The republicans v. condo associations. Great election year drama!

You mean to tell me that we are paying $162,000 to debate stuff like this, I want a refund!

You mean to tell me...

I mean to tell you get lost, troll.

You mean to tell me...

I mean to tell you get lost, troll.

Tom,

But you do realilze this is WAY more important than, say, health care insurance? Why a large portion of New Orleans still lays in rubble? Etc.

This issue is far more pressing than the 60 dollars it takes to fill my gas tank

Ash, we've sent BILLIONS down to N.O. Still the same corrupt democrats spending the money the wrong way. It's not because the American people haven't paid for it to be fixed already. Here's the Landrieau list;
Senator Landrieau Goes Pork Shopping
President Bush did say that rebuilding New Orleans will cost what it will cost - a sensible thing to say when he said it as no one had a clue how much damage had been done. Some estimates have come in, however, and they are far short of the $200 billion price tag foolishly tossed about by the MSM in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane (as in all things MSM on the hurricane, they got it wrong). The creeping reality that Katrina wasn't nearly as bad as thought, however, has not stopped Democrats from, well, acting like Democrats. Wes Pruden over at the Washington Times got ahold of Ms. Landrieau's shopping list:
Veronique de Rugy, a researcher at the American Enterprise Institute whose name ought to reassure the Vieux Carre, spent a day picking out the juicy bits.
"A not so quick read of the 440 pages demonstrates that the Louisiana lawmakers stuffed it with everything they could think of," Miss de Rugy says. "Many items have nothing to do with hurricane relief."
A few samples: $35 million for the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board; $8 million for direct financial assistance to alligator farmers; $12 million for the restoration of wildlife management areas; $25 million to complete the Sugarcane Research Laboratory; $120 million for a laboratory, facilities and equipment at the Southern Regional Research Center; $28 million for the restoration and rehabilitation of trees; $34 million to support the research and education activities of the Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service; $19 million for the acquisition of first-responder mobile communications and to provide public wireless Internet access in a 100-block area of downtown New Orleans; $250 million for assistance to firefighters; $100 million for "early intervention, prevention, and disorder treatment" for children up to 5 years old; another $100 million for early intervention, prevention, and disorder treatment for children older than that; $100 million for assessment, early intervention, prevention, and treatment for "substance abuse" (and we're not talking red beans and rice, delicious substances though those are); $600 million for early childhood education; $20 million for the establishment of development plans for development districts in the state; $160 million to implement the 2005 recommendations of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission related to the federal city development in Algiers, La.; $7 billion for rebuilding evacuation and energy supply routes (that's in addition to $5 billion for expansion of road and transit capacity); $150 million for small business loans and tax breaks, and another $50 billion in block grants (this is in case someone forgot to ask for something).

So stop blameing Bush you idiot, Jeeze!

New Orleans is run my morons, that is why it is shambles. They had a chnace to change leadership and declined. You get what you pay for.

Porter,

"New Orleans is run my morons, that is why it is shambles"

--I could have sworn that the delapidated and incorrectly designed levees, and the 3 successive administrations which ignored the mounting problems, caused it to be in shambles...but what does history have to do with it, right?

Tom, Ash,

Your petty snipes really are not necessary. Why are you sneering at people being given the right to express their patriotism, and bringing up a totally unrelated subject? I find it interesting that liberals are against the expression of patriotism.

Eyes Closed,

If it weren't for a bunch of looney liberal nuts telling people they can't fly our flag, we wouldn't need the law in the first place. It's about time our tax dollars are spent on stopping the insane libbies and their continuing attempts to weaken and destroy America.

Let's get laws passed to stop the liberal administrators and "teachers" from preventing our students displaying our flag at school or wherever else they choose. Let's get some patriotism back into our students and future [Conservative] voters!

Now, we need that amendment to stop you and your liberal friends from burning the flag as a way to display your hatred for the United States. There are unlimited ways for libbies to show their hate for America other than burning the flag. It's time to stop at least some of the libbies bad behavior since they are incapable of doing it themselves. Take a trip to another country and burn the flag there!

Ash,

You want better health care? Then stop the liberal Democrats from blocking Republican efforts to stop frivolous lawsuits and those insanely ridiculous judgments.

Get the millions off of welfare who can work, put them to work, and make them buy their own health care insurance. There will be more dollars left to help those who can't work! The entire welfare -- loaf-at-home -- system needs to be totally changed and put a stop to "welfare families" whose business IS welfare and who live on it from generation to generation.

Train those lounge-at-home welfare careerists to become healthcare workers. We need more nurses and other health care workers to help with healthcare. They can earn their own living and help others as well.

And why have the taxpayers been paying for New Orleans residents -- likely welfare recipients -- to sit in hotels around the nation for months while illegal workers come in to do the work of rebuilding their city. They should have been in New Orleans working, earning a living, paying for their own hotels and food, learning how to do work other than going to pick up their next welfare check and waiting on the next government dole or handout!

Yes, Ash, ask your Democratic Louisiana politicians why those people aren't working to rebuild New Orleans. Ask your Democratic Louisiana politicians why they aren't putting those people to work. If it's because they have spent too much of their welfare checks in the food aisle and can't walk on their own, then put them on diets. The work will help them get back into shape and make them healthier as well!!!

If this is the first of the American Values Agenda, then let's get on with the next, and the next, and the next. Let's get that Amendment moving to ban homosexual and lesbian "marriages".

Let's stop the liberal Democrats from blocking efforts to put AMERICAN DOLLARS into AMERICAN OIL!. Let's get those drills working in ANWR and off of our coasts! If liberals can't stand the sight of a temporary oil drilling platform, then move to the south of France and lounge with those libbies.

AAR

yep the trolls, true to form, bashing anything patriotic... slime balls.

AAR, preach on brother, preach on!

the trolls' tenuous grasp on logic is breathtaking.

the trolls, true to form, bashing anything patriotic... slime balls.

B-I-N-G-O

But hey! they support the troops if they shoot each other.

AAR,

I'm sorry, when did condo associations become partisan?

Can you show me where the big-bad liberal plurality of America is burning flags? I didn't know we had such a problem with it happening.

AAR: I'd be happy to ask anyone why things aren't moving forward in New Orleans, R. or D.

Your suggestions re: health insurance are all valid points.

I agree that the frivolous lawsuits are very expensive and should be stopped.

I also think there should be a lot less money spent on advertising pharmacueticals (restless leg syndrome? Please!)

I think less money should be spent on producing and pushing Viagra clones. Botox injections.

I think less medical money should be spent on extraordinary means of prolonging life. A vast majority of health care dollars are spent in the last year of life. I think everyone should begin thinking about quality of life and be able to decide when they want extraordinary methods to sustain their life be discontinued.

Sure there are many, many welfare cheats. But I'm not sure I would want most of them to provide my health service. Maybe find some less critical occupations for them. But still they couldn't afford health insurance at todays prices.

Reduce redundancy in purchasing extremely expensive equitpment. There is no need for hospitals A, B, and C to have a 10 million dollar lab gizmo that is used once a month. Why not have hospital B host that machine and other hospitals send their patients there. No need for 30 million dollars spent when 10 is more adequate.

There is no reason the wealthiest country in history can't make good, affordable health insurance and quality care available for all it's citizens.

Ummm, how can an american flag deteriorate the value of an association? Because the whole point of the association is to have a symmetrical neighborhood with each house looking the same. You can't put a yard ornament out, why should a flag be any different.

Now, I can see forcing everyone to display a flag in the association or perhaps having an association flag poll.

Just look at how many people leave their flags out everynight until it is soiled, faded, and weathered.

There is no reason the wealthiest country in history can't make good, affordable health insurance and quality care available for all it's citizens.

Move to Cuba, stupid Ash

AAR: "Get the millions off of welfare who can work, put them to work, and make them buy their own health care insurance. There will be more dollars left to help those who can't work! The entire welfare -- loaf-at-home -- system needs to be totally changed and put a stop to "welfare families" whose business IS welfare and who live on it from generation to generation."

In case you weren't aware of it, welfare HAS been totally changed. The conditions you describe haven't existed since the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. From the White House web site: "According to the Department of Health and Human Services, welfare reform helped to move 4.7 million Americans from welfare dependency to self-sufficiency within three years of enactment, and the number of welfare caseloads has declined by 54% since 1996."

Welfare reform has been a bigger success than was hoped. No longer can families rely on that welfare check indefinitely. Those who can work are required to, and you can only stay on welfare for up to 5 years -- and I believe that's a person's lifetime allocation.

President Bush proposes tweaking the program a bit (including increasing funding to the fully authorized level of $17 billion per year), but not changing it substantially. That and the money allocated ($4.8 billion per year) for the Child Care and Development Fund (which combined is what most people consider the core of "welfare") is quite a bit cheaper than, say, Medicaire D (which is currently estimated to be about $30 billion per year). Also for purposes of comparison, the Heritage Foundation reports that $20 billion is spent annually on programs that target large farms and agribusinesses. And according to the CATO Institute, more than $85 billion per year is spent on programs that subsidize private businesses -- corporate welfare, in other words.

Some things some people consider "corporate welfare" I would consider incentives. I think incentives are important. For example, small business innovation grants and research grants eventually pay off in one way or another. I would argue that at least some of the money spent on the current welfare structure should be viewed in the same way. But that CATO study was done in response to a challenge by then Labor Secretary Robert Reich to come up with a list of "business subsidies that don't make sense." That study was done in 1995. Considering the ballooning number of earmarks (to cite just one obvious example where corporate welfare is involved), I'm sure it's much worse now.

But I guess that's a little off the subject, lol!

Yeah Ash,

How dare you advocate that people have the availability to cure a disease before it reaches an emergency level, causing more pain and suffering, longer recovery times, lost revenue and productivity, and more money for the tax payer from emergency medical proceedures...commie

I have a health savings account. Just had two warts removed from my hand. First time patient to this doctor. The total visit was less than 10 minutes.

Total charge: $479 or 25% of my HSA.

10 years ago this would have costs less than $100.

Ricorun,

Yes, there were "some" changes to the welfare system, but not nearly enough. Much more remains to be done.

I don't know where you live, but I see people everyday who are drawing welfare who either shouldn't be drawing it or should be drawing less if they were working. Get them off the couches, out from in front of their wide-screen plasma televisions, out of the Wal-Mart food aisle and working on a job -- picking up trash if nothing else. All I have to do is drive through town an see people who should be working, but aren't. And I see "help wanted" signs and "now hiring" signs everywhere, even in the neighborhoods where most of the welfare recipients reside. But do I see a rush to fill those jobs, NO! It's much more relaxing to allow others to work and send their tax dollars to the welfare recipients.

I see welfare subsidies every day going to people who could work extra hours or take an extra job, but who don't or won't.
Why should they? All they need to do is go apply for more welfare, more subsidies, more assistance, and go to the emergency room for free health care. Why work when the liberals make it so easy to live off the backs of taxpayers! Why work longer or more hours when the liberals are so willing to play "robbing hood" and take the money from those who do work and give it to those who won't work!

And stop paying more welfare to have more welfare children. It's one thing for a person who already has children to need some help. It's quite another to pay more welfare for more welfare babies. Make their families and relatives pay for the support, and if they can't provide it, pay the support to a foster family until those on welfare can support their children.

Let's assign people to review each case who want the welfare stopped, not allow case workers to do the reviews who want to provide more welfare to people who can work. Let's have a review every six months and make more efforts to get those people jobs. Perhaps we need to set up a "reward" system for anyone who identifies people who on welfare who are abusing the system or who can work.

And New Orleans has known those levees needed more work for years. The politicians have diverted money to other more "voter friendly" projects. Think of how much work could have been done if those tens or hundreds of thousands of New Orleans welfare recipients had been made to get out, work, and carry buckets of dirt to place on those levees. If taxpayers are going to pay them welfare, at least the recipients can do something to earn a portion of it. And after Katrina, did they offer to get jobs and help with the clean-up and rebuilding? No! They demanded more welfare payments to keep them in hotels and provide more free food. There was and is work to be done everywhere in that entire region. They could have used the opportunity to learn some carpentry, tree removal, or other jobs, but not them. Instead, the illegal workers come in and do their work!

AAR

Of all the time-wasting...look, nobody has EVER told me not to fly the flag, and I live in MA. Yeah, let's pass a resolution about a frigging flag when we're bogged down in a war, swamped with debt, draining our savings to fill the gas tank, and ideologically divided as a nation. Let's do that.

*rolls eyes*

TEO:
The levee boards are locally run. Their corruption is legedary. They fit right in with New Orleans as well as the whole state. Everyone knows that, except you, I guess.

Porter,

It is the Army Corps of Engineers who are given the money to do repairs and building of the levees, the money was cut over the course of 3 administrations. The levee boards have nothing to do with the amount of federal funds handed out.

The levee boards were responsible to do the inspections of those levees, and that is where their fault was. But without the bad design by the ACoE, in conjunction with horrible oversight, this would have never happened.

Any person purchasing a condo or otherwise joining a HOA does so voluntarily, and must agree to abide by the rules of the association. If the person does not like the rule, they can change the rule following the established procedures of the HOA. For better or for worse, when you enter a HOA, you are often giving up some freedoms (the right to hang your clothes outside, the right not to cut your grass, etc.)

When a government passes a law like this, they are infringing on property rights of the owner-members of the HOA. This is NOT a free speech issue, but is a private property rights issue. Private property rights used to be important to conservatives, but I don't think any of you even knows what a conservative is.

Third Eye Open:

Still trolling? Get lost.

This isnt suprising legislation, with November fast approaching and the poles nowhere near in their favor, we're going to see more rearranging of deck chairs by our Republican friends. This kind of feel good do nothing governing isn't fooling the American people.

This isn't surprising legislation, with November fast approaching and the poles nowhere near in their favor, we're going to see more rearranging of deck chairs by our Republican friends. This kind of feel good do nothing governing isn’t fooling the American people.

This kind of feel good do nothing governing

Is nothing like the way you "git 'er done" in any public restroom when the cops aren't around, hey, poofter?

Hey TEO,

Do you think the good Rev types those trolling statements in each time or does he cut and paste? I'm begining to think he's sweet on you!

I'm begining to think he's sweet on you!

Stop projecting. We aren't all saddled with chubbies.

Ash-

I think the Rev does the ol' cut and paste. That way with one hand free he can still keep his thumb up his butt.

I think

There's no proof of it.

I think the Rev does the ol' cut and paste. That way with one hand free he can still keep his thumb up his butt.

I hope that is the worst thing he does with his free hand!!!!

I hope that is the worst thing he does with his free hand!!!!

I do keep it off fatsos if I can manage it. You?

To all of my liberal brother on this site:

Rev. Scarmonga is just good ol' keefer. You remenber keefer? The 50 year-old who acts like a 7 year old when someone he doesn't agree with, criticized your spelling and threw childish comments at you(think ash-hole, window-licker)?
Well he's back, but now acting as a Rev.

On Topic: A list of things Congress and the Senate could debate:

-How to either bring our troops home from Iraq or actually coming up with a plan('staying the course doesn't count and it's going to hell in a handbag)to stabalize the country

-Breaking our addiction of oil

-Solving the problem of Global Warming

-Helping to repair the Gulf Coast

-Helping low-income families out of poverty

And they choose..................having the right to fly Old Glory.

Are they f%^ing kidding me?!?

Millions of American families fly the flag every damn day, you morons! And now, because of this Act by the House, we're allowed to fly Old Glory, even though people have been doing it all this time?

Nice work, House of Stupidity.

teenage liberal, soon you'll be a 20-something liberal.

Rev. Scarmonga is just good ol' keefer. You remenber keefer? The 50 year-old who acts like a 7 year old when someone he doesn't agree with, criticized your spelling and threw childish comments at you(think ash-hole, window-licker)?
Well he's back, but now acting as a Rev

You might be on to something teenlib. Does the "Rev" preach from a toll booth?

Rev. Scarmonga is just good ol' keefer.

Sorry, dipstick. Your "detective work" is full of holes. Doesn't surprise me much.

Breaking our addiction of oil

Addiction of oil? Hahaha. just because you snort crack and cook Meth doesn't make you an expert on addiction. Its amazing you still have enough brain cells to type in your nonsense. Don't like oil - don't use it, dip stick.

The rest of your list makes that oil crap look smart. Just let the grown-ups take care of things.

You might be on to something teenlib

Sit at his feet and gobble up his "brilliance" for he, being a dip stick, is much, much smarter than you'll ever be.