Lisa Benson for August 20, 2013

It’s either that or lose ALL sense of what we are as a country.

Well, the only way to go more left is to head toward Havana.

The problem is not that a reasonable and moderate right turn with a candidate like John Huntsman would not be possible. The problem is, that such a candidate could never even get nominated past the vigilant ultra right wing tea party types. After getting the nomination by sounding like someone to the far fight of Rush Limbaugh, then such a candidate would have to then become far more moderate to even stand a chance of becoming the president. This was Mitt Romney’s real problem in the last election, and what really kept him out of the White House. And, as this is not going to change between now and the 2016 election, I would say that Hillery Clinton is going to be the next president if she actually chooses to run. It is kind of a sorry state of affairs for the Republican Party, but that is the truth of the matter!!

To get nominated you have to make Rush L look like a liberal, then to get elected you have to look like Ron R. who today would be a liberal.

Those hoping for that “right turn” will be pleased to see this article from North Carolina.^http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/08/17/3115208/college-students-will-have-to.html^The Republican dominated state capital has passed laws making it much harder for students, particularly out of state students, to vote in NC.In one college town that once had two precincts in which to vote, there is now, barring legal challenges, only going to be one in which the college students/staff AND the townspeople to vote. Witnesses said they had to wait in lines several hours during the last two election, now they’ll have to wait even longer.These types of measures, taken in the name to prevent a miniscule amount of on site voter fraud, is going to make it harder for hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of legal voters from being able to do so unless they are very educated and prepared. This will effect republicans and libertarians as well, but the conservatives in Raleigh don’t mind if a few of their own are suppressed as long as a large number of liberals are suppressed.If this was being done in a ‘blue state’, I would be equally outraged. NO legal voter should be forced to jump through hoops or stand in lines for hours just to vote. Early voting is a tool for the handicapped, for those who have to be out of town, for the elderly, and those who have to work on election day. Some of these laws passed in NC will be costing taxpayers money as NC will be going to court to defend their actions, some of which fly in the face of decisions previously made in SCOTUS.It may be legal, but it is neither ethical or moral and is being done for reasons that are dishonorable and self serving.Respectfully,C.

Maybe Lisa means at the mid-terms. There will be enough lemmings following the media’s recommendation to vote for Hillary Clinton that I bet she will be president if she wants it in 2016.

Turn right if you’re heading for the next recession. Anyone remember the big crash?

It’s as a result of the right’s participation that the economy is so close to a standstill now.

Yes, let’s turn right!

Exactly! And now we all suffer by paying at the Obama “tollbooth”.

^Give it a rest.

Since we haven’t turned left yet how much further right should we go?

We turned right at Reaganomics and have been going downhill ever since. Unless of course you were rich to begin with, in which case you made out like a bandit!

I guess Lisa wants the country to to right back into another recession

indieme sums the real problem up perfectly, and Lisa has too much sand between her ears, as does anyone who thinks otherwise when looking at the OVERALL impacts of Reagan/Bush/W programs. Remember even “Mr. Teflon” had to increase taxes, as did GHW, to prevent total disaster under their reign, and “W” /Cheney and the “unitary presidency” weren’t about to “cheat” their contributors (or own retirement funds) by changing course. The were just pleased that the crash came at the end of their terms, and they could then count on right-wing trolls and morons to push the blame onto Obama and Democrats (yes, some of them did NOT take action soon enough as well!).

“Work and make 34,000 inthe USA and you are in the 1% of the world. Does that make you feel better?”Depends on whether you think people should get married & have kids. I suppose two people pulling in $68,000/yr. are doing ok, but they aren’t getting ahead. as far as their kids… have you looked at the cost of college lately?Sure, the kids can go to Community College, but they won’t do much better than their parents. So much for the American dream.

“aaahh poor little liberal. How about this. Work and make 34,000 inthe USA and you are in the 1% of the world. Does that make you feel better?”-Harley, do you honestly believe that the current (and growing) level of wealth inequality is good for America?-This is a Y/N question. -If you are going to lecture about the importance of hard work to get wealthy or about class warfare/envy, don’t bother.

Did you read the link to the NC newspaper article?Some of the out of state students that will be effected are libertarians and/or republicans but they are acceptable collatoral damage to the NC house and senate. As long as minorities, young liberals, and the elderly are kept away, it’s acceptable. There are moderate republicans who also find these actions improper but it is only the far right fringe that finds these actions appropriate and necessary.That is a much stronger example of intolerance.C.

