Easy on the eyes no doubt....

[Bobbo]

To use your own ideas.......Just because he is Muslim, does he have to be a devout Muslim???  How many millions in the world call themsleves Muslim?  And none of them drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes?  And there are no Jews who eat Bacon, right?  WRONG! 

Could also be pale ale in each of those glasses.  Any other pics that don't help your case?

If you believed Obama was actually Zoltumus from the planet Quntaur Prime, there would be nothing I could do to convince you otherwise.   

[Valker]

To use your own ideas.......Just because he is Muslim, does he have to be a devout Muslim???  How many millions in the world call themsleves Muslim?  And none of them drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes?  And there are no Jews who eat Bacon, right?  WRONG! 

Could also be pale ale in each of those glasses.  Any other pics that don't help your case?

If you believed Obama was actually Zoltumus from the planet Quntaur Prime, there would be nothing I could do to convince you otherwise.   

Shhhhhhh..................

[DarkMeister]

“the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.”
This has been a tenet of US foreign policy through at least four presidents. Not just the "muslim" one.

But...wow. What's an educated, well-informed dude like Mr. Obama doing in that job? Making money? I don't think so. For the love of his country? Probably.

Personally, I'd say screw it and quit after the first term, throw the keys at the doorstep.
Let some other foreign-policy experts take over. Hm. A couple come to mind. One is a Russia expert because 'she can see Russia from her house on a clear day'. Or the other guy, who, after 6 years of Iraq quagmire, didn't know the diff between Sunni and Shi'ite - and which ones were secretly armed and supported by Iran. (And I actually liked that guy; or at least would hit his daughter, given a chance!)

Some of the unabashed hatred for the struggling prez is downright scary.

[RoadKill]

“the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.”
This has been a tenet of US foreign policy through at least four presidents. Not just the "muslim" one.

But...wow. What's an educated, well-informed dude like Mr. Obama doing in that job? Making money? I don't think so. For the love of his country? Probably.

Personally, I'd say screw it and quit after the first term, throw the keys at the doorstep.
Let some other foreign-policy experts take over. Hm. A couple come to mind. One is a Russia expert because 'she can see Russia from her house on a clear day'. Or the other guy, who, after 6 years of Iraq quagmire, didn't know the diff between Sunni and Shi'ite - and which ones were secretly armed and supported by Iran. (And I actually liked that guy; or at least would hit his daughter, given a chance!)

Some of the unabashed hatred for the struggling prez is downright scary.

POWER and to make a name for himself as the president that socialized the U.S.A, not to mention the pension and book deals plus the permanent entourage of secret service for life aint bad either. I'd love a job were forcing my agenda and beliefs on the poor dumb public(only for 4 to 8 yrs) was all I had to do for those kinds of benefits.

[musclehead]

“the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.”
This has been a tenet of US foreign policy through at least four presidents. Not just the "muslim" one.

But...wow. What's an educated, well-informed dude like Mr. Obama doing in that job? Making money? I don't think so. For the love of his country? Probably.

Personally, I'd say screw it and quit after the first term, throw the keys at the doorstep.
Let some other foreign-policy experts take over. Hm. A couple come to mind. One is a Russia expert because 'she can see Russia from her house on a clear day'. Or the other guy, who, after 6 years of Iraq quagmire, didn't know the diff between Sunni and Shi'ite - and which ones were secretly armed and supported by Iran. (And I actually liked that guy; or at least would hit his daughter, given a chance!)
Some of the unabashed hatred for the struggling prez is downright scary.

I hear that qoute all the time about seeing russia from her house, do you have the video on that ? I heard she never said it. I know the actress on SNL said it.

"Some of the unabashed hatred for the struggling prez is downright scary." 
yeah I know, like the love the left showed for "W" that's a pretty down right hypocritical statement considering how Bush was just vilified all over.  I get tired of point out hypocrisy but as long as it keeps showing up............

