Obama the centrist? I'm not so sure.
Take the foreign policy team: Hillary Clinton, James Jones, and Bush holdover Robert Gates. As centrist as you can get. But the choice was far less ideological than practical. Obama has no intention of being a foreign policy president. Unlike, say, Nixon or Reagan, he does not have aspirations abroad. He simply wants quiet on his eastern and western fronts so that he can proceed with what he really cares about -- his domestic agenda.
Don't be fooled by Bob Gates staying on. Obama didn't get elected to manage Afghanistan. He intends to transform America. And he has the money, the mandate and the moxie to go for it.
89 comments:
Good call.
If you're expecting another Clintonesque centrist, forget it.
And as the economic crisis deepens, he'll have even more free rein to implement VERY liberal reforms.
Expect the worst. You're about to experience a con nightmare. But really, conservatism and its ignorant, short-sighted, destructive policies FAILED miserably and deserve to be sent to teh dustbin of history.
How's you uncle, Joe Stalin?
I know you will give a smart-ass answer, but I will try asking anyway. That is if you care to have a civil discussion where I can take you seriously and give a modicum of credence to your statements.
What do you do for a living? And what is your educational background? I'm only asking so that it will help me understand where you develop your point of view.
Hmm, you insult me regularly but ask for a civil discussion.......
Revealing too much about myself could endanger me in light of that one nutjob who threatened to kill me regularly.
I am on welfare and never graduated high school. I live in a shopping cart.
But seriously, my worldview was formed by reading and getting educated. Conservatism is intimately tied tot ignorance and a refusal to explore other viewpoints. I come from a blue collar working class background that tended to be sheltered and ignorant of the greater world. In other words, conservative. Perhaps my views are merely rebellion gone viral. On the other hand, I never identified with the attitudes and political views of my people from a very early age.
I am a professionally employed consultant in the regulatory arena. I have an MS from a major private university rated in the top 10 in 19 disciplines. I graduated with honors-undergrad in a science field. I make decent cash and have never had money problems or seen much adversity. By all accounts I should be a republican but am surrounded by people similar to me that are not. Educated, successful liberals engaging in the capitalist nightmare we call America.
What's your point? Do you judge people that harshly by their educational attainment or heritage? Some of the most compassionate, clear-thinking people I know have not gone to higher education.
My insults to you were ONLY in response to your attacks. I appreciate discussion, and every time I have attempted to be serious, you have behaved rather poorly. I have quite a few liberal friends here in NYC. You can't spit without hitting at least 2. Most won't engage in any sort of discussion, because they have no intelligent and cogent thoughts. Their actions also belie their spoutings.
Apparently you are just here to be negative rather than constructive, and that is your right. If that is the case, then I will tear you down intellectually. I prefer heated debate, but I'm afraid most of it will simply go over your head.
Well yeah, now that wasn't too insulting. LOL!
I post construcitively all the time. Most of you refuse to even open links or read what they contain. If you did you'd find out how wrong you are, particularly about the causes of our present economic crisis.
Conservatism depends on close-mindedness and ignorance for its very survival. That's not my problem.
Thank you for the insight into your background. What I've found from many of my well-educated, liberal friends, of which I would like to include you, is that they haven't had much in the way of personal hardships. these people would rather throw other peoples' money at problems rather than to engage these people on a personal level. eg: The parents of the kids who are in the gifted classes at my kids' schools, all with "kill Bush" pins and "obamamama stickers" won't talk to the minority families. They all drive huge SUV's and complain about global warming.
I came from a very middle ground, Truman Democratic background. I have never voted according to party lines, but rather for the individual. I voted for a Liberal Democrat in the local race here in NYC because I know she is a woman of great integrity. I have had several personal discussions with her where she actually listened. I find most politicians of all bents to be the lowest form of life, the bottom of the barrel when you have a barrel filled with attorneys.
I want to help people who want to help themselves, not because people feel entitled to the things I have earned. I have little compassion for those people who feel entitled to anything, let alone are too lazy to do for themselves and their families. Sorry, but my family comes first to me. My children come first. Their home, safety, education, health and well-being are vastly more important to me than other people. When it comes to other people, I decide who I want to help. And if people don't appreciate the charity, then screw them. They should be grateful. Acts of kindness should not be repaid with hatred and jealousy.
Funny how you couldn't find some weakness in my background from which to discredit me so made the convoluted argument that my lack of misfortune is somehow a detriment! You were undoubtedly hoping that I'd be an under formally-educated guy making no bank so you could attribute my liberalism to envy. Lacking that evidence you went the bizarro route. That's ok. Warren Buffet is on our side too.
And you don't want to help anyone. That's why you're so obsessed with "welfare".
As for crossing party lines when voting: I wouldn't piss on a republican that was on fire much less vote for one. I would vote for a criminal before I'd vote republican.
