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Let me hear from you repubs. What are your reasons for voting for McSame..
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Anonymous
| To the PP who is a small business owner - do you take advantage of all tax deductions provided to small business owners? Most small business owner I know, including my parents, are able to legally take huge deductions for business related expenses. As someone else mentioned, I guess taking advantage of the system is only okay when you are the recipient of that advantage. |
Anonymous
How can you say this is not a real issue? This misogynistic mindset can only affect decisions on judges, laws on abortion, significant healthcare reimbursement covering women's health issues, policies on equal pay for women, ... do you not have a mother, sisters, daughters, cousins that this can affect? |
Anonymous
I have been in a situation somewhat like that (obviously not the same magnitude). I was accused of something I didn't do, it wasn't the time to address it, and I wasn't guilty of the accusation. The accusation was also made publicly. I chose to deflect it, as it too was hearsay, and my denial may have ringed of guilt. The truth came out in the end though, and I was proud of the way I handled it. I have seen the quote from the book, read that reporters had heard the remark, but where is it they are writing about this? Why wasn't something reported about this when it happened in 1992? It is very possible that it is a lie. I don't see this as a real issue. The real issues I see are the war, taxes, the economy, and health care. |
Anonymous
If he thought he could get away with a denial, he would have emphatically denied it. He didn't deny it because there are three reporters who heard him say it and he knows they would all corrobate each other. Why wasn't something reported about this when it happened in 1992? quote] Well, pre-Monica Lewinsky circa 1998, I think society (media included) practiced a little more discretion with the private lives of politicians. With all the details from the Lewinsky affair and publicly humiliating a sitting president, things have changed considerably since 1992. I'm sure if McCain had made that comment in the past 3-4 years, it would be all over the place, thanks to YouTube. |
Rich
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"Mindset" is a good word for this discussion: I can imagine my mindset if my wife teased me about my disappearing hair in front of people -- anywhere from humor to embarrassment to annoyance. But probably not rage. And how we feel about specific words depends greatly on our background -- an African American of McCain's age might not think twice about being called colored, while a twenty or thirty year-old would probably be quite taken aback. I think it quite possible that it was a relatively innocent jibe between McCain & wife. In any case, I don't think it reasonable to judge a man's mindset on the basis of your reaction to one word. On the other hand, I am willing to judge his mindset on the basis of his recent attack ads with all their lies and distortions, and the insinuations implied by juxtaposing him with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, linking him to their slutty reputations and treating us to the juxtaposition of a black man with young blond women. To me, this looks like the McSame old Bush-Rove tactics. You can see the ad here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/30/mccain-ad-links-paris-hil_n_115841.html |
Rich
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In case it was not obvious, the "him" being juxtaposed is Obama, not McCain. |
Anonymous
| His 1986 joke about women being raped was a real hoot too. |
Anonymous
| Back to why most conservatives are going to vote for McCain despite our own reservations, he is better than Obama-we don't want to pay more taxes--we are already pay a huge amount as it is--top 10% of earners are paying 70% of taxes. How much will be too much?????? It seems the attitude of democratics is a punitive one-oh you should pay more and more and more because you have so much? It is agreed by most conservatives that taxes are necessary but with the Obama plan, with all taxes included, the rate will go up to 60% for the top earners of this country--I don't care whether you make 50K or a million, you should be able to keep majority of your hard earned money. I am also tired of hearing about "working families"--does that mean my family isn't working because we make more money??? I am willing to bet my family incurs more risk as business owners--if all fails we don't just lose a job we lose everything--but that doesn't seem to get factored in. I am also tired of hearing "your selfish" as the answer to everything. Actually I am not because I pay my taxes and I don't expect the government to bail me out when I get over my head in a mortgage that I never should have gotten in the first place--much of the so called "middle class" is looking for the government to pay for them and actually that would be more selfish. I actually had a conversation about this with my husband last night and he agreed that some people will work hard and work smart i.e. they will take a look at their opportunities and figure out a way to maximize--case in point -we spent our twenties getting extra education, paying off any debt and building our businesses (we didn't start out rich) so that in our thirties we could afford a family and continue to build our wealth. While other people will just sit around complaining about the government and will actually do nothing to better themselves ex. stay in a job that has no growth potential-work the 40 hour work week while expecting to have earnings of someone who takes financial risks and works 6 days a week. We are just glad that we are not do nothing people--as changed happen in the current economic climate-we change too. For example-if Obama is elected we will concentrate less on earning and more on our wealth that falls outside earning--hmmm just like John Edward. It shoudl be noted that there is not undebatable evidence that the Bush tax cuts have actually helped the middle class because the wealthier are paying more in taxes becasue we are incentivized to work harder and more people have moved into the wealthier classes--it will be interesting to see how Obama gets around that. Of course he now has another idiot that he is friends with saying stupid things--Luda whatever that idiot calls himself. By the way--if a white person said the were going to "white up" the white house, it would be considered racist but the Obama camp still calls this jerk talented..whatever. |
Anonymous
| nondebateable evidence-I am running late for my first meeting. |
Anonymous
The top 10% of earners also own 85% of the wealth in this country. (Yes, I know that the top 10% only earns 46% of taxable income, but remember that that figure is taxable income - not actual income. I think most in the top 10% (those making 150K+) can admit that a nice chunk of our income isn't taxable.) Also, in 1999, the top 10% were paying 66.45% of the taxes. In 2006, we paid 70.79%. In 1999, the bottom 50% paid 4% of the country's taxes - now they pay 2.99%. Why? Because even with the tax cuts, the income of of the richest half of this country is well outpacing the poorest half (in other words, the richer are getting richer.) |
Anonymous
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I also worry about military budget cuts. It's going to effect the poorest, those who are enlisted in the military. Prior to getting married, I worked processing medical claims for the military. I was shocked by the number of people who had medicaid as well as TRICARE (the military heath care benefit). While there were some who had medicaid for disabled children, most had it because they were on public assistance.
