Are you watching the RNC?
I'm a former republican who became an independent after the takeover of the party by Dirty Dickie Nixon. However, out of fairness, I feel I have to give a listen to them.
I'm not feeling very fair though. Why are these people so conformist? I haven't seen so many black suits and red dresses since the last RNC. Then there are the delegations all dressed the same, like some kind of square dance team - Texas has identical red shirts and straw (I think) cowboy hats. Another delegation is all dressed in blue denim shirts. I long for the craziness of the DNC. They had some music but nobody was dancing in the aisles - the just sat demurely in their seats, clapping in time or sort of bouncing their heads. What duds.
Then there's this little tidbit
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3934/rep ublicans-lobbyists-party-with-hookers-and-blo w
I suppose they have to let off all that pent up steam somehow.
The speeches so far are about what you'd expect. Fred Thompson talked about McCain's life, but stopped with him being a POW. didn't he have a life after that? Not one mention of his two marriages and all those kids.
I intend to stick with this. Who knows, maybe there will be something said or done that will change my jaundiced mind.
What do you think of it? And feel free to disagree with me - I don't mind - it's called free discourse.
One caveat: no discussion of Sarah Palin - we have a thread for that already.
Original Post by p0nda:
Original Post by peaches0405:
I do believe they are all for looking for better alternatives as well as trying to make the best out of what we have until a better alternative is found.
Let me rephrase. They should be pouring all the money - x100 - they are wasting on quick fixes (that are screwing up the environment even more) into alternative, sustainable fuel research.
And in the mean time, what happens? How high will gas prices go?
Alternative, sustainable fuel will not come overnight.
Did they play the POW card enough?
The protesters were pretty funny though.
I like the kid who was up on the balcony, and when he was getting yelled at, he just flashed the peace signs.
Hilarious.
Original Post by lysistrata:
just an aside, but ...
what the hell was cindy mccain wearing last night??
she made my eyes hurt.
Don't you mean, who was she wearing?
Original Post by peaches0405:And in the mean time, what happens? How high will gas prices go?
Alternative, sustainable fuel will not come overnight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticl e.jhtml?articleID=208808258
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/07/24/a-unique- solar-powered-community-in-canada/
http://www.dailytech.com/A+Green+Harvest++Tea ms+Seek+to+Optimize+Algae+to+Oil+Process/arti cle12709.htm
http://www.dailytech.com/Startup+Uses+Bacteri a+to+Make+Synthetic+Gas+Could+Knock+Off+Ethan ol/article12108.htm
If you want more, I can get it. The technology is there and being worked on, the government just doesn't seem to want to do the funding. Imagine what could be discovered if we actually had the government behind it. We need a fix now, not in 10 years, not in 50 years: Now. That fix will only come if we have enough scientists with enough money attacking the problem from multiple angles and for that, we need the governments of the world working together and backing it.
Original Post by p0nda:
Original Post by peaches0405:And in the mean time, what happens? How high will gas prices go?
Alternative, sustainable fuel will not come overnight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticl e.jhtml?articleID=208808258
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/07/24/a-unique- solar-powered-community-in-canada/
http://www.dailytech.com/A+Green+Harvest++Tea ms+Seek+to+Optimize+Algae+to+Oil+Process/arti cle12709.htm
http://www.dailytech.com/Startup+Uses+Bacteri a+to+Make+Synthetic+Gas+Could+Knock+Off+Ethan ol/article12108.htm
If you want more, I can get it. The technology is there and being worked on, the government just doesn't seem to want to do the funding. Imagine what could be discovered if we actually had the government behind it. We need a fix now, not in 10 years, not in 50 years: Now. That fix will only come if we have enough scientists with enough money attacking the problem from multiple angles and for that, we need the governments of the world working together and backing it.
OK. I can agree with that. But last I checked, congress had a say in the way things went as well. And last I checked, the congress is predominantly Democratic.
UNLESS they passed some bills recently that Mr. Prez vetoed...did they? I don't know of any, but I don't have the time tonight to do the research.
I'd say both the Dems and the Reps have done a crappy job of throwing money where it should actually go.
And I DO agree that this issue is very serious. But we still need to do something in the mean time to keep oil coming in. Let's face it..No matter how much money we throw at these scientists, we are still going to need oil for quite a while.
Original Post by lysistrata:
just an aside, but ...
what the hell was cindy mccain wearing last night??
she made my eyes hurt.
A $300,000 ensemble. But.... Obama's the elitist.
And since her husband can't remember how many houses he owns, I wonder whether or not he counts her outfit from the other night. I mean, her outfit could have bought 2,000 of Michelle Obama's outfits from the week before (at $148). 2,000 dresses would be enough to dress every woman over 25 in Sarah Palin's town where she was a mayor. Let's keep things in perspective, shall we?
Original Post by hgielrehtaeh:
Original Post by lysistrata:
just an aside, but ...
what the hell was cindy mccain wearing last night??
she made my eyes hurt.A $300,000 ensemble. But.... Obama's the elitist.
