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gt I wouldn't stand in the middle of a field

Posted By: leftist basher on 2005-09-10
In Reply to: karma is a b___h, isnt it, Bush? - gt

in a thunderstorm, because I'm afraid you've got karma of your own coming.


You're parents may have not been bigoted or judgemental but I believe you have more than made for what they didn't have.  It's said their child has to be so mean, hateful, and bitter.


No the b!t*$ has a name and it's gt.




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Almost there. Unfortunately, like everyone else in my field sm
and other fields, I have to work twice as hard for half the money I made 10 years ago. The lovely government has outsourced the other half of my work to the Indians.
you know in my experience in the MT field I have
than those that have 15+ years of experience in the MT field. It depends on the person and how they handle the knowledge they have...
Left field is right!
nm
Did ya ever think it could be a school field trip?

Most high school kids don't get a chance to see a presidential until they are of voting age.


I don't put any faith in anything MSNBC writes or talks about. They are are for the O.


The playing field has never been more level!

Thanks to affirmative action, white heterosexual males cannot get jobs especially when competing with a person classified as a minority.  Mintorities get college scholarships and acceptance into good schools so universities can meet their quota.  It's ridiculous!  There is a black man in the White House --- I think affirmative action has done its job!


It's time for everyone, no matter their race, be treated equally.  The best PERSON for the job should get the job.  The best student with the best transcipts should get the admission letter and scholarship.  There shouldn't be quotas to fill.  NOBODY should get preferential treatment anymore! 


Just leveling the playing field...(sm)

I thought it was about time for a left wing post to balance out those gazillion posts from the right.  You think its garbage because its from the left -- about the same thing that I think about posts from the right.


As far as Rush goes, it doesn't much matter if you aren't ga-ga over Rush because obviously those republicans that actually have a say in govt are very much ga-ga over him.  You did catch Michael Steeles' apology?  Priceless.


On a level playing field that would be correct...
this is not a level playing field. I don't see her encouraging Obama to do town hall meetings with McCain...and after 18 months running for the #1 seat, he just this past month sat down with someone who was not in the tank for his candidacy. You really don't see how lopsided this is? Obama being inteviewed by the lambs and the left wanting to feed her to the wolves.
School vouchers would even the playing field.
Obviously, you've never had a child in the public school system in a large city.

Vouchers would serve to level the playing field for those of us whose children's schools have gone down the tube thanks to the influx of "at risk youth" (probably the most overused term in existence).

When a public school gets a FAILING grade on their 'no child left behind' (another bogus waste of taxpayer money) progress scores, those kids are allowed to transfer to another school.

Then guess what happens. The school all those inner-city kids are bussed to gets a FAILING grade the next year. So, it's a big fat wad of BS that 'at risk' youths are 'at risk' because they don't have ACCESS to a decent education. From my personal experience, and those of hundreds of thousands of other moms around the country, they simply drag the good school down to their level.

My daughter used to go to an A-rated public high school. Then the 'ghetto school' (the name the STUDENTS called it, so don't rip on me about it) failed for its fourth year and all these 'students' were shoved into the A-school. I guess someone thought they weren't getting their fair shake, and all that was needed was to put them in the 'good' school.

I'm sure you know what happened. That first year, there were countless disruptions for weapons on campus, drug activity skyrocketed, the campus became a 'lock-down' school where all kids' backpacks were searched, teen pregnancies went through the roof (on purpose, which makes me sick) and the students' grades plummeted. The A-school subsequently received Fs each consecutive year.

The kids who ruined their own school didn't give half a drip about learning anything. They slacked off in the back of the class, mouthed off to the teachers, and made it impossible for anyone to learn anything, as the teachers became wardens rather than instructors to deal with the disrespectful little delinquents.

My daughter is now home-schooled. Yet I still have to pay income tax and county 'school tax' for the little monsters who invaded it and ran it into the ground.

And it has nothing to do with color, before you get all high and mighty on me. My daughter's school was a pretty even mix of Black, Caucasian, and Hispanic before AND after the forced bussing. It's about the 'culture' of the kids that came in. To them, hip-hop culture is the only way to live. Gangstas and ho's - that's the ultimate career goal in their minds.

So let's not pretend that vouchers are undesirable. That's a fat, steaming pile of B.S.

Throwing money year after year after year at kids that simply aren't interested in learning is what really drags down the system.
School vouchers would even the playing field.
Obviously, you've never had a child in the public school system in a large city.

