I thought McCain was going to have a stroke. He was grimacing, rolling his eyes, showing extreme

• Palin is exhibit A of McCain's poor judgment - He is impulsive and angry...not pres material
  • I thought McCain was going to have a stroke. He was grimacing, rolling his eyes, showing extreme - pc
    • Gee, then I must be as bad as McCain for - Backwards typist
      • Sorry but, to get where you are now as a typist? - You make less than $250K
        • your arrogance is disgusting - WTH
    • Poise? You mean like O's arrogance, cockiness, - shifty, secretive mannerisms?
      • Nanau, what a dummy - You are
        • No, I just pay attention to character, not - eye blinking! MSMT
          • Palin is the winker, gun toting power abusing ho - Fox news is not the news
    • I agree and - Babs
      • want to talk about unions? - ?
        • sm - the problem with unions
          • Yes but s/m - gourdpainter
        • Yeah, I'll talk about unions s/m - gourdpainter
          • i believe the unions were meant to - support the hard workers
            • I weighed in with my radical retired Teamster husband - gourdpainter
              • I would love that - Yes my gourd,, you are right
      • Yeah, and she has the gall to . . . - lom
        • You don't get more elitist than Cindy McCain - making $100 mill a year

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I see a change with O, but I am afraid it is just going to get worse.  No more freedom.  Just people who are in charge of things and still a me, me, me attitude.

The democrats tried to object to his even reading of his statements yesterday. Guess they were afraid he would sway some votes.  This is long, but please read.

----

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, the amendment I have is a product of a lot of work from a number of Senators on this side of the aisle. I especially thank Senator Martinez of Florida, a great leader on this issue, along with Senator Thune, Senator Graham, and many other Senators who have been involved in this discussion. This is an alternative we believe would truly create jobs and stimulate our economy. The total cost is around $421 billion.

   I wish, before I describe the amendment--and I know others of my colleagues want to discuss this amendment--I wish to point out it is very clear that public opinion in this country is swinging against the proposal that is now before the Senate and was passed by the other body. They are opposed because they see now in the Senate a $995 billion package which could reach more than $1.2 trillion. Many Americans, certainly now a majority, do not see it as a way to create jobs and to stimulate our economy. They see it loaded down with unnecessary spending programs. They see it, very correctly, with policy changes which deserve extended debate and voting on their own, such as ``Buy American'' provisions, Davis-Bacon, giving Federal workers new whistleblower protections. Some of these policy changes may be laudable, others are not, at least in my view, but all of them deserve debate and discussion rather than being placed in a piece of legislation that is intended to stimulate our economy and create jobs.

   I think it is time that we also understand how we got where we are. I have been around this body long enough to recognize that we are now entering the final phase of consideration of this package. Whether it be today or over the weekend or early next week, this bill will be disposed of one way or another by the Senate. So how did we get to where we are today, with a $995 billion package, at least, or $1.2 trillion, or perhaps more than that, with a bill that probably would create, in the view of the administration--and I do not agree with it--3 million jobs, which would mean that each job that is created by it costs the taxpayers $275,000. I do not think many Americans believe that each job created should cost $275,000 of their hard-earned tax dollars.

   In fact, the response my office is getting borders on significant anger when we talk about many of the funding programs that are in the stimulus bill. I will go through several of them later on, but $400 million for STD prevention; $40 million to make park services more energy efficient; $75 million for smoking cessation. It is hard to argue that, even though these provisions, many of them, may be worthwhile, they actually create jobs. So we have strayed badly from our original intent of creating a situation in America to reverse the terrible decline and economic ditch in which we find the American economy, to the point we have had spending programs and policy provisions which have nothing to do with stimulating the economy and creating jobs. It may be Government--let me put it this way. It may be legislative activity, possibly, at its worst.

   We are offering today an alternative at less than half the cost that we think creates jobs and stimulates the economy. I remind my colleagues, despite the rhetoric about bipartisanship, this bill originated in the House of Representatives, as is constitutionally appropriate. There was no Republican input whatsoever. It passed the other body on a strict party-line basis with the loss of 11 Democrats and came over to this body, where in both the Appropriations and the Finance Committees, almost every Republican amendment was rejected on party lines.

