What You Should Be Watching This Election Day (And What We Will Be)

uffda- With the announcement of BO shutting down the Yucca disposal Area, it will soon be the end to nuclear (fission) plants here in the US. Another dumb move in a growing list. Livermore Labs is a government subsidized facility that is a R&D site for these types of technologies, ie., laser development and the promotion of it's uses. It is an off-campus extension of UC Berkeley. The Navy is also heavily engaged in fusion research at the US Naval Research Lab.

Now, back to fission power. BO has decided to completely dismantle any chances of further nuclear power plant development by shutting down the depository...in stark contrast to what he stated during the campaign. This is just another nail in energy indendances' coffin, and another big step towards funding Jeff Immelt at GE for "green energy". Purely political.

I too am a baby boomer...I'm just calling it like I see it. The baby boomers failed the generation(s) to follow, by not involving ourselves in more salient and productive ventures. Besides Gates, Jobs, Intel, Cisco, Dell et al...can you name any other technology that the baby boomer gen has produced that has changed the world? What have WE done to continue to promote individual effort, represented by patented technology that is economically conducive to the US? Please be specific. I have no desire to flagellate my generation in some sort of self-deprecating catharsis, but the US has become a service oriented economy...consumers, but not producers. I have outlined previously some of the ways that has to change, and how it can be accomplished. BO has no desire to be the leader you were hoping he would be...he's not that deep, nor is he as bright as many want to believe. Sorry...but I'm not impressed...not in the least.

#40 drhunt1
"It would be VERY interesting to do a demographic poll on those that contribute regularly to this site...wouldn't you agree?"
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Not really.

It would pretty much only confirm for me that the left-leaning users on the blog represent a wide, varied swath of the American public... while right-leaning users on the blog pretty much just represent the southern, white, self-centered, not-well-off-but-not-educated-enough-to-see-they-vote-against-th ir-own-economic-interests redneck demographic.

@41 drhunt1

As much as I'd love to see fusion power in my lifetime, I don't expect it will happen, as the energy companies don't want to see it. What happens to Chevron, Exxon/Mobil, BP and Shell when suddenly the world doesn't need oil and gas, and can instead run on fusion power? Do you honestly think they will jump for joy at the prospect? No, they will be like the insurance companies, doing everything they can to block development in any way possible for as long as possible. In other words, private industry will play no real role in the development of fusion power. The government is the only player with the money and power to do that work. Unfortunately, the leading edge of fusion power research has moved to Japan and Europe, with the biggest research reactor now being built in Japan.

As for fission reactors, they have some major flaws:

1. Each one is custom-built by construction firms with no experience in building those plants. Contrast that with other countries, where there is a standard design, and where the reactors are built by companies that have built them before. Which car are you going to buy, the one that is a one -off custom design, built by workers who have never built a car before, or a mass-produced vehicle built by workers who have built cars for years? I know which one is cheaper and more reliable, and likely to be built faster. Until we change how we design and build reactors, they are always going to be far more expensive to design, build and maintain, and be of lower quality than those made in other places like Europe and Japan.
2. The nuclear waste problem STILL isn't solved. US nuclear plants STILL store depleted fuel rods on their grounds, waiting for a safe solution to the problem of what to do with the stuff. If we can't deal with the waste we already create, we'd be crazy to create even more of the stuff.

As for boomers being lazy, I see no evidence of that. It is unfounded opinion, and as hard-working boomer, I resent that remark.

uffda #36-you certainly have your thinking cap on...and that's a good thing. First, we don't need to "offer" incentives to keep foreign students here, just change the quotas for them. I have no problem with American students taking a much greater role in our top-flight university system for furthering their educations in biomedical engineering, nuclear physics, engineering, etc., but it's a matter of motivation and application. College students today are the result of their baby boomer parents. The baby boomers, as history will show, were incredibly weak as far as furthering the cause of R&D in the hard sciences. Baby boomers lived off the efforts of their 'greatest gen' parents and basically dropped the ball. Asian students are motivated, hungry and eager to contribute. Look at the design engineers at the Big 3. We should not let that talent leave our country because of immigration quotas, while our southern border remains like a sieve. And while we need laborers, we also need for them to have something to do beyond farm work. Why let well educated, talented foreign students return to their homeland, only to offer their expertise to their own economies? What we have here in the US is a higher educational system that is potentially worth far more then all the oil in saudi.