Vouchers would serve to level the playing field for those of us whose children's schools have gone down the tube thanks to the influx of "at risk youth" (probably the most overused term in existence).

When a public school gets a FAILING grade on their 'no child left behind' (another bogus waste of taxpayer money) progress scores, those kids are allowed to transfer to another school.

Then guess what happens. The school all those inner-city kids are bussed to gets a FAILING grade the next year. So, it's a big fat wad of BS that 'at risk' youths are 'at risk' because they don't have ACCESS to a decent education. From my personal experience, and those of hundreds of thousands of other moms around the country, they simply drag the good school down to their level.

My daughter used to go to an A-rated public high school. Then the 'ghetto school' (the name the STUDENTS called it, so don't rip on me about it) failed for its fourth year and all these 'students' were shoved into the A-school. I guess someone thought they weren't getting their fair shake, and all that was needed was to put them in the 'good' school.

I'm sure you know what happened. That first year, there were countless disruptions for weapons on campus, drug activity skyrocketed, the campus became a 'lock-down' school where all kids' backpacks were searched, teen pregnancies went through the roof (on purpose, which makes me sick) and the students' grades plummeted. The A-school subsequently received Fs each consecutive year.

The kids who ruined their own school didn't give half a drip about learning anything. They slacked off in the back of the class, mouthed off to the teachers, and made it impossible for anyone to learn anything, as the teachers became wardens rather than instructors to deal with the disrespectful little delinquents.

My daughter is now home-schooled. Yet I still have to pay income tax and county 'school tax' for the little monsters who invaded it and ran it into the ground.

And it has nothing to do with color, before you get all high and mighty on me. My daughter's school was a pretty even mix of Black, Caucasian, and Hispanic before AND after the forced bussing. It's about the 'culture' of the kids that came in. To them, hip-hop culture is the only way to live. Gangstas and ho's - that's the ultimate career goal in their minds.

So let's not pretend that vouchers are undesirable. That's a fat, steaming pile of B.S.

Throwing money year after year after year at kids that simply aren't interested in learning is what really drags down the system.
Mabye because this post is WAY out in left field
Try to stick to the subject, okay?
Playing both sides of the field in case she gets in power...sm
Big business 101.
oops typo, *Not Without My Daughter* (Sally Field).....
xxx
With the vast wasteland that is the GOP 2012 field of contenders
don't expect her to come out from under the microscope anytime soon. Nailin Palin will become a national passtime at least until then. It is helpful to document anything and everything along the way so that patterns of behavior and subsequent analysis can be backed up with concrete data, not smear, innuendo and baseless accusations. Pretty much, that's how elections are won, or lost, depending on where you're coming from.
yea? well someone w/middle name Hussein

I'm not voting for Hillary but....


know that it scares the heck outta me and others, Obama.......his middle name is hussein.....


one of the bibles say something to the effect of when the *stuff* happens (the bad stuff) - it's going to happen from the *inside out* -


but glad you are ALL so trusting.......i trust nobody 100%. 


i cannot stand ALL of these candidates this time around......


JMHO - no flames please


Middle class
Didn't McCain define "middle class" as anyone with $5 million???  How realistic is that?  I don't personally have, nor do I know anyone, who has $5 million. The "real" middle class is screwed with either of these clowns.
You have a problem with his middle name?
__
Yes he did in the middle of the night
:{
If the new middle class is $120,000 (sm)

Then my income will just push us into that bracket.  I wonder if that will negate my entire income?  If so, I guess we may be better off if I just quit? Right now I work because I can't afford to quit.  I won't be able to afford it then either so what will I do?  I wonder how many others will be in my situation? 


FYI, we live in a small older home that we are trying to pay off so that when our two children are college-age, maybe we can afford it. We don't live extravagently by any means.  What will happen to people like us?


Middle class? sm
If Obama is elected, that is something that our children's children will be reading about in a history book. It is fast disappearing and will be completely gone if Obama takes office.
Beacuse of his middle name?...sm
My middle name is Ellen.  Does that make me a lesbian?
Exactly! I love that he's using his middle name...
...and throwing all that fear and hatred right back in their faces!
A New Way To Tax the Middle Class

Just call it something besides a tax.


Who Pays for Cap and Trade?


Hint: They were promised a tax cut during the Obama campaign.Article


Cap and trade is the tax that dare not speak its name, and Democrats are hoping in particular that no one notices who would pay for their climate ambitions. With President Obama depending on vast new carbon revenues in his budget and Congress promising a bill by May, perhaps Americans would like to know the deeply unequal ways that climate costs would be distributed across regions and income groups.


