HopefulFuture

In 2005, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that up to 3 percent of the 30,000 individuals called for jury duty from voter registration rolls over a two-year period in just one U.S. district court were not U.S. citizens. While that may not seem like many, just 3 percent of registered voters would have been more than enough to provide the winning presiden­tial vote margin in Florida in 2000. Indeed, the Cen­sus Bureau estimates that there are over a million illegal aliens in Florida, and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has prosecuted more non-citizen voting cases in Florida than in any other state. Oh, and to anyone, including yourself, stating that requiring a voter to have an ID card is suppression of the poor vote, and hence, the Black vote because Black's are predominantly the poor is just ludicrous. You have to give ID's for your I-9 form to be employed, so are you stating that they couldn't use those ID's to get a photo ID card?

So, in essence what your saying is that you believe voter fraud only effects an individual, or a few, as opposed to the masses of the nations legal citizens, some 300 million strong? So if a shooting in south Chicago occurs in other words, it directly effects the laws of the entire nation at the federal level? If your not saying this, please define......... To point out party lines is fine, to state it's mostly Republican is absolute truth. I submit as well that both parties are guilty on all counts when it comes to the demise of the US labor force, but, the Republicans have had an assassination mentality when it comes to these trade agreements, which, subsequently, have led to massiv e unemployment in their own right.

How can one oppose the other? Yes, there is more than enough proof that illegals are or have attempted to vote in an effort to influence an American election, look it up for yourself. If you fail to find anything, I will post multiple credible media sources, and no, not fox news. As for the the black vote, what does that have to do with the price of peas in China?

Ok, I will have to come back to WNY for this one. I need to get tickets.

I think so to. And many others on here as well

I'm not out to suppress the poor and I advocate voter ID. The reality is, if you support the current state of affairs with illegal immigration, or a policy of amnesty for such, you inadvertently support voter ID. Unless of course, your openly supporting putting portions of the United States electoral process in the hands of individuals or groups that have no bound loyalty to the Constitution or the nation. If that be the case then I can see why you wouldn't support voter ID's.

Thanks Numark, and my answers are no where near the right ones at any given time. I merely try to abide by the Constitution. I would consider the issue of transportation suspension a national one only because the risk is national in nature with regards to the spread of the virus once here. And I think we can agree we've seen that play out a bit here as health care workers from the Dallas area did indeed travel after caring for Mr. Duncan. As for why my reasoning to go to Congress, well, I believe that type of international travel would fall under economic circumstances, as most civilian travel is. There fore, non military, the President, as Commander and Chief, doesn't have the authority in his capacity as Executive to do so. I realize that's really narrowing his ability, especially with such a threat as this virus could potentially be, but once again, I would like to keep those powers within the confines of the frame of the Constitution. The Ebola situation really is a great case study in those powers, both for the Executive and Legislative branches. Time of action is critical, the Executive, with the flick of the wrist and pen in hand, could potentially stave off disaster, or, just 1 death of an American. Then again, upon the outbreak in West Africa, a well educated and informed Legislative branch could have discussed the potential threats to this nation well in advance of a potential spread and taken action as well then sent that to the President to implement for the common good of the citizens of the US. It's not all doom and gloom on my end though. I realize I sound like we are all so screwed you may as well join an apathy club in your local bar room pool team, but as of right now, I don't see any hope that any of these characters we've put in to office will do the right thing when action is needed.

I understand Drunkard. Please believe me when I tell you that it isn't easy for me to tow the line for the Constitution. I am attacked from all sides and I also get spirited debates and conversations from all sides. It is merely my firm position under an oath I took and as I have stated before, take that oath very seriously, to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. I do so not only in a uniform, or, at least did so. But I also do so in my conversations for I firmly believe that it is a fairly well written document. No one has noticed, at least, to my knowledge, that I do not comment on subjects such as gay rights and other civil rights issues. It's because the Constitution addresses these by not addressing them directly. The law of the land is for all. If a man wants to marry another man, than so be it, the Constitution provides that is a right. It's a natural right. Do I personally advocate gay relationships? No, but then again, I don't rail against them either. Personally, it's none of my business what goes on in someone's personal life, my plate is full as it is with my own I don't need more drama on it. But that is just an example of my mind set. The real issues that we all face on a daily basis are a direct product of the form of economical and governmental circumstance we live under at this time. That's where I see many attacks on the Constitution, from both of those realms.

Sorry, phone call. Fair question, and he doesn't per say. He must go to congress for that. And there in lay the foundation of the age old battle between executive and legislative branches. The President could use his Emergency powers, on various levels, considering Ebola could be construed as a direct threat to the military via crippling it's capabilities by infection. But since this is a non military issue, he should go to congress, should already have done so, and requested a stop of all transportation out of the affected countries. This does not mean, as the Democrats have implied, that you could not send equipment and personnel to combat the virus there. Also, for the Republicans, you can't just isolate that part of the world and expect the virus to die off. There has to be an active roll to defeat it in an attempt to successfully prevent it's spread. This was a very good question by the way and one I am most happy to see asked.

You may be correct on the market manipulation GCOE, it's merely my best guess based on the oil futures situation and ongoing ramp up here in NA. I have no tangible proof OPEC is attempting to offset that ramp up. But, it does fall in line with how these barons do business. In the end, it will play out and we will all get to see, to some extent, the real reasoning for the price decline. I just don't have any reasoning for it other than that guess at this time. As for the technology, oh man, it was amazing to watch first hand. When I first drove into western ND on 94, just past Dickerson, I was in awe of what I saw. I've been to many projects around the world, but what I was witnessing from 94 to Williston, that corridor, was truly awe inspiring. And my best friend, who is a corporate player, he just came down from the oil sands and said what I was seeing here is merely a 1/4 of what is going on up in Canada right now.

If you disagree, that's fine, but my beliefs are my beliefs and are based on the facts at hand, not on whimsical thinking. Therefore, it's not hyper boil, it's my actual mindset to the current state of affairs and what has led up to it. You state the system may be broken and has been for decades, if you had bothered to read what I said, or, interpret it accurately, you would have denoted I stated this has been in this state for a long long time. While that doesn't give a specific time line, it surely doesn't mean the last 6 years. Common sense is just that. We are not a Democracy, we are a Republic. Stop attempting to label it as such. And "alarmists" as you call them, have been touting the miscarriages of multiple administrations from the 2 party system a great deal longer than Obama. I myself stated Bush and his henchmen should have been tried and convicted for treason for the Iraq situation alone. To actually attempt to narrow the scope of my comments without taking past comments I've made in to consideration is Just ludicrous, do you honestly believe I was the last turnip to fall off the truck. Yes, we are all aware that many states don't allow independents to vote in the 2 party primaries, and, jeez, what do you know, those states still have quite a bit of independents, people who are disgusted with the 2 party system. So, what was your point on that again? Your disingenuous at best when it comes to Ron Paul. He railed against pork barrel spending, earmarks are not pork barrel spending, contrary to your attempt in having us believe so. But, in the interest of having some fun here, I suggest you look up all of the facts on the situation, then re post accordingly with your findings. Here is a good read on the situation for you to get you started: "The entire 'earmark' issue is a desire to get more power to the executive, Frum even recently admitted it in an interview. The 'natural result' of having an outcry over 'earmarks' is to give the President a line item veto or to come up with 'rules' requiring executive input to budgeting. That is dangerous, and against our Constitution which requires the power of the purse be in the legislature as a separation of powers issue dating back to the Magna Carta, to prevent the executive/King from being a dictator. Ron Paul is against the SPENDING so votes against the bills. But if a bill for $100 billion is up, he thinks every single penny in it should be earmarked by congress to a specific project -- rather than giving the president a blank check. In addition, since his constituents are forced to pay their share of taxes, he feels that IF the bills will pass OVER his vote against the bills, his constituents should get their share. The bad things about earmarks are 1) that the money is spent at all, and 2) using it to buy votes as with the Cornhusker Kickback in Obamacare. But 1) Ron votes against the spending bill AND the bill without earmarks would still give the money -- the president would just get a blank check to dole out behind closed doors to cronies, AND 2) Ron NEVER sells his vote for earmarks -- he votes against the bill regardless of whether the earmark gets in. In short, Ron is correct on this issue." And finally, I never stated in my post what the definition of insanity is. I stated it's an old adage. Please stop trying to twist words or sentences around to fit or suit your purpose, it does you no justice to do so.

