General Music Chat

I believe Sarah Palin would do a way better job as President than NOBAMA has done. She would as a conservative force us to live within our means reduce the National Debt also reducing the government all while giving us more freedom than the current SOCIALIST!

I believe Sarah Palin would do a way better job as President than NOBAMA has done. She would as a conservative force us to live within our means reduce the National Debt also reducing the government all while giving us more freedom than the current SOCIALIST!

On what do you base that sentiment? What freedoms have you lost?

I think a lot of ppl are getting caught up in her rhetoric, but I haven't seen any real substance to it. maybe you can explain it all better than Craig.

The very minute I heard she was hunting wolf by helicopter, I knew she was a nothing.

If you have to hunt, do it fair and square or just get a new hobby.

You don't see any wolves hunting people by helicopter, now do you?

I'm glad you went there and not me Capt lol. I'm just trying to deal with Palin people on a purely political level, nevermind her ethical considerations.

She just doesn't seem like she's right in the head.

Let alone she is a despoiler of the wilderness.

Let her be the official sanitation head..not anything else.

OK PHIL,, what are the basic problems Americans are facing? What are your solutions?

I don't know that you will get any real answers from Phil, on what he believes real and tangible solutions are. He is often angry for anger's sake alone. Conservatives are mad at the unprecedented increase in government involvement in our lives, taking over control of good chunks of whole industries, massive overspending and record debt. Phil is kind of mad at EVERYONE! LOL

Jimmy you hate debating Craig cause he keeps slapping you in the face with truth and fact.

I think you have Jimmy pegged wrong. He has no problem engaging me in discussions and debates. And one thing I can respect, is that he is honest about his views and positions, and consistently so. I believe that he respects me as an open minded person that will consider evidence on ANY SIDE of an issue, to arrive at my best judgement of a particular issue, and to be honest, I think he is much the same way. He has stated at various times, that I have good points, even when we have disagreed.

I think he should run for public office.

I'm not joking. I think he would work hard for the people, and try to serve honestly and cooperate with the opposition where he could. He is certainly an intelligent person. And I think, deep inside, he has the heart to embrace truth, even when it comes from the opposition. I think the only thing that holds him back from being very good at aisle switching when appropriate, is a degree of intellectual snobbery, which is unfortunate.

I think he too often, develops an opinion about people, or certain groups, based on stereotypes, rather than factual substance. And this causes him to see someone's appearance, or hear their accents (particularly Southern ones) or see where they are from, etc... And I believe this causes him to make superficial judgements at times, and immediately, maybe even unconsciously, make a decision like... "this person has nothing substantive to offer, look at them.... they have a Dale Earnhardt Junior racing number on the window of their car!"

I think that his main failing.

It is like the people who judge George Bush as having a low IQ, because of his lazy mannerisms, and lack of book knowledge. Bush actually has a high IQ, very much around the middle of most U.S. Presidents we have had. He is not among the Carters or Clintons, but he is far from the lowest.

When we make instant assessments based on superficial litmus tests, we end up discounting someone's views or opinions, when they may be very strong intellectually.

I think Jimmy doesn't always recognize and understand the value of "COMMON SENSE" which is pervasive in Southern rural areas. Many of these people would not know which fork is proper to use for which course, when confronted with 3 or 4 forks in a single place setting, or they may not be aware that there is a proper way to wield a soup spoon, and that you dip it outward, away from yourself, as proper etiquette, or that you butter a single small piece of your bread, that you have torn off the slice, rather than just butter the whole slice at one time, and stick that up to your mouth... They may not all know the ins and outs of 5 star dining, but they know that the government cannot sustain multiplying debt with no legitimate plan to pay for it, any more than their family farm can do the same.

They have common sense, and sometimes that is far superior to overzealous intellectualism. Meaning that ANYTHING can be over-analyzed or rationalized, when one has a superior vocabularly and shrewd and manipulate debating skills.

When our nation is on the line, I prefer the honesty of common sense personally.

If I should be a politician you should be a psychoanalyst Craig (smiling).

I do indeed judge people on how they write since I can't know them in real life. Intellectual snob? I've been called worse. I've dedicated my life to the pursuit of knowledge and critical thinking, and get offended when people with less education and dedication to the 'Quest For The Truth' try to act like they are qualified to debate me.

Common sense is often a sacrifice people of higher intellect are willing to make. That's why I've had wives that have had plenty of that attribute - they are the ying to my yang (or wang as it may be).

OK PHIL,, what are the basic problems Americans are facing? What are your solutions?

While I've made no claim to having all the inside info, or any real answers, myself,I have made several suggestions in these forums over the last cpl years, Glen. Of course, some of them have been rather tongue-in-cheek, & some ppl might have a bit of trouble distinguishing when I'm serious or laughing...

