Disqus - Friends of bandanajack

Re: Hillary’s gay problem

Houndentenor — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:24:15 -0000

Not only did Clinton sign DOMA, he ran ads in the south in 1996 on Christian radio stations bragging about signing it. I don't trust either of them.

And all this does make me wonder if, as I have been told by many on the right, that they have the proof of a lesbian affair while they were in the White House.

Re: Obama did the right thing. It's time for McCain to stop the race-baiting

Houndentenor — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:52:16 -0000

NO MORE GOTCHA POLITICS.

No one is responsible for what I say and do but me. I am not responsible for what anyone else says and does. This is all a distraction from more serious matters.

Yes, the Governor should apologize for the pansy comment. It was dumb more than it was offensive but it was wrong and he needs to do his own mea culpa. I don't care if HRC liked it or didn't. I care about what she will say and do (and her own record, if you include her husband which she always seems to take credit for, is ABYSMAL. She should apologize for DOMA and DADT, not for an idiotic comment made by someone else.

Re: The credit bubble bailout continues

Houndentenor — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:01:02 -0000

You're absolutely right. Easy access to credit eliminated the need for universities to offer more scholarships and hold down the cost of tuition. When they raise tuition students just borrow more money. 19 year olds have no concept of what it's going to mean to owe $80k before they even have a job.

Re: Watch Stephanopoulos help Hillary lie

Houndentenor — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:04:43 -0000

I watched most of this interview. It was appalling. Why do reporters let politicians get away with not answering their questions?

Re: Tragically under-stimulated

Houndentenor — Fri, 23 May 2008 09:30:34 -0000

I put mine in the bank. It's in the emergency fund. Considering how the economy is doing I'm sure I'll need to spend it on rent or food or something at some point. Money in the bank still helps the economy. I assume Chase is investing it one way or another.

Re: US Air to charge for water

Houndentenor — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:38:07 -0000

I'm an opera singer. Drinking water on the plane is essential. I can never get enough on the plane so I always purchase a bottle (after security, natch) and put it in my carry-on. I suggest people who don't want to arrive at their destination dehydrated do the same. Airplanes are incredibly dry and staying hydrated on a flight takes some effort. Yes, they overcharge for bottled water inside the terminal but that $2 buys a large bottle of water, not a tiny one.

The major carriers are already dead. We have been keeping them alive through subsidies and in return we get treated like crap. No thanks. Or at least try to fly Continental. They seem to be the last of the big carriers not nickel and diming their customers.

Re: John and Cindy McCain throw stones -- and they shouldn't

Houndentenor — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:05:21 -0000

Why isn't the press covering this? I found this by accident on snopes just last week and had never heard of it. I'll bet 90% of Americans have no idea.

And here's what pisses me off, if someone who wasn't white and rich and done what she did they would be doing a mandatory prison sentence. We need to press this story until the MSM gives it some attention. But maybe after Labor Day. This is far more damaging than something someone's preacher said. Although now that I think about it...has anyone gone through the sermons of the McCain's Baptist preacher in Arizona?

Re: Hillary: Pay off my debt so I can help Obama

Houndentenor — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:38:03 -0000

Here's the problem. It's not Hillary who gets hurt by being in debt. It's all the vendors, many of them small businesses, that have not gotten paid and might not ever get paid. It's not like this money will wind up in her own pocket. (Although I'm still not donating, mind you. She insulted me and while I feel bad for her vendors I'm also not endorsing someone who mocked me and whose husband signed two pieces of anti-gay legislation. I have an idea...maybe Bill needs to make some more speeches so they can pay the people who worked for them.)

Re: James Dobson, who himself could use a lesson in Jesus, lectures Obama about God

Houndentenor — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:30:23 -0000

The Obamas are members of the United Church of Christ. Their policies and practices are consistent with their own church. Dobson speaks for a fringe element of Christianity. I suspect most Americans either in belief or in practice *cough* disagree with Dobson and his views on religion and politics.

