I'm another white who has does not distinguish among CMs by race. I am more bothered by Evans voting on issues affecting his legal clients than I am by his ticket-buying, although I dislike the general use of "constituent services" as a code name for slush funds.

Anyway, to reiterate, I don't think there is a racial double standard here. Not every issue worth discussing catches our eyes. Picking one and ascribing sinister reasons for its absence is not a good idea.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like cowards to me.
To be a real warrior, the fighting is done among the men and the men keep the women safe

Except in countries like Israel, where the women serve admirably and effectively.

I've heard that right here in DC they allow women on the police force.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Www.jewwatch.com/jew-mafia

www.convert.org

Become a Jew for fun, spiritual fulfillment, and (most importantly) profit!

Out of curiosity I looked at the convert.org site. I did not study it in depth, but using the site map I made a quick search for the "profit" part and could not find it. Can you direct me to it? In a lifetime of unobservant Judaism I never saw a way to make a profit from becoming observant.

TheManWithAUsername wrote:Important presidential skills:
bowling
horseback riding
piloting
kickin' ass
acting
takin' names
rebounding
shootin'
rootin'
tootin'
small squad tactical combat

I feel like I'm missing something...

Most important one, although it has not been mentioned that much lately: smelling good.

If you work for a corporation and pay tax on your salary, how is that different from the investor paying tax on a dividend? Or how about the corporation paying tax on income from my purchase made with money I already paid tax on?.

When money comes to some (real or legally fictive) person, tax is collected, independent of where that money has traveled befor it got to that person.

The total worth of the US is more complex than the federal budget. Our greatest asset is us and what we create. Government spending is far less important than the productivity of the population, in manufacturing, science, the arts, and all the things that people throughout the world see as American.

The stimulus was aimed at avoiding a credit freeze. We needed to get money flowing to foster productivity and creativity, but it got bottled up in Wall Street. The problem was not that the stimulus increased the debt, the problem was that it was wrongly aimed and probably too small.

We took an aspirin that did not cure our headache, and instead of looking for better medication, we are contemplating a craniectomy!

[Yeah, I think Krugman knows more economics than Geithner.]

Anonymous wrote:I can read a compass.

So there you are, in the desert or mountains between Iraq and Iran, and you have your compass, and you have measured all the distances as you have hiked so you're sure you're still in Iraq, but these Irani soldiers come along and claim it's Iran, you would have no difficulty convincing them you are right and they are wrong?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Www.jewwatch.com/jew-mafia

I don't even think I would click on this link.

Since the URL did not work, I Googled it. It is exactly the anti-semitic rant-sheet its name suggests. You made a good call.

They do tend to help when people are over-excited.

The calmin' cents solution.

Two things strike me as strange about this ad. For one thing, it lumps Perry and Bachmann, along with Romney, with Obama, Reid, and Pelosi, as smooth-talking Washington politicians. The other is that it calls Paul "The One". Isn't that the sarcastic designation Republicans used for Obama in 2008?

Anonymous wrote:US Constitution. Michelle Bachman is sane compared to this man. I do believe this man is certifiably nuts!

Are you implying that you think there is something wrong with a politician saying it would be treasonous for the Chairman of the Fed to do his job and help the economy, because the only reason he would do such a thing would be to help reelect the President?

Anonymous wrote:

TheManWithAUsername wrote:BTW, the production cost isn't completely insignificant. Well over $100 million is spent every year minting small coins.

The US Mint sells all coins at cost to the Federal Reserve, so they charge them $0.01 for a penny and $0.25 for a quarter. The mint doesn't lose money overall (they make money on quarters and up, and lose money on smaller denominations). The Fed orders specific denominations based on market need.

That sounds very sensible, except for the part about need. Who, in the past few decades, has needed pennies?

Reagan had Gorabchev. We should probably put Churchill and Gorby at the top of the list of leaders who did most for America.

Anonymous wrote:I lean more Republican in my stances on finance and gun control but I'm 100% Democrat in views on pro-choice, education, healthcare, welfare, and environmental issues. I'm like a huge double negative.

Although I call myself a liberal, I think it is totally illogical to think there is a single left-right scale that applies to all issues. When you see an anti-war far-rightist like Ron Paul, who has a pretty consistent philosophy, or the anti-abortion, anti-capital punishment stand of the consistently pro-life Catholic Church, I think you have to admit that PP is not so much a double negative as a person willing to approach each issue on its own merits, rather than parroting a party-line.

BTW, I would not use the term moderate here, as another PP did. Neither Ron Paul nor the Pope fit that label.

Anonymous wrote:Having to health care DOES lead to poverty. It's a leading cause of bankruptcies.

I think that was meant to say "having no health care".