Portrait of the average American voter...

In article
ss_disguised,
(Andrew MacPherson) wrote:


Alastair Cooke's broadcasting introduced me to Mencken, and I learned to
respect his wisdom on a lot of things. That's not a quote I was
familiar with, but it would appear to be terrifyingly clairvoyant.

Andrew McP

The one part of his history I am not however impressed with, was he was
an Atheist. Everything in moderation I say.

Still wisdom is just that, regardless of how it gets forged.
--
"As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely,
the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great
and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire
at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
- H. L. Mencken, in the Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920.


Reality-Is finding that perfect picture
and never looking back.

www.gregblankphoto.com

On Fri, 10 Nov 2006 09:19:19 -0500, Raphael Bustin
wrote:

On Fri, 10 Nov 2006 07:56:48 -0600, Ron Hunter
wrote:


Pure, unadulterated lies. Same as Rather put out.
If you evidence, of similar abuses by Fox news persons, by all means
trot it out. I am sure CBS, NBC, and ABC would love to see it.


http://mediamatters.org/


rafe b
www.terrapinphoto.com

OK, you point to a site that describes itself as "Progressive" ("Media
Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3)
progressive research and information center dedicated to
comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative
misinformation in the U.S. media"), but provide nothing that would
answer Ron's question.
See, if you want to answer such a questuon, you need to provide an
*unbiased* source. A site that is self-described as biased won't cut
it.
--
Bill Funk
replace "g" with "a"

"Bill Funk" wrote in message
...


See, if you want to answer such a questuon, you need to provide an
*unbiased* source. A site that is self-described as biased won't cut it.


If I provide a transcript of Bill O'Reilly saying
something false or stupid, there's no bias in that.

It's simply Bill O'Reilly saying something false or
stupid -- no more and no less.

You want to call me "biased" for picking on poor
Bill O'Reilly, by all means -- guilty as charged.

But that doesn't make O'Reilly's remark any
less false or stupid. Capiche?


rafe b
www.terrapinphoto.com

In article ,
"Michael Johnson, PE" wrote:


http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?...articleId=1220
3

The solution isn't only raising taxes. You can't raise them enough to
make a difference and besides it is a self defeating exercise.
Stagnating the economy will only slow the growth of revenue to
government. The amount of entitlements has to be reduced. Take
reduction of entitlements off the table and we might as well cut to the
chase and embrace socialism right now.

Socialism is not bad in a true form, but then so are all the Moral
Ideologies-Like Democracy or in our case Capitolism. Problem is
unbridled greed which since the beginning of society has lead to
greater societies than the USA falling, ours a society of a few hundred
versus a thousand years here and there.


Do you really think removing the income cap on SS tax will result in
that money actually being spent on SS?

Nope-nice thought though.

Has it ever happened in the
past? There's no chance in hell it will happen in the future. The only
way to keep a politician from spending money like a drunken sailor is to
never give it to them.

I vote for castration

That applies to Republicans AND Democrats. All
the government has done since WWII is raise taxes and spend money as a
solution to nearly every problem.

And fight worthless wars which the motivations have been seriously
questionable.

I don't see where we have come close
to getting what we have paid for or been promised.

I like to think there are a lot of people with morals in the US,
but when I drive 10 miles an hour over the speed limit and I have people
wizing past me clearly going 30 over, I really question even that.
Then there is the issue of those compelled to teach us a lesson by
driving at or below the posted limit. Not so much problem of at the
limit, but still something which indicates a lack of consideration and
moderation.
--
"As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely,
the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great
and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire
at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
- H. L. Mencken, in the Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920.


Reality-Is finding that perfect picture
and never looking back.

www.gregblankphoto.com

"Michael Johnson, PE" wrote in message
...

Here's my prediction..... the moderates of both parties will be the ones
to really control Congress the next two years. Without them the far left
and far right will get nothing done. Either this or grid lock will be the
norm.


Moderation would be a good thing, IMO.

Oh, how I'd love a bit of moderation.

Moderation is what the voters asked for.


rafe b
www.terrapinphoto.com

Greg "_" wrote:
In article ,
"Michael Johnson, PE" wrote:

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?...articleId=1220
3
The solution isn't only raising taxes. You can't raise them enough to
make a difference and besides it is a self defeating exercise.
Stagnating the economy will only slow the growth of revenue to
government. The amount of entitlements has to be reduced. Take
reduction of entitlements off the table and we might as well cut to the
chase and embrace socialism right now.

Socialism is not bad in a true form, but then so are all the Moral
Ideologies-Like Democracy or in our case Capitolism. Problem is
unbridled greed which since the beginning of society has lead to
greater societies than the USA falling, ours a society of a few hundred
versus a thousand years here and there.

Socialism has been tried in many countries with very poor results. It
generally never works over time. If government sticks to its roll of
throttling back capitalism judiciously then everything works fine. The
trick is to promote competition while preventing monopolies.
Personally, I see socialism going to hard against the laws of nature to
be successful for the long term. It reduces economic freedom for the
individual and removes the incentive to innovate and work hard.