Politicians love cap and trade because they can claim to be taxing "polluters," not workers. Hardly. Once the government creates a scarce new commodity -- in this case the right to emit carbon -- and then mandates that businesses buy it, the costs would inevitably be passed on to all consumers in the form of higher prices. Stating the obvious, Peter Orszag -- now Mr. Obama's budget director -- told Congress last year that "Those price increases are essential to the success of a cap-and-trade program."


Hit hardest would be the "95% of working families" Mr. Obama keeps mentioning, usually omitting that his no-new-taxes pledge comes with the caveat "unless you use energy." Putting a price on carbon is regressive by definition because poor and middle-income households spend more of their paychecks on things like gas to drive to work, groceries or home heating.


The Congressional Budget Office -- Mr. Orszag's former roost -- estimates that the price hikes from a 15% cut in emissions would cost the average household in the bottom-income quintile about 3.3% of its after-tax income every year. That's about $680, not including the costs of reduced employment and output. The three middle quintiles would see their paychecks cut between $880 and $1,500, or 2.9% to 2.7% of income. The rich would pay 1.7%. Cap and trade is the ideal policy for every Beltway analyst who thinks the tax code is too progressive (all five of them).


But the greatest inequities are geographic and would be imposed on the parts of the U.S. that rely most on manufacturing or fossil fuels -- particularly coal, which generates most power in the Midwest, Southern and Plains states. It's no coincidence that the liberals most invested in cap and trade -- Barbara Boxer, Henry Waxman, Ed Markey -- come from California or the Northeast.


Coal provides more than half of U.S. electricity, and 25 states get more than 50% of their electricity from conventional coal-fired generation. In Ohio, it totals 86%, according to the Energy Information Administration. Ratepayers in Indiana (94%), Missouri (85%), New Mexico (80%), Pennsylvania (56%), West Virginia (98%) and Wyoming (95%) are going to get soaked.


Another way to think about it is in terms of per capita greenhouse-gas emissions. California is the No. 2 carbon emitter in the country but also has a large economy and population. So the average Californian only had a carbon footprint of about 12 tons of CO2-equivalent in 2005, according to the World Resource Institute's Climate Analysis Indicators, which integrates all government data. The situation is very different in Wyoming and North Dakota -- paging Senators Mike Enzi and Kent Conrad -- where every person was responsible for 154 and 95 tons, respectively. See the nearby chart for cap and trade's biggest state winners and losers.


Democrats say they'll allow some of this ocean of new cap-and-trade revenue to trickle back down to the public. In his budget, Mr. Obama wants to recycle $525 billion through the "making work pay" tax credit that goes to many people who don't pay income taxes. But $400 for individuals and $800 for families still doesn't offset carbon's income raid, especially in states with higher carbon use.


All the more so because the Administration is lowballing its cap-and-trade tax estimates. Its stated goal is to reduce emissions 14% below 2005 levels by 2020, which assuming that four-fifths of emissions are covered (excluding agriculture, for instance), works out to about $13 or $14 per ton of CO2. When CBO scored a similar bill last year, it expected prices to start at $23 and rise to $44 by 2018. CBO also projected the total value of the allowances at $902 billion over the first decade, which is some $256 billion more than the Administration's estimate.


We asked the White House budget office for the assumptions behind its revenue estimates, but a spokesman said the Administration doesn't have a formal proposal and will work with Congress and "stakeholders" to shape one. We were also pointed to recent comments by Mr. Orszag that he was "sure there will be enough there to finance the things that we have identified" and maybe "additional money" too. In other words, Mr. Obama expects a much larger tax increase than even he is willing to admit.


Those "stakeholders" are going to need some very large bribes, starting with the regions that stand to lose the most. Led by Michigan's Debbie Stabenow, 15 Senate Democrats have already formed a "gang" demanding that "consumers and workers in all regions of the U.S. are protected from undue hardship." In practice, this would mean corporate welfare for carbon-heavy businesses.


And of course Congress is its own "stakeholder." An economy-wide tax under the cover of saving the environment is the best political moneymaker since the income tax. Obama officials are already telling the press, sotto voce, that climate revenues might fund universal health care and other new social spending. No doubt they would, and when they did Mr. Obama's cap-and-trade rebates would become even smaller.


