Clipmarks | n2sooners's Comments

We force our service men and women to stay past their contractual end dates

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:25:09 GMT

clipped by: Ataxia13
clipper's remarks: If we use the stop-loss program at what point do we actually have an 'all volunteer military?

Clip Source: blog.cleveland.com

Wooster soldier involuntarily kept in Army under its controversial 'stop-loss' program

Although his enlistment was supposed to end in February, the 22-year-old former All-Ohio defensive lineman instead became one of 120,000 soldiers since 2001 to be involuntarily kept in the Army through a controversial program called "stop-loss." He's rooting for Congress to pass legislation that would pay him extra for each month he's forced to remain in the military.

Tags: military, stop-loss, bush administration

US economy sees surprise 3.3% spurt

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:23:05 GMT

clipped by: jatfla
clipper's remarks: It's not really a "surprise". I believe that the MSM and certain politicians promoted their suppositions hoping for a Democratic win.

Clip Source: www.breitbart.com

US economy sees surprise 3.3 percent spurt

The US economy outpaced expectations as surging exports fueled a second-quarter growth spurt at a 3.3 percent pace, according to data Thursday that analysts say makes recession less likely.

The Commerce Department revised upward last month's estimate of a 1.9 percent annualized pace of growth in gross domestic product

The figure was much better than the average Wall Street estimate of 2.7 percent and showed a strong acceleration from the 0.9 percent rate of the first three months of the year.

The latest figures, helped somewhat by a massive economic stimulus package, suggest the world's biggest economy had more momentum than previously thought by analysts, many of whom anticipated recession.

"For a recession the economy is certainly growing very quickly," said Avery Shenfeld, senior economist at CIBC World Markets.

Kerry Kicks mccain to Kurb

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:06:58 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: RocK on BaracK!

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Kerry settles scores

Had the 2004 nominee shown such fight during his own race, he might have been in Denver at the Democratic National Convention seeking renomination for another four years in the White House.

"John McCain voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. Ninety percent of George Bush is just more than we can take," Kerry said, in the first of a volley of attacks which stirred up the Democratic convention crowd.

"To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let's compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain," Kerry said.

"Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral.

"Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain's own climate change bill.

"Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote.

"Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you're against it."

Tags: election, usa, campaign, 2008

Clinton to release her delegates to Obama

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:07:12 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will release her delegates to Sen. Barack Obama, a Clinton spokesman said Sunday, the eve of the Democratic National Convention.

Also Sunday, the Democratic Party decided delegates from Michigan and Florida -- states that had been penalized for moving their 2008 presidential primaries to January -- will get full voting rights at the event.

Clinton, who suspended her presidential campaign in June after Obama secured enough delegates to win the party's nomination, will meet with her delegates at a reception in Denver on Wednesday afternoon -- before that evening's delegate vote on the nominee, spokesman Philippe Reines said.

"[The reception is] an opportunity for Sen. Clinton to see her delegates -- many for the first time since the primaries ended -- thank them for their hard work and support and most importantly, to encourage them to support and work for Sen. Obama as strongly as she has, in order to elect him in November," Reines said.

Tags: clinton, obama, politics

Clinton supporters not happy

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:49:17 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com

a former Clinton strategist told CNN's Candy Crowley. "Focus on the politics of it and you have about a quarter of Clinton loyalists still not joining the caravan…for God's sake, not to even make a show of taking her seriously is flatly stupid."

A top Clinton advisor also told CNN they were "outraged," over how the process was conducted.

You can't put [Obama VP vetters] Eric Holder and Carolyn Kennedy on an hour plane ride to Chappaqua just to check the box?

"They thought her supporters were mad before? They are really mad now," this person also said. We knew it was never going to happen but you would have thought they might at least make a show of it."

"I think there are a lot of Hillary voters who are going to say, 'Hey, wait a minute, man You said you were going to put her on the short list. You know, you didn't even vet her. You didn't call her. You didn't seek her advice,'" Begala said

he didn't seek President Clinton's advice either

Tags: obama, clinton, biden, election, politics, democrats

47% of dem women wanted Hillary as VP

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:38:08 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: www.rasmussenreports.com

Nearly half of Democratic women (47%) say Barack Obama should have chosen Hillary Clinton for his running mate instead of Senator Joseph Biden as the former First Lady prepares to speak tonight at the Democratic National Convention. Thirty-nine percent (39%) disagree.

