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dirtbag
climber
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Dec 15, 2010 - 06:02pm PT
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What AC said.
A real f*#kface. No wonder he's loved here.
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shut up and pull
climber
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Dec 15, 2010 - 06:03pm PT
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1. Renewed the Patriot Act so we can listen to foreign Al Qaeda calls to the U.S.;
2. Kept Gitmo open;
3. Renditioning continues;
4. Keeping tax rates lower
5. Pushing missile defense (aka Star Wars) in Europe
6. The bombing in Afghanistan continues
7. Increased troops in Afghanistan.
8. Reinvigorated the conservative movement leading to the biggest shellacking any party has taken in 70 years.
Damn -- maybe Obama aint so bad after all. Nahhhhh.
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shut up and pull
climber
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Dec 15, 2010 - 06:04pm PT
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Republican obstruction -- the Dems owned the House and Senate by HUGE margins you numbskull. Blame the GOP? Oh please.
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shut up and pull
climber
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Dec 15, 2010 - 06:06pm PT
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DRUDGE HEADLINE: AL QAEDA PLANS CHRISTMAS ATTACKS IN U.S., EUROPE
But wait -- I thought because Obama apologized to the Muslim world that the suicide bombers would love us? I mean, he wants to be nice -- why can't they be nice?
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shut up and pull
climber
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Dec 15, 2010 - 06:13pm PT
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Such profanity.
63 House seats.
Ahhhhhhhh
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shut up and pull
climber
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Dec 15, 2010 - 06:16pm PT
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EVEN SWEDEN GETS IT.
December 15, 2010
The Brighter Europe
By Alvaro Vargas Llosa
STOCKHOLM -- Not everything in the European Union is rotten. A few countries stand out for grounding their economic model on sounder foundations in the second part of this waning decade. They show the rest of Europe the way.
Sweden is one such case. In the last quarter, this Scandinavian kingdom achieved an Asian-style rate of economic growth -- 6.9 percent -- compared to last year. Although the reforms of the governing "bourgeois" bloc -- the Moderates, the Centrists, the Liberals and the Christian-Democrats -- are more gradual than bolder spirits would want, Sweden has been steadily paring down the statist excesses of the socialist era that for most of the 20th century was eponymous with the country. This is why the coalition was re-elected three months ago.
Before and after the financial crisis of 2008, the government maintained a prudent fiscal policy, substantially reducing the debt in times of plenty. Even in the aftermath of the bursting of the housing bubble, when government stimulus was the universal policy du jour, Sweden incurred a deficit of barely 1 percent of the size of the economy (the fiscal purse will soon be in the black again). In the last four years, taxes, especially those that hampered job creation, came down while subsidies that encourage idleness were slashed. In turn, private banks, which had lent heavily in the Baltic states, have weathered the financial storm thanks to the rebound of that region.
By contrast, economic growth in the troubled eurozone will average between zero and 1 percent this year, while the markets continue to bet, despite the bailouts, that Greece and Ireland will default on their sovereign debt; that Portugal will be the next theater of financial drama; and that Spain, struggling under government deficits and private debt, is too big to fail and too big to be rescued.
It is particularly ironic that the shining star in this dark firmament is Sweden, long regarded as a socialist paradise. Sweden ceased to be that a long time ago, as many scholars have explained. This is a country where education and health care underwent the type of reform -- the adoption of choice and competition, a decentralization that returned power to parents, students and patients -- that causes howls of protest in the United States and other European nations. In 2009, the government expanded the reforms: Patients are now free to choose their care centers, and private companies are free to enter the system as primary health providers.
Over the years, Sweden did a much better job publicizing its multinationals -- Ericsson's technology, Ikea's furniture, Volvo's luxury cars, SCA's paper products, etc. -- than its gradual break from the socialist myth that fed the imagination of intellectuals and politicians.
The Swedes were able to build a highly interventionist model during part of the 20th century because they had accumulated, since the 19th century, an extraordinary amount of capital due to their innovative businesses. Their entrepreneurial rise had in part been rooted in a history of bottom-up structures -- a rule-of-law tradition and a peasantry steeped in private property -- that spared Sweden the feudal legacy that preserved stark class distinctions in other parts of Europe. The subsequent socialist era consumed part of the capital and sapped a big deal of the productive energy. But once it reached a crisis point, it was gradually reformed during part of the last couple of decades. The current government has gone further.
Will Sweden continue to succeed despite the rigors of the European environment in the years to come? After all, there is $2 trillion of sovereign debt outstanding in so-called peripheral countries of the EU -- and most of the creditors are European banks. Sweden's prime minister, the popular 45-year-old Fredrik Reinfeldt, is convinced that some countries, particularly Britain, where painful remedies are being adopted, will be successful. Sweden, half of whose industrial output is related to engineering and whose economy is geared toward worldwide trade, should continue to play a salient role in global technology.
However, the Swedish government is also highly pessimistic about Spain. And if it is right in its prognosis, it is hard to see how the general European environment will not directly challenge Sweden. Given its economic magnitude, a Spanish crisis of the Greek and Irish kind would probably impair the chances of recovery for the European Union for years to come.
