ariscus99

And one more thing about people buying homes they couldn't afford. That is the bank's job. They are loaning out their money - so it the their job to make sure they are loaning it to people who can repay the loan. If they don't, then it is their fault. People will always want to borrow money. It's the lenders who have to make sure it's to the right people. If someone loses their job after buying the house, then that is a different matter. There should be some kind of contigency plan to help them until they get another job and back on their feet. Do we really want to be a country that throws hardworking people who happen to hit some back luck out of their homes? I don't think so. But I think those who write that crap you posted think so. Because they all have jobs, health care and homes, so it's easy to pick on those who don't.

This is what I mean by you not believing in PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY and RESPONSIBILITY. OMG are you serious. It's the banks fault? Responsible people make budget's for their household and know what they can and cannot afford. People's greed, the average American's greed. They wanted what was to good to be true, and guess what? It was. No rational RESPONSIBLE person who's household income is 70K a year thinks that they can afford a 1 million dollar home. Yeah the banks were greedy when they gave them the loans, but Fannie May and Freddie Mack were holding the banks hostage during all this, all but forcing them to give out loans to people who couldn't afford it. The banks were no more greedy then were the people trying to buy the homes. I have no pity for them. I knew what I could AFFORD, in good times or bad, and thats what I purchased. And I imagine the first home you bought was also one you knew you could afford. And you didn't buy it thinking, well if I get laid off and my husband gets laid off the government will carry the house for us for awhile, it's their responsibility. This is why the left is delusional, the expectation of entitlements is sickening and crippling our nation.

Liberals just don't seem to get it.

By Jim HayettFeb. 21, 2011 What is taking place in our Badger state may be shaping the political landscape for the rest of the nation. However, equally as important are the liberal democrats are making fools out of themselves. I have written a few blogs about Wisconsin’s fiscal mess and how our new Governor is doing what he said he would do if we elected him. Unlike our US president, Walker is making the hard choices and tackling the state’s fiscal disaster Doyle left us in. Which is: Our state is broke and we need to fix it now. So what do our liberal democrats do? Hide behind the LCAT and their hypocrisy. Yet only two liberals, Ref33 and Christian Democrat (we are still waiting for CD’s response where she said she had a plan), gave an attempt, though feeble and not researched, as to how to fix this mess without asking the government union workers. Ref’s plan also doesn’t include any government union workers paying for their super Cadillac benefit plans. Ref's plan is to “Increase state income tax on a graduated scale. Legalize and tax marijuana - eliminating the cost of incarcerating users. Raise the sin taxes. Quite honestly Jim, I don't know enough about how the state raises it's funds to comment. I do think that they do a poor job of overseeing how the money is spent.”

In today’s Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel a lady wrote an opinion in the Letters to the Editor section and ignorantly explained that the future and the quality of our children’s education will be worse off if teachers are required to pay for some of their benefits. I couldn’t believe our state newspaper actually printed such stupidity. None of these liberals mentioned the disastrous path we are heading towards. If it’s “all about the children,” like these demagogues want us to believe, then why don’t they think about our children and their children and stop making them pay for their mistakes!

Americans Support Scott Walker

Sorry, libs. As you bring chaos to Madison, Wisconsin, Americans are not supporting you in your cause. In fact, we are getting fed up with the demands coming from public employee unions.

Scott Walker is a hero, and he is doing exactly what the people of Wisconsin elected him to do. As President Obama once reminded his opponents, "Elections have consequences."

Read from Weasel Zippers:

Poll: American Voters Support Wisconsin Republican Gov. Over Unions by a 48% to 38% Margin…

"Unionized entitlement class hardest hit.

'A sizable number of voters are following new Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s showdown with unionized public employees in his state, and nearly half side with the governor.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 48% of Likely U.S. Voters agree more with the Republican governor in his dispute with union workers. Thirty-eight percent (38%) agree more with the unionized public employees, while 14% are undecided.

In an effort to close the state’s sizable budget deficit, Walker is proposing to eliminate collective bargaining for public employees including teachers on everything but wage issues. He is excluding public safety workers such as policemen and firemen from his plan.

