Politics & Government - 15 June 2007

i asked this before but worded it incorrectly. i understand not everyone agrees with everything the president has done but why such vicious attacks. there's a mature and professional way to voice your opinion, and everyone seems to forget that when Bush is the topic. i even had people attacking me personally just for asking the question.

2007-06-15 12:18:04 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Other - Politics & Government

Just wonder if there is any connection...

2007-06-15 12:16:04 · 14 answers · asked by Martin L 5 in Elections

2007-06-15 12:11:45 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Elections

IF WE DON'T DO IT WHO WILL ?

WE MUST STAND UP AND STAND TOGEATHER ON THIS ONE !!!

GOD BLESS AMERICA !

2007-06-15 12:11:08 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Immigration

What's in the best interest for America, Isreal, and the middle east as a whole?

2007-06-15 12:11:02 · 9 answers · asked by trovalta_stinks_2 3 in Politics

2007-06-15 12:10:58 · 25 answers · asked by pliv 1 in Law Enforcement & Police

I am a millitary wife and my husband is a specialist in the us army and he is cav. scout, can anyone tell me something about what he does.

2007-06-15 12:10:34 · 5 answers · asked by rebel_sweetheart2005 2 in Military

This outta be good....

2007-06-15 12:09:26 · 22 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/282750/why_ron_paul_can_win_the_republican.html

I hope so I hopee so!!!

2007-06-15 12:07:17 · 16 answers · asked by Beauty&Brains 4 in Elections

And security is tightened, will we see more tunnels, people taking boats around border on the ocean, hot air balloon rides, etc?

2007-06-15 12:01:52 · 17 answers · asked by Unknown 3 in Immigration

2007-06-15 12:01:04 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics

The worse that can happen to him is disbarrment.He put honor student's lives on hold for a year.And he was willing to send them to prison for something he knew they were innocent of.Why isn't he facing jailtime?He swore to uphold the law.Instead he tried to ruin the lives of young men to better himself.Why disbarr him? He already resigned.Those families will sue for millions.

2007-06-15 11:59:40 · 6 answers · asked by Steve 3 in Law & Ethics

Are you still under the mistaken impression that the ACLU is about civil LIBERTIES and is not just another left wing standard bearer? Read on.

http://www.ij.org/schoolchoice/az_specialneeds/6_13_07pr.html

2007-06-15 11:56:55 · 6 answers · asked by RP McMurphy 4 in Other - Politics & Government

2007-06-15 11:55:38 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Other - Politics & Government

Spin this one liberals.cnn.com

Bill and Hillary Clinton liquidated the contents of their blind trust upon learning it contained investments of $5 million to $25 million that could pose conflicts of interest or prove to be embarrassing to her presidential campaign.

The blind trust and a bank account valued in the same range place the Clintons' total wealth at between $10 million and $50 million.

The Clintons looked at the contents of the blind trust in April under instructions from the Office of Government Ethics and sold the assets in May, according to a disclosure form filed Friday. The Clintons had the blind trust since former President Clinton was governor of Arkansas in 1983 and had no control over its transactions.

Once they peered inside it, they discovered it included investments in oil and drug companies, military contractors and Wal-Mart, campaign spokesman Phil Singer said.

The report, filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission and the Office of Government Ethics, provides the most detailed look at the Clintons' holdings as their wealth has expanded since the former president left the White House in 2001.

The new report also shows that the former president made $16 million in speaking fees between January 2006 and Wednesday. So far this year, Bill Clinton has given 34 paid speeches for a total of $5.9 million. (Full story)

Trust included oil, drug companies
The blind trust held stock in pharmaceutical companies, including $250,000-$500,000 in Biogen Idec and Johnson & Johnson and $100,000-$250,000 in Amgen, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline. It also invested in General Electric and Raytheon, two leading defense contractors. The trust had a varied portfolio, with investments in numerous other companies, including Exxon Mobil, BP Amoco, Walt Disney and eBay.

The report said all the proceeds of the sales are being placed in a cash account. The massive unloading of stock means the Clintons face large capital gains taxes.

Though all the blind trust transactions were handled over the years by a trustee without the Clintons' knowledge, some of the holdings could have been awkward for Hillary Clinton as she pursues the Democratic presidential nomination.

The blind trust held stock worth $100,000-$250,000 in NewsCorp, the parent company of Fox News, which many Democrats have denounced as biased against them. The trust also held stock in Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart de Mexico.

