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If I remember correctly, in the debates he said he would be happy to pay more taxes.

Posted By: Amanda on 2008-10-31
In Reply to: Interesting, isn't it................sm - m

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No debates, true...but townhall meetings are not debates....
and it is true that Barack refused all of them. I think it had to do with the format of a town hall meeting. Just my opinion...
Hmm:) I'm the one who spelled it correctly...
..but obviously I didn't know about the incident? Nice try. Made me smile. I think I can see it from your point of view though. Johnson like Bush? Silly. Lying to the American people to get them to accept a war on false pretenses? Oh so silly, go on with your bad self. How in the world would that ever happen? Sheez, the imaginations some people have:)


You heard correctly.

In fact, McCain came out initially and said that he would be suspending his campaign and heading back to Washington and staying until something was done about the financial crisis.  Barry, on the other hand, said he was NOT suspending his campaign and that if they needed him, they could call him.  The only reason Barry went to Washington yesterday was at the request of Bush.  He requested both McCain and Obama to be there.  If it had not been for that request, Barry would never have gone back to Washington and he would have just kept campaigning.


Some people call this a publicity stunt on McCain's part.  Personally, I think it just shows to me that McCain will put his country ahead of his own agenda.  Obama....however, falls way short in this.  Obviously more concerned about his own agenda and campaign. 


McCain did not accept the initial bailout as it would make taxpayers pay for this instead of the people responsible for this.  Another example of McCain looking out for us little guys on the totum pole (us tax payers) and not looking out for the big corporations and millionaires.  So much for Obama's change that we can believe in. 


Did I understand correctly? sm
The BP without the night stick "lives in the building"? I was under the impression that polling places were to be public buildings and not residential buildings. Am I mistaken about this?
GP, do I understand you correctly? sm
You "decided to do some research on the birth certificate." Does this mean that you had not, up to this point, even bothered to look at the evidence? If so, I am shocked.

The site you cited is not an independent site. It is most definitely an Obama site and slanted in his favor. This matter needs to be investigated by an independent source IF such a source can be found in the US.

Now that you have posted your evidence, I hope that you will at least take the time to look at what I present as evidence as it does go into a lot of detail explaining why the document Obama has produced as a birth certificate is, in fact, not a birth certificate or even a legal document for that matter. Yes, it is YouTube, but understand that YouTube is just a vehicle for presenting video over the internet, so please just bite your tongue for a moment and look at the information. I think you will find it interesting, especially if you have not even bothered before now to actually investigate this on your own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAZAbqgpoGQ&NR=1
posts are not posting correctly
Some of these posts are getting hooked up into other posts that had nothing to do with the previous post.  The posts are not posting properly, in other words.  So, I apologize if a response is posted where it should not have been. 
I don't believe you are quoting the Old Testament correctly. sm

Or interpreting it correctly either.  Can you cite me which passages you are referring to?


Yes, i read, and if I understood you correctly...
CNN was circumventing Obama, which is not surprising, because while they do have a liberal bias, they also have a very CLINTON bias. I was just pointing out that they are not a bastion of integrity.
Memory does not serve you correctly.
began long before the dems to control of Congress. Do some research before you spout your partisan blather. That is exactly what is wrong with this country and this board. You are too busy placing blame, whether deserved or not, to realize that you do not know the truth. You believe spin, not facts.

Look up Glass-Steagall, Gram-Leach-Blilley, toxic mortagages, and packaged derivatives if you really want to know how this began. If not, well continue to blather.

Don't bother to respond. I am not bothering to come back here. I thought this board would be different because it is MTs who use their brains for a living, but I guess MTs can be trolls too, as proven by a majority of the posts here. Luckily, I did find a board where, even though they disagree, they do so with logic, intelligence, and reason.

Good luck to you all. You are going to need it.

