I bet Clifford Thatcher has been dispatched by the Republican Party to write that letter. If you volunteer, the party may request you write letters to the editor.
Limbaugh mentioned the Nine Wealthy Democrat Senators on his show this week. Clifford probably didn't even need to leave his radio. Dittohead synchophant!
It's not a mistake to say Democrats are the party of working people. It's correct. So Clifford can "point out" someplace where the sun don't shine.
No, I'm just a guy who has to work longer almost every year to pay for more programs and spending at a seemingly never ending pace.
I bet Clifford Thatcher has been dispatched by the Republican Party to write that letter. If you volunteer, the party may request you write letters to the editor.
Yes Rick any letter to the editor must have written because the author was asked by either the republican party or Rush. No one could possibly write a letter that would dare criticize democrats otherwise.
How many large scale terrorist attacks have we had against the country since 1980? I don't blame that on GW. Bill, I am glad we agree that the government and its programs should be cut smaller. Big business should be ashamed of itself right now. Those guys rank about as high on the food chain with me right now as the bastard that raped and killed that 5-year old little girl. (Just gimmie 5 minutes alone with that prick!) Public stoning isn't strong enough punishment for these bottom-feeders.
The economy and stock market often go in different directions. Stocks are falling, but recent indicators on the economy aren't really bad at all. Growth for the first half of the the years was around 6 percent. That's not recession numbers. By the end of the year, the Times reported today that estimated growth for the year could be 4.3 percent. Respectable.
But the stock market can live and die on words alone. And I don't know if Bush can talk the talk with Wall Street.
The economic team needs a shakeup, Cheney needs to talk about Halliburton. And all of it better be done with some authority and assurance.
...Fears that terrorists might attempt a nuclear, biological or chemical attack on U.S. territory are prompting some lawmakers to support revisions to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which restricts using the military as a civilian police force.
``I think it is time to revisit it,'' Senator Joe Biden, a Delaware Democrat, said on the ``Fox News Sunday'' program. That would ``allow for military that has expertise with weapons of mass destruction to be called in'' if such a plot was discovered.
"Ridge downplayed the notion that the government would move to give members of the military authority to arrest U.S. citizen. The subject hasn't yet come up for debate in the administration, though it might be discussed once Bush's homeland security department is created."
In other words, don't hold your breath. To use rather crude military parlence, the Homeland Security Cabinet position is in the "Charlie Foxtrot" stage.
I got those economic growth figures from an Op-ed story by the vice-chairman of the Federal Reserve in the Sunday New York Times. I shouldn't report things off the top of my head.
According to Alan Blinder, the GDP grew 6.1 percent during the first quarter. A 2.5 percent growth is expected out of the second quarter figures, and 4.3 percent for the first half of the year. The Fed expects 3 percent growth the second half. Private forecasters are a little more optimistic.
I think that's not 90s, growth, but it's fairly good. I hope it stays that way for the sake of my livelihood.
As Paul Samuelson once said "the stock market has forecast nine of the last five recessions."
I've been hearing conservative talking heads saying that Democrats hope the economy stays bad long enough to affect the November elections. Well, if you say that, you can also claim that Republcans hoped for the same thing in the 90s so public opinion would turn against Clinton.
"It changes a driver's license to a state identification badge or internal passport," said Chuck Samuelson, executive director of the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union. "It's a real un-American thing to do."
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Legal problems continues to mount for state Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps. WRAL has learned the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office are now investigating Phipps and her campaign finance problems. Plus, a state lawmaker has called on the state attorney general's office to investigate whether the Phipps' campaign broke the law.
At last month's state Board of Elections hearings, board members fined the Phipps campaign $130,000 for violating state election laws.
"The Meg Scott Phipps campaign was grossly negligent," board Chairman Larry Leake said.
Shortly after the hearings, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Wake County district attorney launched an investigation into possible wrongdoing. Federal agents have now contacted the Elections Board and various people with knowledge of the campaign and fair industry...
Whom do you believe? The American pilots, who say they were fired upon and respected the rules of engagement? Or the Afghan "civilians," who claim that American pilots were bored and decided to have target practice with women, children and goats?
WASHINGTON — In only the second time a sitting member has been banished since the Civil War, the House voted to expel convicted Ohio Rep. James Traficant on Wednesday.
Representatives voted 420-1 to immediately boot the nine-term Democrat after a federal jury in Cleveland convicted him and a House ethics panel recommended his removal. Nine lawmakers voted present.
