it.

I know what you're saying about SF, but it would have kind of helped if Simon wasn't so completely idiotic at running a campaign. I mean, he accused Davis of breaking the law half-way through the campaign and it turned out it was a lie. That's a pretty serious charge and it doesn't sit well with voters.

"I had something to say here but I forgot. Back to you, Sean!"

He made fun of almost everyone tonight. Appearantly, Dennis Kucinich sounds like an ewok... Or something.

Conan totally riffed off kkk tonight. "Howard Dean opened the debate by apologizing for having a cold. John Kerry apologized for having a cold while serving his country in Vietnam." It had that same dripping with sarcasm tone that the KERRY LOL joke does.

The gimmick started around during the Radicalz. when he was trying to woo Chyna. I thought it was funny then (even before the face turn) and still do now. There's just something about the guy trying to be a sleazy scumball that's incredibly entertaining.