At least I spelled Liberace correctly. LOL!
nm.
I will remember that one...if you remember...thou shalt not kill. nm
nm
If I understant your previous writing correctly,
apparently you have been missing in action over the last 8 years.  There have been absolutely NO checks or balances, so how would that be any different than what we already have.  Obama ushering in a New World Order?  You have completely misunderstood this whole conversation.  These things have started almost 20 years ago.  It is not NEW, it is now being expounded upon, but NOT NEW!!  Bush played into this all of his 8 years in office...maybe you should look again and read some more.  I am just the messenger.
you did hear correctly and glad you finally brought it up
I'm so tired of hearing about poor Hillary. She did have people bused in from other states to vote (who weren't from that state). I know it because I was watching it on the news (CNN of all stations). Reporters were seeing out of state vehicles and other stuff.

For all the Hillary supporters take a look at just part of her resume:
1. Firing and prosecuting the White House Travel Office employees so she could enrich her friends.
2. Breaking the law on her cattle futures deals as she engaged in insider trading.
3. Having Bill pardon convicted Puerto Rican terrorists to get votes for Hillary in New York.
4. A record of shenanigans in the Whitewater deal which sent the Governor of Arkansas and numerous other people to jail.
5. Trying to reverse the American Revolution with her health care plan (would have given the Labor Department the authority to raise taxes on workers with NO approval from Congress and no limit would have been placed on the tax hikes either.)
6. Her health care task force was fined $250,000 for meeting in secret and violating government opens meetings laws.

She sickens me and I'm tired of her funny numbers. She did not win no matter what she and her followers want to believe. The voting system has been in place since anyone can remember, and now when she doesn't win she wants to change everything to go in her favor. Like I've said before. She needs to go back to the hole she crawled out of and stay here.
She will do well at the debates s/m

I believe she described herself last night as a "pit bull in lipstick."  Biden is already at a disadvantage, he doesn't wear lipstick.  She'll walk all over him.  He is also a pit bull but  they aren't on equal footing.  She's a female. Enter McCain's plan to take the election. 


I'm sure there will be, after the debates. nm
*
post debates

since your first post you have attacked liberals and liberal ideology.  either you are a neocon or an unhappy liberal.  either way, post positive things and I and others will respond..post debates and I and others will debate..dont come on this board and attack..


I can't wait for the debates...sm
And yeah...I agree Hillary lost her thunder when it became evident she was robbing Peter to pay Paul.

can't wait for the debates

A constitutional lawyer is pretty . . . good . . . in debates.


 


Correction...about 22 debates....nm

I don't see why the debates should be canceled.
They are a big deal and I would think now both of them would want us to know where they stand, how they can do under pressure, etc. Bush debated in time of war. Reagan debated in time of war.

I'm not bashing him or calling him chicken as it has been implied. I just think now is the perfect time to hear from the people who are supposed to represent us, especially considering one of them is going to be the next President. Postponing them is not going to help the economy at all, if anything it is just going to cause more speculation, which I personally am tired of - on both sides.

I wish he would extend that halting campaign thing to all of the commercials. I could certainly live with a break from all of those - on both sides. Thank God for DVR and recording everything, I can just forward them. :)
He said this during the debates - I hear him -
Obama said then that things he wanted to do would have to slow down and take a different timetable because of the economic conditions. That he knew choices would have to be made on what could go forward when.
Who's been having *nice debates* here this week?

When you people bring your rudeness to this board, it's never nice.


I'd like to hear from one liberal poster here on the LIBERAL BOARD who thinks you are nice.


are you really that afraid of open debates you need to
reduce yourself to name-calling?

I am unsure who to vote for but one thing I know is it will be for whoever is going to make my life better.

Democrats might tax but the taxes go toward social programs, libraries, schools, afterschool programs, playgrounds, all of which are almost nonexistent where I live now since the last 8 years. Rich people walk around here like they are royalty, they pay no taxes and have no care or interest I helping those less fortunate, spare the very few who do.

the more I see on TV and the more I read on boards like these it seems to me republicans are afraid of democrats. when you see Bush sneering and snickering (many examples on youtube) he is not doing that towards democrats, he is laughing behind the backs of all the republicans who believe his lies. I think the joke is actually on the republicans more than democrats.

