Politics?

[Talon92Fox]

Well the time ive been waiting for for about 7 years is only a year away, I thought someone would come up with this topic before I did so I figured I would get other people's take on it. Who are you guys pulling for so far? I'll start out.
I don't follow politics too often so I can't back up my decision thusfar too well but I like Barack Obama, I'm far from racist and honestly would rather see a black man become president before a woman does. I like the sound of Obama's views and goals and whatnot.

So enough about that, what do you guys think?

[StreetSweeper]

Personaly, Bush has fucked todays society.. So why not let a Woman see if she can pick up the slack.. Im Voting for Clinton.. Pluss her husband was a big PIMP!!

[Domestic Disturbance]

I'm moderate for the most part, but tend to lean democrat. I like Bill Clinton, but not Hillary. I can't stand her voice, or for the most part her idea's. I think she just wants to play 'politics:the game' or something, and not enough of a change in the right direction. I'm personally am strongly leaning towards John Edwards. Otherwise John McCaine but he's not doing too well unfortunetly.

Here's a pretty good video of Edwards in Des Moines.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4rqysXGj0o

[96-eclipse-gst]

Fox, you say your not a racist, but what you said is sexist. Either way, its discrimination.

Honestly though, Bush has fucked shit up enough. I think anyone of the people running for president right now would do a hell of a lot better job than he has. A black man, a white woman, who cares. Anyway it goes, Bush is fucking out of there.

[DustinsDuster]

i am not pulling for anyone. they all have enough money and influence to pull themselves.



Personaly, Bush has fucked todays society.. So why not let a Woman see if she can pick up the slack.. Im Voting for Clinton.. Pluss her husband was a big PIMP!!

my favorite thing ever said about Bush:

"Clinton fucked an intern, Bush fucked a whole country..."

[ZacFields]

I'm just excited because I truly believe it doesn't matter who gets voted in, because it's only going to take a year or two for most of you to realize that the country fucked itself. Most people just need to see proof in the pudding :)

So I'm just excited so I can stop hearing people...even people who don't even know what they're saying... blaming the fate of the country on one person.

It won't take anyone very long to realize that with Bush in the white house your days usually go like this:
-Wake up
-Go to work
-Get off work
-Go back home
-Evening activities
-Go to sleep,
-Repeat

And with ANYONE else in the white house, you'll do the exact same thing every day. Sure it's important who becomes president. Your investments will take shape based partially (very partially) on what the president says and does, how much is taxed out of your paycheck will vary on what congress puts through for the president to sign. Maybe some of your buddies will come home from Iraq, so you'll get to see some people you haven't seen in a while.

I'm a firm believer in picking your own self up, you know? The biggest thing the president has a say over in my life is how much taxes get taken out of my paycheck. Outside of that I fail to see how any fuckups in my life are anyone's fault but my own.

Zac

[Ashley]

i'm rooting for mitt romney second choice would be either giuliani or mike huckabee.

here's a neat quiz if you're not real educated about the candidates. you basically just answer each question (11 of them) about your beliefs and it matches you to a candidate.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/e ... h-game.htm (http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/candidate-match-game.htm)

[69gt4speed]

My 401k sucks donkey d---. I'll never retire, no matter what the investment options are. They lied to me, govt., investment brokers, the co., etc. What's this have to do with candidates? Well I'm just expressing what the older workers here are upset about. Who gives a crap? We can move in to ur place right? A lil place to stay w a garage for the 03? So I can afford a few mods? Our co. health insurance sucks and a small accident costs $. And there is a lifetime limit. Don't get cancer u'll be screwed. These days 1 million $ isn't much. Though a ceo can make 7 million a yr. or more even though the stock price goes down. Imo ceo's ought to be capped at 500k w stock options. The s.s. limit raised to 250k right now, drug costs per scrip limited to 30 a month max. Lawyers costs to 50 a hr. Dr. to 40 a hr. Health costs will eat this country along w greedy co. and lawyers. Last dr. office visit was 130 for 15 min. fk that!!! 130 x 4 = 520 a hr. Nothing special just talk and a script. This is unreal. Vote for whoever u want, Just remember when ur kids or u get sick and ur 401k is going down, and energy and food costs go up ur parents might move in.

[ZacFields]

Your 401k has little to do with the government. I'm going to college to ultimately become a financial planner, so I'll be able to help you with that one day I'm sure. I chose my own investments for my 401k, and I'm up over 20% this year -- with Bush in the White House -- because the stock market has had a decent year overall. Your investments are based on how well the businesses do that you're invested in. If you want to go risky, choose Small Cap funds and take the big gains if the market does well. If you want to go conservative, invest most of your money in government bonds and money market funds, and take the guaranteed 5-7% return on your money.

