BAD SIGNS

Quote: MarkAbe

Shame on you Bob, and all your kind who fail to understand the ultimate slush fund of an entire unnecessary war to help defense contractors and the oil companies, including that foreign-chartered one the former Vice President headed.

If you're going to take that position, then no discussion is possible.

Granted the decision to invade Iraq proved to be the wrong one, why do those who oppose Bush fail to recall the country went into that war with full Congressional approval, and kept going at it through various appropriations by Congress? To be sure Congress was controlled by the GOP, but most Democrats voted in favor. There were no filibusters, no investigations, no calls for impeachment. If Bush really launched a private war of his own and the opposition let him have a free pass, shoulnd't we be calling for the heads of all ranking Democrats in the House and Senate for gross dereliction of duty?

Back on topic.

I work in an industry that was particularly hard hit by the recession. There were quite a few layoffs affecting our group because customers were holding off on implementing our product. Now, we are busy as ever, and we're hiring again to fill the demand. It's a different type of demand however: much more focused on ROI than it was before, and contracts and spending are alot tighter.

However, for me particularly, I've been steadily employed my entire life and have a few backup plans and a large network of people to rely on should I get forced out of work.

Financially, I've never advocated a waste of gas by purchasing a huge vehicle that I don't use, so the swings in gas prices I'm more or less impervious to. Are the oil companies swindling us at the pumps? Absolutely. Is it price fixing by oil companies? Probably. Is the government turning a blind eye to it? Likely. Will we see a drop in fuel prices due to the recent drop in oil prices from their highs in the summer? Not really. It's disgusting.

So, for me, my lifestyle is roughly the same as it is before the recession. Yep, i drink water at restaurants now, but not because i don't want to pay for it, but more for health reasons. I find myself ordering milk instead of soft drinks or alcohol at dinner. I'll happily support the economy.

Quote: boymimbo

Are the oil companies swindling us at the pumps? Absolutely. Is it price fixing by oil companies? Probably. Is the government turning a blind eye to it? Likely. Will we see a drop in fuel prices due to the recent drop in oil prices from their highs in the summer? Not really. It's disgusting.

Do I like answering my own questions? Absolutely!

Is this a sign of bad times or just the future ?

Public health advocates and their litigators say compulsive gambling is a crisis that has reached epidemic proportions and something must be done to stop casinos from injuring the many addicts who look to them to feed their roughly $50 billion a year habit.

"It's very similar to the drive to snort coke or smoke crack. It's that pressing, that urgent," said Henry Lesieur, a gambling treatment therapist.

"There's a huge cost to communities, there's a huge cost to individuals, particularly to families of compulsive gamblers," said Scott Harshbarger, president of Common Cause, a citizens group that promotes government accountability.

Harshbarger is also the former attorney general of Massachusetts who launched the tobacco industry lawsuits. In the biggest class-action settlement in history, tobacco companies agreed to pay 48 states $246 billion in damages.

Now, Harshbarger is ready to tackle gambling, which he calls the next public health crisis. He said casinos could hold a huge potential payout to help recovery efforts for addicts.

"If you're going to lure people to come, and families to come, you need to deal with the reality that this introduces potential addiction problems," he said.

Quote: buzzpaff

"It's very similar to the drive to snort coke or smoke crack. It's that pressing, that urgent," said Henry Lesieur, a gambling treatment therapist.

Yeah, whatever. Of course it looks like a crisis
to him, he does it for a living and has an agenda.
There's always some crisis thats about to devour
us and it never quite materializes, does it.

Now Bob Next you will be telling me Rick Perry can be bribed for a mere $5,000. He has a much higher price usually, but this was to help his buddy.

OK, I'll have to admit it - I agree with Bob on this one. The people speaking about our gambling "crisis" all have a personal stake playing up the issue.

Oh, and Nareed -- I think the bulk of the blame still lands on the administration for lying to all of us about the 'weapons of mass destruction' that the UN inspector said just before we invaded that he couldn't find. And I DO think they should have gone to jail, and many of the congressional leaders voted out of office. I personally (believe it or not) opposed the Iraq war from day one because, as I told anybody within earshot, "Saddam Hussein has killed 3000 fewer Americans than Osama bin Laden, and we should get him first."

This is one time only a fool would disagree with BOB. Gee, those 20 years went by fast. LOL

Quote:

Oh, and Nareed -- I think the bulk of the blame still lands on the administration for lying to all of us about the 'weapons of mass destruction' that the UN inspector said just before we invaded that he couldn't find.

You see, the funny thing is no one has brought forward any evidence of a deliberate deception taking place, because there is no such evidence. You may believe as you please, but if you want to argue the facts of the matter your beliefs will only get in the way.

Not only is it the first day of Fall, but today is the day the space junk is crashing to Earth.

Fall, fall, pun, you know.