Many civilian techological advances were the result of military R&D...that's not new. And while fusion power may be >25 years away, that is no reason to not fund its development. Nuclear fission power is available right now, in a clean form that has been refined over the last 20 years. Why aren't we building nuclear power plants? because that does not fit into BO's agenda for wealth distribution and paybacks to his campaign backers, ie., GE. As much as McCain seemed out of touch with issues during the run-up last year, his plan was to freeze govn. spending and build 20 nuclear power plants. Hmmm...let's see...a $787B SP that has done squat to stimulate the economy or create jobs, or building 20 plants that take 5-7 years to build, employ thousands of workers in all segments and at the end of it, have put a huge dent in our need for foreign reserves...tough call, eh?

Capt#39-Whether the actual numbers saved by TORT reform are a "mere" 1% or not, the simple fact that it is left out of any Democrat written Bill should be a signal to ALL thinking Americans that this legislation is NOT about doing what's best for the US, but a money and power grab by the Dems. And those "evil" insurance companies as portrayed by the WH and Dems in Congress show a paltry 2-3% profit margin, so the "government options bringing down the cost of insurance premiums" is a failed premise, which means, of course, that it is a fallacy.

I have to believe that most citizens that support such legislation have little, or nothing, to lose. Which means that they are not employers themselves, are out of work, and/or are on the dole with that 'entitlement' mentality. Does that describe you? It would be VERY interesting to do a demographic poll on those that contribute regularly to this site...wouldn't you agree?

#37 drdunce

You can continue on about saving upwards of 1% of costs through tort reform.
I'll not play along.
We adults are busy focusing on the larger savings initiatives, like a public option, that will serve to control costs and reduce Republican deficits over the long term.

You can thank us later.... maybe in President Obama's second term if you feel so inclined.

Capt john-nice rehash of PMSNBC talking points. Bush never tried to reform health care costs? How about Medicare reform? How about TORT reform? Liberals didn't want it then, and they still don't. Why? Because the trial lawyers OWN the libbies. I mean...come on...it's not about what's best for the country, is it? Nope...not in the liberals' mind...it's still about partisan politics/business as usual. Remember the OB/GYN's walking out on pregnant women in las vegas a couple of years ago? Why? Because they were paying ~$250K/year in malpractice insurance. No TORT reform in Nevada, or in many of the States...because the Dems defeated any and all legislation that Bush was asking for since early in his first term. I guess that blows your theory out, huh?

Read H.R. 3962, then get back to me where it will save the US taxpayers billions of dollars...you won't and you can't.

But yes, it's full of affirmative action provisions to get minorities into good colleges and med school. Yep...second rate doctors for a Banana Republic. Swell.

Capt#35-BO's agenda has little to do with reshaping this country's thinking on new ways to remain not only competitive, but leaders in R&D. He set the tone early on to not bring this country together, but divide and conquer. He's run out of credibility with many of the indie voters...he's used up whatever ethos he had with the American citizen...didn't you watch the election returns last night? Simply put...he's done.

@31 drhunt1

This country has given up the lead in a lot of new technologies because the government is still the only entity that has the resources and desire to work on basic science. Fusion is a perfect example. No company or group of companies is going to pour the tens of billions of dollars needed to develop a technology that most likely couldn't be ready in less than 25 years, and more likely closer to 40. The same goes for solar power satellites, which would require the development of an extensive infrastructure, both ground and space-based, as well as the development of launch technologies that are orders of magnitude cheaper than what we have today. One hallmark of repub administrations in general has been the disinclination to fund research that doesn't have a military application....hence, tens of billions for the development of stealth technology, missile defense, aegis radar technology, and others that we probably don't know about. In particular, the Bush administration showed a definite disdain for science in general. I agree that Obama has failed to do as much as I would like to reverse that trend. One small example is solar power. The Defense Department has actually completed a prototype power beaming unit that was to be installed on the International Space Station to test the concept of beaming power from orbit. Predictably, it was for military applications, but nonetheless, the results would have been a major step toward solar power satellites, if we chose that option. Instead, the unit sits on the ground in storage, with no plans to send it to the space station. For $36 million, we could have the equipment flown and tested on the ISS, but no, it's still gathering dust in a warehouse.

