This really is pathetic. I am beginning to think more and more that the government in the United States is not a representative democracy, but a chrysoaristocracy/chrysocracy/plutocracy, or in other simple words, government by the wealthy for the wealthy. Just think about it for a moment. Who usually wins the elections? The people with the most money. How are congressmen influenced on particular issues? Money from lobbying groups. Who wouldn't take hundreds of thousands of dollars to just say two or three letters? (yes/no)

With such great importance (around 20% of GDP), I do not think this is something that we can or should push through very fast. Obama wants to push it through imo because he knows that this is probably the only time he can do it with great majorities in both houses. Come next election, I don't see the senate with more than a 55-45 majority and about a 30 seat majority in the house of representatives for the democrats. I could be wrong, that is just my opinion. Without a 60 vote majority, Obama has no prayer of getting the health reform through. It's pretty sad too. I wish Republicans would stop saying no to everything and come up with their own solutions. And this is coming from a Republican myself.

I believe that it has lost some value here in America. African Americans can't continue to complain and make excuses for not giving themselves better lives. Even though I may disagree with most (if not all) of Mr. Obama's views, I admire him for how he overcame so much adversity to get to where he is today. If he can get through that much adversity and become president of the United States, I think the sky is the limit for African Americans. Granted, he is a gifted individual, but that does not mean that any other person of color could not do the same thing he did if they put their hearts and minds to it.

Just wondering...

why ;) do ;) you ;) keep ;) putting ;) these ;) stupid ;) smileys ;) after ;) every ;) phrase ;) you ;) make ;) ?

Abel didn't have anything coming to him. It wasn't his fault that he did what God asked of him and Cain didn't.

CAIN killed Abel because he was jealous that Abel was blessed by God for his offering to him yet he was spited for what he offered. Abel offered God several of his best lambs, while Cain only offered something that was obviously not the best of his crops.

btw, what in the world are you talking about with Cain and Abel being gay? Where did you come up with that idea? Genesis 4:17: "Then Cain's wife became pregnant.." Who is wife was I have no clue, my guesses are that either Adam and Eve's offspring may have married each other (incest) or God made more women.

1. Black stick figures are still popular

2. When Muslim fertility rates go down soon, the person who put all the time into this video will be screwed

Why not just make them do jobs that average Americans won't do while they are in jail? Illegal immigration solved. :)

Of course the US is too big to fail. We are the fourth largest exporter in the world.1 There are also a lot of countries that hold our debt, so if we failed all of that debt couldn't be payed off, leading to a global recession or even depression.2 I doubt we are going to pay it off anyways, but foreign countries are making a killing off of interest :).

1. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2078rank.html

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Foreign_Holders_of_United_States_Treasury_Securities-percent_share.gif

I think the fatter you get, the lazier you get, but I didn't think they would do a study on intelligence and obesity. I don't think it could be definitively proved though, due to the possibility of an obese person having a fair amount of intelligence. Just because you are fat doesn't mean you are dumb, although you probably make some dumb decisions to get fat...

I find it strange though what happened to all of the Kennedy's over the years. I mean, not many of them died in their sleep, did they? Assassinations, cancer, plane crashes, etc. Something bad happened to most of them, so it is leading me to believe more and more that there is some type of curse or something put on them, although I can't prove it or anything.

No, no. You are way off. This is the song that inspired Obama:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G9Gtqwz3Ik&feature;=PlayList&p;=A222ACA60006DAF0&index;=0&playnext;=1

By the way, what is it with you and and that woman Joe? This is the second straight video you've shown from her...

I'm not a racist, but that was pretty funny. I have another person, and I am sure you guys would NEVER be able to guess who he or she is... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nxjbCFBg7g

Lets see here...

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According to dictionary.com,

dog- a domesticated canid (any animal of the dog family Canidae, including the wolves, jackals, hyenas, coyotes, foxes, and domestic dogs)

men- plural of man (an adult male person, as distinguished from a boy or a woman)

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Based on these definitions and after countless hours of debate, I have concluded that men are not dogs, that is, in the literal sense. :)

Yes, if I had a wife and she was pregnant. :)

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No one on this site has come up with a legitimate reason,

I'll take a stab at it ;)

Why we do not need a public option:

1. How are you going to pay for the estimated $1.6 trillion system without raising taxes? Employer benefit taxes, higher payroll taxes, taxes on soft drinks and alcohol, a VAT tax, or another income-tax hike for successful earners will bring down the economy in one way or another.

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2. The free lunch syndrome- removes incentives for competition (in the tax code there is an exemption from the income tax if you have employer-provided health care) and cost control because we are paying for health care with someone else's money, in this case the govt. A govt-backed insurance system will intensify this syndrome.

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3. Medicare and Medicaid are lurching toward financial disaster and they are both gov't run, what's not to think the same will happen with a gov't backed insurance system?

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4. There are other options out there such as a co-op and a voucher system. No one has seen either though in a bill, so its really hard to argue for or against these.

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5. The public option opens the door that leads to a single payer system. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ-6ebku3_E)

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6. Democrats are being pushed into it by unions:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/18/labor-warns-dems-well-sit_n_262232.html

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7. The government has shown that they will spend much more than they make and businesses cannot do that. The added expense of continually borrowing from other countries will make the 'public option' cost more than it originally seems down the road.

I'll stop there for now, I have about 3 more but i'm still researching.

