Recent comments

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection - by D. M. Murdock and Acharya S

    http://www.amazon.com/Christ-Egypt-Horus-Jesus-Connection-Murdock/dp/0979963117/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279305219&sr=8-5

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    @Blue Mark, oh no, oh heavens what are we to do.... oh wait the middle class is being whittled down and will soon be disposed of so in the long run the estate tax still will not effect the majority.

    N

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    The estate tax is really a big tax cut for middle class heirs. In exchange for paying that tax on a portion of large estates (the portion over 1.2 to 8 million - depending on certain factors) the heirs get an exemption from having to pay any past capital gains tax when/if they sell the property - this is called the 'step up basis', it means heirs have to calculate the gains from the date they inherited the property rather than from the date their parents acquired it. The step up basis is available to ALL heirs - not just the very wealthy 2% or so who would be subject to the estate tax. So if we permanently lose the estate tax there will be a big tax INCREASE on middle class heirs

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    Actually I would assume that you can get actual yearly numbers of employed people from income tax filing, then from that you can at least determine how many people out of the population worked during that year. Not as accurate monthly, but it would help figure out the real unemployment rate.

    N

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    regarding unemployment. Personally what ever length they extend unemployment to, at then end of that period, instead of ending the payout, I'd like to see the payment reduced to say $50 a week. Not so much that I expect it will help the unemployed all that much, but it would allow us to be far more accurate about the unemployment numbers.

    N

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    re: the music: no doubt contains subliminal messages

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    The Chamber has Already Begun Their Ad-Bombing

    Happy Friday all!!

    I'm not at home, so can't call in.  Wanted to let you all know that these ads, by the US Chamber of Conference, started last Sunday here in NorthEast PA.  They're playing that damned music-"Fortuna"-while a spooky-sounding voice talks about how Joe Sestak has stood with Nancy Pelosi on all the issues.  (healthcare, stimulus, financial reform, AND "cap & tax"- the latter two which hadn't even passed yet).  Excuse my "abbreviation", but WTF is it with Conservatives and that goth-sounding music??  I think they've played it for EVERY issue-beginning with Obama in the election- usually accompanied by apocalyptic scenery-even THIS one that's "warning" the folks here in PA how dangerous Joe Sestak is-done in black & white with what appears to be a post-apocalyptic scene behind the B&W images of Pelosi &Sestak!!
    Methinks these PR people need to take a break from watching Glenn Beck!!

    Y'all have a GREAT Weekend!!!

    Elaine/SoloPocono
    A devout Liberal hiding out in the Northern Poconos!!

    Sent from my iPad

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    re: 21: "Blessed are the cows"? that's hindu!

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    It applies to the makers of all dairy products.

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    re #18: "Cheese makers" ?!? I thought it was "pacemakers"!

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    II Peter 3:15

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    Well all I know is "Blessed are the cheese makers"

    N

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    n8chz

    Just quoting scripture.

    Not that I agree, but it is what the scripture says.

    Personally, I think that Jesus Christ is a mythological character.

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    Tax cuts ultimately lead to privatization. That leads to fees for things you didn't pay directly for before. Freeways become toll roads, police and fire services become a pay for play service, so on and so forth... Those that believe that cutting taxes is going to save them money, have no understanding of what their taxes are paying for in the first place, and they also don't understand how much more expensive those services get in the hands of private interests.

    Tax cuts = New Fees

    N

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    What is the point, Dr. Ichards? Is this yet another incarnation of the 'Christ killer' ruse?

  • Dark Money...   14 years 46 weeks ago

    Re: the Burqua flap -

    Here's what I wanna know - is there an exception to this new French no-face-coverings law to exempt Halloween costumes? Or are they gonna start arresting trick-or-treaters? :-D

  • Dark Money...   14 years 46 weeks ago

    @Jeanie, re:#5 - Not only are the Chamber's policies (and those of most large corporations in general) dangerously short-sighted with respect to their workforce, I have little doubt that in the long run, they will also prove self-destructive. Nobody in business today seems to be able to see beyond the end of the current quarter. As these mega-businesses strive to cut costs by minimizing their labor expenses (i. e., outsourcing jobs to nations where labor is cheap and wages are unregulated) they impoverish their customer base.

    The reason that these fools took the actions they did over the past several years of finding ways to artificially inflate the credit markets in the US was to maintain the ability of our HUGE consumer market to spend willy-nilly. How many 3D-TVs can a family where mom & dad are BOTH out of work afford? ZERO! As the American consumer market loses the ability to purchase on a whim, these companies are going to see the markets they used to sell into collapse, and their own bottom lines will plummet!

    It's really pretty simple - NO economy can survive if the only supports are applied to the supply side. Demand needs a bit of help now and again, too!

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    1 Thessalonians 2:14-15 (New International Version)

    14For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, 15who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    re: George Bush taught us we can just pull out of agreements by decreeing it.

    Well yeah, but the underlying point of that is George Bush has no appreciation for keeping your word, telling the truth, being honorable. I'm not sure if I want my representatives to be untrustworthy dishonorable liars (in fact I know I don't because that's what I have now).

    N

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    @BookGirl, Sports aren't manufacturing jobs, they're basically glorified service jobs, they produce no tangible product. Well unless you consider overinflated egos a tangible product.

    N

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    Our sheet rock is demonstrably superior to the Chinese alternative, too.

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    We do make something in the US -- professional sports. Officials in cities like San Jose, Miami, etc. spend inordinate amounts of time trying to attract teams, players, and tournaments. Last week, the leading sports reporter for the Washington Post said that sports is the most important way that cities and towns define themselves today. Unfortunately, except for a few highly-paid owners and players, the jobs that sports creates are few and low-paying. Even the retail business sports might bring to a community is low-level. Also, too many of the values those sports bring are suspect: drugs, craziness, violence. We used to talk about cities in the context of what they produced--Pittsburgh for steel, Chicago for beef, New York for clothing, Detroit for cars. Now we talk about the teams that locate there. We don't want to work, we want to play.

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    @harry, no no no the Super Delux Magnifico Leprechaun isn't powered by batteries, its strictly ran on Kerosene and baking soda.

    N

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    Yep lets legalize hemp, we're almost there, hooray, thank god corporations can't just dump a bunch of money into campaigns against such a move, otherwise you'd might expect some of those chemical and textile companies to plaster all sorts of scurrilous lies all over the media scaring gawd feerin' christans into voting against legalizing it. After all people will dope up and just lay around on their couch (which has just got to be a moral quandry for the right wing to fight against... good lord how sweet it would be to get the population to just lay around and do nothin', but damnit they can't let all those corporate profits be taken away).

    N

  • Daily Topics - Friday July 16th, 2010   14 years 46 weeks ago

    I do however expect concrete legislation to be passed in the wake of this disaster though. They'll pass legislation stating that seafood doesn't have to be tested for petroleum and other chemicals, they'll pass legislation stating that food distribution companies can't label there food as not coming from th Gulf and they'll pass legislation that will demand PSAs that will claim how well and quickly the Gulf has recovered. I trust my Government reps to do these things... nice to have trust in my reps. :..-(

    N

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