What's a bit odd or even humorous is do you know who was the only voter on favor of not kicking him out ?.......... Gary Condit. Yep good ol' Gary, of course Gary probably thought to himself "hey, what he did isn't that bad, I've done worse"
Senate, Justice Department Continue Probe Of N.J. Senator
At a store in Englewood, N.J., there are records that show that a big screen television was purchased for $1,695.
Those records, which are now in the hands of the Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee, show that Asian fund-raiser David Chang paid for the television on Nov. 4, 1998 - and that expensive TV was delivered to the then-home of Sen. Robert Torricelli, the records show.
However, Torricelli insists he never took any gifts from Chang. In a statement, Torricelli said: "We have said from the beginning that when this concludes it will answer these questions and we remain confident that this is the case... We will not respond to unfounded and irresponsible leaks and rumors."
Chang, who is a convicted fund-raiser now in jail, claims he gave Torricelli thousands of dollars in cash and gifts, including an antique clock for $3,600. The senator denies it all.
So who should the investigators believe?
"Could Sen. Torricelli explain how he paid $3,600 in cash for an antique clock in Lambertville, N.J., with Mr. Chang present when Torricelli had not made a cash withdrawal from his own accounts totaling that amount for the last six months?" asks a Justice Department official who insisted on anonymity. "But Mr. Chang made that exact withdrawal that very Wednesday."
On Capitol Hill, the Senate Ethics Committee is reviewing Torricelli's sworn statements. Chang has asked to tell his story to the committee. But when asked if the committee would question witnesses other than Torricelli, the committee chairman, Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, then wondered "who would we interview?"
At the New Jersey stores where some of the gifts in question were bought, merchants said they have not heard from the ethics panel. One store owner said Chang bought a $450 diamond pendant at his shop. The owner said that he cooperated with the Federal Bureau of Investigations a couple of years ago, but he does not know if Chang's purchase wound up going to Torricelli or any of his girlfriends.
"It's definitely not something that you give a senator to bribe him or turn his opinion in your favor," the storeowner said.
According to this Washington Post article:Referring to Bush, Clinton said, "There was corporate malfeasance both before he took office and after. The difference is I actually tried to do something about it, and their party stopped it."
However, according to the Hartford Courant we see that it was none other than "old Clinton friend and Democratic Party Chairman Christopher J. Dodd leading the charge." (This is an article that you have to pay for, but a short synopsis is available at this link.)
In fact, Ralph Nader was lementing this here: "And what's really shocking here is that this is going to split the Democratic Party even more than it's now split, because President Clinton was defeated today because of Sen. Dodd, who's the chairman of the Democratic Party."
According to the vote, Baucus (D-MT), Bingaman (D-NM), Bradley (D-NJ), Dodd (D-CT), Exon (D-NE), Feinstein (D-CA), Ford (D-KY), Harkin (D-IA), Johnston (D-LA), Kennedy (D-MA), Kerry (D-MA), Kohl (D-WI), Lieberman (D-CT), Mikulski (D-MD), Moseley-Braun (D-IL), Murray (D-WA), Pell (D-RI), Reid (D-NV), Robb (D-VA) and Rockefeller (D-WV), all voted to overide the veto. Hardly a "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy".
July 26, 2002 -- ANY Democrats dreaming that the corporate greed scandal is a political slam-dunk need only look at North Carolina - where it's slamming Bill Clinton's White House chief of staff over the head.
Erskine Bowles wants the Dem Senate nod to run against Elizabeth Dole - who got a boost from President Bush yesterday - but Bowles is getting slammed as the "poster child for corporate irresponsibility."
What makes it doubly intriguing is that the attacks don't just come from Republicans but from Bowles' underfunded Democratic rival - which could leave Bowles bloodied even if, as expected, he wins the September primary.
At issue: Bowles' letter to Sotheby's fraud judge begging for leniency for DeDe Brooks, who faced (but escaped) three years in the slammer for her role in the auction house's price-fixing.
Sounding a class-warfare theme that Democrats normally aim at the GOP, Democratic rival Dan Blue's spokeswoman scoffed that Bowles only backs law and order "so long as it doesn't apply to his wealthy friends and campaign contributors."
Bowles is also getting hit on the $4.2 million that he earned last year from the investment bank Forstman Little, now blamed for bungling that cost Connecticut retirees $100 million. Team Dole is smiling.
