Free Republic

Fine, I'll repeat myself. And since you seem to distrust 10 day old accounts, I'll do it from my "original" account so it will be more credible.

JDW11235 wrote: “Jeez you’re posting stupid.” He or she also has a join date of 10 days ago, buyer beware indeed!

This was explained above. I've actually been here since 1998 or so (maybe 1999, I don't actually remember).

Actually, the computer that failed is back, and I can log in with the old account now (and I did post a few things on that account when I got the computer back), but I think I'll probably use this (the ¢ommon ¢ents) account going forward.

upchuck wrote: NOBODY give a crap what Juan says or thinks or does.. Agreed. For that matter all the Sunday shows are amusing but pretty worthless.

He's good for entertainment, though. It's fun to watch the others react to him.

One of these days, I expect that Brit Hume will turn to Juan Williams after one of his nonsensical lefty talking points and open his rebuttal with (channeling Chevy Chase) "Juan, you ignorant slut." Sometimes the look of shock and disbelief on Brit's face when he follows one of Juan's comments is just great. The look says as much or more than his (Brit's) follow up words.

This happens more than you might think.

It's also common in the Senate. It has happened with some really offensive treaties in the Senate.

One of the reasons Mike Lee, the TEA Party Republican Senator who replaced Bennett from Utah, moved his family to Washington DC, was so he could be there at the end of the day on Thursday or Friday, right before the Senate adjourns, and say, "I Object!" to anything that they try to sneak by on unanimous consent.

To answer the question, the house is in a "pro forma" session today. The rules are different and a quorum isn't necessarily required. Anyone could have objected to this to stop it. It was a very limited CR until next Thursday I think, to give the House the time to read, debate and pass or amend the Senate Continuing Resolution that will carry through mid November. That's when the Super Committee deadline for action comes up.

Ping for Florida

This dust up isn't helping Hasner at all. There's a few French Canadian-Americans who have Retired to Florida and become naturalized citizens. Making fun of LeMeiux's name doesn't help win over those votes.

Not that I mind, I'm supporting McCalister in this race.

Related story, Undecideds rule Florida GOP Senate race, ... (McCalister leading at 17%, 58% undecided)

fieldmarshaldj wrote: Name or no name, Nelson’s in trouble, and unless the Republican is extremely poor or extremely unpopular (KH), he cannot bank on reelection.

Well, the anecdotal sampling I've done with veterans is that Nelson does pretty good with his pandering to that group. If he manages to squeak by, it will be the Vets that carry him. That's where I really think a retired Colonel with 20 years of service is going to draw more than a career politician.

Also, the crosstabs for favorable/unfavorable were interesting. Hasner had bigger unfavorable numbers basically across the board. I didn't see anyplace where his favorable number was higher than his unfavorable. Of course, with 70%+ in the "Not sure" category, it's hard to say whether that will be a problem. I was also surprised that LeMieux was viewed more unfavorably and less favorably by moderates and liberals (the few there were in this poll). Being moderate doesn't even impress moderates and liberals.

I also agree with you about this polling outfit. I don't necessarily trust them. So take everything from them with a grain of salt, and save a grain of salt for any of my observations based on their polling results, too.

VRW Conspirator wrote: FUnny thing is if Charlie Crist, the ex governor, had played his hand right and conceded the last Senator race without an independent run, he would be a shoe-in for a nominee.

I'm not so sure about that. He would have had the best name recognition, that's for sure. But the hug would have come back to haunt the orange guy. Even Bill Nelson is smart enough not to hug President Downgrade. Conservatives wouldn't have voted for Crist.

Plus, your premise really means an entirely different landscape than we have today. If Crist had fought fair or conceded, we might not have had Governor Scott (because a "party unity" endorsement from Crist would probably have pushed McCollum over the top in last summer's primary).

I'm really glad that Crist chose the path he did. He took the high speed train to irrelevancy and saved us some fights.

My apologies to all, I was away for the day yesterday, and most of today.

Prokopton wrote: The House wanted money cut from “green” programs to pay for the spending. Did the Senate vote for that? If not, it is another complete cave by Boehner and another win for the progressives.

Reid and the Senate Democrats agreed to the House spending cap. They also did cut $1 Billion from the FEMA emergency funds passed by the house to "preserve" $1 Billion more in the "green energy" slush funds. So now we have Reid and the Democrats on record for cutting $1 billion that the Republicans approved for disaster victims, just to protect the "green jobs" scam. I'm not sure, but that could turn out to be a political point later.

henkster wrote: Boehner did NOT win this round. This round should not have been fought. By continuing the practice of passing continuing resolutions instead of insisting the Mary Reid pass a budget as the House did, Boehner has surrendered to the half-assed unaccountable spending practices of the democrats. It’s not a win at all. He should have said “we did our job and passed a budget; we invite Mr. Reid to do his job and do likewise.”