[Varmintmist]

Please explain where new wealth comes from.  It has to come from somewhere.

Wealth is created by the creation of products or the developing of natural resources. For example, I own property that was worth X when I bought it fee simple. It happens to be in the Marcellas Shale area so I am now more wealthy because I own the gas rights. When the gas is developed I will exchange my  wealth from the sale of the natural resource for dollars.  Not a zero sum, there is a new source, who is losing?

Yes, trickle-down economics, as a theory, was covered in my economics class.  However, 30+ years of practice in the real world shows that it doesn't work.

When has it not worked? When companies have money and a stable tax structure (lower is better ex Laffer curve), they invest in their businesses and that employs people, and transfers wealth in the form of cash to those who are willing to  work.
 You second thought has nothing to do with economics.

Well, it works for some people. A better solution would need to start by answering the question of why 40% of men do not work?  If anyone wants to argue that it is because they are living the high-life on that $200/week check, I'd like to hear it.  Sure, there are some that abuse the system.  But far many more aren't working because they cannot find jobs that pay a real living wage.  Lets face it, poor kids have a hard time affording and getting through to college.  And with the loss of manufacturing jobs in this country, there aren't alot of options beyond min-wage jobs.

Because they have been taught from a early age that they deserve that 200 dollar check. They dont work BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE TO.  BTW, if you think it stops at 200 bucks a month you are fooling yourself. They make enough to be able to resell the food that I pay for for smokes and beer, so they aint doing that bad. The welfare state has taken a viable segment of the population and destroyed it. Bottom line, fear and hunger are great motivators. Want to get them off the dole? Make it shameful again. Government stores with government cheese and bread. Make then stand in line.

 It may be because their community is depressed.  It may be because they aren't educated or that they were raised in a home by drug addicted, abusive, or dead-beat parents (or maybe they were left alone unsupervised as a latch-key kid while their likely single parent worked a crap job for little pay), and now they don't know how to act and maybe have criminal records themselves.  There are many possible reasons.  And until we find a way to address those socio-economic barriers to upward mobility, this will always be a problem.  The other thing that you would need to address is what would happen with the dismantling of the welfare system.  You will have to deal with all those starving and homeless people (lots of them kids)...not to mention that this would actually be a hit to the economy with those folks not having money to spend.  

Whaaaaa.  Lots of excuses, no reasons. I fit about 3 of your categories. Been there done that. If it hurts your self esteem to get into a line for cheese then to bad. I dont have any problem helping someone out but when you can afford cable, a blackberry,  high speed internet, and a vacation, I really tend to come down on the side of  WTF.
 Those folks are spending MY income. Lets think about this. If the taxpayers have more of their OWN money to spend, thats bad for the economy??  Well, I say we try it just to see.

Food stamps are actually a back-door subsidy to teh big agricultire industry, among others.  You won't find Big-Ag arguing to get rid of food stamps.

They dont get stamps any more, that hurts their self esteem. They get a card, the instant they take air, they get a card. The mindset is that they deserve your money.

Actually, not false.  If that money is being invested by the individual or corporation to create jobs, then yes, it is working.  But right now, corporations are sitting on nearly $2T that is not being invested in job creation.  This is actually a plain example of trickle-down economics nor working.  If there is no demand for goods or services, the money doesn't get used.  And while there may be some effect from lending as you say, and I agree with you there, the net end result is actually a small draw on the economy because the interest doesn't create anything.

Please tell me where the mattress is that this money is hiding at. If anything they are not spending because they have NO IDEA what they are going to owe in 4 months and that will slow the economy, but is NOT a challenge to trickle down econ., it is a symptom of what happens when you have a government that has no policy, good or bad.

What's my point...well...the post that started this whole topic was a supposed quote by Bill Maher that implied that the fact that some people are successful does actually negatively affect the ability of others to be successful.

When the great economist Bill Maher signs his check over to the IRS, let me know. Also, let him quit, then please tell my how many jobs are created. If 1 successful person takes away work, if he quits, then there should be a increase in employment, right? Zero sum is zero sum.