Alvaro Vargas Llosa is a senior fellow at the Independent Institute and the editor of "Lessons from the Poor."
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dirtbag
climber
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Dec 15, 2010 - 06:16pm PT
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Obama has failed to get unemployment to 8%
The evil one
Obama failed to get unemployment over 8%
The good one
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shut up and pull
climber
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Dec 15, 2010 - 07:29pm PT
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Sweden -- cutting taxes, cutting regulation, cutting spending, cutting debt.
Britain -- cutting spending, cutting debt.
Many Euro countries -- cutting spending, cutting taxes.
Gee -- I wonder why?
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shut up and pull
climber
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Dec 15, 2010 - 07:30pm PT
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Again -- why do "liberals" who tell us they are for protecting freedom vote for Dems who want to expand the role of government in our lives?
It is amazing the trust and love "liberals" have for government.
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shut up and pull
climber
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Dec 15, 2010 - 07:31pm PT
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AL FRANKEN: I had to extend the hated, evil Bush tax cuts-for-the-rich in order to save the middle class.
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Norton
Social climber
the Wastelands
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Dec 15, 2010 - 08:08pm PT
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Turd call, Locker?
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Dec 15, 2010 - 08:35pm PT
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President Obama remains more politically resilient than mid-term election setbacks suggest— and his adjustment to those setbacks may be helping him.
That’s the conclusion of a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which shows the Democratic incumbent leading prospective Republican challengers for 2012 and benefiting from the tax-cut compromise he has struck with Republican leaders. Roughly two-thirds of Americans said Obama has “gotten the message” from voters in November.
“It’s really important to not lose track of his retained strengths,” said Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducts the NBC/WSJ survey with his Democratic counterpart Peter Hart.
But 72 percent of Americans said they like him personally, whether or not they agree with his policies.
In matchups with prospective challengers to his re-election, Mr. Obama holds a 47 to 40 percent edge over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. He opens up a more robust 55 to 33 percent edge over Tea Party champion Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee. Against Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, a lesser known Republican prospect, Mr. Obama leads 47 to 27 percent.
(LET IT BE PALIN!!)
Six in 10 poll respondents called the package “a fair compromise on both sides”, nearly double the proportion saying that either Obama or Republican leaders “gave up too much” in negotiations. And if it fails to win approval, just 15 percent of Americans said they would fault Obama, compared to 70 percent who said they would hold either Republicans or Democrats in Congress responsible.
But the bulk of the public is behind the compromisers.
Arthur Bullock, 53, who sells office equipment just outside of Washington in Silver Spring, Md., said November’s historic electoral loss has made Mr. Obama go “outside the box and go outside the Democratic line.”
“I know you can’t please everyone all the time,” Mr. Bullock said. “But you’ve got to find that middle ground. Great presidents do that.”
Two potential Republican presidential candidates, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, have come out strongly against the deal
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Dec 15, 2010 - 08:48pm PT
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http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/WSJpoll121510.pdf
numbers are VeryPositive,SomewhatPositive,Neutral,SomewhatNegative,
VeryNegative,Don't KnowName/Not Sure
Sarah Palin
December 2010* ..................... 13 15 20 16 34 2
September 2010 ..................... 14 16 19 15 33 3
June 2010 ............................... 13 16 24 12 31 4
March 2010 ............................. 12 18 21 13 32 4
December 2009 ...................... 14 18 23 14 26 5
October 2009 .......................... 11 16 22 15 31 5
July 2009 ................................ 14 18 20 16 27 5
April 2009 ................................ 14 18 24 11 27 6
December 2008 ...................... 15 20 16 15 30 4
October 17-20, 2008+ ............. 23 15 13 13 34 2
October 4-5, 2008+ ................. 26 18 15 15 22 4
September 19-22, 2008+ ........ 26 16 17 12 24 5
September 6-8, 2008+ ............ 30 17 17 10 17 9
Problem is, in spite of her public appearances, her negatives continue to climb and climb.
SUMMARY – BY D/S (POSITIVE – NEGATIVE)
TOTALPOSITIVE TOTALNEGATIVE D/S
Michelle Obama 52 21 31
Hillary Clinton 54 27 27
Barack Obama 48 38 10
Mitt Romney 28 20 8
The Republican Party 38 37 1
Joe Biden 34 33 1
John Thune 5 6 -1
The Tea Party Movement 33 37 -4
The Democratic Party 37 41 -4
Sarah Palin 28 50 -22
Palins negatives are unreal, she appears to be dragging the tea party down
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Dec 15, 2010 - 09:14pm PT
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Norton, there's a popular pic of Harry Reid dropping an F-inger too!
What does that mean? Is it in context, or do you just continually troll DNC crap?
I know you know the pic of which I speak. Let's stop being children.
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Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
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Dec 15, 2010 - 11:23pm PT
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Notice - The busche-chinney clones never want to talk about what those two did to leave this country the way it was 2 years ago, and they certainly don't want to point the finger at chinney's COE-ship at haliburton as possible monetary motive for leaving the country in shambles.
Is there the forgetful nature of the people over there? Or is this the face of denial?
Edit: Kinda figured I'd make the point a little more clear
Edit Edit: Same ass, different stink
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