The senator served on the Wal-Mart board from 1986 to 1992, and was close with the Walton family that created the nation's largest retailer. But she has recently called on the company to provide better worker benefits and last year her Senate campaign returned $5,000 to Wal-Mart's political action committee. At the time, Clinton campaign spokeswoman Ann Lewis said the money was returned "because of serious differences with current company practices."

Friday's report comes on the heels of Hillary Clinton's Senate disclosure report, made public Thursday, which only covered activity in 2006 and did not reflect this year's liquidation of the blind trust.

Clinton and other presidential candidates were required to file financial disclosure documents with the Office of Government Ethics by May 15. But Clinton and Republican candidates Mitt Romney and John McCain asked for 45-day extensions because they all had blind trusts that the ethics office demanded be opened.

Campaign: Reporting goes 'above and beyond' requirements
"As a presidential candidate, Sen. Clinton was required to make her assets public," campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said. "As a result, she had to dissolve her blind trust. Upon its dissolution, she and the president chose to go above and beyond what was required of them and liquidate their assets in order to avoid even the hint of a conflict of interest."

When it comes to family affluence, the reports show that the New York senator is the wealthiest of all members of Congress seeking the presidency. Among all presidential candidates, however, Republican Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, stands alone with assets of between $190 million and $250 million. Republican Rudy Giuliani and Democrat John Edwards have each reported assets of about $30 million.

Last year and this year, Bill Clinton earned fees from $100,000 to $450,000 speaking to such corporations as IBM, General Motors, and Cisco Systems, finance giants such as Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers, and trade groups such as the National Association of Realtors and the Mortgage Bankers Association. He also has been paid to speak to nonprofit or charity groups, including the TJ Martell Foundation, which finances leukemia research, Nelson Mandela's Children's Fund and, last March, to the Boys and Girls Club of Los Angeles.

2007-06-15 11:53:34 · 12 answers · asked by dez604 5 in Politics

The new F-35B is STOVL (Short Take Off and Landing) capable, I cant see that ever being used, and it will not take very long before its discontinued. With large numbers of bases around the world, STOVL and VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) will not be useful in the future. I dont think that this technology has any real use in the AF. When you need an air base with a landing strip long enough for C-130's and larger air craft to re-supply them with munitions and other stuff used in the complex maintenence of these air craft.

2007-06-15 11:50:21 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Military

2007-06-15 11:50:01 · 5 answers · asked by sierrabr 1 in Politics

2007-06-15 11:48:20 · 18 answers · asked by Ariadne on TAURUS 2 in Other - Politics & Government

or would you want the minority who needed "affirmative action" or minority concessions to get into college and med school, not on merrit alone?

2007-06-15 11:47:00 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics

Hi, my name is Yeraldin, I am 18 yrs. old, I live with my parents, and my 12 yr. old couysing named Jason visits us everyother yr, we live in Atlanta Georgia, he lives in Mexico. He is coming July 7, and wants his mom wants him to stay with us to study for a yr, but my dad does not know what my cousin needs in other for him to be able to study here, he is not illegal, he has papers, can he be able to stay ? and what does he need?

2007-06-15 11:46:49 · 2 answers · asked by crunk_atl_ma 1 in Immigration

2007-06-15 11:44:47 · 42 answers · asked by simple one 2 in Immigration

NPR (national public radio) is a tax funded radio program that promotes leftists ideology. Why should all Americans pick up the costs if it can't survive on its own like all other radio stations?

2007-06-15 11:44:26 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Elections

Americans are obsessed with rights. We always have been.



But the concept of rights our forefathers laid out in the Declaration of Independence has changed dramatically. Those rights – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – were acknowledged to come from the Almighty, given equally to all people. Today’s rights come from Almighty Government.



Health care is the newest “right.” From presidential candidates’ universal plans to the return of HillaryCare to Michael Moore’s movie “Sicko,” it’s all over the media.



Calling it a “right” is an emotional argument advanced by those who want others to pay for their health care. They bring out the children and ask whether anyone can deny them the “basic human right” of health care – but don’t bother with the evidence showing how health care in this country would be harmed by government control.



A look at other modern “rights” might give us a clue about how well a new system would work. These rights started out as privileges, among them education and a paid retirement.



