I could also say the same about Gore since he has his problems too, but there seems to be more Bush-heads around here so I will go this route.

The Railroad
Gore hopes the White House will be the last stop on the "no controlling legal authority" express.

Tuesday, November 14, 2000 12:02 a.m. EST

"Seek and ye shall find," says the Good Book. No one puts more faith in this proposition than the Vice President's lawyers: Given the time, they know, Democratic counters in Democratic counties seeking more votes for the Democratic candidate for President will find them. Indeed, Time.com already reports that when helpful election officials in Pinellas County, which went for Al Gore, "removed the chaff from ballots before they were submitted for recount by the machines, Gore-Lieberman picked up an additional 417 votes."

It is hard not to admit the obvious: The Gore campaign is trying to railroad a victory. Nothing captures the true intentions behind this strategy better than the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board's announcement of its 2-1 decision to proceed with a hand count. They held this press conference at 2 a.m. Sunday, in the middle of the night. Canvassing board member Carol Roberts walked everyone through her math--there could be 1,900 more votes for Mr. Gore out there!--and then voted to go ahead with a full hand count. Ms. Roberts was joined in this 2-1 decision by Theresa LePore, a Democrat, and arguably the 2000 election's single most controversial person: She is the designer of the now infamous Palm Beach butterfly ballot.

Unlike Governor Jeb Bush, who recused himself from the state canvassing board, Ms. LePore refused to do so. Given Ms. LePore's standing among Democrats as the person who cost them the White House, by what reasonable standard was she permitted to serve on this board?

Even more telling is the exchange before the vote, in which the board chairman, Judge Charles Burton, also a Democrat, asked for an advisory opinion from the state. At a time when the Gore camp rests its case on the letter of Florida's election law on recounts, what does it say that the two Democratic members of the board were so determined not to hear the state's reading of that law? Click here to read a transcript of Ms. Roberts's frantic efforts to ram through her desired result.

Then when Secretary of State Katherine Harris announced yesterday morning she intended to adhere to the firm deadline mandated by Florida law, the Gore campaign communications director Mark Fabiani leapt immediately to the ad hominem, labeling her decision to follow Florida law the "naked political act" of a "crony." Campaign spokesman Chris Lehane took it further, likening her to a "Soviet commissar."

There's more. Mr. Gore's lawyers in Palm Beach County rest their legal moral case on what they insist is every citizen's sacred right to vote be honored. Meanwhile in largely Republican Seminole County these same Gore lawyers argue that 4,700 absentee ballot requests be thrown out because GOP officials had (before the election) been allowed to correct a printer's error.

The team of lawyers around Mr. Gore obviously understand the law and its ramifications all too well. In particular they understand that it provides for an Electoral College, sets a deadline for recounts, and does not entertain after-the-fact changes of the rules, whether it be over the counting of ballot "chads" or the tallying of a vote. And so the Gore strategy is staked not on persuading the American public that the Vice President is right, but in casting sufficient public doubt on the system to make the election appear illegitimate, which somehow gives them carte blanche to put every aspect into (legal) play.

There is a certain unavoidable irony in having this spectacle of legal jujitsu created by lawyers for the public official who claimed the defense of no controlling legal authority. It sounded like a strange concept at the time, but it's now clear that Mr. Gore clearly understands its meaning and its uses. Its clear purpose in Florida now is to railroad an outcome.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=65000607

Democrats want my guns.
Republicans want my gear.

IG

Clinton has as much to do with our present economy as I do with the invention of injectable testosterone.

quote:

---

Originally posted by 2Thick:

I could also say the same about Gore since he has his problems too, but there seems to be more Bush-heads around here so I will go this route.

---

Okay that is what I said (above).

quote:

---

Originally posted by Weapon X:
My post was just to reaffirm what a piece of shit Gore is. I do read your posts...

---

And this shows that you don't read my posts or you have the reading level of a person with an IQ of 60.

------------------
Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It realizes that it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It realizes that it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve to death.

The moral?

quote:

---

Originally posted by MP5:
OK 2thick, no porgrams anymore? Great, you mean I cannot lay around all day and collect welfare and smoke crack? That sucks!

---

Welfare accounts for less than 5% of the budget and it is barely enough to survive. Finally, most welfare recepients are females with children.

quote:

---

And as far as the deficit goes, who do we owe the money to? Are they going to come and repo the US?

---

The USA spends 30% on its military and the USA pays for 50% percent of all weapons research in the world. That is where a lot of the money is going. The defecit is partly caused by spending more than the budget and the USA forces Western European countries to give them loans at very low interest rates (because the USA has the guns and protects those countries). That is to whom the money is owed.

quote:

---

Originally posted by 2Thick:
I just want to see your [Bush supporters] faces in 5-7 years when you are worse off than before with a huge federal deficit and the same amount of taxes (respectivally speaking) as now, but without any of the programs.

I could also say the same about Gore since he has his problems too, but there seems to be more Bush-heads around here so I will go this route.

