Imaginary dialogues have been used by great writers like Plato as a teaching device. But I can see that it could also be a great way to boost post counts.

7/18/2009 5:22:33 PM

i thought it was getting pretty good

7/18/2009 6:05:35 PM

Marko vs. Marko

7/18/2009 10:23:15 PM

Quote :

"There are plenty of legitimate reasons to hate obama"

my best reason is he's a fucking coward

7/18/2009 11:17:02 PM

marko, you, Sir, are a formidable opponent.

[Edited on July 18, 2009 at 11:35 PM. Reason : ]

7/18/2009 11:34:36 PM

7/18/2009 11:41:51 PM

i like markos snarkyness

7/18/2009 11:53:18 PM

I hate you, marko!

marko

7/19/2009 12:03:04 AM

Quote :

"Hannity is disingenuously splicing the Obama interview, and the idiots on the right that watch Fox News seem to be eating it up "

as opposed to the idiots who soak up "press conferences" with obama that are planned prior with media, and audiences who are pre-determined and questions pre-required for review

7/19/2009 5:00:43 PM

7/19/2009 5:22:24 PM

Quote :

"[quote]so how does it feel now that the public, independents, conservative democrats, and most notable journalists are starting to wake up with a ice cold bucket of water on their face and turning on your Christ in office"

7/19/2009 5:32:17 PM

huh?

7/19/2009 6:03:17 PM

supporters are turning on obama, and its only started

7/19/2009 6:08:04 PM

approval ratings go down when the economy goes down. no surprises there. also obama has lost some civil liberties cred with some (including me).

7/19/2009 6:11:23 PM

his "Change" platform are disappointing some, and scaring a lot .. i support his supreme court choice of Sotomayor, she over qualified and will do a great job, i hope. but he is ignoring warnings by budget committees

7/19/2009 6:15:50 PM

Like most things, politicians hold up CBO estimates when they fit with their views and denounce or ignore them when they don't. See also: President George Walker "Texas Ranger" Bush.

7/19/2009 6:25:29 PM

still stuck on that eh?

its not just the CBO, its independents, republicans (yes they were elected and are in the congress), and a growing number of democrats .. the number of people against obama is growing exponentially, people are dissapointed in vast numbers for the person they voted for

7/19/2009 6:58:35 PM

it was great before the stimulus was passed when it went from like 1.5 million new jobs, then like 2.5 million, then 3 million, before finally settling at 3.5 million new jobs "or jobs saved"

7/19/2009 7:09:49 PM

and our deficit is the highest in our history, and unemployment is growing in rates higher than since the depression ... *applause*

7/19/2009 7:12:18 PM

Quote :

"and unemployment is growing in rates higher than since the depression"

link?

don't worry. i just looked at the bureau of labor statistics and even your oddly worded claim isn't accurate. we had >10% unemployment for nearly a year in 1982-83.
and our current rate is 9.5%



[Edited on July 19, 2009 at 7:29 PM. Reason : plot]

7/19/2009 7:21:43 PM

Quote :

"link? don't worry. i just looked at the bureau of labor statistics and even your oddly worded claim isn't accurate. we had >10% unemployment for nearly a year in 1982-83. and our current rate is 9.5%"

Reading Comprehension?

He said that unemployment was growing at a rate not seen since the great depression. Not that unemployment hasn't seen higher rates since then. See the difference? The unemployment rate back in 82-3 took a while to climb that high; about 5 or so years, where as unemployment has skyrocketed in just the past year and a half.

7/20/2009 2:35:34 AM

over what sort of time period?

over the past three months our unemployment rate is following the same trend as the past three years.

over the past year, yes the unemployment has raised a lot quickly (3.9% from a year ago) but the same jump was seen in 1974-75 (and years have come close multiple times in the past sixty years).

[Edited on July 20, 2009 at 7:57 AM. Reason : .]

