Its kindof refreshing to have a Chicago area pol who is clean as a peeled egg, who loves his wife (even if she does have big bicepts) and his children as our president.

He really stands a whole host of stereotypes on their ears.

And no matter how much the Palins howl about how liberal he is he truly is governing from the center.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

You are right, there was nothing mean-spirited in Reid's remark.

It was however, incredibly demeaning. So a light-skinned negro who speaks proper English is a "good" candidate, while a dark-skinned black might be percieved as more threatening?
Stupid stupid comments.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

I guess I'm out of the loop- you cannot call black folks "black" or "negro" anymore? What terms are acceptable? "African-American"? Even if their last ancestors came from Africa over 200 years ago? Then I'd venture to say "white" is racist and you'd better call me "Irish-American" cause my Great Grandfather came from Ireland less about 115 years ago. I don't like Reid, but I don't think what he said was racism. If you talk like a "negro" which really means if you talk like a "n-word" (because they are not the same, or they are if all "negros" listen to and talk like rap, wear their pants around their knees, have gold teeth, call women "ho's") then you will not get elected. Uh...and who here thinks that is false?

I have found this entire issue boring and stupid. For the Republicans to compare it to Trent Lott's situation is flat ridiculous. Lott stated we would all be better off if Strom Thurmond, who had run on a platform of segregating the races and denying blacks equality under the law with whites, had been elected president, a truly outrageous comment for a Senate Majority Leader to make. To compare this to Reid's social faux pau is simply moronic.

The Rr is really reaching here. Much ado about nothing.