Re: "Let the big brokers fail"

Houndentenor — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:57:28 -0000

I wish it were that easy. We just let these big big brokers and big banks go under and then clean up the mess. But if we let that happten they will take the whole economy down with them. There are a lot of rumors (and a lot of obvious assessments if you are paying attention) about the health of these firms. I can't believe Citi wasn't downgraded to "sell" months ago. This is what deregulation got us.

Re: The McCains in default: Weren't paying taxes on one of their many houses -- the one on the beach in California

Houndentenor — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:29:15 -0000

Back in 2004 I got countless emails forwarded to me by right-wing relatives about all the properties Teresa Heinz Kerry owns. At least she paid the taxes on all her houses. Why do the McCain's get a free pass. If Cindy McCain were poor or even middle class she would still be doing time for forging prescriptions. The audacity of these crooks is amazing. I guess we have the Clintons to thank for the complete lack of shame in modern politics.

Re: Credit card companies unilaterally changing terms

Houndentenor — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:35:40 -0000

Get everyone you know to watch Suze Orman. She has railed against this crap for years. The truth is that the banks are going to screw you over and the only way around it is if we don't let them. If you are carrying a balance on your credit cards they are putting the screw to you. I know people who got to the closing on their home and the bank and switched the terms of the mortgage (from fixed rate to interest only or something else less than desirable). The friendly neighborhood banker is long gone. We are doing business with community leaders. We are doing business with multinational corporations who will suck us dry and move on to the next town and do the same. It's up to use to educate ourselves and our children and live within our means. The alternative is not pretty.

I agree that a lot of what is going on should be illegal. But the government cannot always save us from ourselves if we aren't willing to go without or make hard choices. I know what I'm asking. I had to do it myself. I got into trouble financially in the horrible economy of 2003-2004. You CAN live on what you make and if you can't then you have to find a less expensive way to live. Living beyond your means is not sustainable whether you are a person or a country.

Re: Supreme Court: "the coming presidential election will determine its future path"

Houndentenor — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:54:04 -0000

The mostly likely justices to step down in the next term are Stevens and Ginsberg. That means that Obama's appointees will probably do nothing more than maintain the status quo. It also means that McCain's nominees would shift the court way to the right. Permanent? No. But precedents are rarely overturned by the Supremes so we would be stuck with the Scalia type decisions for a few generations. I don't think people actually understand what the right wing elimination of the right to privacy would mean in all areas of their lives. And I'm afraid that they would only find out after it was too late to do anything about it.

Re: The McCain/Gramm economic plan: Psychological warfare

Houndentenor — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:57:19 -0000

I make less money now than when Bush took office. All my expenses (rent, utilities, etc) are considerably higher. That is not my imagination. I realize that technically the country is not in a recession by my personal negative growth is very real. The truth is that there are a LOT of people in the same situation I am and a lot of those people voted for Bush in the last two elections (I did not). Telling people they don't have a problem when they obviously do is a sure fire way to piss them off. I am bigtime pissed but then I always knew Graham was out of touch with reality.

Re: Rasmussen has Obama and McCain in a tie. This is troubling.

Houndentenor — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:55:59 -0000

I think this is very simple. I'm stealing all this from Chuck Todd and others.

McCain's numbers are not moving. His change (actual voters not "likely voters") is all within the the margin of error. Anyone who has been paying attention at all has decided whether or not they like McCain. Obama's numbers are more volatile. there is a base that ties him with McCain and then there a clump of people...about 5% of the electorate who say they will vote for Obama and then go back to undecided and then back again. Those people might stay home in November but they aren't voting for McCain. Those are the folks Obama has to reach and it's why we can't let McCain make the race about personalities and race because those voters will not be swayed by that.

In addition, I suspect, and most analysts do too, (the ones who study the numbers not the one who just blather on based on the overall poll numbers) that this is an election where the "likely voter" model from the last few elections will not hold up. This happened in 1980. Anyone remember 1980? The race was tied in October. Tied? Didn't Reagan win big? Yes. Part of that was last minute swing to Reagan but a lot of that was the fact that the polls were not guaged to account for a shift in voting patters (who votes as much as how) and the pollsters got caught off guard. Young people and minorities traditionally do not vote in large numbers. If they do turn out that would be a huge swing that the polls do not account for since the pollsters downplay numbers from those groups based on the models from the last few elections.