What this shows is that so far, corporate greed as a political weapon is hitting where one candidate is personally vulnerable - not as a national theme, and not necessarily favoring Dems.
After all, Senate Democrats have made a point of recruiting millionaires as candidates so they can fund their own races. In fact, the four richest senators - and six of the ten richest - are Democrats.
Whether fraud remains a localized issue rather than a broad theme likely depends on whether the stock market has bottomed out - and whether investors keep getting heartened by arrests of accused CEO fraudsters by Bush's get-the-crooks SWAT team.
As long as the federal government keeps rounding up overpaid fraud suspects - WorldCom's high-living execs are said to be next - it will get hard for Democrats to bill Bush and the GOP as buddy-buddy with CEO criminals.
Suddenly, the political mood seemed to shift in the GOP's favor thanks to the arrests and the fact that Congress yesterday finished passing a bill to slam corporate crooks even harder - a bill Bush will quickly sign.
Democrats can claim all they like that it was really their bill - as president, Bush will get prime credit, just as Clinton did for the GOP welfare reform bill that he vetoed twice and only signed under duress.
Boy, when the economy was booming in the '90s the Republicans said it was all the doing to Ronald Reagan. Clinton had nothing to do with it.
Now, Clinton is responsible for all the whole shebang that's occurring two years after he leaves office.
It's never going to end for him. Because there are Republicans, like Dan and his hero Rush Limbaugh who Hate Bill Clinton with the White-Hot Intensity of 1,000 Suns.,
How sad that gets and so blatently partisan.
Yeah, Dan, you don't care about politcal parties. Want them gone.
Boy, when the economy was booming in the '90s the Republicans said it was all the doing to Ronald Reagan. Clinton had nothing to do with it.
Now, Clinton is responsible for all the whole shebang that's occurring two years after he leaves office.
Yes Rick, it does take time for a president and congress' acts to take effect.
It's never going to end for him. Because there are Republicans, like Dan and his hero Rush Limbaugh who Hate Bill Clinton with the White-Hot Intensity of 1,000 Suns.,
How sad that gets and so blatently partisan.
How you got that out of my last two post, I do not understand. I pointed out that Clinton did vetoe the piece of legislation that had a lot to do with the current mess. It was Dodd that garnered the votes from the likes of Kennedy, Lieberman, Kerry, Feinstein, etc., to override that vetoe.
Amazing that you see pointing out that he lied about the Republicans being behind this as a blatantly partisan attack on Clinton. It is never going to end for him because he keeps putting his foot in his mouth. He could have said that he vetoed that piece of legislation and left it at that, but he had to add in a jab at the other party.
Yeah, Dan, you don't care about politcal parties. Want them gone.
That would put an end to lieing about the other party, wouldn't it?
I'm probably the most solid partisan Democrat on this board, but next to Dan, I look like Wavy Gravy.
I don't mind people who align with political parties. I think it's smart. But when you single out one party time and again in post after post, you can't say you're not partisan and you don't like political parties. You obviously see ONE party as the opposition.
Thomas Friedman is the foreign affairs columnist of the New York Times and talks to lots of people from different countries. What they want more out of capitalism is not more freedom or more "rugged individuals" but more little men with big rule books.
"They may have all the hardware of capitalism, but they don't have the software -- namely, an uncorrupted bureaucracy to manage the regulatory agencies, licensing offices, property laws and commercial courts.
"Indeed, what foreigners envy us most for is precisely the city that Mr. Bush loves to bash: Washington."
It would be a luxury in many countres, said Friedman, to be able to obtain a license without having to pay off some official.
"Sure, we have our bad apples," Friedman continues. "but most of our bureaucrats are pretty decent. In fact, our federal bureaucrats are to capitalism what the New York police and fire departments were to 9/11 -- the unsung guardians of America's civic religion, the religion that says if you work hard and play by the rules, you'll get rewarded and you won't get ripped off."
So let's hear it today for the little men and women with big rule books. And given what we know today about our "rugged individuals " in the corporate world I hope in the future they tremble when the regulators come a-callin'. They start "pittin' out" in single-needle stitched shirts. And if they're on the up and up, they'll breath a sigh of relief when the regulator's briefcase is closed and the bureaucrat thanks him for his time.
I wonder about those test scores. Do high test scores really correlate to school choice or any other policy decisions? Isn't it more the way the school districts approach the standardized tests.