Republicans are evil. I truly believe that they are deficient in some genetics that separates humans from savages. So in a way, it's not your fault.
HLF (who doesn't believe in hate) said:
"As for crossing party lines when voting: I wouldn't piss on a republican that was on fire much less vote for one. I would vote for a criminal before I'd vote republican.
Republicans are evil. I truly believe that they are deficient in some genetics that separates humans from savages."
now that bi-partisanship!!!
we need more like HLF to heal the wounds caused by LBJ, Carter & Clinton.....
Hey, since the electoral college votes tomorrow, Obama is not yet the president-elect!
Can we charge him with impersonating the president-elect?
I guess he's just another democrat lawbreaker from Illinois.
Why do you assume there was ill intent on my part to take apart your beliefs? On the contrary, you are fortunate that you didn't have to personally suffer indignities or financial difficulties during your upbringing. I have found (again my second major was social anthropology rife with liberal instructors and students)well off folks to think ideally rather than pragmatically. I disagree with the folks here very often about such things as religion, creationism, abortion...., but not so much when it comes to economic philosophies. You certainly must realize that the President on watch has very little to do with the economy wherreas the Congress has a much larger influence. Additionally, nothing happens overnight, certainly in regard to gov't actions, and it takes time for the results of policies to come to fruition. That is a major reason I asked you about your background, to supply a common ground on which we can build a conversation. I don't expect to influence your thinking merely by attacking you, but perhaps by using your inteelect to open your mind to ideas you reject out of hand for whatever personal reasons you may harbor.
I guess HLF will cuss me out & call me an ignorant republican for pointing out that Obama has officially been breaking the law by impersonating the president-elect.
oh well, I'll live
I never said I don't believe in hatred. I'm human. I believe in giving back the same hateful treatment liberals have been subjected to since reagan made it fashionable.
You can't appease a conservative. You can only seek to destroy their arguments and extinguish their grip on power. We're on our way towards those goals.
Don't go soft on us now. We're just getting started!
You folks better be glad people like me are outliers in the liberal community. Otherwise there would be all out war against conservatism. We have our opening, it'll be a shame if dems go soft and don't pursue it.
Hey, wasn't that HLF throwing his shoes at President Bush???
Real effective protest there, democrat
Likewise I offer you the opportunity to persuade me. It could be a challenge to you. I was a registered Democrat until about a decade ago out of a half century on the planet. I visit liberal sites; have been barred from most as I tend to upset the applecart with logic. Note: that won't happen to you here.
Okay. The first flaw in your last statement involves a fictitious attack on liberalism as a group. That assumes YOU speak for all of the liberal movement. I don'tspeak for anyone but me, so I would suggest that you speak from your own experiences, not from what others just tell you annecdotally.
I've converted people to centrism from conservatism before. However, the best conversion technique is to allow conservatism to destroy itself as it has lately.
Liberalism has always been a hard sell to humans. The motivations and instincts for being a conservative- selfishness, greed and fear- are much stronger impulses. Unless we make a concerted effort to combat them, conservatism will persist. And since capitalism is based not only on the nurturing of those dark impulses but on their encouragement, it makes things more difficult.
The meltdown should help, though even at the peak of the last republican-created Depression of the 1930s, only 32% of people self-identified as liberal.
Let me pose it as an example. You see that many influential Hollywood people come out to support all sorts of liberal dogma. Why is it so important for these same people who want to spread wealth and equality don't adhere to these things themselves? Why do they yell and throw things at their servants? Why do they throw a fit if their trailer isn't larger than the others? My kids are intimately involved in that part of our society. And they are brought up to be gracious and thankful for the gift they have and to be cordial and gracious to the key grip and best boy, as much as the director and the stars. They come on time, are cordial, and appreciate that all invilved are important to the success of the project. I submit to you that the adults should act the same way. Then they want to know why they have to pay such huge taxes and Union Dues whereas the folks who take in 20 million / movie, top out at 150K income as far as dues is concerned. The bit players who have to waitress just to pay dues into 3 or 4 unions pays a much larger percentage of their incomesthan the A-listers who pretend to care for the masses.
Yes, all phone-throwing, abusive stars are liberals.
All the good people in Hollywood are cons.
Riiiight.
I'm not a limousine liberal. Like I said, I was raised in a large blue collar family. I escaped deep adversity due to resourcefulness, intelligence and luck.
You attempts to analyse me with nickel psychology are falling flat. It isn't about me.
But I do adore the attention!
I won't cowtow to your tantrums either. I can respect liberals who truly believe in the betterment of society, and respectfully disagree with them. And then there are blatant assholes. I think I gave you ample opportunity to be civil.
