Congressman Murtha Calls for Immediate Withdrawal

[FlaSoxxJim]

I don't intend for this to be a threadjack so I won't pursue it beyond saying that the codified discrimination of American citizens on the basis of sexual orientation is not Constitutionally justifiable.

[kapkomet]

I don't intend for this to be a threadjack so I won't pursue it beyond saying that the codified discrimination of American citizens on the basis of sexual orientation is not Constitutionally justifiable.

I agree with that 100%.

[Texsox]

^^^^^^^^^^^

add me to the list

[Mercy!]

I agree with that 100%.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And some day if your gay or straight child asks you how you voted on the Texas referendum to codify this discrimination, what will you say? "I told everyone I was against it, even though I refused to vote against it"?

[kapkomet]

And some day if your gay or straight child asks you how you voted on the Texas referendum to codify this discrimination, what will you say?  "I told everyone I was against it, even though I refused to vote against it"?

 

That's actually good.

 

The reason I chose to not vote for it is because it shouldn't have been on the ballot in the first place. And furthermore, the way it was worded bothered me, so without having further evidence and information on the matter, I abstained. In other words, I didn't want to vote against something that I wasn't sure what I was voting against - and - again, it shouldn't have been on the ballot in the first damn place. The only reason it was there was political motivation, not for moral supremecy like these assclowns like to advertise.

[Rex Kickass]

I agree with that 100%.

And that's what I meant.

 

As you can tell, I'm opinionated, and when it comes to equality under the law, I feel that there definitely is a right and wrong.

 

I think the left is correct in this issue because if they aren't that means that I AM a second class citizen after all. And I tend to think I'm worth more than that.

Edited November 23, 2005 by Rex Kickass

[Texsox]

And some day if your gay or straight child asks you how you voted on the Texas referendum to codify this discrimination, what will you say?  "I told everyone I was against it, even though I refused to vote against it"?

 

Guilty as well, for about the same reason as Kap.

[southsider2k5]

Caveat:  I wouldn't say that if it hasn't collapsed it's not going to, just because right now we haven't a clue what's going to happen as the "Froth" in the housing market begins to dissipate over the next few years.  If it were to happen rapidly...it could do serious damage to the economy (hopefully Bush's pick for the Fed chair is smart enough to keep his eye focused strongly on the housing sector, and I think he is...the goal right now I think is to hope for a soft landing on that front, which won't do serious damage to people's pocketbooks.)

 

Just a follow up to this from yesterday... The arch nemesis of the housing markets, interest rate hikes, maybe a thing of the past very soon.

 

Federal Reserve policy makers decided at their November 1 meeting that the economy had essentially shrugged off the impact of the hurricanes, leaving higher inflation as the biggest threat to the outlook, according to a summary of the meeting released Tuesday.

 

At the same time, some FOMC members worried, for the first time, that the Fed might go too far in its tightening. There was also dicussion of a major re-write of the FOMC statement.

 

A re-write would spell the end of the Feds's language of a "measured pace" of Fed hikes to remove "accommodative" monetary policy.

 

Financial markets reacted sharply to these developments.

 

Bond prices rose and the dollar fell as traders expect the Fed to slow down the pace of tightening. The stock market moved higher. See full story.

 

In their discussions of the economic outlook, FOMC members agreed that the evidence was building that the disruptions from the hurricanes were likely to be "limited and temporary."

 

"The economy seemed to be growing at a fairly strong pace, despite the temporary disruptions associated with the hurricanes, and underlying economic slack was likely quite limited," the FOMC members said.

 

But members remained concerned that the high energy prices may spill over into prices of other goods. Some businesses are being able to pass through cost increases.

 

"While FOMC members noted some recent favorable data on core inflation and labor costs, upside risks to the outlook for underlying inflation remained a key concern," according to the summary.

 

As a result, Fed policy members were unanimous in their decision to hike rates by a quarter percentage point to 4.0%.

 

But members stressed that future Fed monetary policy was not on automatic pilot.

 

Fed getting cold feet?

Before the minutes were released, financial markets were betting that the Fed would continue to hike rates at a steady quarter-point pace until the Fed funds rate hits 4.75%.

 

But in the wake of the minutes, markets decided that the Fed might hold steady once rates rise to 4.5%.

 

According to the summary, FOMC members noted that future rate hikes "would need to be increasingly sensitive to incoming economic data."

 

Some FOMC members even expressed concern, for the first time, that there were growing risks the Fed might hike rates by too much and hurt the economy.

 

"Some members cautioned that risks of going too far with the tightening process could also eventually emerge," the summary said.

 

"This is the first mention of cold feet on the Fed," said Robert Brusca, chief economist at FAO Economics.

 

There was a lengthy discussion about how to re-write the Fed's policy statement released at the end of their meetings.

 

Several aspects of the statement, especially the key phrases that discuss upcoming policy moves, would have to be changed "before long," members said.

 

The language of the FOMC statements has stayed fairly constant since the Fed began tightening in June 2004.

 

The summary also revealed that the Fed staff trimmed its forecast for near-term inflation.

 

The staff expects core inflation to pick up modestly over coming quarters due to effects of higher energy prices, but return to near current levels in 2007.

 

Growth is expected to pick up next year, and then slow in 2007.

 

The Fed said the housing market remained robust, although it noted that slowing in house price gains and a drop in home equity loans "could be indicating that the long-expected cooling in the housing market was near."

 

Some economists said the market was over-reacting by believing the Fed was near the end of its tightening path.

 

"Our view is that while obviously the Fed is going to stop tightening at some stage in the not overly distant future, we just don't believe that the peak in the Fed Funds target will be only 25 or 50 basis points above its current level," said Josh Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc., who said he remained comfortable with his forecast of a 5% top to be reached in second quarter of 2006.