My point is, if they "teach the test" to the kids, one can expect they'll score better. The district will then have what's called the Lake Wobegon Effect, where "all the children are above average."
They may be learning how to test well, but are they learing the material?
My point is, if they "teach the test" to the kids, one can expect they'll score better.
They should "teach the test" since what is on the test is what they should need to know. I see that you got your left wing teacher's union talking points guidelines, Rick.
I bet Clifford Thatcher has been dispatched by the Republican Party to write that letter. If you volunteer, the party may request you write letters to the editor.
Limbaugh mentioned the Nine Wealthy Democrat Senators on his show this week. Clifford probably didn't even need to leave his radio. Dittohead synchophant!
It's not a mistake to say Democrats are the party of working people. It's correct. So Clifford can "point out" someplace where the sun don't shine.
That's true. The more they are in power the more we all have to work!
And you're a better person for it, Rob.
No, I'm just a guy who has to work longer almost every year to pay for more programs and spending at a seemingly never ending pace.
Yes Rick any letter to the editor must have written because the author was asked by either the republican party or Rush. No one could possibly write a letter that would dare criticize democrats otherwise.
There's plenty to criticize the Democrats for and they're as open to criticism.
But the topic Thatcher picked has Rush or the Republicans written between the lines.
How many large scale terrorist attacks have we had against the country since 1980? I don't blame that on GW. Bill, I am glad we agree that the government and its programs should be cut smaller. Big business should be ashamed of itself right now. Those guys rank about as high on the food chain with me right now as the bastard that raped and killed that 5-year old little girl. (Just gimmie 5 minutes alone with that prick!) Public stoning isn't strong enough punishment for these bottom-feeders.
The economy and stock market often go in different directions. Stocks are falling, but recent indicators on the economy aren't really bad at all. Growth for the first half of the the years was around 6 percent. That's not recession numbers. By the end of the year, the Times reported today that estimated growth for the year could be 4.3 percent. Respectable.
But the stock market can live and die on words alone. And I don't know if Bush can talk the talk with Wall Street.
The economic team needs a shakeup, Cheney needs to talk about Halliburton. And all of it better be done with some authority and assurance.
And Bush can't do it being an amiable nice guy.
I could not get into your paid site, but I did find this.
Link
...Fears that terrorists might attempt a nuclear, biological or chemical attack on U.S. territory are prompting some lawmakers to support revisions to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which restricts using the military as a civilian police force.
``I think it is time to revisit it,'' Senator Joe Biden, a Delaware Democrat, said on the ``Fox News Sunday'' program. That would ``allow for military that has expertise with weapons of mass destruction to be called in'' if such a plot was discovered.
"Ridge downplayed the notion that the government would move to give members of the military authority to arrest U.S. citizen. The subject hasn't yet come up for debate in the administration, though it might be discussed once Bush's homeland security department is created."
In other words, don't hold your breath. To use rather crude military parlence, the Homeland Security Cabinet position is in the "Charlie Foxtrot" stage.
Bill:
I got those economic growth figures from an Op-ed story by the vice-chairman of the Federal Reserve in the Sunday New York Times. I shouldn't report things off the top of my head.
According to Alan Blinder, the GDP grew 6.1 percent during the first quarter. A 2.5 percent growth is expected out of the second quarter figures, and 4.3 percent for the first half of the year. The Fed expects 3 percent growth the second half. Private forecasters are a little more optimistic.
I think that's not 90s, growth, but it's fairly good. I hope it stays that way for the sake of my livelihood.
As Paul Samuelson once said "the stock market has forecast nine of the last five recessions."
I've been hearing conservative talking heads saying that Democrats hope the economy stays bad long enough to affect the November elections. Well, if you say that, you can also claim that Republcans hoped for the same thing in the 90s so public opinion would turn against Clinton.
The American Civil Liberties Union in Minnesota, several advocacy groups and state residents plan to sue the state today over new regulations that give immigrants special driver's licenses that expire when their legal stay in the United States does.
"It changes a driver's license to a state identification badge or internal passport," said Chuck Samuelson, executive director of the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union. "It's a real un-American thing to do."
These ACLU people look dumber every day.
Another Dem is in trouble:
FBI, U.S. Attorney General Investigating Ag Commissioner's Campaign Finances
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Legal problems continues to mount for state Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps. WRAL has learned the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office are now investigating Phipps and her campaign finance problems. Plus, a state lawmaker has called on the state attorney general's office to investigate whether the Phipps' campaign broke the law.
