this is so weird, but my computer can't seem to find Google.com and I doubt google is down. For my sanity can someone let me know if they can or can't load it? Thanks!

Another thing to think about: How does your husband feel about taxes? Instead of thinking of this as a stimulus check, think of it as a tax rebate check... He paid taxes, the government thought he paid too much so he is getting a rebate.

If you use your stimulus check to pay off debt instead of purchase cheap goods made in China, then you are effectively lowering the personal debt of this country which in the long run, can only be positive for the USA! :patriot:

Mudslide!! Tastes like a chocolate milkshake!

I empty out my rep everyday. Some days I give out all the rep too soon and someone says something clever or helpful and I'm plum out of rep :crying: Probably 3-4 times a day, I get the spread the love message. I guess I'm always agreeing with the same people! **I have never given negative rep and I never will. If I have that much of a problem with someone, I would probably pm them so there could be the chance for a rebuttal.

Funny, I had a dream a few nights ago after a late night on the board :001_huh:, anyway... I somehow always read your name as elegnation. Just as I was waking up, someone in my dream said elegantlion and I said "what, you mean eleg-nation? :confused: .:lol: Weird, right? I have nooooo idea what the dream was about!

I love the first paragraph on the IDEAS tab That's been my question for the past 3 years... why do kids have snacks everywhere they go (and sippy cups)? I asked it in another thread on here but I'll ask it again: Do you think kids are less safe than they were 30 years ago, or do you think the media reports on it more? We should be making our communities safer by knowing who are neighbors are and not being afraid of them.

I don't know how I missed this one! Actually, Clinton's campaign manager thanked fox news for being the first in declaring Hillary the winner (transcript) in PA. The quote from Terry McAuliffe "And let me congratulate FOX because you were the first ones to call it for Hillary Clinton. Fair and balanced FOX. You beat them all." This is actually one of the things I haven't liked about Hillary's whole campaign and one of the reasons she didn't get my vote: She is a typical politician who will say anything when things are going her way, but when they are not, she blames the press, the party, advisors and yet never takes the blame but always takes the credit. You can agree with fox, and of course sometimes they will actually be fair and balanced, but for the most part, they slant their news in a very unfair way. Now, you can like their slant because, perhaps, you have the same ideas and conclusions but I don't see how it could be fair :confused: Lets take Huckabee and the other conservatives running in the race such as Thompson, Ron Paul, and Tom Tancredo all were snubbed by Fox News. Huckabee couldn't even buy advertising on Fox and when they referred to him, it was as "Baptist Minister" Mike Huckabee and not Governor or Former Governor. I would say the one true network with absolutely no political slant (because there are NO PUNDITS!) is C-Span. Yeah, its dry as dirt but its as close to fair and balanced as it gets because its unedited, straight from their mouths to your ears. I can see how people enjoy Fox or CNN, but to call them fair and balanced is wrong - actually, they don't use that tag line anymore do they? I'm not 100% sure but I think they use "We Report, You Decide" now.

Yes, Homeschooling :lol: Good luck and post pictures! You can do it!

Well, if it helps any, the Astroscan Telescope is the one I'm going to order (after much research!). Good Luck! Edited to add: Here is a review of the astroscan and in the conclusion, he mentions a few other scopes of interest :)

I would respectfully disagree and say that Fox News and CNN are both sensationalist, misleading and out for ratings instead of truth, and that The NYT is liberal and The Wall Street Journal is conservative. I wrote more in this post if your interested. :)