Thirty-eight percent (38%) of voters think teachers, firemen and policemen should be allowed to go on strike, but 49% disagree and believe they should not have that right. Thirteen percent (13%) are not sure.'

Rest here>>>"

As for the teachers who have not shown up for work, they should be fired on the spot. Imagine someone pulling a stunt like that in the private sector.

President Obama has thrown in his two cents, siding with the unions, of course. Interestingly, his poll numbers are slipping back into the gutter.

I vaguely remember the American Pravda coming out and condemning hateful political rhetoric used against the opposition. Somehow, they forgot to report about the hate coming out of Madison.

Great article, though it's just the tip of the iceburg:

The Wisconsin showdown between a determined Republican governor and spoiled public unions is shaping up as a crucial test of state and municipal solvency. But the financial stakes represent only part of the much larger conflict engulfing America.

The real war is over the entitlement culture itself. And while government spending is the most visible part, the ultimate issues are the character and fate of our nation.

Any serious conversation about American decline must start with the fact that too many of our countrymen have lost the plot about how the United States became the beacon of the free world, the world's largest economy, and the lone superpower.

For those who have no sense or interest in how we got here, it is easy to believe we are immune from the laws of history that inevitably reduce empires to dust.

From that willful ignorance, it's perfectly acceptable to demand pay without work, or, almost as insidious, pay and pensions that dwarf those of your neighbors who foot the bill.

It is also perfectly acceptable to assume that, if you have a house you can't afford, the government -- again, your neighbors -- should be dunned to help you keep it. If your business is failing, the government's deep pockets are there to bail you out, no?

Or if your child can't read, it's not your fault. It's the teacher or the school system or the mayor. Any scapegoat will do, as long as it's not you.

This is the noise of the entitlement culture as it plays out every day. It is contagious and so ingrained in how we live and think -- somebody else is to blame and must pay -- that we no longer think twice before demanding total satisfaction and expressing outrage when we don't get it.

We are entitled to it now because we want it, whatever it is. If somebody else has it first, then we have been cheated and are doubly furious.

As for giving it back, or taking less, what are you, a sucker? This is America, man, a free country.

Indeed it is, and that's the problem. We are free to be endlessly selfish, and nobody dares to tell us no.

Certainly, politicians won't do it. The entitlement scam has dominated public life for the better part of 50 years. John F. Kennedy's famous inaugural line of "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" turns out to have been the high-Water mark of self-restraint.

Pretty much ever since, the "tax eaters" have been multiplying faster than the taxpayers. The balance has tilted so far that the great liberal lights of yesteryear, from FDR to JFK to LBJ, might well look at the Wisconsin unions and wonder what planet they're from. They certainly wouldn't recognize them as Democrats.

How dare the teachers skip school to protest? How dare they get fake doctor's notes to avoid consequences?

Easy -- they're entitled.

Soon, other states will be facing the same choice and, as voters made clear in last year's election, the war over Big Government will be settled in Washington.

It's not a comforting thought. The best politicians have been unable to stop the entitlement culture. Most are happy to stoke the demands for more, more, more as the easiest path to power.

We can't say we weren't warned. Thomas Jefferson, naturally, foresaw the consequences of unchecked entitlement. "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

For the record I'm not saying people need to go to the extremes that my family did. I'm only offering the solutions that we used in order to stay off of government assistance, and to do our part.

Thats a cute list, and it proves....? Rupert Murdoch is diversified? No one tunes into The National Rugby Association for their news. But here in the US the MAINSTREAM MEDIA, i.e. what most people watch and what is most readily available, would be, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, HNN, MSNBC, CNBC. Of those, fox is the most right. The rest are decisively left wing or at a minimum left leaning. Talk radio is dominated by the right, I will concede that. Newsprint however is overwhelmingly dominated by the left, as are most weekly magazines, Time, Newsweek, etc.

Did you really say that the right wing media dominates? You can't really think that.

And you have side-stepped the issue as to why the police, firefighters and State Trooper's unions aren't affected by this bill? BECAUSE THEY SUPPORTED WALKER. So this bill is nothing more than punishment to the unions who opposed Walker.

