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Re: Money is bad by Kick+the+Donkey · 2005-01-21 02:48 · Score: 4, Informative · on Big Money Comes Out for the Inauguration

SS is just another slight of hand. His proposal is not that different from the British system implemented under Margrett Thatcher. And look how well that turned out.

His plan is just an excuse to give more money to investment houses...

Re:This whole "There is no crisis" by Kick+the+Donkey · 2005-01-18 09:21 · Score: 1 · on Mathematics of the Social Security "Crisis"

Oh... and this whole privitization scheme concocted by Bush and Co. ISN'T a fraud? The administrative cost of SS is about 1% of every dollar taken in. The avearge administrative cost of a typical investment house? 10%. Not to mention that other countries that tried to privitize their govn pensions have, at best, broke even. Have a look at the UK.

Bush is clearly faning the flames of crisis to generate a windfall for his friends at the investment houses...

Re:Clinton on the Social Security crisis by jackjumper · 2005-01-18 09:13 · Score: 1 · on Mathematics of the Social Security "Crisis"

You just said it yourself why there's no crisis. In 1998, the system was going to be out of reserves in 2032. Now, seven years later, the date is 2042. So in seven years, the insolvency date has been pushed back *ten* years. Tell me again how that's a crisis?

The fact is, the trustees publish three models. Only two of them (called conservative and pessimistic, I think) show any problem. The third (optimistic) shows no problem at all. Historically, which has been the most accurate? The optimistic one!

Read more here

Re:Banks and Suckers by jackjumper · 2005-01-18 09:00 · Score: 3, Informative · on Mathematics of the Social Security "Crisis"

That's why there's a surplus now. The above is *part of the plan*. Payroll taxes were raised in the '80s so that the trust would have enough of a surplus to cover the baby boomers. The surplus gets drawn down, as you mention, but once the boomers are gone, it shouldn't be a problem.

See here for more information

Re:Please don't butcher this, please. by gamgee5273 · 2005-01-13 14:57 · Score: 1 · on V for Vendetta Going to Hollywood

Explain yourself. How is Bush not tettering on a totalitarian state.

Even Bob Barr, of the American Conservative Union (and a former rabid-dog House Manager during the Clinton Impeachment), has joined with the ACLU to criticize this administration's moves to hinder personal rights in this country. How in the world can you say this is not a government flirting with fascism?

Re:Cathedral? Bizarre? Who cares? by gowen · 2004-11-22 03:17 · Score: 3, Informative · on Linux 'Awfully Cathedral-Like' - Java's a Bazaar

What have you written ?

A better question is, how much of that software did ESR write? And the answer is almost none.. He maintains a bunch of packages none of which get much maintaining. (Check the last updates of a few).

I haven't written much either, but then I don't describe myself as "one of the senior technical cadre that makes the Internet work"

Re:Time spans by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-29 13:52 · Score: 2, Interesting · on Mother Nature Does Nuclear Power

Whats killing people today is not nuclear power. Its not using nuclear power thats killing people. Consider that a 2.7 mpg increase in the fuel efficiency of automobiles would eliminate the need for foreign oil. Considering that the average car has a fuel efficiency of about 22 mpg, and that oil accounts for about 7% of US energy production, if all the oil that was being used for electricity was nuclear instead, we would be independent of foreign oil. If that were the case, our interest in the Middle East would decline. Events like the first and second Iraqi war would not have occured. Instead, rabid environmentalists are causing people to be indirectly killed because of their failure to understand science and irrational fear of technologies that they don't control.

The importance of energy independence to national security cannot be underestimated.

Gotta love that false balance... by nycfoobar · 2004-10-18 13:54 · Score: 1 · on Computer Problems Already Affecting Florida Voters

BOTH parties you say? Nonsense. Show me anything even close to what the Republicans are currently doing.

The facts are (just a brief snippet really)

SPROUL & ASSOCIATES is directly financed by the RNC. Nathan Sproul is reported as the director of the Arizona Christian Coalitition.

The Charlston Gazette reported on 8/20 Sproul & Associates in West Virginia started a voter registration campaign where ONLY republicans were registered -- not Democrats -- apparently in violation of the West Virginia law. (The article is reported here).

There have been reports posted on the internet from Pennsylvania (on September 17) and Maryland (on September 16) of the the same organization -- Sproul & Associates -- pretending to be workers from the non-partisan America Votes, and registering ONLY Republicans. To obtain locations to set up shop, Sproul and Associates apparently lied to puiblic librarians about being non-partisan. (The internet postings, that took place on a librarian network, are reported here.

On September 22, Sproul and Associates did the same thing in Oregon. This is a plain violation of Oregon law, according to Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury in an interview with Northwest Cable News. See here. It also appears that another Republican group engaged in "bait and switch registration", at least according to the Daily Vanguard.

A few days ago, CBS reported that an organization in Nevada called Voters Outreach America was THROWING OUT registration forms filled out by people trying to register to vote as Democrats. The American Prospect has reported that Voters Outreach America is under contract with Sproul & Associates.

And then, of course, there is the widely-reported story from South Dakota, where the nephew of Thune, the Republican challenger to Tom Daschle, has been caught fraudulently obtaining absentee ballots for Republicans. A criminal investigation is pending. Top Republicans have been forced to resign.

What it appears here is that there are reliable reports of GOP operatives in at least SIX states engaging in sytematic and repeated attempts at voter fraud. From only registering republicans, to falsifying absentee ballot requests, to destroying democratic voter applications, this appears to be a coordinated effort at all levels to swing the election illegally to the Republicans. In fact, things are so bad that former SD goveror Janklow has issued a public statement saying that the national GOP is encouraging voter fraud.

So, sorry, it's not both parties. It's the Republicans. Show me anything comparable done by Democrats, and I'll eat my own shit and vote shit, err... Bush.

washington post story corroborates by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-30 15:55 · Score: 2, Informative · on Senator Alleges White House Wrote Allawi's Speech

from TAPPED:

But it turns out that "the U.S. government and a representative of President Bush's reelection campaign had been heavily involved in drafting the speech given to Congress last week by interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi." The same article notes that the official response to some negative data that USAID released a few days ago is going to be to stop releasing the data. The whole story's a must-read, revealing how the entire federal government has been mobilized to fight not the war on terrorism but the president's reelection campaign."

That last sentence is obviously partisan, as suggested by the source, but read the article it links to.

article from the washington post by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-30 15:47 · Score: 0 · on Senator Alleges White House Wrote Allawi's Speech

from TAPPED:

But it turns out that "the U.S. government and a representative of President Bush's reelection campaign had been heavily involved in drafting the speech given to Congress last week by interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi." The same article notes that the official response to some negative data that USAID released a few days ago is going to be to stop releasing the data. The whole story's a must-read, revealing how the entire federal government has been mobilized to fight not the war on terrorism but the president's reelection campaign."

OK, that last sentence is partisan, but read the article.

Re:Republicans vs. Free Speech by Ohreally_factor · 2004-09-27 00:49 · Score: 1 · on Inside Kerry and Bush's Technology Agendas

You remember the congressional hearings with Frank Zappa and Dee Snider? Tipper and Al Gore? Any of that ring a bell?

This might interest you.