I have never seen such people be taken advantage of, and love it so much.

send your children off to war to die, give up all your social programs, take more out of your pocket, all so the rich people can slither around this country at their will with no responsibility toward it. that is left to the poor and the nonwhites.

I am starting to see the bigger picture here, I think Republicans do not believe in social programs because of greed, because no one should be able to make money unless you have the right skin color. Say, how many blacks in Alaska, anyway?

lets all lie down and just die for the rich republicans. here, take my money, my children, my hopes and dreams, my pride - just take it all and make sure to give me absolutely nothing back. Right on!
That's the best suggestion I have heard yet regarding the debates. nm
NM
We will see on Friday. No teleprompters at debates. nm
.
We've been having nice debates over there this week
and I know gt enough to know she couldn't be hounded of a maximum security prison shower. I personally don't command anyone to leave unless they are childish enough to start calling people losers or other names like that.
No debates yet because neither one has been officially nominated as the candidate! nm
x
Debates---sara palin looks terrified!!
Alaska!!! I don't even know where Joe Biden is from and I don't care!!!
Just peeked in on the Conservative board, looking for some *nice debates*

All I saw were you guys *applause applause*-ing each other and the usual ragging on all liberals.  Then I saw ONE courageous soul who attempted to debate with you, followed by the usual and customary *stay off the board* warnings to the poster.


So it seems you guys consider nice debate as ganging up and attacking posters who disagree with you.


Maybe that's the problem here.  We view nice debate in two different ways.


We view it as being nice to other posters and not personally attacking those who disagree with us.  We don't claim to know what they are thinking and feeling in their minds and hearts, and we find those who insist on being nasty to others very distasteful and crude.  We don't LIKE to act the way that you neocons act.  We'd rather be friendly and civilized. That's why you're not welcome here.  It's not because of what you believe.  It's because you are unable to act like decent human beings, and you don't know how to treat other people.


Oh my! I remember him well. I remember we used to call him...sm
tricky d!ck. He lost the election when he appeared at the first television debate against JFK, slam dunk! He was a very crafty, evil man in my opinion and the latest news reinforces my opinion even more. It was so interesting that he eventually did become president years later and proved to be a disgrace to the presidency.
You won't pay more taxes
The fact of the matter is McCain's tax proposals are the same as Bushes - he wants to make the tax cuts for the rich PERMANENT. Therefore, the burden of taxes falls on the backs of the middle class. Yes, I worked for Children Services - by taking in foster children and adopting hard to place children the parents receive quite a few entitlements - that is true. (I'd rather work - I saw how hard it was to raise  "damaged" children).  I had a weekend foster child, as a single mother, with my own 2 children and custody of my neice and never applied for food stamps, medical care, etc. My husband took off and dodged state-to-state to avoid paying childsupport. How we managed, I guess it was just easier then. Obama's tax plan does not include YOU at your tax bracket - you will benefit from his plan - are you benefitting from Bush's? I know we aren't. I'm not asking for pity. 1 out of 3 people will get cancer. I paid for my disabiity insurance and I am still fighting for my benefits (they play games and lie to delay payments), so I will scrap aluminum and do whatever I have to in order to keep food on the table. I'm not lazy. I worked hard raising my children by myself, bought my own home and did not remarry until my kids were adults. I had to write to state representatives in order to get my insurance disability to MOVE. I have written my state representatives before when my ex-husband was dodging child support. I learned to lean Democrat while working at Children Services and also by all the things I learned in college. Those dem state reps helped me and even called me at work to ensure the Bureau of Support was doing their jobs. How can I argue with that? Please read the issues on both candidates and don't believe everything you hear on the news and read on this board. McCain's attack ads are lies and that's sad as we considered him when he ran against Bush. Now he is just another Bushie.
Taxes

mCcain gives back rich.  Obama to give back to middle class.  Simple as that. I have never attended any institute of higher lurnin so that makes me sure I am right.  Too much knowledge a dangeris thingie.


