EvilMonkey

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 04:01 PM) I would argue he is closer than not though, just because the way he has voted on policies since Bush has been President. I dunno, I just find it crazy that America would vote for a President that's; 1 - Same party as Bush 2 - Decent chance he won't finish a full 8 year term because of age 3 - Hence, Palin would be President and she has what 2 years experience as a Governor in Alaska!? 4 - Vote for someone because of the "commander in chief" thinking, rather than the state of the economy, which I think is a more pressing issue. FYI, a full term is 4 years.

Just an FYI, no bumpers allowed. Sorry.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 03:50 PM) I bowl worse than Barack Obama. You don't want me on your team. Not on my team, we are full. But as long as you are consistent, average dopesn't matter too much. Wife bowls about 110, I bowl about 180. But as I said, there are about 6 people under 100, several between 100 and 120, and most everybody else a little above that.

We are trying to fill our league at Orland Bowl. It is a mixed league, every-other saturday night, starting this saturday. We need one team of 4 (2 guys, 2 gals) and one couple. The league had been around for a long time, Mrs. Alpha Dog & I have bowled on it for the last 15 years, and most of the people there are pretty good peeps. We had one team of younger people (man, makes me feel old to say that) who all had babies this summer, and want to take the year off, so we are short people. Not a terrible competitive league (averages range from 76 to 200, with the bulk between 120 and 170), but it is fun. Anyone?

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics...ended_by_i.html Not sure what to say about this?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 01:46 PM) On this particular topic, I agree. Both candidates are doing that, though. Yes.

QUOTE (Steff @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 02:17 PM) What would you call it? Restarting it? I mean if it's already going... keeping it going.. is... continuing it... no? Are we continuing the war in Germany?

QUOTE (Texsox @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 02:07 PM) Plus did I mention the massage chair? You mean this chair? http://www.random-good-stuff.com/2008/09/1...ing-hump-chair/

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 01:45 PM) ...and none this year. Maybe that's because he hasn't been doing his JOB all damn year? Showing up to cherry-pick which votes you take, and even then only taking ones that can't come back to bite you in the ass isn't representing Illinois, or doing his job.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 02:24 PM) You guys are cracking me up over this political speech. Every candidate does it, even Obama Christ himself. Remember when he kept saying that McCain wanted to wage war for another 100 years? What a liar he was! :rollseyes: No, he misspoke. BIG difference.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 10:32 AM) Oh...I just read the title of the thread. I do a lot of skimming here at work. Or just being creative in trying to catch Balta's post total.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 11:14 AM) Clearly no one from one party should ever investigate a person from the other party. Therefore, Ken Starr's tome about President Clinton never really existed. Well, Starr was appointed by a 3 judge panel, and the Democrat on that panel had no problems with Starr, at least at that time. Prior to that investigation, Starr was fairly well respected. The guy overseeing the troopergate ”investigation” and the man charged with keeping him honest are both proud Obama partisans, who appointed an Obama partisan to do the investigating. If they were simply Democrats and Palin wasn't running against their guy, right now, this wouldn't be such a big deal. That situation reeks of political overtones. Surely, to 'rise above it', wouldn't the Dems want to find someone a little less partisan?

QUOTE (Texsox @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 11:13 AM) 30,000 posts that is. Since he is too modest to point that out, Congrats to someone who adds so much to the site. Too bad there are only 2 months left before the election otherwise ahb would surely catch him.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 11:04 AM) Oh I'm not freaked out. Just pointing out what she REALLY is, opposed to her "McCain" definition. Are you kidding? If she was driving home and failed to come to a complete stop for 3 seconds you would be writing another 20 posts about how she has no respect for traffic laws.

Still no comments about of all the trooper gate players standing being Obama supporters? Folks, this is a VP candidate. If she is unqualified to be a VP, then Obama is unqualified to be President.