McCain has made it his position that you do not talk to enemies. Like AmyinPA said, the US has a longheld policy to not talk with terrorists. Like Parabola said: "The thing is, terrorists organizations have "legitimacy" whether we recognize it or not" and I think Turkey, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Quatar and Hezbollah have shown that sometimes you do talk to your enemies including terrorists. As far as Obama goes - Hillary thinks he's wrong, but people like Howard Baker III, Chuck Hagel and Colin Powell think Bush and McCain are wrong. And please remember that the U.S. has a long history of meeting with our then-biggest enemy, the Soviets. Actually, I think Bush's recklessness and intractability has probably convinced a lot of Middle East nations that they'd rather work things out themselves than deal with the bullying of the Bush administration. One last point, and I think this agrees with what Parabola was saying that those countries are showing independence even if they didn't want to: I think we should remove our military from Iraq and remove any remaining sanctions, and let them work things out for themselves. The Bush administration is completely out of depth in understanding the people of Iraq, their culture, religion and history. Bush should be negotiating with them with our best interests in mind, not trying to reshape a country with a longer history than we have. Call me cynical, but I think this gives the current administration a reason to continue paying $750,000,000,000/year for our military But that does not mean that I think the US should be sitting on the sidelines. I just don't think we have to be the mediator or the military force. Whether we like it or not, we have interests in the middle east that need to be met so I think the answer is NOT to sit out of negotiations but to participate. I think Obama can do this and that's one reason he is getting my vote. Since the quotes don't seem to be working in the forum today, I tried to quote by going through the thread... if I've misquoted - please let me know!

Bush and McCain have been mocking Obama's supposed "naivete", saying that it is not good policy to talk to your enemies. Well... Apparently if you're not gonna take part in Middle East negotiations, they're gonna do it for themselves. Another way Bush (and by extension McCain) have abdicated our authority as a superpower. I think this makes Obama more appealing and why he is getting my vote. I do have some problems with Obama's positions. This is not one of them.

:iagree: I also agree that you should watch Love Actually together. Just pointing out that the men and women who responded to this thread are still unanimous.

Wow, this is completely unanimous. No one yet thinks this is ok and appropriate. I hope your husband understands where you're coming from. :grouphug: I hope he has no intention of getting her something for her birthday even if he thinks it is a joke gift - like a rival football pin/stick/mug or whatever.

Mine did too and as it turns out... he's gay :lol: (I kind of sorta suspected that though)

I was ready but I didn't get any negative rep either! .:w00t:

:eek: I think government would KILL the ingenuity! If we are forced to find alternatives because currently the free market fuel costs are high, and rising (as well as the environmental cost) just opening up America's pipelines for more oil will not give us the urgency that I think we need in preparing for "the end of oil" I think we need to think very long term and not just about relief for the here and now. It will ultimately benefit our country to go clean and efficient and sustaining even if its a little painful in the process. Opening up our pipeline could have more harmful effects... we can do this! (without the gov't!) Already, look at some of the fascinating stuff entrepreneurs are coming up with! We can do this, we need to be self sufficient. I don't like the fact that we're starting to outsource our food, I don't like the dependency on oil (foreign or otherwise) as it is ultimately limited. Let's think beyond our generation and into our children's generation.

I'm in the lower left corner too - fairly close to the economic center and closer to the libertarian than center for social issues :party:

Because drilling for oil in the US and continuing to use oil as our primary source of energy is still contributing to pollution (even if you don't believe in global warming) and oil is dirty and still will be controlled by greedy US oil companies, I think the answer lies in using our good old American ingenuity and coming up with inexpensive, clean energy. :)

I am a progressive republican, or a centrist democrat. I do believe in having a small progressive government with minimal taxes and overhead and I believe in saving the environment and cutting out our dependence on oil from the middle east :) I plan to vote for Obama in '08. Not that anyone would be surprised :lol:

That's way better!

Me too... look at the time! I gotta run now. Really. I'm not going to click "new posts" again. Not even one more time. Ok, once more. Then I'm going to get something done today. :lol:

oops, sorry about that, I fixed it... I was actually editing that post but copy and pasted something for another post on that page. I wanted to quote you for this post on page 2: link

I don't think she's doing herself any favors by not conceding. I'm guessing she wants to concede on her terms and show she's tough and a fighter. My feeling is she should have made the call to Obama and graciously bowed out. I do think Al Gore had every right to not concede when there was so much doubt about the count. A lot was at stake. In Hillary's case, there is no doubt. The party sets the rules and now the deal is done. Obama will be the nominee.