Only 35% of Democratic men believe Hillary should be on the ticket

Interestingly, younger voters prefer Clinton on the ticket.

While Democrats overall by a 61% to 33% margin give Obama the nod over Clinton as the candidate best able to beat McCain, unaffiliated voters, perhaps the key bloc at play in this election cycle, prefer Clinton 48% to 33%.

Clinton continues to get high marks for her conduct since quitting the race for the nomination on June 7, despite a great deal of reported behind-the-scenes intrigue over her speech at the convention and putting her name in nomination. Sixty percent (60%) of voters rate her conduct good or excellent, while only 10% characterize it as poor.

Tags: hillary, clinton, obama, democrat, poll, election, politics

Democrat convention bounce....for McCain

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:42:49 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: www.rasmussenreports.com

The Democratic National Convention has begun and the poll numbers are bouncing, but not in the direction that most people anticipated.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows Barack Obama attracting 44% of the vote while John McCain also earns 44%. When "leaners" are included, it’s still tied with Obama at 46% and McCain at 46%. Yesterday, with leaners, Obama had a three-point advantage over McCain

Obama is supported by 78% of Democrats while McCain gets the vote from 85% of Republicans. The GOP hopeful also has a slight advantage among unaffiliated voters.

Today’s results are the first based entirely upon interviews conducted since Joe Biden was named to be Obama’s running mate.

Obama’s support has declined in each of the last three individual nights of polling.

McCain is viewed favorably by 57% of the nation’s voters, Obama by 53% (see trends). Clinton is viewed favorably by 47%.

Tags: mccain, obama, biden, election, politics, poll

For McCain, Not All Multimillionaires are 'Rich'

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:05:30 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: From last night's "almost a debate, but not really" at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California; McCain blows a question very badly, handing ammo to critics (like me) who say he's out of touch and an economic lightweight:

Clip Source: dyn.politico.com

Asked his definition of "rich," McCain tossed off “$5 million,” then seemed to recognize this could join the list of comments he has tossed off in the past that have come back to him in attack ads.

”I'm sure that comment will be distorted," McCain said. "The point is we want to keep people's taxes low. ... I don't want to raise anybody's taxes."

Tags: news

Climate Change Is Already Affecting the West's Water

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:15:38 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Unless it slaps them in the face, the typical American can't be bothered by an abstract threat. If there's a global warming event -- a mammoth hurricane, tornado, or forest fire -- in our neighborhood, then we get concerned. From this perspective, the loss of a few thousand acres of ice in a remote corner of Montana hardly seems significant. Most of us don't see it as a danger sign.

But it is. Disappearing glaciers is a harbinger of huge problems. In the West, the most obvious is drought.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

By 2020 Glacier National Park will be "Puddles National Park" and the rest of the west won't be much better off. So where's the concern?

It's said our primeval ancestors had a simple arithmetic system: "One, two, three, many." That describes the focus of many 2008 voters, whose concerns are the economy, energy prices, Iraq, and "those other problems." As we get closer to the presidential election, most Americans aren't worried about global warming. Maybe they will be when they turn the tap and no water comes out.

In early August we toured Glacier National Park with the Sierra Club, catching a glimpse of several of the humongous ice fields. In 1910 there were 150 glaciers in the park; now there are 25, which are losing 9 percent of their mass per year. Sometime between 2015 and 2020 they'll disappear. Locals joke the 1.4 million acres will be renamed "Puddles National Park."

Why isn't global climate change seen as a more important issue?

Woman has 200 orgasms a day

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:27:05 GMT

clipped by: coonhnd
clipper's remarks: Rest of amazing Sarah here--->http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/article5651.ece

Clip Source: www.newsoftheworld.co.uk

Woman has 200 orgasms a day

Sarah, 24, suffers from Permanent Sexual Arousal Syndrome

PRETTY Sarah Carmen is a 200-a-day orgasm girl who gets good, good, GOOD vibrations from almost anything.

The rumble of a train on the tracks, the purr of a hairdryer, the rhythmic drone of a photo-copier are all enough to make her go oh oh oh, ahhhhh.