The markets are looking good for the next couple years in my opinion. A change of President --especially this time with Bush being replaced-- will cause a huge surge in the stock market. Then on top of that, assuming that the next President either withdraws troops out of the Middle East, or at least gets a plan set in place to do so will cause another surge in the stock market because history tells us that the market prospers after the ending of a war.

The Health Care thing is hard for me to understand because I'm still on my parents insurance which is Blue-Cross/Blue Shield and is simply an amazing insurance. I'm not sure what they pay but it is definitely not cheap, but their liabilities in health care are very small no matter what happens. Sure I think that Health Insurance that is equal to what my parents get should be available to everyone, but again that has a lot to do with where you work. Where I work, the Health Insurance isn't really any good... BUT it is sufficient. It's cheap, and if I had to have a major surgery --for instance $30,000 overall cost-- my liability wouldn't be anywhere near that. I believe a surgery like that would probably cost me a few thousand dollars under my company's insurance. It definitely sucks, but that's why I'm developing a savings for Ashley and myself.

I'm with ya on the CEO making $7 mil/year thing. I was actually talking about this last night with a coworker. I would agree that there needs to be a cap set in place for CEO's that is based on the duties of the CEO and the amount of money the company makes. However, I don't believe there is a candidate in this next election at all that will even touch that issue.

I'll also agree with you on the energy cost issue. I've always invested in alternative energies in the stock market, I've got CFL bulbs in every socket in my home, and I drive a motorcycle in the summer that gets 45-50mpg. I'm definitely doing my part, but I've always maintained that a switch to alternative energy is going to be 5% Government and 95% American Consumer. We've got to want it first, otherwise it will never happen. CFL's are a perfect start, and actually purchasing fuel-efficient cars would be another good step. There are plenty of cars out there getting 30-40 mpg or better, but it's like the American consumer doesn't want them. Amazes the heck outta me.

Everyone just needs to do their research and pick the candidate that best suits their desires. Take that test that Ashley posted. When I took it, sure I had *opinions* on how to handle those 10 different situations, but they were just that: Opinions. Almost none of those issues were things that will ever change my life in any significant way. Sure I have opinions, but to say they will change my world would be fooling myself. The Health Care thing would affect me, but only if I chose to work for a company that had crappy Health Insurance or none at all. My whole point is that most problems people run into are not going to be fixed by the government no matter who gets in there. That is partially the reason why I hope a democrat gets elected, so that people can see first-hand that your situation is most likely not going to be better 4 years from now unless you've done something on your own to make it better.

All I really want is the government to keep their hands out of my pockets. If they did that, I could take care of myself.

[JustinS]

According to Ashley's little quiz Kucinich, and Edwards are my top candidates. Too bad neither will be elected or receive the Democratic nomination.

[Talon92Fox]

Fox, you say your not a racist, but what you said is sexist. Either way, its discrimination.

Honestly though, Bush has fucked shit up enough. I think anyone of the people running for president right now would do a hell of a lot better job than he has. A black man, a white woman, who cares. Anyway it goes, Bush is fucking out of there.
That wasn't sexist, sexist (IMO) would be if I would have said a woman couldn't match up to a man, or can't do things a man can. I feel completely opposite from that. I would like to see a woman get the presidency eventually, just not Hilary and not right now.

[StreetSweeper]

LOL, you can allways expect a paper from Zac on polotics.. i kinda get a kick about how excited he gets.

[ZacFields]

It's the opposite, really. I don't get excited about politics at all. Ya gotta read the post, which stated that I couldn't care less about this upcoming presidency.

To put it in short terms --that you'll actually read-- I don't have an opinion about who should be president and I don't even really care. But whoever gets voted in, people will still be complaining 4 years from now that we made the wrong decision because the president didn't go door-to-door to everyone in America to personally make sure that person was rich and prosperous.

My beliefs are as follows: The government has way too much control, and people are counting on our government way too much as it is. Get rid of some of the useless pork-barrell spending and some of the useless government programs, then give us a big break on taxes and let us take care of ourselves like it should be.

True there are some government programs that are completely useful and they should stay. But my motto is: "If you're not happy with your life, then do something to make it better. Don't count on somebody else to take care of you."

