World Politics

[Anonymous]

Interesting postings while I was out riding today - on a side note: great weather for riding here in the Central Valley.

You anywhere near Paso Robles?

 

[CentralCaliBike]

You anywhere near Paso Robles?

Tulare county - about a couple of hours away.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, and I bet you suffered royally financially in the 90's under Clinton, and you did much better 2000-2008.

And, getting control of the debt was just torture, huh? Scott, I'm sure you will find some link that proves that was all just terrible.....

I never will figure you guys out.

Kinda like we are doing now?

Let's see, under Clinton were good economic times (but left W with a recession). 9/11 and the aftermath were tough. But from about '03 to '07 were pretty good. Not going great for about 1 1/2 years now. Tough time to be in business BUT I have not had to lay anyone off OR cut any hours OR benefits. Me and my evil self are doing with less, but don't worry about me as I'll get by.

 

[Anonymous]

Tulare county - about a couple of hours away.

My wife loves Cambria and we get to Paso whenever possible. Have made some friends at a couple of the wineries there. Christian and Bill at Four Vines and more recently Brock and Michelle at Brochelle (really good Zinfandel they sell for profit).

 

[CentralCaliBike]

My wife loves Cambria and we get to Paso whenever possible. Have made some friends at a couple of the wineries there. Christian an Bill at Four Vines and more recently Brock and Michelle at Brochelle (really good Zinfandel they sell for profit).

I have done the "Central Coast Classic" with my son when he was eleven - the climb over the mountains from Cambria to Paso was pretty difficult (especially since it was that record setting weekend a couple of summers ago.

 

[Anonymous]

I have done the "Central Coast Classic" with my son when he was eleven - the climb over the mountains from Cambria to Paso was pretty difficult (especially since it was that record setting weekend a couple of summers ago.

HWY 46 or Santa Rosa Canyon?

Santa Rosa Canyon from Cambria towards Paso has some of the steepest paved roads I have ever ridden on. Just brutal. Beautiful ride tho...

 

[CentralCaliBike]

HWY 46 or Santa Rosa Canyon?

Santa Rosa Canyon from Cambria towards Paso has some of the steepest paved roads I have ever ridden on. Just brutal. Beautiful ride tho...

46 - I have about Santa Rosa canyon. I plan to take a vacation just to check it out sometime.

 

[usedtobefast]

personally i think ronald reagan is and was a jackass. the myths of his greatness
are way overblown. john lennon did not survive the gun that killed him. to bad
about ronnie. we would have been better off had lennon survived. and,well...

 

[CentralCaliBike]

personally i think ronald reagan is and was a jackass. the myths of his greatness
are way overblown. john lennon did not survive the gun that killed him. to bad
about ronnie. we would have been better off had lennon survived. and,well...

Lennon did what to bring about the fall of the Berlin Wall, and he did what for the economy? He did not even make an attempt to run for office to institute a political or economic change.

 

[CentralCaliBike]

personally i think ronald reagan is and was a jackass. the myths of his greatness
are way overblown. john lennon did not survive the gun that killed him. to bad
about ronnie. we would have been better off had lennon survived. and,well...

I do like Ringo's commentary on taxation though

 

[titan_90]

personally i think ronald reagan is and was a jackass. the myths of his greatness
are way overblown. john lennon did not survive the gun that killed him. to bad
about ronnie. we would have been better off had lennon survived. and,well...

Lennon did what to bring about the fall of the Berlin Wall, and he did what for the economy? He did not even make an attempt to run for office to institute a political or economic change.

I agree with you usedtobefast too many people have bought into those myths.

 

[CentralCaliBike]

I agree with you usedtobefast too many people have bought into those myths.

You might want to look a little closer at the author of your "myths" http://vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200606050933

 

[CentralCaliBike]

I agree with you usedtobefast too many people have bought into those myths.

I guess I missed when Lennon did anything beyond writing songs without a full understanding of reality - they are nice but they do not recognize the true form of human nature.

 

[titan_90]

You might want to look a little closer at the author of your "myths" http://vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200606050933

Thanks for the link.

As for the article it was the shortest one I could find that pointed out the media created myths of Ronald Reagan. I will admit I once liked the guy(I used to be a conservative)

 

[CentralCaliBike]

Thanks for the link.

As for the article it was the shortest one I could find that pointed out the media created myths of Ronald Reagan. I will admit I once liked the guy

To say that Reagan had nothing to do with the fall of the Soviet Union is completely unbelievable - he did raise military spending because he knew that we had the capacity to outspend the Soviets but that they would spend until they reached bankruptcy - they did and the rest is history.

As for your author - any friend of Chavez is a communist with no concern for the middle class that has been decimated in that country.

 

[titan_90]

As for your author - any friend of Chavez is a communist with no concern for the middle class that has been decimated in that country.

