John Adams

But you're mixing personal income tax and corporate tax. The companies don't pay income tax. You do. You're the one who was bitching because the corporation paid "less" in taxes than you do.

Companies don't get taxed at the same rate as individual income tax. The govt !@#$s a company on profit, then !@#$s you when the company pays you. It's a great system.

Men who wear them have no penis. http://www.artofthesteal.com/wp-content/up...ocs-article.jpg Women who wear them have hairy pits. http://ihatecrocsblog.blogspot.com/

Men who wear these are gay. Women who wear them are ugly.

Yeah, but I like the academic debate here. How do I feel about helping a kid go to Davidson and study communications? Umm. Not so good. How do I feel about paying for a kid to go to Penn State to study electrical engineering? OK. Not sure I could write a policy but if you'd just make me grand emperor of education, I could make the loan decisions on a case-by-case basis. History major with a C- average in high school? Sorry, no loan. History major with good academics and likes to read. Go ahead: Take a loan.

So you want a 500/mo dollar lease and he has an 800/mo lease? Starting to see the idiocy of this story yet? Get a grip man.

That's the most impressive post I've seen on here in 5 years! All is forgiven. The same topic is circulating on the Off the Wall board so it's OK.

I inferred that but have never heard it before. Thanks.

The downfall of the Republicans is that the Conservatives (small government gun toting folk) and Religious Right (Bible thumping tongue speaking moralistic govt-in-your bedroom motherment types) are under the same umbrella. The Dems have a similar problem that their JFKennedy Dems (government that cares but doesn't spend to oblivion) join up with their Left Loonies (motherment and spending and Unions to the death). If you could get those reasonable JF Kennedy Dems to somehow join with the Conservatives--finding their middle ground--that could be an attractive party. I wouldn't like the JF Kennedy Dems but I'd take it over either party's current compromise. In retrospect, Reagan's "big tent" looks like a really bad idea. It was a strategy well executed by him to win the White House. But 30 years out, you've got a Republican party whose core principles are so compromised that it can't seriously claim to stand for small government and less taxes.

I don't even understand the insult. What is a worthless white !@#$? Does the guy just like to say !@#$ a lot or something? Odd. Oh, and I don't care.

What a non-story this is. When you get a job, the job has a salary and certain benefits. This is one. People need to get over it. Do you begrudge them their pay too? Or health care? Someone else complained that they are entitled to a big office. Christ people--you can disrespect them but their jobs are actually pretty important and certain perks are OK when they can pick their nose and spend a billion dollars. And yeah, I do think it's kind of important that they drive a respectable car. Our Congresscritters are relatively important people and I can deal with one of their benefits being a car lease at 800/mo. Do they need a Lamborghini? No. But they also need not drive a '93 Rabbit.

I'm at work and Windows just seized on me again. What's the ad?

Talk about things that shouldn't be criminal. A high end call girl ring? BFD.

Talk about missing the forest through the trees. They should all get decent cars and the Capitol should be well-secured. It's an important job and should come with a good salary and perks, which it does. I don't have a problem with that, or their pensions, or their healthcare. I have a problem with how they spend billions at the drop of a hat. That's the forest I care about.

I played volleyball year-round through high school. I credit it with a great vertical that I still have at 37 and strong shoulders. 19 years since I stopped playing volleyball, I have the exact same vertical I had in school. (Easy to measure because I can still just barely dunk a basketball--and jumped exactly the same height in high school.) I play basketball now but volleyball was fun back then.

Voting ended a couple hours after the show was over. Doesn't taqke that long to tabulate. Still, probably just an error. Abysmal top 4. Cook is the only person deserving. Hernandez the stripper and Smithson the tattooed woman were better than any of the other 3.

I've never been worried about energy shortages for the US, knowing Canada and the US have LOTS of energy in shale oil and coal sitting here. That being said, the less we rely on oil, the better.

I didn't pick up on that at all. We had to do a few Tivo rewinds to confirm. I want to know how she picked it up and I didn't!

And yet, here is everyone talking about her. I'd rather have Randy replaced than her. She's amusing.