At last month's state Board of Elections hearings, board members fined the Phipps campaign $130,000 for violating state election laws.
"The Meg Scott Phipps campaign was grossly negligent," board Chairman Larry Leake said.
Shortly after the hearings, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Wake County district attorney launched an investigation into possible wrongdoing. Federal agents have now contacted the Elections Board and various people with knowledge of the campaign and fair industry...
The L.A. Times is not a "paid site", and I just used the link to go there. The story is still available, for free.
My fault, it is for people who register for free. I will have to register and try again.
Intellectual consistency is just one casualty in the ongoing war waged by liberal special interest groups against conservative judicial nominees of the Owen stamp.
I predict Owen will be confirmed. She'll just have to endure the same process that the right wing put Clinton appointees through.
Some appointees were held up for years. Some never got a hearing.
Delaying hearings is one thing, irrational attacks by left wing extremists is quite reprehensible..
Payback's a bitch.
You seem to have missed the word IRRATIONAL.
I believe it all started with a smearing of an infinitely qualified man named Bork.
No, I think the whole thing started back in ancient Greece, and it's continued in one form or another ever since.
No, I think our problems along this line started with Bork.
Payback's a bitch.
The same mentality of my boys (ages 6 & 7).
"He did it first!"
I don't think it's that simple.
Your probably right. I've used the "He did it first" argument myself.
When does it stop though and people start working together?
I don't know.
I don't think I could come to a consensus on anything with Dennis.
Heck, I'd have a hard time building a consensus with Jethro and I consider myself a Conservative.
I consider myself a Conservative.
Maybe it is time for reconsideration!!!!
Don't think that I haven't, Jethro.
In many ways I'm as much disgusted with the Conservatives as I am with the Liberals. They're in different ways though.
Anyway, my beliefs tend to lean more Conservatively so, you're stuck with me.
You'd have an easier time building a consensus if jethro was actually a conservative.
Then what am I, Rick, if I am not a conservative?
Fascist mixed with Anarchist.
Is such a combination even possible?
I myself wonder that all the time.
Jethro's a reactionary.
I could say a lot of other things, but it would give him too much satisfaction.
And Rick you are being fooled by extreme left wing propaganda that even the disseminators of such foolishness do not even believe themselves.
Take, for example, the "wedding party" in Afghanistan that made front-page news after being strafed by American warplanes. The American pilots claimed that they came under fire from the wedding party. The Afghan interim government claimed that 48 civilians were killed in the attack and that the Americans had never come under fire. Perhaps, they suggested, the pilots were confused by Afghans firing their guns in the air in celebration.
Whom do you believe? The American pilots, who say they were fired upon and respected the rules of engagement? Or the Afghan "civilians," who claim that American pilots were bored and decided to have target practice with women, children and goats?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,58677,00.html
What's a bit odd or even humorous is do you know who was the only voter on favor of not kicking him out ?..........
Gary Condit. Yep good ol' Gary, of course Gary probably thought to himself "hey, what he did isn't that bad, I've done worse"
When I heard the vote last night I was wondering who it was.
When I read this morning who it was I said to myself "Yeah, figures".
Here is another shady Democrat...
Did Torricelli Accept Gifts From David Chang?
Senate, Justice Department Continue Probe Of N.J. Senator
At a store in Englewood, N.J., there are records that show that a big screen television was purchased for $1,695.
Those records, which are now in the hands of the Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee, show that Asian fund-raiser David Chang paid for the television on Nov. 4, 1998 - and that expensive TV was delivered to the then-home of Sen. Robert Torricelli, the records show.
However, Torricelli insists he never took any gifts from Chang. In a statement, Torricelli said: "We have said from the beginning that when this concludes it will answer these questions and we remain confident that this is the case... We will not respond to unfounded and irresponsible leaks and rumors."
Chang, who is a convicted fund-raiser now in jail, claims he gave Torricelli thousands of dollars in cash and gifts, including an antique clock for $3,600. The senator denies it all.
So who should the investigators believe?
"Could Sen. Torricelli explain how he paid $3,600 in cash for an antique clock in Lambertville, N.J., with Mr. Chang present when Torricelli had not made a cash withdrawal from his own accounts totaling that amount for the last six months?" asks a Justice Department official who insisted on anonymity. "But Mr. Chang made that exact withdrawal that very Wednesday."
