Well, I for one wouldn't know what column to put myself under. A little of this, a little of that, mostly none of the above.

But I firmly believe that there is a lot of bullying going on. And what I can only describe as peeing in the pool.

And to me that's a sign of desperation. That means the bullies are not measuring up when it comes to the marketplace of ideas and hard work that they give such mock lip service to. Ironically they want the communism where their sloppy, lazy ideas are granted the equality of thinking persons.

So rather than cede this space to nihilism, I would encourage everyone to just ignore these dudes until they shape up.

Color me in as one of those capitalistic libtards. Doing' my bit to reverse the trade deficit.

A lot of folks seem to be bringin' the talking points, but little else. I wonder if they ever read a balance sheet or worried about making payroll. Maybe they should buy some stock instead of lottery tickets.

I am extremely leery about the current bill. I don't think it does enough to control costs and has too much corporate giveaways. We'll see what happens down the road.

But anybody who has to pay the bills and is not in a fantasy world (or has liquidity north of seven figures) understands that the current system is broken. I'd start with giving those bedrocks of capitalism, negotiation and wholesale pricing back to these programs.

will [... ]kill small businesses.

Do your actually have a small business?

I've run one for years. Our cost of healthcare went up 18% last year in the 'neo-depression'. Rising healthcare costs are killing us now. What are your solutions? Tort reform is not going to get it done.

Bro, there doesn't appear much to suck on. Let's boil it down:

Some intertubes dude thinks AP went to far, but doesn't want to comment on the legitimacy one of the central pillars of the Palin 'legacy', her street cred in the form of Energy Policy guru and getting shit done. That's pretty weak.

In fact, I'd give it a FAIL.

As far as I know, THERE IS NO GAS PIPELINE from Alaska through Canada at the moment.

There is no approval, no budget allocated, no people working on it. A little of teh google would have revealed stuff like this:

[...] The pipeline exists only on paper. The first section has yet to be laid, federal approvals are years away and the pipeline will not be completed for at least a decade. In fact, although it is the centerpiece of Ms. Palin’s relatively brief record as governor, the pipeline might never be built, and under a worst-case scenario, the state could lose up to $500 million it committed to defray regulatory and other costs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/us/politics/11pipeline.html

Don't offend the aesthetics of Tropes and Fox by bringing a knife to a gun fight. Why don't you show us some articles that disprove the NYT? It's over a year old and things may have changed.

I will certainly accept your upgrade to my post and redefinition of what is required.

But I will say that talking shit without the wit is frightfully tedious.

There are quite a few regulars here that post only to bully. And occasionally some of the rest of us retaliate in kind. The bullies then loudly complain about rudeness. It's clear they fear an open and honest debate on issues, and that naturally leads to speculation on their lack of virility. But I think past a certain point these engagements are quite sterile, which is where the civility and manners comes in. I certainly don't want to watch or participate in a war of wits with an unarmed man. That's not art.

I'm also into variety, so civility once and awhile is nice. A little War and Peace.

If I want to know more about Sarah, I will read her books and watch her interviews. Don't you guys read? Aren't you interested in original sources? Not the story of the story?

I'm not interested in hagiography.He does a lot better when he refrains from what he euphemistically calls 'bullshitting' about Sarah.

Sorry Reader. What we have learned is what Reader thinks about Sarah, not what Sarah herself thinks or does. While Sarah has shown signs of a Nixonian level of paranoia and vindictiveness, I have seen little to compare her intellect to that of Nixon.

Hint: This is where you provide fact based examples, not odes of pheromone hazed loyalty.

You can't have one
We won't pay for it
It's not always effective

What I have heard about the report so far is that it is about #3. The Angry want to make it solely about #1 and #2 which is unfortunate.

What it underlines for me is that our medical knowledge is incomplete in many areas. So if the end goal is providing better health care, rather than defending any particular political ideology, it's worth considering what this reports says.

step away from the keyboard?

Enough of the dominance games, bullying, and trying to get each other's goat.

It may be enjoyable to the participants and crude entertainment to others, but you guys need to learn some manners.

In anticipation of any 'He started it' letters, Uncle Fester is not your mommy.

I don't think the numbers support your assertion. If I'm not mistaken, it costs $~40-45/barrel to extract oil from Canadian tar sands. It also consumes lots of natural gas and water.

Our economy has to adapt to the fact that the days of $10-$20 barrel oil are over.

Many forms of alternative energy become cost competitive when oil moves above $50/barrel. Corn ethanol may be a boondoggle but that doesn't mean that other alternatives, such as blue algae aren't.

Taking away fundamental misconceptions definitely qualifies as assault. It's premeditated world view termination.