7/20/2009 7:56:50 AM

dude, you're arguing semantics when the overall point is that unemployment is getting really fucking bad

and look, actually the drop is worse than the mid-70s recession




and the actual unemployment rate is only 2nd to the early 80s



and several more views showing that, yes, the recession we're in is the worst, or almost the worst, in most job measures since the Depression

7/20/2009 9:59:25 AM

Quote :

" Monday, July 20, 2009 ABC News The Honeymoon's Over? Obama's Numbers Plummet on Stimulus, Deficit. While 56 percent of Americans still believe Obama's approach will improve the economy, that's down from a whopping 72 percent when he took office. 6 in 10 also oppose the additional stimulus spending the president is pushing for."

Remain Calm! All is Well! Hope! ... ah... Change!

7/20/2009 10:54:42 AM

if only a real paper could publish this, instead of a fake paper recently fakely bought bought by China...

Quote :

"Weakling President Asks Imaginary Man In Sky To Bless Nation WASHINGTON—In a display of weakness unbecoming a head of state, President Barack Obama concluded remarks to his nation Tuesday by asking a pretend man who lives in the clouds to watch over and guide the United States. "Thank you, and may God bless America," said the clearly insecure president, who, by seeking the aid of an imaginary being who is neither his ancestor nor someone with whom he shares a tangible harmonious relationship, freely admitted that he has little faith in himself and his inept team of jester advisers. Even more incomprehensible, sources said, is that hundreds of millions of Americans openly worship the all-knowing invisible man—who apparently observes the world's events from atop his perch in outer space—without fear of mockery, shame, or violent government reprisal. According to sources, citizens of the U.S. depend on the fanciful grandfather of magic to take care of everything for them, from aiding their tiny overseas army, to curing their illnesses, to helping their sports teams achieve victory, to providing little Jimmy McDonalds with his silly toys. Mindless spirituality reportedly inhibits progress and remains a bulwark against government rule. ?"

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/weakling_president_asks

7/20/2009 12:16:35 PM

i'm not denying that this recession is very bad and not really in the league of any other recession/depression since the great depression. at first i really didn't understand what tke was saying. he made a claim that i was pretty sure was false (it was). then i tried to root out what his actual claim was. anyway, i basically want a clear claim. i was never given one. the claim that "the rate of decrease in the unemployment rate is the worst since the GD COULD be true with some caveats. it depends on what period of time you're looking at. and in the past few months our changes in jobless rates have changed exactly the same as the previous three years (maybe farther back i haven't looked at it again). in other words, in the short term our outlook isn't getting worse at a faster rate. in the longer term, the mid 1970s was just as bad as far as change from year to the next compared to our worst of this current recession (-3.9% iirc).

in other ways our economy has gone very badly, but as far as job losses go, there are other times in the past 50 years which are similar to our current situation.

7/20/2009 2:31:15 PM

youre right, i should have worded it differently

Quote :

"and our deficit is the highest in our history, and unemployment is growing in rates higher than at a percentage that's one of the highest since the depression "

7/20/2009 2:45:39 PM

Only the deficit isn't really the highest it's ever been.



edit: missed that the above was debt, and not deficit. Better:



[Edited on July 20, 2009 at 3:45 PM. Reason : ]

7/20/2009 3:43:49 PM

oh yeaaa, a world war will do that


and thats a percentage, not the actual number which is what i said

7/20/2009 3:50:31 PM

What relevance does that number have if it's not somehow tied to the overall economy?

7/20/2009 3:57:56 PM

our economy is at a low that we havnt seen in decades, and our deficit is the highest in history, and its only getting worse

why are you trying to put a cherry on top of a pile of crap?

[Edited on July 20, 2009 at 4:14 PM. Reason : ]

7/20/2009 4:11:53 PM

he's not trying to "put a cherry" on it - he's trying to bring needed context to the numbers. The raw numbers in and of themselves mean nothing when the overall GDP, the population of the country, inflation rates, etc aren't counted in.

To the contrary, you're taking already bad numbers, and "putting a turd" on them, attempting to make them look worse than they actually are compared to previous crisis.

