YellowLinesandArmadillos

Yes humorous, but McCain's example of humor is making fun of someone else, not being self-effacing. He is crotchety old fart and this does not bode well for his international leadership skills. I am not sure Obama is the answer but McCain is definitely not. For all his bluster about pork, McCain hasn't seen a subsidy for the oil cartel he hasn't liked, hypocrite.

Nice schedule, too bad I have cable and a family. The NFL network is useless.

Really nothing to add constructively to this rap, but two redundant cents are Iraq was a neocon ill conceived, ill executed, and other than the initial take over, war that was unnecessary, and that has wasted over 5 years on the priority of going after Bin Laden in Afganistan and Pakistan the real perpetrators of 911. Enough about Iraq, get out and put the troops in Afganistan, devide it in three, put up a fence wall whatever and let what will inevitably happen with Syrian, Turkey and Iranian influence take its course. This is a lost cause. The troops are fighting centuries of history and McCain is right in the sense that otherwise we will need to be there for hundreds of years at unsustainable expense to our economy and treasury.

Agreed, also little known outside his colleagues, he was also an exec vp, not sure his full role at NBC, but Tim influenced a lot of journalists, more than just the on air reporters and always a gentleman. Met him at National Airport one time and he couldn't have been more gracious and bright hearted. His enthusiastic even handedness in life as well as politics will be sorely missed.

LOL, However, now if you do vote for Obama you are now a communist... "Glen Beck" nice, the D primary ends, the real contest begins, and party mouth pieces sink to new lows. I am sure the Ds have their vitriol knives sharpened too.

Sadly, I couldn't agree more. P.S. Clinton was very effective. Combined with a Republican Congress our country was in the best shape fiscally since WWII. Bush managed to screw that up effectively in very short order, but that is beside the point. I agree with some that effectiveness needs to be defined. If you take out the negative and positive determination, Bush and his folks have made things happen.... The problem is that most of it is negative.

I am sure there is more to follow. P.S. I once had two military guys/friends visit me at my office on Capitol Hill and their first question was how do I get any work done around here? The amount of hotties showing off is amazing. My wife is from NYC and if I ever messed up the East River gets involved..., not worth it. That being said, I am surprised more stuff hasn't hit the press, that as few of these guys get caught as they do given the work conditions, and how few women looking to hook in with power anyway they can are exposed. My friends had it right, it is amazing... nicest looking scenery east of the Hollywood Hills, and North of Dallas... But with it comes a whole heap of trouble.

I agreed with you right up until you took the partisan shot of liberal politicians. When you look at all the corporate welfare my tax dollars go to, the pathetic royalty fees for mining etc, the $400 B given to the drug companies for research, just as they raised prices for everyone, the money going to large corporate farms all supported by hypocritical right wingers ending up in the large budget deficit ever. Please spare me. No I don't want my taxes to go up and HRC is wrong on that score, but all you would have to do is put a major dent in corporate welfare, bring some accountability to military spending, not for the troops and necessary equipment, but to the contractors that are raping our treasury for every cent they can dig out and there would be plenty of funding left over for some sane spending on the priorities that HRC and the so called liberals speak about wanting and probably still could make major efforts to balancing the budget. Government bureaucracy has increased, and in some agencies threefold under Bush, so until Republicans learn what it means to balance a budget, not deficit and spend, the blame goes out equally, and other than different priorities, I think Rs are bigger spenders at least recently. As much as I disliked Delay and Gingrich, I miss their one oneupmanship with Pres. Clinton on who could be the greatest deficit hawk... Fiscally, this country's finances were in the best shape since just WWII. So cut the partisanship and look for the few folks on both sides that might provide some real solutions. Believe or not McCain on the deficit side, if he can get the Bush war albatross off his shoulders, could be good. But I am betting the right wing true believers and the Iraq war prevent him from doing what he would really do, untarnished by either.

