Free Republic

You stated "...wanna buy a $70 DVD player every couple of years or do you want to buy a $500 dollar DVD player every 10 years....you buy from Wal-Mart"

Let's assume that you do have to replace a DVD from Walmart every 2.5 years for $70 rather than $500. If you take the difference of $430 and invest in the marekt with a 10% return and replaced the DVD every 2.5 years you would have 4 DVD players (perhaps 3 not working) and $480 in the bank. So if you can buy cheaper products that you want and have more disposable income for things like investments, then yes Wal Mart is good for America.

Why haven't the papers been talking about this (rhetorical)?

Simple Analogy:

In the beginning of this year $1 = 1Euro and a Heiniken bought from Europe priced at 1Euro would cost you $1. Now that the dollar has declined 20% your $1=.8Euro and you can only get 8/10 of a Heineken for your dollar. Since we are a net importer, foreign imports become more expensive and our exports become cheaper. Also, what it means is that Europeans and Japanese and Canadians are getting a less return on their U.S. investments which is particularly bad for the Japanese as they hold the largest portion of our national debt. It is not good to be invested in the U.S. when the dollar is decling so there will be a flight of capital which will cause the stock market to go down, and there will be a flight from Bonds which will cause interest rates to rise in order to attract foreign investment for our debt. All in all, we will see inflation with a declining stock market.

Sorry for the confusion for the headline. It was a Dow Jones newswire headline and I thought it was fairly urgent news item.

Is it any wonder that the only profitable publically traded airline, Southwest, is also the least unionized? Go figure.

Trader talk circulating that recent Dow increase due to rumor of Russia brokering disarmament deal with Iraq

Who's John Galt? . . . Nevermind

The amounts represent the billing period from November through April

It's bad enough that the democrats have such a strong, almost blindingly, hold on the African American votes. I believe that most African Americans would favor the Republican party if it weren't for the racist innuendos made by the Democrats against Republicans. What Lott said only reinforces some of those beliefs that African Americans have about Republicans. The Republican Party is one that stands for individual achievement, strong family values, and strong spiritual values, beliefs that I think African Americans also value. However, the Republican Party will continue to overwhelmingly lose the vote of African Americans if we continue to let people like Lott lead us. Lott, for the good of the party, should resign immediately,

I went to KU. Beleive me, these are not the type of women that you would care to walk behind. (or should I say womyn)

Anybody else find the following statement from the AP report a little baffling:
"... Julia "Butterfly" Hill spent two years 180 feet up a 1,000-foot redwood.."

From the Guiness Book of World Records:
"The tallest living tree today is the Mendocino Tree, a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) found at Montgomery State Reserve near Ukiah, California, USA. In September 1998, it was 172 m (367.5 ft) tall, with a diameter of 3.14 m (10 ft)."

Another example of some eco-idiot not knowing what the hell their talking about.

I was born in '74 and now am a white collar professional. My wife and I both have advanced degrees and we have a very good living. The reason we have a nice living is that our parents taught us to live within our means. I paid for my own college and went to a state school. My wife's parents paid for her college and she went to a private school. The point being is that these people in the article must live within their means. Even though my wife and I make above average wages, she drives a 1993 Nissan and I drive a 1997 Ford. Granted we live in a nice home with a fairly hefty mortgage, but we saved our money to put a large enough down payment that our monthly mortgage would be well within our budget. Finally, as for Social Security we should push our elected leaders to set an end date where my generation would no longer contribute nor recieve benefits. I am planning my future as if Social Security would not exist.

I will remember Jack Buck fondly. I believe that I was a fan of Jack Buck before I ever was a fan of the Cardinals or baseball. Some of my earliest memories of childhood were when I would wander into my parents room to just sit with my father and listen to Jack Buck call the game. I realize how important that was for the relationship I formed with my father. I remember listening to games from about 4 years to when I was 13 years old with my dad. Jack Buck was an extremely important intermediary who helped bridge a loving and growing relationship between me and my father. We did not have to talk about anything on most occasions, only listen. However, when my father wanted to tell me something, Jack Buck provided us with the forum for my dad to guide me as I was growing up. I will really miss Jack Buck's voice. He was so important to me as a child, and I didn't even know it then.

This woman is obviously pushing a social agenda stating that she would have flunked the MAP test. My wife is a teacher in Missouri and she tutored 4th graders who were about to take the MAP test. Believe me the test is not difficult whatsoever.

If you were to look at the statistics for Missouri schools you would see that most students pass the test. The largest failing demographic group are minority children. If you were to look at the breakdowns for 4th grade sutdents in the Math section you will see that 42.5% of black students scored in the lowest two measures while only 14.8% of white students scored in these two measures. Something is wrong there. Either we still live in an overtly racist society or there is a systemic problem in our system. My theory is that there are too many minority students who come from single parent and/or grandparent homes, which is the main contributor to low test scores. My wife, who teaches in an all black school, knows that over the past 4 years she has been at this school the children with both parents at home (which has been about 20% of her students) do exceptionally well at school in all subjects. We need to quit championing the single parent mothers as heroes. While their cause is noble, the fact that we shed praise and glory on single mothers has allowed unwed births to become an acceptable norm in our society. It is this complacency that leads to babies having babies and producing children that can not pass relatively basic standard tests.

Coming from a family of 17 (9 girls 8 boys no multiple births, same two parents, the oldest is now 41 the youngest 17. Very Catholic parents who always provided plenty without any assistance from the government though they would have "qualified") I can appreciate the powdered milk.

"Only a pimp in a New Orleans whorehouse or a tin-horn gambler would carry a pearl-handled pistol"