Zac

[69gt4speed]

Well we all get excited about something. Don't we?.... Lol A nice friendly discussion about what a pos a ford or dsm is... etc. Ya I could mention this thread to Sally but anymore she's so ticked at all of those political ppl. Compact fluorescent bulbs aside. I'm just tired of paying for greed, making money is a ok. Be like me taking 500 from a stock honda in a street race. 20 might be ok.

[ZacFields]

I figured the wife would be a little upset at politics right now. Democrats took over the house and senate, but we're still not seeing much progress now that it's been over a year.

I've changed my political views a lot since the last election. While I still sway republican, I do think I'm a little bit closer to the middle than I was before. I agree with a lot of the democrats ideas. I think health care needs to change, one way or another. First off I think companies should not be allowed to carry BS health care. They should be required to meet a certain standard of coverage and the price should be reasonable.

Social security must get fixed... and it must get fixed now. I prefer a privatization of social security because it would basically be like having 2 401k's so that would be really nice, just knowing I'd end up having basically double the money that I would have had with just my 401k.

I'd like to see some sort of ratio created that businesses must pay their workers in relation to what the CEO makes. For instance, perhaps businesses should be required to pay their lowest worker no less than 5% of what the highest paid worker makes. So if they want to pay their CEO 2 million dollars per year, then the janitor has to make $100,000 a year. I think that's fair. So if you want to be able to pay your janitor $20,000/year then your CEO could make no more than $400,000/year. How's that for an idea?

So, yeah some of my ideas are down-right democratic. So I'm a lot closer to the middle than I have ever been I think. I would also like to see the government let people keep more of their money. I'm tired of getting only 78% of my paycheck when that 22% that I give up seems to (for the most part) become lost into thin air.

Honestly I would accept it if all businesses were required to carry a bluecross/blueshield insurance company, and they just lowered our taxes so that we could afford it. That solution to healthcare works just fine for me. Like I said, I'd rather just be given the freedom to take care of myself, given that the tools necessary were available to me.

[Domestic Disturbance]

I think the main reason people arent buying most cars that get high MPG is look at the cars its available in, and the price tags and/or types of cars they are. Either you're going to pay a lot for them, like lexus's and hybrid versions of other cars, or you will be getting something that doesn't appeal to most people. Everyone doesn't want to own a Toyota. SUV's and Trucks are still huge. A good MPG SUV or Truck costs some $$$. Flex fuels are really catching on fast though. I know my dad gets e85 in his truck as often as he can, but theres only 1 or 2 places around where you can get it. Ethanol is going through the roof. ADM is making more than they know what to do with. They can't get enough corn to make it with. They are switching to many other resources for it now. Corn's value is so high now, they quit feeding cows it. Cow's arent gaining as much fat, and thus the price of shortening is supposed to triple. I think if the Gov't stood behind energy alternatives more(help make it more available, helping inform people, etc.), it would catch on more quickly than just people making their own decisions.

As for politics, you can't really say they will just sit down and blame the next president for another 4 years like it always goes. Thats just what you've gotten used to in 8 years. Now I was no politician when Clinton was in office, but I still used to watch the news with my parents, and more often than not it wasn't blame being discussed. The biggest problems Bill was ever blamed for were getting head. Oh snap!

People have been getting whinny lately but look at the fact theres 0 progress visible across the board. No Child Left Behind - flop. Billions of dollars overseas and nothing happens. The lead General retires and tells everyone how theres 0 progress. You have a Democrat House, with a Republican President. There's a stand-off in itself. Everything will just keep going in circles. Its hard to say you can't worry about what they do in Washington when many of the things they do are affecting your paycheck, and your surroundings. It all comes back to affect you. Your S.S., Health Care, International Affairs, etc.

Also, if you're worried about paying more in Taxes then I'd be scared of Hillary. She wants to keep troops in Iraq, Health Care for everyone, and just hand out money to starving african pigmeys. How the hell can we pay for all that. Mass Taxation
At the same time, I can't justifiably see taxes going down. The gov't dug a deep money hole. I think the spending needs to be more narrow than what Hillary wants. That's over optimistic that we would be able to take care of all of that.

[Domestic Disturbance]

Debates are fun :ranting:

[ZacFields]

HaHa, oh believe me I don't like the prospect of Hilary becoming our next president. I don't like her, and from the little I've researched about her she does seem to be over-optimistic about her plans with very little reason.

Decreasing spending is the best way to get us out of the hole, in my opinion. I mean...dumb it down to your personal finances. What's easier for you to do? Make more money or decrease your spending? Unless you work at a place where overtime is readily available, it's a lot easier for you to decrease your spending and just cut away at your debt month-to-month until finally you've paid it all off.