All you've done thus far is to prove to me that my fellow bloggers were more astute in your particular case than I. I gave you but one example for which I am intimate with. I have scores more, but they would continue to fall on deaf ears; indeed, they would fall i quicksand.
If you have no desire to engage in any repectful dialog, I don't feel sorry for you. I feel sorry for your parents who raised you not just to make your own decisions, but to do whatever you can to show your personal disdain for your upbringing. I submit to you that you reject your parents to the extent that can not think clearly and blame all around you for the ills of society. You have said on other occassions that you are single, no children. That alone is possibly just circumstance. I would guess that you can't form any interpersonal attachments, no one can stand to be around you and that you are a lonely individual whom I pity. You have probably never done anything remotely so much as physical labor, nevermind a "dirty job", such as collecting and cleaning hospital bedpans, bathing and delousing homeless people, feeding the poor. I have spent 6 days a week for seven years doing just this sort of thing from age 15 to 22. The first 5 as a volunteer, the last 2 at $23 for 8.5 hrs work. I worked in East Harlem for 12 years. I volunteered at a free dental clinic for 8 years.
I was a first responder during 9/11.
so for you to get my dander up, you must really be trying to.
Let me ask you just one more thing.
What have you ever done personally for your fellow amn or woman?
and all I ever asked for was that others would respect our Constitution and my BILL of RIGHTS.
Gee, I found nothing offensive in my last post! Seriously guy, I don't see it.
So, the analysis begins! I am a white glove liberal who has never engaged in hard work and has only given lip-service to helping my fellow human.
Wouldn't that make me a conservative?
This is a typical tactic of the conservative. When backed against a wall, go on the attack and ask the liberal why he/she hasn't become Mother Teresa. As if you have.
If your life experience was as you say it was, you would NOT be espousing conservative opinions.
PS. Doing volunteer work to pad the resume and get into a better dental school is nice, but hardly noteworthy. All the frayboys and sorority sisters do it so they can get good corporate jobs and become republicans. Besides, I could tell you I fed poor children in the Sudan on $1 a day for the last 10 years and you would have no way of knowing the truth.
Honestly, I've not yet met a conservative who is as generous as they'd like to think they are.
May I ask you who paid for your college education?
I think I have an idea of what the truth is here.
When I was 15 I didn't know what I was goind to do with my life. I was more preoccupied with the idea that I would be drafted and sent to Viet Nam before I lost my virginity.
Get the point yet srk? It's clear the commie worm looks down on everyone who is not afflicted with the same mental disorder that he obviously suffers from. My solution for our leftist toy, (and all leftists) while perhaps not as intellectual as yours, is far more enjoyable. A tall tree, a good horse, and a strong rope!
we need to do drinks again...
I am currently on vicodin for my kidney stones. It's like having this guy having a huge golf handicap to my prowess.
And I need the diversion.
Besides, it reminds my of the humbling experiences which shaped and changed my life.
I don't really expect to get through to this guy any more than I expect to win the lottery.
BRb..got to check my powerball ticket
What Obama is doing is simply surrounding himself with a few centrists because that's where the experience is. The dramatic lack of real-world experience in himself and those closest to him is his biggest weakness. It is a weakness he wants to cover for fear the American people will catch on. But make no mistake. His policies will come from the far-left, since it is what he truly believes. The people need to pay attention to his actions, not his words.
Sounds good, as long as you don't invite your new letist friend. I don't have that much control. ;)
I don't think he actually believed in his wildest dreams that he would win. Reality dawned, and he's over his head. At least he realizes he needs help.
Thanks, I needed the laugh!
No jackpot.
that's one thingobama has over HLF. A man's got to know his limitations
Ball's in your court. Please defend B-Rod.
Gee, I hate to interfere in this little con-circle-jerk!
I paid for my education. Both degrees.
Spider, don't blame me that you haven't the intellectual agility to counter any of my arguments.
And srk, watch those vicodin or you'll end up on the Oxy train like Rush!
So who did bush surround himself with? Seeing as how they FAILED and all, giving America it's second REPUBLICAN Great Depression!
Anything from here is up.
Too bad that shoe didn't knock the m*therf*cker out. Now THAT would have been the most watched item on YouTube.
case in point. I just received this from a liberal mother who always has her hand out. Note: she does not work and the reason 8:30 is tough is we need to get to work....
"Hi Parents:
Hope you all had a great weekend. We’d like to have a holiday party for the class on Tuesday, December 23. We’ve heard from some people that morning breakfasts are a little tough, so we wondered if a lunch would be easier (you can take an early lunch and slip over to the class from 11-11:30).
Please let me know which time works best for you..
______8:30 am
______11:00 am
Reply to me by Tuesday pm. Whichever time works for the most people, we’ll have the party then.
We’ll get back to you with a sign-up form to bring things.
