Satty

The ones I posed? Those are a few years ago. U.S. national debt, available for the last 15 years. Its bad. Very bad. Especially the last 7.

Leaving it as it is, or putting another tool in office isn't going to bring costs down. And the national debt rose appx $1.5 trillion between 1993 and 2001, but decreased as a percentage of GDP. So the government owed more money, but there was also more money in the economy. It rose almost $4 trillion between 1/20/01 and 8/31/08 and went up significantly as a percentage of the GDP. In fact, since Eisenhower, the debt has decreased as a percentage of the GDP during every administration except Reagan and the two Bushes.

Actually, from the Treasury Department's website: Outstanding public debt 1/19/2001: 5,727,776,738,304.64 Outstanding public debt 1/18/2002: 5,922,321,839,074.39 Looks like a $200,000,000,000 or so increase in the first year. Added the link.

I have thought about it. And I would like to be able to keep my house, and the one car we're making payments on, and the second car we may or may not be making payments on, and I'd LOVE to be able to finish paying for school and I'd love to have to pay less out of pocket for medical care and I'd love to see my son go to a school that employs qualified teachers and pays them a decent wage, and I would love to see him go to college without having to shell out $100k. I dont think all of that is possible with McCain.

The same national debt that increased from the early 80's until the mid 90's, then started decreasing significantly until 1/20/2001?

How about a tattoo of a nipple ring. Best of both worlds.

$600,000,000,000 Thats a lot of zeros. Thats a lot of sick Americans getting healthcare. Thats a lot of alternative energy. Thats a lot of a lot of things. But on the bright side, Bush is starting to come around to Obama's foreign policy plans. Remember when diplomacy with Iran and a timeline to get out of Iraq were asinine?

Exit polls suggested otherwise. I'd have to go look it up, but it was some crazy-high number. Click 70% of voters who said there should be no legal recognition of same sex couple voted Bush. Thats just one poll I dug up quickly, I'll look for others, but I remember hearing numbers in the 60-80% range. 64% in the CNN poll NBC also puts it at 70% Fox's website is a PITA to navigate, so I cannot find 2004 exit polls right now.

There will never be a federal amendment regarding gay marriage (or abortion, for that matter). Many states have amendments. Missouri has one that only covers marriage, not civil unions. The reason states have these amendments? Because they brought the base out to vote, and while voting to keep gays from marrying, they also happened to vote for Bush. Convenient.

Does GM still put the big W/T sticker on work trucks?

Tax policy center analysis of the two tax plans. Assuming Obama's plan goes through as advertised, you and I would pay less. If McCain's plan goes through, my future in-laws pay significantly less. I'd rather I pay less. Either way the national debt goes up. And for the record, I'm not a huge fan of not taxing seniors making under $50,000, simply because thats a huge chunk of revenue.

You do know that McCain isn't planning on lowering your taxes right?

Over the last 7.5 years, I've seen people I care about have their lives go to $h! because of the "strong" economy. These are people who were unable to live comfortably working 2 jobs because of the cost of health insurance and health care. People who had to drop out of college because the costs went up but government loans became less obtainable and other forms of financial aid became more difficult to get. I cannot, in good conscious, vote for a man who has said repeatedly that he supports the man responsible for these policies. Nothing has been done in 7.5 years to address immigration or energy, two things Bush campaigned on in 2000, also 2 things that would make us safer as a nation. But the government can find out what books I've checked out from the library. Again, Obama may not be perfect, but he has that not George Bush quality that I find appealing in a candidate, the same appeal McCain had in 2000. Too bad he couldn't keep it up.

Horny, middle aged men aren't a big enough demographic to give McCain a jump in the polls. Palin was brought in to appeal to women, specifically Hillary voters. She's conservative enough to appeal to the 20-30% of people who still think Bush is competant, and she lacks a penis, which McCain hopes will bring in the 18 million people who voted for Clinton. I really doubt that will happen, because I'm willing to bet most of those voters had at least some idealogical reason for voting for Hillary, since Palin is the complete opposite of Clinton on just about every issue possible, she's not going to pull anyone in. Besides, nobody votes for the VP, they vote for the name on top. McCain really needed to pick someone closer to the center if he wanted to win, because (as has been noted above) he's 72 and has had cancer. Palin will never win a presidential election, she makes Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul look moderate, the big question is, will people be comfortable with her inheriting the job, because the odds are that she will. Obama, on the other hand, went with someone who has been a Senator longer than McCain and doesn't have a far-left record.His only real blemish is that he says dumb things at bad times. Biden, like Palin, will never win a presidential election, he cant get the mainstream recognition that an Obama or a Clinton or a McCain or a Guilani could get because he doesn't have the high profile history. Plus, he's inda old.

Anyone notice there has been no media coverage of Obama since Palin was announced? I guess if McCain wanted some media time, it worked. Unfortunately for him, there is nothing about Palin or any of the subsequent news that is going to sway undecided voters to his side.

I just see a small problem when a person who is a heartbeat away from being the leader of the union was once (and for all we know, still is) part of a group that wants to partially dissolve that union. Hell, here there is a video clip of a party official saying AIP members should "infiltrate" the major parties.This isn't really a minor blemish, this is a woman who is associated with extremist right wingers.

If anyone important read these forums and took what a lot of these people say to heart, GM would be bankrupt in a week.

I've always advocated vasectomy at birth, but thats just me.

The hits keep coming for Palin. So far this weekend: -Her mother-in-law said she brings nothing to the ticket besides being a conservative woman. -Her husband's 20-something year old DWI became public. -Her unwed teenage daughter's pregnancy became public. -It was discovered that she was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, which is hell bent on getting Alaska to secede from the union. Ok, so she's attractive and appeals to the base, but couldn't McCain have dug a little deeper? All this is withing 4 days of her being announced. While none of this (except maybe the AIP part) should matter, it will to the voters.

One thing I have to give Bush credit for, he picked a running mate with Washington experience who could ease concerns. Cheney may be evil, but he was wholly qualified for the job.

I've been inconsistent with the LeSabre because of the front seal leak, but I finally got around to putting a bottle of Lucas Stop Leak in, so I don't think the sale of the week will be going in anymore. I'm not going to run synthetic in it, but I haven't decided what I will use next time I change the oil.

Families should be off limits, the Bush twins drinking thing a few years ago should have never made the news. Its just the tabloid mentality this nation has. The religious right has taken the Republican party off the deep end, McCain/Palin isn't going to do anything to bring it back. I just find it amazing that there are stories everywhere about Palin's daughter, but nary a word about the ethics investigation she's under in Alaska. You know there is something when a Republican-led legislature brings a special investigator in to look at a Republican governor for abuse of power.

So have I, the only difference is, nothing by the band Deerhoof ( ) made it to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Yeah, wasn't the TT new last year?

Why start a new thread when I can revive last year's? I'm off work today, but my body clock wouldn't let me sleep in, so I'm going to go for a nice, long bike ride in a couple minutes. Then we're going to have a cookout.