That's pretty comparable I think to how we can get out of national debt. It's not easy to just dig deeper into our pockets for that money...because that affects a lot of things as well. There are many of us who are responsible with our money and save it when we get a chance so that we don't hit any major financial turmoil and contribute to this credit/housing crisis that is killing our economy right now. If they take another $100 out of my monthly pay, then that's $100 less I have to spend on products that businesses are selling, or $100 less I have monthly to put into my savings account that helps me be able to buy myself a nice new --slightly more expensive-- gas saving car in the future.

One of the dumbest ideas I've heard Hilary say is this idea that with every baby born, the government should create a $3,000 (I believe) savings account for their college. That savings account would be invested in stocks and bonds much like your 401k and the idea is that by the time they are 18, it should be worth enough to make college more affordable for them. But therein lies the problem. Don't you think colleges would just raise their tuition significantly if EVERY student had about $20,000 they could put towards college? And the second problem is where that original $3,000 comes from....our pockets. The government has no business doing things for our children that the parents should be responsible for doing. (And in my defense, I'm not critisizing any parents who didn't save for their children. My parents didn't save for my college either. Student loans baby!)

I enjoy political debates as long as people aren't getting nasty with eachother. That's the problem with politics...people get nasty. I've been guilty of it in the past myself...but I refuse to get nasty this time around. Just causes too many problems :)

[DragonUSMC]

I'll be voting for "D" none of the above...

[stangvortech]

Mitt has my vote! I got to see him speak at Kirkwood last week and he really impressed me!. GO MITT!!!!

[69gt4speed]

Huckabee adds Rick the nature boy Flair to endorsements along with Cat scratch fever Ted Nugent......
NUGENT: Is a man who covers all the bases for we the people, the U.S. constitution, the Bill of Rights, decency and that's Mike Huckabee.

FLAIR:"And like I always say, to be the man, you've got to beat the man and Mike Huckabee is the man. Whoooooooo!"
Huckabee said he's a huge fan and his children grew up watching Flair. "Ric's endorsement will help us put a figure-four leglock on our opponents," he said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VauuMmBgr7A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy-LQH8N6Ug

[black88gt]

Mitt has my vote! I got to see him speak at Kirkwood last week and he really impressed me!. GO MITT!!!!

romney or thompson ftw

it amazes me that people even consider voting for clinton. just the fact that she's a woman has to be the only reason she has a chance, because i mean if you vote against her you're sexist :roll:

but with her views/ideas, i dono how anyone with half a brain could agree.

[Domestic Disturbance]

haha rick flair?! who next richard simmons doing jumping jacks yellow "go huckabee shed that dead weight"

[stangvortech]

\

romney or thompson ftw

it amazes me that people even consider voting for clinton. just the fact that she's a woman has to be the only reason she has a chance, because i mean if you vote against her you're sexist :roll:

but with her views/ideas, i dono how anyone with half a brain could agree.[/quote]

I agree 100%. They need to team up for p and vp.

[ZacFields]

Clinton's ideas are hair-brained and also will require a LOT more taxes taken out of your paycheck.

I'm sorry, but I refuse to vote for a candidate who's ideas will likely take a large tax increase to fulfill. With the way energy prices are these days, America's pockets are getting smaller by the day as it is.

The key will be shifting money away from some things and into other things. I think we should withdraw troops (at a rate that is acceptable so that Iraq can maintain control of itself) and take the saved money and filter it into worthwhile projects like a healthcare reform, fixing social security, etc.

We've got plenty of tax money out there already at the current tax rates. In fact, once the troops begin to come home we'll have far more out there than we're spending. That's what I don't like about a lot of democrats like Clinton's ideas... they don't tell you that in order to make these impressive sounding ideas happen, its going to cost you.

Sometimes you just have to ask yourself what you could do with the money if they taxed less of it out of your paycheck.