Well, since the battle was fought, there were losers and bigger losers, and for the most part, Reid and the Senate Dems lost more. They agreed to the House caps, and to salvage a bit more for the "green jobs" scam, they had to cut aid to disaster victims. That might not have been the best move for them. They can try to say that "the TEA party" cut disaster funds, but the reality is that the Senate Dems cut $1 billion from what the "TEA Partiers" allocated for disaster relief.

I agree with you on the other point. I was all over my Congress Critter, and I called the Speaker's office as well when they returned from the August recess. My suggestion was that at the beginning of September, they should have sent a letter to Reid saying something like this:

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Senator Reid,

In the House of Representatives, we've already passed 7 appropriations bills. You have 4 weeks to work on those.

Later this month, the House will consider a continuing resolution for departments where the appropriations bills have not yet been completed in the House. We hope to work with the Senate on that.

On the other hand, it will be difficult to include funding for departments that the House has already funded for fiscal year 2012. You, Senator, will be holding up funding for those departments. For example, we don't feel it's an emergency, when, for example, you've had since June 2nd to work on the Homeland Security appropriations bill that the House passed. Senator, please start working on these appropriations bills so that these departments can be properly funded after October 1, 2011, for Fiscal year 2012.

Speaker Boehner

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It's a shame that Boehner didn't apply some pressure for the Senate to start doing something.

samadams2000 wrote: Our leadership needs to be replaced. They have presided over the looting of this country. I want them out. I want them ridiculed and if possible arrested.

The first step in that is for us to find some decent primary challengers in OH-5 and VA-7. What are the TEA Partiers doing in those districts?

It's still early. The Primary for the Senate race is next August, I think. But McCallister, the true conservative who is leading in his battle against the Ruling Class, well connected "Tallahassee Triplets."

I've seen this McCallister guy, and he has my full support for this. I actually voted for him for Governor last year after seeing him several times in the last month before the Primary last August. He's a veteran, a retired colonel who was at McDill directing Special Operations. I think he's the best Republican candidate to peal away the veterans from Bill Nelson. And, in Florida, I don't see a clear path to victory over Nelson without very strong support from Veterans.

It looks like Boehner won this round.

Pelosi tweeted a few minutes ago:

From @NancyPelosi on Twitter:

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Tonight, Senate joined House Dems in protecting #jobs while meeting disaster assistance needs-House must act on CR this week

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Also, from FoxNews:

Senate Passes Stopgap Spending Bill to Avert Shutdown

Oh, and our corrupt, bully of an Hernando county REC chair, Blaise Ingolglia, was quoted in the article:

From the article:

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Blaise Ingolglia, the co-chair of the organization putting on the "Presidency 5" event, said this, according to NBC's "First Read":

Iowa is a test of the organizational strength. Iowa basically is a paid straw poll. ... This is actually more of a true representation of how the voters are going to vote in Florida.

Ingolglia wasn't alone. Alex Patton, a Florida GOP consultant and pollster, said the events in the Sunshine State last week — the Thursday debate and the Saturday straw poll — would "separate out the wheat from the chaff."

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I'm pretty sure those quotes are from September 22, before the straw poll. I've heard some establishment types trying to walk back from that since Hermain Cain's victory Saturday.

I have to wonder if the validity of such straw polls would be questioned in any way if Rick Perry or Mitt Romney had won this Florida straw poll.

Go Herman Cain!

Ping for the Hermain Cain list?

It seems the Propaganda Ministry has decided that Mr. Cain was a "protest vote" for the straw poll in Florida and indicates that the GOP is needing more choices. Those racist TEA Partiers couldn't have meant to vote for the black guy. </sarcasm>

I'm also posting this to draw attention to the reactions and comments of the lefty moonbats over there on NewsVine.

Feel free to comment over there if you wnat. ;)

dragonblustar wrote: It was posted on the side bar last night but has been taken down for reasons unknown.

I noticed that as well. I'm not sure. Do we have Obama supporters among the sidebar mods? Sometimes I wonder, based on what gets pulled or reclassified from "news" to "blogs" or "chat."

MrB wrote: See FR’s “four hour rule”, even that sometimes is amended when a topic is hot enough.

So, are you saying that since that post is over four hours old, nobody is interested in the comments there?

I never said this poster shouldn't have posted it. I just provided a link for anyone interested in this topic to see other comments about this article.

NativeNewYorker wrote: Searched and did not find this posted. Amazing amazing clip.