 Right now, the people who are generally being successful in this very negative economy are the wealthy.

Hard to believe that people who were not able to create wealth in a good economy, are having a hard time in a bad one.

And There are lots of people who are working hard...probably harder than either you or me...who are still struggling.  Not everyone makes it.

Again, your point is? There is no right to a equity of outcome. Everyone has a right to take a shot though.

[GreenLantern57]

I still wanna do her!

[G-Man]

I noticed that minimum wages jobs were mentioned in a negative context. A huge problem is that many folks won't take a minimum wage job because it's "beneath them" when someone who realizes how the market works understands that these are starter or start over jobs.

My 16 yo daughter is now looking for after school and summer work.  I suggested all of the jobs we held as kids including supermarket, fast food, dept. stores, etc.  She stated her displeasure with those types of jobs.  I told her that I bought my first car with the money I earned at Burger King in my last year of high school and she stated "Ewwww!"  I asked her where she would like to work.  She mentioned some higher end boutique like shops and I asked her how much experience she has in fabric, measurements, sales, etc. and of course she has none.

She better figure it out soon because I promised her that we will NOT put gas in the car for her.  We were thinking of leasing one of those $200/month scions or something like that, but if she wants to use it, she'll have to feed it.  She's upset at this proposition, but, oh well.  Responsibility is a more important lesson to learn.

[Bobbo]

I hear that qoute all the time about seeing russia from her house, do you have the video on that ? I heard she never said it. I know the actress on SNL said it.

"Some of the unabashed hatred for the struggling prez is downright scary." 
yeah I know, like the love the left showed for "W" that's a pretty down right hypocritical statement considering how Bush was just vilified all over.  I get tired of point out hypocrisy but as long as it keeps showing up............

There is video on YouTube, and you're correct, she didn't specifically say "from her house" (That is SNL satire).  Katie Couric asked about her foreign policy experience, and Palin replied that her experience includes the fact that Russia is close to Alaska, and you can see it from "land here in Alaska".  She also claims that she conducts "trade missions" with Russia.   ???

[sugerbear]

I noticed that minimum wages jobs were mentioned in a negative context. A huge problem is that many folks won't take a minimum wage job because it's "beneath them" when someone who realizes how the market works understands that these are starter or start over jobs.

My 16 yo daughter is now looking for after school and summer work.  I suggested all of the jobs we held as kids including supermarket, fast food, dept. stores, etc.  She stated her displeasure with those types of jobs.  I told her that I bought my first car with the money I earned at Burger King in my last year of high school and she stated "Ewwww!"  I asked her where she would like to work.  She mentioned some higher end boutique like shops and I asked her how much experience she has in fabric, measurements, sales, etc. and of course she has none.

She better figure it out soon because I promised her that we will NOT put gas in the car for her.  We were thinking of leasing one of those $200/month scions or something like that, but if she wants to use it, she'll have to feed it.  She's upset at this proposition, but, oh well.  Responsibility is a more important lesson to learn.

I'm proud to say all three of mine wanted to buy their own car. one worked at KFC, one at an italian restuarent, and one at a golf course(cleaning out creeks of brush).
must have gotten their smarts from their mom

[G-Man]

To use your own ideas.......Just because he is Muslim, does he have to be a devout Muslim???  How many millions in the world call themsleves Muslim?  And none of them drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes?  And there are no Jews who eat Bacon, right?  WRONG! 

Could also be pale ale in each of those glasses.  Any other pics that don't help your case?

If you believed Obama was actually Zoltumus from the planet Quntaur Prime, there would be nothing I could do to convince you otherwise.   

Now that's just plain silly, Bobbo.........if he were from Quntaur Prime, he would be a Quntaurian, not a Zoltumus   

[Jess from VA]

My 16 yo daughter is now looking for after school and summer work.