Come on, you're the resident fact checker, you should know better than this CM...I'm a little dissapointed with you;

From JSOnline

Walker noted that the Wisconsin Professional Police Association and the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin - the two state organizations - backed his opponent. If the new governor really wanted to reward his supporters, he said he could have simply exempted the Milwaukee unions from his proposal.

Union lobbying power is great, however, obviously, the people of WI didn't want what the unions were backing. I've said this before but I'll do it again for you, this is what the people of WI want, the majority of the residents of WI want this to happen, the union folks are not a majority, just because they have more people showing up at a rally means nothing, the average person is WORKING while all this is going on. But if this wasn't the will of the people of WI, then Walker, who PROMISED throughout his campaign to make this his first order of business wouldn't have been elected.

Here's Geithner saying SSwill be giving out more than it takes in by 2016 and will be broke by 2037. But I imagine a few columnists now more than the treasury secretary. Also the other link I posted about it was from the social security committee, but they also probably now less than a few columnists do.

Thats funny, exactly what krugman(left wing hack) is saying that the greedy billionaires and the evil Kock brothers do(hiring dozens of lobbyist) is exactly what the unions do. So it's okay for a union to do it, but not for a different group of people with money?

You again have avoided the fact that what these cowardly democrats are doing is ludicrous. If Gov. Walker really wanted to rule with an Iron fist he could very easily do so, and it could be a brilliant political move. He could stage a press conference and simply say "Since the democrats are unwillingly to allow a vote on these new measures, we will go forth with what they are trying to protect, and will therefore effective immediately layoff the 6000 workers who would have been protected by this bill." The backlash against the democrats would be wonderful for republicans. Of course the layoff's could be temporary, because it would almost certainly bring the dems running, but the damage would be done, and would likely cripple the democrats in WI. I think it would great. And there are rumors starting to circulate that he might do just that. Time will tell.

As for the tax cuts Walker is pushing, he's doing so to BRING business TO WI. Businesses like lower taxes, thats why so many are leaving CA.

Actually the republicans are on the wrong side of many of the things people want.

1) The vast majority supported tax cuts for those making under $250,000 and opposed them for those making over $250,000 - opposed by the majority of republicans

2) The majority of people supported repeal of DADT - opposed by majority of republicans

3) The majority of people supported the START treaty -opposed by majority of republicans.

4) The majority of people also support funding for our schools

5) Only 13% support any cuts to SS

So the republicans aren't really supporting what people want. People think they want cuts in spending until they find out that the cuts impact them. What they mean is that they want cuts that impacts the other guy, not them.

And as far as the robin hood theory of yours - well if the wealthy are so savvy then they will have plenty of tax sheltered income to protect them in retirement. Also, you pay into SS independent of your marital status, but your marital status is used to calculate your SS benefits so I guess we can call that the "screw marriage" tax.

And a flat tax is more punitive the lower the income is. 10% of those making $50,000 is $5000 - which means a lot to a family making that much. But 10% of $1 million is $100,000 leaving the millionaire with $900,000. Hardly a dent.

Hardly a dent? If we taxed everything at 20% we would collect right around $3T, which almost covers the bloated budget we have now. Make a few key cuts to say the IRS as they would no longer be needed because the tax code could be about 3 lines. And if the lower class wants to save more money you just don't spend, grow a garden, raise a pig and slaughter it, thats what my family had to do when I was a kid. My parents would pick vegetables from the dump, you can take brusslesprouts and peel away a few layers and there's good food there, same with lettuce. If you have the desire and the willingness to work hard and sacrifice I strongly believe you can make it. There are just far to few people in this country with that desire. You could essentially live almost tax free if you were careful.

I already told you what: raise the taxes on those making over $250,000 to the Clinton levels when 22 million jobs were created. They can afford it, they're not creating jobs and boo hoo they might just have to give up that 3rd home.

It will bring in tons of money.

Also - collect the SS payroll tax on 100% of wages not just the first $106,000. And then when the millionaires come of retirement age, make payments tied to wealth, assets, etc.. because they won't need it.

Close all the corporate tax loopholes.

Do a better job of overseeing defense contract abuses and fraud.

So, those are very doable solutions that the republicans would never go for - and no jobs or benefits would have to be cut.