It was posted last night. You might be interested in the 100+ comments on this thread:

Obama gaffe: President says billionaires should pay ‘Jew’ tax rate ^

Feel free to forward this to the organizers of this. I'm trying to be helpful here, not overly critical.

vanzorge wrote: i hear your feelings about this. do you have any suggestions about what would be a better way to word the petition?

Well, a petition is a request for action.

Actually, I've read this petition about “The 3000” several times and I still can't figure out what action they are requesting. Thats what the organizers should open with. "We, the undersigned, request that you {take some action}.” Follow on after that with the reasoning behind that request and the justification for it.

Also, you really shouldn't change the petition after people have signed it. But you could invite the signers of the current petition to sign the new one.

I also wouldn't put it only on the WhiteHouse site. I'd do that in addition to another petition site like iPetitions.

Finally, when I first read this post, I clicked the link on the “Sign the petition HERE” line. Once I was there, I saw no information other than the unfocused rambling letter. When I clicked the "Blog" tab on that site, I saw, “There are no blog entries yet. Check back soon to track the progress of this petition.” Also, out to the right, I see this:

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Sponsor

(No Sponsor Information)

Contact Petition Sponsor
 

Links

(No links added)

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So, I made my first comments here without reading the website from the first link.

I'll leave with two more tips.

First, for search optimization, make your link text the title of the petition, or a shorter version with keywords. Like this:

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Please, sign our Letter to complain about 3000 troops being left behind in Iraq. ( <-- Click the link )

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When you have the better petition, You can use different keywords, like "Petition to bring home all of our troops from Iraq," or "Petition to keep a defensible United States military force in Iraq."

Search engines pick up the keywords in the link text and the "target page" of the link gains rank for the words in link (the underlined blue text). You don't want your petition to rank for "Click here." You want it to rank for keywords related to the petition, so use those keywords in your link.

Second, whatever site you use for your petition, make sure that someone who lands on the petition can get to your website. Some people will find you by way of the petition. There's nothing on your current iPetitions petition to get anyone who goes there back to your website. Either they like it and they sign, or they don't fully understand it and don't sign and get frustrated that there is no other information available. Use all the features of the petition site you choose.

If you use iPetitions, cross post every blog post and news release about this petition to the iPetitions "blog" and use the "Links" section to link to all your other information about the petition. The first link should be your website. After that, other links to related information, for example to a FreeRepublic keyword search, A Twitter #the3000 hashtag search, and maybe a facebook fan page. You could also get some RedStaters to blog about it with a "the3000" tag and have a search for that tag on RedState.com.

There's just no excuse for having that iPetition site completely devoid of any information other than the letter itself (or the new petition).

KevinDavis wrote: The key for this election is to get at least 4% of the people who voted for Obama. Basically we need the moderate Dems and the indies..

Sorry, but you are misinformed.

First, it's not about the popular vote totals. It's about electoral votes. With the Census and redistricting and reallocation of House seats, if we had an exact rerun of 2008, with exactly the same states going to Obama and McCain, Obama has already lost about 10 electoral votes, I think. More of the states Obama carried lost electoral votes than gained. McCain states gained more than they lost. Still, Republicans need to flip some states. Florida (29 EV) is important, so are Ohio (18 EV) and Pennsylvania (20 EV). Even Colorado (9 EV) and New Mexico (5 EV) can help.

This is one reason that Rubio is considered likely to be the VP no matter who gets the nomination. Florida is critical. It's probably the largest block of electoral votes that Obama had in 2008 that are in play and vulnerable in 2012.

Also, we need some of the people who were so turned off by McCain that they stayed home in 2008. Palin actually minimized that damage in 2008, but some conservatives did not vote for McCain in 2008. The Republicans are far more likely to win in 2012 if they can keep their base motivated than by trying to "convert" Obama voters. Don't get me wrong, I do think some Obama voters will switch to the Republican side in 2012, especially among the independents. They will likely go for "anybody but Obama." But that shouldn't be the focus of the Republican candidate. If you think that alone will carry the election, you're following a losing strategy.

I'm not a lawyer, but she needs one.

In Florida, there are some attorneys who have had success when the paperwork gets lost in all this "mortgage backed securities" shuffle. In a whole lot of cases, the bank servicing the loan can't produce an actual promissory note and the actual paperwork with the borrowers signature. If that's the case, there are additional steps that the owner can do to get free and clear title to the property.

I'm not saying your friend will be that lucky, but it's something to explore.

Other than that, starting to file for bankruptcy can get the lender's attention. It might be possible to restructure the mortgage or get some concessions through that route. If not, bankruptcy is usually the only real way out.

If she's not interested in living there long term, it's best to find another place to live (a rental home or rental apartment) before she gets very far behind on the mortgage and has credit issues. It's a lot easier to find a rental before you default on a mortgage.

Again, I'm not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice.