Politics: A new beginning

[Hank Chinaski]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,106482,00.html

The U.S. economy, propelled by tax cuts and low interest rates, roared ahead at an 8.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the best showing in nearly 20 years, while Americans' incomes and spending both showed healthy gains in November.



The government reports Tuesday on the gross domestic product (search), the country's broadest measure of economic health, and personal incomes and spending provided further evidence that the economy was convincingly shaking off a prolonged period of lethargy and beginning to fire on all cylinders.

[leagleaze]

I was asked to post the following by someone who cannot post for emself.

I wanted to share a tidbit of info for people on politics board
discussing Padilla case and Guantanamo Bay detainees, etc.

Point was raised about Mexican doctor who kept DEA agent
alive for torturing back in 1984; snatched by DEA and
brought to USA for trial. Posters appear misinformed about
denouement of case against physician.

The doctor wasn't sentenced to life; he was acquitted and
subsequently brought tort claims against DEA agents. (Thus
winning the Nervy Bastid of the Year award.) The U.S.
Supreme Court granted cert on Dec. 1. Issue is Alien Tort
Claims Act. Caption is Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain. Docket No.
03-339.

This factoid is not directly relevant to posters' discussion
of jurisdiction over enemy combatants but I thought they
might be interested.

[sgtclub]

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-break...1120-7505r.htm

[women outnumber men in white collar jobs]

[Tyrone Slothrop]

The first case of mad cow disease in the United States has been reported. However, although this photo from CNN might suggest, otherwise, there is no truth to the rumors that the first victim is Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman.

[Hank Chinaski]

[Hank Chinaski]

http://www.ajc.com/today/content/epa...f60171020.html
this board should be about improving oneself, constructive criticism. To that end , i've someNew Year's resolution for the left:

It's going to be a long 2004 for the George W. Bush haters. To help them along in the months to come, we present New Year's resolutions for avid Bush detesters, and a few for his fans as well. Start with the foes:

To SAM, maybe consider:

I resolve to examine at least one of the president's statements, acts, gestures or facial expressions without first insisting it proves that the man is a stupid chimp evil liar plastic-turkey-holding DRAFT DODGER MY GOD CAN'T YOU PEOPLE SEE HIM FOR WHAT HE IS?

To Ty:

I resolve to grasp the absurdity of appearing on national talk shows to insist that our freedom of speech has disappeared.

To Atticus:

I resolve to let at least a minute pass before I accuse the administration of contemptuous high-handedness toward our allies. By which I mean France. I resolve to ask myself whether my attachment to French approval is analogous to a high school chess geek mooning after the lovely but haughty cheerleader who regards everyone with bemused contempt. She winked once. That was weeks ago. Was it all a tease?

To GGG:

I resolve to consider that not everything Bush says is a lie. Example: If Bush says that ''two plus two equals four,'' I will not spit, ''Oh, that's Enron math,'' and spend the rest of the day rebalancing my checkbook in Base Eight.

these are just suggestions, you haven't listened to much I've said this year, So i suspect you'll ignore these, but maybe, just maybe, they'll be of some help.

[Hank Chinaski]

I'm just saying......


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,106725,00.html

Investigators tentatively traced the first U.S. cow with mad cow disease (search) to Canada, which could help determine the scope of the outbreak and might even limit the economic damage to the American beef industry.
..................
Dr. Ron DeHaven (search), the Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian, said on Saturday that Canadian officials provided records indicating the sick Holstein was in a herd of 74 cattle shipped from Alberta, Canada, into this country in August 2001 at Eastport, Idaho.
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (search) in Denver said the indication that the infected cow was from Canada means U.S. trading partners should reopen their borders to American beef. The farm organization said a beef export monitoring program would allow importers to separate beef of Canadian origin if they feel additional precautions are needed.

Federal officials announced on Tuesday that tests indicated the cow, which ended up at a Washington farm in October 2001, had mad cow, a brain-wasting illness. An international laboratory in England confirmed it Thursday.
....................................................................

Connecting the infected cow to Canada could deal another blow to the Canadian beef industry, which has struggled since it found its case of mad cow last May. It lost $1 million in beef trade per day as countries cut off beef imports.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
these are just suggestions, you haven't listened to much I've said this year, So i suspect you'll ignore these, but maybe, just maybe, they'll be of some help.

As Earl told Mooch in the comics today - - "Resolutions are supposed to be for yourself." "Oh, what fun is that?"

That said, I want Ty's resolution.

S_A_M

[Can you hear me now?]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Dec27.html

As if things weren't going badly enough for John F. Kerry, the senator from Massachusetts has been bitten by a Psycho Chihuahua. The attack occurred 10 days ago in Hopkinton, N.H., when Kerry went to speak to a class at Hopkinton High. This appearance resulted in a most unhelpful photo for the onetime front-runner for the Democratic nomination, snapped by Concord Monitor photo editor Dan Habib. The image is of Kerry making an earnest point to student Mark LaGuardia, who, unbeknownst to the candidate, is wearing a T-shirt that proclaims on the back: "Your mouth keeps moving but all I hear is 'BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.' "


ROTFLMAOOL!!!!

