Posts Made By: Rod Kaufman

For a family of four it's nearly $17,000.00 and rising and by 2017 the costs for Iraq and Afghanistan may be nearly $50,000.00.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21766479/
Ok, so this is the outcome of a partisan report. Even so, the numbers don't appear to be THAT much off base, maybe a thousand or two, plus or minus.
I have just one question: How do I get a refund?...

It looks like a simple but effective technique enables illegal immigrants to scale our expensive border fences.
They place screwdrivers through the holes in the fence and scale the wall like a pegboard, using the screwdrivers as toeholds.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fence16nov16,0,7764283.story?coll=la-home-center
It obviously will take economic improvements south of the border and less opportunities north of the border to stop the flow...

The swift boat liars are at it again. This time, they've got T Boone Pickens, a Bush-worshipping fanatic, offering one million dollars for proof that any of the charges against Kerry by the swifties can be disproven. Obviously, Kerry has decided to take T. Bonehead Pickens up on his offer:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-kerry17nov17,1,1406461.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=3&cset=true
As you can see from the article in the LA Times, the newspaper has previously investigated Kerry's claims and found them to be credible.
You'd think the mean-spirited, hateful and lying Republicans who used this swift boat ploy to win, in the estimation of the LA Times, a very close election would leave well enough alone. But no, they're still mucking with Kerry.
Look, the guy lost the election and he's not running again. So why not leave him the ---- alone?...

Bush loves to extol his perception of Americans owning their own homes more than any time in the history of America.
Reality: Housing foreclosures (not to mention the deliquency rate) has and is going ballistic:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/14/AR2007061400513.html
The stock market is taking a major dump as a result and, for all practical purposes, the economy is in a recession for home builders and associated industries.
One economist states the foreclosures are worse than that in the great depression. Another economist disagrees with that assessment, stating the foreclosure rate was 80% in the great depression and 40-50% now. But, of course, we now have 80% more houses than we did during the great depression.
The causes are varied: predatory lending, subprime abuses, teaser rates, etc. A big cause is also downright greed with American egos getting in the way of reality: people buy homes with low interest rates and when they reset the "homeowners" simply walk away from mortgage and the home.
As an aside, I occasionally stop at Pine Mountain Club on the way down from Mt Pinos after a night of viewing in relatively dark skies. From my perspective, Pine Mountain Club is a microcosm of Bush voting Americana. An enclave of Bush voters. Let's take a look at their lot. It used to be that you could visit the real estate office on site an view the listings of homes in the forest that were posted on a bulletin board mounted on the wall of the office. Today, the bulletin board has been removed and the ENTIRE WALL of the office is covered with listings. Translation: the Bush voting enclave were living in these homes as vacation homes and now that their adjustable rate mortagages have reset it's dump them on the market, period. It's a safe bet the late payments and no payments aren't far behind. Maybe the Bush voters can live in their chevy suburbans. Hmmm, I wonder which one of the Republican candidates they're going to run to for relief?
Bush! Bush voters...

An interesting opinion piece from the LA Times on a couple of the GOP's venerable candidates for the presidency of the United States:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-goldberg20nov20,0,5666123.column?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
Which of these two Republican gems seems scarier to you?

The familiar face of former White House spokesman Scott McClellan is back at the podium, and this time he's telling the truth about Bush and Cheney. According to McClellan, both of the mothers knowingly passed bad information to him about the CIA leak:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/20/cia.leak.mcclellan/index.html
I wish they could impeach both Bush and Cheney for perjury. At the very least, I'd hope Plame's lawyers could elicit sworn testimony from McClellan and use it in their appeal for a new trial in her civil suit against Cheney.

The Democrats have crafted a compromise plan on Iraq:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/11/23/dems-iraq-plan-would-leave-troops-for-years/#more-3293
It appears to be the most reasonable approach thus far and although it calls for a continuing US military presence in Iraq for the future, it does articulate a defined mission for our troops with a subtantial reduction in the numbers necessary to carry out the plan.
The Republican plan? More of the same...

Australia kicked out its conservative prime minister after eleven years of rule. The new prime minister promises major policy changes on two issues: one, the war on Iraq, and two, global warming. It's obviously the Aussies have had their fill of Bush and his failed policies, worldwide.

Jim,
Obviously, I see it differently. Instead of preparing for the inevitable, Bush is like an ostrich, sticking his stubborn head into the sand while we have an economic Katrina barreling in on us. The Wall Street levy is already giving way while we watch.
Oil prices sky high, foreign debt sky high, dollar valuation falling...do you feel lucky, punk?

The current fears of a coming recession may be an understatement. A great depression, possibly worldwide, may be in the eventual outcome despite Bush's claim a few days ago that the American economy is "resilient", whatever that means.
First, the recession scenario is best explained in the following link:
http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/23/magazines/fortune/barr_recession.fortune/index.htm?cnn=yes
That's probably the best we can hope for at this point.
Second, the stark possibility of a great depression is explored in the following LA Times article:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-petruno24nov24,1,2196088.column?coll=la-utilities-business&ctrack=2&cset=true
At the end of the article, author Tom Petruno asks whether you have enough canned food and ammo stored up for the coming seige.
So much for Bush's "resiliency"...