I don't have any proof of that or anything but I heard something about it on the Colbert Report. Has his office released any pictures or evidence refuting that claim? The American prublic demands answers.

As for drug testing. I have never taken drugs in my life. You won't even find a bottle of Asprin in my place. I do not drink alcohol. But I find drug testing to be demeaning and wrong. I should not have to prove I'm clean. That violates the basic precept of democracy that requires the state to demostrate some legal basis before they can subject me to a search.

If Posey is so fund of them than EVERY member of congress and their staffs should be subjected to regular (say monthly) drug testing along with random testing to prove they are not 'legislating on drugs'. Given many of the votes in congress I think there is legitimate concern that many in congress are operating with dimished capacity.

When our few remaining descendants look back on the late 20th and early 21st century there will long treatises written on the complete failure of American 'democracy' to deal with long term complex global issues. There will be laments to the billions dead the irrevocable damage done to the environment.

CBS use to burn off dead pilots during the summer as filler.

Allow me to belabor the obvious one more time. Just as on 2002, there will be no job creation in the supposed 'recovery'. What few jobs might be created will pay less money than the jobs that were lost.

As it is presently structured the US economy is no longer capable of producing wealth for the middle class. Manufacturing continues to be off-shored or automated away. There is zero incentive

to raise wages in the service sector.

As I keep saying, absent significant structural changes the US middle class will continue to disappear. I have yet to hear or see any compelling evidence that contradicts that statement.

Because a healthy population can aim better?

Or more likely, healthly people tend to be more intelligent thus making the conservative mindset an even rarer commodity.

I have a some wonderful beach front property to sell you in Arizona. Marvelous veiws of the Pacific right from your front porch.

Seriously, you are surprised that Citigroup is jacking up rates as much as possible before the rules change?

You've been covering business matters for how long?

Many climate scientists are saying that if action is not taken in the 3-5 years to start significantly curbing emissions than we're out of luck on slowing or reducing the effects of climate change.

The problem is we effectively LOST 8 years of that 'slow incremental' process when Bushco killed Kyoto and killed virtually any initiative related to the environment.

Actually we should have heeded the words of then President Carter back in the 70s on conversation, reducing our dependence on foreign oil and alternative energies. Reagan killed all those initiatives (with the full support of a Democratic congress lets not forget) and Clinton did little to bring them back into play until too late into his Presidency to do any good.

The jobs we are losing now are not coming back. The manufacturing sector in the US is dying. Fast. Wages continue to be stagnant or declining. The next round of meltdowns in the housing market is around the corner as 'Option ARM' and other variable rate mortages began their reset process over the next few months.

We have created a system that no longer generates wealth for the middle class. In the post war years (1945 to the early 70s) the massive productivy gains made by workers was much more evenly distrubuted throughout the economy. Creating an economic model that was the envy of the world.

Since the mid 70s that system has collapsed.

We have become an economy based on debt. Wages have frozen. The massive productivity gains made and the wealth created by them over the last 30 years have gone largely to the top 5% of the population. The banking system creates 'wealth', not by investing in the real economy (factories, buildings, products etc) but by trading in 'derivatives' and other finacial tools that basically swap fake money back and forth. Looks good a balance sheet but it does nothing to put people to work or pay the bills for the 95% of the population that's kept out of the game.

I see nothing that will significantly change that dynamic any time soon.

Take immigration out of the picture and US population growth has been close to zero for a couple of decades. Europe and Japan are either experiencing or close to negative population growth already (the only thing keeping the overall population numbers up is longer lifespans). In the developed world the highest birthrates occur at the lower income levels and among immigrant populations. Among the middle and upper classes, one and two children families are the norm (and increasingly families with no children)

The greatest amount of growth in the population (highest birthrates) occurs the developing world. Something like 30-40% of population many middle eastern countries is below 25. Similar patterns can be seen in Africa and SE Asia.

In other words, the evidence very clearly shows that higher standards of living correspond to lower birthrates. So the people you are complaining about are, for the most part, already limiting the size of their families.