Ah the never ending Rush Limbaugh drivel... I have heard this prediction a couple of times and it makes me laugh... The Republicans and Democrats base are solidly behind them and I agree with a later writer, both groups rely too much on their extremes for support. But it keeps the parties going and then both try and manipulate the middle saying that they aren't extreme... Furthermore, never underestimate the Dems ability to lose a Presidential election. They are good at it. However, from an economic/budget standpoint. I would rather have the Dems in charge of the White House and Republicans in charge if the House and Senate so that both are arguing over who can cut the budget more. It always seems the other way ends up with more spending. Look at now.... Clinton with Delay cut the bureaucracy by a third. Bush has more than doubled that cut in the form of an increase. And there is military waste... don't get me started on the fleecing of the budget by military contractors. Unbelievable how the beltway bandits are making out in DC

What is interesting about this whole debate, and I am sure it has been said before on this board, corn is not the most efficient source of bio-fuels. In fact, it is known that corn takes a considerable amount of petroleum based fertilizers and pesticides to produce it efficiently. UMass and other universities are doing quite a bit of research on bacteria eating and bio-fuel generating research and it turns out bio-waste produce oils in greater amounts that are of higher quality. From what I understand controlling the bacteria and the fuel formulation for mass production and use in combustion engine's has not totally been solved. Not sure I understand all of the hang-ups, but I do know that Microsoft is aggressively working on software to control the fuel injection systems in order to solve some of these problems and hiring talent bio-chemist/engineer/computer geek types to help them.

Check Out Comedy Central's video cartoons http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/lil_bush/index.jhtml The Washington Post's Toles is usually funny. They have a Caricatures of the Candidates list animated. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...d=roll_toonsvid Also, check out the editorial cartoons on the comic page: http://www.comics.com/categories/index.html Finally two Capitol Hill Rags: RJ Matson, a well known political cartoonist for "Roll Call" http://www.rjmatson.com/index_js.htm and Chris Weyant for "The Hill" Hopefully everyone can find some humor in these no matter the political stripe.

Funny discussion, I am one of those self appointed progressives, but I think Randy Rhodes takes the same tact as Rush Limbaugh, in fact, I think they once worked together. I have a libertarian friend who claims that Rhodes is the bastard child of Limbaugh and both are on OXY. That aside, I couldn't agree more with her comments and because she is a woman in this politically correct world, she should have gotten away with it. The word on the street, right or wrong, is that Hillary's folks are the ones feeding Fox all the dirt about Obama. Politics always makes interesting bed fellows. Can't wait till McCain loses his temper because folks who can't stand him in his party do something to piss him off. This should actually be an entertaining summer from a political perspective. P.S. That same libertarian believes Connie Rice is going to be the eventual R nominee and that Romney will be the VP. Not sure what he is smoking, but in todays political world, anything is possible.

Hee, Hee, blame the media, the lawyers and liberals for the incompetent getting into and running of the war... I am sure this snipet has a small basis in truth, but is only a tiny fraction of the problems faced by the military in Iraq. Sounds like some interest statistical manipulation anyway.

They appear serious about it, it will be interesting to see if they can keep their own in line, however, the Republicans hid the details of their pork by not specifically naming it, just providing enough details that the funding couldn't be used for anything else, which is why the Dems are suspending all earmarks. Who knows how much imbedded pork there actually is that has never been reported. It should be interesting to see the fallout!

Safety issue, don't know, an angry sober alcholic is more or less a safety hazard then a passed out drunk? MTA just needs to ensure that all drinkers have enough to pass out and not cause trouble on the train, or at least have a designated sober chaperone. My advice, either way don't get caught or get ready to say Betty Ford!

Yeah, and all the scientific material aside, this discussion reminds me of days on my cousins Wisconsin farm, shucking cow patties at each other and trying to not pick up a fresh one only recently crusted over.

I don't think that is totally true, it should be interesting, but HRC doesn't have my vote and the Obama band wagon had yet to hit any bumps in the road and responded to them effectively. Until that happens, the jury is out. Look what happened to Dean. Front runners beware! Especially, this early in the game...there are way too many unseen potholes waiting for a good snow melt or rain to be uncovered.