Now education is not only considered a right, it’s a mandate. How well has it worked? American students attend school at least until their teen years, but 15-year-olds ranked 24th out of 29 countries in aptitude for “real-life math problems,” according to The Washington Post. Literacy surveys suggest one in five American adults is functionally illiterate. And taxpayers keep shelling out money to fund the system.



Americans also cherish the right to retire – but we expect to be supported in our old age. Younger workers and employers are forced to support retirees, funding another right.



And how well has that worked? The poorly designed, outdated Social Security system is disintegrating rapidly as the number of retirees balloons. But once you’ve established a right, it’s difficult to take it away. The government, which promises such rights, must go to its sugar daddy – taxpayers – to keep the rights coming.



We’re already well on our way toward the health care right/mandate. Want to be more like Canada? It’s not that far off. Cato’s Michael Cannon has pointed out that third parties in America pay 86 cents of every dollar of our health care – about the same as Canada’s socialized system.



What we – or rather, those third parties – pay for health care is already determined by the government as well. Emory University medical professor Robert Swerlick has noted that “the pricing of medical care in this country is either directly or indirectly dictated by Medicare.” This market meddling even causes doctor shortages, he says, in needed areas of specialty.



Prescription drugs are already considered a right, thanks to political moves like the Medicare drug benefit and massive media support. A Business & Media Institute study found broadcast journalists treating prescription drugs as though they grew on trees. Overall, the coverage supported the idea that medications should magically be available to everyone at far lower costs.



Of course, the magic behind new “rights” is your money.



Cannon and fellow Cato expert Michael Tanner explained problems with tax-funded care in their book “Healthy Competition: What’s Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It.” If health care is guaranteed to everyone, how much does everyone get? Who decides who receives what, and how would the care be administered? What happens if everyone wants the most expensive treatment available?



“With the wide variety of medical tests and treatments that consumers may claim as their right, someone at some point must decide where the right to health care ends, lest the nation be bankrupted,” they wrote.



We’re well on our way toward that as well. Our “rights” to Social Security and Medicare devour about 40 percent of the federal budget. State and local property tax revenue, which normally funds education, mushroomed about 35 percent between 2000 and 2005, according to the Tax Foundation. We can’t afford any more “rights” like that.



But the left says tax-funded care is right for the children. Meanwhile, what becomes of them? They’re growing up in an America where the “rights” mentality is deeply ingrained, and the media continue to feed them with it.



When the children come of age, perhaps they’ll want the right to a job. They won’t remember that France already tested that idea for us, and it led to high unemployment and rioting. Perhaps they’ll guarantee Disney vacations for all families and force childless Americans to pay for it. “The pursuit of” will conveniently fade away as they look to government to guarantee happiness.



They will know less and less of a true right – liberty – and have no idea where it comes from.

2007-06-15 11:41:38 · 17 answers · asked by mission_viejo_california 2 in Politics

Who has the inside scoop on this? What has a poor little ferret ever done to upset Rudy?

2007-06-15 11:38:17 · 14 answers · asked by Lisaa 3 in Politics

2007-06-15 11:36:42 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Military

2007-06-15 11:36:42 · 25 answers · asked by Lindsey G 5 in Politics

Isn't it unfair to the people who deserve a position to give preference to someone less qualified just because of that person's race?

Is any of the candidates promising to end Affirmative Action?

2007-06-15 11:36:35 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics

2007-06-15 11:35:19 · 17 answers · asked by AB17 4 in Politics

I was cut at work. Instead of sending me to the hospital to determine whether or not I needed stitches and a tetnus shot, they sent me home. I missed 6 hours of work because of this. The next day, a day that I was not scheduled to work, I was in pain. I called to tell them that I was going to the hospital. When I got there, it was determined that if I had come in when it happened that I would have gotten stitches. The gave me a tetnus shot, cleaned my cut and had to leave it open. My employer has told me that they would pay for hospital charges. But are they required to pay me for the hours that I missed work? I live in Mississippi, if the law varies by state.

2007-06-15 11:33:53 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Law & Ethics

George Soros has been putting billions in the democrat party to help rid the U.S.A. of the Republican Party, and to provide Hillary Clinton in turning the U.S.A Socialist. Also helping the enemy in iraq to cause are soldiers problems. Ted Kennedy, John Kerry have also been helping Soros.

2007-06-15 11:32:57 · 22 answers · asked by abigail t 1 in Politics