Okay - some of the real problems we face:

1 ) Obviously, the present state of the economy is right up there at the top. I think there should be limits to what lending institutions can do, & they need to be overseen by the gov't, at least to the degree they were prior to the Reagan administration. Banks also need to be regulated much more than they've been over the last 30 years or so. There are many unfair costs being passed on to ppl. A bank is responsible for handling a person's or a business' money, for example. To charge a fee to the recipient of a check in order to cash it, if the payee hasn't an account with the bank, is an unfair practice, since the bank is already getting paid by the holder of the account, to handle payments, whether they be electronically payed, or in person at the teller's window.

2 ) Another part of the economic equation is the lack of jobs. We produce virtually nothing in this country anymore but entertainment & junk. Ppl need jobs in manufacturing again. Tax the living hell out of any company that outsources jobs & tries to sell thier products in this country, so that Americans may get back to work. Also put high tariffs on thier products, so that American products may have a cost advantage in the American marketplace.

Another way to produce jobs is to actually work on our infrastructures. As our bridges & roads are failing, our reps in our gov't are bewailing the problem during thier campaigns, while addressing it hardly at all once they get into office. Someone needs to give them a swift kick in the butt to get these projects going. ("But where will this money come from?" you may ask...stick with me...)

3 ) We need to sh*t or get off the pot in the war zones. Finish the jobs, already! If Bin Laden's in Pakistan, make demands, use economic sanctions, & finally invade them to get this culprit & bring him & his cronies to justice. This situation should have been solved 6 years ago, by my reckoning, but for some reason, we seem to be afraid of "war." Once the job is done, allow the UN to rebuild the countries in question, cuz we've spent quite enough, thank you very much, to solve the problems that we haven't gotten help to solve.

4 ) I don't believe we need an excess of 50,000 troops stationed in Germany anymore. We have military bases throughout the world that are costing us billions to maintain, monies which could far better be spent on our own problems. I'm sure there are a lot of hawks that would find this idea repulsive, but we have the technologies to protect ourselves quite well without all of the extra fluff spending we are so fond of.

5 ) Some of the monies that are saved by removing such high numbers of military personnel from abroad could be used for better intelligence, which we seem to have a deficit in.

6 ) Complete revamping of our school systems is in order. Far less should be spent on the style of the buildings, for example, & the gymnasium costs are ridiculous. Spend the current monies you have on proper curriculae, hold parents responsible for the actions of thier children, use common sense rather than "zero tolerance" policies, & you will have a better educated public.

7 ) Any candidate should be made to expose exactly where each & every cent comes from in his campaign. Yeah, we SAY we do that, now, but I doubt it's true. Anyone who accepts foreign donations to his campaign should be removed from any election, or removed from office, after this is exposed.

8 ) I really hate to say it, but we need to put the issue of health care on the back burner until our economic problems are being better addressed. There are far more serious issues facing us right now, although our ppl still need help, here.

7 ) Prisons should be under gov't rule, & not run by private firms. The reasons for this are obvious to me. The businesses that are doing the job now are making profit that we needn't be spending. Take the profit out of crime from BOTH sides of the equation.

8 ) Crack down on the trusts that are obviously controlling pricing in this country. Make the firms explain thier pricing, & if they are taking a loss to dissolve competition, fins them heavilly. If they are gouging the public, fines should also be applied, & arrests should be made for thoss responsible for making the decisions. It's past time that the ppl responsible started to be held accountable for the actions of outlaw corporations.

These are only some of the ideas that I have, Glen. I can't think of everything, & as I said, I haven't all the inside info. Feel free to pick it all apart.

Craig said "They (southerners) have common sense, and sometimes that is far superior to overzealous intellectualism. Meaning that ANYTHING can be over-analyzed or rationalized, when one has a superior vocabularly and shrewd and manipulate debating skills.

When our nation is on the line, I prefer the honesty of common sense personally."

So why is it that he is so taken in by Palin's nit-picking of the pres on teleprompter or birth-right or other unimportant issues?

I think he's blind to so much simply because of her sex, & not anything she has to actually offer this country.

He was quite taken with Hilary, if I remember correctly, too.

I think he just wants women to rule us all.

Okay Philby now we see why you don't like Sarah Palin. She's a woman and you don't like being controled by woman (just Kidding)! I agree with some of what you said not much though. Your Idea of fixing the present state of the economy is to raise taxes on American Co.? That is the problem to begin with IMO American company's operating costs are already too high that is why they are moving out of the country and you want to do more of that? You will just get more of a mass exodus if you do. I wouldn't trust the U.N. to do a damn thing after we have spent the money to find Bin Laden They would just let another thug take his place.
As far as what I don't like about Obama hopefully the soon to be one term pres. There is a company in North Houston that manufactures military transort vehicles. That Co. is loosing the contract to a DEM. state and are now going to lay off 5000 workers. He just killed Nasa's Constellation program to spite the fact that 10 billion dollars has already been spent on the program and the City Of Nassua Bay Texas a suburban area south of Houston is going to be hit hard a lot of Engineers are going to loose their jobs. The Dem. comgress is contemplating a 2cd stimulas package to waste more of my tax dollars, and to boot NOBAMA is now considering raising taxes on the middle class (me and my family).

