KarmicHoax: That would be about $16 trillion worth of gold, if my decimal points are right. Seeing that our national debt is already over $5 trillion, I don't think there's enough gold to cover all the dollars floating around out there. You'd have to confiscate all the gold chains and rings on Earth and it still wouldn't be enough.

Greenspan probably own gold futures and was looking at some decimal points of his own, so to speak.

BTW, have you ever seen a modern gold mine in operation? First they shave down entire mountains and pile the rubble into piles. Then they use a technique called heap-leach mining wherein they soak the giant piles of gold ore with cyanide and then recover the gold from the cyanide using electrolysis.

Nice.

But it is all OK as long as it is NIMBY!

Vet_Curm: heh, I am relatively new but I have seen enough to know that Farkers come in all shapes and sizes with all different mindsets and viewpoints... and if you disagree with any of them, you're either evil or idiotic or both.

Now with 90% less accountability!

dougiezerosag - That was a funny joke 4 years ago. In all honesty though, I voted for Nader in 2000. I am a libertarian. I voted Nader for the same reason as other people. A third party had a good chance of getting government funding and possibly making it easier for third parties to campaign.

DrCyclops - I said 99% b/c 1% goes to Nader who no longer has a chance to get funding. Nader has truly shown his whacked out side lately. Anyone who votes for him is in teh same pot as everyone who voted democrat or republican wthout trluy believing in it.

krysith: Topographical maps tell you everything you need to know.

2004-10-04 01:23:20 PM thornhill

The last debate is on the economy, where Bush is going to get ass raped big time. It will be the fist time that he'll be asked the question: "If the tax cuts are stimulating the economy, why have you become the first President since Hoover during the great depression to have a net loss of jobs, and why is the deficit at a record high?"

Because it's hard work, duh!

macabre: Electoral College is stupid.

If you studied any history, you will (or may) understand the reasons why the founding fathers decided to use this system.. Your childish rant just confirms the submitters headline. And no, you will not be happy with Kerry as President. He will raise your taxes to pay for socialized medicine, we will still be in Iraq, etc. Only good thing about Kerry being elected is Hillary probably won't run until 2012, although it would not surprise me for her to run against her own party in 08, since she is one crazy biatch that loves power.

On another note, it amazes me how much help the Dems are getting for the only reason to vote Bush out. Even with the war in Iraq, a shaky economy, gas prices at an alltime high..and still Kerry is even with this guy! If Gore could not win in 2000, one would think that Kerry should be up by 10-15 points in the polls by now..prior to the debate.

Kerry has got Michael Moore releasing his 911 Farenheit DVD this month; a bunch of concerts led by Springsteen in battleground states; Soros bankrolling his "unofficial" campaign...and he still trails...What does that say about his ability to manage campaign..and much less a country!

Bush lost the debates to Gore in both style and substance in 2000, and barely won. Bush, poor on style as expected, was probably more substantive in the debate, but should have attacked Kerry more for not supporting the Gulf War despite international support and cooperation, and than voting for war in Iraq with little support and coop from international governments. And Kerry want bilateral talks with North Korea? Clinton did that and ended up getting screwed! Bush should really hit hard on that issue and Kerry's global test comment...

Close election, but Bush wins by 51 - 47 margin..

2004-10-04 03:56:08 PM B82

I love the Electoral College

/union of states

The Electoral College is fine, but you run into trouble when you have federal entities (the U.S. Supreme Court) overriding the law of the state in a national election (2000) because that doesn't make the election equal to a set of state-run elections anymore.

Omega Ohm - they did let some of it get to the floor, basically prohibiting future contract-winners from relocating out of the US to dodge their taxes. But they specifically removed the parts that stripped the ten billion dollar contract from Accenture.

And yes, the article did say that there was widespread criticism of the Dems for doing basically the same thing when they had power. But there's a graphic that shows quite clearly that the problem is worse than it has ever been during the last four years.

Check it out quick... the Globe doesn't keep it articles free for very long:

Closed For Business, parts 1 and 2

Macabre,

If you didn't have the electoral college, then basically a few cities/states would constantly decide who became president. The college isn't perfect, but it does give smaller states some clout.

