Saturday, November 24, 2007
Chavez: Only a 'Traitor' Will Vote No
President Hugo Chavez warned his supporters on Friday that anyone voting against his proposed constitutional changes would be a "traitor," rallying his political base before a referendum that would let him seek unlimited re-election in 2012 and beyond.
Brandishing a little red book listing his desired 69 revisions to Venezuela's charter, Chavez exhorted his backers to redouble their efforts toward a victorious "yes" vote in the Dec. 2 ballot.
"He who says he supports Chavez but votes 'no' is a traitor, a true traitor," the president told an arena packed with red-clad supporters. "He's against me, against the revolution and against the people."
Isn't this the same kind of rhetoric that Democrats rallied against when Bush said similar things?
But yet, Chavez is the poster boy for people like Cindy Sheehan and others who hate Bush.
Chavez's opponents accuse him of concentrating power and seeking to be president-for-life like his close friend Fidel Castro of Cuba. Chavez insists he will only stay on as long as Venezuelans continue to vote for him.
"If you don't approve (the referendum), maybe we'll have time for a parachute jump in five years," Chavez, a former paratrooper, told the crowd. "But if you wish—if you approve the referendum—I will stay as long as God wills! Until the last bone of my skeleton dries out!"
Well say what you will about Bush, he's done in a little more then a year, what do you have to say about your little South American friend there?
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Mortgage Failures Could Create Nightmare: Financial News
When I read about people who are facing down foreclosure on their homes, I tend to feel sorry for them a little bit.
When you buy a home, you think that this is going to be the place where you live for many years, or may even retire and die in.
But sometimes people get so over their heads, that I simply must ask what they were thinking when they bought it, like this guy:
When Domenico Colombo saw that his monthly mortgage payment was about to balloon by 30 percent, he had a clear picture of how bad it could get.
30%!?!?! What the fuck kind of mortgage loan did he get??
His payment was scheduled to surge by an extra $1,500 in December. With his daughter headed to college next fall and tuition to be paid, he feared ending up like so many neighbors in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., who defaulted on their mortgages and whose homes are now in foreclosure and sporting "For Sale" signs.
Ok, so let's do some math real quick, a bump of 30% that's $1,500 means his monthly payment was $5,000 a month and now was going to be $6,500 a month.
At $5,000 a month, unless he got his loan through the Mafia or something, he bought roughly a $750,000 to $900,000 home.
Granted it's in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, but I find it VERY hard to believe that this guy is living in a shack or a 2 bedroom condo for that price. If he is, he should have laughed at the realtor for trying such shenanigans.
Colombo did manage to renegotiate a new fixed interest rate loan with his bank, and now believes he'll be OK -- but the future is less certain for the rest of us.
So he'll be alright simply because the bank knows that he's been making his payments and the extra will force him into foreclosure.
Serves the banks right for such blatant attempts to squeeze every dollar they can out of people. But of course, Colombo should also get a nasty punishment too for having to little brain matter to understand that this can happen when you sign such exotic loans.
Banks count on that you'll move heaven and earth to keep your home and make the mortgage payments. So they are more then willing to accept a few mortgage defaults to keep making money on higher interest loans.
There are even interest only loans. Those are loans that you pay and you literally have paid for nothing but the privilege to live in the house....that's called rent folks.
If you really want a house, take my little formula and you'll never go wrong. Take your gross, not net, income, including your spouses. Multiply it by 3, and that's roughly how much home you can afford.
So say a young couple just starting out, together makes $40,000 a year. They can afford roughly a $120,000 home. Sure, they might be able to stretch it to $130 or $135, but I wouldn't go any further then that.
You stick to that formula and you won't have many problems if something catastrophic happens and you still need to make your mortgage payments.
"We haven't faced a downturn like this since the Depression," said Bill Gross, chief investment officer of PIMCO, the world's biggest bond fund. He's not suggesting anything like those terrible times -- but, as an expert on the global credit crisis, he speaks with authority.
