PastaJoe

I recall even peaceful protesters of the Iraq War being called anti-American, and told they should leave the country if they didn't like the way things were.

They were trying to get Senate bills out of committees, so they could be reconciled into one bill. Obama's setting deadlines keeps the ball moving. No deadlines would just drag things out, like Iraq. The debate has been going on since the Truman administration. Dragging it out another year will result in a watered down bill at best, given that historically no major legislation is passed right before an election. How about having the insurance companies change their practices so that good doctors don't have their insurance cost raised when bad doctors get sued, and just raise the premiums on the bad doctors. No health care for illegals is not going to make them move. Their lives are still better here than in their country of origin. And what about their children who were born in the U.S. and are therefore American citizens?

Then there's the guy who brought a loaded gun to Obama's NH townhall yesterday, with a sign that read "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time". That quote from Jefferson ends, "with the blood of patriots and tyrants." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/11/p...d_n_256614.html http://www.gawkk.com/chris-matthews-hardba...him-out/discuss Although legal to carry a weapon in NH, it's a slippery slope that I fear will embolden some crackpot to get violent. A gun at a president's health care discussion.

The combination of the old uniforms and the game play are giving me flashbacks to my youth when I had to endure the terrible teams of the late 60s-early 70s, which is why I don't like the throwbacks.

First the stablization of the banking industry prevented a free-fall into a depression. Then the recovery act immediately prevented the further loss of city/state jobs (police, firemen), as many mayors have given it credit for. And policies like the Cash for Clunkers incentive prime the pump for people to start spending again, which reduces inventories and creates a need for new production. And as people perceive that the economy is starting to recover, they will spend more and the economic engine will speed up. She's a racist, check. Please do, you'll find I've always supported an offensive in Afghanistan. My issue was we should have never invaded Iraq, and instead should have focused on the Afghan/Pakistan region. Creditors aren't making the mistake of handing out car loans like candy like they did with home loans.

You have to stabilize the patient before you can get them better. You mean the two non-ballistic attack subs off the East Coast? It's the 10th anniversary of Putin's rise to power. This and his running around with his shirt off is for domestic consumption to counter the perception that Russia has become weak given the West's plans to put anti-missile sites in Eastern Europe and expand NATO to the Ukraine and Georgia. Nobody said it's booming, but it has shown steady positive growth which could lead to economic recovery if we continue the recovery policies that has instilled new confidence that that worst is behind us.

Chicago Blackhawk right winger and South Buffalo native Patrick Kane and a relative face robbery and other charges after allegedly assaulting a cab driver and failing to pay their fare after getting a ride from Chippewa Street early this morning. Kane, 20, and James M. Kane, 21, were arrested about 5 a.m. on Eastwood Place, according to Buffalo police reports. The pair allegedly punched the cab driver and grabbed money they had handed him after he told them he didn't have twenty cents in coins to give them their change, the report said. Their fare was $13.80 and they handed the driver $15, according to a report. The cab driver told police he was punched in the face and head, grabbed by the throat and had his glasses broken during the incident. A torn $5 bill was found in James Kane's pocket while in the Erie County Holding Center, the report said. Buffalo Police Department spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge confirmed Patrick Kane and a relative were arrested after an incident involving a cab driver. Both men were charged with second-degree robbery, a Class C felony, as well as fourth-degree criminal mischief and theft of services, both Class A misdemeanors. http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/758903.html I'm guessing he had to be drunk to fight over pocket change. Or the relative was the physical one.

We end this week on a high note, with Sonya Sotomayor being sworn in as a Supreme Court justice. In addition: - The release of the Americans from North Korea through the diplomatic work of Bill Clinton and the behind the scenes work of the Obama administration with other countries - The victory for our military, who finally have the resources to go on the offense in Afghanistan and Pakistan, who killed the Taliban leader Mehsud - The continued funding of the Cash for Clunkers program which is jump starting car sales - The drop in the unemployment numbers, the first since April 2008, and compared to January, when 741,000 jobs disappeared, the most in any month since 1949 - The steady rise in the stock market as investors show increased confidence in the economy

Everyone's favorite soundbyte chimes in on healthcare: Sarah Palin is accusing President Obama’s health care plan of looking to create a “death panel” that would weigh whether her parents or son Trig were “worthy of health care.” "And who will suffer the most when they ration care?" she wrote. "The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil." http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/ I thought she didn't want her kids involved in political discussions anymore.

Favorites: Kurt Warner (came up the hard way), Donovan McNabb, Matt Ryan Least: Peyton and Eli Manning, Tony Romo

Health Care: Establish weight standards for height and age, and the more you're above the standard, the more you pay. Affordable fitness programs and healthy food would be accessible to those who can't afford them. Abortion: Make it like the DH rule in baseball. Dems can get them, Repubs can't. Everyone else can get them for a fee that goes towards the health care initiative. 2nd Amendment: Allow everyone to own guns, provided they're the same model and type used when the Constitution was written. Gay marriage: Anyone getting a divorce has to serve 2 years mandatory service in a gay marriage before getting their freedom. Taxes: Everyone gets ownership of a part of some road or highway, and if you're willing to stand out there, you can collect taxes like in Monopoly. Military: Everyone has to enlist at 18 for 4 years. Then 4 years of college. Then the best become officers for the next 4 years. Then you're out. Economy: Musical chairs policy. After your military service, you can only keep a job for 4 years, then you have to leave for another job every 4 years. At some point before 40, everyone has to have worked as a manual laborer, a customer service provider (i.e. waitress), or a protector (police, fireman), so everyone appreciates how hard those jobs are. Plus it will keep people in better shape healthwise. Illegal Immigration: In exchange for stronger border enforcement by Mexico, we give Texas back to Mexico. Iraq: Find a strong leader, give him the job, and tell him it's his as long as he keeps a lid on the violence but respects everyone's human rights. Afghanistan: Anyone caught using illegal drugs is sent there for a year to replant the poppy fields with vegetables.