#1 and #3 on your list would be solved with a flat tax, that would benefit most everyone else at the same time. Your SS payroll tax on 100% of wages, would you change the name of that to the robin hood tax, since you seem to think that the rich should pay into it but should be the only group limited on what they can collect. The rich are savvy, thats how they get that way, if they pay into it on the millions they make every year, when they come of age, you better believe they will collect that money back, whether they "need it" or not.

Another reason raising taxes isn't going to work is because, it's not what the people want. Remember your old mantra of how the dems are in control because people want what the dems want? Well the republicans are coming back into control because, guess what, the people want what the republicans want, lower taxes, less social programs etc.

What about the above article are you talking about or dispute? If you have info to dispute it do so, otherwise don't kill the messenger.

Also, to answer your previous questions about the solutions to wall street greed and bush's f**k up. Well, for starters, corporate america can get their rich, lazy a$es off the 2 trillion in assets (thanks to us taxpayers) that they are sitting on, cut or eliminate bonuses - and combine it with the billions in tax cuts the republicans threw at them - and hire additional workers instead of overworking their current staff or shipping jobs overseas. That will do more to reduce the deficit than any cuts to SS.

And back to the issue of unions. Our streets in this country are stained with the blood of those who lost their lives fighting to improve working conditions for the rest of us. From coal miners, to railroad workers, steel worker and factory workers - they battled, lost lives, lost wages, lost homes so that YOU could enjoy:

-the minimum wage

-40 hr. work week

-overtime

-unemployment compensation

-worker's comp

-vacation and sick leave

-better and safer working conditions

You are more than happy to be the recipient of all the benefits won by those who have fought before you but then turn around and bash unions and their right to collective bargaining that won these rights for you. What a huge hypocrite. Just like so many others.

I'm saying the guy sounds like a crackpot conspiracy theorist, and you seem to have faith in him or you wouldn't be posting his drivel. So my bet is that the Koch brother's wont end up doing all the things his article claims, such as buying all the power plants in WI for penny's on the dollar.

Yes the unions did all that, and now we have those things, and unions no longer fight for that stuff, they fight for money, they have become as greedy as the wall street fat cats you hate so much. And again, this bill doesn't hider the unions from doing any of the things you listed, what it does is stop them from negotiating for higher pensions and benefits, and since the unions this will affect have a great pension and great benefits and still pay much much less than their private industry counterparts for it, I think what is proposed makes great sense. It's foresight, unions have been greedy in the past and there is no sign of it stopping.

forum wont let me insert a link so here's this.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/02/22/ethics-lesson-wisconsin-doctors-writing-fake-sick-notes/

Also on the union front, it seems some WI doctors are about to wish they had some union representation as the WI medical board is investigating them now for the phony sick notes they wrote, and are saying that this is on par with writing unnecessary or fraudulent prescriptions, which could result in the revocation of there medical licenses. Which would be a fitting lesson to the rest of those out there who think they should commit fraud for these people.

Corporate America is sitting on their $2T in assets because they are afraid of what the democrats are going to try to do with taxes. Instability has always made people hoard. This is no different, they see no reason to invest their money because there is so much instability and that scares them, so the logical thing to do is sit on the money and take the sure thing(interest payments on the money or whatever investment they have). They were demonized for taking risk's and now that they aren't taking risk's and they're being demonized again, they can't win.

Speaking of hypocrisy, you keep avoiding the hypocrisy of the left with the coverage of what the cowardly democrats are pulling in WI. You know as well as anyone if the republicans had pulled a stunt like this the left would be in an uproar, the media would have had a field day with it. And all the left(including you) can do is divert attention anywhere else.

As I've said several times, I'm all for cutting the DOD budget. However, any realistic cut is merely a drop in the bucket. Sure we can and should, shut down all of our bases in other countries, bring home as many troops as possible, but again, this is all a drop in the bucket when we're looking at close to a $1T budget short fall. A flat tax would take care of most of these problems, but our spending is still out of control

Social Security in unsustainable according to the Social Security Board of Trustee's, the systematic phase out of social security as described above or in some similar way WILL get us back on track. No logical person wants to get rid of SS right now, cold turkey, most everyone knows too many people rely on it know, thats why you start to phase it out, pick an age, and go from there, raise the eligibility age for those within the age category so they don't collect as long and we can get back to a sustainable level.