Re: Fannie Mae's 2nd-quarter losses triple what was expected

Houndentenor — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:39:46 -0000

This isn't even close to over. There are still a great many mortgages on which the payments are still affordable but the higher payment is about to kick in. We talk about this often on a micra scale but here's the gist of it. Many people owe more on their homes than those homes are worth. They can't afford to make payments but selling is not an option.

The meltdown isn't over. I'd say we are only 1/3 of the way through. And that's without the looming credit card problem.

Re: Go away

Houndentenor — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:53:56 -0000

I was planning to vote for Edwards. When he dropped out I decided to vote for Obama.

The truth is that if Clinton had run any kind of campaign in the caucus states she'd probably be the nominee. But she didn't. That was her decision.

Re: Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

Houndentenor — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:58:30 -0000

Explain to me how you can interview someone who is ignoring a subpoena and not even mention it.

Re: Evangelical leader Rick Warren: I'd have a problem voting for an adulterer

Houndentenor — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:29:31 -0000

Don't be silly, John. Adultery is only a problem if you are a Democrat. Duh.

Re: Foreign airlines cutting flights to Los Angeles International Airport

Houndentenor — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:25:46 -0000

The airline problems is much less about people cutting back on personal travel than about corporations cutting way back (some even have a ban) one business travel. This has been going on for some time as companies try to remain profitable in a bad economy.

Re: When is a political interview not really an interview? When it's with ABC's Charile Gibson.

Houndentenor — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:24:10 -0000

How can anyone be surprised by this? This is the same media that let Bush get away with this for 9 years. Anyone who asked serious questions was dismissed, moved to the back of the press room, cut off or accused of treason.

Re: Top 10 Reasons for McCain to Attack Spain

Houndentenor — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:17:27 -0000

I like Tapas too. Especially the real deal in Spain. I was just in Spain in June. What a great place to visit!

Re: The American people actually care about issues, while the pundits focus on image

Houndentenor — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:48:26 -0000

Chuck Todd is the only pundit left with his head on straight these days. I have no idea what he personally thinks about any of the candidates but he seems to have his finger on the pulse of the voters. He's a smart guy. I have liked him since he was on C-SPAN. He's the one the candidates should be listening to because he gets what the voters are saying in the polls and not just the spin version from the other pundits.

Re: I already saw Christmas decorations at the store

Houndentenor — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:19:34 -0000

In defense of the stores, it's usually just a small team that decorates the whole store. They also have to put up a lot of merchandise. That doesn't happen in a day or two. So yes, they start putting things up in October. They have to otherwise they would not be ready by Thanksgiving. This is traditionally the slow season for retail. Back to school is over and the Christmas shopping has not begun. So they have the time and staff available to put up Christmas decorations. They always do this and it's not really a problem except for people who just need something to bitch about. :-)

Re: “'Conservatism is the dominant political creed in America,' Rove said."

Houndentenor — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:06:07 -0000

There is a lesson in all of this for us. Just a few years ago Rove and others were talking about a "Permanent Republican Majority". That's a punch line now but at the time they really believed it. Democrats just had a big win but if they do what the Republicans did and abandon core principles and stop listening to the constituents, then we'll be looking at the GOP taking back Congress at some point in the near future. The mistakes the Republicans made are a warning for the Democrats if they are smart enough to heed them.

I would like to see Obama take a page from the Ronald Reagan playbook. Reagan got his agenda through a Democratic House. He did it by doing an end run around the MSM, the pundits and the Congressional leadership and taking his case directly to the American people. Presidents can do that but few have done it regularly since Reagan. When a tough vote is coming up, he should just go on national tv and make his case straight to the people. He's good at that (obviously) and would be foolish not to do this a few times a year.