"Its effect on consumption, its effect on future lending attitudes, could bring us close to the zero line in terms of economic growth," he said. "It does keep me up at night."
We've had economic growth for decades, and then the banks decided that they wanted to make more money and they convinced people to overstretch themselves to buy a home they couldn't afford. It's as simple as that.
They tried to tell people "oh you can refinance within a year" and people bought into it. They made the assumption that within a year, they'd be ok.
Don't make assumptions with your personal wealth and home. If you do, you're opening yourself up to financial ruin.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!
Travis
Moussaoui judge questions government
If the US government screws this up, I'm going to be plenty pissed about it.
We all remember the "America, you lose" comments from Moussaoui, and if the judges in these cases feel that the CIA and other agencies aren't being truthful in their evidence, they are likely to order new trials or worse, set them free.
3,000 people died on 9/11 and anyone even remotely responsible need to be severely punished, and that means following the rules when it comes to the court system.
Perhaps a "heart attack" is in order for Moussaoui? But that's just the hate in my heart talking. The American in me says that a fair trial is something that everyone needs, including Moussaoui, regardless of how vile he is.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Too fat to work
What the hell is wrong with the British? Fat people aren't disabled, I don't care how you slice it. There might be someone with a rare disease that makes them fat, but you can't tell me that the UK has almost 2,000 of these people.
Their only "disability" is that they are too lazy to get off the couch and they just want to sponge off of other hard working Brits and watch TV all day long.
Kick them in the ass and tell them if they don't slim up, they don't get a check. Tell someone who's say 500 pounds that they have a year to drop to 400 pounds or the checks will start getting smaller and smaller until they get nothing.
I'm a fat guy myself. At one point in time, I was 275lbs. I am now a "thinner" fat guy. I'm down to 248lbs as of this morning. What did I do? I changed my diet and I started exercising regularly. I started hitting the gym really hard in July.
However, during that entire time, I didn't sponge dime one from the US government trying to shamelessly claim that me being fat was a "disability". It's a bullshit excuse for people who need a kick in the ass.
There are real life disabled people who could have used that money. Wounded veterans, workers compensation victims, etc, and you wouldn't hear a peep from anyone for these people getting a few extra bucks.
However, when British citizens pay through the nose in taxes, I don't think it's too fair for the government to waste this money on fatties who won't get a job.
Of course, the "nanny state" gets worse with Social Security Minister's like Frank Field:
Frank Field, a former Social Security Minister, said last night that too many people were working the incapacity benefit system to avoid work. “It is a racket, which governments have allowed to exist for far too long. I do not blame people for working the system, it is the job of politicians to stop them doing it.”
You don't blame people for trying to scam the British government? This is exactly why such bullshit things continue to happen: apathy.
If Mr. Field had taken the initiative and started cracking down on these people, the British government could have used that $4.4 million pounds elsewhere.
Idiots.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Student group wants more guns on campus
And who can blame them? With the recent Virginia Tech shootings and other problems that college students face, if they are legally able to carry a weapon, they should be able to do so.
Of course, there are people who want to twist the truth for their own personal agenda:
"I'm a strong supporter of the Second Amendment," said Massengill, a former head of the Virginia state police. "But our society has changed, and there are some environments where common sense tells us that it's just not a good idea to have guns available."
His view is echoed by Peter Hamm, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, who says campus safety concerns cannot be addressed by adding more guns to campuses.
"If there's more we need to do, we certainly need to do that, but introducing random access to firearms is not the solution," said Hamm. "You have more victims, not fewer victims."
They aren't serving alcohol on college campus' like they do in a bar, they are a federal building with judges and other workers, so there should be no reason why someone should be able to carry a weapon.
And the comments from Peter Hamm borders on the retarded. "Random access to firearms"?, that's not what the students or myself are talking about. We're not talking about putting a gun next to a fire extinguisher in the hallways. We're talking about students and staff members who are LEGALLY ABLE TO CARRY A WEAPON, should be able to do so.