I agree we have one of the best university systems in the world, but I strongly disagree that we should offer incentives to keep foreign students here once they complete their degrees. What's wrong with taking the monetary incentives you are proposing to use on foreign students, and using them instead to encourage American kids to get that degree in engineering, or physics, or math, or bioengineering?

Finally, once we develop the new technologies, where are the American companies to turn them into actual products? They went offshore years ago, and I don't see any way to bring them back. Unless you are willing to do something that forces American companies to only build those technologies in the US, with US-sourced parts, you will see that new technology enrich China, India, Russia or someone else. And of course, I'm sure that other nations would be happy to steal that technology through espionage. Israel and China in particular, have a long and recent history with such things.

#31 drdunce

Translation: "Barack could've done all these things I want him to do. But even though he has the opportunity for the next four years, he didn't get what I wanted done in the first nine months... so he's a failure. Plus, liberals!"

That about sums up your stupid post.

#32 drdunce
"Capt....OH please...health care reform?"
--------------------------
Yes, health care reform. Reform that Republicans didn't even bother trying to address for eight long years. Reform that budget experts agree, even if it's the crappiest version known as The Baucus Plan, will shrink the ballooning deficit.

http://health.yahoo.com/news/afp/uspoliticshealthbudge _20091008060258.html
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/ bo-says-house-health-care-bill-is-a-deficit-reducer-in-the-near- nd-long-term.php?ref=mp

That you, in your 20% irrelevance, think the bill is a mess doesn't change the FACT that health care reform is but one way, contrary to your claim that there is no "how", that Obama intends to reduce the deficit piled up under Bush Republicans.

But you're free to substitute your worthless opinion for facts if you'd like.

I could use a laugh.

Scrolled the rest of your worthless post...

Capt....OH please...health care reform? Have you actually read H.R. 3200...or the newest version, H.R. 3962? I have...and it is an absolute MESS! The WSJ called pelosi's version, "The worst Bill ever written"...and after muddling through much of it, I have to agree. It will NOT save money...it will cost US taxpayers trillions of dollars. Show me where in H.R. 3962 wording that will save money over the long term. Go ahead...make my day. No TORT reform, no opening up of free market solutions to better competition between health insurance companies, less doctor-patient decisions, more government intervention. This is nothing more then a money grab by the Dems for the last piece of financial pie. The Dems have already sucked the money out of our 401K's and home equity investments...and darned near took the economy out by doing so...now they're leveling their sights on health care money...a sixth of our economy. Don't be fooled by the rhetoric. Hope and Change replaced by Fear and Loathing. The races in NJ, NY and Virginia is just the beginning...even if Hoffman loses the race, the tide has already turned.

uffdaguy-Well...at least you're trying to stir the intellectual juices. Keep it up. Let me address just one obvious failure of Obama...Barack had an opportunity to coalesce the college and university students...seriously fund projects that can be patented and reverse the flow of money out of this country back into this country like what happened in the mid-90's with the dot-com boom. The ONE THING the US has over ALL other countries is the best university system in the world. And while India is catching up, it plaes in comparison still. Second, change our immigration laws to keep many of the foreign students that attend our college campuses, get great educations here, but are forced to leave due to limitations of citizenship. This has been a problem for years...a "brain drain" here in this country. Areas of research that HAVE to be better funded to beat foreign competition is genetic engineering research, stem cell as well...and that doesn't necessarily exclude embryonic stem cell, as long as restrictions on acquisition are in place. Fusion technology research...this is huge...and it simply HAS to be solved...either that, or satellite solar power generation technology. Voice-to-text/text to voice patented software...the universal language. Look...the demographics of Asia indicate that their workforce will bury ours for decades...so we need to be ahead of the curve on R&D...and PATENTS! What has China ever developed in the last 100 years that has benefitted all mankind? South Korea? Japan? They're good at refining existing technologies, as once we were. But our workers are still productive...they just need to be given new directions in manufacturing. Obama had a chance to direct this country on new courses of technology and research...but he hasn't. It appears that he has a good idea how to destroy free markets but not create new ones. The free thought that is and has been very much a part of our Constitution and the American way of life is at the core of our industriousness and achievements. BO in particular, and liberals in general think that government is the answer to solve our problems because they have little faith in our ingenuity. True conservatives know better. A President doesn't have to be an excellent speaker, a Harvard Law grad or President of the Law Review to inspire and lead...he just needs a vision. Obama's vision, it appears to this American, is a chapter from Alinsky's book...a couple of chapters from Soros'. Sorry...I'm not impressed.

