Scraps

Aren't the images that the media providing actually having the opposite effect of what the protesters want? Is anyone actually more respectfull of their beliefs? If anything, I think people in the west are more incredulous that so many people would get so bent out of shape and advocate indiscriminant violence over some cartoons.

Okay, does that point lie within this solar system? And what does such a point have to do with knocking down polar orbiting military sattelites over the equator from the South Pole?

But is he wearing a clown suit, balancing on a plank on the South Pole?

Don't we have to figure out how to protect the telescoping platform from being knocked over by all the satellites in polar orbit several hundred km below the platform first?

Isn't that what I said back on page 1? Now the question is, how high must the platform be to track an object at 1000 km altitude? Does it have to be higher than a house? Does it have to be higher than the Empire State Building? Does it have to be higher than Mt Everest? How feasible is it to build a platform of such a height at the South Pole?

What do you mean "we". I'm not going. I'm sure you're not either.

Yawn. Haven't we learned to take these defectors with a boulder of salt?

Iran is a true democracy? How do you figure? Doesn't a council of Ayatollahs control who can actually appear on the ballet? Its not like the Iranian people can ever choose anyone who is truly secular. They just get to choose between different shades of religious nuttiness.

Pandering to what??!!! The Saudis are truly evil. They are responsible for funding madrasas that brainwash children with hatred in poor countries like Pakistan and Indonesia. Ther are one of two countries that recognized the Taliban as an actual government and funded them. A quarter of all college students in Saudi Arabia major in Islamic studies. They are the home of of the Wahabi sect. It was no mistake that the majority of the suicide hijackers on 9-11 were Saudis and it wasn't some grand design on Bin Ladens part. I don't like George W Bush but thank God this piece of stojan was never sworn in as president.

And I argue with them too. Haven't I been arguing with JimBob in this thread?

OH MY GOD!! I have to apologize to JSP.

Do you bother to read who wrote what? Where did I blame or give credit to any President for any value of my house, stock market of the economy?

As a point of reference, that is the deal Teague signed to come here for Denver. Of course Teague then became an overpaid below average center. I have more hope for Peters. He's done a decent job for a position he wasn't trained for.

Do you bother reading what your responding too? Or is it reflex response on your part? "However, the last 6 months it has gone down and while I don't expect to move soon, and I understand the cycle."

I presume you will pay off your mortgage, student loan and car loan. Will the government ever pay off its debt? Or will it simply pile up more debt so that we can spend more money sevicing the debt?

Hmmm, what are we to think about someone who claims Bush is doing a good job in the war on terrorism in one post, then claims he is doing a half assed job in the next? You haven't explained what was wrong with the following issues that you take exception with "1) The federal deficit is too large" "2) The large deficit is due to cutting taxes" "4) The large deficit is due to increased federal spending" How am I supposed to take you seriously when you can't give me a good reason why defecits are good? I do, I just want to see if you have a clue as to what you are talking about. Actually, what you said was "It is now, by most accounts, fairly valued again and can resume its normal growth, dependant on the economy. " I asked you to back that up and you did a 180. "2) The large deficit is due to cutting taxes" "4) The large deficit is due to increased federal spending" How am I supposed to take you seriously when you can't give me a good reason why defecits are good? So we should instead trust a bunch of politicians who are beholden to a voter base that is pretty ignorant of economics? Thanks, but I'll put more faith in the economists on the Fed who have to carefully weigh what each move will do and have done a damn good job for the past 1/4 century. By what measure are you claiming that growth is being stifled? Isn't unemployment at 5 year lows? Isn't it a good idea to have some room to cut rates should the economy need a boost? The Japanese have, so could we. I do, I just want to see if you have a clue as to what you are talking about. Actually, what you said was "It is now, by most accounts, fairly valued again and can resume its normal growth, dependant on the economy. " I asked you to back that up and you did a 180.

I guess I misinterpretted the following that you wrote "For all Bush's flaws (and lord knows there is alot of them), the two that he has done a good job with, IMO, is the war on terror" I didn't inject it into the conversation, you did. I think a government should live within its means except in dire situations (WW II is a good example of a dire situation). I see no benefit to forcing future generations to pay for our largess. I don't believe that a tax cut, in and of itself, is responsible for the revenue increase. I believe that the Federal Reserve Boards action with respect to interest rates has a far greater effect on the economy. Had the tax cuts not happened, I believe that the Fed would have cut rates further and the economy still would have recovered, and the Government would have been taking in even more tax revenue. The laws of gravity apply to the stock market? Do you know the DOW started at 100? By your logic, the DOW must fall to 100. Define "fairly valued". Who exactly determined this? I'm not blaming him because I don't give the President cudos nor blame for the stock market or most of the economy, but the stock market did fall quite a bit between the time he took office and October 2003.

You say he did a good job then go on to say he f*cked up?

What's wrong with those observations? I wouldn't crow about the stock market being where it was 5 years ago since it historically has grown at about 10% anually. Talk to me about a surplus in a couple of years to see if a trend has actually developed.

I used to believe all that but I'm not so sure anymore. What happens when the economy overheats and the Fed takes all that money out of the system by raising interest rates? Perhaps its a zero sum game.

Government employees are supposed to be loyal to the country and the constitution, not to a particular party or president.

The series finale?

Well at least it was on topic. You might want to try it some time.

So we should always live beyond our means?

It is simply not possible draw a line tangent to the pole that will intersect any point at the equator. All line tangent to the pole have to lie on a plane tangent to the pole and normal to the axis of the sphere. Your analogy fails beause as soon at Tom leans to one side, the plank will no longer be in contact with the pole but would be in contact with (and tangent to) some other point on the ball.