It's very difficult for me to believe, and common sense backs me on this, that when a school shooting is happening, if a legally armed student is near the shooting, that they can bring the rampage to an end before more people needlessly die.
Candace Soya, a 20-year-old student at TSU-San Marcos, said she fears chaotic shootouts. If someone decided to open fire on the tree-lined quad in the middle of her campus, armed students would likely make matters worse, she said.
"It's not a situation where you can fight fire with fire," Soya said.
Really? Roy Balentine, Tracy Bridges, and Michael Gross would like to beg to differ.
All three were involved in two separate school shootings, all three were armed and all three stopped the shooters from killing innocent people.
Perhaps Candace is the type to run when gunfire erupts, which is fine. However, when someone who doesn't run from danger and puts their lives on the line to end the terror, you can't say that your reaction should dictate how others should react.
Campuses in higher-crime urban neighborhoods also pose risks for students, said Michael Flitcraft, a 23-year-old mechanical engineering student at the University of Cincinnati.
He argues, like most gun rights advocates, that weapons-free regulations only deter law-abiding students, not thugs or mentally ill shooters.
"Laws only affect the people who voluntarily abide by them," Flitcraft said.
Exactly. Even Virginia Tech killer Cho had followed the law to the letter when he bought the guns, but then turned around and went on campus, against the rules, and killed 30+ people. So when criminals don't abide by the law, then why not allow the first line of defense in such a situation the ability to carry a weapon if they are legally able to do so?
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Poll: Clinton's lead shrinks in New Hampshire - CNN.com
Obama is starting to go on the offensive without sounding offensive. This seems to be resonating with Democratic voters and he likely has a good shot at getting the nomination.
Of course, time will tell if that's true or not, but with Hillary's gaffs lately and Obama's jumping on it, the lead is shrinking drastically.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Parents 'allowed to smack children'
And they rightfully should be able to, but this is for Sweden.
Lately, everyone's been talking about parents who don't do their jobs properly, then we as a society get them into trouble for spanking their children when they get out of line.
There used to be a time in this country when you were caught fucking around, you were beaten by your neighbors because they saw you coming home from school earlier then normal, then you got a spanking from your parents.
People took care of each other back then and looked out for when each other's children were stepping out of line.
Of course, you'll get these panty wasted liberals who want to talk about how spanking a child is morally wrong and scars the children for life and other such nonsense.
Spanking has been around since the beginning of time and only in the last 15 years or so, has it been looked down upon.
That's why today's children are growing up to be sissies and bullies and mouthing off to everyone.
Back when I was growing up, if you told your parents to "shut up" or "fuck off" or any other such nonsense, your ass was red and you were crying inside of seconds.
You were taught respect and manners towards grown ups and if you didn't behave, you were punished for it.
Take a look around and see the bunch of sniveling, self centered types all around you. That's not to say that they all are like that, but I've seen more then one example of a child acting up and swearing at their parents and the parents do nothing about it.
I've actively gone up to a parent in Target and told them, "If you'd like me to turn around so you can swat them on the ass, I'll gladly do so", only to get a smile and a "Thanks, but I'll put them into timeout" bullshit.
Then what happens? Nothing. The child isn't disciplined for their behavior and the parent simply gives up.
Perhaps digging a hole in the middle of the weekend would deter the children. My friend was punished in a unique way. His father would wake him up at 5 am on a Saturday, make him a large breakfast, and tell him to dig a 6'x6'x6' hole in the yard. He had until sundown to finish. If he was not finished by sundown, then he had to get up at 5 am on Sunday and start again. The hole was filled back in and he started from scratch the next morning.
Digging will take a lot of snotty attitude out of you, and that might be the way to go for some of these "parents" who don't bother to do actual parenting.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Money drives some Iraqi fighters
Abu Nawall, a captured al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, said he didn't join the Sunni insurgent group here to kill Americans or to form a Muslim caliphate. He signed up for the cash.
"I was out of work and needed the money," said Abu Nawall, the nom de guerre of an unemployed metal worker who was paid as much as $1,300 a month as an insurgent. He spoke in a phone interview from an Iraqi military base where he is being detained. "How else could I support my family?"
You've got to be kidding me. Here I thought we were in an ideological struggle against people with a twisted view of religion, and some of them are simply trying to earn money?
This begs the question: Is this one of the main reasons why the insurgency seems to be dying down? Are they running out of money? Are they finding out that you can't provide for your family if you are dead?
Col. Twitty seems to think so:
Col. Stephen Twitty, commander of U.S. forces in Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province, said the dismantling of insurgent financing networks is the primary reason that violent attacks here have dropped from about 18 a day last year to about eight a day now.
"We're starting to hear a lot of chatter about the insurgents running out of money," said Twitty, of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. "They are not able to get money to pay people for operations."
So if the unemployment rate goes down, the insurgency dies with it? It certainly seems that way.
With them running low of money, theoretically, the violence should go down to the point of that of a major US city, with occasional murders and other violent crimes.
But this also may be a culmination of a lot of little things that added up to a main goal of shutting them down.
That would mean that the new tactics of commanders in the field are working and that Democrats owe a big apology to General Petraeus and others for calling them "political hacks" and "General Betray Us".
It seems that they are doing a bang up job and getting the country back on it's feet, which is what their original goal was.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Military Asks Wounded Soldiers To Return Portions Of Signing Bonuses
The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.
Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back.
One of them is Jordan Fox, a young soldier from the South Hills.
He finds solace in the hundreds of boxes he loads onto a truck in Carnegie. In each box is a care package that will be sent to a man or woman serving in Iraq. It was in his name Operation Pittsburgh Pride was started.
Fox was seriously injured when a roadside bomb blew up his vehicle. He was knocked unconscious. His back was injured and lost all vision in his right eye.
A few months later Fox was sent home. His injuries prohibited him from fulfilling three months of his commitment. A few days ago, he received a letter from the military demanding nearly $3,000 of his signing bonus back.
Let me ask you something. $3,000 in the grand scheme of things is nothing, so why not let this young man keep the bonus? I think I can safely assume had he not been injured that he would have fulfilled his military duties, so who cares about a paltry $3,000?
There are currently about 175,000 troops in Iraq and another 20,000 or so in Afghanistan.
So we have 195,000 troops deployed abroad fighting in wars.
So, let's also assume for a minute that this $3,000 is an average amount. That's $585 million dollars. We spend more then that on dumb things. To give you an idea, that's roughly 1/60th of the amount of pork spending that was passed by Congress in it's last spending bill. That spending bill included $50,000 to explore the POSSIBILITY of a mule museum.
That same $50k could have paid for the bonuses of 16 "Jordan Fox"'s.
There are some things that could technically be pushed one way or another, such as this situation, however there are situations such as this one, that the money should simply be forgiven and the soldier told "I am sorry you were injured or wounded, your bonuses and benefits will continue on even though you didn't "fulfil" the obligations".
It's not like he didn't want to fulfil those obligations, he simply CAN'T, and the best way to honor him is to make sure that he gets the bonuses and benefits the he and others so richly deserve.
But politicians would much rather spend the money on fucking mule museums.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Stem cell breakthrough uses no embryos
cell research.
Although, I've never understood their stance on such an issue. If a fetus has been aborted and is going to be thrown out in the garbage or incinerated, why not use them for the benefit of mankind?
If scientists say that this kind of research can cure a multitude of serious, fatal diseases, why not try to get that research going? Saving someone from the ravages of Alzheimer's or Cancer would certainly be an acceptable thing to me.
But now scientists have made it so they don't need embryonic stem cells anymore.