#28 drdumbone

Unfortunately, it doesn't help... as you've done little to address the facts while you were busy doing much to attack the messengers.

"CaptSkank-(see...two can play the sophmoric game of name calling)...nice, pretty charts on the Center on Budget & Policy Center...but the bottom line is that it doesn't discuss HOW he intends to shrink the deficit."

That one link to one page on the intertubes doesn't discuss the intentions does not an absence of any discussion make. I accepted that you were bright enough to realize this on your own. Which makes me think you aren't enough to realize that intentions have been discussed by the President himself. Had you been paying attention and following along, you'd know some of them.

"Let me fill you in..."

No, allow me. How? Here's but one way of how: ending Bush policies while enacting his own.

Namely, cutting back on funding for Bush's misguided war of aggression/occupation of Iraq, allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire, and signing a long-awaited and much-needed health care reform bill.

And yes, by also following through on his much-vocalized, often-repeated intentions to raise taxes on those making over $250,000 a year.

"Oh no!, you state...he would never do that! "

pssst: I stated no such thing.

That was one of the voices in your head.

@25 drhunt1

You can refrain from the condescending attitude and discuss things in a civil manner, or you can waste your time trading insults with the Captain. I'm not going to play that childish game.

You talk about how Obama missed a chance to change the paradigm after you spoke about the challenges of globalization...nations whose industries basically pay slave wages, have no labor or environmental laws, etc., but you never expound your solutions. I would hope you're not going to suggest some kind of race to the bottom, such as eliminating the minimum wage, eliminating all those troublesome labor and environmental laws, cutting or eliminating taxes on corporations. Do you seriously believe we can go lower than China, or Vietnam? Do you think Americans would accept going from a per capita income of perhaps $30,000 down to maybe $500, which would be competitive with those nations? In doing so, would those companies in turn drop their prices in a corresponding manner, so that a family of 4 could eat on $1 a week, a mortgage on the average home might be $100 a month, gas would be % cents a gallon, health insurance would cost $50 a year? We both know there is absolutely zero chance of any of that coming to pass. So please, enlighten me as to your great solution that Obama missed.

CaptSkank-(see...two can play the sophmoric game of name calling)...nice, pretty charts on the Center on Budget & Policy Center...but the bottom line is that it doesn't discuss HOW he intends to shrink the deficit. Let me fill you in, since it's apparent you can't read between the lines yourself. RAISE TAXES! On not just letting the Bush tax cuts sunset...but by raising taxes on the middle class upwards. Oh no!, you state...he would never do that! Oh yes...his plans for cap-n-trade will raise the price of energy for EVERYONE that uses electricity and gas...or oil/coal for heating, (know anyone that doesn't?). And because he can't generate enough fed tax revenue from the upper 2%, he's going to have to "walk down the income ladder". Sound familiar? Does the Peanut Man ring a bell? You really should learn to use non-partisan websites and your own thought processes to separate the wheat from the chaffe. Does this ring a bell as well?...

"According to New York Times reporter Matt Bai, CBPP is one of three left wing think tanks funded by the Democracy Alliance. The other two are the Center for American Progress and the Economic Policy Institute. According to Bai's account, representatives of CBPP and the other two Democracy Alliance-sponsored think tanks attended the May 2006 meeting of the Democracy Alliance at the Barton Creek Resort near Austin, Texas. Their role was to "talk about the agendas they were busy crafting that would catapult Democratic politics into the economic future."