Good for you G-Man!!  With all the help you are likely to give her thru schooling it is only fair she contribute what she can.  If she is determined to try something a little higher end (from her point of view), help her do a slick one page resume (such as it can be) which she can walk around to her prospective employers (in business attire).  At least that shows a little initiative among the other applicants. 

Work at Burger King may require a little Taekwondo training these days.

I was pumping gas and doing oil changes full time at 15 (summer), part time in HS.   

[G-Man]

Some of the unabashed hatred for the struggling prez is downright scary.

Where and how did you come to the conclusion that I hate the president?  Because I disagree with him?  Why not call me racist as well?

He has been proven a liar on too many occasions to begin listing them here.  His latest: 2 millions jobs created
(but won't show or even speak to the method used to determine this fake figure).

I have developed a clear cut way to know when Obama is not telling the truth.........it happens everytime his lips move.

Again, have YOU ever mistakenly said you belong to a religion other than your own???  I say mistakenly because there are times when you might lie about your religion on purpose....like to get laid, or, to be accepted by 350 million people who were attacked by the religion you belong to.

A Jew would NEVER mistakenly say he was Catholic, a Hindu would never mistakenly say he was a member of the church of England.  This just does not happen.  But since you can't dispute this, I harbor hatred. 

[Bobbo]

I have developed a clear cut way to know when Obama is all politicians are not telling the truth.........it happens every time his their lips move.

I changed your statement to reflect my opinion.


And, BTW:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslimfaith.asp

[G-Man]

I have developed a clear cut way to know when Obama is all politicians are not telling the truth.........it happens every time his their lips move.

I changed your statement to reflect my opinion.


And, BTW:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslimfaith.asp

I agree with your, uh, edits!  But Snopes is not the be all and end all.  I have seen many instances where snopes is wrong.  This one is an interpratation thingy.  I still stick to my assertion that people don't make such "mistakes".  Not on something that has been with them ALL of their lives.  And this isn't a trivial thing either.  He wasn't talking about wearing Levi's when he wears Lee.  Think, and think real hard.......You have never heard someone mistakenly say they were a member of a religion that they do not belong to.  I keep going back to this because our religion identifies us.  We may not want it to or even like that it does, but it is a way of identification. It puts us in a club, or an organization of people like ourselves and we don't make mistakes about such things.  He has a "muslim" or "arabic" name, and spent much of his youth in muslim or arabic cultures and his father and step-father were both Muslim.  You can't grow up in such a circumstance, and then make a mistake about it.  I don't buy it and for the life of me, I can't see how anybody can.  Faith in God I can barely understand, but with so many issues and circumstances and facts pointing in one direction, to have faith in a human, who hasn't been straight on anything, is just too weird for me.

[Bobbo]

I agree with your, uh, edits!  But Snopes is not the be all and end all.  I have seen many instances where snopes is wrong.  This one is an interpratation thingy.  I still stick to my assertion that people don't make such "mistakes".  Not on something that has been with them ALL of their lives.  And this isn't a trivial thing either.  He wasn't talking about wearing Levi's when he wears Lee.  Think, and think real hard.......You have never heard someone mistakenly say they were a member of a religion that they do not belong to.  I keep going back to this because our religion identifies us.  We may not want it to or even like that it does, but it is a way of identification. It puts us in a club, or an organization of people like ourselves and we don't make mistakes about such things.  He has a "muslim" or "arabic" name, and spent much of his youth in muslim or arabic cultures and his father and step-father were both Muslim.  You can't grow up in such a circumstance, and then make a mistake about it.  I don't buy it and for the life of me, I can't see how anybody can.  Faith in God I can barely understand, but with so many issues and circumstances and facts pointing in one direction, to have faith in a human, who hasn't been straight on anything, is just too weird for me.

