in this administration..the buck doesn't stop anywhere....noboby is EVER responsible for ANYTHING...
Posted by dennis at February 15, 2005 01:37 AMFor all of you guys yesterday calling me an idiot for saying islamic is not a peaceful, tolerant religion, here is a quote directly from the koran:
Let those fight in the cause of Allah Who sell the life of this world for the hereafter. To him who fighteth in the cause of Allah,- whether he is slain or gets victory - Soon shall We give him a reward of great (value). And why should ye not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated (and oppressed)?- Men, women, and children, whose cry is: "Our Lord! Rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from thee one who will protect; and raise for us from thee one who will help!" Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who reject Faith Fight in the cause of Evil: So fight ye against the friends of Satan: feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan. (4:74-76).
Want another? Here goes:
Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): "I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instil terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them." (8:12)
Still not conviced? Here's another:
Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks; At length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them): thereafter (is the time for) either generosity or ransom: Until the war lays down its burdens. Thus (are ye commanded): but if it had been Allah's Will, He could certainly have exacted retribution from them (Himself); but (He lets you fight) in order to test you, some with others. But those who are slain in the Way of Allah,- He will never let their deeds be lost. (47:4)
There are literally hundreds of examples akin to these, throughout the koran. This is what muslims, moderate or not, have forced down there throats 5 times everyday by imams calling them to prayer, and god-fearing parents demanding the same devout commitment from their children. Yes I'm aware the bible has bloody pages, but christians do not accept the bible as the words from god himself.... muslims do.... they believe that every word in the koran are divine instructions from Allah himself, and therefore must obey it to the letter, the moderate muslims are moderate in spite of islam not because of it, and are breaking sharia law .
Anyone who still calls me an "idiot" or any of the other inventive insults you so often think up, either (A) Can't read. (B) Believes the koran was fabricated by the CIA, that the whole world one big conspiracy and possibly also thinks that some pervy section of the government are planting fibre-optic cameras in womens underwear the world over to provide late night "entertainment" (C) Really does accept what I say but feels the need to deny the horrible truth of the matter such is the horror thereof.... or .... (D)Is a complete gibbering lunatic, with feeble knowledge of the world, and nicht substance to their laughable arguments.
Which one are you?
BTW-
Please don't insult yourself by denying the meaning of these passages, it really comes across as a bit pathetic. As lefties you're supposed to be critical of religion, so start critisizing the biggest monster of them all huh?
My freind e-mailed this a few weeks ago. It highlights some of the things wrong with islam and they way the west can fight extremism without resorting to Bush's ridiculous and expensive war. Since islam is mentioned here a lot and seems to be the centre of a number of disagreements I think you should all listen to this:
Here are some points worth considering for the Bush administration before they decide bomb a country, in their "war on terror" :
1) Giving up, is both completely unnecessary and a ridiculous idea. More Infidels have learned more about Islam in the last year or two -- after they had to brush aside the "why do they hate us" school than one could have believed possible. It was foolish of Bin Laden to strike; Al Qaeda should have just waited another ten or twenty years, until the migration into Europe, outbreeding of Infidels by Muslims already in Europe, could no longer be stopped. Since the Qur'an, Hadith, and Sira are readily available, and since the propagandizing authorities of MESA Nostra and other groups can easily be exposed and mocked, if not removed from their well-funded positions (sometimes funded by the Arabs, and sometimes, by foolish universities, whose presidents have so far failed to recognize that it is their new responsibility to study Islam, without recourse to apologists, and to ensure that not propaganda but scholarship and uninhibited discussion of what Islam is all about is permitted, including of course the historical study of Islam that is neither more nor less uninhibited than the study of Christianity or of any other religion), education of Infidels should have the highest priority.
2) "Fighting bloody battles" is hardly necessary either. Simply depriving the Muslim world of certain kinds of weaponry, and working relentlessly to diminish the "wealth" weapon of Muslims -- which will be accomplished, in any case, as a necessary by-product of measures that must be undertaken for quite different, i.e., environmental reasons. Save the Earth, Weaken the Jihad fits nicely on a bumpersticker, if you like that sort of automobilistic declaration.
