How am i supposed to make my millions now?

anomalous4 said:
>What does it say about this person, when he/she can’t think of something at least a little bit different for each sock puppet to say?

Now, now, to be fair, DSkinner/GeoTiller was probably hit by the same posting bug that the rest of us are experiencing. Ergo, he/she probably hit post, got the error message, so re-entered the text manually and posted a second time. Why he/she changed usernames I don’t know, but if the person isn’t a regular and the first try doesn’t go through, would we care about the name we saw? Maybe he/she thought the email account used was part of the problem and switched from a geocities to a yahoo account (or whatever).

Evolving Squid said:
>That problem is that political parties that happen to be fiscally conservative also tend to be religious and socially hyperconservative.

>So if you’re an atheist with a slight conservative bent and strong fiscal conservative tendencies, do you vote liberal and have your taxes jacked and possibly some social changes forced on you that you don’t believe your country is ready for… or do you vote for fiscal conservatism and risk some religious yahoo will start infringing on common sense and reality.

I know a few atheist engineers who are Republicans because they are fiscally conservative, and Republicans are the party of the dollar sign rather than the Democratic party of the Godless. (To throw out two pointless stereotypes aimed in different directions.)

Our 2 party system is nonsensical, casting 1 dividing line across a spectrum of issues and assuming that one label effectively sorts all issues fairly.

Tony said:
>While people voted out the republicans to express their anger at Bush, when Wednesday came, Bush was still the President. Nothing done on Tuesday was going to change that. Will he be able to pursue any policy or agenda he wishes? Of course not, but don’t forget, he didn’t get everything he wanted even when his party did have the majority. But, he is still the President, with all the power that goes with it.

You are correct that he’s still President, and still has a lot of power. However, a lot of his power came from having a Congress that was politically stanted to back his position. And while he may not have gotten everything he wished, it will be a lot harder for him to get his wishes against an oppositional party lead Congress. This is still something that will affect his ability to push his agenda, and conceivably some efforts can be put into addressing prior actions of his that got support at the time through partisanship. You are correct that ultimately the real change is 2008. If only the Democrats can find somebody to run that has enthusiasm and leadership while not coming off like an idiot.

>I know for a fact at least one recently elected democrat who shares many of the same opinions as republicans; Bob Casey Jr., Senator Elect from Pennsylvania. Casey, like his father, is a strong conservative democrat. About the only way Casey could have looked as the liberal choice was running against Rick Santorum, whom he defeated.

>I do not know, nor do I think, he supports Intelligent Design, but I do know he is Pro-Life, Pro-Death Penalty, and Pro-NRA, which puts him on the opposite side of the fence with many democrats.

This is an important point. Many of the winners were conservative, just not as conservative as the Republicans they replaced. That’s one reason I have reservations about how the Democrats will turn out. How much improvement did we really get? It remains to be seen.

As a Progressive Democrat, a large number of us have been speaking out loudly we want the Party to go in a different direction. Whether or not we effect that change, our position has been declared in the public forum. Is there an equivalent group in the Republican Party that speaks out against the Evangelical base? Because if there is I haven’t heard them.

Gary 7

Skeptigirl, you may want to check your facts before absolving all of the democrats from your list of sins. I know for a fact at least one recently elected democrat who shares many of the same opinions as republicans; Bob Casey Jr., Senator Elect from Pennsylvania. Casey, like his father, is a strong conservative democrat. About the only way Casey could have looked as the liberal choice was running against Rick Santorum, whom he defeated.

I do not know, nor do I think, he supports Intelligent Design, but I do know he is Pro-Life, Pro-Death Penalty, and Pro-NRA, which puts him on the opposite side of the fence with many democrats. In other words, just like saying all republicans are anti-science is wrong, so is saying all democrats are pro-science.

Of course most Republicans and many Republican politicians are not anti-science. I am pro-science and currently a member of that same party. Unfortunately, anti-science extremists like Rick Santorum chose to try to take over control of the party. This makes the Democratic party the less anti-science in general. By giving Democrats control of Congress, we have restored some measure of checks & balances as Bush will need to compromise more than he would with one-party rule.

I am sure we threw out some good Republicans along with the trash, but collateral damage is unavoidable to switch control of Congress.
On the whole, I think we are better able to force some reevaluating of how to resolve the Iraq war as well as fight anti-science.

