Republicans, what is wrong with you?

[craig]

Looks like a wash right now, 3 Repubs victorious, 2 Dems victorious, 1 race too close to call:

"Republicans successfully defended three seats in recall elections and Democrats picked up two. One Democratic incumbent won his recall election last month."

Still 3 recall elections to occur next week, all Dems, if they carry two of the three, the Dems will regain control of the WI legislature.

Looks like a close one....stay tuned!

Cheers, Doug!!

HAHAHA reportedly Sandy Pash has left the building and is going into hiding....I wonder why? my guess is she is going to hide from reporters that will most assuredly ask her why she is not conceding... I smell another dirty democrat court case a brewing:lipsrsealed:

 

[Pat]

You'll have to give me a non-blabberhead source for your contention that the Fed's use of quantitative easing -- one of the many tools it has used over the years to keep interest rates down when the economy has needed a push -- is the "cause" of the stock market essentially doubling since January 2009. If you think that none of that increase has to do with corporate performance -- i.e. how the corporations that are issuing the stock are doing - I can't help you.

Up until the last two months the economy has been doing well, other than for unemployment. Growth rates were reasonable and projected to continue. We've hit a bump, for sure, but it isn't because the Fed is "printing money" (a silly talking point that in reality means next to nothng).

But no, the answer to all our ills is not the Fed "printing money" and as I explained above techniques like the stimulus and quantatitive easing have dramatically shorted the length of recessions, made them more shallow, and increased the time between them. Post WWII, our sophistication in learning to manage the economy has increased fairly dramatically. THe numbers don't lie and you don't want me to post them.

Jeff, you wanted some proof, when you posted this the market (DJI) was at 12,500, yesterday it was below 11,000 and rallied when the FED said they weren't going to intervene.
I hope you listened to Glenn Beck and bought some gold. I'm no financial advisor but a way to help you make up for some portfolio losses try shorting the market every time the President speaks. You could make a fortune.

 

[Jim Craik]

Craig,

Congratulations on the Wisconsin elections, I was wrong

 

[Bob Lemke aka deckofficer]

First let me say this is the most intelligent political exchange on a automotive forum I have ever seen. I belong to and are active on automotive forums ranging from folks who drive manual transmission cars, hot rods, Cobras, and of course T-Buckets. You GT40 folks are well read, remember your history, and are not fooled by GOP retoric. Does owning a rather unique car allow such perspective in regards to political agenda ? I would have thought not till I read the first and then the last 3 pages of this thread. Normally I would never get involved in a political discussion on a forum, but the posts of this thread tells me I'm in friendly territory. Below is my perspective, as viewed by a world traveller, Unlimited Tonnage Open Ocean Deckofficer. I have had the privilige to work with people of all different cultures and a common thread when lightly discussing politics is "...Why did you elect and then re-elect George Jr". I have no choice but to reply "The American people elect their representatives the same way they would buy a bar of soap, and that is through costly media exposure, i.e. advertising".

And that my new friends is the crux of the problem. What we need more than anything is complete campaign reform. We, the people, need to claim our right to representation by forcing campaign reform down the throats of our elected officals. And I mean in an intelligent fashion, not like the Tea Party. We should demand that campaign advertising via mass media is no longer allowed. Put together a factual web page on the canidate, complete with voting histories and business associations. Combine this with a software program for each voting citizen that ranks on a 0~10 scale all of that voter's "ideals" as far as what he wants his government to do for him in Washington, and that software program will then list for you the canidates in order of how closely their views match yours and PRESSTO, you have government for the people and by the people again. I understand there would be losers in this scenario, some I care about and others I don't. The media would take a huge finacial hit, lost revenue of the ads run during the campaign season. This loser I care about, so the government can and should off-set some of these losses by running PSAs instructing the public on the web sites and software programs. These PSAs could continue for several voting cycles so that the media can get off the massive campaign funding teet. Now on to the others that would lose a lot with this kind of reform, Big Business. This one is simple, no assistance. Big Business could still have a good voice in government if they inform their employees that voting a certain way will be good for job security, but just how many large businesses have farmed their labor overseas? I think this might be an incentive to bring jobs back to the people that vote in this country.

Just my 0.03 worth.

 

[Jim Craik]

Bob,

This site has flourished because it has attracted folks like you.

Additionally with a few minor exceptions, I think we respect each other as people.

Now to your post:

What you say makes a lot of sense. We defiantly need another way to select our representatives.

*******

I was talking to Francis the other day, I said in frustration: "we would be better off selecting our representatives by lottery"

Then we started talking about it and the more we talked the more sense it made.

The President and Senate would be unchanged.

But for the house how about drawing names at random from a list of folks who volunteer and are qualified, no party lines, just Americans.

They would serve four years, with one person going home each week and one new congressman joining each week. Pay them well, absolutely no other income!!!! No lobbyists!

Each state would buy and own their housing, folks in their last year would be Committee Chairmen

 

[Doc Kaler]

Jim,

Not too sure about that Electoral College potentially stealing popular votes though.

 

[Jim Craik]

Doc,

I heard yesterday that Governor Brown (CA), just signed the new Bill, giving all our electoral votes to the winner of the Nation wide popular vote.

I understand this will not take effect until most/all States agree, but this is a great idea. I hear many other states have already signed on.

I found this suppressing for several reasons:

I do pay attention to the news and politics and the first I heard was the Governor signing it and second, no one has complained.

As you know getting folks to agree about anything is almost impossible, but it seems a good idea has been accepted without argument!

 

[Bob Lemke aka deckofficer]

Spiro Agnew,

Now there is someone that I have not thought of in years. As I recall, Agnew was to Nixon as Cheney was to Bush.

Their job was to verbally attack the left while their boss could "remain above the fray".

Quite frankly Agnew was way out of Cheneys league. Agnew had a style and flair about his vicious attacks that Cheney could never match.

Jim,

As I noted in my 1st post to this thread, I read page one and the last 3, and am now reading all the good stuff in-between and came across this post of yours. Something you may already know about Dick Cheney, you will not meet a more arrogant person in your life. I hope good 'ol Dick is into GT40s and reads this post to see if he remembers our 1st and only meeting. It was 1998 while he was still CEO of Halliburton and was aboard the Noble drilling rig as we were breaking a world depth record for offshore drilling. As BCO and the highest ranked member of the Marine side of this drilling rig, I had to assist in putting together the "dog and pony" show for this visiting dignitary. Upon meeting him and watching his interaction with the rest of the crew I had to think to myself, "if I live to the age of 1000 years old, I will never meet someone as arrogant and so full of himself as this guy". He is a real prick.

 

[Doug S.]

My wife worked for KBR, and she had occasion (seldom, thankfully) to have contact with Cheney.

She said he was, without doubt, the most despicable person she had ever encountered.

I kinda liked to listen to him, though...he had a "calm", self-assured nature about his speaking manner that left no doubt that he was firmly convinced that he was absolutely right about everything he said, and that confidence left his listeners with different opinions questioning whether their ideas were valuable or not.

I still wonder if he meant to shoot that fellow hunter with the shotgun...might have been a vigorous disagreement between the two of them the night before. My wife said she had no doubt he would be capable of it.

Cheers, Doug!!

 

[Bob Lemke aka deckofficer]

Back in those days, I bet Dick was in your neck of the woods (Houston) quite a bit of the time. Has your air ever cleared ?