Cap and trade, in other words, is a scheme to redistribute income and wealth -- but in a very curious way. It takes from the working class and gives to the affluent; takes from Miami, Ohio, and gives to Miami, Florida; and takes from an industrial America that is already struggling and gives to rich Silicon Valley and Wall Street "green tech" investors who know how to leverage the political class.


middle-aged.....nm
nm
So you think in the middle of a war, this is a good idea? sm
This perfectly illustrates that your hatred for Bush exceeds any care for the safety of Americans.  
Exactly! I don't give a darn WHAT his middle name is...
but I do care about who he is allied with, and have said numerous times that his pastor and mentor is very thick with Louis Farrakahn, and now Farrakhan has come out singing Obama's praises. Talk about hateful racist comments...Farrakhan is a virulent racist.
I agree, take the focus off of middle name, etc.
I agree with these posts, that putting any focus on a candidate's name is just ... well... embarrassing. A few days ago a poster said Obama's name made them "shudder." ??? I'm blown away by the fact that so many people buy into the fear-mongering going on. I'm more apt to listen to someone griping about Obama not seeming to have enough of a plan ... but his middle name? his skin color? all the other bogey-man antichrist nonsense. This stuff about his name and middle name, makes me too not want to even read the posts too.


I heard a conservative radio talk show the other day (Glen Beck) laughing about getting some email about Obama being the antichrist. Even HE was embarrassed and laughing about the pure insanity of sending this tripe around. If you really want a laugh, Google Bush being the antichrist...


Sam did not "leave out" the middle part...
I said "from what I understand." I did not know the middle part; I did not ignore it. Had not had time to research it. Boy, you are quick on the trigger aren't you??

But thanks for posting. I will research it when I have time.

And by the way, addicted people do lots of strange things. It is an addiction. Here awhile back one of the Kennedys...maybe Ted's nephew...the alcoholic one who ran his car over a post in DC...there were considerable strings pulled there too so he would not go to jail, everyone knew he was an alcoholic but it took getting in trouble with the law to straighten it out. What about Teddy and Mary Jo Kopechne? LOTS of strings pulled there. He left the scene of a accident that resulted in a fatality. Don't you think most of US would still be in jail?? He is still a senator, isn't he? People still vote for him, don't they? Let's keep this in perspective, shall we?
I am so totally middle america

and with only a high school diploma. I also believe in Christian values - the actual ones, not the ones that Dobson, Buchanan, et al., supposedly represent.  I do not get offended at the terms because I KNOW many uneducated women who only believe the slogans and information they get from Fox news. Trying to engage them in conversation results in heated statements like the terrorists are walking down every street and we need to fear, fear, fear.  I know that I actively investigate the issues.  Therefore, demographically, I am uneducated, but I take it upon myself to be informed. When Christians are mentioned, I am not offended because I myself can see the distortions and self-righteousness in their spokesmen. 


 


She actually grew up middle class
and made her own money. Then married Sir Rothschild. Why couldn't I have found a guy like that?!?
It is time we have someone speak for the middle
all of the tax breaks quite frankly.  I certainly DO NOT want my husband paying taxes on what is already a big chunk towards healthcare.  If McCain is veteran, which he is, then he need not worry about healthcare; he gets it.  I can take any more tax gouging to help him pay for his luxurious homes! 
The middle class has already all but disappeared under...sm
republican rule. Based on earnings, we have a huge lower class, a very small middle class, and a tiny upper class that makes over 90% of the income in the US.
Abuse of power is SP's middle name.
megalomaniac behaviors. I am particularly impressed by the "woman scorned" tantrum she had against her opponents that ensued within moments after she took office. Looks like Alaska's busy little ethics maid overlooked her own glass house.
The middle class needs to realize

that John McCain's economic plan is designed from the ground up to raise incomes and create jobs for Americans - especially middle-class Americans - and get our economy moving again. It is in sharp contrast to Barack Obama's plan, which does not treat the middle class well and which will reduce jobs rather than create them.


"The McCain tax plan will allow middle-class Americans to keep more of what they earn than the Obama tax plan. McCain will increase the exemption for children from $3,500 to $7,000 per child, and he will provide a refundable health care tax credit of $5,000 for every family. What does this mean for middle-class families? Consider a married couple, one of whom works, earning $55,000 plus employer-paid health insurance of $8,000, and who rent their home and have two young children. Under McCain's plan, this family would receive a tax refund of $2,087 for health care and other things. Under Obama's plan, including his proposed worker's credit, this same family would not get any tax refund; in fact, they will have to pay taxes of $1,213. That's a $3,300 advantage for that family with McCain's plan compared with Obama's.