On Capitol Hill, the Senate Ethics Committee is reviewing Torricelli's sworn statements. Chang has asked to tell his story to the committee. But when asked if the committee would question witnesses other than Torricelli, the committee chairman, Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, then wondered "who would we interview?"
At the New Jersey stores where some of the gifts in question were bought, merchants said they have not heard from the ethics panel. One store owner said Chang bought a $450 diamond pendant at his shop. The owner said that he cooperated with the Federal Bureau of Investigations a couple of years ago, but he does not know if Chang's purchase wound up going to Torricelli or any of his girlfriends.
"It's definitely not something that you give a senator to bribe him or turn his opinion in your favor," the storeowner said.
To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.
According to this Washington Post article:Referring to Bush, Clinton said, "There was corporate malfeasance both before he took office and after. The difference is I actually tried to do something about it, and their party stopped it."
However, according to the Hartford Courant we see that it was none other than "old Clinton friend and Democratic Party Chairman Christopher J. Dodd leading the charge." (This is an article that you have to pay for, but a short synopsis is available at this link.)
In fact, Ralph Nader was lementing this here: "And what's really shocking here is that this is going to split the Democratic Party even more than it's now split, because President Clinton was defeated today because of Sen. Dodd, who's the chairman of the Democratic Party."
According to the vote, Baucus (D-MT), Bingaman (D-NM), Bradley (D-NJ), Dodd (D-CT), Exon (D-NE), Feinstein (D-CA), Ford (D-KY), Harkin (D-IA), Johnston (D-LA), Kennedy (D-MA), Kerry (D-MA), Kohl (D-WI), Lieberman (D-CT), Mikulski (D-MD), Moseley-Braun (D-IL), Murray (D-WA), Pell (D-RI), Reid (D-NV), Robb (D-VA) and Rockefeller (D-WV), all voted to overide the veto. Hardly a "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy".
So the lies from Clinton continue.
CORPORATE CHAOS CAN DAMAGE DEMS, TOO
By DEBORAH ORIN
July 26, 2002 -- ANY Democrats dreaming that the corporate greed scandal is a political slam-dunk need only look at North Carolina - where it's slamming Bill Clinton's White House chief of staff over the head.
Erskine Bowles wants the Dem Senate nod to run against Elizabeth Dole - who got a boost from President Bush yesterday - but Bowles is getting slammed as the "poster child for corporate irresponsibility."
What makes it doubly intriguing is that the attacks don't just come from Republicans but from Bowles' underfunded Democratic rival - which could leave Bowles bloodied even if, as expected, he wins the September primary.
At issue: Bowles' letter to Sotheby's fraud judge begging for leniency for DeDe Brooks, who faced (but escaped) three years in the slammer for her role in the auction house's price-fixing.
Sounding a class-warfare theme that Democrats normally aim at the GOP, Democratic rival Dan Blue's spokeswoman scoffed that Bowles only backs law and order "so long as it doesn't apply to his wealthy friends and campaign contributors."
Bowles is also getting hit on the $4.2 million that he earned last year from the investment bank Forstman Little, now blamed for bungling that cost Connecticut retirees $100 million. Team Dole is smiling.
What this shows is that so far, corporate greed as a political weapon is hitting where one candidate is personally vulnerable - not as a national theme, and not necessarily favoring Dems.
After all, Senate Democrats have made a point of recruiting millionaires as candidates so they can fund their own races. In fact, the four richest senators - and six of the ten richest - are Democrats.
Whether fraud remains a localized issue rather than a broad theme likely depends on whether the stock market has bottomed out - and whether investors keep getting heartened by arrests of accused CEO fraudsters by Bush's get-the-crooks SWAT team.
As long as the federal government keeps rounding up overpaid fraud suspects - WorldCom's high-living execs are said to be next - it will get hard for Democrats to bill Bush and the GOP as buddy-buddy with CEO criminals.
Suddenly, the political mood seemed to shift in the GOP's favor thanks to the arrests and the fact that Congress yesterday finished passing a bill to slam corporate crooks even harder - a bill Bush will quickly sign.
Democrats can claim all they like that it was really their bill - as president, Bush will get prime credit, just as Clinton did for the GOP welfare reform bill that he vetoed twice and only signed under duress.
Boy, when the economy was booming in the '90s the Republicans said it was all the doing to Ronald Reagan. Clinton had nothing to do with it.
Now, Clinton is responsible for all the whole shebang that's occurring two years after he leaves office.