A little more thought could go into demoralizing the enemy, simply by pointing out home truths. Without the accident of oil, the Muslim states would have almost nothing. Use their own data, or the data of the "Arab intellectuals" who keep writing these U.N. reports, where despite every damning bit of data, they still manage to blame the Arab-Israeli dispute, and fail completely to mention Islam.
But Islam, and its worship of Muhammad, accounts for the natural antipathy of Muslims for "democracy." The primitive mere head-counting version in Iraq, in turn leading to a new jefe or generalisssimo, Muslim-style, is not something to crow about. Islam naturally favors despotism, for at its core is a figure, a role-model, al-insan al-kamil, who was a despot, an absolute leader who arrogated to himself a largepart of the booty seized from conquered non-Muslims, who ordered political assassinations, and who was not a great fan of Jefferson, or Mill, or Bagehot. And he remains the model for all mankind, for all time.
Islam is an economic failure. The Muslim state relied primarily on tribute: the jizyah from non-Muslims within the state, and what could be seized in raiding parties against non-Muslims outside the state, including vast numbers of Infidels, both European and African, seized and enslaved.
Islam is an intellectual failure. It probably began a century after the received version: let's say in the eighth century. For 200-300 years it had a brief run, the so-called "Golden Age." But that "Golden Age" depended in large part on Muslim near-heretics (as Ar-Razi), and on the still existing Christians and Jews who performed such important work as translators and as, still, independent scholars. Though their work has been enrolled in the Muslim narrative, it would be truer to suggest that once the non-Muslim populations were sufficiently reduced in size, through the slow asphyxiation of dhimmitude, and once the "gates of ijtihad" were slammed shut, and once the parasitical existence of Islamic culture on prior, non-Islamic civlizations ceased to be possible -- and that would include the Persian poetry (Firdowsi, Hafiz, Sa'adi, Khayyam) that exists, like the Mughal miniatures, that in its content exists despite and not because of Islam. Sculpture, painting, music, and real science are not possible for those who fully accept the Islamic view. Only those who dissent, in practice if not theory, can therefore, in Islam, fully participate in artistic expression (other than calligraphy or architecture) or in scientific work (as opposed to mere weapons technology, about which all Muslim states and leaders wax rhapsodic).
Islam is a moral failure. In its reduction of the world to Believers and Infidels, it exhibits precisely that kind of division that one recognizes from the True Believers of Nazism and Communism. It purports to regulate every area, virtually every detail, of life -- and is thus an enemy of freedom and autonomy.
The best strategy does not require the spending of $300 billion in Iraq. It requires only that Muslims be kept from acquiring major weaponry, that their numbers in the West be kept at present levels, or in fact diminished as much as possible (there is no need to make Infidel countries bend to the will of Muslims; rather, it is they who should understand that they will have to modify their beliefs, and practices, and that if they cannot, in order to fit in , they should be encouraged to move to any of 56 Muslim countries currently in the O.I.C. -- there is no divine right to move and settle anywhere, especially ammong those whom one's deepest faith teaches one to despise and to exhibit hostility and contempt, even in such matters as everyday greetings)battles.
The only way the Muslim countries could achieve the power and menace that they now possess is through several accidents. One was the accident of Western tolerance and Western ignorance of Islam, that permitted the large-scale migration of Muslims to Western Euroope and North America, and the free conduct of Da'wa in prisons, schools, and elsewhere. The second, which took place at roughly the same time that the Muslim migration was taking off, was that of OPEC oil money. Muslim countries produce almost nothing. Tunisian dates in Monoprix, Tunisian and Moroccan olive oil for those down-market brands (or cleverly mixed in with oil billed as "Italian" or "Spanish" or "Greek" olive oil), rugs (but note that even here, the poverty of the Arabs. Muslim countries also supply those magic carpets -- Persian rugs, Berber rugs, Kurdish rugs, Baluchi rugs, Turkish rugs, Afghani rugs, Bakhtiari rugs, Caucasian rugs, Armenian rugs, but no Arab rugs to speak of -- an observation that needs to be pondered. But aside from Egyptian cotton, and those seven sands, each a different colored, imprisoned within a glass box with seven partitions, that is the best souvenir from the seven-membered U.A.E. Egyptian cotton. Olive-wood souvenirs in Jordan or from local Arabs in Israel. And that's it, and that would continue to be it, without the oil and gas deposits.
