Letters to the Editor
Uncle Fester
Published Letters: 1346 Editor's Choice: 12
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This is ad is crazy
[Read the article: GOP congressional candidate parodies Clinton "3 a.m." ad]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Non military spending during the Bush years was the highest percentage of GDP since the Great Society of LBJ. Bill Clinton did a good job of defict reduction.
I sure hope her opposition is paying attention.
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Is it true? Basically
[Read the article: No revote in Florida]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I would just add to what has already been said. Although the Republican majority pushed through the primary date change in FL, it's clear that the Democratic leadership in Florida wanted to move up the primary date as well. They were convinced (like everybody else) of the conventional wisdom that everything would be decided on February 5th. So they wanted to weigh in before that and make FL a decider. Little did they know....
You can google around and find quite a bit of editorals on this subject.
I think Dean's big mistake was stripping all delegates. He should have cut them 50% like the Republicans and let the primaries go ahead. Everbody would have campaigned and voted, and a penalty would have been applied. We would be in a different mess instead of this one.
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Why? Too busy making money
[Read the article: Nightmare on Wall Street]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Moreover, if investors don't understand the inherent risks in derivatives then the seller of the instrument should have a better explanation for how it works. If they can't do that then the derivative doesn't make any sense to own and shouldn't be sold. But millions of people flocked to them on the promise that it would work somewhat like magic
I agree pretty much with what the bees have said, but with a few points. First, there's an inherent conflict of interest. Huge bonus money in the seven to eight figure range has been at stake for the Rocket Scientists cooking up these instruments and the salespeople selling them.
Institutional investors looking to "safely" juice the returns bought the magic based upon a limited historical track record and credit rating assurances. They cut corners to look good and get bonuses.
And finally, even people working with their own strategies and models, presumably self honest, have made horrible mistakes. LTCM blew up after real life exceeded the parameters of the models they were using, despite the hard core veteran team, including noble prize winning economists.
They turned out to be right in the end, but had gone broke in the meantime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTCM
If you can press button A and get a 100,000 dollars or button B and get 10 million, how many people are going ask about the fine print on button B?
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billcap: not free and fair
[Read the article: Getting ready for the long, long haul]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If it didn't count, it doesn't count. If you believe in the strict application of the rule of law it shouldn't matter if it is 1 vote or 10 million. A lot of people showed up to vote because other items where on the ballot.
Yes it does bother me that it doesn't count. But to retro-actively claim it counts, and to pretend that it was free and fair is a bit much for me.
That's why I was looking for a new vote and maybe some sort of penality like a reduction in the total number of delegates. It maybe within the rules to cut a deal, but that's a lot different than saying the will of the people should be honored as-is, because it wasn't the will of the people.
Also, what I don't understand is why the state democratic party refused to settle with the DNC. I find it hard to believe they weren't aware of Supreme Court opinion on this topic. And why didn't the millions of engaged Florida voters not pressure the local democratic party to cut a deal with the DNC?
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KateTex: There are no good trolls
[Read the article: The crazy uncles in Obama's attic]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Kate, if you keep cherry picking little bits and pieces from articles, you're going to get a reputation as a troll.
Here's the same article you quoted.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/obama/000317/
Here's some other bits from the same article:
Obama was a leader on an ethics bill that limited the gifts legislators can take from lobbyists and ended the practice of using campaign funds for personal use. (The senator's always been Paul Simon pure when it comes to taking gifts. He says he's one of "three or four" senators who won't let lobbyists buy him dinner.) He also worked to double the personal exemption on the state's income tax, figuring this would help low-income families. Republicans, who love tax cuts, willingly went along. Now Obama wants the state to institute an earned income tax credit for the poor. He also has introduced legislation to require drug companies to charge Medicare the same rates as their best customers, which would lower the cost of medicine for seniors. And he is asking the secretary of state's office to compile statistics on traffic stops, to see if minority drivers are targeted more than whites.
"We have more in common with the Latino community, the white community, than we have differences, and you have to work with them, just from a practical political perspective," he says. "It may give us a psychic satisfaction to curse out people outside our community and blame them for our plight. But the truth is, if you want to be able to get things accomplished politically, you've got to work with them."
Wow, sounds like a totally different dude! See what I mean? If you want to be treated as someone not to be taken seriously, then by all means continue.
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Re: The Crazy Skeletons in Obama's Closet
[Read the article: The crazy uncles in Obama's attic]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, the angry black people who have gotten screwed over and have been unable to get over it. Let's not elect Obama and we can go back to forgetting about them.