Thanks so much."
as I write this...the phone just rang from another. All I hear is from my wife..."No. It's not a matter of getting a sitter. We have to be at work"
Bill,
you're wasting pixels.
HLF: I don't know what someone wrote here the other day that got Annie's knickers in such a bunch. I'm sure it's more than I would say, and you probably wrote it yourself. Just as your brethen who claim Bush caused 9/11. Just to make trouble.
HLF: You should sue to get your money back.
If Annie asks me to leave I will.
Simple.
I can't imagine that anything I said is that bad.
What the Liar doesn't seem to grasp - Most of us here can delete his/her posts with two clicks. We all have that option.
But we don't.
Why? Maybe we're keeping the hate and the lies for posterity. Or maybe we believe in letting a fool be a fool. Maybe both. (That and we respect Annie's philosophy when it comes to free speech.)
I guarantee if anyone here made the same hate-posts at any of the liberal blogs the posts would be gone in a porn-belt minute.
By the way; Freak/Dino/Parker just signed a post over on Moonbattery as "Jimbo's Boyfriend".
He/she is sicker than a flea on a San Francisco dog. I think the syphilis is eating its brain.
Yup. He doesn't understand the freedom he enjoys.
He hasn't the slightest clue.
That's why when his liberal brethen take it all away from us all, he won't miss it.
OH MY GOD! THE SYPHILIS IS EATING MY BRAIN!
I feel sorry for the sheep you got it from. I sincerely doubt you ever had intimate relations with another person.
Hey HLF, just to show you I deleted your post that said
" HLF said...
OH MY GOD! You can get syph from sheep?
December 14, 2008 7:37 PM"
only took me one click
& HLF thinks that the liberal democrats are in charge........
and on a personal note, Mrs. Blue is out of town , so Blue & the usual gang of idiots are well into a bottle of Jack Daniels watching Ricky Bobby on the east coast TBS HD feed...
life is good
Blue - I appreciate life being good.
CHEERS! brother. Total cheers.
"If Annie asks me to leave I will.
Simple.
I can't imagine that anything I said is that bad.
The only person I have ever asked to leave was Jon Ray; and I did not ban him from commenting on items here, simply authoring posts with links to his many blogs without reciprocating. My Rabbi and spiritual adviser, the lovely and talented Dweeb [God, how I miss his eloquence!] told me that Jon was trying the Borg trick on me. Not being an afficianado of any of the iterations of Star Trek, he had to explain metaphor that to me. At the end of our discussion Jon huffed up and left.
I have no mechanism to track IPO addresses as we used to have at TypePad, so I really have no idea who the guy calling himself Gunny actually was. I feel certain that it was not HLF. Possibly, it's because I like HLF and he has certainly livened up the conversation around here, challenged our ideas and forced us to defend our positions.
Democrats Were Wrong on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac told to target affordable housing
How Mortgage Crisis Happened: Good Intentions Paved Dire Path
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Vote 1999 GLB repealed part of the The Glass-Steagall Act that prevented a commercial bank from offering investments and insurance. It should be noted that Senator Phil Gramm of Texas [carpetbagger from Georgia] was a member of the Democratic Party and ran for office as a Democrat as late as 1979 before abandoning what he saw as a sinking ship and jumping to the Republican side.
Forgot one...
Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scam that caused our Economic Crisis
Anonymous, I don't care if you delete all my posts. It just shows what a small-minded idiot you are that you feel silencing someone is easier than actually having ideas of your own.
Oh, and eat shit and die.
Oh, and...
I will match the amount Jack and I give to charities of our choice each year with anyone in our income bracket on the left any day of the week and twice on Sunday for money, marbles or chalk.
As far as conservatives being obsessed with making money, regardless of the cost to society, many, many of my clients were classified under the securities laws as "accredited investors." I won't talk down to anyone, so I'm going to assume that you know the meaning of the term. Accredited investors are regarded under the law to be more sophisticated than the average bear and thus less deserving of protection. Many of my cleints asked for my advise regarding hedge funds and other companies [e. g. AIG] that were deep into the mortgage backed securities market or credit default swaps. I advised them all to stay as far away as possible from these high-risk offerings. Others asked me about leveraging units in several high-end condo projects in Las Vegas that were to start construction within the last couple of years. I advised them that if they just had to invest in real estate at the very least invest in a real estate investment trust in which their risk would be spread across 100 properties rather than just one. I am not tooting my own horn here, but my clients made literally millions in safe investments while others were losing their shirts.
Why did I do this?
1. I have a fiduciary duty not to waste my clients' assets.
2. It was the right thing to do.
3. I want to be able to speak to these people ten years from now without having to explain how I lost their life savings by dispensing bad investment advice.
I am as financially conservative as anyone in the US of A, yet I am not a robber baron or a blood-dripping, savage corporate raider.
Oh Annie, I can't believe you tried that!
