[tomder55]

They can always volunteer to cough up more duckets if that is their desire. Truth be told however ,they want someone else's taxes increased and not their own.

[excon]

they can always volunteer to cough up more duckets if that is their desire. Truth be told however ,they want someone elses taxes increased and not their own.

Hello tom:

So you don't believe you should pay for your wars. It's OK with you if you strap your grandchildren with that debt.

For those new readers, George W. Bush made war on TWO countries, borrowed the money to pay for it, and gave the richest amongst us a huge tax cut. THAT'S what much of our debt comes from.

excon

[tomder55]

The debt quadupled in a year . Keep carrying water for the President. You can stop the concern about what my daughter will need to pay for because of the Bush Presidency . The wars will be paid for ;the entitlement obligations that she will face is what will bring the house of cards down. Last month another boulder was added atop it without any concern about how it will be paid for .So your crying over Bush spending is becoming a little stale .If you were at the same time complaining about the massive increases in debt since Obama then perhaps your argument would have some merit.

[paraclete]

The debt quadupled in a year . go ahead and keep carrying water for the President. You can stop the concern about what my daughter will need to pay for because of the Bush Presidency . The wars will be paid for ;the entitlement obligations that she will face is what will bring the house of cards down. Last month another boulder was added atop it without any concern about how it will be paid for .So your crying over Bush spending is becoming a little stale .If you were at the same time complaining about the massive increases in debt since Obama then perhaps your argument would have some merit.

Tom I don't know what you are worried about, galloping inflation will cure it all for you and today's debt will be just a drop in the bucket of future debt

[tomder55]

Yeah I hear the KRudd ;now that global warming is a confirmed hoax ,is no longer be the leader who bought the Aussies cap and tax. Instead he is going to borrow from the success of Obama and "reform " Australia's health care system .

What's the deal ? I thought your system was already running like a well oiled machine.

[paraclete]

yeah I hear the KRudd ;now that global warming is a confirmed hoax ,is no longer be the leader who bought the Aussies cap and tax. Instead he is going to borrow from the success of Obama and "reform " Australia's health care system .

What's the deal ? I thought your system was already running like a well oiled machine.

Yeh our system works okay for the doctors and the patients, but some of the states have been transferring funding away from public hospitals, NSW is in dire strates with medical suppliers on the verge of refusing to supply because the local area boards haven't paid their bills and state treasury's have been interferring with infrastructure contracts. We have a new hospital built with operating theatres too small, etc in my town. It was an election issue three years ago and he has just realised he needs to get it off the agenda before the next election. What Krudd is doing is changing the funding equation so there is federal responsibility for 60% of funding of public hospitals so the states can't divert the funding.

Yes it is strange Krudd has forgotten global warming, etc when we just couldn't do without emissions trading, but our version of the cash for claukers has come home to roost with massive waste, installer deaths and contractor rip offs aplenty and complete cancellation of the scheme. We now have warehouses full of insulation. It was the flag ship of the emissions abatement brigade in the short term

[tomder55]

That's close the way I heard it . But when all the election hype is removed it amounts to more centralization of an inefficient system and a massive election year giveaway to the states.. right ? In fact ;the only part of the health care system in Aussie that works well is that part of it where most people opt for private coverage.

[paraclete]

that's close the the way I heard it . But when all the election hype is removed it amounts to more centralization of an inefficient system and a massive election year giveaway to the states ..right ? In fact ;the only part of the health care system in Aussie that works well is that part of it where most people opt for private coverage.

No, Tom, I think that is a biased remark. The inefficiencies we have are inherent in your system too and that is the multi-tier systems which have confused local and federal priorities. What it comes down to is local politicians interferring in allocation of funding for political purposes. Not only that but the GST is a growth tax and the Federal government doesn't like the states having free reign with that and then asking for specific help with hospitals

Our payment/insurance/general practice system works OK but people have long stayed away from private coverage because in an emergency they are going to be treated in a state public hospital anyway. We are all invincible you see and don't need doctors. The Liberal Federal government tried to boost participation rates but most people think 1.5% levy is about right for health care costs so it doesn't matter to them who they pay and the less you earn the less you pay, an incentive for the government system. The Federal government hasn't allowed private coverage for ordinary medical expences just procedures in hospitals. By opting for the public option the public have restricted the growth of the private hospital system and the states have taken advantage of this by diverting funding which was their obligation in the system. All this is a legacy of social engineering by a succession of Labor governments and now we have another Federal Labor government try to fix a problem created by the state Labor governments.