Soviet Communism came to an end because there was a mechanism for failure. When Communism failed to deliver, it took a while -- but ultimately enough Communists (e.g., Alexander Yakovlev) themselves discovered that it had been a political, economic, intellectual, and moral failure. It will be much harder to do that with Islam.
But it is better to do something rather than nothing. Not everyone born into Islam remains permanently unaware that something is wrong with Islam, even if they cannot admit it publicly, or even to themselves when filial piety, or other loyalties (if Islam has been so awful, then what happens to the self-esteem of those, that is the Arabs, is apparently so wrapped up in Islam? It may be easier for non-Arab Muslims to move away from, or even jettison altogether, the faith -- Kurds, Berbers, East Indians, Pakistanis who become Christians, for example, do not continue to parrot the Muslim line as do so many Arab Christians, a difference worth noting. Encourage them. Encourage the Iranians not to be satisfied with the "Islam-is-not-to-blame" casuistry of Shirin Ebadi, and other putative "brave reformers" who remain apologists for Islam, an Islam milder than that of Khomeini, but still Islam.
Threats and force and battles are not as important as not doing anthing to inadvertently prop up Muslim peoples and polities. Let them feel their own political and economic desarroi. Let them come to realize, or at least let the connection be made, for example, between the emphasis on the collective and on Islam as a Total Explanation of the Universe, in inhibiting free and skeptical inquiry. Let the connection between economic failure and inshallah-fatalism (which is precisely what American soldiers in Iraq, furious over the "wake-me-when-it's-over" attitude of the Iraqis, prepared to pocket American aid and American money, but so hesitant to pitch in themselves, and so indifferent to, or even ungrateful for, everything that those soldiers have done and are doing) be made clear, first to Infidels, and then possibly to Muslims. Let them understand that the failures of Muslim states are directly related to Islam. It is not something they want to hear.
Too bad. It happens to be true.
Whether you're left or right, give this man a clap.
Posted by Jolly at February 15, 2005 03:25 AMI think we should be talking about how houses are overpriced and there may be a crash in the housing market (which, btw, will completely make Bush's presidency a big economic failure).
Posted by Abigail at February 15, 2005 03:56 AMI'm baaaaccckk from the dead. Spent two weeks on travel in my new job, spent it in MARYLAND, a blue state. With a Repubethug Governor. The motel TV drove me crackers. You'd never know that Bush is an asshole and a failure and a criminal from the news I had to watch. My motel radio didn't pick up progressive stations. However, bless 'em, the cable company the motel had didn't have Fox News at all. Only a local Fox station.
The town I was in, had no Spanish people anywhere. I was working in a venue where the populations merge to shop. Not too many blacks either. Or Asians. Lots of fat old white retirees stingy with their money. Anybody who wants to fall off the planet--visit this town, which is up around B'mer, MD. I'm glad to be back here where everybody parties hard and works at decent paying jobs and happily accepts everybody as they are. Even though this state is Red.
Love to all Left Coasters everywhere and I hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day. Congrats to Howard Dean and his new office at DNC. My next gig is closer to home and I'll be able to keep in touch. Yeah, my new job is political.
Posted by Mal Feasance at February 15, 2005 05:40 AMAnyone who still calls me an "idiot" or any of the other inventive insults you so often think up, either (A) Can't read.
I must be (A), dumbshit. Okay, so you cut and paste some stuff from a fascist website. All you've done is prove you are a narrow white cracker dumbshit. It's not so much that you're a moron, it's that you are so exquisitely unable to place anything within a context. You make a wonderful Brown Shirt. You go along with no thought between your ears whatsoever.
For your information, since it's obvious you've never opened one, the bible has much in it along the same lines. All sorts of shit related to smiting and the like:
O that Thou wouldst slay the wicked, O God; depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against Thee wickedly, and Thine enemies take Thy name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate Thee, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against Thee? I hate them with the utmost hatred; they have become my enemies (Ps. 139:19-22).