I didn't look who the author was my bad(that's what happens when you have had a few beers and are in a hurry).

 

[Hugh Januss]

As for your author - any friend of Chavez is a communist with no concern for the middle class that has been decimated in that country.

Look around, the middle class in the USA is not faring that well either, and it has been primarily the repubs. who have buried them. We are increasingly becoming a society of haves and havenots and the percentage of haves is ever shrinking so that today the top 1% have almost 90% of the money.

 

[CentralCaliBike]

Look around, the middle class in the USA is not faring that well either, and it has been primarily the repubs. who have buried them. We are increasingly becoming a society of haves and havenots and the percentage of haves is ever shrinking so that today the top 1% have almost 90% of the money.

I do not think you can compare the middle class in Venezuela with that of the United States - it may be comparable if the health care bill goes through though.

 

[Hugh Januss]

I do not think you can compare the middle class in Venezuela with that of the United States - it may be comparable if the health care bill goes through though.

You guys are all so friggin' *** about the healthcare bill thing, to the point that I am prompted to suspect that you are all insurance salesmen.

 

[CentralCaliBike]

You guys are all so friggin' *** about the healthcare bill thing, to the point that I am prompted to suspect that you are all insurance salesmen.

While I completely disagree with your position - that was funny

 

[CentralCaliBike]

You guys are all so friggin' *** about the healthcare bill thing, to the point that I am prompted to suspect that you are all insurance salesmen.

Actually, I come from a position where I figure that you cannot pay for what you cannot afford - in this situation you should not buy it. Plus, do you have any idea how this country is going to pay 11.4 trillion dollars? Oh, and we are going to add to the debt (I know what is a trillion anyway when we owe this much already). I did not care much for the Republican cowardice in not facing escalating debt over the past three decades (which is why I voted for Perot a couple of times). It seems they want to get elected just as much as the democrats and have also expanded entitlements along with the Democrats - sometimes it seems that both parties are in a race to see who can bankrupt this country the fastest.

 

[buckwheat]

You really need to slow down and read. .

Really, I don't. Republican shysters have been spouting the same pablum for 85 years at least.

I have never stated that people start business's for tax breaks.

Your implication is that the economy has slowed because of tax policy. A succesful company is generating as much profit as they can, and then paying taxes on those profits whether it's at a tax rate of 10, 20, 30, or whatever percentage. You're engaging in the nonsense logic that people aren't going to work hard because Uncle Sam is taking all of their increases in profits. Moronic hourly workers used that kind of logic to not work overtime.

Business's are not hiring due to market conditions and partly because of confiscatory tax polices (among other things).

Confiscatory tax policies? That's meaningless Republican, bs, commentary. Nothing more.

Companies making "huge" profits that are expanding do not generally "layoff thousands of people".

And specifically Microsoft did just that. Profitable companies are always laying people off to add to the bottom line. Where have you been?

Imagine the economic impact particularly to unemployment if the Capital Gains tax was suspended?

The equities markets have come back tremendously with no brightening of the employment picture at all. Cutting capital gains taxes won't do a damn thing for employment.

Just so we are clear, corporations do not exist to provide people jobs.

I'll ask you to take your own advice regarding your last sentence.

You come here with these obscure writers peddling Republican talking points.

Keynes, and Nobel Prize winners Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman say you're talking through your hat. GHWB says so too. Hence

Voodoo Economics.

 

[CentralCaliBike]

It is also not about 'sticking a needle in someone's arm'. It was rather about the specific method of execution in California (cyanide gas asphyxiation) that was deemed inconsistent with the provision against torture, inhuman and degrading treatment. Otherwise we might as well stone him to death.

Actually, when the constitution was written the death penalty by hanging was considered humane and normal, as was the firing squad. The definition of torture has not changed, but the culture has migrated to a point of suggesting there be no consequences for criminal behavior. I have seen studies that suggest life in prison is inhumane. There is a goal by liberals to find that life in prison for juveniles is unconstitutional, a secondary goal is to get rid of a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

All of these ideas come from a position that there is nothing we can do for the victim since the crime is past, but the defendant should not have to live for decades locked up. It is this culture of ignoring the past that has us looking at an economic melt down - and a willingness to spend what we do not have.

 

[Anonymous]

Look around, the middle class in the USA is not faring that well either, and it has been primarily the repubs. who have buried them. We are increasingly becoming a society of haves and havenots and the percentage of haves is ever shrinking so that today the top 1% have almost 90% of the money.

Hugh, we both love bikes, babes and beer, and that's a helluva lot. We disagree on politics so that puts you and me on par with me and my own brother. Cheers

 

[Hugh Januss]

Hugh, we both love bikes, babes and beer, and that's a helluva lot. We disagree on politics so that puts you and me on par with me and my own brother. Cheers

Your brother, he's pretty sharp then,huh?