Comment from suzanne
Time: June 27, 2008, 10:09 am

Sarcasm is the refuge of losers, Josh. It’s losers’ way of bringing winners down to their level. And what’s this? You’re not a Clinton supporter? Really??? What’s next? Will we find out Obama is not really Change We Can Believe In?

Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: June 27, 2008, 12:18 pm

Suzanne, where is the sarcasm in this post? Or is this just one of your standby responses.

Comment from Sasha
Time: June 27, 2008, 1:42 pm

Thanks for asking Suzanne, Josh, because I was totally confused. And I think it is tacky too.

Comment from suzanne
Time: June 27, 2008, 2:21 pm

Josh, apologies for the snark. I thought this post was sarcasm as I’ve never seen you write anything negative about the guy (except for the arrogance thing). My bad. Carry on. I was under the impression that Obama can’t use his own campaign funds to pay off her debt but he can ask his donors to pony up. In which case, I thought it was a rather nice gesture on their part.

Comment from Sasha
Time: June 27, 2008, 4:47 pm

And in an even more ridiculous follow up, Bill and Hillary each wrote $2,300 checks to the Obama campaign today.

Comment from Sandy
Time: June 28, 2008, 4:32 am

People,
Could we start focusing on meaningful issues instead of acting like republicans in disguise?
Talk to us about the issues that matter to American voters, Energy, Food, Jobs Health Care not just those that are the purvue of professional bloggers. After all you’re the folks who have the time and means to do the research and be able to give the rest of us the truth.

Comment from Max
Time: June 28, 2008, 5:02 am

Oil’s closing price topped $140.21 today, I think that is significant.

http://www.wtrg.com/daily/crudeoilprice.html

Comment from Amos N. Handy
Time: June 28, 2008, 5:35 am

Suzanne, have you ever noticed that when Sasha speaks you can hardly see Josh’s lips move ? I’ve yet to see a post where you criticize Josh, that she doesn’t attempt to come to his rescue. Neither will be satisfied until all three Clinton’s are removed from public display, then and only then, will they be able to focus on the big easel and contribute the colors that are needed to correct the painting, Bush II and Cheney have hung on America’s wall.

Sandy, you are absolutely correct, more time is spent here bitching about the Clinton’s, than trying to right this countries failures as an in debt war machine, that is what we’ve become and are despised for, worldwide.

Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: June 28, 2008, 5:38 am

Sandy, we, or at least I, blog not so much for the content, but for the reaction and interaction. The blogs that get the most comments on these pages are not about issues, but about the smaller stuff. I agree that who gives what to whom is not important compared to healthcare and jobs. But a careful read of Max’s post on climate, weather, food, are important issues, but generate little or no comment. My post about what each of us can do about energy, namely driving more slowly, got little attention. Now I didn’t call on Obama to ask us all to “sacrifice” by driving slower, but maybe I should have.

A recent post about judging gaffs by their policy implication, not their gotcha factor, got no response, as I recall. Yet here was a case where a new case was being made about the quality of public discourse. The noise about Hillary and Bosnia and the chatter about Barack and his minister had no policy implications, personal insights about the candidates, yes, but that’s it. Whereas McCain’s confusion about who is doing what in Iraq was a gaff of major proportions, with major policy implications. McCain’s was underplayed, whereas Obama’s was over played, over played.

So, here’s the deal. If you weigh in more, we’ll post more on issues. Does that work for you?

Comment from Amos N. Handy
Time: June 28, 2008, 6:20 am

$400 Million more per month for military fuel costs in Iraq - now “that’s a gas”, ain’t it folks ?

And Bush - Cheney allowed plane loads of Saudis to fly home on (9/11) … Do any of you remember how many Saudis were involved in high-jacking those four flights that killed more than 3000 Americans the morning of 09/11/01 ? - Dumbya’s old man and Cheney are in bed with these guys and we sit on our thumbs and do nothing ???
Fecked up, I’ll say they fecked up and now we have an arsehole that would like us to stay the course, running for president .
The ass we should be kicking is in Washington and Saudi Arabia, not in Iraq or Iran or North Korea. If Obama has answers to put an end to this lunacy, then let’s provide him with the opportunity, we owe it to each other as citzens, who really care.

