lostfan

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 05:08 PM) yea they would probably lose for sure. but i would probably vote for them. Me too assuming they weren't a wackjob on their other policies.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 04:52 PM) Well, technically, we are already a socialist country in many areas. Pooling resources for the common good can work. However, once the government starts taking obscene amounts of power away from the people (such as overbearing taxation, limiting free speech, committing mass voter fraud, and other authoritarian measures) things can go down hill very quickly. Right now, one thing that doesn't add up for Obama is where he plans an getting all this extra money for his programs. Merely taxing rich people won't get it done. Some of you guys are right, Clinton did promise no new taxes but he ended up raising taxes. I am sure my taxes are going up with Obama, now he might do some nonsense where the hike is referred to as 'a initial rate adjustment' in which he promises to give me a rebate.. however that rebate would boil down to nothing after fees or some other tactic is used to keep that tax money in the Obama system. Now I would actually support a tax increase (even on my income) if this money would be used to pay down the national debt. Could you imagine if a politician was just up front and was like "I'm gonna raise taxes for a few years without adding any new programs to pay down this deficit some"? He'd probably get nowhere with that.

QUOTE (longshot7 @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 03:55 PM) Like I said, apart from the immigration one..... did you read that? Apparently not.

QUOTE (WHITESOXRANDY @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 12:02 PM) No way do I want Griffey back. He looked awful last year and he'll only be worse next year. He hasn't been good for about 5 years. I wouldn't want him if he played for free. I'd rather have Dewayne Wise. 5 years? Until this year, he's been pretty damn solid, hell he was an All-Star in 2007. Whether or not he should've been on the team is another debate, but he's been a productive hitter until very very recently.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 03:51 PM) :lolhitting I didnt see that coming! hahaha I had my speakers turned up at the time, I almost s*** myself.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 12:35 AM) Alex Rodriguez's postseason line - .279/.361/.483/.844. Not fantastic, but people seem to be pointing out that he's been absolutely beyond terrible...that looks respectable. In 2007, he put up a .267/.353/.467/.820...again, not fantastic, but he more than held his own. He was also very good in the 2004 postseason and even put up an .894 OPS in their collapse against Boston. Prior to that, he was pretty much a one-man wrecking crew. Where he struggled the most were the 2005 and 2006 postseasons...35 plate appearances. ARod is the most unclutch baseball player in the history of the universe because he struggled for a 35 plate appearance stretch in the postseason. Get f***ing real. I also enjoy the World Series ring argument, because it's one of the worst arguments one can make. Is Gavin Floyd a better pitcher than John Danks because he won more games? Are David Eckstein and Timo Perez better players than Alex Rodriguez because they've won two? or equals to Manny because they can put the same number of rings on their fingers? Thank you - this is something I've said about A-Rod many times elsewhere, mostly to Yankee fans, but didn't really have the energy to get into again here.

Click on the door 3 times, until you get the deer. The red phone is my favorite.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 03:44 PM) USAA gives better rates than most - we have our insurance and car loan through them, luckily. If you know you won't need it at all during 12 months, then yeah, looks good. If you aren't 100% sure (and I never am), then I'd rather take the 3.5% from Citi or E-Trade without the penalty. The $4 over a year on $1000 is worth it to me to be able to get it out if needed. How'd you get USAA, you were in the military or related to someone in the military? I haven't found anyone able to beat their auto insurance rates (although I believe auto insurance in general is a massive, borderline conspiracy-like scam). I think Schwab does what you're talking about too don't they?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 02:22 PM) Just for fun we should all bookmark this post and come back to it in a year. $1000 at 3.9% will get you $1039 in a year. It will be interesting to see what the Dow or the SP does and see which one wins. As I post the Dow is at 8900 and the SP is 947.50. Bets on which one ends up with a higher rate of return in a year? Heh. If the economy shrinks, then the margin probably ends up being pretty big. I just looked at my Chase rates and they are at around 2.0% for the same time/amount. USAA's rates are much more competitive.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 02:12 PM) No minimum for some, but the rates are then very low. There are online-only savings accounts at places like E-Trade and Citi, that pay 3 to 4%, and have no time commitment like a CD. So, really, why bother with a CD? I still think, long run, this is a generally good time to buy equities. I just checked and if I put 1000 bucks into a CD for 12 months with my bank (USAA, seriously they are awesome) the rate is 3.90%. I might do that with some of the excess GI bill money I have since my classes are less than what the payouts from the VA are.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 03:09 PM) Bank it in a CD. Rates will be low for at least a year and returns on stocke too will be weak. Bear markets chew you up and spit you out. I would go no longer than 2 year cd's and try to get as close to 4% as possible. How much money do you generally need to do a CD?