BTW- Yes, I can tell the future...but I will not say how because it may scare some of you...lol.

---

Are you familiar with world economic theories? Are you just trying to make fun of what you don't understand?

When I say that the USA has the guns, it is implied that they protect those European countries and in return, those countries do pretty much what the USA wants.

quote:

---

Originally posted by 2Thick:
And this shows that you don't read my posts or you have the reading level of a person with an IQ of 60.

---

Stop being a sheep and think for yourself. Just because you do not agree with everything I say does not mean I am always wrong.

So, take what is good and discard the rest.
If you would have read the whole post between Weapon X and I you would know...

I agree with Iron God!!!!

The US spent $294billion on defense this year. Sounds like a lot, until you compare it to the $403billion for social security, and combined $316billion for Medicare and Medicaid. Throw in $225billion on interest for the debt, and $79 billion for pensions.

Total: $1,317billion, or $1.3trillion. Those six programs comprise roughly 3/4 of our budget. Allowing for the remaining 25% brings the total to roughly 1.7 trillion.

The defense budget as mentioned already is about .3trilion, which is a little more than 1/6 of the total.

Your claim that 30% of our budget is used on weapons is inaccurate. It's about 18%. However, what is true is that slightly over 50% of our annual budget is used on entitlements. That's REALLY where a lot of it is going.

So, yeah, let's have Gore win and see if that number can go up even higher. Your poor bleeding heart.

1) Our government is not a charity. If you are concerened about the less fortunate than give your $ to a private charity or volunteer. The problem with democrats is that they want to tell all of us what to do with our $. Freedom means being able to make your own decisions. Why should Washington bureaucrats decide which charities we should give to?

2) There are so many variables involved in the economy that it is impossible to determine what makes it go up or down. Personally, I think our economy might have more to do with cutting edge technology (internet for one) that creates new jobs and new markets. (NASDAQ)

Mark my words: George Bush will go down in history as one of our countries most well liked presidents. He will be right up their with JFK, another guy with a great personality that won the presidency by a slim margin-

quote:

---

Originally posted by MattTheSkywalker:
2Thick,

Your claim that 30% of our budget is used on weapons is inaccurate. It's about 18%.

---

If you take into considerations the spending on research, training foreign armies and other covert programs funded by other agencies, you will see that the 30% I am estimating is true. Of course the official spending statistics are not going to mention those.

quote:

---

However, what is true is that slightly over 50% of our annual budget is used on entitlements. That's REALLY where a lot of it is going.

---

Do you think those entitlements are going to go down with the Republicans? I think not.

quote:

---

Your poor bleeding heart.

---

I don't think you understand my criticisms. I am an equal opportunity critic. I will bust on Gore as much as Bush but I like to mess with the Republicans since they have no sense of humor...lol. But they do have guns so I should be careful...lol.

Okay let's stick to the posts. BTW-I was replying to your comment.

Once again, bringing the truth out does not make me partisan. If that is what you think, then you have been jaded.

LOL...at least Canada has 5 candidates.

Liberal seems like the least problematic, but that 60% income tax and 15% sales tax is pretty rough.

This is just plain untrue. I've trained foreign armies, and trained with them, and I've been part of a staff that plans these things - well basically my job was to listen to more senior officers plan them - but I've seen the process myself. Rangers are secial operations troops.

Believe me when I tell you the money comes from within the budget. Only in wartime does the budget kind of goo out the window.

As far as CIA type operations, those do go on outside the realm of the military budget, but they do not even remotely approach 12% of 1.7trillion.

Your figure is wrong. 20% would be more realistic. Another way to put that is less than half of the entitlement cost.

I know you're a bi-partisan critic. So here's some more great stuff for you to chew on:

What about the benefits that have come to us due to our defense spending? For example, the Internet was developed by the goverment as a way to communicate in case of a nuclear attack. Nuclear power, though developed as a weapon, has since been harnessed to provide electricity throughout the world, and this role will increase in the future as fossil fuels decline. Jet propulsion is another military development. A big defense budget doesn't just result in dead enemies.

Talk to me.

quote:

---

Originally posted by MattTheSkywalker:

What about the benefits that have come to us due to our defense spending? For example, the Internet was developed by the goverment as a way to communicate in case of a nuclear attack. Nuclear power, though developed as a weapon, has since been harnessed to provide electricity throughout the world, and this role will increase in the future as fossil fuels decline. Jet propulsion is another military development. A big defense budget doesn't just result in dead enemies.

Talk to me.

---

Good point and you are correct in certain respects. In fact, the reason that the world is run by the west is because Europe was more advanced (militarily) than the rest of the world (that they eventually colonized and raped). This was due to the constant war in Europe before (and after) the colonization of the late 1400s.

War leads to innovation and technology. But those are only the latent functions of military spending and they may or may not out weigh the unnecessary loss in human life and other atrocities caused by the search for power and wealth.