Balta1701 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 The Republican party just needs to stop Twittering. Earlier this week, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-MI, blew the cover on a planned trip by some Congressmen to Baghdad by twittering that they were arriving in Baghdad. Yesterday, in the Virginia state Assembly, the GOP was making a move to take control of the state Senate by trying to convince one of the Dems in that body to flip parties. Problem was, before they had an agreement, one of their members twittered that it might happen. The Dems jumped in and kept the guy from switching with a better offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSqwert Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 QUOTE (kapkomet @ Feb 11, 2009 -> 04:56 PM) Never. Ever. Agree. With. Barney. Frank. There is a difference between "doing the right thing" and getting a base payout, and expected (part of normal compensation) bonuses. When a bonus is a part of "normal" compensation, it's no longer a bonus. You have to exceed performance and financial targets to recieve a bonus, IMO. Well aren't the CEOs of the bailout firms in charge of companies that failed miserably? How could they have exceeded any performance and/or financial targets seeing that the government had to help all of them out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapkomet Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 11, 2009 -> 07:16 PM) Well aren't the CEOs of the bailout firms in charge of companies that failed miserably? How could they have exceeded any performance and/or financial targets seeing that the government had to help all of them out? Because a lot of these guys have that written in their employment agreement before they ever begin. They want assurances that if a train wreck occurs that they will be taken care of. Now, I don't necessarily agree with that, but that's the truth. Also, a lot of these aren't "bonuses" but "buyouts" and there is a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrangeSox Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Who sets CEO salaries and packages? The board of directors. Who usually sits on the boards? Other CEOs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSqwert Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Indeed. They are all looking out for each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 12, 2009 -> 06:50 AM) Indeed. They are all looking out for each other. Which is of course, a huge ingredient in the recipe for how we got in to this mess in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 9, 2009 -> 11:51 AM) Link In a dramatic contrast to former President Bush's town-hall meetings -- which were held almost exclusively in party strongholds, with tickets distributed primarily to supporters -- it was first-come, first-served in Elkhart on Saturday. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explained on Friday: "I've watched the President do town halls from 2004 through 2008, and the audience has never been hand-picked, and neither have the questions. And we're not going to start any of that on Monday." Link http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123431418276770899.html Obama's Press List Membership shall have its privileges. About half-way through President Obama's press conference Monday night, he had an unscripted question of his own. "All, Chuck Todd," the President said, referring to NBC's White House correspondent. "Where's Chuck?" He had the same strange question about Fox News's Major Garrett: "Where's Major?" The problem wasn't the lighting in the East Room. The President was running down a list of reporters preselected to ask questions. The White House had decided in advance who would be allowed to question the President and who was left out. Presidents are free to conduct press conferences however they like, but the decision to preselect questioners is an odd one, especially for a White House famously pledged to openness. We doubt that President Bush, who was notorious for being parsimonious with follow-ups, would have gotten away with prescreening his interlocutors. Mr. Obama can more than handle his own, so our guess is that this is an attempt to discipline reporters who aren't White House favorites. Few accounts of Monday night's event even mentioned the curious fact that the White House had picked its speakers in advance. We hope that omission wasn't out of fear of being left off the list the next time. Please add your comments to the Opinion Journal forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soxbadger Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I thought it was common knowledge that Obama knew in advance all the questions. At least thats what Ive been telling people. No way would any President get on national tv and let the press ask whatever they want. "President Obama, care to comment on this picture taken at a Frat Party when you were in College?" Right now we are witnessing a magic show (itd be the same if McCain was President), no one has any really revolutionary ideas about how to fix things or how to start the economic rebound, so they put on a show to distract American's focus. Im just not sure how basing an economic recovery around FDR principles (expand infrastructure spending) is going to work, when most people believe that FDR's plans were little more than window dressing. It wasnt until the US entered WWII and started to massively increase production while at the same time decreasing the work force (soldiers being drafted into the army decreases supply of workers) that the US economy recovered. Not to mention that due to World War II the industrial infrastructure of Europe was basically destroyed so demand for US industry also increased. The problems of today arent going to be solved by the solutions of the past. We need a govt that is going to look outside of the box to find new revenue streams, because historically countries that were the biggest industrial producers have constantly been knocked off by countries that industrialized later. England was knocked off by the US, US gets knocked off by China and one day China will get knocked off by some one else. Without drastically changing minimum wage etc, the US will never be able to compete with China in production. The cost is just much higher in the US. Thus the US needs to find new revenue sources or needs to find ways to cut the budget. In my opinion the easiest solution, which both will increase revenue and cut budget, would be to legalize many "moral" crimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiSox_Sonix Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Feb 12, 2009 -> 02:30 PM) In my opinion the easiest solution, which both will increase revenue and cut budget, would be to legalize many "moral" crimes. Aka marijuana and prostitution. Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner! The revenue that could be collected from legalization both directly and indirectly would be pretty large IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Blackwater USA changing their name to an unpronounceable symbol...Xe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 A couple billion in corporate tax cuts in the middle of a $40 billion budget hole is still not enough to bring even 3 California Republicans on board with a budget. My word these people just hate the state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostfan Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 http://www.aprilwinchell.com/wp-content/ca...s***/index.html The board is going to filter out 2 words, replace the asterisks in your browser. Worth your time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostfan Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 I'm too lazy to copy and paste atm, but here's a pretty good CNN interview of Bill Clinton regarding Obama. http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/16/bil...anda/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 California's fiscal conservatives still refuse to give the vote they need to pass the budget out here. Tomorrow, Caltrans will be forced to stop working on some 276 projects around the state to avoid having the state default on its debt. Sounds easy right? Well, not exactly. You can't exactly shut down equipment some times without damaging them or without hurting people. It will cost about $200 million, completely wasted money, to shut down those projects, and another $190 million at some point in the future to restart them. $400 million, completely wasted, by fiscal conservatives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSqwert Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Sullivan... What the GOP needed to do was offer a stimulus plan as big as the Democrats' but more immediate, and without the downpayments on health, the environment and education that Pelosi secured. My guess is that if they'd done that from the get-go and negotiated with Obama in good faith, they might have improved the package. But the politics of Limbaugh means they couldn't - because it would have implied a serious alliance with a new president in very tough times. They put party before country and wounded both. Like much of their record for the past decade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrangeSox Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 This is the exact same rhetoric I heard (and abhorred) from the right for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Well, makes sense it was andrew sullivan then, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Amount of U.S. taxpayer money that vanished in Iraq may be greater than the $50 billion lost in the Madoff ponzi scheme... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapkomet Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Ahhh, yes. The good ol USA is the biggest motherf***ing fraud in the world. Woot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSqwert Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapkomet Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 17, 2009 -> 05:52 PM) I'm going to have to put my photoshop skillz to the test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KipWellsFan Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Obama's coming to Canada on Thursday, and needless to say this is all the Canadian media can talk about these last couple of days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSqwert Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyCaucasian Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 18, 2009 -> 07:04 AM) I find it hysterical that the GOp keeps pushing Tax cuts and deregulation as a way to make the economy better. HELLO!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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