When my husband and I got married, he was enlisted in the military. He made less than $30k a year. When we went to the first prenatal appointment we were given all the pregnancy information, and a WIC application. The other thing I worry about is socialized medicine. While I have experienced it first hand in another country, I also had the military's "insurance" as well. It really isn't insurance as much as it is a government benefit. There was one patient who was on Chemo. TRICARE only covered $1.27 (or something like that) per treatment. The facility wasn't asking for any professional service fees to be paid (they weren't), but they needed more money towards the price of the chemo drugs, which are incredibly expensive. The provider couldn't ask the patient for the money, per the contract with TRICARE, but they couldn't afford to just keep giving the drugs away either. Providers and beneficiaries would call screaming at us because things were not covered. All we could say was that the plan was approved by congress, and changes to the plan had to be made by congress. We had an entire department that dealt with congressional calls. It was a nightmare. If they base the Universal healthcare system off of that, we are in for some BIG problems. |
Anonymous
| What is wrong with getting rich--it's a great thing to want to build wealth and the drive to create is what our country is about. More people need to be motivated and realize that waiting for a government handout is bad for anyone and will not get you anything in life. I think in the end, the argument is pointless because some people are so socialized in their thinking that they just don't see that attacking people for success is just a losing mentality. |
jsteele
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Nothing is inherently wrong with being rich (something with which my friend Rich would probably agree). 
However, while I am sure it is not your intention, your posts continually come across as displaying an attachment to money that rivals Gollum's obsession with "my precious". Similarly, you seem to think that all others are nothing but lazy halfwits anxious to live off government hand-outs. Its those attitudes that are alienating people. Basically, we have two candidates offering starkly different economic plans. McCain will continue Bush-style tax cuts for the wealthy. Obama will return the highest tax rates to pre-Bush levels and, instead, offer tax relief to the middle class. As others have pointed out, Bush's policies have allowed the rich to get richer, widening the gulf between the rich and poor. Rising health, education, and fuel costs, combined with a weakening dollar, are straining the budgets of the middle class. Coupled with the housing crisis which is lowering the values of homes -- the biggest asset of most middle class families -- it is reasonable to see the middle class as being in a state of crisis. I believe, and can support my belief with well-documented thesis if necessary, that the middle class is essential to a strong democracy. Furthermore, the middle class provides an important customer base for businesses, so a strong middle class is important to the success of the wealthy as well. It is fair to say that the middle class is the engine of our economy. Bush/McCain policies are weakening that group and, as such, doing severe harm to our country. You keep speaking about handouts, yet it is not clear to which handouts you refer. Are tax cuts for the middle class handouts? Is healthcare a handout? The Republican tune that the rich are being taxed to provide handouts is so old it probably first appeared on 8-track tape. But, it has no bearing on reality. If you want to talk about handouts, look at the no-bid contracts awarded to Halliburton or the tax credits provided to oil companies at a time they are showing record profits. I am so sorry that if Obama wins you will have to concentrate more on your "wealth that falls outside earning". That sounds like a real hardship. But, cheer up. The wealthy did perfectly well under Clinton with the same tax rates. You are likely to survive. |
Anonymous
I'm not rich, but I went to college worked my ass off and am 10 years into my career at a senior level. I organize fundraisers for underprivileged people all around the world in my spare time. I don't ever recall asking for a hand out, but am still happy to give one. It would be nice if all the CEOs of health insurance companies that share your "what's wrong with getting rich" mentality, could see that their capitalist dreams are what's keeping millions of Americans from being insured and getting healthcare. Do you think that all us middle class people are a bunch of lazy asses that sit around waiting for you to pick up our tabs? Nurses, teachers, writers, police officers, even the trash guys all provide services to you for well under $100k a year. If we can't afford healthcare or the rising costs of everything while our salaries stay the same because some "what's wrong with getting rich" person at the top wants to exploit all the little people under him/her, then we are unmotivated and waiting for handouts because we didn't choose to become a money-grubbing CEO? How many wealthy people depend on the services of the poor or middle class yet don't want to compensate them fairly for it? My boss is one of them. He can triple our workload and then cut our dental benefits...but what's wrong with that...he is getting richer. |
Anonymous
WELL said. I was beginning to think the affluent believed the middle class was waiting for handouts. |