[paraclete]

that's close the the way I heard it . But when all the election hype is removed it amounts to more centralization of an inefficient system and a massive election year giveaway to the states ..right ? In fact ;the only part of the health care system in Aussie that works well is that part of it where most people opt for private coverage.

Just to help you get the whole picture

As a rule, I don't pass along these "add your name" lists that appear in emails, BUT this one is important. It has been circulating for months and has been sent to over 20 million people. We don't want to lose any names on the list so just hit forward and send it on..

Please keep it going!

To show your support for Kevin Rudd's health care reform, please scroll right down to the end of the list and add your name.


1. Wayne Swan.
2.

[tomder55]

That's funny Are there bumper stickers "John Howard ...miss me yet ? "

[tomder55]

While the press has finally begun to notice the tea parties they are again behind the curve . Because the most fascinating things happening at the tea parties are not the protests ,but the Tea Party Summits that are shaping this into a genuine political movement .
Post Party Summits|Organizing for a Free America

The Post-Party Summits represent the beginning of the new American Revolution, one in which we organize for liberty and take back our communities from the political class. Each event is designed to maximize your time and provide you with real-world strategies and tactics that you can apply immediately. We have brought together some of the country’s best in messaging, political organizing, leadership training, new media, etc. to offer each of you the opportunity to move beyond protest to implementing freedom. Now is your time, what will you do with it?

Also of note but flying beneath the dinosaur media radar is the Contract From America that the tea party movement published.

Contract FROM America

The Contract from America serves as a clarion call for those who recognize the importance of free market principles, limited government, and individual liberty. It is the natural extension of a movement that began in the local communities and quickly spread across America in response to unprecedented government expansion, reckless spending, and a blatant disregard by our leaders of the nation’s founding principles.

During the past several months, hundreds of thousands of Americans have debated thousands of ideas to solve our nation’s most pressing problems. 454,331 votes were cast. It has been an open process and has provided a genuine opportunity to give voice to a broad cross section of concerned Americans.



The Contract from America
We, the undersigned, call upon those seeking to represent us in public office to sign the Contract from America and by doing so commit to support each of its agenda items, work to bring each agenda item to a vote during the first year, and pledge to advocate on behalf of individual liberty, limited government, and economic freedom.

Individual Liberty
Our moral, political, and economic liberties are inherent, not granted by our government. It is essential to the practice of these liberties that we be free from restriction over our peaceful political expression and free from excessive control over our economic choices.

Limited Government
The purpose of our government is to exercise only those limited powers that have been relinquished to it by the people, chief among these being the protection of our liberties by administering justice and ensuring our safety from threats arising inside or outside our country’s sovereign borders. When our government ventures beyond these functions and attempts to increase its power over the marketplace and the economic decisions of individuals, our liberties are diminished and the probability of corruption, internal strife, economic depression, and poverty increases.

Economic Freedom
The most powerful, proven instrument of material and social progress is the free market. The market economy, driven by the accumulated expressions of individual economic choices, is the only economic system that preserves and enhances individual liberty. Any other economic system, regardless of its intended pragmatic benefits, undermines our fundamental rights as free people.

