PastaJoe

Oh look, another dinner table speaks!

What's Rudy going to do, bus the legislature to another state, like how he handled the homeless in NYC? Instead of solving a problem, just push them out of the way and leave them for someone else to help.

You miss the big picture. If I buy a refrig because of a rebate that I wouldn't otherwise buy, it's stimulating the business, reducing inventory, and hopefully if enough people do it, could lead to retention or creation of jobs in the industry, thus helping the economy, and hopefully creating a job opportunity for me, so I can again pay taxes, which I'd gladly do. I'm still paying the majority of the cost of the refrig, but every bit helps make the decision easier. It's priming the economic engine. And since most if not all TVs are made overseas, that type of program wouldn't help our manufacturing base.

Because I'm not a tight-fisted, hard-hearted bastard who's unwilling to pay taxes and allow it to be used to help those who are having a tough time. When I have it, I'm happy to contribute because I know someday I might need assistance, and I know what it's like to lose a job when the economy tanks like it did last year. And I don't know what a regrigerator is so I don't want one anyways.

I'm just getting some of the taxes I paid for the past 25 years back to help me out when I need it. We were planning on getting new appliances and a new driveway when I got laid off. If not for the layoff, we would have already bought those things. I wouldn't begrudge anyone else, including you, of using my tax money to help out if you needed it. And I've never belonged to a union, I've always been a salaried employee.

Correct. The score of the preseason games doesn't matter, what matters is how the 1st teams do against each other. And in the Bills case, they've been taken to school. I expect it to continue in Pittsburgh.

The AG is bound to do what's right according to the law, not what's politically popular. Obama said he didn't think those who followed the rules of the time should be prosecuted. But what Holder is doing asking a special prosecutor to look at about 10 specific cases that went beyond the rules of the time. It shows that this administration isn't trying to tell the AG what they should and shouldn't investigate, which is the proper relationship between the AG and president. I don't think Holder has to worry about this White House pressuring him while he's sick in a hospital bed.

I advocated an appliance program a couple week's ago. I just wish it included stoves, but for some reason they don't fall under the EnergyStar program. Someone told me an appliance has to use water in some way to be in the program. Our fridge and stove are over 15 years old and on their last legs, but we've been holding off since I'm unemployed. But we'll make the purchase if we can get a rebate.

Nobody gets thrown under the circled bandwagons like the Buffalo Bills fans.

Now you're just being silly.

Actually the opinion piece was copied by Fox from the conservative blog site, The Stiletto. It's on par with a blog saying the Bills can win the Super Bowl this year if the stars are aligned right. But feel free to fantasize.

It not new news that the Bush administration politicized 9/11, these type of revelations by insiders just confirms our allegations during those years were correct. Ridge was the moderate Republican who should have been VP, but was disqualified by the party because he's pro-choice. We would have been much better off with him steering Bush's policies than Cheney.

A true conservative would try to end Medicare regardless of the political implications. And I would be against opting out of SS and letting it die out. It was set up as a safety net for the poor and elderly. I'm not depending on SS as my primary source of retirement money, but I think it needs to be there for those who need it, and support continuing to fund it. Just as I believe that younger healthy people should have to buy some form of health insurance, just like they have to buy car insurance.

You mean like Medicare. To be consistent, why aren't conservatives calling for that government run socialist program to be stopped?

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.