She had FIVE orgasms during our 40-minute interview. But I can't take the credit—it was just talking about her sex life that set her off.

Sarah, 24, suffers from Permanent Sexual Arousal Syndrome (PSAS), which increases blood flow to the sex organs.

Sarah, from London, developed PSAS after being prescribed anti-depressants at 19.

"In six months I was having 150 orgasms a day—and it has been as many as 200."

Noisy

She has also had embarrassing moments in public. Going to noisy bars and clubs is out of the question as the vibrations send her wild.

Problem

"With me, it was a means of releasing my orgasm, but now I know I don't have to have sex to do that."

Tags: orgasms, amazing, strange, syndrome, disorder

Just Say No To Socialized Medicine

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:55:47 GMT

clipped by: bmeuppls
clipper's remarks: True, other developed nations may spend less on health care as a percentage of gross domestic product than the United States does — but so does Sudan. Without considering value, such statistical evaluations are worthless.

And one of the primary reasons health care costs more in America is that we are a wealthy country that demands the best. And, we’re investing a lot more in medical research.

The United States produces over half of the $175 billion in health care technology products purchased globally. In 2004, the federal government funded medical research to the tune of $18.4 billion. By contrast, the European Union — which has a significantly larger population than the United States — allocated funds equal to just $3.7 billion for medical research.

Clip Source: www.powerlineblog.com

According to an August 2008 study published in Lancet Oncology, the renowned British medical journal, Americans have a better than five-year survival rate for 13 of the 16 most prominent cancers when compared with their European and Canadian counterparts.

With breast cancer, for instance, the survival rate among American women is 83.9 percent. For women in Britain, it’s just 69.7 percent. For men with prostate cancer, the survival rate is 91.9 percent here but just 73.7 percent in France and 51.1 percent in Britain.

American men and women are more than 35 percent more likely to survive colon cancer than their British counterparts.

It’s no wonder then that foreign dignitaries living in countries with socialized health care systems routinely come to this country when they need top-flight medical treatment.

Tags: healthcare

Pelosi Doesn't Know That Natural Gas Is a Fossil Fuel

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:26:59 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: And then, let's not leave Obama out.v Obama says, "I want to make sure in ten years, no more using oil. Not going to use oil in ten years, I'm going to make sure it happens." How are you going to do that, sir? You don't run the market. "I'm going to make sure we have a million cars running on electricity in ten years." Where's electricity going to come from, bumble brain? You don't want any nuclear power plants built to produce it, where the hell are you going to get the electricity, where we going to get it? We get it from coal. Pardon my incredulity here, folks, but, you know, we always ask ourselves, how in the world do we get these people? Why does neither party have somebody worth voting for half the time?

Clip Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

RUSH: Nancy Pelosi yesterday, Brokaw says, "I think most people understand that, but at the same time if we work our way off carbon based fuels in the meantime, this is not going to happen overnight.

PELOSI: You could reduce the price at the pump immediately with (inaudible). You can have a transition with natural gas. You can have a transition with natural gas. That is cheap, abundant and clean compared to fossil fuels. The Bush administration, two oil men in the White House, they want us to believe that the status quo is what we should do and more of it -- and more of it, when it will just only keep us in the same place that we are now.

RUSH: Again, you know, folks, she's just wrong about this, it's just how badly wrong she is, how embarrassing. This would get somebody laughed out of a high school classroom. Yeah, not anymore maybe, but in some classrooms, private school classrooms it would get somebody laughed out of the place.

Tags: pelosi, fossil fuels, carbon based fuels, natural gas, obama, electric cars, democrats

WaPo: 'Obama Tax Plan Would Balloon Deficit'

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:02:43 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: -- "It's not unreasonable to say, 'We're inheriting a budget that's going to have substantial deficits into the future'....But after we've been saying, 'Bush has irresponsible policies we can't afford,' he will be asking us to replace them with different policies we can't afford,' " said a Democratic congressional aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity so he could speak candidly.

-- "Leaving some of the tax cuts in place would cost us a small fortune," said Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), a member of a group of conservative [!] House Democrats known as the Blue Dogs who have been adamant about following pay-as-you-go rules. "I don't know that any Blue Dog has a good way to pay for that."

