Yes, SO easy. Which is why the diet industry in this country rakes in billions each year. nm

• Obama Tax Promises Up In Smoke - HomeAlone
  • If they really cared about our health - wouldn't they just make smoking illegal?
    • Obama couldn't do that........ he loves to smoke!!! - MsMT
    • It would just create a huge black market, and - the crime that goes with it. - Topaz
  • I thought that the increased - Trigger Happy
    • My take on it - me
      • I worked for a guy once - Mythbuster
      • Oh of course Barry will - A.Nonymous
    • Fat people will be next. sm - LVMT
      • Not to mention overflowing their airline seats - and taking up half of MINE!
        • Anybody else remember this? - Mythbuster
        • How about we tax the PRODUCTS that make people fat, sm - CDW
          • On the surface - Mythbuster
      • you said it perfectly. After that sm - MT 30+ years and running
        • Maybe they should tax offshore workers doing OUR work. - And the companies that hire them. Topaz
    • This has NOTHING to do with whether you have sympathy for smokers or not. - HomeAlone
      • My dad died of lung ca. from 2nd-hand smoke. I hope - we tax tobacco companied out of existence.
        • My mom died of obesity-related diabetes. I hope we tax food out of - existence.
          • There's a 100% guaranteed secret to - win the fight against obesity -
            • simple exercise or simple mind - dnh
            • If it were oh-so-simple, wouldn't everyone be thin? Come on, it's easy sm - CDW
              • Food addiction. Willpower. - One is evil; the other overcomes it.
                • Yes, SO easy. Which is why the diet industry in this country rakes in billions each year. nm - CDW
                  • Simple answer - Mythbuster
                  • Having a goal helps! My neighbor used to - be fat, and a couch-potato. Then , SM

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dollars being given away to Wall Street crooks with absolutely NO accounting as to who is getting how much, yet the MOST important Americans (again, IMHO) are the troops who are sacrificing their lives for us, and they receive the least in return.

I'm copying and pasting the text of the article below.  The interview, I believe, is very powerful, but at least if I can copy the text, you'll have some notion of what this is about.

(May I just say God bless you and your husband and your entire family.  I hope he returns to you soon.)

---

CBS: KBR knowingly exposed troops to toxic dust

A CBS News investigation has obtained evidence that a subsidiary of Halliburton, the giant energy company formerly headed by Vice President (bad word - can't post) Cheney, knowingly exposed United States soldiers to toxic materials in Iraq.

CBS interviewed Commander James Gentry of the Indiana National Guard, who is dying of a rare form of lung cancer that he believes is the result of "months of inhaling hexavalent chromium" after his battalion was assigned in April 2003 to protect contractors from Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) working in Iraq at a local water plant. Other members of his unit are also suffering from cancers or rashes associated with the toxic chemical, which was all over the plant.

"We didn't question what we were doing," a grief-stricken Gentry told CBS. "We just knew we had to provide a security service for the KBR. ... We would never have been there if we would have known."

CBS has obtained documents which indicate that KBR knew about the danger months before the soldiers were informed. KBR employee depositions show there were "concerns about the toxins in one part of the plant as early as May of 2003," while later minutes detail symptoms of exposure, including bloody noses and rashes.

It wasn't until the end of August that the Indiana National Guardsmen were informed that the plant was contaminated, and some say they have only just learned about it this year.

Indiana Senator Evan Bayh told CBS, "I think the burden of proof at this point is on the company to come forward and very forthrightly explain what happened, why we should trust them, and why the health and well-being of our soldiers should continue to be in their hands."

KBR has issued a statement saying, "We deny the assertion that KBR harmed troops and was responsible for an unsafe condition."

KBR, which was spun off by Halliburton in 2007 as a separate corporation, has previously been accused of providing contaminated water to troops in Iraq, taking kickbacks, and sending workers to Iraq against their will.

The full CBS story can be read here.


This video is from CBS's Evening News, broadcast Dec. 22, 2008.

 This is over and above the new so-called stimulus package.

In my local newspaper, it states "More proposals waiting in wings" then it goes on to state "The obama adminstration is developing proposals to help rescue the banking system that could cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars beyond the $700 bililion bailout Congress already has approved.

Details are still being worked out but the administration is looking to spend hundreds of billions more to address the foreclosure crisis, help banks get out from under weighty bad assets and expand liquidity programs."

I'm really starting to get sick literally over this. We can't spend billions of dollars when the money isn't coming into the treasury.  We can't printing money without anything to back it up.

If any of you think these packages will not help the economy, please, I'm almost begging you, email or call your reps and get it stopped.

I feel the same way I felt about the bank bail-outs.  I would say no bail-outs for ANY business.  I think it borders on extortion.  First the banks need a bail-out, then it's the auto companies, then AmX reorganizes so they become a holding company so THEY an qualify for some of that free money.  Latest I read the newspapers are to be next in line.  Where does it all end?

My reason for my no bail-out opinion is, what did it accomplish for the banking industry?  Nothing if we are to believe there is a credit crisis.  I noticed this evening one of the local banks was advertising that they still have money available for loans.  Why is it that it's the big guys that get into trouble?  Let 'em suffer.  Bail-outs are going to do nothing for working middle class people.

