Bush Presidency

[Common Sense Al]

I think the war in Iraq is one big thing you can mostly and fairly blame Bush for (and the resulting negative world view of the US). The other things not so much so.

[neighbor]

...However, gas prices-well, couldn't US do something to help it given it occupied Iraq???

Like what? Speculators in stock markets control the price of crude. Not Iraq. Not oil companies. Not OPEC (at least not since the 80's). If you want to lower crude prices, you need to convince speculators in the New York Mercantile Exchange, the International Petroleum Exchange, and the Singapore International Monetary Exchange that they'll loose money unless they lower their speculations.

Darn those day traders!

[Common Sense Al]

Like what? Speculators in stock markets control the price of crude. Not Iraq. Not oil companies. Not OPEC (at least not since the 80's). If you want to lower crude prices, you need to convince speculators in the New York Mercantile Exchange, the International Petroleum Exchange, and the Singapore International Monetary Exchange that they'll loose money unless they lower their speculations.

Darn those day traders!

Well I sure hope those speculators end up losing their shirts. They should get a real job.

But I think most people agree it is more of a matter of supply and demand... demand increasing, supply steady and limited. We need to move away from OIL ASAP and switch to never-ending and unlimited (for practical purposes) sources of power like wind and sun.

[neighbor]

But I think most people agree it is more of a matter of supply and demand... demand increasing, supply steady and limited. We need to move away from OIL ASAP and switch to never-ending and unlimited (for practical purposes) sources of power like wind and sun.

It is (a matter of supply and demand). And every time the media shouts out a story saying "gas will be $5 by whenever", those speculators see it as an acceptance. And up goes speculation.

There is one way to manage rising prices due to increased demand. Flood the market with more product. Crude is only limited because we limit ourselves from drilling it and refining it. Open known fields in the U.S. for drilling, build U.S. refineries that can process the type of crude found in the U.S., and the tables will turn. That will stimulate everything, and hopefully allow the type of spending needed to R&D viable alternatives AND implement them.

There! There's a plan. Now somebody go DO it...

[Common Sense Al]

There is one way to manage rising prices due to increased demand. Flood the market with more product. Crude is only limited because we limit ourselves from drilling it and refining it. Open known fields in the U.S. for drilling, build U.S. refineries that can process the type of crude found in the U.S., and the tables will turn. That will stimulate everything, and hopefully allow the type of spending needed to R&D viable alternatives AND implement them.

I agree... for the short and mid-term, we need to use our oil resources with a long-term mindset of switching to clean power and electric cars. Maybe it will get so bad that the gov't will actually do something when it comes to using our own resources.

[neighbor]

A friend of mine sent this to me. I haven't verified most of it yet, but I thought I'd post it here, and maybe others want to verify the info (honestly, I have better things to to today ).

In just one year. Remember the election in 2006? Thought you might like to read the following:

A little over one year ago:
1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;
2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon;
3) The unemployment rate was 4.5%.

Since voting in a Democratic Congress in 2006 we have seen:
1) Consumer confidence plummet;
2) The cost of regular gasoline soar to over $3.50 a gallon;
3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase);
4) American households have seen $2.3 trillion in equity value
evaporate (stock and mutual fund losses);
5) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $1.2 trillion dollars;
6) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.

America voted for change in 2006, and we got it!
Remember, it's Congress that makes law not the President.
He has to work with what's handed to him.

Quote of the Day........'My friends, we live in the greatest nation
in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try
to change it.' -- Barack Obama

Part 2:

Taxes...Whether Democrat or a Republican you will find these
statistics enlightening and amazing.

www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/151.html

Taxes under Clinton
Single making 30K - tax $8,400
Single making 50K - tax $14,000
Single making 75K - tax $23,250
Married making 60K - tax $16,800
Married making 75K - tax $21,000
Married making 125K - tax $38,750

Taxes under Bush
Single making 30K - tax $4,500
Single making 50K - tax $12,500
Single making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 60K- tax $9,000
Married making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 125K - tax $31,250

Both democratic candidates will return to the higher tax rates!

It is amazing how many people that fall into the categories above
think Bush is the worst president and Bill Clinton was the greatest
President ever. If Obama or Hillary are elected, they both say they
will repeal the Bush tax cuts and a good portion of the people that
fall into the categories above can't wait for it to happen. This is
like the movie, The Sting with Paul Newman; you scam somebody out of
some money and they don't even know what happened.

PART 3:
You think the war in Iraq is costing us too much? Read this:
Boy, am I confused. I have been hammered with the propaganda
that it is the Iraq war and the war on terror that is bankrupting us.
I now find that to be RIDICULOUS.

I hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again
until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of
reading them. I have included the URL's for verification of all
the following facts.

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.

Verify at: http://tinyurl.com/zob77

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs
such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
verify at: http://www.cis..org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://www.cis..org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary
school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... ldt.0.html
5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for
the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
Verify at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... dt.01.html
6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... dt.01.html
7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens .
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... dt.01.html
8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for
Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
Verify at: http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html
9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are
caused by the illegal aliens.

Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... dt.01.html
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's
two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular,
their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem
in the US.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... dt.01.html

11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal
aliens that crossed our Southern Border; also, as many as 19,500
illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of
drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S
from the Southern border.
Verify at:
Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12. The National Policy Institute, 'estimated that the total cost
of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an
average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year
period.'
Verify at: http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/ ... tation.pdf

13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances
back to their countries of origin.
Verify at:
http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm
14. 'The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex
Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrant s In The United States.'
Verify at: http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml
The total cost is a whopping $338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.
Are we THAT stupid?

[matj6876]

PART 1: http://www.snopes.com/politics/business ... change.asp
PART 2: http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/clinton-bush.asp

[neighbor]

PART 1: http://www.snopes.com/politics/business ... change.asp
PART 2: http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/clinton-bush.asp

See. I knew I could count on you guys to help verify!

[skiing1974]

don't argue any of it!
shows what this country needs is 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th party
enough of the 2 we are stuck with! find me another country in the world with just 2 parties and let me know if having 1 or 2 really makes a difference

[esemerson]

PART 1: http://www.snopes.com/politics/business ... change.asp
PART 2: http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/clinton-bush.asp

See. I knew I could count on you guys to help verify!

maybe you should run for president and save us all?

By the way, one of your verified sources says your claim about the 2007 congress is false.

[Common Sense Al]

PART 1: http://www.snopes.com/politics/business ... change.asp
PART 2: http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/clinton-bush.asp

But wait! The Democrats were elected to fix things... shouldn't things at least be getting better by now instead of worse?

They all need to be fired.

[L-Dog]

...what this country needs is 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th party

I go the other way. We need to abolish the party system altogether and have candidates run on issues and not party lines. This will empower some who generally lean one side or the other to be able to back issues that would normally draw the ire of their prospective party. There have to be candidates out there who under the current party system would fail to get their party's nomination because they don't believe in all of their party's stances. (ex. Demo's who are Pro-Life or Repub's who are Pro-Environment, etc...)

[Pipeline]

Wellput, L-dog.

[neighbor]

PART 1: http://www.snopes.com/politics/business ... change.asp
PART 2: http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/clinton-bush.asp

See. I knew I could count on you guys to help verify!

By the way, one of your verified sources says your claim about the 2007 congress is false.

Not my sources. I just passed it on from a friend (and I did say I didn't verify all of the info), and left it up to others to verify, which matj6876 did.