Please...in our future discourses, please refrain from attempting to insult free thinkers here by utilizing liberal references. Hope this helps.

#24 drdumb

I got a pretty picture for you.
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/0 /deficit.jpg

But if you still prefer the reading thing:
"If you look beyond the very short-term, the deficit situation will begin to turnaround next year, that is, before the election. Under current forecasts, the deficit will fall by a record amount from 2009 to 2010."
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/barack obama-deficit-slayer.php

#24 drdumb

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=2755

It's a lot of facts contained in a lot of reading.
Sorry I couldn't find a "My Pet Goat" picture version to make it easier for you.

uffdaguy-Now you're starting to think! Good...keep it up...connect the dots yourself, instead of ANYONE on cable news doing it for you...I don't trust any of them. I was firing off incendiary emails to the idiots at Fox News long ago...September, to be exact, about the connections they were missing. TARP was sold to Bush and the American people as a quick fix for the toxic debt in the housing market. Bush went along with it, as did Congress. Problem is, that $700B was not going to be enough...the debt was in the trillions. Yes...Bush did not want to be known as another Herbert Hoover, and therefore he scrapped his conservative principles and went along with a Goldman Sachs schill. There should have been NO executive pay/rewards for those departments that were awash in red ink. But Bush opened the door for BO and his cronies to up the ante, so to speak, and force Banks to except TARP funds, fire the CEO of GM, and place the UAW ahead of the primary bond holders in Chrysler/GM...ALL of which are unconstitutional. I wasn't for the bailout of GM and Chrysler. I was in favor of TARP. It is indeed what kept us from the brink...certainly NOT the SP. Paulson, Geithner, Bernanke, Goldman Sachs...they're all in this together, with Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and BO leading the interference. Start to think about the development of new patented technologies here in the US, or the lack thereof, and what effect it would have on our free market system. Think about the globalization of the workforce and how our direction has to change to meet the new world economic order. Think about our demographics compared to SE Asia, and how it is that we're going to compete with a work force that is paid next to nothing with no work comp, payroll taxes, self-employment taxes, health insurance, etc. Put your thinking cap on. It's time to get busy, as it's now obvious that the first black President has squandered his chance at creating a paradigm change that preserved free market capitalism in favor of creating a banana republic for his real boss, George Soros.

Capt. John Skank-Don't let the facts get in your way? LMAO! That's ripe. Let's see...where to begin...how about this. Compare the deficit spending of Bush vs BO when compared to the GDP. Bush's compares to that of Reagan. BO's is skyrocketing off the chart...straight up. Take your own advice and don't let the facts get in your way. Read more, post less. Hope it helps. DrH

@20 drhunt1

Why is the TARP corporate welfare any better than the stimulus package? Both are massive expenditures, both add to the deficit, both carry with them the threat of inflation in the future.

Personally, I hated TARP, but I felt that doing nothing would have led to a depression, as evidenced by the actions, (or inactions) taken by Hoover before the Great Depression. However, there weren't enough controls on the money, too much was retained by the banks rather than being lent out, which was one of the big raisons d'etre for TARP, and it only encouraged more reckless behavior by financial institutions. I'm hoping that action will be taken to break up companies that are "too big to fail", so we don't see this again in the coming months or years, but it appears the Wall Street lobby will be able to prevent that.

#13 drdumbone @ 2:30 p.m. • Tuesday November 3, 2009
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After the last eight years you want to talk about deficits and spending?
Okay.

The policies and proposals of Obama actually REDUCE the deficit when compared to the policies/proposals in place when he inherited a Republican mess.

Don;t let the facts get in the way.