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 01:28 AM) AD, I really wasn't trying to be snarky, maybe my eyes failed me, but I couldn't find the link so I thought you'd forgotten. I must've missed it, they can be tricky sometimes. I know. I go away for a few hours, and there were 6 new pages to read. Easy to miss things. You should have read the first reply i typed before I took a few moments to calm down from this thread and reread what i was replying to.

Meet the trooper-gate investigators. And you all wonder why she wants something changed. http://www.healthcarebs.com/2008/09/09/tro...-investigators/

What's up with Joe in this clip? Is he angling for a way to drop off the ticket or something? Or just shameless pandering to the PUMAs? Or both?

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 10, 2008 -> 11:41 AM) what's the time frame on this alpha, because if it isn't a 18 month to 18 month comparison it is moot. I try to get out, and you drag me back in! If you would have read the story, it says it was her first year vs his last year. So apples to apples.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13319.html The most ethical congress ever! Wanna bet she holds off on naming a successor long enough so that Rangel's case doesn't come up until after the elections?

I dunno about pedicures, but when I was in physical therapy after breaking my foot several years back, they gave me a foot massage that was almost orgasmic.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Sep 9, 2008 -> 11:12 PM) I understand taking a per diem for actual travel. Makes absolute sense. I don't understand taking a per diem for staying at home. For meals or for lodging. It might be legal, but its still a legal scam. She's not walking her talk. Not even a little bit there. She got rid of the Governor's Chef. But its not like that person's job was actually eliminated, so just reassigned. So I guess she just repurposed, not cut back. Mileage gets paid back as mileage, not a per-diem I would imagine, so your defense of her seems a bit of a stretch. Especially since the state of Alaska Finance Director says the per diem is for lodging. If it was for mileage, when she amended her expense reports to remove the "home" part from lodging, wouldn't you think she would change it to actual mileage? I don't have a problem with these Senators collecting a paycheck while campaigning, because they still do work that they are elected by their constituents are supposed to do. Their offices don't close, they still work with other Senators and actually show up for votes on issues when necessary. Just like Palin will still do the work of being a Governor while she runs for Vice President and should be paid for that as well. However, I would most definitely have a problem with any of these candidates claiming staying at home as a reimbursable expense from the government. It's legal. But it's sleazy. If you talk about being frugal with the taxpayer's money because it's the right thing to do, and do exactly the opposite when it specifically benefits you, that's sleazy and hypocritical. Yes, she reduced the state's travel expenses by 75% by selling the state jet. But she ended up selling it at a $600,000 loss. So I guess maybe she didn't really save that much for the government after all. If this was all there was, this wouldn't really be worth talking much about. But it's indicative of the fact that Palin says one thing, but actually does another. She's against earmarks, but she hired a lobbyist to get her town earmarks when she was mayor. She's against the Bridge to Nowhere, but she only stopped the project after Congress killed it. And she still kept that money. To build a road to where that bridge isn't being built. She stood up against unethical politicians, except she ran a PAC for Ted Stevens, who is under indictment. She's against raising corporate taxes, but created a windfall tax on oil corporations in the state of Alaska. It seems like everything that she supports, she actually did the opposite of when she had the chance to put that in practice. Everyone loves Palin right now because she is fresh and new. But the brighter you shine when first lit, the sooner your flame starts to flicker and dim. Rex, maybe you didn't reasd the part about what the per diem was for. "a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business. " NOT rooms. Look at the expense sheet that is shown in th article. It lists for the day in question a funeral and Black commnity meeting. NOT for lodging. The home part was listed to explain why there was no seperate entry FOR lodging. So by staying at home, she saved the state money. Should she have paid for the gas to get there out of her own pocket? But go ahead, keep on believing what you want. Twist those facts in your head enough times and they will fit. As for the Chef and jet, the chef was both fired (from personal chef duties)and reassigned (to the house in general on call). However the job change resulted in a savings of over $40,000. But I guess that isn't good enough. The jet, while sold for less than it cost to buy, also saved the cost of the security guard/pilots for the plane (FAA required that both pilot & co-pilot be able to fly it) and the monthly maintenance and fuel costs which were upwards of $40,000. But again, it's all or nothing with you. Ah, Ted Stevens. To pull a line from Obama on O'Reilly, "She knows thousands of people". She WAS on his pac. Just like Obama WAS on Ayers board. He's the sitting Senator from her state, there is no way she can completyely ignore him and still do her job in the state. They weren't too friendly when she ran for govenor against Murkowski, who was a good friend of Stevens. Stevens ended up endorsing Palin, but with 3 weeks left in the race when it was clear she was going to win. Here, from my favorite source, palin criticizes Stevens about the scandal. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/200...29/1305615.aspx As for the oil taxes she passed, that was to get back much of what Murkowski gave away. They had been getting great deals under Murkowski, and the previous taxes were set with oil being around $50/barrel. Once it got over $100/barrel something was done to level the taxes back out. I'm done with this, at least on the travel crap. Have at it if it makes you feel good.