   I appreciate very much that the President of the United States came over to address Republican Members of the Senate and Republican Members of the House. The tenor of his remarks I think was excellent. But the fact is, we did not sit down and seriously negotiate between Republican and Democrat. I have been involved in many bipartisan efforts in this body, for many years, that have achieved legislative result. The way you achieve it is not to come over and talk to a body. The answer is to sit down and seriously negotiate and come up with compromises which result in legislation which is good for the country.

   That has not happened in this process. Again, the American people are figuring it out. I am confident, because of the way this process has taken place, that gap, which is now 43-37, the majority of the American people opposing this package, will grow.

   A majority of the American people still believe we have to stimulate the economy and create jobs. I agree with them. But to spend $1.2 trillion on it, and have no provision for when the economy recovers to put us back on the path of fiscal sanity and stability--as the amendment that I had last night was rejected; we got 44 vote--does not provide the American people with confidence that spending will stop at some time.

   One thing they have learned is that spending programs that are initially supposed to be temporary become permanent. They become permanent. That is a historical fact.

   So we have initiated nearly $1 trillion--many in new spending, some hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending--with no provision, once the economy has recovered--and the economy will recover in America--this is no path to balancing the budget. Instead, we laid a $700 billion debt on future generations of America in the form of TARP, we are laying $1.2 trillion additional in the form of this bill, and another half a trillion dollars in the omnibus appropriations bill, and then we are told there will be a necessity for another TARP, which could be as much as $1 trillion, because of our declining economy. Yet there has been no provision whatsoever, once the economy recovers, to put us back on a path to balancing the budget and reducing and perhaps eliminating--hopefully eliminating--this debt we have laid on future generations of Americans.

   I used to come down to the floor here, and have over the years, and argue against provisions in appropriations bills--which, by the way, has led to corruption. I notice there is another individual staffer who is being charged today, or yesterday, for inappropriate behavior with Mr. Abramoff.

   There used to be hundreds of thousands and sometimes thousands. Now, they are in the millions and billions, tens of millions and billions. My how we have grown.

   Do we need $1 billion for national security at the Nuclear Security Administration Weapons Activities to create jobs? We may need $1 billion for National Nuclear Security Administration Weapons Activity, but to say it will create jobs and will stimulate the economy is a slender reed.

   There is nobody who appreciates more than this person the contribution that Filipino war veterans made to winning the Second World War. We are going to give millions of dollars to those who live in the Philippines. Do not label that as job stimulation.

   Smoking cessation is something that we all support. How does $75 million for smoking cessation create jobs within the next years that would justify expenditures of $75 million?

   This body, in the name of increasing health care for children, raised taxes by some $61 billion, I guess it is, on tobacco use. So we now hope people will use tobacco in order to pay for insurance for children. But the fact is, $75 million for smoking cessation should be an issue that is brought up separately and on its own. And the list goes on and on and on.

   Our proposal--I am grateful for the participation of so many Senators--would allocate approximately $275 billion in tax cuts. It would eliminate the 3.1 percent payroll tax for all employees for 1 year and use general revenues to pay for the Social Security obligation.

   It would allocate $60 billion to lower the 10-percent tax bracket to 5 percent for 1 year. It would lower the 15-percent tax bracket to 10 percent for 1 year. It would lower corporate tax brackets from 35 percent to 25 percent for 1 year.

[Page: S1619]  GPO's PDF

   We alarmed the world with the ``Buy American'' provisions which are included in this bill. The reaction has been incredible, and the fact is, jobs flee America for a number of reasons. But one of them is we have the highest business taxes of any nation in the world. We used to have among the lowest.

   So if we really want to create jobs in America and attract capital and investment for the United States of America, we need to lower the corporate tax bracket. We need to have accelerated depreciation for capital investments for small businesses. We need to assist Americans in need, there is no doubt about that. There are Americans who are wounded and are hurting today. It is not their fault.

   We need to extend the unemployment insurance benefits. That is a $38 billion pricetag. We need to extend food stamps. We need to extend unemployment insurance benefits, make them tax free. That is a $10 billion pricetag. And, of course, we need to provide workers with training and employment. That is a $50 billion cost.

   We need to keep families in their homes. We needed, and we did adopt last night, the $15,000 tax credit. But we also need to fund the increase in the fee that servicers receive from continuing a mortgage and avoiding foreclosure. We need to have GSE and FHA conforming loan limits. That is $32 billion. We also, by the way, need to do more in the housing area.

   You know, it is interesting in all of these spending proposals we have, there is not one penny for defense, not one penny. Obviously, we are going to have to reset our military. We need to replace the aging equipment that has been used so heavily in Iraq and will be needed in Afghanistan.