The real problem is that the Republicans have been letting the far-left-leaning media pick their candidates.

You mean the left wing turn from UHC to a health insurance mandate, Or not intervening in other countries affairs to intervening in other countries affairs. Or from giving money to companies to giving money to companies. Yes, clearly all indicative of a left wing shift, lets just hope you don’t drive a car

Apparently most of Europe just went up in a nuclear holocaust,

Hence why in public polls Mitt still came out ahead, and hence why Mitt was chose in the primaries.

Additionally with a hands of premise how

can one make macroeconomic changes, the financial system moved almost entirely to equities vs bonds and loans when it was recapitalized.

This means in other words that businesses that actually needed money to start up will not receive it, and investment in manufacturing has to come from existing cash flow.

Never mind that the american market is comparatively over saturated for consumer spending levels, in other words if somebody steps up production they are pretty much calling for a price war, which courtesy of increased reliance upon equity i.e investors is a no go.

Okay, let’s pick just one indicator — housing foreclosures. I pick that because it’s something everyone can feel in their bones — not much worse than losing your house. Things were really bad in 2008, still bad in 2009 and 2010, but definitely better this year. The evidence is posted below, from such socialist sources as USA today:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2009-01-14-foreclosure-record-filings_N.htmForeclosure filings surpassed 3 million in 2008, setting a record that has Washington, D.C., policymakers calling for more aggressive efforts this year to aid troubled homeowners.Foreclosures last year were up 81% from 2007 and 225% from 2006, according to a report out today from RealtyTrac. One in 54 homes received at least one foreclosure filing during the year, RealtyTrac reported. +http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/01/14/us-usa-housing-foreclosures-idUSTRE60D0LZ20100114 (Reuters) – U.S. foreclosure actions shattered all records in 2009 and will do so again this year, with unemployment and wage cuts overcoming programs to remedy failing home loans, RealtyTrac said on Thursday.A record 2.8 million properties with a mortgage got a foreclosure notice last year, jumping 21 percent from 2008 and 120 percent from 2007, the Irvine, California-based real estate data company found.+http://www.realtytrac.com/content/foreclosure-market-report/midyear-2013-us-foreclosure-market-report-7794:“U.S. Foreclosure Activity Decreases 14 Percent in June to Lowest Level Since December 2006 Despite 34 Percent Jump in Judicial Scheduled Foreclosure Auctions.RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for real estate data, today released its Midyear 2013 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows a total of 801,359 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — in the first half of 2013, a 19 percent decrease from the previous six months and down 23 percent from the first half of 2012.”

“…none of them are able to hold a job in the real world..”-Teaching doesn’t exist in the real world? How so?

Ha ha! Mitt Romney wasn’t conservative enough? Yeah, that’s the problem.

So you’re saying that it is ok to make it harder for hundreds of thousands to vote as long as it keeps one fraudulent vote from occurring.I can’t argue with that. I disagree, but if you are willing to go to that extreme, there is no middle ground in which to have a discussion. If I did find a site proving my point you would still hold to the truth with which you are comfortable. Feel free to find and link an objective website that proves that level of fraud..@ bhinkle Are you referring to the Duke Lacrosse Team arrests? How does that apply to students not having access to their constitutional right to vote? How does that apply to the closing of one of two voting precincts that will serve to do nothing but make lines longer and make it harder for working people and others in the town to vote?The conservatives in this forum are still outraged about ACORN and some of the other stories where Dems improperly registered people or even disposed of ballots, but there doesn’t seem to be any outrage that a premeditated and even celebrated plan to make it harder for those who typically vote democrat to do so. I recently supplied a link to a PA story about a state republican who praised the voter law for blocking 5% of Obama voters in the state.Two “Black Panthers” stand in front of a precinct and it’s an example of voter intimidation, but deliberately making it harder for people, even Republicans, to vote, seems acceptable as long as it happens in a majority Democrat district.I do apologize when I’m wrong, Bhinkle. And twice, in lengthy posts explaining my ‘evolution’ to the truth.That flag you use an avatar protects voters and promises them the right to vote. It is the duty of the voting officials to filter out the ones who shouldn’t be voting.Respectfully,C.