Therefore, give their children over to famine, and deliver them up to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless and widowed. Let their men also be smitten to death, their young men struck down by the sword in battle. May an outcry be heard from their houses, when Thou suddenly bringest raiders upon them; for they have dug a pit to capture me and hidden snares for my feet. Yet Thou, O Lord, knowest all their deadly designs against me; do not forgive their iniquity or blot out their sin from Thy sight. But may they be overthrown before Thee; deal with them in the time of Thine anger! (Jer. 18:19-23; cf. also 11:18ff.; 15:15ff.; 20:11ff.)
And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, -“How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth? (Rev. 6:9-10).
Hurry up. Insult yourself by denying the meaning of these passages.
Whether you're left or right, give this man a clap.
This man is a racist fuckhead and deserves to be "clapped" in irons. What kind of fascist are you? Do you dislike Jews and Nigras also? If you had ever read a book you might realize "Muslims" saved the science, art, and learning that the Christians burned (along with a few witches) during the dark ages. What you are seeing now in the rise of militant Islam is a result of maltreatment and being ignored by the west. It's a relatively new phenomena, brought about by people like you.
Posted by phdipides at February 15, 2005 06:29 AMFrom the Book of Bob
Oh God said to Abraham, kill me a son
Abe said man you must be puttin me on
God said no, Abe said what
God said you can do what you want Abe but
Next time you see me coming you better run
Well, Abe said where you want this killin done
God said out on highway 61
Quick Comments:
1) To KA on the violent Islam quotes. Please read the old Testament (or Torah). Please note although smiting and wiping out. Not pleasant reading if you were, say, a Caananite?
And yes, many Christians have used these parts of the Bible to justify some pretty abhorent behavior. Please read about the Spanish conquest of the Americas and the Crusades.
Both religions have the seeds of both violence and love in their writings. Let's pray that we all emphasize the latter.
2) Security checks. Ron Kerik and now gannon? Fits into the gross incomptence theory pretty well, eh?
Posted by Samuel Knight at February 15, 2005 06:46 AMGee I guess the Bible is a book of hate too;
“When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you. And when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. (Deutronomy 7:1-2)
“When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace. If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you. However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. When the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword. Only the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you… Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes (Deutronomy 20:10-17)
Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately. But all the girls who have not known man intimately, sparefor yourselves. (Numbers 31:17-18)
“I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence. (Luke 19:26-27)
What a fucking mental midget you are K.A. Only a complete moron believes that he can understand a religion practiced for millenia by cutting and pasting a few out of context quotes written ages ago.
How does it feel to be filled with such hate towards people you do not know? You should be able to sympathize quite nicely with the terrorists who do the same thing.
K.A. says: "... but christians do not accept the bible as the words from god himself."
uhhhhh, KA, I hate to break it to you dude, but actually, yes, this is what most Christians, especially the fundie types do believe...so,I think your argument is more than just a little lame.
Posted by John B. at February 15, 2005 06:53 AMYes I'm aware the bible has bloody pages, but christians do not accept the bible as the words from god himself.... muslims do.... they believe that every word in the koran are divine instructions from Allah himself, and therefore must obey it to the letter, the moderate muslims are moderate in spite of islam not because of it, and are breaking sharia law
You don't hang out with many Christians do you K.A.? Go ask George Bush if scripture is the word of God.
Moron.
Posted by at February 15, 2005 06:58 AMI'm starting to think K.A. is Ricardo.
Haven't heard anyone pushing the Islam is evil line quite so forcefully as him until K.A. showed up.
Posted by at February 15, 2005 07:01 AMwhomever K.A.troll is, it is an unwelcome addition IMO. Back to real world things: it's becoming clear that the vote manipulation performed in the New Iraq was, as we all expected,a means to keep the majority out of power. That is Democracy, Bush-style. Rumor has it that the US is positioning it's puppet Allawi (he of the 13% vote) to somehow weasel his way into the govenment and be in charge of "security". This would put him in a position to request the permanent basing of US troops in Iraq as well as give US cover in securing the pipe lines. Another bonus would be using him as an inside informant on Iraq/Iran goings on. Mark it, Bush will have his boy high in the Iraq government, vote or no vote. I mean, when has lack of votes stopped George.