As I said in an earlier post where do you think new automobiles will fit in consumers priority list when they are trying just to put food on the table and a roof over their heads?  Pretty far down I'd say.  There are new layoffs announced every day, many have nothing whatsoever to do with the automotive industry.

So that is why I say NO BAIL-OUTS. 

One more thing...UAW role in the automobile woes.  The public has been dreadfully misled.  Most seem to think the workers make some $70 an hour when in truth they make in the neighborhood of $27.00 an hour.  Not a word have I heard objecting to the executives who are paid some $6000 PLUS per hour and all kinds of perks like private jets, etc.  Wouldn't one think this would have a whole lot to do with their finances?  The one thing I think the union should concede is the job bank where they are paid 95%, I think it is, of their wages when they are laid off.  The rest of the workforce (and my husband spent his life working as a Teamster) should have to suffer through unemployment just like the majority of other employees.  I do think that employer provided benefits such as the unions have should be available to all workers.  It most surely comes in handy at retirement.  I  think everyone should have an opportunity to retire in their older years and Social Security sure doesn't covere living expenses.  I wonder if there are any MTs who have retirement benefits?  Probably not.  Most seem now-a-days hard pressed to even make a living.

My DH and I were talking the other day and we were talking about the criticism of GM.  For one, we are both so sick and tired of hearing people say that GM was stupid for building bigger trucks and SUVs.  Once again....GM built these because that is what consumers wanted. 

Remember back when your parents had a smaller vehicles and we used to cram 5 kids in the back seat.  How many of those kids were in car seats?  How many even had their seat belts on?  Nowadays....you can't do that.  Kids have to be in a booster seat until they are 4 feet 7 inches and all people must wear a seat belt.  Now tell me this.....how many car seats can you fit in a small car?  If you have more than 2 children....you are really pushing it.

I've heard numerous complaints about why GM didn't make more fuel efficient vehicles.  Well....let's discuss this a tad bit shall we.  The government regulates certain safety standards for vehicles.  They go through several crash tests to see which cars are safer.  What does this mean.....this means more reinforcement in the vehicles frame which makes vehicles heavier.  What does the weight do?  Well, the extra material as well as the crash testing causes prices to go up and the extra weight makes the vehicles less fuel efficient. GM made the vehicles it did because at the time....that is what consumers wanted and they also had to meet Government safety standards. 

Compact cars are great for single people or married couples without children, but I'd like to see you take a trip in one of those with three kids in car seats plus all of your luggage, etc. 

I just came across these stats in an article I was reading.  How can there possibly any doubt that lobbying has single handedly taken over Washington?  Especially in light of the fact that the healthcare plans on the table are pushing for more insured rather than single payer system?  If we don't shove out the insurance companies, how are the prices for our healthcare ever expected to go down, or even stay at the current level for any length of time? 87% in 10 years?  Absolutely ridiculous.  We are not reaping any benefit from it whatsoever.   

"As premiums have ballooned by 87 percent in the past decade, insurance-industry profits have climbed from $20.8 billion in 2002 to $57.5 billion in 2006. During that same period, health-care interests spent $2.2 billion on federal lobbying, more than did any other sector, and as of last month, had flooded the presidential candidates with over $11 million in campaign contributions to keep the present system intact."

I opened my post, and the text was there.  I saw an empty box with the "dead x," so that may have been what didn't go through.

Were you unable to read the text, too?  Try going to OneNewsNow.com (Fred Jackson) - 11/3/2008 7:35:00 AM, and you should be able to open it.  That should be the easiest.

When my grandparents came over from Italy via Ellis Island (& legally, too!), they settled in Monongahela, PA.  My grandfather worked in the coal mine, & they managed to raise 9 kids, all who went on to get doctorates, DDS, etc.  So it can be done (sorry for the memory lane)! 

LMK if you can open it, etc.  Setting family aside, I respect the hard, dangerous work these coal miners do.  The Global Warming (now named Climate Change) goofs are behind this, too.  It's a joke--on us.

I happen to think that the auto industry does need a bailout.  No, I don't agree with keeping the current management, and I do believe in making stipulations for how that money is spent.  I know most of you will disagree with that, but here's what I'm seeing in TN.

Congressman Zach Wamp (R) from TN was on the tube last night talkiing about how he does not want to do the bailout.  If that's his opinion that fine ----- However, lets look at his reason.  TN has been bidding for a new Volkswagon plant which has recently come to fruition---right here in my home town by the way.  He has been pushing for this for years.  This is obviously a good thing for people in TN because of the jobs it would create.  What I find ironic though is that he would let American companies go down the tubes and yet support a foreign auto maker.   My honest opinion about guys like this, is that they want the job creation, regardless of where the real money is going (overseas) and they would like to do this in such a manner so as to cut out unions. 

ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

They keep flip-flopping. The second link is Paulson's idea. That was probably posted before but am posting again just in case.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/27721013

http://www.cnbc.com/id/27712153

Good article and the guy they interviewed, Peter DeLorenzo (?) - a guy all up on the auto biz - said neither McCain nor Obama had a clue when it came to the auto industry.  The article gave a little bit of the voting records on both related to the auto industry.

Candidates Voting Record On Auto Industry-Related Issues:
Clean Energy Achievement Criteria (2007): McCain - no vote; Obama - Yes
Preventing Petroleum Export Organizations (NOPEC Act of 2007): McCain - no vote; Obama - Yes
Reduction in Dependence on Foreign Oil (2005): McCain - No, Obama - Yes
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (No) Drilling Amendment (2005): McCain - Yes, Obama - Yes

Does Palin kno McCain voted no on reducing dependence on foreign oil?

We get 28-30 MPH with it. Why they didn't brag this up, I have no idea. It has power, too. We could keep up with the V8's with no problem. Had a very large luxury Delta 98 LS and it was the best car we ever had...but the frame rotted away, so we kept the motor and put it into a Buick LeSabre.

Part of the problem is the unions. I've always been a union supporter, but they have really killed the industry in this country in the past 20 years. That's why there are no steel industries here anymore. That's why auto workers make a fantastic wage. Once they make good to fantastic wages, they won't back down.

Face it. People are greedy and this is a gigantic wake up call, but if they don't want to, or aren't willing to, take pay cuts, or pay more for their health insurance, then we're doomed to fall into a greater depression than seen in the 30s. A me-first-and-only-me economy doesn't work.

Example:  Teachers in my area are screaming and going on strike because they don't want to pay more for health insurance. They pay $40 biweekly.  I pay $200 a pay and before that, I paid $630 a month.  I'm happy paying $200 a month. Are they? Nope. It's me-me-me. When are people going to wake up?

You said:

America is becoming a very scary place indeed.  I believe, as you do, that there are people who are eagerly awaiting the *Rapture* and indeed believe they have the *inside track* to heaven.  Unfortunately, it look as if this country might actually suffer from their self-fulfilled prophecy if it continues going backwards in time under Bush's completely inept leadership.

If you don't want your kids looking at porn on the internet, teach them not to do it.  Provide your kid with internet access and put a block on that computer.  If they are visiting a library during class hours and are looking at porn on the internet, I would say they have some behavioral problems anyway, and porn is about the last thing you need to worry about in that case.

You guys scream smaller government, but then you want the govt to raise your kids. 

or else you'd have mastered the art of "twisting" and wouldn't have such high regard for the truth.

Lesson 1:  Visit the Conservative Board and study closely.

(Lesson 2 will follow as soon as you have successfully completed Lesson 1.)

Title of you post is lifted straight out of TT112OldTimer's post responding to Free Speech Rocks.  When spinning soooo out of control that the brain becomes blank, you can always resort to plagiary.  Hello.  Are you listening?  Vitriol out, vitriol in.  You might be shocked by how much respect you earn with just the simple gesture of extending some.  Respect is NOT a 4-letter word. 

Common sense is exactly what I used when I decided to attack my own bigoted tendencies back when I was still a teenager.  I did not learn any of that from books or courses I took in school.  I took it to the streets and reaped benefits beyond measure from those lessons. 

Au contraire.  The bluster of bigots is easy to bury under fact and logic.  No need to be thwarted by that.  Their reservoir of insults runs very shallow, but the intellect is a well that one can dig as deep as is necessary.  Fact/truth is another arch-enemy of the bigot.  You at least had the wisdom not to attempt to ridicule the context post since you knew you would be in way over your head and besides, you are allergic to the other side of the coin.  As they say, if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.   It can’t be much fun to find yourself dumbfounded by your own narrow mind.  Frustrating too...remember it well. 

On the shortcut post:  That was your snipe, not mine.  Snipe begets tripe.  Vtriol out/vitriol in.  Garbage out/garbage in.  Is there an echo in here? 

Not the slightest bit interested in agreement, validation or vindication.  I am secure enough by now not to need all of that.  But in political contexts, the journey down the road to consensus will never begin in the absence of flexibility, open-mindedness and a good dose of patience.        

What part of my posts reflect your tactics do you not understand?  You absolutely refuse to look at yourself in the mirror, but you do know enough to be outranged when someone sends you your own reflection.  It’s not a pretty sight and furthermore, you become every bit as enraged as you seem to think I am.  You are constitutionally incapable of seeing what a spiteful little vixen you become when your brick-wall logic is thrown back in you face. 

No surprise there.  Bigotry is always blind.  Here’s another example you are bound to ignore:  You are so driven by your hatred of illegals that you would actually weigh in on the side of transnationals and cast your vote for the party who empowers them to outsource your profession overseas and drive your own wages into the ground.  

Well shut my mouth!  Could it be that you have finally run out of insults in the face of the realities of logic and have arrived on the threshold of the next level where most other right-wingers eventually find themselves...running for the hills and back into the open arms of the choir members?  You are big on cliché.  Here’s one for you...you can run, but you can’t hide.  Have a safe journey and I am “sending up a prayer” that you find the sanctuary you seek.