Times are tuff, cuts must be made. Again I know it's George W.'s fault, bad bad boy, shame on you. Now what?

Wow, this patience john guy is a crack pot huh? He wants arabic to be a mandated class in texas schools ? He sounds like the left's version of glenn beck, left wing psycho conspiracy theorist, does that about sum him up? I read number of his articles, and wow. Do you want to put a wager on this claim CM? Say, no posting in R&R's for 3months?

Great game, I was glad to see the Cheeseheads win!!!

It is about the democrats being cowardly and refusing to do the job they were elected and are paid to do. Sure there is more going on, there always is, but this is big, this has never happened before. They fled the state, what would have been said and done in the mainstream media had republicans tried this stunt(that's all it is)? There is fraud and corruption running rampant in WI right now, and it's on the dem side. These doctors who showed up the other day to sign bogus sick notes for the "teachers" who are there for the children, what a crock, they are there because they don't want to have to pay more and are scared of losing their strangle hold over the government, thats what unions have, a stranglehold.

The proposed bill does not, I repeat, DOES NOT, remove all of their collective bargaining rights, it limits the rights of fringe benefits, including pensions and healthcare, they can still bargain for safety measures(HA what a joke, unions have become greed machines looking out for the #1 which is MONEY MONEY MONEY), and even increase in salary. They aren't threatening yet to make the state a right to work state(which IMO would be great), though there are 22 in the US and they seem to be the states that businesses are flocking too right now(mind you, I'm in a public employee union as is my wife, but if either of us had the choice we wouldn't be). This (the dems fleeing the state) is a huge story, and everyone knows it, and the left along with the MSM is doing their best to downplay it, but it's not working. Rachel Maddow was caught in a nice little lie earlier today, along with Brian Williams while trying to downplay this. It was good of Fox News to call them out on it. Again, just the backlash republicans got for voting no, was infinitely worse than what these cowards are getting for running away and not doing there jobs.

Back to the sick notes now, a physician friend of mine who lives in WI said that there is an uproar amongst doctors in the state to have these doctors who wrote bogus sick notes sanctioned and investigated for fraud, and according to him it might be happening within the week, the WI medical licensing board isn't to pleased apparently. It was nice of these teachers who are doing this "for the children" to leave the children out of school for a week while they illegal go on strike. I'm sure the parents had a good time finding day care and paying for all those extra expenses, thanks again teachers.

According to CM the reason for these budget shortfalls is greedy corporate wall street and surprise surprise, George W. So lets just say your right. Bad wall street, bad Georgy, shame on you. Okay now that that is done, how do you fix the problem, the finger pointing is great, seriously I mean bravo, you pointed the finger, now fix the damn problem. Should George W. be paying these unfunded pensions from his pocket? Or should they be funded by wall street? Should they take a cut in profits and send all the state the hundreds of billions of dollars they are short with unfunded pensions? I'm curious what your fix is here. We're in the problem, we can't just point a finger at and hope the money comes back because blame has been placed. There needs to be solutions, and right now the Governor of WI has a solution, that looks like it will work, and there are a handful of other states that will be hopping on this wagon very soon. Governor Walker ran his campaign on the promise of doing EXACTLY what he doing now, and the people of WI elected him. He told them in no uncertain terms when he got elected he would do what he is doing now, and apparently that was the people's will, so why should these democrats not carry it out. I'm pretty sure I've seen CM post multiple times saying that since the dems were in control when healthcare was voted on it was the will of the people and that republicans needed to sit back and take it. Well the shoe is on the other foot CM why aren't the dems sitting there and taking it like they preached, it's obviously the will of the people of WI.

The only way we're going to get out of this financial debacle ie. being 14trillion in debt, and the budget shortfall that is close to 1t this year, is a systematic phase out of social security and medicare/caid. A HUGE overwhelming amount of our budget goes to social programs that we cannot afford anymore, there are simply too many people in this country and too many people not working and living off of the government to sustain all the entitlements. DOD is a great place to cut spending but it's miniscule in comparison. You would have to shut down the DOD for it to really make a big difference in the budget, and that is not an option.