Posted by T2 at February 15, 2005 07:13 AMKY, please get back on your meds. and no more coffee!
Posted by benjoya at February 15, 2005 07:18 AMAgain, the trolls successfully divert attention from this corrupt administration to a harmless (for them) food fight. They must really be concerned about this Gannon/Guckert affair.
Posted by disgusted vet at February 15, 2005 07:31 AMMal,
We spent a lot of time on the road last spring and summer and I commented afterwards that it was no wonder people don't know the truth about Bush. If Fox News and local channels are your only source of information, you would assume Bush is god. Unfortunately, lots of small hotels only seem to offer Fox as a cable news source, and many don't have C-SPAN.
My advice is to get yourself a MiFi satellite radio for travel. It works in rental cars and hotels (assuming you face the right direction for the signal). The cost is steep right now, but should come down soon.
Posted by Susan S at February 15, 2005 07:40 AMI think we should be talking about how houses are overpriced and there may be a crash in the housing market ...
Lots of folks have been predicting a real estate crash for the last 3-4 years. Housing has always seemed overpriced. And generally, houses basically just appreciate about the same rate as inflation. Stocks have been a much better long term investment. That being said, the real estate market is always a regional thing. Lots of people want to live in Southern California. Lots of demand for housing there.
In order for housing prices to fall, there needs to be some catalyst that increases supply and reduces demand. Those who are forced to sell, would lower prices to get out. But I don't think the hot real estate markets have yet to see any significant rise in house inventory. That'd be the first sign that something is wrong. More homes on the market that take longer and longer to sell, and sellers cutting prices to get out.
I think a personal residence is a place to live, not an investment.
Just my take.
Posted by muckdog at February 15, 2005 08:19 AMI'm tracking how HUD has come out saying that regulations are the problem housing costs are so high.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/14/news/economy/housing.reut/index.htm
Looks like the 1600 Crew are now targeting to destroy regulations and safeguards for people.
I think a personal residence is a place to live, not an investment.
muckdog has spoken!
But muck. Weren't you just spouting off about 70% homeownership the other day? And how that was such a great indication of how great our economy was? Has that been discarded now like the one week infatuation for everything that spewed from the mouth of Larry Kudlow?
Posted by at February 15, 2005 08:34 AMIt took me a year to sell my old house, while I had already bought my new one - a year of double house payments, double property taxes, and double house insurance. In the end I had to sell for less than what I was told was market value for the property.
The property taxes on the house I kept went up from $2600 per year to $4200 per year. On a $175K house... it seems that the city doesn't get as much federal money now, and they have to raise local property taxes (among other things) as a result. for some strange reason this is causing the houses up for sale in my new locale to be on the market for over six months now, and to have about $10K in reductions on their sale prices and still no takers.
Yeah, that housing market's just peachy right now - it must the fault of all those liberals in charge of things these days...
Posted by (: Tom :) at February 15, 2005 09:02 AMThe national real estate bubble debate is a pretty interesting one right now. Here is an interesting article arguing that there is a bubble. The print version had some good charts so pick up a copy of Money in the grocercy store if you're interested in seeing them. Personally, I can see both sides of the arguement and I don't have a strong feeling about it. It seems like mortgage lenders have been extremely agressive lately in offering mortgages to subprime candidates and they have a lot of new packages such as interest only, etc... that has opened the doors to a lot more people. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
I think a personal residence is a place to live, not an investment.
But muck. Weren't you just spouting off about 70% homeownership the other day? And how that was such a great indication of how great our economy was?
I don't see the contradiction. Maybe it's a misunderstanding of the use of the word investment. Buying a home is definitely a better financial decision than renting a home, but it is not a good long term investment (like the article I linked illustrates). Think of it this way, buying a car is not a good investment as it's value will go down, but it is a much better financial decision than taking a taxi to work everyday. The key is in the incremental money. It's not a wise financial investment to buy a new BMW instead of a used Honda. Likewise, homes are probably not a good place to park equity long term that could be used in other investments. The trend in the last 10 yrs have refuted this principal however. I guess that's why a lot of people think there's a national bubble...
