Redstate

If what was leaked by an aide (you know, like "friend of a friend gossip") turns out to be true where those making above $80k single and $110k married won't get a rebate, then this is blatant income redistribution. I suspect if this crazy idea goes forward the Democrats will whine about how unfair it is for those who really need that money not to get it so that will be addressed as well.

Worst idea ever. Just cut the bloody taxes and spending.

Sorry, but I'll be glad when Bush is gone. He's destroying the GOP. :(

------------
The Red Sox Republican: Burkeanism, Baseball, and Sundries.

Oh, don't get me wrong: I'm pissed off that he didn't take this opportunity to take the blame for the loss of all that lovely pork. But better this and no give on the war than the other way around.

Moe

The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!

And only a few that lead to victory.

If we lose on the fiscal front we lose. If we lose on the liberty front(Not a real worry with bush in office, but with clinton thats another story) we lose. If we just let the government get out of control in anyone of dozens of ways because our eye was on the war we still lose.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

...the risk to my wife skyrockets.

I am not speaking figuratively: she works in a facility that might as well have a WHEN ATTACKING OUR CAPITAL, AIM THE DIRTY BOMB HERE sign painted on the roof.

The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!

If we can't defend ourselves because our economy goes in the toilet we lose. We have to win all over the place. We can even be winning abroad and still lose, if a dirty bomb goes off, or god forbid the loony tune in Iran gets his toys.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

HTML Help for Red Staters

Might be more appropriate.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

HTML Help for Red Staters

Not that we lose militarily. When I see idiots complaining they can't bring shampoo on a plane I worry
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

Is it only idiots who would complain that they are prohibited by security guards from bringing shampoo (or sippy cups or bottled water or those little keychain swiss army knives) on a plane?

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. --Voltaire

That is the correct interpretation.
After 9/11 all carry on luggage should have been eliminated.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. --Voltaire

______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

HTML Help for Red Staters

______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

Then the plane would really be safe. But in the practical world air travel is a reality. I travel for work constantly. I need carry-on luggage. Just like I need air travel.

Air travel can only be 100% safe by not having air travel. Carry-on luggage can only be 100% safe by not having carry-on. Neither works.

They must find some way to keep the air safe, but eliminating carry-on luggage isn't it. I suffer enough at the hands of the airlines and airports already.

Former Fredhead, Current McCainiac
absentee

I hated to fly before 9/11
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

I should be able to take a backpack with a couple of books, a walkman (or iPod, or whatever it is that the kids these days listen to), and a sack lunch onto a plane.

This is my intuition for what I should be able to do. Why? Well, when I was a kid (back when I flew with a walkman), I took a backpack with a couple of books and a sack lunch onto a plane.

Now when I see someone saying "carry-on luggage should have been banned after 9/11", my immediate internal response is that they are making fun of the TSA. Why? Because this position is so automatically absurd. I've flown on planes with a couple of books, a walkman, and a sack lunch.

And now, when I say that such a statement strikes me as parody, I get told that the burden of proof is on *ME* to explain why *I* should be able to take a backpack with a couple of books, a walkman, and a sack lunch onto a plane.

How's this?

Can you lay out why I shouldn't be able to take a backpack with some books, a walkman, and a sack lunch onto a plane?

Because that strikes me as being far, far, far, far more indefensible a position than the position that "a person should be able to take a backpack with a couple of books, a walkman, and a sack lunch onto a plane" because, for years and years and years and years... I did just that.

Please explain to me exactly how I was an idiot for thinking that I should have been able to do so. Or, I suppose, please explain to me why I'm an idiot for thinking I should be able to do so now? Or, if not that, why I'm an idiot for thinking I should be able to have a bottle of shampoo in my carry-on (that I also argue that I should be able to take with me).

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. --Voltaire

______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

All we know for sure is that it's acceptable if you're the big boss :-)

HTML Help for Red Staters

___________________________________
Two thirds of the world is covered by water,
the other third is covered by Champ Bailey.