And since her husband can't remember how many houses he owns, I wonder whether or not he counts her outfit from the other night. I mean, her outfit could have bought 2,000 of Michelle Obama's outfits from the week before (at $148). 2,000 dresses would be enough to dress every woman over 25 in Sarah Palin's town where she was a mayor. Let's keep things in perspective, shall we?
Is Mrs. Obama's taste in clothing really that important? Since taaxpayers helped pay for her education, maybe they could help pay for her a decent dress.
^ the taxpayers help pay for all of our educations.
And what crawled up your behind? 300K for an outfit is outrageous BUT that included diamonds and pearls valued at somewhere around 280K plus a chanel dress and watch or something to that effect. Laura Bush dropped 3-4 K on her outfit. Michelle Obama, less than 1 K. I think that says a little about their personal economic policies-- whether that ties into their husband's econcomic policies, who knows. Cindy McCain looked atrocious though.
And her husband's speech was the most terrible speech of the entire convention. He looked and sounded old, tired, and uninspired.
Original Post by qaowk:
Is Mrs. Obama's taste in clothing really that important? Since taaxpayers helped pay for her education, maybe they could help pay for her a decent dress.
I would say, no, but her desire to be more understated probably does suggest a desire for the focus to be on the candidate, and possibly not to give fodder to those who continually accuse both her and her husband of being elitist.
Besides, what wasn't "decent" about Mrs. Obama's dresses? Or is the requisite for a "decent" dress a price tag above $2k?
the monied elite control our boardrooms, influence our exchanges, fiscal policy, government and legislation, and our military.
Last night Senator McCain evoked my sympathy. Here's a man who I believe truly has tried to do better by the country as a whole than many of his republican brothers and sisters.
His speech was kinder toward the democratic belief system. He didn't marginalize or make cheap jokes. He understood he was talking to all of us, not just the people on the floor. He admitted the republicans have lost touch with America, lost our trust. I always appreciate it one someone takes responsibility, especially in Washington.
He didn't influence my decision, but at least now I know that if my candidate loses, we may still harbor a little hope.
I mostly agree with you kathy - at least that is what I hope will be the case.
as for the conventions, Eugene Robinson says it well
But after the two conventions, it looks as if Obama and Biden are going to do their best to focus voters' attention on issues -- the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, energy, and the environment. And it looks as if McCain and Palin have decided to run on a platform of personal history.
To further my thought, if Palin had given that kind of speech on the previous night, reconciling with Democrats - I would really have a lot more to think about. But she didn't, so there it is.
Original Post by hgielrehtaeh:
And since her husband can't remember how many houses he owns...
yeah, did he ever figure that out? Can anyone think of a legit reason a person would not know how many damn houses he owns but can still have the ability to run an entire country
I can forgive a 72 year old guy for a lapse in memory, but describing the middle class as everyone under 4 million, that's a problem.
there has been a complaint in the military for some time regarding his efforts to recover POWs & MIAs - more research is required.
I wanted to hear McCain speak last night, but things didn't work out. My SO's company got kicked out of the refinery yesterday because of safety violations and he was unexpectedly laid off. He med with his buddies at the bar and the rest is history. I had to babysit a bunch of drunk pipefitters and welders. Whew were they all fired up.
Guess I'll have to read a transcript later or try to watch it on you tube.
Here's the link to McCain's speech on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv1p5nArhhY
Original Post by spirochete:
Original Post by hgielrehtaeh:
And since her husband can't remember how many houses he owns...
yeah, did he ever figure that out? Can anyone think of a legit reason a person would not know how many damn houses he owns but can still have the ability to run an entire country
Technically he doesn't own them. It all belongs to his wife.
Original Post by kathygator:
He admitted the republicans have lost touch with America, lost our trust. I always appreciate it one someone takes responsibility, especially in Washington.
As do I, but I didn't particularly appreciate how he, and the rest of the Republican party, is trying to ride the coat tails of Obama's campaign concepts. For instance, the "change" thing. Laura Bush tried to make it McCain's, and in McCain's speech itself he was obviously trying to make it sound like all the change placards should be his:
"We need to change the way government does almost everything, from the way we protect our security to the way we compete in the world economy; from the way we respond to disasters to the way we fuel our transportation network; from the way we train our workers to the way we educate our children. "
I mean, this is what Obama has been saying for the past year and a half, and suddenly it's McCain's mantra? I do give him credit for addressing all Americans, and complimenting Obama at the beginning, but the whole thing still left me cold.
And I'm sorry, I thought the crowd chanting "Yes we will" was a little cheap. It makes me wonder what they're going to try and co-opt next.
Overall, it left me feeling a little bit better about McCain, but only a little bit.
Original Post by peaches0405:Alternative, sustainable fuel will not come overnight.
Neither will more oil, ANWR would take 7-12 years to make it to full production (and that would only result in a slight increase in worldwide supply) and offshore would take at least a decade if any oil companies decided they wanted to drill there, remember that 2/3rds of estimated US offshore oil reserves are in areas that are already leased to oil companies but they've all decided that it doesn't make financial sense to drill for it.
With Groups - you're not alone.Get the experience and support
of others who succeeded.