Oneok, the client I just worked for through a main contractor and subsequently, MMR Group, was doing a 2 fold system up there for the extraction. On one side was the direct oil wells, costing approx. 34.6 cents a gallon of what is known as medium crude. There other side is the NG Condensate, which is a bi-product of the NG process, a plant which I just worked on. That was even cheaper, at 29 cents a gallon of what is known as heavy crude. Once the refining process is complete, it's roughly around 44 cents a barrel, which is approx. 6.8 cents cheaper than Middle Eastern light sweet crude. But, it must be noted, the reason for the off setting figures is transportation costs to such. It's just cheaper to ship the oil out of ND then it is out of the Middle East to the refineries here in NA. And bare this in mind, up in ND, they are processing propane directly, Methane is sure to follow suit up there shortly. The Bakkan Shale has had a major impact on US domestic oil supplies, but not enough to see what you've seen in price drops. And this is where my position with Eninthal comes in really handy. I understand the full spectrum of forces working on the oil markets right now, had a real good learning curve on it from that time in my life. The reason your seeing cheaper fuel prices isn't because of decreased demand, nor is it because of market speculation, it's because the Saudi's are nervous, very nervous right now. OPEC is attempting to maintain control of the broader oil markets, with the massive expansion here in NA for oil, and the subsequent off setting costs to the product due to proximity combined with the overwhelmingly huge field finds and technology advances to extract the product, America can be completely energy dependent inside of 20 years. These fields will produce for roughly 100 to 150 years. That scares the Saudi's more than anything right now.

As an independent, I have no party loyalties. We wouldn't need voting ID cards if the border were secure and illegals were flowing in to manipulate the US electoral process. Check points at the border yes, check points inside the US hindering open travel, no. Unfortunately, the world is a dangerous place, there are real threats to our nation on multiple levels, medical being one of them. Restricted travel? Never stated such as a US citizen traveling within the US. And I travel, a lot inside this country. Walls, if that is what is needed to stop the flow of illegal immigration, then so be it. Sounds like you don't like the fact that I fully hold my governing bodies accountable to the laws that are currently on the books and they are not enforcing. Sounds to me also like you'd like to see open borders, but, by doing so, you put my family, friends and fellow US citizens at undue risk. Are you suggesting this can be done without said risk? If so, what is your plan and how would you handle the overwhelming cost of integrating all of North America under a one travel system whereby myself, as an American, can choose to go to say..............Panama, and maintain employment at an equal or better rate of pay here? Are you suggesting that we pay for all of central America's health care as well? And what of the governments in that region of the world, are they on board with complete integration into the American Constitution, or do you propose we write a new document, subjecting US citizens to the Hispanic vote from central America? How would Americans really feel if some tyranny were in this new document and those utopian rights I keep reading on here actually don't equate out to what Americans values are? So many questions, and most of the answers I'm sure wouldn't be what a majority of the American populous would tolerate.