1. Protect the Constitution
Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does. (82.03%)

2. Reject Cap & Trade
Stop costly new regulations that would increase unemployment, raise consumer prices, and weaken the nation’s global competitiveness with virtually no impact on global temperatures. (72.20%)

3. Demand a Balanced Budget
Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax hike. (69.69%)

4. Enact Fundamental Tax Reform
Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words—the length of the original Constitution. (64.90%)

5. Restore Fiscal Responsibility & Constitutionally Limited Government in Washington
Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce that engages in a complete audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states or local authorities, or ripe for wholesale reform or elimination due to our efforts to restore limited government consistent with the US Constitution’s meaning. (63.37%)

6. End Runaway Government Spending
Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth. (56.57%)

7. Defund, Repeal, & Replace Government-run Health Care
Defund, repeal and replace the recently passed government-run health care with a system that actually makes health care and insurance more affordable by enabling a competitive, open, and transparent free-market health care and health insurance system that isn’t restricted by state boundaries. (56.39%)

8. Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy
Authorize the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation, lowering prices and creating competition and jobs. (55.51%)

9. Stop the Pork
Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget is balanced, and then require a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark. (55.47%)

10. Stop the Tax Hikes
Permanently repeal all tax hikes, including those to the income, capital gains, and death taxes, currently scheduled to begin in 2011. (53.38%)

So while the video cherry picks responses from what must've been hours of taping ;the people at the rallies are only part of the story.

[NeedKarma]

I contend that the tea party members shown in the video know absolutely NOTHING of what you just posted.

[excon]

Hello again, tom:

I don't know. With all the talk about individual freedom, but NO mention whatsoever about the ILLEGAL government SPYING being perpetrated upon us, I wonder what brand of Kool Aid they're drinking.

excon

[tomder55]

Hello again, tom:

I dunno. With all the talk about individual freedom, but NO mention whatsoever about the ILLEGAL government SPYING being perpetrated upon us, I wonder what brand of kool aid they're drinking.

excon

Perhaps they ,unlike you, understand that the government is not "spying " on them ,but instead is trying to wage a war against jihadists aiming to destroy the country and kill Americans.

[tomder55]

I contend that the tea party members shown in the video know absolutely NOTHING of what you just posted.

Perhaps . But most people know instinctively when they are being hosed.

Edit . The progression from Tea Party to Sons of Liberty to a genuine national movement did not happen over night either . Minds had to be convinced

Let me recommend
FROM RESISTANCE TO REVOLUTION: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 1765-1776.
By Pauline Maier

[excon]

Perhaps they ,unlike you, understand that the government is not "spying " on them ,but instead is trying to wage a war against jihadists aiming to destroy the country and kill Americans.

Hello again, tom:

So, because the intent is GOOD, breaking the law is cool. I understand. Really I do. That's why we prosecuted those nasty Japs who waterboarded OUR troops, because their intent was BAD. But, when you have GOOD thoughts, and all you want to do is SAVE your country, breaking the law is just hunky dory.

This swill is brought to you by rightwingers, who supposedly revere law and order. Bwa, ha ha ha.

excon

[tomder55]

Hello again, tom:

So, because the intent is GOOD, breaking the law is cool. I understand. Really I do. That's why we prosecuted those who waterboarded OUR troops, because their intent was BAD. But, when you have GOOD thoughts, and all you wanna do is SAVE your country, breaking the law is just hunky dory.

This swill is brought to you by rightwingers, who supposedly revere law and order. Bwa, ha ha ha.

excon

This swill brought to you by someone who doesn't think it's necessary to spy on enemies planning to attack the country... who thinks we should tie one hand behind our back and play by Marquis of Queensbury rules while the enemy kicks us in the nuts.. because that makes us better people .

[speechlesstx]

Jonah Goldberg captured the mood of the Tea Party this way, which is “We won’t be fooled again.” I think he's right.

[excon]

Hello again, tom:

This swill brought to you by someone who doesn't think it's necessary to spy on enemies planning to attack the country...

WRONG! It's FINE to spy on our enemy. WE'RE not the enemy.

who thinks we should tie one hand behind our back and play by Marquis of Queensbury rules

WRONG! Obeying our very own Constitution will be enough.

.. because that makes us better people.

WRONG! It simply makes us people who adhere to our own law. I always thought that made us better. I guess you don't think that.

Excon

[speechlesstx]

Police in riot gear were called out to the Tea Party protest during the president's visit to Quincy, Il. Apparently grandma was looking a little too threatening after breaking out into a chorus of "God Bless, America" and the national anthem:









Darn racist Teabaggers...