 


More about taxes...
My personal taxes (single renter w/no dependents) WERE higher under Clinton, but there was only ONE reason for that: I was making a LOT MORE MONEY BACK THEN.

That's when my MT paycheck was at it's highest ever, about$40K per year. Since then, my income has gone down (thanks in large part to nobody in Bush's term in office doing diddly to stop the hemorrhage of our jobs out of the US & off to India, Pakistan, Philippines, etc.

And to make things worse, these same companies selling our livelihood down the river were getting REWARDED monetarily for doing so.

So now, I make half of what I made during the Clinton years. (About $20K/year, for doing about twice the work.) Retirement is now almost a virtual impossibility, thanks to the tanking of our stock-market-driven 401K not only after 9/11, but today as well.

I just hope, if we end up with 4-8 more years of this greed on Capital Hill, and throughout our nation's corporate world, that everyone gets used to paying for those who will have nothing. If I lose my job and/or health insurance, then I, too, will be contributing to the money-pit that hospital emergency rooms have become (and which is why they're closing one by one), because that's where I, too, will have to go for my medical care.
Taxes
McCain will raise taxes too.  How else is he going to fund his wars?  Not to mention Bushes bail out of his cronie Wall Streeters, never mind that those execs collected millions in bonuses before they ran the companies into the ground.  We taxpayers are left to pick up the tab.   If Obama sticks to his guns he won't raise taxes on MOST of us, certainly not me, as I don't come close to an income over $250,000 per year...wish I did, I'd be happy to fork over a few extra tax dollars.
taxes are taxes

you don;t get to chose where your money goes.  Only United Way does that.


 


that would still be taxes... nm
x
Even more taxes for us

So Obama plans to let the Bush tax cuts expire.  That equates to more $ from our pockets, just in a different form.  If that's not bad enough, see below--and Snopes is leftist, so they wouldn't publish this unless it were true.  They probably cringed as they posted it.  Y'all must be making some huge bucks at MQ to want even more $ taken out of your checks.  If so, then why all the griping about lost wages?  Can't have it both ways!


Date: Monday, October 6, 2008, 12:00 PM 



 

We could resolve this financial crisis by CLOSING the books on the fourteen listed programs..............WHERE IS THE CONGRESS???

Read this!  It will open your eyes for sure!

Don't miss the Total at the bottom.

WONDER WHY YOU DON'T HEAR MUCH ABOUT THIS IN THE DEBATES.  NONE OF THE
PEOPLE THAT RUN THE DEBATES (TV NEWORKS), WHO ASK THE QUESTIONS WILL
ALLOW THIS TYPE INFORMATION


 TO GET OUT TO THE PUBLIC.

THE DEMOCRATS AND THE REPUBLICANS GO HIDE WHEN THESE QUESTIONS ARE
ASKED, WHY?  WHAT COSTS MORE PER YEAR THAN THE
IRAQ WAR?

Answer:  Illegal Aliens Cause Massive Cuts For US Seniors.  I hope the fo llowing 14 reasons

are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick

of reading them.  I have included the URL's for verification of the following facts:

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year. http://tinyurl.com/zob77


2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and

    free school lunches for illegal aliens. http://www.cisorg/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html  ht

tp://www.cis.org/art
icles/2004/f/iscal.html


3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html


4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally

and they cannot speak a word of English!  http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRA! NSCRIPT S/0604/01/ldt.0.html


5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as



6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html


7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.


http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html


8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare and Social Services by the American taxpayers.
http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html


9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

 

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two-and-a-half times that of white non-illegal

aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US.


http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html


11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also,

as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin

and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report.
http://tinyurl.com/t9sht


12. The National Policy Institute, 'estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between

$206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually! over a five year period.'
http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf


13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin.

http:/ /www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm


14. 'The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants

In The United States'.  http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml

Total cost is a whooping... $338.3 BILLION A YEAR!!!

