gary350

Most budgets do WHAT? Result in multi-TRILLION dollar deficits over the next decade? Uh, just a few short years ago, Bill Clinton's budgets lowered, lowered, lowered the deficits and then built several YEARS OF SURPLUSES, with no end in sight! Then Bush took office, representing the GOP, the party of fiscal conservatism, small government, personal responsibility, states rights. . .

She should be abel to catch up the lost part of home work in that time i belive Kid( dont know your name so sorry),please use your grounding for somthing good,try to figure why your dad does as he does and why we says as we does.. We all were in your place once,im only 11 years older than you and i can rember how much i hatede my parents for exact the thing your getting right now... But as you get older(and now i sound like your OLD dad) you will see there were a reason for the actions he is taking.Hope you got your lesson,and make sure you dont get such a punishment again,becours that just sucks BIG time HEY KID! This is a first-hand example of why you should work hard in school! Just take a look at Faber, here. He worked hard in school and went to college and just LOOK at how well it paid off in the grammar and spelling department! You wouldn't want to miss out on your education and then end up posting on some internet board and come across looking like some kinda ijit, now would ya? That's not the path Faber took! OK - I'm just kidding. Faber has a very good reason to not have such great grammar and spelling in English. He is a BASE jumper. That explains a LOT. OK - I'm just kidding again. The REAL reason is that he is a furaner. He really ought to be commended - English is not even his native tongue, yet he does as well with it as our own president! Maybe better.

More interesting news from the Doonesbury gang - For the first time, they are actually endorsing a presidential candidate! From today's strip: "This year the stakes are just too high for us to sit on the sidelines" "So what did we look for in a candidate? Someone who won't lie or bully or recklessly lead his country into unending war?" "Someone who's humble? Compassionate? Responsible? Fair? Curious? Unsanctimonious? Given to thoughtful, nuanced, moderate positions?" "NOPE! BAD FOR BUSINESS!" "FOUR MORE YEARS!" (Emperor Bush) "Yeah! Bring it on!" Kinda reminds me of how all the comedians were pulling for Dan Quayle. . . morons are good for business.

I've been unfairly (IMO) accused in the past, but in this case, I'll have to plead the 5th!

Humor - just poking fun at myself - you know, we hate Bush so much that we find anything to twist into making him a monster. Also poking fun at the right and the way they (not so jokingly) attack attack attack Clinton, Kerry, whoever. . . Ironic thing is, there is such an incredible wealth of REAL reasons to be disgusted with what this man and his keepers are doing to this country, on so many different fronts. Probably the reason I need to laugh a bit - to keep from crying. . . ===================================== The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history. -Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love

You know, there may be some real wisdom here. Has your daughter ever worked a shit job for minimum wage? It not, maybe it's time she got a taste - even for just a few weeks. Then you could sit down with her and her paycheck and make a real-world budget for how it would be to work full time for low wages and be out on her own. Pretty stark reality to actually experience doing work like that for so little money and having to budget for and imagine living a life under those conditions. Then factor in having kids and hobbies and travel and planning for retirement. . . Then you could do a what-if scenario - take the starting salaries of a nurse, accountant, teacher, etc. Compare and contrast working conditions, vacation, self-respect, life purpose, retirement planning. . . . Just a thought. . . The main thing would be to have her actually do the work, at least for a while, to really experience it for herself rather than just imagine it. Sometimes it is hard for us watching our kids make decisions we know they probably wouldn't make if they only knew what we know. But of course, that's how it works, which in general is not a bad thing - lessons are often better learned through experience than through being told. Only problem of course, is when options get shut off or irrevocable consequences come out of the process of gaining that experience. Tough line to walk and very personal. Good luck - and to me as well with my not-so-little monsters.

More silence from the right!

You won't find too many folks more disgusted or angry with the Bush administration than me. That said, I actually thought the decisions here were fairly balanced and nicely out-of-character with the normal reactionary right-wing arrogance of this administration. Maybe it's just that my cynicism meter has maxed out, or that my expectations for Bush/Rove have bottomed out, but I really think this could have been worse.

Couldn't have said it better. Must be what they are talking about. . . (?)

I think I found the doll he is talking about. Check it out: http://www.bushactionfigure.com/index.htm Be sure to roll over all the objects for descriptions.

Not a chance. Even if we got him, it would be kept under wraps until September or October. . . ===================================== "Religions vary in their degree of idiocy, but I reject them all. For most people, religion is nothing more than a substitute for a malfunctioning brain." -Gene Roddenberry

The Thirteenth Step?

User nightjumps posted the below in a thread, but I think it is important enough to be discussed separately (and again, if done previously). Some time ago, I filed Schedule Cs a couple different years for skydiving coaching - very effective way to honestly reduce your taxes (assuming of course that you end up with a net loss for the year. . . pretty likely, but you can't keep doing it year after year) Let me also say that I am not an accountant or tax professional and I'm not advocating doing anything except talking to a qualified tax professional about your options. Thank you nightjumps

Duck, anyone?

You want silence? Doing a search at the google new site, the story is being reported on hundreds of sites and papers across the country. You know - it's a pretty big story. But how 'bout some fair and balanced reporting from Fox News? You know - they report we decide? Where is it? Somebody? Anybody? Maybe they just haven't gotten around to reporting on it yet. Or maybe it is buried so deep that I couldn't find it. Reminds me of GWB - either a liar or a grossly incompetent moron - has to be at least one (clearly BOTH, IMNERHO). In the case of Fox, either grossly biased or grossly incompetent (again, BOTH IMO).