Zac

[black88gt]

little history test

1)"We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
A. Karl Marx
B. Adolph Hitler
C. Joseph Stalin
D. None of the above

2) "It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few, and for the few...and to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity."
A. Lenin
B. Mussolini
C. Idi Amin
D. None of the Above

3) "(We)...can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people."
A. Nikita Khrushev
B. Jose f Goebbels
C. Boris Yeltsin
D. None of the above

4) "We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own...in order to create this common ground."
A. Mao Tse Dung
B. Hugo Chavez
C. Kim Jong Il
D. None of the above

5) "I certainly think the free-market has failed."
A. Karl Marx
B. Lenin
C. Molotov
D. None of the above

6) "I think it's time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched."
A. Pinochet
B. Milosevic
C. Saddam Hussein
D. None of the above

ANSWERS
DOWN
















I MEANT RECENT HISTORY


(1) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/29/2004
(2) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 5/29/2007
(3) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007
(4) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007
(5) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007
(6) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 9/2/2005

thought this was pretty funny, just some food for thought

[DustinsDuster]

that was actually pretty clever, i have to hand it to you on that one.

[Caleb]

Petro Dollar Recycling

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... &plindex=0 (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1283250336175505194&q=Petrodollar+Recycling&total=3&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0)

This video helps further explain why we are in Iraq and how our money system ties into the Oil Industry. Very well explained as well. The normal person hears that were in Iraq for Oil but has no idea "why we are there for oil" in its entirety.

http://www.stage6.com/user/XtianZark/vi ... /Zeitgeist (http://www.stage6.com/user/XtianZark/video/1591025/Zeitgeist)

3 Part 2 Hour Video. ( Very well and explained video, some can be considered propaganda but it just opens your eyes on what potentially could be happening ).

I: Religion

II: 9/11

III: Banking and US History.

My friend is getting me into political science and I'm very open minded about anything. Granted I was really moved when I watched this video from beginning to end to see how much the government could potentially be corrupt. I didn't take this video completely to heart with the stuff that it says, but it does teach you a lot of things you may not have known before.

But reading more into the stuff that was listed in the Zeitgeist video about the North American Union/Amero currency and or Real ID Cards (delayed till end of 2009). The video does sound stand of being true amongst a lot of potential things.

But anyway, I'm more leaning more towards Obama and or Ron Paul for the simple fact our country definitely needs to get fixed and straightened by people who knows whats going on and or isn't blinded with bullshit from other people. I definitely recommend watching the Zeitgeist video because it is well explained with supported evidence. Don't take everything they say as being completely true. But do take as a learning video and a way to look deeper into certain subjects so the bigger picture can be seen. These videos had a small influence on myself to read deeper into which Politicians will do what in office and what will be in the countries and my own best interest.

But I would love to hear some peoples feedback on this video for the simple fact that t did help me open my eyes about our government. And my friend has taught me so much more outside of these videos.

[Caleb]

No one watched these videos?

[black88gt]

Our Social Security

Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social
Security (FICA) Program. He promised:

1.) That participation in the Program would be
Completely voluntary,

2.) That the participants would only have to pay
1% of the first $1,400 of their annual
Incomes into the Program,
3.) That the money the participants elected to put
Into the Program would be deductible from
Their income for tax purposes each year,

4.) That the money the participants put into the
Independent "Trust Fund" rather than into the
General operating fund, and therefore, would
Only be used to fund the Social Security
Retirement Program, and no other
Government program, and,

5.) That the annuity paymen ts to the retirees
Would never be taxed as income.


Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are
Now receiving a Social Security check every month --
And then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of
The money we paid to the Federal government to "put
Away" -- you may be interested in the following:

-------------------------------------------------------------

Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the
Independent "Trust Fund" and put it into the
General fund so that Congress could spend it?

A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the democratically
Controlled House and Senate.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax
Deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?

A: The Democratic Party.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social
Security annuities?

A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting the
"tie-breaking" deciding vote as President of the
Senate, while he was Vice President of the US

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving
Annuity payments to immigrants?


A: Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party.
Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65,
Began to receive Social Security payments! The
Democratic Party gave these payments to them,
Even though they never paid a dime into it!

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Thomas Jefferson

[69gt4speed]

You have some valid points 88gt and I've been around. However most of that stuff for s.s. came about cause..
1 The co. they worked for went broke and used all the pension $ up or quit doing pensions period. You kids going help me out when I get old and my co. says fk off after I gave them my best and got less and less to help them?
2 The co. they lobbied whoever to make the u.s taxpayer pay mo so they could pay less.
3 The co. they are the real ones that want us in conflicts it makes mo money for them.
4 The co. which is boards run by ceos making millions ya think they care if you have a few mo $ to mod a stang?
I know that is broad statements which I'm not going to get into. The co. want to bury anyone that stands in the way for market share. I understand we work for co. but am tired of screw anyone that keeps them from making a extra 5c on a dollar.

It is not really political parties, it is the co. and their lobbyists pullin the strings so they can make a extra 5c on a dollar. That's my opinion.