7/20/2009 4:16:39 PM

Quote :

"our economy is at a low that we havnt seen in decades"

Meaning GDP is down, meaning decifits as a proportion of GDP are higher than they would be under normal circumstances.

Get over it. They're not the "highest in history."

7/20/2009 4:20:43 PM

jesus christ, our deficit is over a trillion dollars and is only growing, and any tax increase is not going to lower it

how bout you combat that aspect instead of fiddling with numbers .. cause when you reach a number over 1 trillion dollars, inflation rates and population doesnt mean shit

take hundreds of millions off that just for the hell of it, and its still the highest in history

7/20/2009 4:21:55 PM

Quote :

"jesus christ, our deficit is over a trillion dollars and is only growing, and any tax increase is not going to lower it"

now you're just talking crazy.

(and fyi our gdp is tens of trillions)

[Edited on July 20, 2009 at 4:31 PM. Reason : .]

7/20/2009 4:30:54 PM

i guess that makes it better?

why are you so blinded to the over spending, over taxing, going on that is not going to help our deficit but only make it deeper??

7/20/2009 4:37:15 PM

i really don't understand why you're claiming that raising taxes won't help the lower the deficit.

7/20/2009 4:41:13 PM

Quote :

"how bout you combat that aspect instead of fiddling with numbers"

nobody here is defending the huge deficit. And yes, obviously a trillion is a huge number.

But it's not "fiddling with the numbers" to put the deficit in context, relative to the overall economy. It's not fiddling - it's simply how it's done. The raw numbers mean nothing without knowing what context to put them in.

What if, for example, our GDP was $100 Trillion. What would a $1T deficit mean then? (it would mean nothing) What if the GDP was only $100B? Would $1T deficit mean anything then? (it would mean the end of the world)

In truth, our GDP is somewhere in between, so a $1T deficit must be compared to the GDP. Just as the deficit in 1930, in 2008 dollars, was peanuts, but compared to the 1930s GDP was huge.

7/20/2009 4:42:12 PM

so i guess we can agree on that our economy is crap, spending/taxing is out of control, and its not going to get any better as long as BHO is in office

7/20/2009 5:12:43 PM

Quote :

"we can agree on that our economy is crap, spending/taxing is out of control, and its not we don't know if it's going to get any better as long as BHO is in office"

7/20/2009 5:40:45 PM

Quote :

"With the public’s trust in his (Obama) handling of health care tanking (50%-44% of Americans disapprove), the White House has launched a new phase of its strategy designed to pass Obamacare: all Obama, all the time. As part of that effort, Obama hosted a conference call with leftist bloggers urging them to pressure Congress to pass his health plan as soon as possible. During the call, a blogger from Maine said he kept running into an Investors Business Daily article that claimed Section 102 of the House health legislation would outlaw private insurance. He asked: “Is this true? Will people be able to keep their insurance and will insurers be able to write new policies even though H.R. 3200 is passed?” President Obama replied: “You know, I have to say that I am not familiar with the provision you are talking about.” "

Here's a link to listen to Obama's answers...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/20/obama-calls-on-bloggers-t_n_241570.html

7/21/2009 2:29:19 PM

obama's presidency

7/21/2009 2:54:55 PM

7/21/2009 2:59:22 PM

hey let me see how many threads i can post my dumb fucking image in

7/21/2009 2:59:54 PM

I expected Obama to crash and burn, but I didn't think the descent would start this quick.

7/21/2009 3:00:22 PM

7/21/2009 3:02:01 PM

yea, who didnt see this coming

not me

7/21/2009 3:07:39 PM

The guy's about to get comprehensive health reform passed.

How is he crashing and burning?

7/21/2009 3:18:08 PM

FUCK YOU WE HATE POOR PEOPLE

7/21/2009 3:20:37 PM

Ah, pictures. Good to see this discussion has advanced beyond biting and pants-wetting.

7/21/2009 3:22:11 PM