more debates, work/documentation, pledge case

So I just finished watching the [L=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,134937,00.html]Presidential Debate, round 2[/L], or what I would like to refer to as “Nice Nice Time Is Over”. In NNTIO, Bush looked to come out a LOT more aggressively, incredibly so. He focused less on issues and more on disarming Kerry’s arguments and mounting his own offensives. I was glad to see less reiteration of tired rhetoric from Bush, and was even more pleased to see that the townhall approach fit him much better than the talk-head-asking-questions from the first debate. Kerry, on the other hand, tried to be aggressive but often had his feet yanked out from underneath him, especially RE: stem cell research and abortion – but maybe that’s because I’m conservative. Additionally, the only memorable pause/stutter of the NNTIO was Kerry’s. I definitely thought that Bush totally bowled (??) Kerry over with regard to the economy and jobs, but maybe that’s because I’m very in-tune with the fact that recession=debt+nojobs, and the best that can be done is to attempt recovery, which Bush has done quite admirably. Regardless of your political standing, you -have- to give Bush credit in that he came out looking 20 times the speaker and showman of the first debate while Kerry didn’t seem quite as polished. This coming week is my last one at HPI. I’m on a massive documentation kick that is horrifyingly large – it doesn’t include anything about basic how-to-admin-servers and covers only the complex how-stuff-works-and-interacts parts … and it’s approaching 30 pages of single-spaced, 10pt text. I found it quite odd that the [L=http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/10/09/fraternity.death.ap/index.html]death of a CU pledge[/L] hasn’t received much media attention (or that I haven’t been watching the news?).

2004-10-10 02:51:46 – Master Ha-reed
If recession = debt+nojobs, drastically increasing the debt part of that equation is not going to bring us out of recession.
2004-10-10 13:49:28 – rand0m
The increase in the national debt is a side effect of the steps taken to level out the recession. Of particular note is that no jobs means less revenue for the government, which means more debt. The main thing about the recession is that it’s basically balancing the national debt against the economy & people – you get to pick which one is going to be worked on. You can work on the national debt by NOT decreasing taxes, by NOT reducing the fed’s rate … but all of those things sap money out of the people but help the national debt (see Clinton’s era were prosperity=less debt). Unfortunately, sapping money out of people during a recession will only prolong and worsen the situation. Instead, the President decided to hell with the economy, let’s help the people — by reducing tax rates and reducing the fed, it injected more liquidity into the economy, which in turn bolsters itself – takes money to make money, and once that’s been done, money makes it’s own money. Now, somebody is going to bitch that the tax reductions only affected people with an income greater than 100k/year. Well, sorta. I know that I got a tax credit, and I’m certainly not making $100k/yr. But yes, it is not aimed at middle-middle class – it is aimed at people who HAVE the money who are more likely to reinject it back into the economy via small businesses & employment. In a situation where the national debt and the people’s/economy’s stability is in the balance, fuck the debt. Always. Maybe that’s just because I know that Ol’Glory will pull through and get back on track, or maybe it’s my personal preference for day-to-day people over confusingly large numbers. $.02
2004-10-11 14:28:21 – pinky
I still think Kerry did better because he wasn’t yelling the first 30 minutes of the debate and also made very good points on abortion and stem-cell research, as well as actually outlining his policy rather than making stupid claims and capitalizing on 9/11. I think it is very important of Kerry to say that he has to abide by the law and legal interpretation on abortion, rather than, say, amending the Constitution or passing laws to override such things, which is what the repubs are trying to do (they’ve passed (or are trying to pass) bills saying that the supreme court can’t rule on abortion, or gay issues, or the pledge of allegiance in schools). and just because bush didn’t look like a total buffoon as he did in the first debate, isn’t a reason to give him props. maybe if he wasn’t such a fucking idiot, he would have done better. Also, the death of a CU pledge has been huge news up here, as well as the deaths at CSU and Nebraska.
2004-10-11 15:19:21 – nick
Not gonna dot he politcal thing, but wanted to note that, re: the CU pledge, we’ve heard a reasonable amount about it. Aside from hearing from my brother (who is at CU), it’s been around campus here at Mines in Golden. I do find it odd, though, that, thus far, the administration here hasn’t seemed to say anything about it. Granted, I’m not at all associated with any of the Greek stuffs, so maybe they have and I missed it.
2004-10-11 18:40:36 – Netheus
re: politics Kerry seemed more controlled, more organized. Bush seemed like he had a puppeteer in his ear telling him what to say. Neither of them really answered the questions, and neither layed out specifically what they were going to do about anyt issue other than that Kerry is going to cut the tax cut to people who make more than 200,k a year. I don’t mind paying taxes to run things. The politicians need to quit wasting my time on shit like bj’s and jesus though. I can kinda see the conserv. pov with the govt wasting money, but I disagree with them immensely on where to cut the money and where to spend it. Nice to see that Randal is on the New Deal wagon. Rosevelt loves you man. I also disagree with almost everything this administration has done on the longer and future outlook. Did you know that Paul Wolfowitz once said something about how their is no need to conserve our resources for the future because the apocalypse and rature was going to happen before we ran out? I mean, come on. The one thing that I was suprised about with the debates- now I missed the first 15 min, and I might have missed it, but no one brought up gay marriage. I mean, if they did, then I am an idiot, but if they didn’t like I am aware of, does that mean that it is non-issue to the straight public at large- like they don’t really care one way or the other if gays get married or not? Re: Dead moron. I’ve seen it in the paper like constantly, but as I would never join the greeks, let alone would they have me, I could really care less, and I haven’t heard anything over at UCCS.
2004-10-14 21:58:02 – Netheus
We went to high school with this guys two sister, the pring twins- the pringles. [L=http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/10/14/harvard.student.ap/index.html]Harvard student convicted of manslaughter[/L]