Red State Sports, unite.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. Give the Fred Thompson news a day to settle.

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that." - Bill Shankly

Well, it's time for that double-serving of crow - uncooked. Your Giants are proving themselves studly and formidable, after knocking off #1 and #2 seeds on the road in the playoffs.

And I hope they find a way to send the 18-0 Cheating Cheaters down in ignomy.

Kill the terrorists
Protect the borders
Punch the hippies -- Frank J

I'm pretty pleased, though definitely not overly optimistic for Super Sunday.

Would love nothing more though.

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that." - Bill Shankly

This has been a very rough primary season for us all. We have four candidates for whom it seems every poster on here has at least one that's totally unacceptable to them. The one option that Republicans could easily unite behind has dropped out as of today, which guarantees that we'll have a nominee that a significant number of us will nearly have a brain hemorrhage over.

And Erick gets to ride herd on this boiling cauldron.

I can understand why Erick would have heartburn.

---
Finrod's First Law of Bandwidth:
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it takes the bandwidth of ten thousand.

I just don't think it's overwhelmingly helpful.

Tomorrow is another day. Heck, it's already tomorrow here in our nation's capital. Here's hoping it's a little more forward looking than today was.

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that." - Bill Shankly

It's hard to get the public to buy into fiscal discipline. Sure, you can rile up some people with "bridges to nowhere" in a far away land, but when it becomes a bridge to nowhere in your neck of the woods, suddenly nowhere appears to be a pretty attractive place to spend your weekends. How dare some know-nothing yahoo from far away keep us from having our bridge!

And when the press chimes in with the argument that if the bridge to nowhere isn't built, then poverty-stricken endangered pregnant yaks won't have access to an abortion clinic to maintain their endangered status, then how are you going to win hearts and minds? After all, no one wants a pregnant endangered yak in their back yard (conveniently overlooking that without the bridge, the yaks aren't going anywhere)!

I think fi-cons have to work on three areas:
1) Do a better job selling their message while avoiding looking like the Monopoly man.
2) Accept that if Americans are hell-bent on spending money on a certain policy, the best thing to do is to minimize the damage done by that policy. I think Bush and the prescription drug program is a good example of this and shudder to think what the 2006 elections would have looked like without the drug program.
3) On the other hand, if Americans are ambivalent about a program/grant/boondoggle, go after it will all fangs bared and kill it before the opposition can ramp up the spin to save the program.

If its not the most important thing, it is up there.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

So yes, Steve, it's a Hell of a lot more important than any fiscal policy.
___________________________________________________________

Disclaimer: I am a member of a state-wide executive committee that is affiliated with Governor Mike Huckabee's campaign for the GOP presidential nomination

Thats the kind of attitude that makes one a Huck fan. It Is All Important! Equally!

"Go ahead, make your jokes, Mr. Jokey... Joke-maker. But let me hit you with some knowledge. Quit now". -White Goodman

...members of a year-long residential Christian recovery/discipleship program run by one of my elders--mostly various flavors of recent EX-cons. While they do learn basic economics--such as "you don't do your work, you don't eat" (heh, the progress you can make with tough love unhooked from any govt funding!)--they also learn very quickly that He who made us (and is able to redeem the most heinous of us) has very clear reasons for valuing the life in the womb so highly, and will not forever withhold His hand from those who do not turn from thinking otherwise.

I would love to set some of those men down in a room for a few hours with some of the more "enlightened" here for a little tete-a-tete re the overall importance of fiscal policy.

soli Deo gloria

HTML Help for Red Staters

Spending cuts are *better* than tax cuts in some ways. If the government spends X$ on some program, it's not really increasing the "supply" of anything. It's diverting production from whatever useful purpose it would've served. That might increase imports by some roundabout way, but the point is that our economy is so good at allocating resources that priming the pump is just a waste of water.