Except the only problem with the anti-global climate change crowd is that my snot no longer freezes in the winter. Its not cold enough. When can I create that ice rink I for my sons in the back yard and depend on it to stay frozen. Not anymore. Please, whatever the reasons, agriculture, industrial, cars, China...we need to cut back. Just say no to Walmart!

Good to hear Wacka, Johnson is a good guy, pretty low key unless politics require him to be otherwise. Generally, he avoids the back and forth b.s. Sounds like surgery went well. If Hannity actually said that, 'bout time he said something considerate. There are others we could do without, but more Senators with Johnson's temperment would be good on both sides. Hope all the best, knew him from his House days on the Ag Committee, always a gentlemen and never showed his staff up in public. I have seen others do it frequently.

I agree, when I was in Washington, you knew which issues, some even created by Congress to continue the slush campaign fundraising. Happens on both sides, and I don't see how it changes. Nothing will unless both sides have some reasons to do so.

Voted straight Dem...need some balance out there. I did notice the "Working Families Party" on the ballot?! Who are they, were did they come from? What is their bias?

Yeh the Poll is somewhat slanted, I agree Pelosi is an idiot, but I think the GOP has stepped on the Member one two many times and denied doing it or knowing about. Jeez Hastert does remind me of Schultz from Hogan's Heros. Additionally, it will be interesting to see Admin officials squirm under hearings called by Dems. As a pay as you go Dem. I believe in reasonable taxes, cummulative not about 35% and everyone and every entity should pay its fair share including corporations. Additionally, corrupt boondoggles funded by Feds should have their funding immediately cut, whether military or domestic projects and those companies involved should no longer be able to participate in those contracts and have a moratorium placed on all other Fed or State contracts. Thinking about the Big Dig and Halliburton. Finally, teachers especially K-12 should be paid more in order to better attract talented folks to teach our kids, however they should all be required to have a Bachelors degree, some life experience and be working towards a Masters Degree. Then some actual learning would get done. Don't cry about the teachers unions, not sure what to do about that situation except until top heavy over administrated schools get rid of them and and start putting education as their first priority.

O'common, you single out Hillary on this deal and the say your point was only that she is a politician, right, doesn't pass the smell test...just fess up you are part of the Bash Clinton crowd like I am part of the Bash Bush crowd, nothing wrong with that, but don't try and cloak in something other than what it really is. As far as Hillary goes, in person I am a fan, politically the jury is still out. Of course any politician can be linked to someone that may have a link to something unpopular and the oil thing, while I still smell a GOP rat, am told by my broker that there was a guy holding .5 Billion in oil options and the exchange boys just wanted to take him out. He says there was 25% speculation in the market and it only dropped to 15% with latest price drop. Already, it has regained some with companies threatening refinery cuts. We shall see, but I still think there is a political component to this all, call me cynical. Also, after the Foley thing, expect another terrorist alert, there have been hints of something brewing in recent Drudge Reports. However, the tactic may be switching to NK.

Which one, I hear Ted is sober, more worried about skull and bones Kerrey.

Chavez is an idiot, the ultra left likes anything that opposes Bush and I can't say I blame them, the stupidity is Chavez doesn't help anything and once again Carl Rove has arranged an election scenario that is a stroke of genius. The timing of all this and letting Chavez's nature play out and then blamming it on Liberals. More 911 conspiracy. Either way so what...the U.N. is irrelevant in part because the U.S. fails to learn under W's WH how to do coalition building. So a few irrelevant leaders want to spout off, so what. If it shows them for the fools they really are and if we can monitor their statements in our country, all the better. As I once responded to a constituent, who wanted to remove the UN from NY. Why, it gives us a chance to keep an eye on these idiots. Rangle and Pelosi had it right. Chavez reminds me of Baghdad Bob.