quote:

Originally posted by King Kong:

quote:

Originally posted by cleve:
Are you better off now than you were 8 yrs ago? Yes, I am
or how about 4 yrs ago? Yes, I am
and are we still after Osama Bin Laden, lol?
it is a problem - catch him and he is a martyr, don't catch him and we look inept - which is worse?

KK, you are definitely one of a growing minority,(I pray your prosperity continues) but it also speaks volumes regarding your thoughts on this forum.

re bin laden

if we had put all of our eggs in the bin laden basket and he remains able to hide forever are we perceived to have lost?


if we get him is it over?

quote:

Originally posted by Bailey:

quote:

Originally posted by King Kong:

quote:

Originally posted by cleve:
Are you better off now than you were 8 yrs ago? Yes, I am
or how about 4 yrs ago? Yes, I am
and are we still after Osama Bin Laden, lol?
it is a problem - catch him and he is a martyr, don't catch him and we look inept - which is worse?

KK, you are definitely one of a growing minority,(I pray your prosperity continues) but it also speaks volumes regarding your thoughts on this forum.

I have had the good fortune to be in a career that can not be easily out sourced or sent elsewhere (as long as my company continues to sell into the industry segments where my experience is), and is also relatively immune form politics. Whether or not I am better off after a period has little to do with the occupant of the White House - other than any potential tax situation. I was better off after the Clinton admin. than I was at the start (even though I moved to Iowa during those years ), and I am better off now than in 2000 - it is more a function of the passage of time than who the president is.

Am I better off now than 8 years ago, or even 4 years ago?

I have to be honest here...Yes, I am. It has been almost 2-1/2 years since I retired, and it has been the absolute best time of my life. It has been less than 4 years since my wife and I were involved in building our new house, a place we are absolutely thrilled with. I worked and planned for this my entire adult life, and never planned for government to do everything for me, take care of my every sniffle, nor make my house payments, etc. Life is good.

As for Bin Laden, I echo the response by King Kong. It is a lose-lose situation, made worse by those who take advantage for political spin.

Speaking of spin, how come there is no reply to the questions I posted on page 7? I thought I was alleged to be the one to spin-spin. What gives here? When the questions get tough and it seems like you may have to take a stand, why do some disappear? rotf lol

I would have to agree with KK and aviator. I am better off now that 4 years ago and 8 years ago. The president has very little to do with it. I was better off after Clinton also. I have been fortunate to have had stable enployment most of the 45 years I worked and took advantage of dedicated savings and 401 K matches to plan for retirement.

The only time things were not better was the years while Carter was president and I was regressed at work, gas was in short supply, the real estate market went south and the loan on my house went to 18% (sound like now?)but my family pulled together to do what it needed to survive. During that timeframe it meant growing everything we ate for many years, but we were stronger for the experience.

As for Bin Laden, I remember the bomber in Atlanta hid in North Carolina for over 5(?) years and we couldn't find him either...and he was in the United States!

It will be Bush’s decision to give up the hunt to bring Bin Laden to justice that will be remembered as one of the Bush administration biggest failures, regardless of how the spin-doctors try to make anyone believe otherwise. Conveniently, none of these people ever mentioned that they were worried about Saddam or Al Qaeda members being a martyr.


Aviator, I am sorry for the delay in response to your list; I have been busy reading the campaign disclosure reports filed on July 19th, thanks again for the link.

Do you support development of more wind energy to replace our dependance (sic) on foreign oil?
Yes

Do you support development of more solar energy to replace our dependance (sic) on foreign oil?
Yes

Do you support development of more geothermal energy to replace our dependance (sic) on foreign oil?
Yes

Do you support development of more nuclear energy to replace our dependance (sic) on foreign oil?
No, not until they find a way to safely contain the waste

What other alternative sources of energy do you support development?
Methane generated by the fermentation, biomass technologies, wave energy, hydropower on existing dams, compressed air cars

What methods of reducing consumption can we take today in order to drive down our dependance (sic) on foreign oil tomorrow and beyond?
The US gas price has already cut consumption so stop the 100 billion in oil subsidies worldwide, lower the speed limit, raise C.A.F.E. standards, increase mass transit, Better bicycle access, lessen urban sprawl, promote tele-work businesses, force oil companies to use the 68 MILLION acres they have leased now – These changes will help end the 16 or 17% of ‘foreign oil’ we import from the Persian Gulf. We cannot drill our way out of this and shame on John McCain or anyone else who politicizes such a serious matter 100 days before an election

Should the government take over the private markets for buying oil on the international trade markets?
No, a little bit of honest regulation would be nice

LyonsGreenie,
It is great to see we agree on virtually every point with the exception of nuclear. I believe those safeguards are available, but we do not have the political will to make it happen. Everyone wants it in someone else's back yard, not theirs.

Now we just need to agree on how we are going to pay for all this development of alternative sources.

Oh yeah, and I need to use spell check to find out how to spell dependence.

So how is your favorite doing in the finance reports?

I am not real enthused about the Government taking over any task done by private business or new regulating by the Governemnt. Anytime they get involved they screw up the process and create a whole new bueracracy(sp?) for us the taxpaying public to pay for. Once created, it never goes away.


Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

P.J. O'Rourke

quote:

Light, sweet crude for September delivery lost $4.03 to $115.99 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Hmmm....I thought the oil price was going up because there were greedy "oil men" in the White House, greedy speculators on Wall Street, and greedy corporations sticking it to us. Did someone leave office while I wasn't looking, or did all those greedy, evil specualtors and corporations just stop being so greedy?

there`s a big election coming up...am I too cynical to think that the heavens will move to make it go down further in order to help oil company-friendly candidates win,you know, the ones who make a living off of campaign contributions from Big Oil and their associates like Halliburton? Like,mostly the gutless tax-and-spend Republicans in office? and are you implying that they AREN`T oil men in the white house? what kind of spin is that?

killing Bin Laden would upset his Saudi family...the one invested heavily with the Bush empire.
But for most Americans, killing Bin Laden would serve as an fitting epitaph to those whom were coldbloodedly murdered on 9-11.Since our standing in the world is at an all-time low,it`s hard to imagine us pissing anybody else off by offing the guy.Why did Bush bellow out,"dead or alive", what happened to all that?oooh...wait...it all got detoured from where Bin Laden WAS, to where he WASN`T-- Iraq. Um-Hmmm.
Respected journalist[ anathema to any Fox News viewer]Susskind`s new book even goes as far as claiming the "evidence" to go to war in Iraq was outright forgery.
Susskind has street cred. Add up ALL these other accounts ,from Richard Clarke to the recent Scott McLellan,and we have a very,very warped reality of how this gov`t was hijacked by those who`s actions constitute treasonous deeds.Of course...I am just calling it as a third party guy ought to,who`s sick of getting lied to from every possible facet of gov`t ,especially from the far Right,but let`s also not forget about the Dems.
Thanks to Tax-and -Spend Republicans, and their record-setting deficit this year... their 5th record setter? 5th,is it? China owns us now? no wonder, Rupert Murdoch is heavily invested in China,too. Smells funny,but you wont hear about it watching the three stooges over Fox.

Am I "better off"? I make more money,and the cost of living has doubled. It`s a negative trade-off.

How many United Nations resolutions were there that called on Saddem Huessin to disarm his weapons of mass destruction and allow international inspectors to verify same? How many was that again? Did someone say 17? Wow, I can't get over how easily some forget when it suits their political spin.

Can you believe it? Seventeen times! Am I ever glad that I did not have to warn a suspect 17 times to drop his weapon or quit resisting before I could use force to overcome the resistance.

I tend to NOT believe everything I read,and how trumped up are those again? 17,right? once again, is it 17,or 117? I believe for a long time Clinton,Bush2,pentagon,looked for that angle to topple a weakened Hussein,and make a grab for the oil while they could...see where Iraq signed a fresh new deal to sell cheap oil to...China?
and whom are we fighting for over there again, and how much has it cost in money and lives,and where are the billions the Iraqis have made off that precious oil,and why aren`t they footing the bill here again? if you aren`t upset, than you aren`t paying attention.You and I are paying for this, out of our taxes, as well as at the pump, as well as at the grocery store...I`m not crowing about $3.50 a gallon gas,either.Oil has shrank per barrel,where is it at when I pull up to the pump? And shouldn`t those high prices in grocery stores shrink,now,too? Haven`t seen it yet...

I'll offer you a deal, Cleve. I'll quit repeating the 17 ignored and rebuffed United Nations Resolutions, as soon as you quit blaming the President for everything.

If you want to continue, expect this to turn into a diatribe against the majority party in the U.S. Congress, the Democrats. Yes, that's right, those people who took over about two years ago, and have the absolutely lowest approval rating of any Congress in the last century. The same ones who have done NOTHING about the healthcare crisis, or the war on terror. Yet in just over 18 months of their reign, we are faced with the dollar sinking in value, oil prices shooting through the roof, high unemployment rates, a housing crisis for which they propose billions of taxpayer dollars in a bailout, a credit crunch, etc. All this in less than two years...I can only imagine what they could do if we don't get them out of there this November.

Remember, every spending bill gets approved by Congress first, and the U.S. Congress in the last two years have ran up the highest deficit on record.

Truce?

truce?hehehehheh...
not with the Bush Legacy,ever. I have equal disdain for the Dumbs,but it was not they who lied- clearly lied- to get us into a war for oil.It was Bush,led by Cheney, a complicit CIA,supported by a rubber-stamp Congress that nary questioned any of this when they all damn well should`ve...the GOP fell in lockstep,and questioned the patriotism of those who questioned the real motive to rush ever so quick and blindly into war. The Dems bowed under and caved in on everything the GOP wanted. To update you, Congressional disapproval also includes all those GOP fellers who are equal members of those branches of gov`t.Not just the Dumbs.
Hard to defend this record-setting Tax and Spend administration,they abandoned the real GOP principles that were the backbone of the party.I cant say Obama will do any better than what`s been there for 8 years- but I`m willing to risk That over what is a proven nightmare.I still hope for better candidates from both parties,not likely, so Barr gets my vote for being closest to what matters to me.I also would vote for a president who`d ok killing Osama Bin Laden,the guy up there for 8 years only used him for a campaign prop.