If this doesn't bother you then just delete the message, but on the other hand, if it does raise the hair on

the back of your neck, then forward it. Snopes is provided for doubters: http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/bankofamerica.asp


SEND THIS TO ALL YOU KNOW. THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES NEEDS TO

KNOW THIS INFORMATION, UNLESS THEY DON'T MIND SHARING THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY WITH



ILLEGAL ALIENS WHO DIDN'T PAY A DIME.

LET US SHOW OUR LEADERS IN WASHINGTON 'PEOPLE POWER' AND THE POWER OF THE INTERNET.

IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU ARE REPUBLICAN, DEMOCRAT OR INDEPENDENT! KEEP IT GOING.

Taxes
Would I have a yearly capital gain of $250.000.--, I would GLADLY pay more taxes, actually only 3 percent more.
40% of that 95% DON'T pay taxes...

where is all the money coming from to pay for all of his programs?


Everyone has to pay taxes, sorry
That's the way it works in our society. It's been backwards for years with the rich getting all the breaks. If you make a lot, you pay more. What is wrong with that?

I doubt that YOU have to worry about it mtstar.
No, we don't need more taxes
but we're gonna get 'em anyway regardless of which one is elected.  How else is that 700 bil bail-out gonna get paid back?
I pay taxes
and I need a break. I know plenty of others are in the same boat also. It's not like only rich people pay taxes. Come on now.

Many of those wealthy people have gotten there by taking advantage of lowly workers who can barely pay fundamental bills. How many times are people on this board bi+c#ing about working harder for less and our jobs going to other countries!

Have you tried to get a new job lately? Multiple rounds of testing and endless interviews to the point where you'd think you were trying to get a CEO position ... when in reality it pays barely over minium wage. pRIcEleSs!

Not all of us poor people aren't working hard or are blowing money on extravagance!
Taxes

Well, then, maybe you'll appreciate the tax break you will see under his administration.


Sin taxes.........sm
I understand the brewers' outrage, but "fair is fair." Smokers have been taxed out the wazoo on cigarettes and they are about to go up another $0.61 per pack as a means of paying for Medicaid. Personally, I don't think it is fair to tax any particular class of person based on their habits to fund government spending. What's next? A tax increase on knitting needles or perhaps scrapbook materials?
Regardless of where the taxes

 come from (state or federal) they will still rise because of the cap and trade Obama wants to institute.  IMO, still his fault because he said himself during his campaign that this would make energy costs skyrocket.  He knows instituting cap and trade will raise costs for all consumers.  Why do some people continually give Obama an excuse for everything.  Nothing will ever be his fault.  He is so perfect and wonderful and who cares if he does something that will end up raising prices on utilities, gas, groceries, etc.  Not like are economy is suffering or anything or that people are barely getting by.  But hey.....Obama is such a great guy...gosh darn it.


So maybe if we don't pay our taxes, the gov't. in
If so, count me in! This year the gov't. is probably only going to get a note from me saying to bill it to AIG. They can afford to pay my share.
Taxes......
Obama’s plan would raise fuel prices by 6% and power prices by 7% on average in 2012...

you think that ain't a tax? This is on the average U.S. citizen of which I assume you are one of? You don't mind paying more for your power so you can continue to work making less and less?

And that is just the beginning....
Happy 4th to you too MT -
...and to everyone! I feel it an appropriate time to remember...I LOVE AMERICA...sappy but true:)Not even THEY can spoil that, ya know.