QUOTE (mreye @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 01:52 PM) I guess I can agree with that, but IMO, I said, IMO, it is "left" to try to please the "issue of the day" instead of standing fast to tried and true principles. That's been my biggest problem with the GOP, and national politics in general in the last 10+ years. It's really turned me off and I used to be a junky - I was one of the originals that mixed it up in here that caused the creation of SLap and the 'buster. I just don't have the heart for it anymore. That's fair enough, I don't suppose I can disagree with that. IMO the problem with national politics is that it's too polarized and there is very little respect for opposing views. There's a lot of different reasons for that though.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 01:49 PM) Oh for crying out loud. Yes, she just intended to insult 60% of America right there. WOOT ~ SARAH PALIN SUCKS!!! LOLERZ#@#%!!!!!!! Just like RSO's guns, religion, and bible's comment a few months back. Can we stop now? No, see, her comment really isn't unique. It's just the latest version of this bulls*** superiority complex Republicans have been carrying for a while now. I hate it. People dissing city-dwellers as less patriotic and less "real." f***. That.

Ugh, I really hate that s***. I'm 100% city boy and I wouldn't have it any other way. Does that mean I'm assumed to not be patriotic as people from the country? Do I have to prove it or something? Am I not from the "real America"? Where the f*** is this place, anyway? Oh, by the way, not only is my dad a hard-working blue-collar guy who's worked in factories most of his adult life, but I'm also a vet and oh by the way, I never wave my DD214 around as proof of my patriotism, except to make the kind of point I'm making right now. To Gov. Palin I must be some kind of mythical creature. Seriously, this kind of mentality pisses me off a lot.

QUOTE (mreye @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 01:32 PM) McCain/Feingold Government size Fiscal responsibility / Balanced budget Rescue plan Other problems I have: Never moving on Social Security reform Poor execution of a border fence Poor execution of Iraq war and justification for going The entire party completely forgot what got them elected in '94 and abandoned the Contract with America Many of these problems I have can be directly attributed to Bush, but IMO, McCain is way further left of where Bush was supposed to be in 2000. I had high hopes for him and he realy disappointed. I would say that most of those things are a result of poor leadership within the party (it's fair to single out Bush for a lot of it too). They've seemed to be more concerned with who can be the most like Ronald Reagan and less with sticking to conservative principles. I agree that the party has lost its direction, but it's been due to questionable decisions, not moving to the left. They're just all over the map right now.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 01:05 PM) I'm about to receive some money from a will any day now (about $2K, so not a lot) and I plan on putting it all directly into stocks. I'm going to follow some advice I found online about a 6 month plan over 10 stocks and change every 6. I figured since i've never really had the money, its kind of like getting into the market for free. Hopefully, like Buffet is hinting at, I can catch some of these stocks on their low end just before they start to rise. He is right though that in the long run the stocks will go up. So with the market down right now it does make sense to jump in. But then again, I'm just a couple years out of college with very little market history or experience so what do i know That's how I got my mutual funds. My aunt and uncle started custodial accounts for all of us (me, my brother, and my 1st cousins) when we were kids back in 1992, but they never told us they were doing it. Years pass and they eventually get divorced, they both forget about it, meanwhile the thing is worth like 10x the amount they put in it originally. A year or so ago they send my aunt's ex (who I guess technically isn't my uncle anymore) a letter saying they have to release all the accounts because we are all over 21 now, so I get a random call from my mom one day like "hey, did you know you have a nice chunk of change to your name and you've had it for 15 years?" That was a good day.

QUOTE (DrunkBomber @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 01:01 PM) Basically I was more commenting on what you said about posting just to provoke others. It may not seem like it to some, but AHB doesn't do that intentionally. He's been cooperative with what he's been asked to do/not do for the most part. Posters occasionally make a sarcastic remark here and there but nobody says anything about that unless it escalates.

QUOTE (DrunkBomber @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 12:57 PM) He said he didnt make 250 but would probably if he bought the company he works for, but again that is irrelevant. Forget about Joe the plumber, why should businesses or individuals be punished for being successful? The reason why Joe the plumber became such a big deal IMO wasnt because of his question, Obama gets that a lot, its because of how bad he fumbled the answer. He said exactly what the GOP have wanted him to say since day 1. He basically blurted out how similar the plan is to socialism but stamped it with being patriotic. I dont understand how someone can say being patriotic means if you make more money than a predetermined amount by the government than it is your patriotic duty to pay more in taxes to fund 1 trillion dollars in new spending and let the government allocate where it should go. Now, I believe Patriotism first being used in regards to the US was around the time of the Revolutionary War, you know, the war we fought because our governing body was taxing us too much... Yes, he fumbled the answer pretty bad. It's not the first time he answered that question but of all his answers I'd guess the quality of that one easily ranks last. Because "punished for being successful" is really an oversimplification of what progressive taxation is supposed to do, the person pushing a tax increase on the rich is supposed to explain this but his reply was a fat slice of red meat for the righty blogosphere.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 12:56 PM) I am overwhelmed by the staggering profundity of your artfully crafted retort. Variously, simplification can equal profundity as well as complexity. ^^holy s***, I would bet those words have never been used in that order in the English language, ever...?

