Campaign takes familiar turn

Campaign takes familiar turn

Frist said Saturday that if Democrats want to disagree with the president’s approach on wiretapping, "I think it is at their peril."

To paraphrase: Agree with Bush, or fall under the foot of our machine. OR: Either you are for us or you are against us. If you are against us, you are wrong and must die.

That's what they want to say.

Bush Defends Exxon/Mobil Profits

DenverPost.com - NATION/WORLD

How much money are his family and friends making off of this?

Bush:

"I think that basically the price is determined by the marketplace and that's the way it should be."

I understand the marketplace and economics, and it is hard to argue against that. However, isn't there a point, when you are making millions and millions of dollars, more than you can find a way to spend, that you find it more ethical to lower your margins, give up making that next few million dollars profit, and give the poor and neglected a chance to afford the things they need? Whatever happened to looking out for one another and helping your fellow man?

Alito Upholds MO Stay of Execution

Alito Opposes Mo. Execution

Overall, I've been opposed to Alito. From what I know of his record, he has proven to be a conservative activist moreso than a rational interpreter of the law. However, I will give him credit for breaking party lines on this one and supporting the stay of execution. Of course, it doesn't mean he opposes the execution, just that he supports the grounds for this stay. Nonetheless, he gets a point.

That brings up a more sad topic, though. That topic is the fact that the votes of our Supreme Court judges can (usually) be predicted based on party lines. That is not what the SC is meant for; how does that provide a check or balance? I don't care what side of the tracks you are from, the judges of our highest court are not supposed to make decisions based on their religious beliefs or the generalizations of their party. They are supposed to make those judgements based on the laws of our country and the nearly extinct rational thought that made our country what it is today.

I am extremely liberal. However, if I were president, my nominee would be much like Sandra Day O'Conner. I would nominate someone because they would apply rational thought to every decision and make their judgements and rulings based on how it applies within the constrains of our Constitution as a living document to our current society and best benefits the rights of ALL American citizens. I would not nominate someone just because they will oppose conservative views at every turn.

With the way we're going right now, the conservative & religious (ie: Christian) groups will be happy with what they get out of THEIR Supreme Court. However, they get that at the risk of taking away much from the other half of the country. I know it feels good to win every time, but if you stop and think about it, that means someone else is losing every time. Buck up and learn to compromise; that's far more patriotic because it will benefit our country in the long run.

WTF?!?!

Recently, thanks to the Google ads you see to the right and my own curiousity, I stumbled across a website by A World Ahead Publishing for their "Help!Mom!" book series. The particular book being advertised was Help! Mom! There are LIBERALS Under My Bed! The premise of this children's book for conservative parents is that there are two children who want to start a lemonade stand so they can earn enough money to buy a swing set. However, they encounter obstacles when liberal figureheads in their town try to "tax and regulate their dream away." Honestly, WTF?!?!?! Is their method for winning future elections to brainwash children? Seriously, what are they teaching? Taxes provide us with necessary public resources and regulations help prevent the corrupt from taking everything from us (though they still get away with too much...probably because of books like this teaching 'regulation bad, corruption good').

In response, I would like to offer a book idea: Help! Mom! Bush Jr. Sent My Big Brother Away to be Killed in Iraq to Avenge Bush Sr.! Perhaps this one would be better: Help! Mom! All My Lemonade Money is Going to Oil Company Profits and Rich Republican Tax Breaks!

Credit Card Minimums Increase & I'm Becoming a Sell-Out

As you may or may not have noticed, the minimum payments on credit cards are being increased this year. It's due to government crack-downs and an attempt to help consumers get out of credit card debt faster. Honestly, it's a good thing. It forces me to pay more on the principal balance of my card than I may have in the first place. Hopefully, this will help our nation reduce our nagging credit card debts since we'll be paying more than just the finance charges. The problem it has caused me is that the extra money I was putting toward the higher rate card is now used to meet the minimum on the lower rate card, causing me to be charge more interest than I would have under my payment plan.

My cards have always haunted me. I don't have a horrendous level of debt by any means, but it's there and it bugs me. Not to mention the fact that it seems to keep growing, though very slowly. The problem is these damn holidays; everything's good until they come around. You would think I would learn to be prepared. Now that minimums are increasing, I'm taking another look at that haunting debt and trying to think of ways to make it go away faster. Since my employer doesn't want to give me a reasonable raise, I am left to find ways to get a small supplement from the internet.

The best way to do this without getting sucked into some kind of scam? Why, sell-out, of course! My sell-out is to Google and Amazon, as you can see with the adds on the right. I thought I would be smart for the holidays and order my gifts at Amazon through the link on my page. However, I now have reason to believe that they were smarter than me and will reduce my earnings by the affiliate fee I earned off my own orders. Cunning! So, what is my response? I invite anyone that wants to place an order through Amazon to use my links. When you do so, send me an email telling me you have used my link and let me know on what page you have a link. The next time I make an order through Amazon, I will use your link.

I've also looked into paid surveys and the like, but they all want you to give them $30-$100 to use their database (scam alert!) or pay $1-$2 per 15-30 minute survey, which really isn't worth the effort when your available time is next to nothing. If anyone out there has suggestions or ideas (legitimate suggestions or ideas; no scam spam!), leave me a comment.