"Phil Gramm was a democrat 30 years ago so it was a democrat's fault that Glass-Stegall was repealed". OH MY GOD! YOU DIDN'T!
Weak. Very weak. And inaccurate. Gramm is as conservative as he can get.
NEXT!
The links that you posted that worked were whack job opinions or blogs.
You want to see some legitimate links to real insiders knowledgable about the crisis who are quoted about what caused the meltdown?
ONE
Bernanke: CRA Not To Blame For Housing Crisis
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The federal law encouraging banks to lend to low- and moderate-income customers is not to blame for the current housing crisis, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a recent letter to a member of Congress.
Bernanke, responding to a letter from Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said the Fed's experience with 1977's Community Reinvestment Act - including data on the subprime loan market - "runs counter to the charge that CRA was at the root of, or otherwise contributed in any substantive way to, the current mortgage difficulties."
Bernanke, continuing in the Nov. 25 letter to Menendez, said declining home values, inadequate risk management of complex financial instruments, and lending models that favored quantity over quality all contributed to the current problems.
"The available evidence to date, however, does not lend support to the argument that CRA is to blame for causing the subprime loan crisis," Bernanke wrote.
The CRA has come under fire from some conservative lawmakers for being a major factor in the current financial crisis. Proponents of the law note it does not require banks to make risky loans, and instead directs federal banking regulators such as the Fed to encourage banks to lend to underserved areas in a manner that is "consistent with safe and sound operation."
TWO
Bank of America CEO says republicans full of shit
{excerpt]
As bankers get focused on what we can and should be doing to support our communities during this difficult time, and especially our most financially vulnerable communities, there’s one more very important topic I want to cover: the Community Reinvestment Act, or CRA.
I’ve seen a disturbing trend among some market observers, who are trying to lay primary blame for our current troubles on CRA. I think it’s fair to say that in many cases CRA lending standards fell victim to the same market pressures and overconfidence we saw in other sectors of the mortgage markets. In that regard, political pressure to expand homeownership did become one of many contributing factors as the housing bubble grew. But the charge that CRA lending was the primary or foundational cause of our housing crisis is not only unfair, it’s not true.
Some quick history. CRA was passed in 1977 to require banks to make loans in the same neighborhoods where they collected deposits, including low-to-moderate income neighborhoods. There’s no mandate to make risky loans, or to abandon sound lending principles.
Many reports and investigations, including a Fed report in 2000 and our own experience over the past 30 years, have found that CRA lending can be profitable, and need not be overly risky. The riskiest subprime lending of the past ten years didn’t have anything to do with CRA… in fact, 75% of high-priced loans made by mortgage companies and bank affiliates in recent years were not covered by CRA.
Even Fannie and Freddie were not initially drivers of subprime lending. It was only in the most recent years that managers felt pressure to get in on the act as the subprime market boomed, which provides another good illustration of why organizations that have been established for a public purpose with a public guarantee ought not also be publicly traded, for-profit companies.
It is true that CRA loan portfolios are under stress right now. But that’s hardly surprising. Low-to-moderate income families and neighborhoods are economically vulnerable and are always the first and hardest hit in an economic downturn. Most homeowners in these neighborhoods desperately want to stay. It’s not always possible, but we must do everything we can to help these customers find the best path to financial stability.
So there you have it. Time to admit that your version of history is flawed. The earth is not flat, capitalism CAN fail and the CRA nor Freddie and Fannie caused this meltdown.
Um, I don't quite know how to say this but I don't see you (Annie) as conservative.
You alluded to being jewish. If so, there's no WAY you are conservative. You may THINK you're conservative but you're just a little fiscally "restrained", not conservative.
Misinformed, confused, perhaps unduly influenced by a conservative loved one, perhaps. But conservative? Nope. Not buyin it.
And that's a compliment.
Possibly, it's because I like HLF and he has certainly livened up the conversation around here, challenged our ideas and forced us to defend our positions.
See? Like that. Conservatives don't talk or think like that. "Challenged our ideas"? "Defend our positions"??? OH MY GOD!
Are you really a liberal posing as a con because you're writing a book or something?
You guys can play "he said, she said" about what caused the housing market crash all you want. I've worked in the industry for 15 years for a company that has been around for over 100 years. There are 2 reasons the market failed:
1. Banks lending money to people who couldn't pay it back (intrest only loans, etc)
2. House "flippers" artificially inflating real estate prices.
But who enabled the situation? Banks weren't about to lend out money they wouldn't gety back unless forced to. Would you?
Of course Ron and I'd throw in some free cheeze as well.
Barney Frank
Thank you for the compliment, HLF, But I'm not Jewish although I did learn to speak and understand a little Yiddish during my sojurn in Sheepshead Bay and Manhattan. I do have a Jewish son in law, though...Wild Bill, the combination jazz musician and CPA in NOLA. I have been called a shmendrik on many ossacions.