Plus, and this is just my evil Republican brain thinking here, if US scientists can make these treatments work, we can make a TON of money internationally from other countries that want to bring our economy down. Iran can sell us oil at $100 a barrel, but we'll sell them these treatments at $5,000 a pop.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Commentary: Foes run over sensible N.Y. license plan - CNN.com
Score one for the knee-jerk naysayers. You know the type: those who find it easier to criticize proposed solutions to tough problems than to propose solutions of their own, which then could be criticized.
Faced with the problem of what to do with thousands of illegal immigrants who drive on state roadways every day to go to work for people who insist with a straight face that they want nothing to do with illegal immigrants, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer proposed a controversial, yet terribly sensible, plan to give the undocumented a state-issued driver's license that would be easily discernible from licenses carried by U.S. citizens and legal residents.
You've got to be shitting me. This moron seems to think that giving illegal immigrants driving licence's/permits/whatever you want to call it is a "sensible plan"?
And of course, he wants to make it all sound like it's a "racist" thing. Simply put, it isn't. Driving is a privilege that American citizens enjoy. When you are unable to drive due to health or illegal driving habits, you can't drive anymore.
So why should illegal immigrants be allowed to have this privilege? Why should illegal immigrants be given anything except emergency health care and a trip back home?
Illegal immigrants deserve none of the things that American citizens enjoy. We don't get those privileges in other countries, so why should we give them to illegals here?
Easy, they shouldn't. Want to be able to drive in America? Become a citizen.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Monday, November 19, 2007
Iraq says the worst is over in Baghdad - Los Angeles Times
Iraq's government today said security statistics showed that Baghdad had "defeated the forces of darkness" after more than a year of sectarian warfare, and the United States said it was crucial that Iraqi leaders use the relative calm to get their political fighting under control.
The government released numbers indicating a major decline in violent attacks in Baghdad and the surrounding areas. Attacks such as bombings numbered 323 last month, compared with 850 in February, when a U.S.-led security crackdown was launched, according to the government figures.
So does this mean that we should see more and more Democrats conceding that Bush's plan for the surge is working and has given the Iraqi leadership the breathing room that is needed?
I think we've given them more then enough space and violence reduction for them to pick up the ball and run with it.
Hopefully they do that and not allow their petty differences to blind them to the fact that they are at a crossroads of history. They can turn their country into a blossoming democracy that gives a voice to everyone, or they can make everything a fight to the death and make their country a footnote to history.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Powell: Iran far from nuclear weapon - Yahoo! News
Tehran rejects claims by the United States and some European Union countries that its nuclear program is aimed at secretly producing weapons, insisting it is for peaceful purposes only.
I must admit, I respect General Powell's opinion greatly, and I hope he's right, but I have a few problems with what he's saying.
First off, how does he know? He's been retired for a few years now, so how's he privy to this information, and if so, is his information correct?
Powell was the secretary of state under President Bush from 2001 to 2005. In September 2004, Powell said Iran's nuclear program was a growing threat and he called for international sanctions.
So does he still feel this way and is merely saying that Iran isn't as close as everyone fears? Does he still call for these sanctions?
What is his take on the nuclear weapon's documents that the Iranians have already admitted to having?
There are too many unanswered questions and too much hiding of the truth for me to believe that the Iranians are being on the up and up about all this.
Sooner or later, it's either sanctions or an Israeli strike that's going to end this in my opinion.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Kin want infamous NY rape case reopened - Yahoo! News
Twenty years after her allegations of a racially charged rape became a national flashpoint, Tawana Brawley's mother and stepfather want to reopen the case, a newspaper reported Sunday.
"New York State owes my daughter. They owe her the truth," said Glenda Brawley. She reiterated her stance that her daughter was indeed raped by a group of white men who smeared her with feces and scrawled racial epithets on her body.
She got "the truth" when evidence was found that she was lying about the whole story.
