You know, I have been monitoring TOTV, and just really discovered the political forum - you guys are a hoot! I must compliment you on discussing without resorting to personal attacks - I am very impressed by that. Just a few things -

1. Just so you know, I am 44, thinking about buying a property in TV for the tax break and so my parents can "snowbird" there.

2. It is most interesting for me, as someone who works at a major corporation (as a supply chain manager) to listen to all of you retirees who get your news from the liberal media. Let me tune you in to a little secret - the economy is not bad at all. Yes, there are some foreclosures and credit is tight. The market is down from its highs, but it is still higher than it was about 18 months ago. The thing I am disappointed in is that all of you who lived through 1970s would even buy the "recession" hype. There is no doubt the economy has slowed down, but the reality is that unemployment is still at historic lows, there is a severe worker shortage, and salaries are increasing. I get head hunter calls 3-4 times a week as do all my friends. Our company is running at a very steady pace. Our biggest problem is that world demand for resources is strong, and prices remain high because we are exporting.

3. The real problem with our government is not the Dems or Reps, it is that there is NO difference. Could we please have somebody that would balance the budget and stop all the earmarks? I mean come on already. We kicking out the Reps because the dems were going to fix this, but as I suspected, they are worse. Poo on all of them. I agree about splitting the government between parties - a good idea in my book, unless you could get Republicans to act conservative instead of just running that way, then turning into democrats when they hit the hill.

4. Iraq - get a backbone. Almost all of those killed OR wounded volunteered AFTER we invaded and believe in what they are fighting for (which by the way, despite all of you spineless types, IS a good thing). I was an Armor officer, and there is nothing a soldier hates more than bleeding hearts back home who don't really care about them. People don't go back for 3 tours when they think what we are doing is not right. Use some common sense. And BTW - Saddam killed MILLIONS, believe me, these people are much better off than they were when he was running things. And why don't you all worry about the 40,000 people killed in car accidents in this country as much as the 4000 killed over there in 5 years? Amazing.

5. Loved Redwitch post on liberals - use the dictionary, right. To me, the argument is very simple - and has NOTHING to do with how much anybody cares. Conservatives care just as much as liberals, and are just as broadminded. That is not the issue. Here is the difference -

Liberals look at the answer to any problem as obvious and the government as the answer - for instance, if people are hungry, the government should give them food. The other thing liberals tend to think is that it is always someone elses fault - they are in jail because they are black, not because they commited a crime, etc... it is societies fault.

Conservatives look past the obvious answer, because they are aware of the basic law of unintended consequences and they look at the Market as the answer. For instance, they look at hunger and realize you can't just have the government feed people, because it will destroy poor families, create dependency, etc. So conservatives believe you need to help people by teaching them a skill and letting the market work its magic. Conservatives are big on personal responsibility - which can seem heartless to some, but really is not.

Neither philisophy is perfect, I think there is a balance. We need government - but we need to use it correctly. The worst thing about government is even if a new program does not work, it never goes away!!! We need to cost reduce the government. Not really a hard thing to do, we just have no spine for it. It will have to become a crisis before we do.

I think many times - liberals and conservatives agree on more than they admit and we just argue about the minutae. it is pretty funny really. Nobody thinks we should go back to 70% marginal tax brackets so we argue abou 35 versus 38 as the top bracket - give me a break.

And by the way - who picked these 3 as the best we could do for president?? Man, I know we could do better -

1. A women who says she has experience because her husband had the job - it would be like me going in tommorrow and doing Stress tests (my wifes job).... insane

2. A guy from the Chicago political machine, backed by a bunch of unions, who is more liberal than Dennis Kucinich, but is running as a moderate. He is running for Change, but has no track record of any change at all.

3. A guy who has been in the senate for about 200 years - ok, he is an awesome war hero and has shown some propensity for reaching across the aisle, but campaign finance reform? Couldn't he find something else to do that with? Well, I will vote for him because the alternative make me choke - but that does not mean I am doing backflips either. Not that many of the other Dems or Reps were much better. I wanted to like Romney, but just could not warm up to him.
oh well. we get what we deserve. Ronald Reagan, where are you when we need you??????????????????????????????????

BTW- for those of you "retreaters" when will be getting out of Germany, Bosnia, and Korea - all started by Democrats, and we are still there.