Sadly it is true. The American government (and not necessarily just the president) has been waging a campaign to take the American people out of the equation that is supposed to equal a government "by the people for the people" for the past 60 years.

When cures become "treaments" and public works become "public welfare" you know there's a problem. Couple that with the relentless efforts to dumb America down by denying a decent education to all but the privileged and you have what politics has become.

The fact that we stand around and do nothing about it becaue we're either 1)afraid of the government or 2) ignorant is the moronic part.

People talk about a New World Order and how do we stop it... well, guess what? It's already happened. We missed our chance to stop it over 60 years ago. The bad guys won and this is the result. So, wallow in your stupidity and ignorance, Wal-Mart shoppers and gaze upon what happens when morons elect morons.

Sadly, this is directed at neither Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives (all being mutually exclusive to all but said morons) but to all of us who look at the world and wonder what could have gone so wrong.

I recently received this e-mail, and it essentially puts Bush's supposed "colossal error in judgement" into perspective. Viva Bush!

"Learn these facts to properly debate our poor misguided friends & family before election time !!!

-There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq during the month of January.....
In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January. That's just one American city, about as deadly as the entire war torn country of Iraq.

-When some claim President Bush shouldn't have started this war, state the following ...

-FDR... led us into World War II.
Germany never attacked us: Japan did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost, an average of 112,500 per year.

-Truman... finished that war and started one in Korea, North Korea never attacked us.
-From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of 18,334 per year.

-John F. Kennedy... started the Vietnam conflict in 1962.
Vietnam never attacked us. Johnson... turned Vietnam into a quagmire. Vietnam never attacked us. From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost, an average of 5,800 per year.

-Clinton... went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent, Bosnia never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.

-In the two years since terrorists attacked US!
President Bush has ... liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran and North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people.

-The Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking, but...

-It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno to take the Branch Davidian compound. That was a 51 day operation..

-We've been looking for evidence of chemical weapons in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton to find her Rose Law Firm billing records.

-It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police after his Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick, drowning Mary Jo.

-It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in Florida!!!!

-Our Commander-In-Chief is doing a GREAT JOB! The Military moral is high! The biased media hopes we are too ignorant to realize the facts.

VOTE BUSH!!!"

How do you Dems respond to that?

Apparently the graphic isn't in the on-line version. But in gist it shows that fewer and fewer bills that make it to the floor are open for amendments. Also, massive legislation packages are rushed to the floor for vote before any serious analysis can be done by the legislators. These tricks are used for pork-barrel handouts as well as special favors for lobby interests.

I used to be against it, but I think it's high time for the line item veto.

no desire to participate in the flame war today. just stopped by to heap more props upon the submitter for the headline.

chocoboat
and if you disagree with any of them, you're either evil or idiotic or both.

I see you are well aware of the very human tendency to project one's own tendencies/motivations/behaviors onto others.

You always have to consider the source, don't you?

I figure there are probably lots of Farkers who consider me to be an idiot or evil or both.

Oh well, that's their opinion, and they are quite welcome to it. (Stick&Stones, and all that) ;)

2004-10-04 01:41:31 PM Mr. Clarence Butterworth
"My opponent says we didn't have any allies in this war.
What's he say to Tony Blair? What's he say to Alexander Kwasniewski of Poland?"
--Dubya, in Thursday night's debate

"They (He means Bush) deceived us about the weapons of mass destruction, that's true.
We were taken for a ride."
-Alexander Kwasniewski,

THey need to make that into an ad.

2004-10-04 01:21:38 PM RoninKengo


WHY IS THIS EVEN A QUESTION? WHY IS BUSH STILL EVEN IN THE RUNNING??

Ummmm maby because hes still the president?

/flameon

98% morons.

Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Franklin would all shoot themselves if they saw what has become of this place.

matrix29

Wow! You sure are good at cutting and pasting. My hat is off to you, sir!

A close race earns the networks higher ad fees. This one gets a big fat doh. Hell yes it's close. The networks would have it no other way.

The networks aren't really biased. They are more like bookies. They want as much action as possible. A blow out kills their forecasts. Therefore they will do what it takes to help the underdog and get the number back where it seems to be even.

If Bush starts losing, they'll help him. The only thing people like Sumner Redstone care about are ad dollars.