You've come lately to this party so I'll fill you in on my background. I grew up as a "yellow dog Democrat" in Texas and was taught by my dad, a farmer that Franklin Roosevelt was the second coming. I became a conservative during my junior year at the University of Texas which was in 1964. You'll doubtless remember if you're old enough that Landslide Lyndon Johnson ran against Barry [extermism in pursuit of liberty is no vice] Goldwater. Johnson was so crooked that the undertaker had to screw him into the ground when he finally died. No one will ever convince me that Johnson was blameless in the death of Jack Kennedy [my hero at the time].
I was a founding member of a NOW chapter in the early 1970s until I realized that the most all of the other members had no interest in making a meaningful change in society, but instead wanted to sit around and bitch about what irredeemable pieces of human detritus were men and how badly they had been victimized. I actually love men and think they're cute and generally just the best things since canned beer and sliced raisin bread, so I left.
I remained a Republican until the election of 1992 at which time I joined the Libertarian Party, voting for Harry Browne a couple of times. The distasteful choice of Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush was so monumentally unacceptable to me that I felt I had no other place to go. The Democratic Party had been hijacked by the Tom Daschle, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Willie Brown, Tom Hayden contingent.
I have not been a fan or a defender of President Bush and part of it probably goes back to the time in the early '90s when I wanted to go to work for the Texas Rangers as a sabremetrician and was rejected out of hand because of my gender [go sit down over there and be quiet, sweetie. Baseball is a man's game]. I believe that the invasion of Iraq was the worst foreign policy blunder in my lifetime and that Presiden Bush is and has been supremely disinterested in his job as commander in chief. My political hero is Dr. Ron Paul.
So, HLF, you are correct. I'm actually a lunatic fringe Libertarian. I believe that the federal government has but two purposes:
1. To raise and maintain a military force for defense puropses, not to effect regime change in other countries.
2. Protect the lives and property of its citizens.
On a personal note, I'm a member of American MENSA, mostly to prove to myself that I'm not slow[read stupid] as my as my grade school teachers termed me back in 1950. I like to shoot various kinds of guns at targets [not hunt animals] because:
1. It's ever so much fun!
2. I've never grown up.
I'm also a stumbling, staggering drunk although I haven't had a martini or a shot of Jack Daniels for the past 27 years. I'm a member of that super-secret society of misfits and malcontents founded in Akron, Ohio in 1935 by Dr. Robert Smith and William G. Wilson.
There really is no he said/she said about it.
All the experts, the industry insiders and the policy-makers say that the cause of the crisis was Wall Street's insatiable demand for loans to repackage and sell to investors. They were able to accomplish this with the changes in lending practices, the lowering of lending standards and the repeal of Glass-Steagall, both actions promoted, conceptualized, passed and masterminded by CONSERVATIVES AND REPUBLICANS.
People who borrowed were not typically poor saps sucked into home ownership (though bush's "ownership society urgings created a lot of that). They were middle class AND upper class people convinced they could buy more house than their income would support.
Notice that the new ghost towns and unfinished developments are largely ex-urban developments of expensive, tricked-out McMansions and luxury condo towers. Poor people did not buy those. Aspirational middle and upper class people did.
Don't make me start posting links and facts. You know how that upsets the conservatives here. My new friend Jimbo will berate me.
HLF,
You're absolutely wrong on who bought more house than they could afford. It was mostly the lower-middle class and lower class. I know of several $30k/yr people who bought a $300K house only to lose it 3 years later.
And really, does it sound like a Republican idea to help poor people buy a house? That program has liberal written all over it.
The banks thought these loans would be a good investment. Get 3 years of intrest payments, foreclose and make thousands on the sale. They'd get there money in 3 years rather than 30.
Didn't work out for them...
Why bother with facts when there is so much good fiction to be written, eh, HLF?
Hi, dear...
Weak. Very weak. And inaccurate. Gramm is as conservative as he can get.
I guess you infered meaning to my statement to suit your own purposes. Gramm was a Democrat, was he not? I did not state that his prior political affiliation had anything to do with his realtive position on the policital continuum.
The links that you posted that worked were whack job opinions or blogs.
Such as U. S News & World Report and that beloved of all liberals organization, CNN? You kill me!
As for the book...I have written a couple of novels and have found an agent and even a publisher for one, but it has yet to see the light of day in print. Possibly, I shall write a highly fictionilized account of my experiences in this tiny corner of the blogosphere. I shall even make you the protagonist if you'd like.
Yeah, ok, Gramm was a democrat years ago.
But then, so was Reagan. And a union president at that.
So then your biggest republican hero was really a democrat.
See how that works?
As for fiction, srk, why even bother posting if you're going to say nada? A bad comeback is worse than none at all.
