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I’ll come.

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If you’re looking for a CD and don’t qualify for USAA, SDCCU is running a 5-mo 5.50% CD special that appears to be pretty competitive. I don’t know what their risk exposure is in regards to SD RE though.

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If anything this shows the extremes that people have and will continue to go to be able to buy (or keep) a house. It is this at-any-cost attitude that got us here in the first place. This is a great city, but $600k for a 50 yr old breadbox 10 feet from the next breadboxes? c’mon.

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(mostly) agreed PD, but not every politician wins their home state, even at the presidential election level.

See here for details.

Edit: Not looking to rehash 2000, but here’s an illustration of why the electoral college gave the election to bush while he lost the popular vote. GWB won more than 3x as many counties, and more than 4x as much area.

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A related consequence of getting rid of the EC would be the complete marginalization of low-population states in national politics. Who’s going to campaign in WY when the entire state only has half a million people? Who’s going to care about their issues? Politicians will follow the votes, and the rural states would be crushed.

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I haven’t looked at the electoral college in some time, so if I’m wrong here somebody jump in. It is my recolection that the electoral votes given to each state equals their number of members in congress. The house is based on census data, more people equals more votes. The senate is based on two per state, regardless of size, giving Wyoming as many votes as California. So one favors the populus, while the other puts each state on equal footing regardless of population. Combining the two for the electoral college is a nice balance.

In my opinion, doing away with the EC would greatly increase voter fraud. I’ve experienced plenty of it myself in my home state of Wisconsin. While I was in college, many would vote absentee, then hop on a bus to get taken to a polling place. As students could vote at any polling place, some would even get back, hop on a different bus and vote again some place else. People would brag of voting 3 or 4 times in the same election. It made me sick. During the last major election, partisan volunteers slashed the tires of rental vans that the other party was going to use to bus the poor and elderly to the polls. They were convicted, and one was an elected politician’s son. Milwaukee also has seen more ballots than registered voters, people voting under the names of deceased, convicts voting, etc. It is a sorry mess. Unfortunately reform is difficult, as which ever party benefits from the fraud resists efforts to fix.

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What a wonderful brush off LK. Since you like polls, here’s a PEW study for you to check out, as reported by NPR. I would consider NPR the most liberal of the major US broadcasters, so it’s hard to say I cherry picked from a conservative page 🙂

NPR: Pew Study: Journalists and Liberal Bias

The huff-huff at the end is especially entertaining. Basically “but… but… how dare you point out our bias! People might not automatically accept everything we tell them! This might make people realize our lack of objectivity!”

Also, doing away with the Electoral College would give large states more power, not less. I like the electoral college in that it strikes a nice compromise giving some protection from dense population areas automatically imposing their will on rural areas. Y2K election doesn’t factor in. It’s history, move on. 😉

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Exactly the point I was about to make SDRealtor. There really is no such thing as an “impartial” survey. Polsters can get whatever result they wish with the wording. This has been proven over and over again. It is pretty easy to realize that how you ask the question greatly affects the answer. Everyone does this in their daily lives.

LK, our goverment answers to our people, not the world. Furthermore, I put very little stock in opinion polls. The only polls that matter occur at the ballot box.

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The website you link from is dedicated to futhering liberal ideals. Perhaps not the most unbiased source?

Are you suggesting that we should base our policies on what will make us more “popular” in world opinion?

How does the “world” get its information regarding US activies? (A: Media)
Who controlles that information? (A: obviously journalists, etc)
Do those who control that information have a policy agenda or preference that is visible in their dispursment? (I say yes. If you disagree, do your own looking into it. Voting patterns, pos/neg spin rate correlation to issue, political party, etc)
Do you think there’s a chance that this bias is successful in its goal to effect opinion? (I say, unfortunately, yes. People generally don’t educate themselves and simply blindly take whatever they are fed)

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Point made yet?

PS – the reason I have not responded to your “questions” is because your political tone has always suggested poor research and understanding of the topic, complete lack of respect for views divergent from your own, and a tendency to grab on to anything that supports your tightly-held, preconcieved views, no matter how far-fetched. I do not believe you engage in political discussion in good faith, and have neither the time nor the inclination to dialog under such conditions. As such, yes, your political posts will be skimmed at best, and not responded to. They do not do you credit.

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“I think if there were widespread reports that the terrorists thought they were losing and should give up, the morale in the US would be higher and we would be willing to fight longer. Likewise, I think the reports that many Americans want to give up embolden the terrorists. Frankly, I think if we had presented a united front the past three years, the terrorists would have realized they were doomed and retreated from Iraq by now, freeing the military for peacekeeping in Africa or the like.”

Agreed.

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great points bgates.

I would add that it is my recollection that GWB was reluctant to place so much emphasis on WMD, but his first CIA director, George Tenent, a prior-administration carry over, called the wide international concensus on Iraqi WMD intellegence a “slam dunk“.

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“Protesting IS supporting them.”
Funny, only the protesters actually believe this.

“Who better to speak up than the public when OUR elected officials lead us down the wrong path? Should we blindly support them? Stay mute?”
Agreed. It is your view of the path and how some choose to exercise their freedom of expression with which I disagree.

“The military is in Iraq unnecessarily. WE went after Iraq – not the other way around.”
See UN Resolution 1441 and the history (all 30 yrs) behind it.

“We are inciting further hatred and violence against us. Anti-American sentiment is swelling to bursting point… GLOBALLY!…Look at the polls on this issue. People are getting the proper information and CHANGING THEIR OPINIONS.. these are people who previously supported Bush and supported Iraq.”
Major western media, which votes overwhemingly Democrat, has been conducting its own “war” against the administration for years. State and CIA have assisted the media’s efforts (don’t have their voting patterns handy, but they are also highly Democrat, as is most of the public sector). Just how long can bad news bad news bad news be spewn before it affects the polls? I’m amazed it took as long as it did.

“Just tell me how this is making me safer????? I certainly cant travel abroad as freely as before. My father said even his last trip to Africa was shockingly different then his trips pre-9/11. Resorts frequented by Americans are surrounded by heavily armed guards and barricades. Please tell me how I am safer today than I was before Iraq. I want to know.”
Hmm… don’t blame the terrorists who deliberately target civilians (American, Iraqi, English, Spanish, Israeli, whatever), blame the people who have taken the fight to them. Interesting. I assume you are aware that Islamic terrorism and the deliberate targeting of civilians long predates the war in Iraq. I think the arguement can be made that the reason you aren’t as safe has much more to do with events of 10 yrs ago then now. There was a time when a single American casulaty by terrorism carried an aweful price. Then, for a number of years responses were symbolic at best. Jihadists question our resolve and our commitment.

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“YES ! Expect this to happen here by 08, after the ’07’ ARM majority reset.”

I have no sympathy for people who over leveraged themselves. No one forced them to buy; it was only their own greed and neglect to adequately research & plan that put them where they are. While I haven’t tried applying my very rusty spanish to the text of the article, I assume that these are young adults who are effectively priced out of the market thanks to “irrational exuberance”. For these I have much empathy.

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…and thus my point is made. Politics is an area where some are simply unable of showing common courtesy towards viewpoints differing from their own, and frequently go on to trashing individuals or groups that personally insults well-intentioned members of this online community. PD, bgates, thanks for maintaining the high road and not being sucked into the muck and responding in kind.

And a big THANK YOU to all our military men, women & families. What an irony it is that you are willing to risk your lives to defend the freedom of your detractors to unfairly say the things they do. Perhaps one day they will realize this irony, be grateful for your sacrifices, and regret the vile with which they spoke of you.

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