President Obama has 0 to do with dropping gas prices. And as for the economy being stable, the Fed is still pumping money in to it off of the printing presses to keep the markets afloat, what do you think is going to happen with our 17 going on 18 trillion dollar debt and the trillion dollar deficits were still running? Does that sound stable to you, the government still spending like a drunken sailor? Hmmmmm...........I question your ability to appropriately digest or grasp just what is going on over all................ The unemployment situation is still far under estimated. The government's numbers are only off of active claims, nothing else. I work in an industry that currently has 2 boom areas going on and I know thousands still looking for work. Once these booms subside I would suspect the economy will be in worse shape than when I started in these areas. I believe you should be disappointed, frustrated and yes, even mad at President Obama. He had it with in his ability to shut down the conduits by which Ebola may have entered the nation. And the risk with that virus, no matter how you attempt to marginalize it, is still overwhelmingly great when you look at the mortality rate. You don't get to blow off the fact that 2 nurses that didn't have to be sick, are sick, and the 1 nurse is worsening, not stabilizing. Since you brought up the open borders situation, I firmly believe Swamp you should speak with border patrol agents down on the southern border before commenting. I've said before I have a nephew working as one down there, you may speak to him. President Obama is not holding up his oath of office, and it's clear he's doing so in clear violation of US law as well as the sleezy practice of bringing in individuals in an effort to directly affect elections with illegal votes. And that strategy goes long term as well, the old "Look, us Democrats supported you staying in the country so your children to be born here would have the good life opportunity" is nothing short of an attempt to directly affect the over all electoral process in the nation. And your trying to say thats ok? I have something to say to that, GFY....................that's pretty much my response as a citizen who is deeply concerned about the issue and who doesn't blindly follow law breaking elected officials.

You are an openly admitted registered Democrat, therefore, you are not an independent, you have already chosen a side. And while I completely understand your line of thinking with regards to a set of beliefs and how you can support some from both of the major parties, the idea of being an independent in it's purist form is to be released from either of the major political parties. Once you succumb to joining the vote in one or another, via party affiliation or, in some cases, independents are allowed to vote in primaries of parties, you give up your independent stance. You see, there is no gray area here, you either lean Democrat, Republican or you don't. And let us not forget the core of the 2 party system, it is not liberal or conservative, for there are both of these categories within each major party. It all comes down to ideology, and that does change over the course of time, history has shown us that is the case. But in the end, it's ideology where the differences lay. Yes, Republicans are majority conservative. Yes, Democrats are majority liberal. But in both parties the opposites on those 2 sets of values can and have co-existed within a single party. Strength in unity. That is the true battle cry of the 2 party system, and unfortunately, individuals who have run for office at all levels in just about all locations across the nation have at one time or another been forced to abandon their ideology in an effort to win. That is where the system itself is a failure. Money, special interests, patronage scenario's, greed, theft, power accumulation..........none of these would exist if the integrity of the candidates were true and pure. I'm not saying individuals like this don't exist, but they are a very rare breed, see Ron Paul as a primary example. You may not have liked his stance on many issues, but not once did he deviate from his stance on them. He was what is known as a man of integrity and principle. As I said, you won't find many, if any, in office currently, across all spectrum's of public office. And sadly, the system we currently live under, a Republic, not a Democracy, requires that type of individual to hold office. The decisions made by a legislative representative in either house at multiple levels demands a purist individual in order to get the best results from our system. As others have pointed out, including myself time and again, this nation is ######. We aren't coming back from the edge of the abyss simply because the real power players in the game, namely the citizens, us in other words, haven't followed that simply laid out set of parameters by not only the teachings of right and wrong throughout our lives, but more importantly, our own common sense. We demand our representatives do the right thing, yet, we ourselves have completely failed in that aspect and I see no changes, neither short term as well as long term, that is going to change that. No sir, the die has been cast, was a long long time ago. The events that were set in motion over the course of that time and the span with which it has brought itself unto the level we see today can lead the common sense citizen to only one conclusion, there is no hope. America was a great experiment, the people have failed to keep their end of the bargain, the Constitution is all but dead now, life support isn't even sustaining it anymore. Without the Constitution, America is not what it was founded to be and therefore, one can conclude, it's reverted back to a form of government we know all to well from history. It is, in point of fact, an Oligarchy. There can be no denying this to be the truth. It is what it is I'm afraid. And with that, the illusion of freedom is just that, an illusion. Meant to control the masses. This is not merely my belief, but the belief of many common sense people I know. Are we to be labeled crazy like the tea party for merely pointing out what we all know to be the truth? Most likely. But hey, the ones calling me crazy are the ones who actually believe the system still works, and what is the old adage about insanity..................doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. To many of citizens that I know and speak with, they feel the same way about the system itself because they see it. It's tangible, it's not fantasy land, it's something that has physical parameters that manifest themselves through the current political system and the money that affects it.