QUOTE (DrunkBomber @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 12:40 PM) If this is legit why has AHB not been banned? Thats all he posts and you know it. Just because their are more dems on here and more of the mods are dems doesnt mean that they should be allowed to get away with anything. Which Ive seen first hand how that works on this site. If you want to clean it up and keep it civil start with the people who go out of their way to annoy not the people reacting to it. If you categorized the views of all the mods who post in here and lined them up they're actually pretty balanced. That isn't even a consideration though, the only thing that matters is what's posted, not who posted it. Regarding AHB, most of the stuff he posts is kept to the Dem thread and if he gets carried away and starts posting partisan stuff elsewhere, he stops if someone asks him to. I can't ever recall him getting into personal attacks/insults against another poster. If you feel like the mods are being unfair, picking on you/another poster, or otherwise not following the rules we're supposed to be enforcing, then let us know. Believe it or not we do take action (if there's something to it).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 12:41 PM) ACORN has not committed a single act of voter fraud. ACORN has been involved in voter registration fraud, and even then they often don't have a choice because of state laws that require them to turn in every application they receive even if they think it is fraudulent. I read somewhere that ACORN attempts to vet the applications they get and they put the ones they think are obviously fraudulent in a pile, and they get turned in together because they have to be turned in. Which would explain why they get like 2000 fraudulent registrations all at once. I'm not sure how true that is, but if it is, that will come out during the investigations.

QUOTE (DrunkBomber @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 12:37 PM) Lol at the dems on here attacking some guy from Ohio instead of addressing the real issue of punishing businesses and individuals for being successful. Take Joe the plumber for what he was, a metaphor, instead of hammering away at him like he matters or has anything to do with the actual election. I love the hypocrisy of you guys. So far Bristol Palin and Joe the plumber are huge points of interest but when it comes to ACORN, Rezco, Wright, Ayers theyre non issues. You whine about voter fraud but when it appears ACORN is committing voter fraud at record quantities its OK because it helps you this time. Joe the plumber?? Seriously? A lot of this is being lost in translation. What's really being asked by Obama supporters underneath all the parading and gotcha-ism is, if we are to take the "Joe the Plumber" metaphor at face value meaning we're talking about blue-collar middle class workers, how many of them actually make $250k (including the actual guy that started the metaphor) and need to be worried about Obama raising taxes on them? Apparently that applies to very few people/businesses - I don't know stats though and haven't bothered to look because they're twisted so often. Assuming we are also taking Obama's tax plan at face value, that is. Joe the Plumber is supposed to be a metaphor for blue-collar small businesses and it's the validity or relevance of the metaphor that's being questioned.

While I readily acknowledge the correctness of your assessment, my obligatory responsibility notwithstanding, I have to inquire as to your motive here - are we about to engage in a vocab-a-thon?

QUOTE (Controlled Chaos @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 12:21 PM) but there is a rule against Alpha's longing for a little nibbling on one or both of his two rounded prominences that are posterior to the hips and formed by the gluteal muscles and underlying structures?? Sometimes this place can be so prejudice. What's next no "spank me" references? Spank me references are not only acceptable, they are encouraged. In all seriousness though, we have to keep this place at least somewhat civil, because even though people in here argue all the time the discussion is usually constructive and high-minded. When it's not, the quality of the discussion deteriorates quickly (the Jeremiah Wright thread for example). One of the ways to keep that from happening is avoiding the deliberately provocative posts, or just ignoring ones you don't like, which we all agreed to in the sticky thread in this forum. This is why I stepped in, before there was any potential of the thread turning ugly. All of us have to do our part, mods included.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 12:17 PM) The only area I've seen them move left is on fiscal policy. If you know of another area where that has happened, I'd truly be curious what it is. I'm honestly trying to think of why somebody would think that. Bush giving concessions to the Democrats maybe? That shouldn't even count because that's the whole point of our system of government. A chief executive who doesn't work with his legislature is completely useless. (See: Rod Blagojevich, the truly pathetic thing being that his legislature is from his own party!)