The point of the Snopes report is to say that Obama was discussing that McCain had stopped talking about his Muslim faith.  McCain suggested several times early in the campaign that Obama could be a Muslim.  Obama was agreeing with Stephanopoulos that McCain had stopped suggesting that.  Unfortunately, Mr. Stephanopoulos interrupted Obama in an attempt to correct him, without knowing the point Obama was making.  This obviously distracted Obama, and he simply repeated those words.  He continued on about how McCain had stopped using that tactic.

[RuthlessRider]

Please explain where new wealth comes from.  It has to come from somewhere.

Wealth is created by the creation of products or the developing of natural resources. For example, I own property that was worth X when I bought it fee simple. It happens to be in the Marcellas Shale area so I am now more wealthy because I own the gas rights. When the gas is developed I will exchange my  wealth from the sale of the natural resource for dollars.  Not a zero sum, there is a new source, who is losing?

You have got to be kidding me, you can't possible believe that your example represents the creation of "new wealth." With your example you would be suggesting that wealth is an infinite commodity, which it is not. Your example only takes existing money owned by one person, or a host of people, and transfers it to another who may have a new product X2 that it is a replacement for an older product X1 that already exist but has less utility. Your example would be natural gas, which competes with coal (that is less environmentally acceptable) or another fossil fuel. If for some reason the NG has greater environmental appeal, it has greater economic appeal and therefore the wealth (using your terminology) is transferred from one agent to another. There is no new wealth created, it simply travels to a new location.  Admittedly it may be new wealth for you, but it is definitely not new wealth.

Yes, trickle-down economics, as a theory, was covered in my economics class.  However, 30+ years of practice in the real world shows that it doesn't work.

When has it not worked? When companies have money and a stable tax structure (lower is better ex Laffer curve), they invest in their businesses and that employs people, and transfers wealth in the form of cash to those who are willing to  work.
 You second thought has nothing to do with economics.

IF in your mind trickle down works so well, how do you explain the huge and growing imbalance of wealth in this country. It is not hard to find fact from the CBO, and other reliable source, that point out the less than 10% of the U.S. population owns 89% of the wealth. There is in fact a growing body of evidence to suggest that the reason we are as fractionated as we are as a people is because 90% of us are fighting over the remaining 10% or so.

Feed your dogs well and when scrap fall from the table one of them will meander over and pick it up. Starve them and your legs better not be in the way when a scrap falls to the floor.

Well, it works for some people. A better solution would need to start by answering the question of why 40% of men do not work?  If anyone wants to argue that it is because they are living the high-life on that $200/week check, I'd like to hear it.  Sure, there are some that abuse the system.  But far many more aren't working because they cannot find jobs that pay a real living wage.  Lets face it, poor kids have a hard time affording and getting through to college.  And with the loss of manufacturing jobs in this country, there aren't alot of options beyond min-wage jobs.

Because they have been taught from a early age that they deserve that 200 dollar check. They dont work BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE TO.  BTW, if you think it stops at 200 bucks a month you are fooling yourself. They make enough to be able to resell the food that I pay for for smokes and beer, so they aint doing that bad. The welfare state has taken a viable segment of the population and destroyed it. Bottom line, fear and hunger are great motivators. Want to get them off the dole? Make it shameful again. Government stores with government cheese and bread. Make then stand in line.


What a terrible outlook you have for the people that live around you. I feel sorry for you if you feel that there are so many people that would rather be on the dole than earning a living wage. Are there some, sure there always have been. There also always have been people who thought they were better than the next guy. You should try looking at them more like the quote "there but for the grace of God go I." Due to circumstance, we are just a misfortune away in this country, becuase we have a growing number of people like you who care about yourself and those clase to you without the recognition that we are cut from the same cloth and have the same need and wants. I hope good fortune continues to shine on you. I have seen good people like you crash and burn when life takes an unexpected turn and leaves them without.......