Completely agree Matrix. These representatives and senators took an oath, that oath pertains to a document which is in place for citizens of the United States of America. I fully expect all of them, not just representatives directly relating to myself, but all of them, to do what common sense dictates needs done to protect our nation as a whole.

Agreed on all counts. I am more than willing to comprise in an effort to move forward for the common good of all. And as you rightly point out, that is non-existent in the modern era we find ourselves in at the political level combined with what you aforementioned on the educational level of the voting populous. Which leads me to this question......... How long is it before the house of cards collapses, either in on itself at the political level, or the larger populations patience with the over all status we find ourselves in? I mean, after all, something has to give eventually, pressures are building, things are at an impasse. What will be the catalyst that pushes it over the edge I wonder......................

My respect to you sir. For seeing with clarity the situation in which we all find ourselves in. It's actually more difficult to find individual citizens who feel what you've just worded. Many are indeed warped up in the picking sides scenario. I realize this doesn't mean we'll always see eye to eye on issues, but it's refreshing to see another citizen voice what you just did. My thanks to you for that.

Why, LGR4GM, don't look now, but your starting to sound like me with the bolded :P

I submit to you without Drury/Briere the same happens. While I don't disagree with you Ghost, I will say we've seen this before, on a lesser scale. The mid 80's. And I agree with your assessment on the time line. I've been saying since last year prepare to eat 5 years of bad hockey. The only saving grace is this, talent is there in the pipe line and with the youth in the line up now. How those players view the culture of Buffalo hockey is indeed the key. I'm wagering it improves, but I still don't like the fact TM himself was stating he didn't think a rebuild need take 5 years, 2 to 3 wasn't out of the realm of reason. That bothers me, he obviously didn't do his home work before accepting the job then spoke to something he can't give in the process. Is GM TM the right man for the job? I don't believe he is, in so far as the culture is concerned..............that will take more time.

I don't doubt that one bit GCOE, but, the market didn't fail. You have to remember, Ebola was weaponized for a good deal of it's known existence and therefore was not subject to free market principals upon it's arrival en mass to the scene. But, I will concede, due to it's location, i.e. Africa, it also wasn't tackled the way it should have been as well. There are 2 sides to every issue. My concern remains with it's spread here in the US, I really have no complaint on spending money to conquer it, from any source, just get it done is my mind set. My only distaste is for the failures of government to prevent it's spread so easily, and with that said, I should apologize and I do, as I said, I have no issues with attempting to get it done, by any means possible. Sorry GCOE for flying off the handle my friend, I'm just disgusted other mechanisms were not put in place such as travel bans in an effort to minimize it's spread is all. No, no, it's just that free market systems have overwhelmingly been more successful in a per capita on virus setting. This is not to say you nor GCOE are not correct. I'm just real leary of anything government these days, My apologies to you as well K-9.

Oh joy, let's all get excited about a government sponsored vaccine that may "or may not" actually work. Let me ask you, will you be the first to sign up for exposure with the vaccine since, you know, you appear to be so pro "government can solve all our problems"? Serious question by the way. Or will you let others take the risk? And if so, is that in partial fear that the government "can't solve" all of the problems in the world? Oh yea, since you know, non government funded programs could never solve some of these issues :wacko:

They can move him anywhere they'd like, just not Buffalo please.........

Why can't I replace them? Was the run toward the Cup not nearly equal in length? Was the outcome not the same? Based on Lindy having such an extended tenure here I believe it common sense that the 99 scenario led in to the bankruptcy and subsequent 2 years following the lock out whereby Ruff benefited greatly not from coaching style, but from talent. That should be more than obvious I would have thought.

Take Dom off the Ruff team and Drury/Briere off the Ruff team and you have no Stanley Cup run in 99 and no ECF's in 05/06, 06/07. You say tomato I say tomato.........................