She got "the truth" when Al Sharpton opened his mouth and accused innocent people of being rapists and he lost a defamation suit because of it.
When you lie, you don't get a "do over" simply because you want to. You lied, it was found out about, and now your mom is trying to open her mouth about it.
Why is anyone's guess. My guess is money from a potential lawsuit, but I could be wrong there.
Either way, a grand jury heard all the evidence and called it a hoax. So stop your lying and get back to being a member of society.
If it were up to me, I'd charge her with filing a false police report.
But I'm just a jerk that way....you know....holding up people to the letter of the law and such.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Chavez Tells OPEC to Use Politics, Curb `Imperialism'
Sure, go ahead and try to have a price/product war with us, you won't like it. Sure, it'll raise the price of oil, but don't think for a minute we won't raise the price of goods that you need in your country.
Who do you think controls the vast amount of medical supplies and medicines in the world?
Who do you think controls the vast amount of computers and software in the world?
This saber rattling by Chavez needs to stop quickly, and even Spanish leaders are telling him "why don't you just shut up".
So go ahead and try to undermine us, we're just going to undermine you back and let's face it, America is REALLY good at doing that.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
America ships electronic waste overseas
You know, I'm just about at my end for taking it on the chin for being an American.
I'm simply sick and tired of America taking the brunt of everything wrong in the world, even when we clearly aren't at fault.
Most Americans think they're helping the earth when they recycle their old computers, televisions and cell phones. But chances are they're contributing to a global trade in electronic trash that endangers workers and pollutes the environment overseas.
Ok, sounds fair enough. Sounds like we're doing something bad right?
While there are no precise figures, activists estimate that 50 to 80 percent of the 300,000 to 400,000 tons of electronics collected for recycling in the U.S. each year ends up overseas. Workers in countries such as China, India and Nigeria then use hammers, gas burners and their bare hands to extract metals, glass and other recyclables, exposing themselves and the environment to a cocktail of toxic chemicals.
Ok, so China, India, and Nigeria are using unsafe practices to recycle these materials, and this is somehow America's fault?
Blame them for not recycling properly, save the anti-American slant for someone who might buy into that line of bullshit.
China and Japan use as much electronics as we do, but you don't hear that in this article, you only hear about how America is blindly polluting the environment indirectly.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Kirk Cameron vs. Atheists
You know, I never thought I'd see Mike Seaver on a religious show trying to prove the existence of God.
However, the bigger point here that I want to make isn't whether or not God exists. That's something for you to decide on your own.
However, such a show cannot exist in other areas of the world. God simply exists and if you don't believe in him, you can be put to death for it.
That's what we were trying to get away from when we came to settle in this land. We wanted freedom away from religious persecution. Well we have that to a certain extent. It certainly isn't illegal to practice whatever religion you want, but we do have a little bit of religious persecution in this country, and I can prove it.
Satanists, Atheists, and Pagans.
Each one of those people conjures up an idea of an evil, Godless person who must have something wrong in their heads and they are looked upon with disdain in this country.
Remember boys and girls, the freedoms we enjoy in this country are to be put forth to everyone. Freedom of religion means freedom of ALL religions, not just ones you happen to believe in.
That means that when a soldier dies, they can have any religious symbols they want on their headstones, including ones of the Wicca's.
That means that someone who's Islamic isn't a terrorist.
That means that someone who's a Christian isn't a self righteous "holier then thou" type.
If you want freedoms to enjoy your life the way you want, you have to let others enjoy their lives in the same manner.
Travis
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Forums Update
I found a problem with registering with the forums and have fixed it. I have also changed the way that you register on the forums. You no longer have to provide your email address and activate your account. You may now freely jump on and create your account and not have to jump through that extra hoop.
So feel free to jump in and rant and rave and call me bad names like my email inbox looks like. :)
Travis
travis@rightwinglunatic.com
http://forums.rightwinglunatic.com
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