I know you can't refute my research.
Despite your IQ.
LOL
So then your biggest republican hero was really a democrat.
My darling, you simply must stop putting words in my mouth. I do not believe I have menitioned Ronald Reagan in this discussion; and who in the world said he was my hero?
Oh, yes...
My ex-husband and I went to Reagan's first inauguration...even went to the ball...well, really not THE ball but the Texas one. My ex had contributed a substantial amount of money to Reagan's campaign as well as Jimmy Carter's.
By the way, HLF, I have held elective public office in three different states and chaired a legislative committee for a regional council of governments in which the members were tasked with lobbying members of the state legislature. Have you ever participated in the process and practice of governance at that level?
RE: The Reagan comment...applying your attitude and opinions regarding of an entire group of people's beliefs to one individual is at best a fool's errand.
And...
I think you're cute when you get angry.
As I have been reading this, it dawned on me that our new friend HLF has confused the term "conservative" with Boogy man.
I do become that bogey man when someones situation is self-inflicted. I have no pity for the woman with 8 kids from 15 differnt fathers (because she has no idea who is who)
I have no pity for the drug addict who can't hold a job. I feel a lot of pity for the child huddled in the corner.
I have no pity for anyone who chooses to take their God given sense and flush it down the toilet.
I have no pity for those who chose to not try to better themselves.
I know for a fact that there are already government programs in place that will lift any able bodied person out of what ever ghetto they are in. They just have to be willing to make a little sacrifice for it.
The key to actually being conservative is believing that the government is the LAST entity that you want to help you. As well as the gov't being the last entity that should help you.
My background, as blue collar as you can get...sans unions. My family hates unions because all we have ever seen them do is deny honest laborers a full days' pay.
Education: BS & MBA ....paid for by yours truly, my parent never went to college. And yes I have benifited that I make more than my parents & Mrs. alan's parents combined. (maybe if they would have seen a need to seize the opportunities things would have been different.)
Work: Never been unemployed for more than 2 weeks since age 16, why, because there are some yobs that an illegal immigrant just won't do. And I have always been willing to prove that I was worth what I wanted to be paid. Now I am what would be considered mid-management, it only took 25 years.
Charity: minimum 10% of gross income. That is the only thing I keep track of. It takes too much effort to count clothes taken to good will. Volunteer - yes I know that BSA is a non-PC organization, but I still believe that there is nothing more pro-boy becoming a man than BSA. 2 years of full-time unpaid service to an organization that I believe was worthwhile.
I can't help but think of all of the "charitable" contributions that are made by well intentioned people, but they still want to be paid for it. Good intentions and beliefs are great, but are you willing to pay for it yourself? And yes it is realistic, 40,000 people do it every year.
I know that unrepentantly bringing 5 children into this world is putting an undue stress on the eco system and is probably not the "green" thing to do, but I really can't imagine Kanisha and her 8 kids by 15 different men being that much better.
ON the other hand, my kids all know that when they turn 12 they will take a gun safety class, they will take a CPR class, they will take a red cross baby sitting safety class. All of these in order to be able to EARN their spending money. Once they are 16 and can work for a business, it is their responsiblity.....but I will pay for them to go to college...because I have tried to set myself up to be able to do that.
percentages !!!!! The only two things I have every heard of God wanting from us is money & time, two things we don't ever have enough of and He doesn't have a use for. I don't recall Him ever asking for somebody else's money or time on our behalf. It is the liberal god who wants somebody elses time & money for him to spend how he sees fit.
Dang, but I'm getting more and more cynical every day. Maybe it's my faith in the Obamessiah and the great things that are about to happen in our country that makes me feel so good.
Bah Humbug.
Conservatism does not mean "Keep things the way they are"
Conservatism = "be responsible for your actions and the things under your stewardship"
How others hijack the term does not change what it actually means.
If so: Liberalism = I can do what I want, consequences be damned, it's somebody elses responsibility/fault, nothing is my fault and I should have everything I want because somebody else has it.
That is my definition of liberalism. Is it true?
Annie Dear,
With all due respect, I won't take political perception advice from someone who links me to right wing blogs and chides for linking to the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. But thanks, anyway. :)
And you aren't trying that "I've been a {blank} before so my skewed view of the world is correct", are you?
I read Alan's second post before the first. That was funny enough but then I read the first one, the standard "conservative's life story". Seriously, they're all about the same one. I knew what it said before I read it. Allow me to capsulize:
Pessimistic outlook on others (judge judge judge)
punish people for bad decisions (except me!)
punish, more punish, humiliate, (punish again!)
Why I'm better:
humble beginnings (rags-to-riches or at least middle classness)
self-made (no help!)
self-reliant (like freakin Clint Eastwood, baby!)
works like a dog (but loves it!)
hard worker (asskisser!)
give to charity (always!)
heart of gold (guilt!)
loves children (but no yours!)