It's never going to end for him. Because there are Republicans, like Dan and his hero Rush Limbaugh who Hate Bill Clinton with the White-Hot Intensity of 1,000 Suns.,
How sad that gets and so blatently partisan.
Yeah, Dan, you don't care about politcal parties. Want them gone.
B as in B, S as in S.
Boy, when the economy was booming in the '90s the Republicans said it was all the doing to Ronald Reagan. Clinton had nothing to do with it.
Now, Clinton is responsible for all the whole shebang that's occurring two years after he leaves office.
Yes Rick, it does take time for a president and congress' acts to take effect.
It's never going to end for him. Because there are Republicans, like Dan and his hero Rush Limbaugh who Hate Bill Clinton with the White-Hot Intensity of 1,000 Suns.,
How sad that gets and so blatently partisan.
How you got that out of my last two post, I do not understand. I pointed out that Clinton did vetoe the piece of legislation that had a lot to do with the current mess. It was Dodd that garnered the votes from the likes of Kennedy, Lieberman, Kerry, Feinstein, etc., to override that vetoe.
Amazing that you see pointing out that he lied about the Republicans being behind this as a blatantly partisan attack on Clinton. It is never going to end for him because he keeps putting his foot in his mouth. He could have said that he vetoed that piece of legislation and left it at that, but he had to add in a jab at the other party.
Yeah, Dan, you don't care about politcal parties. Want them gone.
That would put an end to lieing about the other party, wouldn't it?
B as in B, S as in S.
Pretty much describes your post.
I'm probably the most solid partisan Democrat on this board, but next to Dan, I look like Wavy Gravy.
I don't mind people who align with political parties. I think it's smart. But when you single out one party time and again in post after post, you can't say you're not partisan and you don't like political parties. You obviously see ONE party as the opposition.
The only success that Clinton had during his terms in office was rendezvous with interns
It does not matter that the average senior citizen pays only $650 a year on his or her prescriptions. It does not matter that the current Medicare program's share of our economy is already expected to double between now and 2035. It does not matter that senior citizens are usually much wealthier than the young kids just getting married, starting families, and expected to pay for this. What matters is that elections are coming. Everyone knows that senior citizens vote in noticeably larger percentages, and that's all that counts for our career politicians.
Thomas Friedman is the foreign affairs columnist of the New York Times and talks to lots of people from different countries. What they want more out of capitalism is not more freedom or more "rugged individuals" but more little men with big rule books.
"They may have all the hardware of capitalism, but they don't have the software -- namely, an uncorrupted bureaucracy to manage the regulatory agencies, licensing offices, property laws and commercial courts.
"Indeed, what foreigners envy us most for is precisely the city that Mr. Bush loves to bash: Washington."
It would be a luxury in many countres, said Friedman, to be able to obtain a license without having to pay off some official.
"Sure, we have our bad apples," Friedman continues. "but most of our bureaucrats are pretty decent. In fact, our federal bureaucrats are to capitalism what the New York police and fire departments were to 9/11 -- the unsung guardians of America's civic religion, the religion that says if you work hard and play by the rules, you'll get rewarded and you won't get ripped off."
So let's hear it today for the little men and women with big rule books. And given what we know today about our "rugged individuals " in the corporate world I hope in the future they tremble when the regulators come a-callin'. They start "pittin' out" in single-needle stitched shirts. And if they're on the up and up, they'll breath a sigh of relief when the regulator's briefcase is closed and the bureaucrat thanks him for his time.
"In Oversight we Trust!"
International comparisons show that Canadian provinces that provide public funding to independent schools tend to have both higher average achievement scores and better scores for less advantaged students, suggesting that such funding enhances quality. Test scores are higher in areas where parents enjoy a wide variety of school choices.
I wonder about those test scores. Do high test scores really correlate to school choice or any other policy decisions? Isn't it more the way the school districts approach the standardized tests.
My point is, if they "teach the test" to the kids, one can expect they'll score better. The district will then have what's called the Lake Wobegon Effect, where "all the children are above average."
They may be learning how to test well, but are they learing the material?
My point is, if they "teach the test" to the kids, one can expect they'll score better.
They should "teach the test" since what is on the test is what they should need to know. I see that you got your left wing teacher's union talking points guidelines, Rick.
They may be learning how to test well, but are they learing the material?
With an attitude like that how do you are you going to have any indication the children are learning anything? That is the point of the tests.