Comment from Sandy
Time: June 28, 2008, 8:12 am

max,
I was referreing to the stuff about obama/clinton/$2600.

Josh,
blogging for reaction isn’t much different than msm - they are driven by reaction too - which of their sponsor’s products are you going to buy.

I read this site because I’m looking for information I don’t get anywhere else. If it becomes nothing but a gnat stinging in cleverness, It’s just as waste of time for someonw trying to raise 3 kids alone , work fulltime at one job and parttime at another.

Comment from Pat
Time: June 28, 2008, 8:50 am

Sandy, I turned to the blogs for the same reason you did. The MSM was not reporting news, they were reporting gossip, and still are. I don’t care how Obama or McCain or Clinton, for that matter, react to what the other one said. I don’t care what Imus said, or what Shaq raps about. None of this stuff is news!

Josh, I like Max’s posts, as I’m sure a lot of readers do, and I generally try to comment on them, but sometimes I’m the only one. There was a time when a post about Iraq on this site would generate 20 or so comments, but, sadly, those days seem to be gone.

Comment from timr
Time: June 28, 2008, 9:43 am

Josh, could you please tell me just how Obama could give Clinton $1m? It is my understanding, and please correct me if I am wrong, that one candidate can not use the money he collected to pay off the debt of another candidate. There was much discussion about this everywhere over the last few days, and I gathered that this is the law . I also understand that Obama can not give more than the amount that he gave her out of his personal funds. Now if the vendor is Penn, I say she should stiff that idiot-she paid him way to much anyway.
PS. I posted a great fish story on your open thread

Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: June 28, 2008, 12:57 pm

Pat and Sandy, a post with no comments is like the fallen tree in the forest, making no sound if no one is around to hear it fall. Obviously all of us continue to blog regardless of the number of comments, but it is more fun when there is give and take.

And Amos, you like to go on about how I hate the Clintons, now you have added Chelsea. Where did that come from? And you make it sound like Sasha and I are the only ones who have problems with Mr. and Mrs. William Jefferson Clinton. With regard to any blogger coming to the “defense” of another blogger, I would say when that happens, there is no sense adding on to it. There is a lot of thick skin on these pages, and all the put-downs and miss-takes on what we post, are all part of the process, as far as I am concerned.

Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: June 28, 2008, 1:04 pm

Timr, I have been on vacation this week with the granddaughters from Ohio who come once a year to spend a week at the Jersey shore. A great time was had by all, but I was not reading newspapers or doing much on the internet. So I missed all the back ‘n forth about the legality of paying Clinton from campaign funds. I’m not an expert on campaign financing, but it is surprising to me how politicians hide behind regulations when it suits them and how they bend the regulations when it doesn’t. What?–there are no creative finance folks working for Obama? McCain doesn’t have creativity finance problems!

And I take your word for it that Obama could not legally do it, but he could have done more than give the personal max. He could have gotten 100 or 1000 of his friends to do the same thing, he could have asked his contributor list to each give $10 to Hillary, thereby raising over a million, he could have done just about anything except this empty gesture, which now, of course, is a wash because the Clintons “returned” the money.

At the end of the day, we still have a gesture without symbolism, and a missed opportunity to make a statement to Clinton supporters. Penny ante stuff.

Comment from Catherine
Time: June 28, 2008, 2:48 pm

I could give a rat’s ass if Clinton’s campaign debt is taken care of with Obama’s assistance. What about all of us who are struggling to just keep a roof over our heads and enough to cover tranportation (to work only)and food expenses??? Is there anyone we can go to bail us out…HELL NO…We as a nation are in a major crisis…not only blue collar folks whose jobs have gone overseas are suffering…but college educated folks with huge school loans because once we believed working and studying would someday pay off) can’t get or keep decent paying jobs because we are also losing our careers to outsourcing as well as insourcing. LETS DISCUSS THE REAL ISSUES FOLKS!

Comment from Sandy
Time: June 28, 2008, 4:56 pm

Hurray Catherine!
Let’s not just discuss the issues- let’s find ways to DEAL WITH THEM.

WHAT CAN WE DO AND HOW DO WE DO IT??

Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: June 28, 2008, 5:21 pm

Thanks for all the comments. Now Sandy, the how is a participative process, so we, at least I, will give it a try. I’m posting tommorow on “the issues”.

Comment from Catherine
Time: June 28, 2008, 9:24 pm

Thank you Sandy and Josh!!! I realize as an individual there is little one can do to over turn this totally incompetent political (democracy???) system we are burdened with. However, if each of us chooses one thing to do everyday to enlightened the masses about what is really going on, perhaps we as citizens will have the power to turn around our nation. This act may sound elementary but I truly believe in order to create the opportunities for change, it can’t be just a few of us that want these changes but the majority of citizens.
I also believe for these changes to occur, as a nation we must realize the time as come for each of us to sacrifice some of our wants and desires” for the good of the country (or what is actually left of it from the corporations that own us).

What do I mean by sacrifice?…Well learn to do with less for example. We are a nation of extreme excess…and it’s put us in the bind that we are in now. We are at the mercy of creditors…and for what?…to have a leg up on our neighbor?…a bigger house, a 60 inch HD tv?…the boat?…country club membership?. We spend the majority of our time trying to deperately pay off these debts…or better yet continue to buy on credit. In the meantime the country is going to hell…because Americans are preoccupied with owning the latest gadget. We have chosen two of the most incompetent, pandering fools for the Presidental run and why?…because we were busy buying something else. I realized I digressed…but I think one of the biggest issues we need to address is how we as a nation have decided to turn a deaf ear to our condition.

Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: June 29, 2008, 5:18 am

Well, Catherine, I would agree that each of us, as individuals, needs to make a sacrifice for the better good. I again marveled yesterday how fast drivers burn fuel. In a 140 mile drive back from the Jersey shore, I passed about 5 percent of the cars, and I was driving under 70. I recently read that a driver was pulled over by a cop and given a written warning for driving to slowly: he was doing 50 to 55. I know of no politician who has taken up this cause, probably because it is too Nixonian.

I strong disagree that we have “chosen two of the most incompetent pandering fools for the presidential run” because “we were too busy buying something else.” I would not describe either candidate as “incompetent”, Obama lacks experience and McCain’s judgment on a string of issues is questionable, but neither is incompetent. And my guess is that many voters, especially the new younger and black voters in the system, can vote and chew gum.

Comment from Sandy
Time: June 29, 2008, 5:59 am

Josh and Catherine,
I agree wholeheartedly with Catherine’s condemnation of our gluttonous culture and Josh’s observations of our driving habits. I am someone who saves money (Unamerican, Bush is probably putting me under suspicion for treason) and drives 55-60 in my 1992 Acura Integra. But I seem to be alone in my habits. The people I work with speak of new cars, big TV’s, which upscale mall is the “best”, the wonders of the new Wholefoods that just opened in town.
What can I DO to change the direction of this country I love? Acting alone seems not to have an effect.

Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: June 29, 2008, 7:27 am

Well, Sandy, at least two of us are driving slower, you much more so than I. But get this: in today’s NYT the editors asked 10 folks to comment on what can be done about the gas problem. None of the ten, none, mentioned driving slower. One goofy professor suggested a tax credit for driving less than 12,000 miles a year. Go figure.

Comment from Catherine
Time: June 29, 2008, 8:39 am

Count me in as one who is able to save a little…drives slower than anyone on the highways of MI, recycles everything possible, grows her own vegetable garden and purchaces other produce at farmers markets, is a vegaterian, use less propane for heating and electricy than anyone else on my street. By example the rest of my family is now practicing some of these habits and I have been able to persuade some friends to do likewise. This is how one person by communicating to others can make a difference. I have no doubt that my family members and friends are sharing the results of these new habits to their friends…and the news is spreading.

I am attaching a link to a new automobile that is going to be produced and sold in California late this year. This is the beginning of new changes that will make it possible for the nation to no longer be dependent on foreign oil.
http://www.aptera.com/about.php

Comment from Max
Time: June 29, 2008, 9:22 am

I personally believe personal automobile use will disappear in the next few years. Oil will pass $170 this year, possibly $200. And it will keep rising next year, until it is functionally gone.

We have to divorce ourselves from the concept of the car, and rebuild American railroads, all electric.