I also think that debates, unless very one sided, don't seem to have a huge impact. But occasionally you have race-changing events, like what Hillary had during her Senate run. When that one guy came across the stage towards her demanding that she sign a pledge, that sealed his fate, especially with women. I think the VP debates will provide more excitement, with people wondering which will happen first, Joe insult women or Sarah have a brain cramp.

Just a couple of thought about this per diem stuff, now that the foaming at the mouth stuff has calmed down. First, why is every thing an all or nothing here? Libs here b****ing because she dared take a per diem, etc. No mention of the fact that she spend WAY less than her predecessor? Just in travel alone, according to the story linked here, she spent $93,000 compared to $463,000 (!) by the old guy. That right there cut out alot. She was also entitled to take a per diem for her kids. As for the listing on some of the forms 'lodging - home', the form doesn't say that she is billing for lodging, but taking her per diem for meals, while staying at home. Each of those entrys listed whatever function she was doing/attending (the one in the Wapo article lists a funeral). Is it inconceivable that she could have stayed the night at her home, but yet driven to the funeral wherever it was? I suppose if you hate her, it is. You have to try and make a scandal where you can, I guess. if you want to argue that she shouldn't have attended certain events, well go ahead. The story doesn't list many of them, so we don't really know. It was cheaper for the state for her to bill her per diem to cover gas and food than to get a hotel somewhere and also eat out. Bottom line, this is still a job, not charity. Anyone have a problem with Obama (and John, and Joe) collecting a paycheck while campaigning? One part of the story I found kinda odd are these 2 paragraphs by the former governor: Must have beena very quiet scandal. Go to the Anchorage Daily News site (adn.com) and search for Tony Smith. No mention of any scandal at all, and barely any mention of Tony Smith. So, is this true or false? I can't find anything to back it up. Do you think the WaPo write tried to verify it at all? I dunno. I tried 'Tony Smith Scandal', 'Per Diem', 'expense', ' death' and 'retirement'. Nothing there. So my point is if you are going to go all ape-s*** over a Palin for being a cost cutter and only cutting costs by over 75% instead of 100%, then you will never be happy. b**** and moan that you want to see her in an interview or a debate. me too. But this is the same crap that the more liberal people here bemoan that the conservatives do to Obama. I can hear Balta's response now: "So the essence of this defense is that St. Sarah the Reformer is fine because she didn't steal as much as she could have, or her predecessor did". No. She cut travel expenses over 75%. She can't cut them 100%, and to expect her to is being disingenuous. This is a non-scandal, and it is taking away time from the things I am sure people would really like to kow about. And I did find my new excuse for not wanting to talk to people now, courtesy of former governor Murkowski. 'I can't talk right now, I'm hunting Moose.' (Associates of Murkowski said the former governor was moose hunting and could not be reached to comment.)

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/848554.html The reporter can be reached at [email protected]