 It may be because their community is depressed.  It may be because they aren't educated or that they were raised in a home by drug addicted, abusive, or dead-beat parents (or maybe they were left alone unsupervised as a latch-key kid while their likely single parent worked a crap job for little pay), and now they don't know how to act and maybe have criminal records themselves.  There are many possible reasons.  And until we find a way to address those socio-economic barriers to upward mobility, this will always be a problem.  The other thing that you would need to address is what would happen with the dismantling of the welfare system.  You will have to deal with all those starving and homeless people (lots of them kids)...not to mention that this would actually be a hit to the economy with those folks not having money to spend.  

Whaaaaa.  Lots of excuses, no reasons. I fit about 3 of your categories. Been there done that. If it hurts your self esteem to get into a line for cheese then to bad. I dont have any problem helping someone out but when you can afford cable, a blackberry,  high speed internet, and a vacation, I really tend to come down on the side of  WTF.
 Those folks are spending MY income. Lets think about this. If the taxpayers have more of their OWN money to spend, thats bad for the economy??  Well, I say we try it just to see.

They're not spending "your" income any  more than they are spending mine. Should we be trying to eliminate the fraud, absolutely. I admit that I don't know too many people on wealfare, but I doubt if you do either. I keep hearing exaggerated claims like the ones you have repeated here, but when I do meet or deal with someone on welfare, they never have Blackberries, or high speed internet, nor to they vacation any place exotic, if they vacation at all. I am not saying you are lying, I just think you are repeating the age old story people like to repeat because it backs up their way of thinking more than it lends itself to a truthful understanding of the problems people face in a survival of the fittest economic scheme. If pure capitalism, which we don't have by the way, is such a great system, why is it that Europeans, who mix a socialist system with capitalism, always score their systems higher on the quality of life scale than U.S. citizens do?

Food stamps are actually a back-door subsidy to teh big agricultire industry, among others.  You won't find Big-Ag arguing to get rid of food stamps.

They dont get stamps any more, that hurts their self esteem. They get a card, the instant they take air, they get a card. The mindset is that they deserve your money.

Interesting that you take advantage of the socialist benefits you do without recognition that collectively we are better off if we all pull together and produced some items for the common good that private industry will not provide because there is not enough profit in it. Rural electricity and telephone service, an interstate system of highways, airports, public schools, police and fire protection, etc., etc., etc.

Actually, not false.  If that money is being invested by the individual or corporation to create jobs, then yes, it is working.  But right now, corporations are sitting on nearly $2T that is not being invested in job creation.  This is actually a plain example of trickle-down economics nor working.  If there is no demand for goods or services, the money doesn't get used.  And while there may be some effect from lending as you say, and I agree with you there, the net end result is actually a small draw on the economy because the interest doesn't create anything.

Please tell me where the mattress is that this money is hiding at. If anything they are not spending because they have NO IDEA what they are going to owe in 4 months and that will slow the economy, but is NOT a challenge to trickle down econ., it is a symptom of what happens when you have a government that has no policy, good or bad.

What's my point...well...the post that started this whole topic was a supposed quote by Bill Maher that implied that the fact that some people are successful does actually negatively affect the ability of others to be successful.

When the great economist Bill Maher signs his check over to the IRS, let me know. Also, let him quit, then please tell my how many jobs are created. If 1 successful person takes away work, if he quits, then there should be a increase in employment, right? Zero sum is zero sum.

 Right now, the people who are generally being successful in this very negative economy are the wealthy.

Hard to believe that people who were not able to create wealth in a good economy, are having a hard time in a bad one.

And There are lots of people who are working hard...probably harder than either you or me...who are still struggling.  Not everyone makes it.

Again, your point is? There is no right to a equity of outcome. Everyone has a right to take a shot though.

According to our constitution one of the prime reasons we established this nation and its' constitution was to "promote the general welfare...." Under that banner we have, as a nation, seen fit to enact laws and regulation to protect the weakest among us, and as a Godly nation, we should.

[BigAl]

Man Bobbo you are a cool dude.

Wish I was as smart as you and Strong Eagle.

I would then be able to rule the world.

Famous from the Pinky and the Brain Cartoon.

World Domination Pinky , World Domination.