@LeMoyne, I'm aware of the middle class tax cut, I was just wondering if anyone else has actually experienced the savings I have. I'm expecting that to be the case, but I didn't want to make the assumption.

Hopey/Changey thing working out for me.

Pay 25% credit card fees, get .25%APY on your savings acount. Its outrageous how banking is allowed to get away with this.

Don't get me started on the ATM, overdrawn fees, etc... f'n low life thieves.

So we're rapidly coming up on April 15th. Anyone finish their taxes yet? I did, my return was much higher this year than last year, and I made less than the year before. I'm wondering if that's common for those amoung us making less the $240K/year, or did I just luck out?

If my case is normal, I'm wondering how well the grass root outrage will weather this issue. If its not the case, then I'm guessing that we'll be in for a vicious summer.

Any thoughts on this?

Happy April Fool's Day, Higgins!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e293/chcknhawk/AprilFools.jpg

Nels,

I enjoyed your comment about the titles on the posts. They do tend to sound as though Yoda is doing the editing! :-)

@chuckle8: I am beginning to believe that Reagan was a moron and was not very aware of what was happening.

IMO, every single Republican president from Reagan onward was a figurehead and a marionette with strings being pulled by corporate donors/owners. Reagan was a 'B' grade actor, which, in politics seems like 'A' grade.

Look at some of the other people chosen by party insiders and placed a heartbeat away from the office: Dan Quayle (a dunce) and Sarah Palin (an inarticulate quitter who can't even parrot talking points clearly), Puh-leeze! And does anyone really believe Dubya was running the show during Cheney's two terms as President?

If you're interested in an in depth discussion of Reagan's presidency and its repercussions, I'd recommend Will Bunch's book 'Tear Down This Myth'. It makes conservatives and neo-cons howl -- a very good sign!

@mstaggerlee, I don't think my cache would take this long to update the information about the site (especially how often I refresh the page). I figure it's either limited bandwidth on the server side, or that there are server-side applications that is page uses, and each time you submit or refresh, the applications are being reloaded. This would cause machines that are further from the source to go slower then the ones closer, since there has to be more packets transferred between the host and client. However, I'm with you on the assumption that whatever the cause is it will be worked out eventually.

@Charell & Nels - the slow load time probably has more to do with nothing matching what's in your cache for this site anymore than anything else - see how things go with it tomorrow.

Also, to whoever it was who posted complaining about seeing their own post and an empty comment box after submitting a message (now that there's a 2nd page, I can't scroll up to see who it was) - that's how the site ALWAYS worked. You always had to scroll up to see what got posted while you were composing your post, or refresh to see subsequent posts. What's different now is just that each post seems to take up more vertical space.

Hi all,

Been listening for years as an ex-pat in Germany and had to throw my 2 cents in on the TparTers.

I have to disagree with the idea that the TparT movement can be reformed, reached out to, or see the light.

I believe we have a bit more complex situation.

I believe the reality of the situation is and has been a cultural war.

Their side is not really about the issues or reality of the situations facing our country.

It is about a culture that wants the facade of the cliche of suburban or rural, 2.5 kids, station wagon, pick up truck, church on Sunday, dinner at Applebees, happy sterilised wasp culture.

I have heard people say they were brought up to hate Yankees as if they still have some chip
on their shoulder from the civil war.

My bet is that the more emboldened they become, the more freely they will start speaking. We are already hearing thinly veiled racism from the likes of Limbaugh and Beck, and soon it will get worse.

The left tends to care about the realities we face and not about some pleasantville fantasy.

The reality is that we have big cities, we have more than just wasps, there are African, Asian,
Latin and many other Americans. There are gays and other alternative lifestyles other than your average food court attendees. There are unlucky, weak and those with problems that aren't always by ones own folly.

The right will sell the provincial this pleasantville fantasy, even though in these more
pleasantville communities, what goes on behind closed doors is usually more depraved than those
living in alternative urban cultures.

The provincial only hear their hopes and dreams of this fantasy coming from the right that is
selling their brand on the illusion of this, like a commercial sells a product that will make you
popular or unpopular if you use or don't use their products.

The right have branded themselves as the tough guys, and the wholesome girls, and left as wimps
gays, minorities, poor, and losers.

The actual politics don't matter. They are just trying to win an argument at all costs and will
use misdirection and talking points, straw men etc.

I believe the real issue, the elephant in the room is that these people want to stay in a post
WW2 world and are concerned only with their own egocentric goals and not the betterment of the
country as a whole.

I believe a light should be shown on this for what it is. If the people don't take socio-politic
action to start putting them in their proper light as a popular majority, and
shame them for what they really are, the only thing our history shows for making real
change was borderline revolution and fighting in the streets as it came to pre WW2.

if you believe it was just FDR that saved us, please read some Howard Zinn who claims that FDR
probably would never have done what he did if hordes of Americans were not on the verge of revolt
and fighting with police on the streets.

Personally I feel that your efforts to reach out with TparTers is like Obama reaching out to the Cons.

They don't care about reality or truth. They merely don't want their children to grow up like you or me, tolerating gays and minorities and urban diversity, looking at the weaknesses in our system and trying to heal it, as opposed to brush it under the carpet.

They want their pleasantville and if you don't want that as well, you are merely an obstacle and
a bad role model for their children.

I certainly hope you are right and I wrong. I must add that this is not a statement of absolutes, and
that not all the TparTers are all 100% this, but I do believe this is the core of the movement, and
you won't make much a dent until you get to the core.

As has been dscussed before is also the fact that the mentally ill want to follow authoritarianism and charisma, and I truly believe that mental illness is no longer diagnosed as often as it should, rather encouraged at an alarming rate, and those looking to make a buck are exploiting this.

Thanks for the vent,

Chris

ex-pat in Germany

@Charell, the speed may be caused on the server side. Seems like my connection is slow too, but I'm betting dial-up hasn't been effected. Good point though, I'm sure these little issues will be addressed over the next few weeks/months.

@chuckle8, thanks for the info, as a CA resident I'll pass the info around to acquaintances. Can't stand the usurpation of Democracy by trying to make things impossible to pass with 2/3 vote. A simple majority is what Democracy is based on plain and simple.

Perhaps we should put out a Prop that requires any Prop that wants to increase the vote requirements to pass something, has to pass by that same requirement first.

Prop 16 in California is an example of corporate power at its worse. It says, if a community wants to create its own power generating system (municipal power services), it requires a 2/3 vote of community.

Putting the proposition on the ballot was totally funded by PG&E. The funding, among other things, involves hiring people from all over the nation (not necessarily California residents) to collect signatures.

I saw the PG&E's first advertisement in support of Prop 16 on the TV today, which inspired me to call and write this message.