The phase out does not me a cold turkey stoppage of payments for ss and mc, it means what it sounds like, a phase out: anyone on it now stays on, then we slowly raise the age to qualify higher, and we pick a date at which to stop. Say if you were born on or before Jan 1 1975, you will be allowed to collect, anyone born after is not, they need to start thinking about how they will provide for themselves. Take responsibility for their own futures. If we did this today, they would be people 36 and younger which would give a minimum of about 30 years before retirement age, which gives ample time to prepare. Also anyone born after the cutoff date no longer needs to pay into either program which will free up their money to invest how they see fit. It will require that dirty little devil the democrats hate, personal accountability and responsibility, but it is doable, and would put us in the black almost overnight.

Call it how you see it. I'm not taking sides. To me, it's obstructionary politics, and it is ALL game-playing, at the expense of the average citizen. I don't agree with any of it.

Dave

I agree with you here for sure. Support of public employee unions has only gone down since this started, and the public support of the democrats from WI has also tanked this week over this. They don't seem to see what they're doing, and that they are not only hurting themselves but they are hurting lots of working class folks who they are supposed to be protecting.

Yeah, it's nothing at all like what the Republicans have been doing in DC since Obama took office. I guess cowardice comes in different colors - both blue AND red. Both sides should be ashamed.

Dave

Sorry I must have missed the story where the republicans pulled a stunt that STOPPED a vote from happening, maybe you can send me a link to the story about it? Voting no against something is quite different, at least they have the balls to show up and vote, even if they knew they'd be beat as was the case with obamacare. I don't remember many republican's fleeing the capitol so they wouldn't be made to vote, but again, maybe they did and I just missed the story. However, thats not really what is being discussed here, it's about these particular lawmakers being cowards and running from a problem, remember your Saturday morning cartoons when they told you that's not the answer, guess what, it still isn't. I've talked to a few people I know who live in WI, and they are dumbfounded and more than anything, MAD, these people are elected to serve them, and are paid well to do so, and they are running away from their job. How would it go over if a house caught fire in my district and instead of responding to the fire we drove the engine's the other way so we wouldn't have to deal with it? Or if I were a teacher and decided to call in sick and my students didn't get to learn for a week, oh wait, that's what the teachers in WI are doing, "for the children." Nothing helps children like teachers striking because they're going to have to contribute more to their retirement and health benefits. Sad. I'm sure every Charter School in the nation is licking their chops to get into WI and start taking students away from the public schools, and good for them.

I can't believe what these cowards who took office to serve the people of WI are doing. Fleeing the state? Really? Can you imagine the backlash had republicans done this? All they did was vote against a bill and the mainstream media tried to tear them to pieces. These punks fled the state and hardly anyone is reporting on it. Disgusting cowards, they should all be fired.

"It's more about theatrics than anything else," Walker said, predicting that the group would come back in a day or two, after realizing "they're elected to do a job."Walker said Democrats could still offer amendments to change the bill, but he vowed not to concede on his plan to end most collective bargaining rights.

Republicans hold a 19-14 majority in the Senate, but rules mandate 20 members for a quorum. That means they needed at least one Democrat present before they could vote on the bill.

Did the mods close this forum down or something?

Bike's are awesome, but you gotta respect em. My bike will do about 105 in 2nd gear. On several occasions I've brought the front end up at well over 100, with a little clutch action, can power wheelie(just crank on the throttle and bring the front up) up to about 85 in 2nd and just over 100 in 3rd. I have a lot of friends that ride gsxr 1000's, r1's and cbr 1000rr's and not one of them can power wheelie over about 80, and that's pushing it.

I ride an '08 suzuki bking, it's got a 186 hp at the rear wheel. It's basically a naked, slightly upright hayabusa, it's scary fast, and a ton of fun. I've had in the past 2 300zx's, one was a 90 n/a and the other a 91 TT that put 406 to the rear wheels, it was a lot of fun, but I got too many tickets. Now it's just my bike and my Nissan Titan.

Not that I want to defend the wackjobs at WBC but they said they will NOT be picketing at the little girls funeral.

From the article;

Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka says her church has agreed to avoid Thursday's funeral of Christina Taylor Green