Financing complicates the simple illustration I threw out there. Also, I am making the case for buying a typical home in a developed area. You can buy real estate from a speculative point of view with decent results. There is hardly a better investment than buying land in the path of easily predictable long term urban/suburban growth.
Just my 2 cents
Well, I think the fact that over 70% of folks own homes are a sign of how strong the economy is. Lots of demand is what is driving up prices.
I think in some places, environmental regulations and restrictions, county fees for schools and infrastructure, etc., do contribute to rising prices. Almost creating artificial inflation in the price of homes. But those things have to get done, and socking it to homebuyers seems like the accepted way of doing it.
Lots of folks out there calling for the demise of the real estate market. Maybe if there is a surge in unemployment, drops in wages, or significant increases in interest rates. But right now, unemployment is low, wages continue to rise, and interest rates are very low.
Posted by muckdog at February 15, 2005 10:40 AMBut right now, unemployment is low, wages continue to rise, and interest rates are very low.
Um,... no, no, and no. Unemployment seems low because discouraged workers are not included in the figures.
Wages are going up for the elite. The other 80% have shown stagnation and some declines in their wages.
And interest rates have been rising steadiily for over a year now. They are no longer in the very low range.
On a personal note, I haven't gotten a raise for three years now. I'm waiting to hear about the fourth year in a row with no salary increase, as are the rest of the employees in my company. Except the executroids of course...
I have far more people in my personal circle who have been unemployed or underemployed than who have gotten better jobs, or kept a good job, over the last four years.
And I got a mortgage at a pretty low rate (5%) at the end of 2003. Haven't been able to come close to getting the same rate for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage since.
Any more Repulbic disinformation you want to try and spread around here?
Posted by (: Tom :) at February 15, 2005 10:54 AMTom,
Interest rates are in the very low range. 5% 30 yr mortgage is in the crazy low range. You got spoiled. I buy the unemployment figures, but I agree that wage growth has been a little tepid. Maybe you should change jobs. I know if I didn't get a raise in 3 or 4 years I would... Maybe Texas is just a lot better off than where you're at.
Muck,
We've had all of those factors have coexisted before without home prices skyrocketing. I don't know if there will be a real estate crash or not, but at the least what has happened is very unusual.
I received an E-mail the other day and it brought me back to 9/11.
The video is about “What hit the pentagon on 9/11” It is that most of us has saw in pictures since that fatal day but what is new for me is the article “Comments on Pentagon strike, available in both English and French” That is very interesting. It was well research with details as well as lots of questions still left unanswered.
http://www.pentagonstrike.co.uk/
On the other topic, is king george big cuts! He is reducing the federal budget by dumping it on each States to implement there own social problems. Guess what will happen. The States will have to raise taxes because they cannot carry deficit, and the monkey can keep his tax cuts for the rich and claim he is fiscal responsible by reducing the deficit. No matter how you look at it, we are the looser again.
Well, in my first comment I mentioned that home prices usually creep along at the rate of inflation. So at some point, I suppose we regress to the mean.
Jobs are good. Wages are good. Interest rates are low.
But we've been in a bull market for a few years now. At some point that'll end, and we'll see what happens if we get a combination of higher unemployment and higher interest rates. Even so, homes aren't like stocks. It's not easy just to click-click sell them. Most folks would sit on their home as long as they could before they sold.
Posted by muckdog at February 15, 2005 01:09 PMA Corrupted Election
Despite what you may have heard, the exit polls were right
LOL, now John Kerry is voting FOR the President's $82 billion Iraq spending.
Posted by muckdog at February 15, 2005 02:43 PMmuck,
He already made his point.
It was rejected. He's moved on.
That's how our system is supposed to work. Everyone airs their ideas. Some are excepted. Some are not. Then everyone moves on.
Why must everything be reduced to a cheap character assault?
Posted by muckcat at February 15, 2005 05:17 PMMy my, you people really are pathetic.
I actually pulled those verses out of a koran printout dork-face.