No, I was already against health care reform before the video. We need health insurance reform, and what is being proposed in Congress to not address this issue squarely.

This is an issue of the insurance companies vs. citizens.

There is a difference between health CARE reform and health INSURANCE reform. What you are talking about is health insurance reform, which I am in favor of also. We don't need to drastically change our health care as they are proposing in Congress, it is unnecessary. All we need is some strong health insurance reform and we will be right near the top as far as the quality of health care is concerned.

I think the one thing you are missing joe is that anyone can play golf. You don't have to be athletic to play. You can be as fat as John Daly or as skinny as Charles Howell. You see professionals in basketball, baseball, and football with all their big muscles and ripped bodies, and then you turn it to golf and see people who look like average joe's (no pun intended), I mean other than tiger that is.

You always take my sarcasm to new dimensions, don't you?

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Okay, you want to play it that way, then so be it. :)

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Since you didn't define reading, I define it as the interpretation of written language through the use of vision. According to this definition, blind people cannot read. End of story. Thank you.

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That came from my head. You can't force a religion down someone's throat, you can't force gays to be straight, and so on. Stop taking my sarcasm to new dimensions. :)

Hmmm, when Bush had policies out there, people called him every name you could think of. Now that Obama has policies and people are calling him names, you all of the sudden take offense? Give me a break. Allowing Bush bashing but not Obama bashing, right....

You can't prove that all the people that attend meetings are conservatives, so why are you setting up a straw man? Old people reading the bill currently out there realize that the bill is going to cut half of their medicare, so they are angry about it and want to make it known. I'm not going to deny that there are a decent amount of conservatives out there, but to say that everyone protesting is conservative is impossible to prove. There are still people out there that are racist and will always be there, republican, democrat, or independent, and you can't do anything about that. Also, I want to know your arguments for how our military 'sucks'. What proof do you have to back this claim up?

Tell me this, how do blind people read? Thank you. Some people may feel that reading is not important. Some would rather be deadbeats in life than to read and become educated. That is up to them. You can't force anyone to read.

It is much safer. Can you tell people off in a classroom without any repercussions? You could yell at your computer and not have any repercussions as well. You are much safer behind a screen name on a computer than in a classroom.

Wow, that does sound pretty cool. :)

But if they have a mansion though, don't you think they will have enough money to pick it up and move it to higher ground?

I'm good at swimming if that helps any.

I'm not very good at surfing though :(

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Well, I mean, you kinda have to read in order to be successful in life. Unless of course you are wealthy enough to have someone read for you. In that case, it's not that important. But for the most part, it is and should be emphasized in public schools.

I don't know, I guess I just don't want my woman to be 'fake.' You know they actually have fake butt surgeries in Brazil?

“A Zebra Doesn’t Change It’s Spots” - Al Gore

"If the Democrats win and have substantial majorities, [the] Congress of the United States will be more bipartisan." -Nancy Pelosi

"No, no. I have been practicing...I bowled a 129. It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something." -Barack Obama

Now in fairness, I have met some smart democrats. Sadly, they do not appear to be among the party's current leadership or media spokespeople.

Edit: Wow, seems like Obama is becoming more like Bush every time I see him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omHUsRTYFAU

I agree with most of your points. I think the media also plays a role though in how many 'crazies' are portrayed. A majority of it leans to the left, but I know that's not an excuse for how some people on the right act like idiots.

Colin Powell

I am not defending the crazies. I am defending myself because you are stating that people like Rush exemplify my views.

I disagree with your statement. Just because one person says something does not mean that an entire party agrees with it. Rush says a bunch of stupid stuff, but that doesn't mean EVERY Republican says a bunch of stupid stuff.

I think the argument is more related to whether you think capitalism is based on selfishness or hard work. Hard work along with other characteristics can turn the poorest individual into the richest in capitalism, therefore I believe hard work made this country great. That's just my opinion though.

Study by UCLA.

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Media-Bias-Is-Real-Finds-UCLA-6664.aspx

"The fourth most centrist outlet was "Special Report With Brit Hume" on Fox News, which often is cited by liberals as an egregious example of a right-wing outlet. While this news program proved to be right of center, the study found ABC's "World News Tonight" and NBC's "Nightly News" to be left of center. All three outlets were approximately equidistant from the center, the report found."

Fox news is not as extreme as you think it is compared to other news outlets.

I'd like to debate someone on this topic someday. Just because it is from fox news it is discounted immediately? So if something is from msnbc, abc, nbc, and cnn you must discount it too because they are just as biased, if not more?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/

All media outlets are biased toward one party or the other, so I don't really see that as a good argument.

What exactly is the WH trying to accomplish by doing something like this? I am also for health care reform, but not in the manner that is currently presented.

I would win this argument for the simple fact that you did not state whether the kids are healthy or not. Due to this, I choose Joe's family to have two children, one who is age 17, 500 pounds overweight, a diabetic, whose daily food intake requires an extra $2,000/mo. The second child, age 22, paralyzed from the neck down and requires a maid to attend to him 24/7, not to mention extra medicines and equipment he might need from time to time. Jose on the other hand has two children, ages 18 and 20, who are extremely healthy and are models for LL Bean. Jose all the way.

Die, honey nut cheerios, die! This is the stupidest debate I have ever seen. Period. I don't know how much stupider this could get. On the other hand...