You know it just came to me... You blame Bush for wrecking Clinton's *good economy*, and you blame Bush for Obama's *bad economy*. So clearly a single president can do an awful lot. I wonder how much more you need me to spell it out for you before I call you a useful idiot for the Party. And if you want to believe the two factions are in some kind of opposition with each other, then I guess you've already confirmed it.

"strong economy"

You keep on saying that like it's true, or that it matters.. Well, you go ahead and keep on blaming the ghosts from Christmas Past for all your troubles. I'm going to keep on dealing in the present. That's where I will find solutions. You must be after something else.

"BOTH parties"? You actually believe that there is such a thing?

Eh, everybody's a comedian, I guess..

Looks like you have difficulty distinguishing theory from practice and understanding the nature of authority. Why don't you just quote the bible?

I see no further point in this...

I believe the data posted by the Congressional Budget Office...

So, you swallow. I don't...

The run away ad hominem - nice!

:-) Do tell!

The books were cooked, and besides, like all dirty business of this type, there are two sets. The whole thing is as phony as the proverbial three dollar bill. My homeless friends didn't see any 'surplus'. What the country had was good credit. And maybe you don't recall so well. Things were falling apart during the summer of 2000, a full year and a half before Bush took office. I'll let you in on a little secret, the 'economy' was ruined by Wall Street hacks who put your mortgages and pensions into hedge funds and derivatives. The president has nothing to do with it, aside from assigning said hacks nice, cushy government posts. You can put Bozo the Clown in there and get exactly the same results. He will follow orders just like all the rest. If you are truly interested in a correction to the problem, you will look to the guy who has the power right now, and stop playing your little charade. You are only exposing your own biases...

Please, you're being no different than anybody else. You believe what you saw and heard on the TeeVee, and you do anything you can to protect and fortify your preconceptions, also brought to you by Procter & Gamble's 'Whiter Whites and Brighter Colors', so I understand the anger towards those who might try to enlighten you a little. Don't want to risk what little you have left.

How can I dispute anything with a robot who can't see outside his box? Oops, I'm sorry, my bad, I was supposed to go to Room 12A...

:-) Very funny... Well, at least you didn't even try to disguise yours. Why don't you make a stab at it and show us all where I went wrong.

...let's imagine a President is handed over a strong economy, and is handed a budget surplus.

:-) Who's being naive?

Why are you people so goddamned obsessed with the past??

We are still being impacted by the fucktwad Reagan.

Only because the government you all elected chooses to uphold his policies.

And the president still has the power of the executive order, many of which are entirely secret, like his kill list.

The point of authority figures is to do more good than harm...

Say what?! The point of authority figures is to defend and expand their authority. "Good" and "harm" are not even considered, except as propaganda value to fortify said authority.

What's fascinating here is your strange comfort level with this status quo.

You are still trapped in your infinite loop. This is how I know you're not listening, and simply not worth further response.

Already you are playing the same blame game as everybody else. Fuck the previous guy! What the hell does he have to do with the price of rice? The present guy can end it with the stroke of a pen. He's the ONLY guy that matters. If he doesn't, then it's OUR fault for voting for him, twice, I might add. If you crave for somebody to blame, then look in the mirror boy.

And it's a bunch of crap, but it's getting page hits. Congratulations to all involved.

Now, let's make it simple, shall we?

Nobody, government or not, has any right to compel or prohibit speech, period, end of story.

There, done, end of thread.

Wasn't that easy?

The ingredients are trade secrets, leaving us to speculate the worse as the only option, until they open up the books. That's just the way it has to be played.

In the Middle East, the US is Europe's (mostly the UK, but France has a big dog in this race) muscle. And even if Europe doesn't need the oil, they don't want to let China prosper from from it. So, at this point destabilization is the plan to scare them off, like in Africa. It's kind of like when Iraq burned the Kuwaiti oil fields during their withdrawal, or even what the Union troops did to Atlanta during occupation.