   We need to improve and repair and modernize the barracks, the facilities and infrastructure that directly support the readiness and training of the Armed Forces. We do not have that in the now $995 billion package that is before us. Obviously, we need to spend money on military construction projects which will create jobs immediately. Those people who say that is not the case, I can provide for the record adequate information that many of our military construction projects could begin more quickly than those that are not on our military bases because of environmental and other concerns.

   We need to spend $45 billion on transportation infrastructure. There are grants to States to build and repair roads and bridges, including $10 billion for discretionary transportation grants, and $1 billion for roads on Federal lands. Public transit, obviously, we need to fund, and airport infrastructure improvements are necessary, along with small business loans. That is about $63 billion in our proposal.

   Finally, the American people believe, and I think correctly, spending is out of control in our Nation's Capital. We continue to spend and spend and spend. We not only have accumulated over a $10 trillion deficit, this will add another $1 trillion or more. I mentioned the TARP of $700 billion, all of which is being paid for--we are printing money in order to fund it.

   At some point we are going to have to get our budget balanced or our children and our grandchildren are going to pay the bill. I recommend that this body hear as much as possible from David Walker, former head of the Government Accountability Office, in the Congress of the United States. He paints a stark picture. In my view, it is also time that we establish entitlement commissions: one for Social Security and one for Medicare-Medicaid and make recommendations so we can act on what is a multi-trillion-dollar deficit in Social Security and over a $40 trillion debt on Medicare and Medicaid.

   Unless we address these long-term entitlement issues, there is no way we are going to be able to prevent the majority of Americans' taxes from being devoted to those two programs. So we need to establish those commissions and we need to put them to work and we need to put them to work right away.

   Now, I am told there is general agreement. Why not do it now? Why not do it now? We also need better accountability, better transparency, better oversight, and better results. Among many disappointments we have over TARP, one was that we were told the Congress and the American people would have oversight and transparency, and they would know exactly how that initial $350 billion was being spent.

   The American people and Members of Congress have been bitterly disappointed as TARP shifted from one priority to another. Funds went to the automotive industry, which none of us had anticipated when we voted for and approved it. We need more transparency and accountability and oversight of how this, probably the biggest single emergency spending package in the history of this country, is being spent.

   I notice I have other Members here who wish to speak on this issue. I hope we can pass this alternative, some $421 billion, to what has now surged to over $1 trillion. It probably may not pass for the reasons of numbers, but if we do not sit down and negotiate and come up with a package that is more than a $50- or $60- or $80 billion reduction, when we are talking about $1.2 trillion, the American people will not be well served.

   They will not be well served by requiring Davis-Bacon, they will not be well served by requiring ``Buy American,'' they will not be well served by spending their hard-earned dollars on unnecessary programs that even though in the eyes of some may have virtue, have no or very little association with job creation and relief for Americans who are struggling to stay in their homes and either keep their jobs or go out and find a new one.

   I believe the United States of America will recover from the economic crisis. I have a fundamental faith, belief, that American workers are the most productive, the most innovative, and the best in the world. But they need some help right now. What they need is the right kind of help.

   I urge my colleagues, when you see the money that is being spent in the name of job creation and stimulus that is laying a debt burden on our children and our grandchildren, we need to have serious consideration of this kind of spending because it is not fair, not only to this generation of Americans but to future generations as well.

She doesn't know if she will be back.  I hope her mother has a speedy recovery.

They guestimate that there were tens of thousands of protesters there with her with over 1600 vigiles this week.

I have absolutely nothing to say to this whatsoever, but I am definitely rolling my eyes.  Sheesh.  Can you say FANATICAL?

He loves Bush, Rumsfeld, and Condi.

I think abortions should continue to be legalized but late-term abortions stopped.  If doctors and/or certain hospitals do not believe in abortion, I believe they have the right to refuse to perform it.  That is their right.  They shouldn't be forced to do so for fear of losing funding or their job.  I lean conversative but I'm not a right-wing nut job.  I want a smaller government.  I want people to grow up and learn how to be responsible for themselves instead of depending on others to provide for them.  I do not want to reward laziness and stupidity....which is what we are heading for.  We should reward hard work and achievement.  Not everyone has a right to a house, car, etc.  You have to earn that stuff.  I don't want government telling me what I can and can't have done medically or for government to decide whether I should have treatment for an illness or not.   