Perhaps we should recommend closing the deficit a bit by imposing a tax on newsprint paper, just to see how comfortable the Washington Post and other tax-hiking newspapers are with raising taxes on everyone and everything.

Clip Source: newsbusters.org

"Obama Tax Plan Would Balloon Deficit, Analysis Finds." The Post is highlighting research from the "nonpartisan" Tax Policy Center, a project of two liberal think tanks, the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute.

Measured against current law and against the promises of his fellow Democrats, Obama would rack up huge deficits. According to a recent analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Obama's tax plan would add $3.4 trillion to the national debt, including interest, by 2018.

This is a challenge to the Obama-loving media. Network anchors like Matt Lauer and George Stephanopoulos have used the Tax Policy Center estimates against John McCain. Will they report these numbers and offer negative coverage to Obama?

Don't look for the Heritage Foundation or the Cato Institute in this article. Montgomery's story relied entirely on policy analysts who oppose extending federal tax cuts (with the exception of Obama spokesman Jason Furman). She calls them "deficit hawks." They include:

Tags: obama's tax plan, brookings institution, urban institute, tax policy center, budget deficit

Hey! Let's Give 1.7 Trillion $$$ to Corporations!

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:32:01 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: "I think there's a very good chance he will change his position, yet again. He's changed his position on taxes many times, and I think he probably will change it again - because his target audience now is no longer conservative activists, its actually middle of the road voters. And most voters do not find 1.7 trillion dollar for corporations a great agenda. So we expect that he will change it up a little bit."

Clip Source: www.electionunspun.org

The John McCain Tax Cut Flip Flop

After opposing President Bush's Tax Cuts in 2001 and 2003 Senator John McCain was on the hit list of many conservative groups that felt his tax policies were too liberal. But now that he is running for president McCain has changed his position

Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Robert Gordon to talk about the switches McCain has made to appease the conservative masses.

So he, basically changed his mind, and not only endorsed extending the Bush tax cuts, but also endorsed new tax cuts, very much tilting toward the wealthy and corporations.

"The biggest new tax cut he is proposing is a 1.7 trillion dollar tax break for corporations. He is proposing to lower the tax rate that corporations pay, and to allow them to deduct the cost of new equipment much more quickly. And together, those to measures would cost 1.7 trillion dollars, and .. all that money would go to corporations."

Interview

Tags: debt, deficit, dollar, mcconman

Tensions Boiling Over Between Obama-Clinton Camps

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:32:17 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: to Obama’s victory, it is up to Obama to accommodate them.

In fact, some senior veterans of Clinton’s presidential campaign do believe this.

“He has not fully reconciled,” said one political operative close to the Clintons, “and he has not demonstrated that he accepts the Clintons and the Clinton wing of the party.”

While the Clintons have a relatively easy job in Denver — to deliver gracious speeches and accept what are likely to be loud cheers from their supporters — it is “Obama who has the heavy lifting” this week, this aide said.

This is because large numbers of Clinton backers — 30 percent in a recent ABC/Washington Post poll — are still not backing Obama over McCain.

The peevishness on both sides and the volume of behind-the-scenes catcalls are noteworthy because both the Clinton and Obama teams had resolved in pre-convention talks that it was overwhelmingly in the interests of both sides to get along.

Clip Source: www.politico.com

As Democrats arrived here Sunday for a convention intended to promote party unity, mistrust and resentments continued to boil among top associates of presumptive nominee Barack Obama and his defeated rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

One flashpoint is the assigned speech topic for former president Bill Clinton, who is scheduled to speak Wednesday night, when the convention theme is “Securing America’s Future.”

The former president is disappointed, associates said, because he is eager to speak about the economy and more broadly about Democratic ideas

This is an especially sore point for Bill Clinton, people close to him say, because among many grievances he has about the campaign Obama waged against his wife is a belief that the candidate poor-mouthed the political and policy successes of his two terms.

A prominent Obama backer said some of Clinton’s lieutentants negotiating with the Obama team are “bitter enders” who presume that, rather than the Clintons reconciling themselves

Tags: bill clinton's political and policy successes, hillary supporters are “bitter enders”