Happy comet watching! Here's a link for anyone interested in seeing the collision:

http://www.space.com/deepimpact/


http://www.space.com/deepimpact/
So happy here
Bunch of corrupt individuals..Frist is waiting in the wings.
Oh Happy Day






Sunday, Oct. 02, 2005
Power Outage
House leader Tom DeLay's indictment upends the Republicans' to-do list and their outlook for next year's elections. Can they recover in time?

The news that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay had been dreading for months was brought by an aide, who interrupted DeLay's weekly lunch with Dennis Hastert in the House Speaker's office. DeLay absorbed it, and then the man widely called the Hammer on Capitol Hill (though rarely to his face) did what he does best: he hit back. All right, DeLay replied. Let's go. Let's go fight. Less than three hours later, before a roomful of reporters, DeLay addressed a Texas grand jury's charge that he and two political associates conspired to funnel $155,000 in illegal corporate campaign contributions into Texas legislative races. He called it one of the weakest, most baseless indictments in American history and the prosecutor who brought the case a partisan fanatic. That night, anxious to show he's not a recluse, he introduced Rudy Giuliani at a Friends of Israel banquet. DeLay even made an uncharacteristic round of the cable shows, hinting darkly on cnn that he would soon produce very good evidence that his nemesis, Travis County district attorney Ronnie Earle, had engaged in a conspiracy of his own--with the Democratic leadership here in Washington.

Combativeness has seen Tom DeLay through near-death experiences before, but on the Hill late last week, it was hard to miss the signs that his foot soldiers and allies had begun positioning themselves in anticipation of his demise. G.O.P. rules require that DeLay, 58, majority leader since 2003, relinquish his post while he fights the conspiracy charge, and speculation is rife that even if he is acquitted his days as one of the most powerful men in the House could be over. You leave a job like this, there is no coming back, says a top Republican official who likes DeLay and thinks he will be cleared. Politics abhors a vacuum more than anything else, and it's going to move past him too quickly.

Almost immediately, it did. A plan engineered by DeLay and Hastert to install complaisant Rules Committee chairman David Dreier as temporary majority leader was nixed by conservatives who dislike Dreier's moderate positions on stem-cell research and gay marriage. Instead the brain trust installed ambitious whip Roy Blunt, who will share some of the majority leader's duties with Dreier. The setup is so shaky that some House Republicans are pressing for the election of a new leadership team as early as January.

Meanwhile, lobbying shops that had traded on the access to DeLay were desperately dialing House aides to forge new relationships. Those not tied to DeLay were calling the same staff members to gloat. There's millions of dollars on the table, said an aide who had heard from both camps. These guys are going to slaughter each other. What's left of the G.O.P. leadership, already beset by a raft of other political problems, was trying to figure out how to salvage the ambitious legislative agenda of more tax cuts, hurricane help and gas-price relief that they want to carry them to next year's midterm elections--a more difficult challenge with the sidelining of the man who had so determinedly pulled off many of their close victories.

DeLay may not have seen the worst of it yet. Sources tell TIME that while Earle was closing in on DeLay from Austin, Texas, a federal investigation into the spreading scandal around disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, accused with Michael Scanlon (a former press secretary of DeLay's) of bilking their Indian-tribe clients out of $66 million, has begun lapping at the edges of the former majority leader's operation. A former Abramoff associate who was questioned by the FBI in August says, They had a lot of e-mails, a lot of traffic between our office and DeLay's office. Many of those exchanges involved lavish travel by DeLay arranged by the lobbyist but requested, the e-mails suggest, by aides in DeLay's office. (House members are allowed to accept gifts under limited circumstances but not to solicit them.) Says the source: There was nothing I saw that hit DeLay personally, but there was a lot of questionable stuff that was going on with his staff. 'Tom wants this. Tom wants that.' Was it really him or just the staff that was being aggressive? DeLay's office wouldn't comment on the Justice Department investigation, and neither would the FBI.