Do medical bills from a skydiving injury count?

Another take on the story - this one with a picture! President Bush returned to his halcyon days as Texas Governor last week by authorising an execution, this time of his pet English Springer Spaniel, Spot. The death brings to 153 the number of death sentences George W. Bush has presided over while in public office. Spot was put down by lethal injection on Sunday after more than 10 minutes on death row (roughly a decade less than the national average). Opponents of capital punishment decried Spot’s execution as “inhumane”, though pro-death penalty groups hit back that Spot was “not human.” http://www.chaser.com.au/show_story.asp?ID=897&ED=82

Ralph? The Hairy Little Beast? Can only speak for myself - he's done fine by me in the past. I especially like how when I just asked for a solid color reserve, I got it - solid hot pink. Very funny, Ralph.

Found this official(?) GOP policy poster at whitehouse.org

Newsflash from last week, courtesy of whitehouse.org Official White House Statement Yesterday, President and Mrs. Bush were deeply inconvenienced by the need to compassionately execute Spot "Spotty" Bush, the English Springer Spaniel with whom they were intermittently photographed. Spot was born in the White House fifteen years ago to Millie, former First Lady Barbara Bush's dear friend and writing partner. Spot loved balls, medium-rare strips of marinated filet mignon, and relaxing around the old mansion family quarters. Spot had recently taken ill, and rather than delay – thereby risking recovery and/or intervention by the Governor of Florida – President Bush promptly ordered that Spot get the Karla Faye Tucker treatment. In keeping with Spot's final wishes, her Last Will and Testament is posted here for the benefit of her adoring public: http://www.whitehouse.org/news/2004/022204.asp

Let the whining begin! Wahhhhhh - It was the Clinton recession! Wahhhhhh - It was 9-11! Wahhhhhh - It's the "War On Terror"! More GOP fiscal conservatism in action!!!!

Bush budget would worsen deficits — CBO Agency forecasts gaps totaling $2.75 trillion over decade The Associated Press Updated: 4:41 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2004 WASHINGTON - President Bush’s budget would produce deficits totaling $2.75 trillion over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office projected Friday in the first authoritative look at the plan’s longer-range implications. The forecast — $737 billion worse than the budget office expects should Congress ignore Bush’s tax and spending plans — is sure to factor into this year’s presidential and congressional campaigns. Bush sent lawmakers a $2.4 trillion budget for 2005 on Feb. 2, but it projected outward only for five years. The White House argues that longer-range forecasts are guesswork, but Democrats say the administration wants to hide future deficits that will career out of control as baby boomers begin to retire. The nonpartisan budget office also forecast that Bush’s fiscal plans would produce deficits of $478 billion this year and $356 billion in 2005. Both figures are smaller than the shortfalls Bush has projected for those years. For the decade ending in 2014, however, annual shortfalls never would be smaller than $242 billion, which would occur in 2007, the budget office said. After that, they would bounce as high as $289 billion in 2014. Last year’s $374 billion shortfall was the largest ever in dollar terms. Two days ago, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan focused attention on the government’s long-term fiscal problems by suggesting cuts in Social Security benefits to ease cascading red ink. Members of both parties quickly disavowed benefit reductions. Democrats, though, hope to use the prospect of massive, unrelenting shortfalls as a symbol of what they say is Bush’s mismanagement of the economy. Republicans blame the red ink on recession and the costs of war and terror and say Bush has focused his attention on those problems instead of balancing the government’s books. Yet underlining their sensitivity to the deficit problem, six conservative senators sent a letter this week asking Senate Budget Committee Chairman Don Nickles, R-Okla., to produce a fiscal blueprint for balancing the budget in seven years. That would exceed Bush’s goal of halving shortfalls in five years. One major item omitted by Bush’s budget but included in Friday’s projections was the cost of his proposal to make tax cuts permanent that otherwise would expire in 2010. Bush’s tax plans would add more than $1.3 trillion to deficits over the decade, although his plans to curb domestic spending would save $700 billion over that same period, the budget office said. Wary of the impact on deficits, Republican congressional leaders already have said they will not move this year on Bush’s proposal to extend the tax cuts, which is the pillar of his plan for strengthening the economy. The top two Democratic presidential contenders, Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina, have said they would roll back the reductions for the wealthiest Americans. Just two years ago, the budget office and Bush envisioned surpluses totaling $5.6 trillion for the decade ending in 2011. The projections released Friday cover a slightly different period, the 10 years running through 2014. Even so, the contrast is striking.

How many jellos ya got there? Oh, jus about tree fiddy. . .

Well, I said I had read about bio-D, but I obviously did not read enough. The above is news to me - I was only aware of the conversion that excluded mixing or going back to standard when needed. To me, this factor makes a huge difference. I was just having trouble imagining a road trip of several thousand miles where we had to find sources for fuel every other day. . . Having the option for standard mitigates that. Definitely. Thank you.

Hey - this is dropzone.com - you know, skydiving. . . How come "the whistle" isn't on the list? (I can't believe I'm letting myself be drawn into this. . . ) What about simply "down there" or "the wound that never heals" or the classic "split beaver"?