Great Headline.

Standing ovulation.

er...yeah.

canyoneer

Yes, I've been to a working gold mine, and a couple of copper mines as well.

I posted facts regarding gold, I didn't share an opinion either way about the gold standard.

Besides, I'm a platinum kind of gal.

"98% morons.

Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Franklin would all shoot themselves if they saw what has become of this place."

Yeah what with all the Black people running free, women voting and owning property and tobacco consumption looked at as a bad thing... I'd have to agree with you.

Oh yea, and i agree with Friedah

The Electoral College makes civil war less likely.

The US invaded Iraq because it proved to the adjacent regimes that we meant business about flipping the govt over there if they didn't stop funding hate groups like Al Qaeda. WMD was a cover because the average dumbshiat doesn't comprehend anything other than basic black and white.

If Kerry is elected and the military votes with their feet, he may be forced to restart the draft. Oh well. Serves some people right.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/04/election.florida/index.html

since NOTHING GETS GREENLIT EVAR, i decided to post this link in here. it's relevent and dumb. it makes the debacle in florida in 2000 out to be an 'act of god'. yeah, from cnn.

BigTenuhhuh

What's it like being the official fluffer for the Repugs?

Your idiotic pro-Bush rant means nothing to me. I would vote for a pile of horse shiat if it meant getting that oil pimp monkey out of office and resotring our credibility in the world.

Funny how you twits claim Kerry had "no substance" when all your candidate could do was give a deer-in-the-headlights look for 90 minutes and repeat "It's hard work" over and over.

Pot, meet Mr. Kettle.

/pwn3ed

Macabre
But that's exactly what we have going on now. Swing states like Ohio and Florida are were the election is won. Why do you think the candidates spend ALL their time and money campaigning there?

Barnstormer --
"Apparently the graphic isn't in the on-line version. But in gist it shows that fewer and fewer bills that make it to the floor are open for amendments."


That's a good thing if I understand you correctly.

Friedah

I get emails every day that guarantee my penis will be 6 feet long by the time I finish reading them. I don't take them at face value.

That e-mail makes Michael Moore look like the world's most objective documentary film-maker. There are so many things wrong with the logic it contains that I don't know where to begin.

The fact that people are falling for that sort of crap is scarey. Do some research for yourself, evaluate the facts.

I'm voting against Bush for his unauthorized use of Trigun characters in an ad.

Friedah

That got dittoed out to the faithful back in February.

Got anything newer in your in-box?

I just don't feel like responding to a cut-n-paste.


Why don't you mix it up with matrix29. Call on OldbutFast if you feel you need help.

(Insight on my feelings on the matter can be found at Eternyl 2004-10-04 03:37:49 PM).

Dusty ponderous tomes don't have much traction here.

BearToy --
"With all the slimy wordsmithing of the best snakelike attorney, they lied by selective presentation of distorted information."


That grossed another guy $118,877,529 so far and nobody's been really biatching about it.

Hey,I am part of the 49% that is going to vote for Bush! I can't wait to see how farking pissed off you farking a-holes will be the day Bush wins. And if he loses. Hey, no Hillary in 08. I win either way.

thornhill wrote:
The last debate is on the economy, where Bush is going to get ass raped big
time. It will be the fist time that he'll be asked the question: "If the
tax cuts are stimulating the economy, why have you become the first President
since Hoover during the great depression to have a net loss of jobs, and why is
the deficit at a record high?"

Maybe 9/11 and the death of the overinflated "everything internet-related will make us rich beyond our wildest dreams" online businesses had just a little to do with that? Al Gore may not have invented the internet, but some people think he might as well have, the way they give all the credit to Clinton and the Democratic party. The President is not directly responsible for everything that happened during his term. Sometimes the economy does well and sometimes it doesn't... surely you can't think that Bush didn't do what he could to improve things.

Thought I will admit, for once Bush is responsible for one of the major problems during his term, that being Iraq of course.

All Bush has to do to pull ahead is issue another terror alert. According to a Cornell Uinv. researcher, they work.

Damn, I was going to make the 98% comment, but I was beat to it by apparently half of the free world.