As for society falling, it will happen eventually. Hell, the human race
will disappear eventually, for that matter. It really makes me chuckle
to hear all the global warming fanatics scream about stopping it dead in
its tracks. All of a sudden controlling Mother Nature is a good thing.
We have as much a chance of stopping climate change as we do of
controlling the wobble of Earth's axis or stopping solar flares and
volcanic eruptions.

Do you really think removing the income cap on SS tax will result in
that money actually being spent on SS?

Nope-nice thought though.

Has it ever happened in the
past? There's no chance in hell it will happen in the future. The only
way to keep a politician from spending money like a drunken sailor is to
never give it to them.

I vote for castration

That applies to Republicans AND Democrats. All
the government has done since WWII is raise taxes and spend money as a
solution to nearly every problem.

And fight worthless wars which the motivations have been seriously
questionable.

It is difficult to tell if a war was worthless because you never will
know the future results of not fighting it. One could argue that the
Mexican, Spanish-American, Korean, Vietnam, Iraq I and Iraq II wars were
all worthless. I don't presume I am all-knowing and am able to decide
one way or the other. Unfortunately, we rarely have the moral clarity
of fighting a war like we had during WWII. That looks to be a rare
occurrence.

I don't see where we have come close
to getting what we have paid for or been promised.

I like to think there are a lot of people with morals in the US,
but when I drive 10 miles an hour over the speed limit and I have people
wizing past me clearly going 30 over, I really question even that.
Then there is the issue of those compelled to teach us a lesson by
driving at or below the posted limit. Not so much problem of at the
limit, but still something which indicates a lack of consideration and
moderation.

I believe most people are good otherwise we would have no societal
structure at all. I think most people want to obey certain laws and
social rules but also want their maximum freedom within those
constraints. I take issue when the government tries to dictate certain
moral and philosophical behavior beyond the minimum necessary to promote
a healthy and secure society. The liberals are just as guilty of doing
this as are the conservatives. Social and economic freedom go hand in
hand and, IMO, your can't have one without the other.

Bill Funk wrote:
On Fri, 10 Nov 2006 09:19:19 -0500, Raphael Bustin
wrote:

On Fri, 10 Nov 2006 07:56:48 -0600, Ron Hunter
wrote:


Pure, unadulterated lies. Same as Rather put out.
If you evidence, of similar abuses by Fox news persons, by all means
trot it out. I am sure CBS, NBC, and ABC would love to see it.

http://mediamatters.org/


rafe b
www.terrapinphoto.com

OK, you point to a site that describes itself as "Progressive" ("Media
Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3)
progressive research and information center dedicated to
comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative
misinformation in the U.S. media"), but provide nothing that would
answer Ron's question.
See, if you want to answer such a questuon, you need to provide an
*unbiased* source. A site that is self-described as biased won't cut
it.

Better yet why not use his own words and thoughts instead of providing a
link? Trouble is many people can't articulate a political position on
their own. They can only reference the words of another. IMO, they
can't defend their views using their own original thoughts because they
don't have any. People from both sides use this tactic so it isn't just
an affliction of some liberal usenet debaters.

rafe b wrote:
"Michael Johnson, PE" wrote in message
...

Here's my prediction..... the moderates of both parties will be the ones
to really control Congress the next two years. Without them the far left
and far right will get nothing done. Either this or grid lock will be the
norm.


Moderation would be a good thing, IMO.

Oh, how I'd love a bit of moderation.

Moderation is what the voters asked for.

I think that is what we are going to get, or at least the closest thing
to it. Gridlock isn't bad either as an alternative.

Michael Johnson, PE wrote:
It really makes me chuckle
to hear all the global warming fanatics scream about stopping it dead in
its tracks. All of a sudden controlling Mother Nature is a good thing.
That's not their point. Controlling ourselves is.


We have as much a chance of stopping climate change as we do of
controlling the wobble of Earth's axis or stopping solar flares and
volcanic eruptions.
Any evidence for it?

Volker

Volker Hetzer wrote:
Michael Johnson, PE wrote:
It really makes me chuckle to hear all the global warming fanatics
scream about stopping it dead in its tracks. All of a sudden
controlling Mother Nature is a good thing.
That's not their point. Controlling ourselves is.

Like it or not we are part of nature. If we screw up and disappear as a
result, the world will go on just fine. Mother Nature has taken, and
bounced back from, far worse hits that anything we can deliver. We are
just a itch on her backside. Look at the climate change that has
occurred in different parts of the world in the last 10,000 years. It
wasn't the result of burning oil. Even if the current changes happening
now is a result of burning fossil fuels, climate change is the norm and
not the exception. Look at all the underwater ruins that were once high
and dry if you want don't believe climate change has already greatly
affected mankind. It won't be any different in the future.

We have as much a chance of stopping climate change as we do of
controlling the wobble of Earth's axis or stopping solar flares and
volcanic eruptions.
Any evidence for it?

Evidence of what? The Earth's axis has a wobble, the sun has solar
flares and volcanoes erupt. They all have drastic effects on the global
climate. Humans won't stop burning oil until it is gone or a cheaper
energy alternative is found. It will be 50-100 years, at a minimum,
before either of these scenarios happen.