#19 Trollstein @ 3:10 p.m. • Tuesday November 3, 2009
----------------
Rather well said. Or, put in in terms a dego from Jersey might understand:
Yeah, F the Democrat. But a Republican? Fuggetaboutit.

uffda-simple---originally, the TARP money($700B) was designated for purchasing toxic debt incurred by Banks after the mortgage/housing crisis, (created, bolstered and protected by the Dems). Because of the derivitive markets and the distribution of debt, Paulson then decided to use the money to prop up the larger Banks. Paulson is a Dem...and a Goldman Sachs guy=corrupt, and not one of Bush's better decisions. But, that being written, the TARP money did indeed save the economy from implosion...more so then the SP did. BO is taking credit for something he didn't have anything to do with. You're buying the BS, hook, line and sinker. Use your own research...don't listen to Maddow/Olbermann.

blobob-one only needs to spend more then one takes in, and do it for a sustained period of time, before the wheels of capitalism come off the cart. Take a piece of advice from Glenn Beck...don't believe anything that they TELL you...read it for yourself. Read Saul Alinsky's pieces on the destruction of the free market...look at whom BO has surrounded himself with...you think Van Jones is a fan of capitalism and free markets? How about Sunstein? Or Lloyd? Come on...think for yourself...do some research...read more and post less. Hope it helps.

Corzine is one of the Devil's minion, namely a product of the Goldman Saks scam (like "the Gatekeeper" Rick Moreno in "Ghostbusters"), but Christie is the Devil himself. The ultimate, unrivaled expression of corrupt power, i.e., the American nightmare. A man who's claim-to-fame was to do Bush-W's dirty deeds without question. Who incarcerated minor politicians for (sometimes) minor offenses while his friends in the judicial branch were getting away with proverbial murder, pulling down improper $multi-millions and destroying ordinary people's lives.

#5 Newt @ 12:01 p.m. • Tuesday November 3, 2009
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The election in our state wasn't/isn't between Corzine and Christie.
It's between Corzine and Bush.

Or, in terms you might more easily grasp, between the relative pain suffered by constituents under Governor Corzine during a national economic downturn and the extreme pain that would be suffered by constituents under Governor Bush during a national economic downturn.

It's really that simple.

#3 dimwittedolt @ 11:50 a.m. • Tuesday November 3, 2009
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:lol:

This little troll actually thinks President Barack Hussein Obama's political capital will decrease when he signs health care reform Republicans didn't bother even trying to address for eight years?

:whatadolt:

drhunt, you are a liar, as usual. Obama did not spend more than all other presidents and the stimulous is working and avoided a major depression. Stop posting lies in this forum!

@drhunt @3

Please specify HOW exactly President Obama has achieved the "dismantling of capitalism" in this country. Given the recent announcement of billyuns of dollars of bonuses to the titans of Wall Street (you remember--the buffoons who brought us to the brink of a depression in September 2008) from their own capitalist boards, you have no basis for your statement.

what exactly are you a doctor of, propaganda?

@drhunt1

Where was your concern about deficit spending during the reigns of Reagan and both Bushes? Where was the outrage when Bush and Paulson pushed through the corporate welfare package known as TARP? Why the anger at the only American president in decades that actually began paying down the national debt?

Careful now, your hypocrisy is showing.

hufflarry-You question is an easy answer...printing money like Geithner is currently doing, plus leveraging our own debt, will eventually catch up to us with Carter-like double digit inflation/interest rates. Remember those days? The reason you don't see it currently is due to the deflationary status of our economy. That will change. And how about all that deficit spending and overall debt? BO in his first 3 months, spent more then all other POTUS combined. The Stimulus Package? The reason the SP didn't work, is because is was NOT stimulative of the economy...it was basically political payback to those that supported BO's campaign. That's exactly why Reid did NOT let Congress read the Bill after promising 48 hours. Once Fox News got a hold of it, and started dissecting the Bill and exposing it for what it really was...a redistribution of wealth and political payback...the likes of which we have never seen before, Reid pushed the vote. Dede Scozzafava voted for the Stimulus Package...she owns that vote...she needed to go, as do ALL politicians that voted for it...one by one, Dem or GOP, they all need to go.

I've noticed that no one here has answered my question about the relationship between the Dems, the GSE's and the CRA. Any reason why? Hope and change has been replaced by Fear and loathing...in just 10 months! What an accomplishment!