Okay, I’m continuing to support my post of yesterday, noting the difference between the big crash of 2008 and today. Here are some notes on the deficit. First, a recent newspaper article noting that the deficit so far this year is 37.6% below the same period last year, and that it’s projected to be the first deficit since 2008 that’s below a trillion bucks. Again, not perfect by a long shot, but still better than it was, which was my point. +I’ll say it again. Under Obama the deficits are starting to go down.+After that I have included figures for the deficit going back to Ronald Reagan. You can see that there were deficits regularly under Reagan and both Bushes, and the only administration in this period to post a surplus was Clinton’s.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/12/us-budget-deficit_n_3745096.htmlU.S. Budget Deficit Down 37.6 Percent Through July: CBO By MARTIN CRUTSINGER 08/12/13 02:32 PM ET EDT WASHINGTON — The government on Monday reported a $97.6 billion deficit for July but remains on track to post its lowest annual budget gap in five years.July’s figure raises the deficit so far for the 2013 budget year to $607.4 billion, the government says. That’s 37.6 percent below the $973.8 billion deficit for the first 10 months of the 2012 budget year.The Congressional Budget Office has forecast that the annual deficit will be $670 billion when the budget year ends Sept. 30, far below last year’s $1.09 trillion. It would mark the first year that the gap between spending and revenue has been below $1 trillion since 2008.Steady economic growth, higher taxes, lower government spending and increased dividends from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have helped shrink the deficit.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/federalbudgetprocess/a/Budget-Deficit-History.htm•2013 – $901 trillion budget deficit (projected)•2012 – $1.1 trillion budget deficit•2011 – $1.3 trillion budget deficit•2010 – $1.3 trillion budget deficit•2009 – $1.4 trillion budget deficit (Obama becomes president)•2008 – $455 billion budget deficit•2007 – $162 billion budget deficit•2006 – $248.2 billion budget deficit•2005 – $319 billion budget deficit•2004 – $412.7 billion budget deficit•2003 – $377.6 billion budget deficit•2002 – $157.8 billion budget deficit•2001 – $128.2 billion budget surplus (G. Bush becomes president)•2000 – $236.2 billion budget surplus•1999 – $125.6 billion budget surplus•1998 – $69.3 billion budget surplus•1997 – $21.9 billion budget deficit•1996 – $107.4 billion budget deficit•1995 – $164 billion budget deficit•1994 – $203.2 billion budget deficit•1993 – $255.1 billion budget deficit (Clinton becomes president)•1992 – $290.3 billion budget deficit•1991 – $269.2 billion budget deficit•1990 – $221 billion budget deficit•1989 – $152.6 billion budget deficit (G. H. W. Bush becomes president)•1988 – $155.2 billion budget deficit•1987 – $149.7 billion budget deficit•1986 – $221.2 billion budget deficit•1985 – $212.3 billion budget deficit•1984 – $185.4 billion budget deficit•1983 – $207.8 billion budget deficit•1982 – $128 billion budget deficit•1981 – $79 billion budget deficit (Reagan becomes president)

Molon Labe (“come and get ’em”) said, “You mean the one that started the day that Obama was nominated or the one that started the day he was elected?”+Now you’re just being silly.

I also support the use of picture i.d. as long as that i.d. is free and at least as easy as going to my local DMV to get an i.d. card, easier than a passport, anyway.As long as the Black Panthers were the prescribed distance from precinct and not physically threatening anyone, they had as much right to be there as the Westboro Baptist Church has to do their mean-spirited protests. Both are wrong and serve no honorable cause.If it was just the i.d. issue, I would not care. But there is a multilevel approach being used to keep those who vote Dem from the polls.In 2012, two black men collected thousands of registrations from students at historically black, Hampton University. None of those registrations were turned in.If this had been done to white republican students, I would find it equally vile.I like your idea on helping with i.d. But what about the rest of it?Curously,C.

“Do you believe that the evil rich stole your lunch money? Or that most of them got rich by inheriting it? Or that Obama is good for the middle class by taxing the evil rich and giving to the poor?”-Well, my question was honest and direct. Your answer was non-responsive. =BTW, my answers are:-To some extent.-To a large extent. Many, like the Kochs, Rockefeller, Romney, Goldwater, were born into it. Many increased their fortunes (some squandered it). Others at least started from an upper middle class or higher upbringing.-The third question is ‘Have you stopped beating your wife yet’.-I don’t understand your reluctance to answer my question.