Pangloss

My favorite conspiracy is that there are conspiracies everywhere. The alien bloggers control the Internet, pouring trillions of proton dollars into the coffers of the greedy underwater spaceport lobby. AND NOBODY IS DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

If they said they were an anarcho-simunist commune, taking it in turns to wield supreme executive power because a moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at them, would it make them any less of a super power?

I was simply responding to your question. If you wish to make an opinion statement, fine, but you can knock off the straw-manning and the insulting demeanor. I'm not responsible for the status of China's government.

That's interesting, I hadn't heard that. That's odd... normally they don't give you a reason. Are you sure that wasn't just a statement from some clerk in the financial aid office? Otherwise I guess the answer to your question is that you made too much money. Like I said, they always run out. I think only half the applicants get Pell money. Pell info is all over the Internet. If you don't believe me, go look it up. I'm curious why you didn't apply for 2.9% financial aid. It's the cheapest money most consumers will have access to in their lifetimes, with an interest rate one point over prime and no interest until graduation, not to mention lengthy deferments afterwards. I guess if your cards are paid off and making enough money to pay for school, you might as well. But you said something about making $14k, so it seems a little odd. But hey, more power to you. Me, I took the loans. It's not like I was taking money someone else would've gotten -- there's no limit on THAT supply.

Even if they are talking about a projected number, it's total BS. The actual quote was "In three years we've gone from a surplus to a $2.7 billion deficit." There's just no defense for this whatsoever. I totally agree that both sides have made ridiculous statements and claims, but there's no excuse for this kind of raw fear-mongering. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore. I've already written several reporters about it who are covering the Florida election scene for the New York Times, the Washington Post, UPI and local TV. These are people I've actually corresponded with and whom I know will read my email, but I don't know what the hell else I can do. Sorry, not ranting at anyone here, this sort of thing just burns my behind.

I found some more stuff that I passed along to my friends here in Florida, so I thought I'd go ahead and pass it along to you guys as well. VoteSmart Florida has this web page on the eight amendments: http://www.votesmartflorida.org/voterguide.asp#amend1 They have a specific points of view on some of the amendments, being supporters of amendment 2 for example, but they do a good job of making the pro and con side of each amendment very clear, and what your vote will mean on either side. It also shows what organizations are sponsoring the amendments and how much money they've raised and spent, which is kinda cool. (Take a look at the funding for 7 and 8... holy cow!)

Um... Because they say it is? The government of China is run by the Chinese Communist Party. That is the party's actual name (albeit presumably something I can't type in Chinese). They've been the ruling party in China since 1949. This was confirmed in 2002 when Zemin stated that the country would continue to be a communist dictatorship (in so many words, no less -- although I think he actually called it a "democratic dictatorship", whatever that might be -- this is the kind of thing we're talking about when we say that the Chinese really don't care much what outsiders think).

Edit: Never mind, it's not worth it and I'll just come across sounding partisan. You can have the mud to yourself.

I believe the debt is actually a great deal more than that. But what we're talking about here is the deficit, which is the annual addition to the debt. The two do tend to get confused a lot, but I doubt that's the DNC's excuse.

Yes, as Pangloss. It's not likely you'll see me post there in the near future, as I tend to lurk for a while, and I'm pretty swamped right now anyway.

This'll probably come across like I'm picking on the Dems, but I just happened to catch an ad on my television from the Democratic National Committee. It featured the sad-looking faces of a number of children, and the voicover was talking about how they will be saddled with additional debt thanks to the Bush administration. No problem there -- I am in complete agreement. Then the narrator went on to say that the deficit is $2.7 trillion. No. Really. In point of fact, the deficit is coming in at a bit over $400 billion. I have no idea if they just picked this number out of thin air or what. I mean hell, why not $50 trillion? A hundred? What the hell, a googleplexillion! Sigh.

Thanks, and by the way thanks again for passing along those forum links. The Florida sports fishin' guys have a quite extensive and interesting discussion taking place about each of the amendments, along with a poll, and was quite excellent.

Good points.

Yes, although between those three men, I actually have respect for Mfume, who's an intelligent, reasoned speaker, and generally a voice of moderation. Unfortunately his voice is not the predominent one. My lack of respect for Sharpton can be summed up in two words: Tawana Brawley. He's a rabble rouser and a demogogue of the worst sort -- a man who deliberately incites violence. Not a Malcom X, mind you -- not someone who believes in violence. Someone who believes in himself, first and foremost, and doesn't care who he runs over to achieve his goals. There are few more despicable characters in the public arena.

