Johnny Coli

So you really don't give a crap about the country then. You'd rather hoarde your wealth while it all goes to sh-- around you. No money for cops. No money for firemen. No money for crime prevention programs, after school programs, extending unemployment benefits for people who lose their jobs. Basically you don't care. Hide behind the "personal responsibility" mantra, but the reality is you could give two craps about everyone else around you.

Because this country has 10 trillion dollars worth of debt, is fighting and paying for two wars, we are in the midst of an economic crisis and we have huge numbers of people out of work. Is it so much to ask, given that we live in the greatest country in the world, to help out the country that you "created" all that wealth in?

I'm a scientist and my wife is a partner in a law firm. We also live in Boston. We probably pay more in taxes a year than 75% of the people on this message board. Not once have I bitched about taxes. Not once. There are fortunate people, and there are unfortunate people. We live in the greatest country in the world and if all it takes is a couple hundred dollars more from those of us who are fortunate, to make sure the mentally ill aren't thrown out onto the street, or a family without health insurance doesn't end up living in their car, or urban kids have some kind of after school programs then yeah, I'm totally cool with that. Because that's what we're talking here. In fact, even after all that, by the calculations we did with the information on the web, we'll actually pay less in taxes under Obama's plan.

A 20% tax for a person making 40k (reducing their net to 32k) is not the same as a person making 250k netting 200k. Furthermore, the person making 250k a year has far more options in changing his/her taxable income.

Contribute what? The counter argument would be to get them to a point where they can afford to contribute, much like the rest of us.

No one is taking your bag of $1400 and handing it to some guy standing on a street corner to buy cigarettes and cough syrup. Training, education, family planning, youth programs, cops, firemen...your characterization is completely wrong. And those people who don't have "no money, no prospects, no incentives," maybe they need a little help getting out of that situation. Single moms/dads, people who've lost their jobs, families crippled by massive healthcare debt, all the people who end up on the outside when you have unregulated capitalism. What the hell is wrong with sending these people some relief? That's where the disconnect is.

Poor people are poor because they don't value money?

$1400 dollars. A person making 250k makes $1400 in three days. Three days.

No one is knocking small businesses down. Less than 2% of small businesses will see an increase. A guy making a quarter million dollar profit bitching about an extra $1400 tax is pretty obscene.

I don't know what you claim on your tax returns, but if you are truthfully going to be paying more taxes under Obama's plan than you are now under Bush's, then there really aren't many people who are going to sympathize with your plight.

By using the phrase "have no answer" you're implying that some of us who support Obama would need to spin his "spread the wealth" comment. I don't think that comment, which I wholeheartedly agree with needs to be spun. Furthermore, the only reason Joe the Scab is even a topic of conversation is because, yet again, John McCain trotted someone out there without doing any background check on him only to find out he's not really an average Joe at all.

But chronic low levels of exposure to environmental chemicals can lead to what is called chemical sensitivity. One symptom is asthma, among a host of others. Sure, getting kids exposed to allergens, viruses and bacteria will help build their immune system, but that is not the case with carbon dioxide.

Unlicensed and working as a plumber. I believe the next knock on his door will be from some representatives of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 189, Columbus, Ohio. Joe the Plumber scab, meet Joe the Union Plumber.

It's the 30th Anniversary of Love Canal. Go have a beer just outside the fence.

No. At 21 days out from the election, Bush was up by 2 points nationally in 2004, and 4 points nationally in 2000, and both Gore and Kerry were behind in the national polls on election day. Polling trends in '08, vs. '04 and '00 (via Pollster.com)

I don't like the man at all, but other than the people he had tortured, I doubt anyone wishes for anything but a quick recovery.

Yeah, I've seen the reports suggesting the Bradley effect really doesn't do much now, but when you've got the GOP caging voters, purging rolls, and a-holes carrying monkey dolls into Palin/McCain rallies, I don't think you can feel safe unless Obama's polling well above 5 points over his opposition.

The absolute worst thing that happened for your party was technology that allowed people to factcheck things for themselves. ACORN? A simple internet search shows what a non-issue it is. Ayers? A simple internet search shows what a non-issue he is. Obama's heritage, whether he'll raise taxes, how he's a Socialist, just about everything shouted out by the GOP Ministry of Truth is easily shot down with less than five clicks on the internet. You are only left with your rapidly dwindling base of ignoratti.

Think about how hard the GOP has gone after ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) since the conventions. From the minute Palin was nominated she (and the GOP) went hard after "community organizers." At that point in the summer they knew they were getting killed with respect to new voter registrations. In some states the numbers are almost three-to-one, Dem to Rep. The GOP is setting the public up to accept what will probably be widespread registration roll purges, ridiculously long lines at polling places in these communities to slow them down (because they're going to triple-check every single person), intimidation, and post-election recount lawsuits.

They sure are. They're required to by law. And they're not allowed to destroy any that come in. So, ACORN pays some people to register voters. A handful of those people sit at home and fill out registration cards with cartoon character's names because they don't really want to go door-to-door. The registration cards get turned in to ACORN, who looks them over and sees that they are cartoon character names, but by law they can't throw them out, and by law they have to turn them over pointing out they are bogus. Sounds fishy to me. Sounds like a real insidious plot. People ought to be asking themselves why the GOP is making a big deal out of what really isn't voter fraud.

Nice. David Icke must be stoked.

If you've ever taken a group of kids to one you'd instantly see their value. And we're not talking about bailing out arrow shaft manufacturors. The point is that this particular earmark, which wasn't approved anyway, would have been a palatable use of federal dollars and not "pork" at all.

I completely disagree. When was the last time a city asked for the money from a charity to fix a bridge or fill potholes? We have to start thinking about education in this country as if it were a vital part of the nation's infrastructure. If we would rather spend $3 million on a bridge than to upgrade the 40-year-old projector in the oldest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere (and a registered Historical Landmark), then this country really needs to take a long hard look at it's priorities. The number of students that would benefit from that $3 million over the next 40 years can't be factored into the cost.

In my mind education should be a federal, not a state issue.

Why would anyone be against federal money being used for education?