Well, I think this picture and the damage it will do with the unwashed masses in New Hampshire makes it official, this ketchup stained idiot Kerry has no chance against Dr. Deano. He was doomed by his inherent loserdom. I still remember the first time I ever saw Kerry speak, when he was making his first Senate run and gave a pseudo policy speech at Harvard. The man was boastful in an nauseatingly arrogant manner, full of shit…er…..himself, and oh so faux-preppily professorial in his Ralph Lauren tweed sportcoat with felt patches.

Other than looking like a wrinkled prune and having whored himself to Theresa Heinz’s ill-gotten condiment fortune, not much has really changed.
The Democrat presidential race is over. Deano wins. Hands down, but of course, W will then beat Dean like a rendered mule.

[Hank Chinaski]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/APW...D7VO2AM00.html
Oh, this was Dean (Not Bush).

The most interesting theory that I've heard so far - which is nothing more than a theory, it can't be proved - is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now, who knows what the real situation is?

[Dave]

Originally posted by Can you hear me now?
stuff and picture of red map

That's a right pretty map, but even if GWB were to be anointed as a demigod by the heads of each major organized religion and Dean was exposed as a baby seal clubbing child molester, Dean would still get more than 3 electoral votes. And I'd put NH in the red before some of the far-west states.

Has anyone got odds on a reverse of the 2000 election, i.e. Bush wins the popular vote but loses in the electoral college? It's not likely, of course, but I could see it happening -- he wins big in safe states (south and mountain west), but loses narrowly everywhere else (including California, if, say, he spends hundreds of millions).

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Dave
That's a right pretty map, but even if GWB were to be anointed as a demigod by the heads of each major organized religion and Dean was exposed as a baby seal clubbing child molester, Dean would still get more than 3 electoral votes. And I'd put NH in the red before some of the far-west states.

Concur. No way Bush wins Mass.

Has anyone got odds on a reverse of the 2000 election, i.e. Bush wins the popular vote but loses in the electoral college? It's not likely, of course, but I could see it happening -- he wins big in safe states (south and mountain west), but loses narrowly everywhere else (including California, if, say, he spends hundreds of millions).

The only state he won before, that he could possibly lose in a "close" election is Fla. In that same close election, he have to win several he previously lost to win popular vote. He won the great bulk of the states, with many by 70-30% margins. He can't improve on those margins, so I don't see your scenario playing out.

By the way, I invented ruggedly handsome avatars. I will allow you this, for a short while, but don't be cramping my style for long, please.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Concur. No way Bush wins Mass.


The only state he won before, that he could possibly lose in a "close" election is Fla. In that same close election, he have to win several he previously lost to win popular vote. He won the great bulk of the states, with many by 70-30% margins. He can't improve on those margins, so I don't see your scenario playing out.

By the way, I invented ruggedly handsome avatars. I will allow you this, for a short while, but don't be cramping my style for long, please.

Ohio, Missouri, New Hampshire, Washington, and several other states were Bush victories by very narrow margins. Interestingly, if you exclude the close states, and call all the states Gore won by a handy margin for Dean, Dean will start off with more electoral votes than Bush (thank you, NY and California).

Ohio is an interesting one, because Gore pulled all his resources out of Ohio early yet came very close in the state (STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!).

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
Ohio, Missouri, New Hampshire, Washington, and several other states were Bush victories by very narrow margins. Interestingly, if you exclude the close states, and call all the states Gore won by a handy margin for Dean, Dean will start off with more electoral votes than Bush (thank you, NY and California).

Ohio is an interesting one, because Gore pulled all his resources out of Ohio early yet came very close in the state (STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!).

I was talking to someone close to Ron Klain a few months ago, and we got to talking about the election. He pointed out that Buchanan made sure to do his campaigning only in states where he couldn't affect the outcome, but that Nader -- while saying that his goal was to get the Greens to 5% -- did the opposite, and did not campaign in places like Austin, where he could have pulled in votes without making a difference in the electoral tally, but instead campaigned in places where he could hurt Gore, like Seattle. The Gore campaign kept scheduling and rescheduling a trip to New Hampshire toward the end of the campaign, and in the end cancelled it for the last time to go to Seattle after Nader went there. They then lost New Hampshire by a tiny margin, much less than the bump they would have received from a visit there. The person I talked to says Ron Klain still kicks himself for this.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
Gore campaign made tactical errors, and Nader campaigned to hurt while Buchanan campaigned where he wouldn't hurt.

70% of America is thankful it turned out that way, if what you say is true.

PS The page I visitied says Gore won Washington by 5%. He almost lost Oregon, but crept in.