@drhunt1

It's a total waste of time to address a single one of your "concerns", as it is obvious from your stereotyping of dems that you don't have a clue as to what is going on.

But, you said you wanted to have some fun, so I'll oblige. Let me play the stereotype game that you seem to so enjoy. Let's see...repubs are heartless, soulless thugs that care only about the very,very rich, favor fascism over democracy, love corporate welfare, are racist and sexist, hypocrites, users and abusers, and are constantly working to ensure that the poor and middle classes are kept in their places as cash cows so they can empty their wallets in every manner possible.

Gee, that WAS fun!

And by the way, don't you even PRESUME to tell me what I can and cannot discuss, or who I can or cannot address on this site. I understand that repubs feel they are superior to everyone, but brain damage as severe as most repubs suffer from often does cause delusions of the type you are displaying. Good job of displaying the repub fascist tendencies though.

uffda-Please refrain from overworked MSLSD talking points, solioquies and liberal platitudes when addressing my posts/points. IF you were correct that the wealth distribution towards the upper-tier income earners, then you'd be including Billy-Bob Clinton in that time frame. And while it's true that the GOP has lost their way in the past several decades, and left their conservative roots, it's ALWAYS been the political and idealogical position of the left to play Robinhood and bolster not just the helpless, but the clueless and lazy. But since you're of the mindset to address me on this blog...let's have some fun...shall we? Can you tell me the relationship between the Democratic Party, starting with Carter, and the GSE's, (Fannie and Freddie), and the CRA? Let's start there. And one last thing...please don't discuss the BIG, BAD medical insurance companies that BO and crew are vilifying...their yearly profits are at 2-3%. After you answer my question above, please name me one other corporation in the WORLD who's profits run that low.

@ drhunt - destruction of the dollar? Wou've got the wrong guy.

You probably weren't paying attention when your men were having their eight year chimps' tea party in the White House nad generally throwing their own waste around the country and the rest of the world with... er...gay abandon.

The dollar dropped like a stone to $2.05 to one pound Sterling and became worth less than a Euro AND the Canadian dollar. Since Obama came in we saw the sollar rise to the healthiest it has ever been, at $1.37 against Sterling. It's holding fairly steady in the mid $1.60s to Sterling right now. That's a typical Clinton era rate.

I appreciate the excahnge rate is not the only indicator of the value of the dollar, but it's pretty significant.

I've been to these tea scrota rallies and if that's the 'base' wow, you people are in trouble.

Meanwhile the other 90 per cent of the country seems to have the nous to understand who caused the problems we're enduring and that it isn't something that can be patched up in a day.

We dodged a bullet when McCain/Palin were crushed in the election - we'd probably have launched a few nukes against belgium by now.

Poor Voltar, you cant explain drhunts lies either. If you are lucky, you will win the VA gov race but that is all today. That is hardly a route. Normal people already know what is going on. That is why you lost the last 2 election cycles in a landslide and why only 20% of people consider themselves Republicans. You people are not conservatives, you are right wing extremists.

Thank you Huffy:

It IS hard to explain how Obie did all that. What will be harder is watching Keith, Rachel, and Ken (Thrill up his leg) explain the Conservative routs that are about to happen.

Maybe Keith's Worsest Person will be the normal Americans who are beginning to see what's going on.

@drhunt

Sorry, I can't argee on any of your points. You say that the RNC can't control who runs....true, but they CAN support candidates with money and endorsements. In this case, repubs split on who to support, the repub candidate or the conservative candidate. Imagine if the same thing happened to dems, where national dem leaders split between supporting a dem candidate and a Green candidate, for example. There would be glee in the repub camp, claims that dems were tearing themselves apart. Well, for repubs, that is the apple that your side has to deal with.

As for your ridiculous assertions about Obama redistributing wealth...I guess it was ok for repubs to spend the last 3 decades redistributing wealth from the middle class to the ultrarich, who have seen their incomes skyrocket in that time while middle class wages have stagnated. It's only welfare if people get it, not corporations, right? The TARP money went from the pockets of taxpayers, most of them middle class, right into the coffers of AIG, Citibank, Wells Fargo and others. That money made its way into the pockets of the execs of those failed companies in the form of bonuses that were actually larger in some cases than when the companies were profitable. In other words, redistribution of wealth....UPWARD.