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TXBill



Former owner of a few diesel MB cars
1998 Lexus ES 300 In Chicago We Trust

The incredible thing about the controversy surrounding soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's kissing up to the racist legacy of Strom Thurmond is that anyone thinks it is incredible.
Lott is on the hot seat for telling a 100th birthday party for Thurmond, the South Carolina senator who in 1948 ran an overtly racist campaign for president on the State's Rights Party ticket: "I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years either."
Those remarks have caused a major stir, which is appropriate. But this is hardly the first time that Lott, who began his political career in the 1960s as an aide to segregationist Democratic Congressman William Colmer, has hailed the legacy of those who fought to defend the practices of slavery and segregation. Nor is the tortured "apology" Lott has issued the first to come from the senator.
Indeed, there is no greater constant in Trent Lott's political career than his embrace of all things Confederate.
To wit:
* In 1978, after his election to the US House, Lott led a successful campaign to have the US citizenship of Jefferson Davis restored. Davis lost his citizenship when he became president of the Confederate States of America when southern states were in open revolt against the US government.
* During the 1980 campaign, after Thurmond spoke at a Mississippi rally for Ronald Reagan, Lott said of the old Dixiecrat: "You know, if we had elected that man 30 years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today."
* In 1981, when he was lending his prestige as a member of the US Congress to an effort to preserve the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University -- the notorious South Carolina college that was under fire for prohibiting interracial dating -- Lott insisted that, "Racial discrimination does not always violate public policy."
* Despite the fact that he represents the state with the largest percentage of African-American citizens in the US, Lott has throughout his career been an active supporter of the Sons of the Confederacy, a group that celebrates the soldiers who fought to defend the "right" of Mississippians to own African-Americans as slaves." Lott even appears in recruitment videos for the group.
* Speaking at a 1984 convention of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Lott declared that "the spirit of Jefferson Davis lives in the 1984 Republican Platform." Asked to explain his statement in an interview with the extreme rightwing publication Southern Partisan, Lott said, "I think that a lot of the fundamental principles that Jefferson Davis believed in are very important to people across the country, and they apply to the Republican Party... and more of The South's sons, Jefferson Davis' descendants, direct or indirect, are becoming involved with the Republican party."
* Lott gave the keynote address at a 1992 national executive board meeting of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a successor organization to the old white Citizens Councils, segregation-era groups the Southern Poverty Law Center refers to as "the white-collar Ku Klux Klan. The C of CC may have changed its name, but it remains a passionate "white racialist" group that condemns intermarriage, integration and immigration by non-whites. As Boston Globe columnist Derrick Z. Jackson, who has researched the group, argues, "There is no question of the resegregationist agenda of the Council of Conservative Citizens when four of the seven links listed on the home page for former Klan leader David Duke link back to the Council of Conservative Citizens." Other links, Jackson has noted, "deny the Holocaust and sell T-shirts with swastikas and Nazi stormtrooper symbols." But when Lott appeared at that Greenwood, Mississippi, meeting of C of CC leaders, he did not address his disdain for racism or anti-Semitism. Rather, he discussed his concerns about "the dark forces" that he said were overwhelming America and said, "We need more meetings like this across the nation... The people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy. Let's take it in the right direction and our children will be the beneficiaries."
* In 1997, Lott was photographed meeting with national leaders of the C of CC in his Washington office. At his side were two prominent C of CC leaders: Gordon Baum, a former field organizer for the Citizens Councils in the days when they were referred to as the "uptown Klan," and William Lord, who has acknowledged using the mailing lists of the Citizens Councils to build the C of CC in the 1980s and 1990s. That same year, the C of CC used an endorsement quote from Lott in recruitment literature.
* When the Washington Post began to detail Lott's ties to the C of CC, his office announced that he had "no firsthand knowledge of the group's views." But when The New York Times asked Lott's uncle, former Mississippi state Sen. Arnie Watson, a member of the C of CC executive board, about ties between the senator and the organization, Watson said, "Trent is an honorary member." When a reporter for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger showed up at a 1998 C of CC meeting in Mississippi, he was told by those in attendance that Lott was a member. Lott's office never challenged the report when it appeared in his homestate's largest newspaper. But a year later, when the Washington Post took the issue up, Lott said, "I have made my condemnation of the white supremacist and racist view of this group, or any group, clear."
* Yet, a column written by Lott still appeared on a regular basis in the Citizens Informer, the group's publication, alongside articles thick with statements like: "Western civilization, with all its might and glory, would never have achieved its greatness without the directing hand of God and the creative genius of the white race. Any effort to destroy the race by a mixture of black blood is an effort to destroy Western civilization itself."
* Go to the website of the Council of Conservative Citizens today and you will find, beneath the Confederate flag and the section attacking an African-American professor at Vanderbilt, a big smiling picture of the Mississippi senator next to headlines that read: "A Lott of Courage!" "C of CC Passes Resolution Commending Lott" and "Lott Needs Your Support."
When he started to face questions about his most recent praise of Thurmond's 1948 Dixiecrat campaign, Lott initially said that his remarks were just part of "a lighthearted celebration" of the retiring segregationist's career. That was enough for Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, to give Lott an initial pass. But, thankfully, Julian Bond and the NAACP, and a few African-American and progressive members of the House, refused to allow the matter to die. Only under this lingering pressure did Lott sort of apologize by saying of his statement at the Thurmond bash: "I regret the way it has been interpreted."
That's the standard line from Lott, who always apologizes when he gets caught defending the defenders of slavery and segregation. But, so far, Lott has never failed to follow each "apology" with another tribute to the Confederacy or the segregationists who seek even in the 21st century to maintain the racist legacy of Jefferson Davis, Strom Thurmond and the "uptown Klan."

The truth is that no loyal democrat will ever be accused of any racial sins.
Every Republican is automatically a racist.
Seems pretty clear to me.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Trent Lott’s history of involvement with the CCC: (COUNCIL OF CONSERVATIVE CITIZENS)

• In 1997 Lott met held a private meeting with CCC leaders in his Washington, D.C. office, a photo and account of the meeting appeared in the CCC's publication, Citizens Informer, later that year.
• In 1997 the CCC used an endorsement quote from Lott for a direct mailing campaign.
• In 1995 Lott addressed an audience in attendance at a Mississippi-based CCC event
• In 1992 Lott was the featured speaker and issued strong praise of the CCC at its national conference.
• The Spring 1989 edition of Citizens Informer, features a photo of Lott with his uncle, who is identified as an executive of the CCC, and his cousin, who's identified as a CCC general member.
• Lott's column has been a regular feature of Citizens Informer for several years

I agree with Will. Nothing racist. Nothing untrue in what Reid said.

The comparison with Lott is bogus.

