A check for $600 from Uncle Sam and I'd probably be able to rationalize a new EP600 ... that wouldn't help the US economy, but would shake my house.

Sure it would help... It would add to the Canadian economy, so they have more money to come to the U.S. for health care when they cannot get into a hospital there...

Ahh! Thank you Craigsub! It would be a good thing!

Craig....do us a favor and repost the link. It doesn't seem to be working. I tried to get there via the main site, but couldn't replicate the path.

FYI....If you want to post it as a hyperlink, do the following:

1. [url]www.yahoo.com[/url
(Add a bracket to end - makes the link clickable)
2. [url=full link including the http://]DOG[/url] - displays "DOG" with hyperlink to yahoo

If I'm not making sense, you can see this under the FAQ

TD... I will work on it tomorrow...

I just wanted to say I thought GW gave a very good speech tonite. Of course the left will shrug it off as more lies and such but I'm hoping the fair minded moderates will hear it and understand that this man is not the devil protrayed by some.

I stayed up to catch Kerry's response... he left Edwards try to talk smack first, they virtually had to make up stuff... saying the RNC was all about mud slinging and such, um I watched most of the RNC, they definitely went after Kerry but I don't see how you could say it was dirty (Zell MAYBE but hell, hes a Democrat )

Furthermore, Kerry pulled the "they didn't serve" card out, Talk about hypocracy (accusing RNC of being dirty then saying that). I think that will backfire, esp considering several times during the RNC Cheany and Bush said nothing but good things about Kerry's service. Kerry is desperate and its starting to show big time. I can't wait for teh debates.

As far as the rebates go, one of my major issues with the govt. is the deficit that we continue to build up as a country. I'm not going to argue with an extra couple hundred bucks in my pocket, but I don't know how W could give that kind of money out to so many people when we owe so much. I would have been fine with the govt. keeping it, as long as there was a stipulation that it would not go towards any more spending on programs and would go directly to paying down the deficit.

I'd also like to see the govt forced to balance their books for future spending and actually plan for at least a small surplus every year so that eventually they can at least have a plan to pay off this enourmous debt. Any business would have filed Chapter 11 long ago.

Zarak - Let not your heart be troubled... In the last 20 Years, yes, the national debt has gone up $5 trillion dollars... but the wealth of the country has gone up $25 trillion... a net $20 trillion increase.

Look at it under two lights... You buy a lot worth $150,000, and borrow $100,000 ... then you build on it, and now owe $600,000, but the house is worth $2.5 million ... is that good ?

Also... If you could wipe out the debt, but lose the $25 trillion in increased equity... the country would be in a depression that makes the 30's look like a picnic.

Oh... and the entire deficit is due to increased spending... not tax rate cuts. (note... I did not say tax cuts... we brought in MORE revenue this year than in 2000)

"Let no your heart be troubled" - Craig, you crack me up....only three hours a day, that's all he asks.

Zarak - You're right about the government needing to balance it's books. However, wartime spending is always going to send the budget into the red, as it is never budgeted. Bush made a decision to follow through on his pledge to reduce taxes and try to help infuse the economy. This also helped to put the budget in the red. The key is if and how he is going to offset that imbalance. My fingers are tightly crossed hoping that he takes his second term( ) and focuses on reducing unnecessary spending.

Inane - Thanks for giving the report on Kerry's post-convention koombaya session. Fox had given a preview of what Kerry was going to focus on, so we decided to pack it in. It sounds like he held true to form....what an idiot. After a convention like that, the blistering criticism of his Senate record, and Bush's strong speech, how does he think that continuing to focus on war-records is the way to go? Multiple speakers at the convention called him out solely upon his Senate record and he returns fire based upon Bush and Cheeney's Vietnam records.....both of which have been dealt with ad nosium.

I may be wrong, but it sounds like Kerry is coming a bit unhinged right now. He tried to ride the hate-Bush wave into the final inning and he's come up dry. The Republicans tortured him on his voting record and his penchant for indecisiveness and contradiction. Then, Bush came out and outlined an aggressive domestic agenda and reinforced his position on foreign affairs. In the face of all that, we have John Kerry, his purple hearts, his running mate who is the poster-boy for what is wrong with class-action law, and we have his wife that is more interested in talking about herself than her husband. The Wizard stands before you yelling loudly about his war record and telling you not to look behind that curtain over there, knowing that what's behind there is a scared little man trying to sneak his way into power.

Guys - The employment data can be found on the bureau of labor statistics... and the "job loss" data is another form of government base line data gathering. Without counting August's soon to be relesed data, the economy has gained 1,870,000 jobs since January, 2001.

So... Why do we hear about the loss of 1.1 million jobs ?

Simple... 3,000,000 people have entered the workforce since January 1, 2001... So unemployment has gone up by 1.1 million people...

So... even though 1.9 million more people are working... we lost jobs.

Gotta love how the government thinks...