Today's elections will prove nothing, except for the fact that repubs will use it to justify moving further and further to the right, thereby destroying any chance of ever being a national party of any significance. Good riddance to bad garbage.

drhunt, you are not a conservative, you are a right wing extremist on the fringe of society. There are very few of you. After a few more defeats, you extremists will be pushed out of the party and true conservatives will take over.

Now explain how Obama redistributed wealth, destroyed capitalism and sank the dollar. You cant do it, can you? It is very hard to explain lies unless you just lie some more.

I was sad to see President Obama pour so much time and effort into propping up Jon Corzine. I still have great respect for what the President is doing, but if he had taken a cold, hard look at what Corzine has done to middle class NJ since taking office, he might have thought twice about hitching his star to a man who has done very little about corruption in state government, fallen into bed with a teacher's union that is busy bankrupting school districts, overseen several property tax hikes coupled with the elimination of property tax relief, and bled the middle class dry. Corzine is not an exemplar of the Democratic Party, and it would have been a good time to have the rug pulled out from under him and find a Democrat who could manage things.

So I did not vote for Mr. Corzine, nor did I vote for Mr. Christie, who I had marked as a pompous windbag from the start. Sadly, as Jon Stewart noted last night, these were the best candidates the Republicans and Democrats could come up with in NJ, and that's not saying much.

What You Should Be Watching This Election Day (And What We Will Be), should include, what we won't watch: elections on the West Coast. East Coast: "Governor John Baldacci made more than a few progressive hearts warmer when he signed into law a bill legalizing same sex marriage in the state. Almost immediately, anti-equality activists (many from outside the state) tried to throw cold water on Maine's recognition..."

Hey, look over here: The same thing happened in Washington, or as you East Coast denizens prefer to call it, "Washington State." Today's Washington Referendum 71 will face an election test as well, Megan. I wouldn't want you to get a crick in your neck watching elections in both left and right coasts.

Uffda-You like apples? You have missed MANY points entirely, which is really no surprise. First, Repub National leaders had NO control whatsoever over the nomination of DeDe Whatshername. Second, the GOP is in the middle of determining how far to the right they need to go, in order to find traction with the conservative base, while not leaving the indies behind. A balancing act is occuring as we write/read, and that is a totally healthy and normal process. But most importantly, these elections are a referendum on BO's redistribution of wealth in this country, a dismantling of capitalism and the destruction of the dollar. BO and Biden may not be able to pull a rabbit out of their hat in NJ, and it's really too bad that the connection between CIT's BK, Goldman Sachs and Corzine didn't come out sooner. It may not matter...in just 10 long months, BO has managed to spend whatever political capital he had, and after today, cap-and-trade & the health care Bill will be doomed. Conservatism has again awakened in this country, and it took a liberal to do it. How do you like those apples?

Hey voltar, good to see you back. Unfortunately, you are missing the real story today.

Today we will witness another chapter in the self-destruction of the repub party. Take the NY race, for example. There isn't even a repub candidate on the ballot, as there was a bloodbath between repubs whether to support the repub candidate of the conservative candidate. National repub figures split, and the battle became so intense that the repub candidate finally quit in favor of a conservative candidate who doesn't even live in the district he would represent. Repub party leaders have so little control over who gets support that they can't even control a local race in a solidly repub district. NJ is little better, where an independent may either win the race, or even siphon off enough votes to allow an unpopular dem governor to be re-elected. If there is anything to be taken away from today's races, it is that the repub party is going down in flames due to their own inability to understand why they had their asses handed to them in 2006 and 2008. Until they figure that out, they will continue to shrink in numbers, and solidify their status as a dying minority party that is becoming more and more irrelevant.

I'll be watching the White House Concession Speech:

"I have been betrayed by my own disciples! You are not worthy to receive my Change!"
"You are about to taste bitter waters...Those who will not LIVE by the Change will DIIIIIIIE by the CHAAAAANGE!"