Taxes diverts resources from the market. Spending does have some distruptive impacts (public spending can interfere with private spending in the sense that the government service competes with a privately provided service), but spending does not divert anything.

Its the need for the money spent to come from somewhere that diverts resources.

but then I realized that the increased demand pushes prices up, which reduces the amount non-government entities can purchase. Well, it's a circular thing but if you realize that we're already running at full capacity, it makes sense.

1. No, whether we ban carryons or not.

2. Ask, but not legally mandate on all carriers.

3. No, but there's no inherent right of the state to force me to fly to a city 1000 miles from home, hoping my airline brought my bags with me, and that the handlers didn't rob me of my valuables.

4. Arming the good guys. Which was my point above. The answer to Columbine isn't to disarm, it's to make sure the good guys are armed.

HTML Help for Red Staters

"3. Is there some inherent right to carry on luggage that I am not aware of ?"

I'd turn this around and ask "is there some part of the constitution that gives the Federal Government the power to confiscate 3.5 ounce bottles of shampoo?"

Let me guess... Interstate Commerce?

General Welfare?

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. --Voltaire

Otherwise what is it that gives states the right to demand you wear a seatbelt.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

Nothing, as far as I'm concerned. Nanny laws are a scourge.

Former Fredhead, Current McCainiac
absentee

Because you don't know what's good for you.

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. --Voltaire

Might the TSA not benefit from taking a closer look at the watches that men are wearing? I read a series of books when I was a kid about a guy and his uncle who fought crime and they both had these really cool watches and when you pressed a certain combination of buttons, the watch would shoot a lazer out that was capable of burning through a locked oak door.

What could a watch like that do to a plane, I ask you?

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. --Voltaire

You are going to get a lot of results that you can buy.

If you search for burning laser watches you aren't going to get very many at all. Their lethality will probably less than what you might want in a weapon.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

To the point where the position of "carry-on luggage should be banned" is a reasonable position to the point where the burden of proof is on the person who wants to take a couple of books, a walkman, and a sack lunch onto an airplane to explain why he thinks he has the *RIGHT* to?

And the watches in the books were the only two in the world.

But, at one point, there was only one television in the world and now they're everywhere.

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. --Voltaire

HTML Help for Red Staters

That's a fairly slender thread.

We're talking about the so-called "musicians", right?

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. --Voltaire

I mean this one.

HTML Help for Red Staters

My "we" was narrower than that.

Out of curiosity, has Britain gone back to allowing juice boxes, sippy cups, and bottled water on British flights?

If they have (and the information I was able to google says they are), is this a foolish decision on their part?

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. --Voltaire

With people flying planes into buildings ?

In november of 1941 had we had a problem with carrier attacks of our naval bases.

I will go back to my original point with Mr. Stevens right now. Our biggest problem with the war on terror is we might not have the will to win it. When we fought the Nazi's we were willing to do whatever it took. These days people find it onerous that if they want a drink they have to buy it from the airline.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

The problem on 9/11 was that passengers had been trained for the last X years that they were to give up moral agency once they sat down.

If a crazy guy stood up and yelled "I am hijacking this plane!" they were told to sit still and not do anything. Everything would be fine, if they just kept their heads down.

Well, if what was happening was that the plane was being hijacked to Havana... that worked out.

On 9/11, the folks on Flight 93 knew that they had to be moral agents if lives were to be saved. If not their own, the lives of those on the ground.

I think that telling people that they can't have sack lunches, a walkman, a couple of books, or a backpack at all would result in passengers being trained, once again, that they are not to be moral agents once they walk through the doors of an airport.

I think that this is the fundamental problem, actually.

We need our citizens to act like moral agents, not subjects.

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. --Voltaire

Former Fredhead, Current McCainiac
absentee

The problem isn't that people have ceased to be responsible on planes. Its that they have ceased to be responsible. Nobody ever sent out a training video to air travellers saying capitulate to hijackers.

______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777