keith

"The law makes San Francisco the leader yet again in environmentally friendly measures, following up on other green initiatives such as banning plastic bags at supermarkets." At the same time you'll probably be able to pick up a handful of free condoms on the way out. Keith

Yes, these are the creative "revenue" generating ideas govenment is famous for. What about personal calls made or received on the office phone or using the Internet for, ummm...a little gomeangreen.com action when no one is looking, or that trip to the bathroom for, you know, *personal* business. Are these all soon to be taxable fringe benefits? Keith

I think it is basically saying that some people among the uninsured do not have insurance not because they cannot afford it, they do not have insurance because the *choose* not to have it. I imagine it would be something similar to the way you are required, by law in some states (all?), to carry auto insurance. That should have done away with the need for uninisured motorist insurance, but the insurance companies still peddle that. Keith

Terrorists attack a luxury hotel in Pakistan and kill and wound dozens of people. Apparently they didn't listen to Obama's speech. Or maybe they did. This is a major terrorist attack at a luxury hotel that is often filled with western foreigners and diplomats and we hear barely anything from most of the media outlets. Most refer to a "bomb" or a "blast" killing people, like some inanimate object materialized out of no where and detonated. This was a cowardly terrorist attack, but I guess we're not allowed to acknowledge that any more. Keith

They are just taking a well-worn page out of the environmentalist's play book. If temperatures go up, it's obviously proof of global warming....oh why, why didn't anyone listen to us? We told you this would happen. If temperatures go down, it's either once again proof of global warming (which is strangely odd, but it is the cause of just about everything these days) or it is because the actions the environmentalists have been pushing for are finally working. Thank goodness we took the necessary and decisive steps when we did. If we didn't the world would be a hotter (or colder) place. Phew, that was close! See, all bases covered. It's impossible to be wrong. Actually, we should all just check back in about 10,000 years and see what's up. Keith

Well, it's a good thing we got that stimulus package through when we did. As Pelosi said, if we had not acted right then and there that 500,000,000 Americans were going to lose their jobs - really, 500,000,000 that's what she said! I mean, she's the Speaker of the House, third in line for succession. She wouldn't lie or exaggerate. I shudder to think of what would have happened if our leadership had failed to act when they did. Keith

That speech where he channeled his inner Muslim, where he referenced the "Holy Koran" and what it teaches us numerous times, where he misquoted a verse that is generally used as a justification for Jihad and to fight unbelievers - verse 9:119 (coincidence? perhaps, but kinda spooky anyway), where he laments the fact that time does not permit him to personally solve all the worlds problems ("nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point" - Obama thinks a lot of himself - if he just had the time he could answer all of them.), where he refused to call murders terrorists (they are just mis-guided extremists really), where he routinely condemned the killing of "innocent" men, women and children when it's been made pretty clear that in a terrorists, oops I mean extremists, viewpoint unbelievers are NOT innocent (personally, I found it kind of strange that he felt it necessary to qualify these references with the word innocent). Is that the speech we're talking about here? What a piece of work. Keith

Anyone recall where "saved jobs" are reported in any labor statistics? Hmmm...maybe Obama needs to create a Saved Jobs Counter Czar so we can all be comfortable about the numbers our president is throwing around. Just a thought. Keith

Oh my....Interesting set of qualifications. In order to be eligible, each participant must be considered economically disadvantaged based on federal guidelines. In addition to being out of school, they can meet one of several factors to qualify, including teen parenting or pregnancy, a disability that would hinder them from finding work elsewhere, a skill set below the eighth-grade level, or any record with the law. Keith

National Geographic is in the business of selling its periodical. What sells these days? "Researchers" are given millions of dollars in government grants to build a case for, oops I mean study, global warming (wait it's now called climate change since there wasn't any evidence to support global warming). Do you think they are really going to kill the golden goose. This is their only source of income. We're all being swindled with this Inconvenient Goof. Keith

I think we found them right here in the good 'ol U. S. of A. Keith

Global warming, climate change, whatever you want to call it isn't science. It is a political movement and a business. The earth is in a constant state of change. It always has been and always will be until our rather run of the mill star becomes a red giant and fries mother earth to a crisp before engulfing it. Keith

You say that like it's a bad thing. What's wrong with personal responsibility and self reliance? Keith

So, basically you're saying that Obama is just continuing the policies of former President Bush. Where's the "change" everyone voted for? ;-) Keith

Man, I didn't see this coming.... "President Obama has concluded that he must exert greater control over the health care debate." The prez says that the *cost* of health care is a drag on the economy. It might be, but that is the basis for his argument that only a nationalized, universal health care system can fix this. If he and the congress are really interested in reducing the cost of health care then they need to address one of the biggest cost components and aggressively go after tort reform. These days paranoid doctors are forced into ordering 50 tests when one will do. They have to carry huge malpractice insurance policies that each and every patient pays for. The problem is tort is good for lawyers. What's congress? A bunch of lawyers looking out for their own. Keith

Hehehehe....I bet if you subtract us from the Sun Belt and add us to the WAC, the conferences would probably swap places in the rankings. Keith

Then who is it that determines what is put on the ballot and how it is worded? Perhaps things are getting lost as it's translated into 44 different languages. The threats and ultimatums from politicians about what's going to get cut if you don't accept their way never changes. There was just a local vote up in my town with a single issue: Do you approve a city budget of $xxx,xxx,xxx.xx as proposed by the first selectman and finance committee....... yes or no That was it. Prior to the vote the city council made it well known that if the budget was not approved that the first thing that would be cut would be education. They would not even consider anything else, they were just going to start slashing the school budget. Who doesn't support education? That's usually the top of everyone's priority list and they don't want to see that cut (as if there wasn't anything else). The PTA and concerned citizens jumped on board and made the vote a referendum on education instead of an across the board tax hike. Yep you guessed it, the budget (tax increase) passed. Keith

Diversity's a bitch, isn't it? Keith

Such vehement reactions? This must have touched a nerve or something. I found this to be a rather clever post harking back to the early slogan of the Iraq war in an effort to describe what's going on in our country today. Well done meangreenbob. Keith

Sorry CMJ, I didn't mean to lump you in with my general comments about the govenment nor did I intend to imply any assumptions about you. It was just convenient for me to snip your post since it included the euphemistic word I wanted to comment on. We've all heard "taxes" (basically something the government takes from us by force) referred to as "revenue" (the income earned through some service or product or property) that none of us hardly think twice about it. In my opinion when the general population hears the government say, "we need to find creative ways to increase revenue" instead of "we need to find creative ways to raise your taxes" they have a completely different reaction when it is the exact same thing. Keith

I've always had a problem with the government referring to taxes as revenue, like it was something they earned. Revenue has such a nice connotation to it. Government needs to look for radical and daring ways to cut expenses and roll back its continuing encroachment into all facets of our lives. Keith

If something needs oversight and personally I don't think how private companies (well they used to be private, but der Fuhrer, I mean Obama has nationalized them) pay their employees is one of them.....but if oversight is needed, we have this thing called Congress. You know with elected officials accountable to the American people. Keith

This has gotten completely out of control. We basically have a government within a government that is accountable to no one except our dear leader. Keith

I thought this was wickedly cool. http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/1435441...project_e3.html Keith

It's all a power and control thing with Obama. He figured out that he wouldn't be able to stop Iran and if he tried he would fail and look silly. So what did he do here? He gave them permission. Obama still in control all nice and wrapped up...problem solved. Keith