I would personally be interested in what the contractor casualties have been for the same period. An article I read last week estimates their current number at 40-50k, and because no one reports on them, they oftentimes get sent into the most dangerous areas. Losses that are not public domain are alot easier to ride out...

2004-10-04 04:26:30 PM darkedgefan

Hey,I am part of the 49% that is going to vote for Bush! I can't wait to see how farking pissed off you farking a-holes will be the day Bush wins. And if he loses. Hey, no Hillary in 08. I win either way.



I submit the following exhibit above as to why exactly our country has serious problems. Is this really the mentality of the majority of the voting public?

Your democracy aslpode!

Somebody invent a freaking time machine so I can go back to 1987.

I'm offended by those of you who try to simplify the reasoning behind voting for Kerry, even though we don't like him. It's not simply an "Anybody but Bush" strategy. It's an "Anybody but Bush, Anybody but Cheney, Anybody but Ashcroft, Anybody but Rumsfeld, Anybody but Rove, Anybody but Rice, and put poor Colin Powell out of his misery" strategy. Don't try to minimize our case with a silly abbreviation. ABB just scratches the surface.

FooDog --
"I would personally be interested in what the contractor casualties have been for the same period. An article I read last week estimates their current number at 40-50k,..."


That's rediculous. Google Iraq contractor casualties. Best numbers are in the hundreds. I don't see anyone even coming close to 40-50K, not by a long shot.

asplode rather.. ='/ Where did this 'asplode' madness start anyway?

Friedah

Like so:

-There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq during the month of January.....
In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January. That's just one American city, about as deadly as the entire war torn country of Iraq.

Which is precisely why cutting police officers is a bad idea. Right, George?

-FDR... led us into World War II.
Germany never attacked us: Japan did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost, an average of 112,500 per year.

Ummm...what was that "Axis" thing again? Did my history teacher lie when she said that Germany and Japan had signed a mutual pact that they would help each other in a war against the allies?

-Truman... finished that war and started one in Korea, North Korea never attacked us.
-From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of 18,334 per year.

Truman was fighting this nebulous enemy "the spread of communism" which was as good a reason as the lack of WMD, I guess.

-Clinton... went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent, Bosnia never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.

Multiple cruise missile attacks is nothing, right? And where the hell did you get that bullshiat about Sudan offering bin Laden's head on a platter. That never happened. Source?

-In the two years since terrorists attacked US!
President Bush has ... liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran and North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people.

This is rich. Iraq just got out of the frying pan to jump right in the fire. There'll be some Ayatollah ruling that country before long. The one thing that most of the population has in common is hating America.

Bush was not responsible for putting any inspectors anywhere. That is the purview of the UN. Nuclear inspectors were in N. Korea long before Bush was in office.

-The Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking, but...

-It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno to take the Branch Davidian compound. That was a 51 day operation..

-We've been looking for evidence of chemical weapons in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton to find her Rose Law Firm billing records.

-It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police after his Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick, drowning Mary Jo.

-It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in Florida!!

As per above, the job ain't finished in Iraq. You neo-cons obviously believe that "Mission Accomplished" crap, but I don't buy into it. As long as troops are bleeding and dying over there, the job still continues.

It will take longer to get the job finished in Iraq than it will take to get rid of the nice deficit Bush has left us.

Our Commander-In-Chief is doing a GREAT JOB! The Military moral is high! The biased media hopes we are too ignorant to realize the facts.

Morale is so high that the most popular saying amongst the reservists and guardsmen serving is "one weekend a month and two weeks a year, my ass".

Besides, questioning the wisdom of one's commander in chief whilst wearing the uniform of the United States is a bad idea.

Hence, Fried-ah, you should do a bit more thinking. Sounds to me like you're another blinded neo-con sucking on the teats of the GOP elephant.

Oh and another thing re the Electoral College. What makes city dwellers think disenfranchised rural areas wouldn't just say fark you and stop sending their produce to the high density population areas as a form of protest.

You take away their right to representation and you can pretty much expect some harsh realities to start setting in.

People think it's really cute to try and change the system to insure candidates of their particular persuasion can be guaranteed a victory. They usually don't think about repercussions down the road. Kind of like this vote Bush out idea. You are voting out the military too. They hate Kerry more than they hated Clinton.