To those who countered with the bible, err , I already took the liberty of drowning out that kind of junk, but you went ahead and cashed in on the dorkish cliche anyhow.
Christians are not on a global domination movement, trust me I'm no fan of christians either,(although I'm sure there are those of you who think thats what Bush's war on terror is.... but when you put things in perspective.... the attacked america, mand something needed to be done about it, so maybe those of you so supportive of the poor mistreated islamic fundies could be equally understanding to your so-called christian envangalists) to me anyone whose life revolves around any kind of ideology is seriously demented....ahem ..... which brings me to communism/leftism (less said about that the better huh guys?)
Waste of time, space and oxygen the lot of you!
PS- is anyone with opposing views a troll?You just don't like to have a debate do you, or is it that you don't know how to (without sinking to insults). You'd rather all sit around agreeing with each others extremist views all day long.... how stomach churningly sad!!
Posted by K.A at February 16, 2005 03:14 AMMy my, you people really are pathetic....dork-face...Waste of time, space and oxygen the lot of you!...
Yet you say others sink to insults, that's the pot calling the kettle black
Posted by Sharon at February 16, 2005 05:51 AMTom,
Interest rates are in the very low range. 5% 30 yr mortgage is in the crazy low range. You got spoiled. I buy the unemployment figures, but I agree that wage growth has been a little tepid. Maybe you should change jobs. I know if I didn't get a raise in 3 or 4 years I would... Maybe Texas is just a lot better off than where you're at.
Posted by Tex at February 15, 2005 11:09 AM
Yeah, Texas must be better - religious bigotry, locking people up for life for smoking a joint (or talking the wrong way to the police), crappy schools, pollution up the ying-yang, and Gub-Ner Goodhair. Just the sort of paradise I'm looking to find...
I've been actively searching for a job since the first year I (and everyone else - it's been company policy for all this time) didn't get a raise. The economy is so good the best I could find was a job with a 50% increase in required hours for their salaried position at two-thirds of my current salary.
Then again I don't seem to have been born of privileged aristocrats, so I suppose I should be grateful to have any sort of job at all...
My my, you people really are pathetic.
I actually pulled those verses out of a koran printout dork-face.
Did you find it over at Free Republic, or Little Green Footballs?
To those who countered with the bible, err , I already took the liberty of drowning out that kind of junk, but you went ahead and cashed in on the dorkish cliche anyhow.
And your viewpoint is so awesomely excellent that your drowning out was regarded in the high esteem that it deserved.
Christians are not on a global domination movement,
(coughcoughProjectForANewAmericanCenturycoughcough) (coughcoughFaithBasedGovernmentFundingcoughcough)
trust me
with your mighty grasp of reasoning and logic I'm sure you think that anyone who doesn't trust you must have some sort of mental deficiency, right?
I'm no fan of christians either,(although I'm sure there are those of you who think thats what Bush's war on terror is.... but when you put things in perspective.... the attacked america, mand something needed to be done about it,
over 100,000 dead Iraqis (the vast majority of which who were not terrorists) vs. (let's be generous) 4,000 dead (not all Americans either) at the WTC. Yup, that's the Christian sense of proportion for ya right there...
so maybe those of you so supportive of the poor mistreated islamic fundies could be equally understanding to your so-called christian envangalists)
I would love to espouse the same amount of tolerance that Falwell, Robertson, and Robert Jones University shows to those they don't agree with. But I have one of those things - a conscience - and it prevents me from being bigoted against those who don't worship the same Invisible Cloud Being that I do.
to me anyone whose life revolves around any kind of ideology is seriously demented....ahem ..... which brings me to communism/leftism (less said about that the better huh guys?)
And all of those on the left want America to turn into a communist state. They want to dissect baby kittens, too, and lock up everyone who disagrees with their commie pinko fag junkie agenda. Oh, wait...
Waste of time, space and oxygen the lot of you!
Right back at ya, K.A. There must be no mirrors under that bridge you currently live under...
PS- is anyone with opposing views a troll?
Nope. Just ignorant MBFs who spew insults with no rational agrument. Where's that bridge you're hiding under again?