You see Philby my wife is in accounting Employed by another major University down here in Texas and THEY TURNED DOWN THE STIMULAS MONEY because there are so many requirements to get it that it is just not worth it to use the money to hire people and then when the money is gone to have to lay them off!

You people need to wake up this guy ain't doing a damn thing to help!

While I'll agree that many (most?) of his actions aren't producing any results in the short run, I don't see the current state of affairs as solely his fault, either. Let's face it, JH, he was handed a total clusterflook when he arrived in office. Certain stimulus packages were already in the works, & the economy was in the dumpster.

The banking industry had misused our monies & our trust, yet they were already being bailed out for thier mismanagement, & again were misusing the monies they'd received.

You can't blame that on Obama.

As far as taxing industry in this country, yes, I'd tax the hell out of any co that outsources another American job, & give tax breaks to every co that begins manufacture back within our borders & uses LEGAL American labor.

Therefore, the smaller bizzes would receive tax breaks as long as they hire & use an American work force, & subcontract other American co's to make thier parts.

I don't expect the UN to do a damned thing about Bin Laden. I expect the USA to find & execute the bastard. I expect the UN to take over the rebuilding of the countries after the war is done.

I dunno the ins & outs of your Houston based co losing its gov't contract, so I can't adress that one.

It sounds almost like my family's favorite story: My great granddad was an inventor. He'd invented a steam shovel that could do twice the work of the ones on the market, yet weighed 1/2 as much. When the WPA projects went into effect to offset the Great Depression, Franklin's administration decided to buy steam shovels based on thier weight, NOT on the work they could do. My family was so PO'd about that that for 3 generations they only voted Republican. It's just a tale of misinformed mismanagement. I dunno if that's the case, here, or if there are certain rewards being given out for voting in the current administration. I hope that isn't the case, but I dunno anything about it all.

As far as the University refusing the stimulus package, I applaud that. If only the banking industry had had more requirements, maybe they would have turned it down, as well. Unfortunately, the Bush administration, & the current one, both just gave them & the insurance industry "free money" to play with & reward thier crooks for screwing us all.

I'm not in love with Obama by any stretch of the imagination, JH. I just don't like the look of the alternatives at all, either, & I consider Palin to be one of the very worst out there.

Unfortunately, no matter who gets involved, I fear that there will by necessity need to be some raising of taxes to solve some of these problems. We're all just gonna hafta bite the bullet & do our part to fix the problems the idiots we put into office have caused. I don't see any way around it.

Yes someone is going to have to pay more but the middle-class should not have to shoulder all of this.

1) raise tariffs on ALL imported vehicles to the point that it is much cheaper to buy American

2) raise taxes on all companies that outsource work to other countries

3) give tax breaks to companies who save or create jobs

4) raise taxes on anyone who makes more than $125,000 or $250,000 as a couple

5) legalize marijuana and tax it big time. Use the proceeds to wipe out coca and opium poppy growing operations (this would actually occur on its own as countries such as Colombia would switch back to marijuana cultivation to get a piece of the pie)

Oh yeah, JH - I'd certainly let the unAmerican corporations run out of the country. New ones will spring up to take up the slack. We don't need companies who don't support the very country they make thier biggest profits in, imho. Americans need those jobs to support thier families AND thier gov't.

So many ppl worry about this. "Omg! My co will move overseas!" LET 'EM! Just don't allow them to compete with the American co's that replace them.

We can certainly go back into the steel biz, the tv biz, the appliance biz. There is nothing holding us back but our gov't's policies concerning the economy. We don't NEED a "global economy." We HAVE all the resources we need, AND we have all the labor & know-how. Take America back from those who would sell us out for bigger profits. Screw 'em all & feed 'em beans!

I think she's cute. Just like Jane Seymour, but with a different bone structure. Gorgeous.

All I keep hearing is raise taxes , raise taxes some more. All these taxes just keep getting passed on down the line.

When obama announced new fees for all the banks that accepted bailout money, the banks replied with the simple fact that that punishment would just be passed on down the line to the poorest of people that just need to cash their welfare check. Get it

Phil you have some good ideas, but untill our taxes are under control none of the customers are going to be easy about spending money.

All I here from you is Tax and spend,,, I don't see where you are reaping the benefits of this.

Companies are FLEEING HIGH TAX STATES ,CA,NJ,NY,CT. At the rate we are going there isn't going to be any corps left in the USA. And they won't give a damn if they sell any product here,Taxed them right out.NO JOBS.