(grin) No, I just meant that the French maintain a beautiful cemetary and memorials all over that region of France. You see the respect in every town you visit in that region, even after all these decades. They celebrate June 6th there every year, and honor the memories of American, British, Canadian and other international troops who fell in the defense of France. It's a beautiful thing. (Actually I was there a couple of decades ago, at a much younger age, so my memory on this is pretty dim, but I saw news reports recently that seemed to suggest that it's all still there, and still important to the French. I believe Chirac himself visited Normandy on the anniversary this year.)

Well Republicans are hardly saints or angels when it comes to voting integrity, but Douglas is correct in pointing out that the Democrats have been trying to stop the use of identification when voting. The way it works right now in Florida is that you no longer have to provide your voter registration card (as was the case in 2000). Any identification will do, such as a current driver's license or other picture ID. The reason why this was changed is because of allegations of disenfranchisement in the 2000 election. Claims of "I wasn't allowed to vote even though I was registered!!!" clogged the airwaves. In the vast majority of such cases, the voter had simply misplaced their registration card. Really the change made a lot of sense -- who keeps their voter registration card handy for four years? So nobody objected to it, and it went into place. But politics being what it is, it's now necessary for Democrats to push buttons and Republicans (who run the state) to respond to those buttons being pushed. As a result of that standard give-and-take, we saw an effort to have identification removed completely from the requirements. And of course, as atinymonkey points out, that makes no sense. So the idea was discarded, but of course we have Jesse Jackson running around the state today (literally) racking up a list of problems, and of course identification will be high on his list. No doubt about it. Never let it be said that common sense got in the way of anything Jesse Jackson wanted.

In Georgia if you have a B average the state will pay 100% of your tuition at any state school (thank you Zell Miller).

I think that might explain some background animosity, but I imagine that in general most French *don't* hate Americans. As I understand it, if there's anger it's more directed at American leadership and foreign policy. And I've been to Normandy, so I know what French respect looks like. Few can hold a candle to that.

And yet Bush is climbing in the polls again, jumping ahead in Gallup, Newsweek and ABC News polls. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6273430/ So I think your analysis a little off the mark.

Yahoo (via Reuter's) has a nice article up about the Large Hadron Collector at CERN, due to begin operations in 2007. Nothing really earth-shattering in the story, but I just thought I'd pass it along since things are kinda quiet in here. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=585&e=1&u=/nm/20041018/sc_nm/science_cern_dc

Yeah, Free Republic is a pretty well-known conservative web site. If memory serves, they're mostly famous for the court decision that resulted in admins everywhere admonishing their members to not post news stories in their entirety on discussion boards. (chuckle) Their beer-and-pretzels adherents are commonly known as "freepers". I've spent a little time there. It's about the same quality of discussion that you see at DemocraticUnderground.com. (And why freep got sued instead of DU is something you get three guesses at, and the first two don't count.)

Ok, well I obviously disagree, but I'm not one to argue with someone's honest opinion. It was mostly the characterization that it's the *predominent* opinion here that I felt needed to be objected to. Having noted my objection, I'll move on. (*Mentally adjusting grocery list to read "Freedom Fries", since the store otherwise won't understand what I'm looking for.*)

That report is over a year and a half old (3/03), and came right at the moment when anti-French sentiment was at its absolute worst. I'm not accusing you of drum-beating, I'm just questioning how, given that you don't live in this country, you can say something like this: How do you know that "those sentiments still remain"? I live here, and I don't see it. I'm not saying it's gone, I'm saying it's trivial at best.

What was said above is that the grant funding was increased. It still ran out, just like it runs out every year. Was she rejected for her government-sponsored 2.9% loans that never really have to be paid back? For what it's worth, I wasn't -- I had no trouble getting all the 2.9% money I wanted. Hell they're even sending me a check for the overages every term (which I promptly use to pay off higher-interest debt, no fool I). And I made six figures last year, so you'd better believe I was at the BOTTOM of THAT list. (chuckle) Point being that getting financing for school is laughably easy in this country. Not being able to afford college is NEVER an excuse. Except, of course, during "sweeps week" on the network news shows. Kids will go into massive debt just to have the right sneakers for show & tell. So fearing 2.9% college loans ain't what stops kids from going to college.

I don't have to assume anything. I'm not taking offense, mind you. I'm simply informing you that your perception is incorrect (in my opinion). You can, of course, believe as you like.