So now you're advocating violence? And even though the current administration was voted in by a majority of Americans in a multi-party election, because you disagree with it's policies you call it tyranny? The founding fathers came from a history of monarchies. They set up our republic to allow for civil debate and discourse with our ELECTED government.

You're off your meds again, aren't you. I never posted an opinion on the Gates case. But thanks for the title of Professor of Sanity. And this country was founded by people who knew that civil discourse and debate was the only way we could survive together given the varied opinions of our citizens. Citizens are allowed to question, debate, and discuss issues with their representatives, and vote them out if a majority disagree with their representation. Your support of anarchy over the Constitution and civil law is disappointing. BillsNYC isn't an astroturfer, he's using the civil methods of expressing his opinions to his representatives, not showing up to just shout them down and stifle debate because some lobbyists or radio commentators tell them to do so. FYI, the term "astroturfing" is credited to Senator Lloyd Bentsen, who was quoted by the Washington Post in 1985 as using it to describe a "mountain of cards and letters" sent to his Senate office to promote insurance industry interests, which Bentsen dismissed as "generated mail."

Now you're just being silly.

There's nothing wrong with people showing up to town hall meetings with their representatives to listen to their views, ask questions, and offer civil debate and alternatives. But to just show up and shout them down so there can't be a civil discourse is just an attempt to shut down debate and get some publicity. I don't like it when Code Pink does it on the left, and I don't like it when these Astroturfers (faux grassroots) do it, because it just turns the debate into a shouting match. If you really have a different viewpoint, then show up and engage in some honest debate and offer alternatives. Just following the marching orders of Dick Army and other lobbyists, and shouting people down and saying "No" isn't going to solve any problems.

Yeah, it's terrible that it might be possible to peacefully resolve issues diplomatically with countries we don't like. But I don't have much sympathy for Americans who needlessly put themselves in danger, like the 3 hikers now in Iranian custody. What, hiking on the Appalachian trail with Mark Sanford isn't good enough? And I don't think just anyone could have done this. Imagine sending Bush or Cheney.

Dude, you're F'd in the head. Talking about economics and you feel compelled to remind us we have a black president. What's next with you, he's a Muslim who was born outside the U.S.? And that's also MY tax money that had to compensate for the tax breaks that the wealthy and corporations got, who still decided to close the plant I worked at for over 20 years and move it to China because of cheaper labor and lax regulations. The fallacy of trickle down policy has been exposed, it doesn't save or create U.S. jobs. If you took your lips off the ass of wealthy and corporate welfare you'd see the big picture.

Protectionist would be to put a penalty on imports, like other countries do to us. This would be an incentive.

All these complaints whenever an incentive program benefits the middle class. But this is a drop in the bucket compared to the trickle down policies that gave huge tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations, who still took the money and ran to cheap labor outside the U.S., costing us jobs and slowing the economy. I'm tired of waiting to be trickled down on, it's about time the benefit went directly to the middle class. I wish they would extend this program to major appliances like ovens and refrigerators manufactured in the U.S.. Perception plays a big part in economics, and if people see others starting to spend, they will feel more confident in the economy and start to spend themselves, which will draw down inventories, which requires more production, which requires more workers, and the economic engine becomes primed for a recovery.

That extremist talking point that reform=gov't run is just a lie. There is no bill coming out of committees in Congress that calls for a takeover of private insurance. The public OPTION may or may not be in a final bill, but it is an OPTION. Ask senior citizens if they think Medicare should be eliminated, because that is a public option.

If that's what you think health care reform is all about, then you haven't been paying attention. The costs of the status quo system are rising for all of us. Who do you think pays for the uninsured when they go to the costly emergency room for minor medical issues that could be handled for less cost at a doctor's office? If car insurance were optional, do you think your premiums would go down?

Biden is an "everyman", who even the officer said lightened up the conversation with some jokes, and was very kind to his family during the tour of the White House. Obama can be a little stiff at times, and there probably was the thought that having just Obama there with his friend Gates might be perceived as ganging up on the officer, even though that was not the intention.

Just like the complaints about federal spending, the Republicans would have credibility if they had complained about this when Bush was in office and they were in the majority. To do it now is just sour grapes. In general, I do believe that the Congress sat back and let Bush overreach with this and signing statements, because they were afraid of being labeled anti-American in the "War on Terror", and I would like the Congress to provide more of a real check to the executive branch, regardless of who's in office.

The House on Friday passed a bill to allocate another $2 billion to the Cash for Clunkers program. The bill passed 316-109. The Senate is not expected to vote before Monday.

Congressional sources said early Thursday evening that the program would be put on hold. But Obama administration officials said later that Clunkers had not been suspended and that they were studying the situation. "Auto dealers and consumers should have confidence that all valid ... transactions that have taken place to date will be honored," a White House official said in a statement. An official at the Department of Transportation, which manages Cash for Clunkers, said the administration would try to work with Congress to find more funds to keep it going. One of the program's main champions in Congress, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., called on Congress to appropriate more money. Stabenow said the effort has provided an important boost to the economy and resulted in 200,000 car sales. "I am delighted to hear dealers say that all of their salespeople are busy and they are selling more cars in a day than they had been selling in a month," Stabenow said. Meanwhile, the Transportation Department was sorting out how much of the plan's funds have already been committed. Cash for Clunkers, which Congress passed in June, is set to end on Nov. 1 or whenever its $1 billion budget has been depleted. An early version of the Clunkers proposal in Congress called for appropriating $4 billion. http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/30/autos/cash...ended/index.htm