God God God (fear fear fear)
Why more people aren't like me:
liberals bad (always!)
and fine'. THE END
Do you people actually believe the stuff you write? Talk about Messiah complexes!
Here's how the rest of the exchange goes: If I challenge his assertions by pointing out all the ways he and his have benefited from a collective society, he'll deny it to the point of denying that his people take Medicare. See, showing them how they benefit from living in a civilized, contributory society doesn't fit into that whole "I am Clint Eastwood" vibe they've created in their minds.
But when adversity strikes, who do they run to? THE GOVERNMENT!
"Oh, it seems we've created a handicapped child! Sarah Palin, create more programs for our disabled child!"
"Hello Mr. Government man. Could I send you this $100,000 bill for my mother's last visit to the hospital and you pay it for me? Gee, thanks!"
"Oh no! I seem to have acquired Chronic Fatigue Syndrome! I need disability payments from the government! Get me those checks, pronto!"
That last one actually happened to a rabid, reagan republican friend of mine 24 years ago.
Too predictable.
With all due respect, I won't take political perception advice from someone who links me to right wing blogs and chides for linking to the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. But thanks, anyway. :)
Is that The New York Times of Jayson Blair and Bill Keller fame of which you speak...that paragon of journalistic integrity?
Actually I subscribe to the Sunday Times so I can put my 375 IQ to work typing the answers to the crossword into the little squares.
I belivee the old WSJ [the Dow Jones owned one] to be the Bible. The new one...well, time will tell.
HLF: I see you do everything back-assward
"Hello Mr. Government man. Could I send you this $100,000 bill for my mother's last visit to the hospital and you pay it for me? Gee, thanks!"
"Oh no! I seem to have acquired Chronic Fatigue Syndrome! I need disability payments from the government! Get me those checks, pronto!"
That last one actually happened to a rabid, reagan republican friend of mine 24 years ago.
I can assure you that your rabid Republican [is there any other kind?] friend did not go heartily to the pay window since both SSA and SSI disability benefits are about a cool $500 per month.
Not the people that I know. They get around $1100 a month plus health benefits through Medicare.
Not a sweet deal but a better one than the republicans would have allowed. You know republicans HATE a social safety net, right?
just you
Not the people that I know. They get around $1100 a month plus health benefits through Medicare.
Not a sweet deal but a better one than the republicans would have allowed. You know republicans HATE a social safety net, right?
No. Where in the world did you get the idea that conservatives hate social safety nets? After all, President Clinton was the one who ended welfare as we know it, AFDC and the like. I am drawing Social Security benefits and will go on Medicare, probably an HMO as soon as I turn the ripe old age of 65 in about 4 months. Social Security pays me $1,470 per month and my retirtement accounts [amassed by my own little, woefully ignorant, conservative efforts at investing] pay the remainder of my living expenses. I am deleriously happy with social safety nets. I only wish everyone had one.
That's because you aren't a real conservative, Annie.
Trust me.
Being a woman helps, too.
That's because you aren't a real conservative, Annie.
Trust me.
Being a woman helps, too.
Recken, what am I then [said in a Karl Childers-Sling Blade acdcent]?
Pick one.
You are:
(a) a closet liberal
Isn't it nice that liberals give you so many choices?
That's not for me to decide. Even at your age there's time to repent for a life of republican support and openly switch to the human side of the spectrum. You're halfway there.
Beware: I've converted people before.
Don't be afraid. You can keep the guns.......
I don't think you are going to make anyone here into a queer.
Convince me, sweetie and I'm yours...
I didn't expect to change your outlook with my "life history", but I can say this.....
if there is still medicare or Social Security when I reach that age, by law I am not able to draw it. I already know that I will never see once cent of the FICA that I pay in every month....once again...because the LAW of this country forbids it.
Why...because they day I become eligible, my federal pension is reduced by that amount, penny for penny.
Name me one, just one, sitting member of congress (regardless of party) who will lose any benifits on reaching age 65. And guess what, I have already accepted the fact that I get no "handouts" from the government.
How does the cadence go....they give you hundred dollars & take back 99.
and on re-reading my own post....I never said that I got no help and did it all myself, I saw opportunities and I took them. I have been in the same career since I was 17 years old. And guess what? That same career was open to nearly every felon currently in prison until they became a felon.
That same career is open to anyone that wants it today. In 25 years, anyone can be in the exact position I am in today if they start today....they only people who can not are those who are physically incapable and those who CHOOSE not to become United States citizens.
no...no pity...and I don't believe in the phrase ...but "they" wouldn't let me" or "they" kept me down.
pity for the defenseless and innocent....everyone here knows how strongly I feel about that.
Alan, are you a federal worker???
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