Like I said....I may lean conservative but I see the fault in both political parties....which.....it doesn't appear that you do.  Everything is still Bush's fault in your eyes.

one is too many.

Now where have I heard that kind of sentiment before......hmmmm....oh, I know.  It was Hitler.  In your statement you have shown a complete disregard for life.   In my opinion, anyone who would so enthusiastically support genocide, regardless of the circumstances, is simply disgusting and a waste of good air.

I know some good liberals and the ones who are here are not them.

If you are not a Bush hater or a Bush basher on this board then you're a troll.

God help these people if they ever do get in a real fight.

Psychiatry Ponders Whether Extreme Bias Can Be an Illness

The 48-year-old man turned down a job because he feared that a co-worker would be gay. He was upset that gay culture was becoming mainstream and blamed most of his personal, professional and emotional problems on the gay and lesbian movement.

These fixations preoccupied him every day. Articles in magazines about gays made him agitated. He confessed that his fears had left him socially isolated and unemployed for years: A recovering alcoholic, the man even avoided 12-step meetings out of fear he might encounter a gay person.

Darrel A. Regier of the American Psychiatric Association favors research but says it is not clear that establishing a diagnosis would be useful. (By Marvin Joseph -- The Washington Post)

He had a fixed delusion about the world, said Sondra E. Solomon, a psychologist at the University of Vermont who treated the man for two years. He felt under attack, he felt threatened.

Mental health practitioners say they regularly confront extreme forms of racism, homophobia and other prejudice in the course of therapy, and that some patients are disabled by these beliefs. As doctors increasingly weigh the effects of race and culture on mental illness, some are asking whether pathological bias ought to be an official psychiatric diagnosis.

I'm about sick to death of every social ill being laid at the feet of smokers.  I also have a big problem with lazy slobs who would rather mooch off the taxpayers than work but if they choose to spend their welfare on tobacco....or gambling....as many in this particular area do and go without food, that's their problem.  Welfare is way out of hand.  There is something wrong with the law that lets slobs get help they don't need and some elderly or truly diabled  person can't qualify for any help because they have worked hard and have a few dollars in the bank.  As far as I am concerned there was nothing wrong with the commodities that were issued instead of food stamps before the "new and improved" welfare program.  Then they got what they needed to keep them alive and that was about it.  So who changed the rules to allow the slobs to be able to buy all the good stuff while you have to skimp?  You got it...politicians, Democrats AND Republicans.

If you're looking to either of these 2 candidates to change ANYTHING that will make it easier for you, or people like you, I think you're in for a real disappointment.

definitely make it more dangerous for our troops in the middle east.  I'm not sure how the rest of the world would look at it though.  Here's the problem I see.  If the photos are very damning, then it would again bring to the forefront pressure (from the public as well as other countries) to do prosecutions.  I'm not so sure Obama wants to deal with that pressure since he hasn't been too excited about prosecutions anyway. 

I personally wish they would go ahead and get it all over with (prosecutions, that is).  If we lose a couple dems in the process, well, then so be it.  If they were in on it, then they need to go anyway.

definitely make it more dangerous for our troops in the middle east.  I'm not sure how the rest of the world would look at it though.  Here's the problem I see.  If the photos are very damning, then it would again bring to the forefront pressure (from the public as well as other countries) to do prosecutions.  I'm not so sure Obama wants to deal with that pressure since he hasn't been too excited about prosecutions anyway. 

I personally wish they would go ahead and get it all over with (prosecutions, that is).  If we lose a couple dems in the process, well, then so be it.  If they were in on it, then they need to go anyway.

1. I am not going to decide if she is beautiful or not.  That is not my place.

2. I see nothing with the way that she dresses because I have a couple of my sister's kids, who believe me gives me sleepless nights with their fashion sense, but I love them and I think they are the most beautiful people I have ever seen.

3. As a woman, I look in the mirror every day and find things that if I had a good platic surgeon and money.....need I say more? (I would be the nip/tuck queen)....lol but since I do not, then I take the alternative route in believing that I am beautiful (hubby helps by telling me how beautiful I am too even though I know that I am at least 40 pounds overweight).

4.  When I look at the picture the only thing that comes to mind is that "she does look healthy" and I would like to find myself in that same position.

5.  I suppose it is easy to find fault with others rather than find what is beautiful in someone, but I have NEVER did like the easy way of doing things.  Have a good one folks.