MikeG

Everything goes except for the relay? This is great to hear. Did you just cap the openings on the solenoid?

Sort of... I believe that Dave's a little over-the-top with the "close ties" accusations, but it is true that Obama and Ayers knew each other. That's too close in my book. If I knew someone like Ayers I would "un-know" him pretty quickly. Same goes with Rev. Wright. I would take a stand and walk out on principle and on the record. Is Obama going to be a president who's "polite" to the bad guys? I hope not. +1 :D

Ahh... logically speaking then, what's Obama going to do? I don't believe he was close friends with Ayers, but he had to have heard and listened to Wright for all those years. Regardless of whether or not I considered them friends or advisers or whatever, I would not be caught dead in a room with either of those two men. And I'm pretty sure if I ever saw someone like Ayers in person he would spontaneously fall down from lead poisoning. :lol:

Actually, no we don't. It's a republic. And my calling the population idiots has nothing to do with their vote... it's that most voting Americans (wrongly) think that all they have to do is vote every 4 years and they're done. It doesn't work that way. No matter what party wins a presidential election, the losing side's supporters will piss and moan for a while, but then drop off the face of the earth. If the public really wanted change they'd be on their state and federal reps' asses all the time, asking about corruption, lobbying, why's my money going to that?, etc. I don't think that the Republicans are losers, I think everyone is a loser. Hmmm... does that make me a cynic? :lol:

This happened with more than just the youth. Adults who should be doing more of their own reading and thinking simply haven't been... nothing new there. To quote myself from another thread:

I see your point, but IMHO, the team in your metaphor should be the whole population. Most people are morons and don't want to be bothered with participating in government, so they're happy to watch things hum along like they do with American Idol. I don't think any president in the foreseeable future will be able to make any progress with the existing team. As long as America stays fat and (generally) happy, nothing will change. I do have to point out though, that raising taxes on the rich only encourages them to be more creative about avoiding taxes in the first place. Ever heard of the Laffer Curve? Also, if you consider me rich and raise my taxes, guess what happens to my product or service prices? They just keep going up as I pass my tax burden as a cost on to my customers, who think that their taxes didn't go up. Everyone's taxes essentially go up, it's called inflation.

I think it's fair to say that both parties have had an equal part in screwing things up for quite some time. There's not just one branch of government.

not so quick... the AP retracted on calling the state for Franken this morning. Apparently, Coleman won this morning by 571 votes, but that small of a number calls for a mandatory recount, according to MN state law.

+1 with a caveat: The country's probably not going to fall apart, it's not the end of days... But I'm disappointed in the American people. They think that it's all over now and forget that this place is a Republic, not a Democracy. It's not all over... you have to continually participate to make it work. Write to representatives, keep in touch with government from the lowest levels and on up, etc. When the people are silent by and large, the only voices in Washington become the lobbyists.

+1 It's all public record (unless you count "present" or "not voting" as moderate... )

I wish more people in our country understood that there's more to Washington than the oval office. The fact is that everyone's getting so hung up on the popularity contest of Pres/VP that they're losing sight of the roles of the other branches (and the people's role too, btw) in the government. No matter who gets elected, we should all be writing to our representatives and staying on their asses. In my opinion, you can't bitch about the government until after you've participated (voting, communicating with representatives, etc.) because you're part of it. (Still voting for Ted Nugent) ;)

Not to sound like an ass, but what happened to the money? Most people (I think) know that the closer you are to actually using money, you transfer more and more of it away from volatile investments and into CDs or just a savings account. And FWIW, Obama's plan to place more taxes on "big business" will hurt everyone, and middle class tax cuts are a joke (both parties). Where does everyone think inflation (in part) comes from? Businesses (small and large) never ever pay wages or taxes, the customers do. So every time minimum wage goes up, so does the cost of a Big Mac, and everytime politicians think it's PC to raise business taxes, companies either raise prices or outsource. Just the way it is. For the record, I like neither ticket and will probably write in Ted Nugent.

That's my point. That wasn't my poster, but that guy went on a rant about copyright issues when he obviously used that image and the pen tool.

It's not over yet. But it sounds to me like you're well on your way to a life of artistic martyrdom. Don't take everything so personally. Oh, and I always thought you attended a school to learn something not previously known to you. Are you done there yet? Maybe you have a few more things to learn... I've got tons of things left to learn, and I've been doing art for 30 years. So you're saying that if I found a photo online, say of the famous BTCC car, then loaded it up in Illustrator and ran Live Trace on it... calling it my own work might be construed as copyright infringement?

Couldn't resist keeping this thread alive...