You just don't like to have a debate do you, or is it that you don't know how to (without sinking to insults). You'd rather all sit around agreeing with each others extremist views all day long.... how stomach churningly sad!!
Posted by K.A at February 16, 2005 03:14 AM
As opposed to agreeing with your extremist views? Or your awesome debating technique, with its' complete lack of deragatory comments, and its' factual unbiased arguments? Get some Pepto-Bismol for that tummy. Or maybe try and put forth some rational debate instead of regurgitating Republic talking points.
For the record, I don't agree with using any occult pagan superstitions, er, religions, as a rationale for oppressing others. I also don't think it's very fair to blame 1.5 billion people for the actions of 19 of their more radical fellow worshippers. Which is why I don't blame all Christians for Falwell's bigotry. But I do see a lot of smiting and vengeance and intolerance in most religions, Christianity and Islam being close to the top of that very long list.
Posted by (: Tom :) at February 16, 2005 05:59 AMYeah, Texas must be better - religious bigotry, locking people up for life for smoking a joint (or talking the wrong way to the police), crappy schools, pollution up the ying-yang, and Gub-Ner Goodhair. Just the sort of paradise I'm looking to find...
Settle down Tom. I was talking from an economic perspective. i.e. Why all the people I know have been able to find good jobs lately and why I've gotten decent raises the couple of years I've been out of school. Anyway, it sounds like your woe is me, blame it on the man attitude would get in the way of your sucess wherever you live. By the way, I love it here. All of your claims are drastic exagerations and I'm sure you know it..
Posted by Tex at February 16, 2005 08:21 AMBy the way, I love it here. All of your claims are drastic exagerations and I'm sure you know it..
That statement applies equally to all those who are mortally affraid of gays and anyone unlike themselves.
Posted by at February 16, 2005 08:31 AMThat claim also applies equally to many people very very different from the stereotypical Texan you're trying to portray.
By the way i saw this article and thought it was interesting in light of the housing market discussion earlier in this thread.
Posted by Tex at February 16, 2005 09:44 AMWhere did I say anything along the lines of woe is me? I think I've been trying to say that I got it pretty good, and I am well aware of the fact, and I appreciate that I have it pretty good. I think I might have been saying something along the lines of I have it pretty good - and it's still pretty crappy compared to the before time when we had a legally elected president. And the evidence I see and hear about from those around me tends to support my theory.
I also said that I have had a rather tough time finding another position that would provide me with the same benefits that I currently enjoy. I didn't say where those offers were from - in fact there were some jobs in Texas in the bunch.
I did work on a cruise ship which sailed out of Bayport, a suburb of Houston, in 1999. And I gotta tell you, I saw an awful lot of pollution being cranked out into the Gulf of Mexico during that time. I then started looking around the web for info on the area and found out about the Alcoa plant there and its' government-enabled screwing of the locals and its' refusal to clean up its' mess.
I assume you've heard about the whole crooked cop messing with a whole bunch of innocent people in Tulia? And how it almost got covered up by the authorities? what good is a decent job if you piss off the wrong people and don't get to enjoy the fruits of your labors? I tend to have a blame it on the man mentality somewhat because I have seen the man play around with people's lives just for the hell of it. Or because they say things that the man doesn't want you to say. I thought we were supposed to be able to do that here in America...
So settle down yourself. I'm reasonably certain that my conscience has limited my climb up the corporate ladder (since I have had others above me in the food chain tell me that's what held me back) more than any sort of woe is me attitude. And I lavish praise on anyone who uses their authority in a responsible manner that helps everyone under that authority (as opposed to only helping those at the top). I have found very few occasions to offer praise in my thirty years in the work force (before that I was working on the family farm essentially for my room and board, which I don't count as actual employment experience. A good opportunity to learn to appreciate how tough that sort of work is, and how much easier work is in the real world - but I had no option to quit and the boss didn't take very many excuses for goofing off on the job). Most everyone in the corporate world makes sure they get theirs and a little more, and to hell with everyone else. Especially the ones who have the hammer. Sorry if my experience makes me sound a little cynical about the whole process...
Posted by (: Tom :) at February 16, 2005 10:57 AM