McCain's plan also provides incentives for firms to hire more workers and to pay them more. He will stop penalizing American firms when they create jobs in America rather than overseas. The U.S. tax code now levies a tax of 35 percent on American firms, the second highest in the world. McCain would reduce the tax to 25 percent, an important reason why his plan creates more jobs than Obama's. Another reason is that McCain will not raise the tax on small businesses, as Obama's plan does. Under Obama's plan, the top marginal income tax rate, which many small businesses pay, will rise to over 50 percent, including his proposed 5 percent increase in the statutory rate, 3 percent for Medicare, 3 percent for Social Security, and 4 percent from the phase out of exemptions.


McCain's economic plan is comprehensive and helps the middle class in many other ways. By promoting domestic energy production, including nuclear power and exploration and production of oil and gas - which Obama has opposed - McCain will reduce the price of gasoline, electricity and heating oil. By promoting free-trade agreements, he will reduce taxes on job-creating exports and reduce the prices that middle- and lower-income families pay for food and clothing. In contrast, Sen. Obama opposes good trade agreements - voting against the Colombia free-trade agreement - that would create jobs in America."


That's a good point. I'm like you in the middle -nm
.....
Does the middle class ever get a break?

All I heard during Barrack Obama's campaign was how he was going to look out for the middle class and how Bush and McCain would do nothing more than make the rich richer.  Well, every time I turn on the news, I cringe.  All I see are crooks.  CEO crooks, rich crooks, and political crooks.  These crooks are getting rich off of taxpayers and we are getting nothing in return.  The initial bailout has done nothing.  The stock market is still extremely low.  The only good thing I've heard of late is that gas is below 2 dollars a gallon right now.  Now GM wants a bailout.  Their CEOs flying in on private jets and asking for a handout.  I truly do not want to get them one because I know it won't change anything.  However, it breaks my heart to think of the millions of people who will truly suffer from this....including my mother.


Now President-elect Obama still claims to be out there for the middle class, but I just don't see it.  His plans will do nothing more than to help the lower class.  The rich will survive as they are rich, but it will be the middle class who again takes the hit.  The more TV I watch, the more I see Obama as nothing more than a puppet of his political party. 


My husband is so stressed out about this economy and his business that he is losing sleep at night.  He had to fire someone yesterday to save costs which means he will have to work a lot more hours to cover for the person he had to let go which will add more stress and little to no downtime for him.  Not to mention the poor bloke he had to fire right before the holidays. 


I'm sitting here at my desk thinking about our monthly house payment and our two kids and I wonder how we will make it if my husband's boss decides to close his store.  Will he send him to another store or will he just let him go?  How will he find another job in this economy that would make enough money to pay our house payment?  What will happen to my mom if GM gets rid of legacy expenses and she loses my dad's pension and her health benefits.  What happens to my brother when his factory goes under and he is left with three kids and a wife to support? 


Is anyone else literally sick to their stomach about all of this?  I feel like I could just hurl and then I turn TV on and see all these crooks and I just want to scream.  I've tried to stay positive and I've tried to give Obama the benefit of the doubt but his pal Bill Clinton is the one who started the housing crisis by forcing bad loans to be given and Obama has done nothing but surround himself with Clintons and I just can't shake the feeling that we won't rebound from this......at least not for a very very long time.


These are the 16 countries in the Middle East...s/m
Countries in the Middle East, they are all Arab
States, except Israel and Iran.

Bahrain

Gaza Strip

Iran

Iraq

Israel

Jordan

Kuwait

Lebanon

Oman

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

Syria

United Arab Emirates

West Bank

Yemen




Obama is middle of the road?
That road must by at the Indianapolis 500, because it only seems to TURN TO THE LEFT.
I followed the news about the Middle East.

Good that the pro-western coalition won. This for everybody involved. What I read is that Hezbullah was not very eager to win the election, too much responsibility. What Hezbullah wants is to keep the veto right.

We will see who wins in Iran.
I'm sorry I'm not just going to stand by
and let you or any other unhinged liberal get away with stating the most stereotypical garbage I've ever heard.  You call us racist and intolerant.  Honey, you could teach the class on racism and stereotyping.
Nor a leg to stand on. nm
x
I cannot stand

Michelle Obama.  She just comes off to me as a bitter and arrogant woman.  Joe Biden are just ignorant sometimes.  He is a likeable guy and I like his smile but the words that come out of his mouth....I bet the dems cringe every time they see him start to talk. 


I would much rather see McCain and Palin in office.  I don't agree with everything they do, but for the most part....I stand along with them on issues. 


I cannot stand behind Obama and the things he stands for. 


Me too and I can't stand her. n/m
x
I will stand behind him, but we do not
know enough about him. Can only hope this is for the good.
Cannot stand her. She is always
picking her religion by flavor of the month.  She always picks her diets by whatever is flavor of the month.  She even had people on her show admit, day after O elected, that they only picked O because he is black.  Now she is trying to win the red colors of the south and turn them blue.  Whatever.  My sister is a flight attendant who had her on her AA flight and she was such a WITCH.  I heard Michelle Obama and Oprah cannot stand each other.
You are serious? I cannot stand the man. Used to
nm
Yes, I do know where you stand...(sm)

and I agree with you about 90% of the time.  However, you are really targeting the wrong people here.  Take a look up above this post.  Here's what I see -- "Obama is a fool...big government...socialism..."  Obama has called for unity in this country, and I wholeheartedly agree that we should be united.  However, the republican leadership and right wing news media are doing nothing but striving for division, and most of the republicans on this board do nothing but echo that.  They obviously can't be reasoned with.  They posted I don't know how many times about how terrible the stimulus is, but when asked their opinion of what should be done we get no answer-- just some wise crack.  The other day one was saying that Obama is taking rights away.  When asked what rights specifically...again, no answer.  And how about that racist post about the aspirin on this board or the email that a pub official sent out with a watermellon patch in front of the whitehouse?  Calling people names?  --- How about Kool-Aid drinkers? 


If republicans want to have a conversation, I'm all for that, but so far only a few on this board are actually willing to do so.  Let's work on that for a while.  Go ahead...ask them what their ideas are about how to solve the economic crisis and see if you get a reasonable answer.  Ask them whether or not they would support a violent revolution as suggested by Hannity's website and whether or not they think it would help the country. 


This country is a mess right now and we desparately need to come together, but when you are dealing with people who would prefer to remain a divided country for the purposes of greed and affiliation, then this is the result.


 


The Iraqi war has further destabilized the middle east. It has....sm
But obviously you don't think so so tell us how it has helepd to stabilize the region?
Freedom agenda in the Middle East?

Did Bush campaign promising a freedom agenda in the Middle East?  I must have missed that during the debates.  In fact, he specifically said he was against nation building when he debated Gore, although in all fairness, he didn't say he was against nation wrecking.


I guess he doesn't understand that the decider created more suiciders than he got rid of.


I can't wait to see how his base spins the long awaited truth from Bush's own lips that there were no WMDs and that Iraq had no ties to 9/11.


May God help us all.


Dems to focus on middle class..sm
Pelosi, Hoyer Say Their Focus Will Be on Helping Middle Class

Monday, November 20, 2006
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi said Monday her new Democratic majority will extend a hand to Republicans in moving the agenda of relieving the middle-class squeeze. She said restoring the military draft will not be part of that agenda when Democrats take over the House in January.

Pelosi, following a strategy meeting with the next House majority leader, Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said she will meet with incoming House Minority Leader John Boehner and we'll find our common ground for the American people.

The principle of civility and respect for minority participation in this House is something we promised the American people. It's the right thing to do, she said.

Pelosi and Hoyer repeated that in the first 100 legislative hours of the new Congress that convenes in January, they will try to pass bills that directly affect the pocketbooks of working-class and middle-class people, including raising the minimum wage, cutting interest rates for student loans and allowing the Medicare program to negotiate lower drug prices.

Other top priorities for January are lobbying reform, implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and rolling back subsidies to the oil industry.

Pelosi said restoring the draft will not be on that list and was not something she supported.

The speaker and I discussed scheduling and it did not include that, Hoyer added.

Incoming Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., caused a stir by repeating a long-held position that a draft is the best way to ensure that all levels of society are represented in the military. Besides Rangel, there is almost no support in Congress for restoring the draft.

It's not about a draft, it's about shared sacrifice in this country, Pelosi said. She said Rangel is a strong voice for social justice in our country and his support for the draft was a way to make a point.

No, if those who do not push for peace in the Middle East sm
establishing a democracy and fighting terrorists there rather than here, if those people are wrong, we will all suffer.  It is certainly much broader than that.  As far as why we don't just get in and kick butt and get out, well, there was a time when we would have.  Now, there are too many liberal watchdogs who on one hand say they support the troops and with the other cut their Achillles tendon.  Forced to fight a PC war, we can never win this.  That's my take on it.
Wow, your ignorance about the Middle East is frightening. sm
But not surprising.