Republicans had plenty of problems even before the latest blow to DeLay. Voters are angry about gas prices, the war in Iraq and the botched response to Hurricane Katrina. Polls show President George W. Bush at or near the lowest public-approval ratings of his presidency. On the other side of the Capitol, Senate majority leader Bill Frist faces an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into the circumstances surrounding his decision to sell all of his stock in the hospital chain founded by his family, Hospital Corporation of America, in June, just before the share price dropped following a bad earnings report.

So dispirited are Republicans that some worry about losing control of the House--a danger that once seemed remote. We're looking in the crystal ball. We're moving into an area where we don't know what will happen, says deputy whip Tom Cole, a conservative from Oklahoma. With a switch of only 15 seats required to end their majority, Cole is anxious that the party may have to contest as many as 100 tight races if the winds arraying against it turn into a national backlash like the one that ended the Democrats' 40-year reign in 1994. Having seen how the Democrats failed to galvanize their voters in that campaign, Republicans say the chief goal in rewriting their strategy for the fall will be to re-energize their base. The plan taking shape calls for a robust conservative agenda through next spring, including a tax-reform package. That move would allow Republicans to pivot back to issues like education tax credits that would appeal more to moderates as the elections approach.

As for DeLay, his struggles appear likely to consume him for many months. He has launched what amounts to a major political campaign to convince supporters that the indictment is flimsy and he is a victim of a political smear. DeLay pointed to Democrats' vow to use G.O.P. ethics as a campaign issue, and supporters noted criticism of Earle in Texas for speaking in May to a $100,000 fund raiser for a Democratic political action committee (PAC). But DeLay has produced no evidence Earle conspired with Democrats in Washington.

While it's true that Earle and DeLay have been locked in a complicated war of Texas-size egos for years, the charges against DeLay are fairly simple. During the 2002 elections, a committee DeLay founded to support conservative politicians--Texans for a Republican Majority, or TRMPAC--allegedly accepted $155,000 in corporate donations and then included that in a check for $190,000 to the Republican National Committee, which then routed a similar amount to seven Texas legislative candidates. DeLay's lawyers say the transactions were separate and that the PAC accepted money from both individuals and corporations. The contribution helped produce six wins that were crucial to DeLay's political ambitions in Washington because they resulted in a Republican majority in the state legislature, which redrew congressional district lines and helped add five more Republicans to the state's congressional delegation. If convicted, DeLay faces up to two years in prison and a maximum fine of $100,000.

DeLay has done his best to paint the D.A. as a Democratic loose cannon. But Earle, 63, points out that of the 15 public officials he has prosecuted, 12 have been fellow Democrats. Texas law makes it a felony for corporations and labor unions to contribute money to political campaigns, Earle tells TIME. My job is to prosecute felonies. I'm doing my job. The grand jury foreman, William Gibson, 76, insists that this was not one of those rubber-stamp deals. Ronnie Earle did not indict Mr. DeLay. Twelve people on that grand jury voted to indict.

If DeLay has cause for hope, it may be that Earle has been more successful convicting minor figures than major ones. The majority leader has put together a legal team headed by Dick DeGuerin, who handed Earle the most spectacular failure of his career: a 1994 misconduct case against former state treasurer Kay Bailey Hutchison that Earle was forced to drop on the first day of trial. Hutchison is now the state's senior Senator.

There are those who predict that DeLay will be able to balance mounting a defense with pulling strings behind the scenes in the House. But whereas he had been accustomed to just stepping downstairs to the majority leader's spacious suite of Capitol offices after a House vote, dusk last Thursday afternoon found DeLay outside on the Capitol Plaza, waiting at a traffic light to return to his office in the Cannon House Office Building across the street. Just like any other Congressman.


Happy day
I have been a vegetarian for more than 30 years and am also pro Native American.  I have not celebrated Thanksgiving for many years.  However, I do celebrate a day of getting together with family and friends and a day of appreciation..So, to all my liberal friends/co-posters..**Happy Day**..There are truly better days coming..