(videos are at link in my sig) It's Neil Diamond night. The guy's a great performer. Songs are touching but manly sounding. as the only one man left, David Cook should do well. Jason Castro. Forever in Blue Jeans. Yet another contestant makes an ass of himself in front of the person who wrote the song. He meets Neil with his crumpled lyric sheet and sings the words to September Morn to the Forever in Blue Jeans tune. Idol has mercy on him and doesn't show this blunder but he would have been more interesting if he'd performed his gaffe on stage. Sucks as usual. Next he sings September Morn. He goes with the vulnerable look sans guitar. He's vulnerable all right. Vulnerable to blowing. The people in the audience wave too fast, injecting speed into a slow ballad. Unfortunately, they can't inject Idol's pothead with the speed he needs. Dull. As. sh--. Even Paula knocks him. David Cook. Poor David has to engage in a staged yuckfest with the antichrist Ryan Seacrest. Ryan admits to singing Neil in a hairbrush. John Lennon is dead and yet Seacrest lives? Score 1 for atheism. Anyways, David admits to choosing two off -the-beaten-path songs and this seems dubious. But he crushes I'm Alive because, to quote Paula, "He. Is. David. Cook." Follows later with All I Really Need Is You. I've never heard it and it's slow to start but David doesn't let us down—he rocks the chorus and Simon's right--he makes the song his. He's the only person worthy of a record contract. Brooke White. First is I'm a Believer. Ooofah. The song is complete sh--. Her forced smiles are reminiscent of the Joker. And some woman needs to tell me what's wrong with her eye makeup. She's got something happening that darkens her outer eyelash or lid or something. It looks bad and in so doing, is appropriate accompaniment to her song. Train !@#$ing wreck. Second she sings I am I Said. Rocket scientist writes her lyrics on her palm. And then sits down to play the piano. White and Castro are in the running dumb-athalon gold. Is the sunglass-wearing violin player blind? Or high? Back to Brooke, she does a good job modifying the lyrics for her Arizona self (of course, not her idea but Neil's). Important for her to close with that song as it may have saved her. It was the 3rd best performance of the night after Cook's 2. David Archuletta. As he talks to Neil, I can't help but think: Is he deaf? He talks and sings with some of Marlee Matlin's vocal mannerisms. His voice is on key in Sweet Caroline though so take it easy teen crowd. Be upset at the next line if you want though: When he dances, bending stiffly at the hips, he's Mr. Roboto. This dancing !@#$s his chances of being Troy's lover in High School Musical 4. After that, the little !@#$ pulls a Kristy Lee Cook and "my country 'tis of thee"s his way to insuring no one votes him off by singing America. He shows he's human when his nasally voice cracks and he can't help but smile. I smile knowing his controlling dad will give him the belt later. Simon gives the backhanded compliment that he's made a "smart choice of song...clever." Apparently because the Revolutionary War is fresh in our craw, British Simon can't criticize David's America even though it bit. Syesha Mercado. First is Hello Again. With no concept of how this is a melancholy song, meant as a phone conversation, she warps it into a Diva-esque power ballad. Also warped, she mixes diva hair and dress with barefoot hippie. Odd. Thank the Lord for the Nighttime. Again she's barefoot. But this time, like Andrew Lloyd Weber week, she's got personality. She's got to do this more often--it's really her. Simon is pointedly mean and considering how crappy Castro was, this seems misdirected. But she was good. Other observations. The speed of the week was distracting but it was fun to hear 2 songs. Paula is wore a GIANT ring. Paula's drunken confusion at 3:41 of the first Syesha video was amusing--somehow thinking that Jason sang two songs instead of one halfway through the show. Idiota. Were Hef's girls sitting next to Rita Wilson behind the judges? My wife thought so. I just figured they were a couple of dyed LA blondes. Top. There can be only one. Cook. Bottom. Castro. I had to de-cruel this on a second edit. Boy did I hate this week.

Guess it depends on the loans. After I was done with school, I consolidated my loans at a low fixed rate.

I hear you. If the point of the loans and energy is to encourage behavior, why not just make everyone eligible for it?

Thank you Jesus and baby Jesus.

Rivals baby. The beauty of this site is its simplicity. Bad enough we have emoticons.

But why come out with a different payback plan? The interest rate on gov't-backed loans is pretty low. How about this: you have to have a full-time job while you're in school to be eligible for a loan? That way the loan recipient actually shows they can hold a job before they get a load of cash. I want to punch the people who complain about student loans. Get a job. Don't take out the loans. Stop being such a whiney B word.