Great news. Well done & congratulations to the Americans who voted Democrat. To those who voted Republican .. please think better of it next time!

This is progress – now America has a moderate right wing party in office intsead of a monster raving loony far right-wing party. Roomfor improvemnetand furtherbalance toget back where youwerebefroe McCartysm and jointherestof theWestern nations that have aleftwing party inpolitics too but still its a positive step and like the majority of the world – & all the sane people, I’ll say “Well done and about time too!”

Lets have sanity prevail!

Peace Be Upon Us All – not just Mohammad. (PBUH = Peace Be Upon Him – used in some quotes by Muslim authors & scholars re: the rather sour reference some Islamophobe made here earlier.) Islam ain’t ever going to take over America – as every halfway intelligent person could tell you. All “they*” really want is what you take for granted -freedom from oppression and overseas interference.

* Yes I know OBL rants about destroying the West .. but he’s about as representative as Jerry Falwell and he’ll soon be dead if he ain’t already. The threat he posed was always exaggerated & giving him “warrior” stature rather than just criminal was one of Bush’es worst mistakes. Cut off his oxygen supply by calling a halt to the so-called “terrorism war”, get out of SW-Asia and his power will decline terminally. That’s the reasonable assessment you mob should’ve been told from the start but weren’t.

Incidentally, the Republican party was the best ally Osama ever had – he gave them all they wanted in a bogeyman & set of excuses & they returned the favour.

Amercia and the world is much safer now with Rumsfeld gone, Neo-conservatism finally heading for a well deserved place in history’s dustbin & Bush on the way out.

Heres’ hoping that happens sooner rather than later & the Democrats have the spine to start presidential impeachment proceedings soon. After what the Republican mouth-frothers did against Clinton & with the comparative magnitude of Bush’es disasterous policies eg. invading Iraq, nothing less is necessary!

The other most obviously false images: Republicans spend less, and Republicans want less government intrusion in your private life.

If we’re lucky we’ll see better port security, better border security, and real cooperation between agencies like the CIA and the FBI.

Unfortunately, I agree. While I am relieved to see the public waking up and voting in some oversight of the worst government we’ve seen in a long time as evidenced by: the war, legalizing torture, spying on Americans, voiding habeas corpus, the attack on the Constitution, the corruption, and the anti-science, I don’t think the Democratic Party is a whole lot more evidence based than the Republican Party.

The Democrats just have different anti-science issues. Instead of the anti-science supported by Evangelicals and big business we may just see more pseudoscience and exaggerated corporate conspiracy theories like those the anti-vaxers believe.

I’m afraid the misunderstandings about science cut across all walks of America and are therefore probably evenly distributed among the Republicans and the Democrats. Phil gets the Evangelicals out of NASA’s cosmology research and the Teri Schiavos can die in peace, but the attacks on the CDC’s vaccine advisory committees by the autism crusaders don’t go away and the opinions of the scientists and the scientific evidence do not replace the opinions of the unqualified but dedicated believers with no real evidence campaigning for attention to the latest toxic mold or chemical sensitivity.

Only when the general public understands an evidence based world will we have a government that does as well.

But regardless, I thank the good voters for giving us a little hope we can keep the country free and the world in one piece long enough to promote a little more science for that public.

Wow.

I thought it might never happen.

Here’s hoping for more inprovements in ’08!

Indeed, there are.

However, in the US (and Canada, but for different reasons), there is a problem if you are fiscally conservative, and socially moderate or even slightly conservative – particularly if you are not a religious fanatic…

That problem is that political parties that happen to be fiscally conservative also tend to be religious and socially hyperconservative.

So if you’re an atheist with a slight conservative bent and strong fiscal conservative tendencies, do you vote liberal and have your taxes jacked and possibly some social changes forced on you that you don’t believe your country is ready for… or do you vote for fiscal conservatism and risk some religious yahoo will start infringing on common sense and reality.

It’s a tough call.

GAry 7

Luckily, the stochastic nature of politics is so apparent that no one will believe it was intelligently designed.

What does it say about this person, when he/she can’t think of something at least a little bit different for each sock puppet to say?

And is it just me, or are just about all scientists (I mean real ones, not IDiots) Democrats? I haven’t read a single boo-hoo from a real scientist anywhere.

BTW, one of those footprints on Santorum’s butt is mine. BWAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!!!

You’re welcome!