The real story here is what a total MORON Harry Reid is.
And he is the leader of the Party in the Senate?
Not his finest hour to be sure. Nor his worst: "This War is lost"
Do people in Nevada have any brains? Where's that young fella from Sparks NV?

So now, Harry is trailing any of the three Rep. challengers for his Senate seat. And to make matters worse, the unions are in an uproar over the tax on Cadillac plans which is included in "his" Senate bill. The SEIU must be a powerful voting bloc in NV. Harry Reid's in deep doo-doo.

However, the prospect of Chuck Schumer becoming Maj. Leader is almost enough to make me wish Harry gets re-elected.

He's such a moron he's about to get the most momentous health care bill in history thru the Senate. What a dumbell.

Yup, this guy is allowing himself to become a distraction. Time for them to get some "new blood" in place.

The Democrats have suffered thru a series of milk toast Majority leaders. I couldn't stand Daschle. Reid is supposed to be a tough guy behind the scenes, but he comes across publicly as a wimp. I wish the guy would just drop out of his re-election race. That would put either Schumer or Rockefeller up for Majority leader, both much better players of hard ball.

King Dumbell.


Democrats Weigh New Tax on Investment Income

By MARTIN VAUGHAN and LAURA MECKLER

WASHINGTON -- House and Senate negotiators are considering applying for the first time the Medicare payroll tax to investment income as part of a compromise to pay for a health overhaul.

The extra Medicare tax would apply only to the wealthy and could allow congressional Democrats to reduce the sting of a tax on high-cost insurance plans, said Democratic aides and others briefed on the negotiations.

Labor leaders complained directly to President Barack Obama on Monday about the tax on high-value plans, which would hit some union members who have negotiated generous health benefits.

At least one union is threatening to oppose the underlying legislation if the tax remains, and the president of the AFL-CIO suggested in a speech that Democrats who took unions for granted risked losing support in congressional elections later this year.

"Politicians who think that working people have it too good ... are inviting a repeat of 1994," when Republicans took control of the House after decades in the minority, said AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka.

Republicans have criticized Democratic plans for higher Medicare taxes, saying the health bill already includes too many taxes and creates a big new government program at a time of large federal budget deficits. "If Democratic leaders want to increase Medicare taxes, the revenue should go to Medicare ... not for other government spending," said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) late last year.

A Republican aide said Monday that including investment income in Medicare taxes "unnecessarily undermines the simple straightforward structure" of the current system.

Currently, the Medicare tax applies only to wages, without any limits. The 2.9% tax is divided in half, with workers and employers each paying 1.45%. The health bill passed by the Senate would raise the worker contribution to 2.35% for individuals making more than $200,000 a year and couples making more than $250,000 a year.

Under the proposal now being considered, people making more than those amounts would also pay the Medicare tax on dividends and other income from investments, the people familiar with the talks said. Income from pensions and retirement accounts, including 401(k) accounts, would be exempt.

People familiar with the talks cautioned that the idea was still in the study stage along with other ideas, and that it was too early to say whether it would find favor among Democrats.

A version of the broader Medicare tax, put forward by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.), would raise $111 billion over 10 years, according to a December estimate from the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

The proposal would also bring the Senate closer to the House version of the health bill, which contains a 5.4% income surtax on the wealthy. That surtax would apply to income above $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for couples.

The extra Medicare tax might bring in enough to scale back the tax on high-cost health plans and still have some left over to beef up subsidies to help the poor buy health insurance -- a key goal of House negotiators in the talks.

"It's an obvious compromise," said Chuck Marr, director of federal tax policy at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "They need to find something between the House and Senate versions. The advantage of this proposal is that, like the House surtax, it is broad-based."

Mr. Obama has made clear that he supports a new tax on high-cost health-insurance plans, both to raise money and to discourage high health-care spending associated with these products. The Senate bill includes such a tax, although the House version doesn't.

One union said Monday the tax issue was important enough to kill the bill.

"We cannot support legislation that looks anything like the Senate bill, and I think Democrats proceed at their own peril," said Tom Buffenbarger, president of the 640,000-member International Association of Machinists. "If this goes through, the wrath of membership will be felt Nov. 2."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126325868807825625.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

I think that the democrats have finally figured out that unions are no longer relevant; they can be safely ignored.

Well said, agree 100%

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth