The Economy, Jobs, etc.
Your Daily Prescott, is on the right track. We are having very bad economy, but nobody complained about it during Internet boom years. People who worked for WalMarts and McDonalds then were not much better off than now. It is just that some educated liberals fell for the Internet pyramid scheme, and now they cry over spilt milk.
As many conservatives, Patrick raises "the fact that the growth rate is 4.1%". Patrick, I am very happy that you got your 4.1% raise this year. Ups, sorry. I thought you meant *real* growth rate. Wall street's measurements of economy do not agree with mine. When people get fired, stocks go up. When government fires firemen and closes libraries, stocks go up. When families send equipment to the soldiers at the front because government cannot, socks go up.
On WalMart:
The main reason I do not like WalMart/McDonalds/Safeway is because they use their monopoly to pay workers minimum wage without benefits. That is bad because the minimum wage earnings get you below the powerty line. And that is bad because it breeds generations without stable homes, with poor education, with poor health, etc. And all because a couple of executives could inflate their bank account (they cannot possibly buy better food/home/car than they already have).
It is lawful for the companies to impose monopolie and rig prices - and it is legal for consumers to picket against and boycot the companies. It is lawful for the companies to intimidate and fire workers without any grounds - and for workers to form unions and go on strike. Update Mar 29: Patrick says " instead of complaining about Wal-Mart, the critics should spend a little time coming up with the replacement." I reply that instead of complaining about Wal-Mart critics, the Wal-Mart-critics critics should spend a little time coming up with the replacement for the workers."
On the murders:
Where did "hate crime" title come from? If this was a heterosexual teenage couple killing a grandmother, you would not be even reading the story. From now on I will include word 'lesbian' in all my post in order to get more readership.
Colorado is a beautiful state. You lend at Denver airport, and think how you have never seen plains so flet. Then you drive for 30 minutes and think how you have never seem mountains so large.
I skied Breckenridge - quite a nice, large, and diverse resort. I was hoping for some powder, but no luck this time. Peak 10 is steeper than the rest of the resort, almost only black trails, so (as usual) there is fewer skiers and the snow is better. For some reason, there are far fewer moguls on the trails of Colorado mountains than here in the east, but Peak 10 was up to the par.
Laura and Steve showed me around Denver by night. We had a very nice time. It would be so nice to live in the city with good nigth life, and only an hour away from some of the best skiing places in the country.
... which brings me to a much more interesting issue:
If the Democrats were in position to handle September 11, 2001 attack, they might have caught Osama Bin Laden instead of bombing Afghanistan and Iraq. But that would have probably given them a hell during the next elections: nobody really wanted to catch the perpetrator - rather, everyone wanted to kick someone's ass. And that is what they got; nice pictures of missile-lit skies over Kabul and Baghdad.
Bush-Cheney presidential campaing started airing 9-11 ads, and it seems that their campaign will hinge on handling the Septermber 11, 2001 events. The 9-11 ads are win-win for both Republicans and Democrats. For Republicans because they want to show the president's leadership. For Democrats because they can counter-attack by saying that Bush: