Bush supporters' aftermath thread

That is true, but you have to be able to show the offer from a bonafide buyer, and a good adjuster will ask the buyer. Otherwise the appraisal stands. Would you believe that some people will lie about stuff like that?

Interesting that this thread is no longer featured, yet other threads not posted in since November remain...

Personally I think a thread that hasn't seen any activity in one or two weeks should lose 'featured' status. That certainly is not true of this one.

(My reason is that a bunch of featured threads that haven't seen any activity for awhile are still at the top of the list and can give the wrong impression that this is a mostly inactive forum. The first thing I look for when I visit any site with messaging capabilities is how recent are the posts. I generally move on quickly if it looks like the site is mostly inactive.)

Back on track here (maybe), I think the following is illustrative of why the GOP is doing so well vs the Dems who are not doing as well. The GOP is dramatically more positive, hopeful, optimisitic than are the Dems, and I believe this is because we elect positive, hopeful, and optimistic people as our leaders. During an economic upsurge following recession many years ago, Paul Harvey once remarked (paraphrasing from memory here): "There is no single policy or initiative or program that can be identified for this economic recovery. The only rational explanation is that things are getting better because we believe they are getting better."

While we must never be satisfied with imperfection, I think national optimism is the most important thing the USA has going for it and I think most Americans are in general optimistic, positive people. Let's hope the negative naysayers never get the upper hand. For now, GOP = postive and optimistic. With apologies to my athiest and agnostic conservative comrades, God bless the GOP.

I think the numbers will have changed to show even better positive trends when Rasmussen does their next poll. This one was immediately after the Iraqi election.

Positive Views Up Nine Points Over the Past Month

Survey of 1,000 Adults

RasmussenReports.com

February 6, 2005--At the beginning of 2005, just 28% of Americans thought the situation in Iraq would get better over the next six month. A Rasmussen Reports survey at the time found that 50% of Americans expected things to get worse.

Now, a week after the Iraqi elections, 37% of Americans believe things will get better in Iraq and 36% believe they get worse.

Just before the Iraqi election, 31% of Americans thought the situation was getting better. Last week, immediately following the election, 37% said things would get better and 40% said they would get worse.

Forty percent (40%) of Americans now believe the U.S. mission in Iraq will be a success while 41% say it will ultimately be deemed a failure. Just before the Iraqi elections, 38% said the mission would be a success and 46% said it would be a failure.

The most recent survey of 1,000 adults was completed on Monday and Tuesday, February 5 and 6, 2005. Those are the two nights following the Iraqi elections and preceding the President's State of the Union Address. Demographic details are available for Premium Members.

Forty-four percent (44%) of Americans now say the nation is safer than it was before 9/11. Thirty-nine percent (39%) say it is not. When the year began, 41% said the nation was safer and 43% said it was not.

On all data, there is a strong partisan divide.

Republicans, by a 63% to 16% margin, believe that the situation in Iraq will improve over the next six months. Democrats, by a 55% to 17% margin, believe things will get worse. Those numbers are virtually unchanged from our survey immediately following the Iraqi election.

As for those not affiliated with either party, 27% now say better and 39% worse. A week ago, 50% of the unaffiliateds said they expected things to get worse.

Last fall, 33% of voters said that things were getting better in Iraq while 43% said they were getting worse.

As documented in The GOP Generation, the polarizing national security issues dominated Election 2004.

The report notes that, ironically, "The President's policy in Iraq and the larger War on Terror will begin to unify the nation [over the next couple of years]... If the President's policies are working, a solid majority of voters will rally behind them. If his policies are not working, a solid majority of voters will rally against them. Either way, we will be moving towards unity."

The recent survey, however, found that the move towards unity has not yet begun. By a 68% to 18% margin, Republicans believe that the US mission in Iraq will ultimately be considered a success. The GOP view on that point changed little from our prior survey.

Democrats, by a 60% to 20% margin, say the mission in Iraq will ultimately be judged a failure. Prior to the voting over the weekend, 74% of Democrats said the mission would be a failure.

A separate survey found that Republicans tend to believe that America's best days are yet to come. Democrats tend to believe they have come and gone.

Rasmussen Reports recently released a 130 page special report on Election 2004. The GOP Generation documents how and why Republicans have the potential to control both the House and the Senate for at least a generation. It is "not the result of a single election… President Bush is in a position to close a sale with American voters that was first proposed by Ronald Reagan a generation ago..." Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says that "The GOP Generation captures with clarity the dynamics that are propelling this Republican era to staggering new heights."

To keep up with our latest releases, be sure to visit the Rasmussen Reports Home Page.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2005/Iraq--February%207.htm

For that matter, why isn't the "THE US, THE UN AND THE IRAQIS THEMSELVES, V. 7.0" thread "Featured"? And why are the limerick & haiku threads of protest? Coming up on 4 months of inactivity with those two.

I think, everyone, who wants to change such, could "submit a ticket"(= get in contact with the moderators) and asked for it/pose these questions to them.

Contact us

Well, it isn't my board. I can express an opinion but I'm not about to tell the moderators how to run the most successful forum on the internet (which in my opinion this is). I do think some people are put off though when they see the first several threads on a forum are inactive and they probably don't check more than the first few. I personally find the 'featured' threads annoying because I have to scroll down through them to get to the active threads. But I'm only one person. Others may have an entirely different view.

(Acknowledging that most of the featured threads at least in the politics forum are active at present but very often that is not the case.)

And back to the thread, Howard Dean is making the rounds. It appears the Democrats haven't learned a thing. From Kansas this week:

On abortion specifically, he said, the party must commit to making abortions "safe, legal and rare" while maintaining women's rights to choose.



Referring to the Rasmussen poll posted just above, the GOP generation can definitely look forward to a long time in power I think.

Could not be further from the truth any more than I think you're blooming idiots for voting for Bush.

If you actually paid the over-inflated prices for Kinkade (now perched to deflate drastically by all indications of the secondary market BTW) I might entertain that thought. This is something observable in the entire market of "limited editions." In this case, even his paintings are dropping in price like a rock on the secondary market.

Foxfyre is right that an appraiser has to have an overwhelming demonstration that a price structure for an artist is holding up over a long period of time. The IRS and the insurance companies got wise to the marketing of "limited editions" many years ago. They used to accept the appraisal included with the Certificate of Authenticity in the 80's. Because of the rash of art scandals and paying out on over-inflated claims, the art laws were changed. A gallery or publisher like Kinkade & Co. who sold the work can no longer reappraise it.

The only thing subject to greater fraud than is perpetuated in the art world is in politics and precious stones.

Totall agree there. I've had a parade of fake Dali, Picasso, Chagall, Miro and many others come across my desk from unwary buyers and I've had the terrible responsibility to tell them they've been duped. Before you think I take any pleasure in that, think again -- I find it disturbing. I've also had hundreds of people ask me about the value of Kinkades and whether or not they should buy one at the mall gallery prices. My answer, of course, is no and if you have to have one, I'll do it for 10% over cost. I've gotten hold of Kinkades for clients despite the fact that I don't believe he is much of a painter and knowing that he has a studio of elves even producing the paintings. I inform them of that fact. Some still want to buy, some told me they had already heard of the practice and what else would I suggest. At least I get them a decent frame, not the cheap plastic crap Kinkade puts on something that's is suppose to be worth the retail price (cost on the his frames, $25.00 on the average). Since most of the Kinkade galleries have closed down and he's now peddling to anyone who will buy, I also suggest they settle on a Kinkade plate from QVC.

I'm not sure what thread this fits in best, but I figured the denizens of this thread would enjoy it most:


March 4, 2005
Eurospeak
Sorting out the teenage sass
by Victor Davis Hanson
National Review Online

President Bush supposedly charmed the Europeans, and now they purportedly don't hate us any more. But from the recent trip, it is clear that Americans can still expect two things from the European public and its leadership: deep-seated anti-Americanism and embarrassing contradictions. In that context, let us examine all the recent Eurobabble.

Don't dare divide us into old and new! We speak with one voice from Warsaw to Lisbon. We aim to be as united as your states are in America ?- BUT help us to ensure that Europe has separate U.N. Security Council seats for Britain, France, and, we hope, Germany as well.

Stop using force to solve problems! Listen to our diplomats. Promote international courts. The world no longer works according to your silly laws of military power and deterrence ?- BUT don't dare take any more American troops out of Germany.

Stay in NATO! You are pledged to the collective defense of Europe ?- BUT get used to the fact that we will soon have a new and rival independent EU military force.

Pay attention to the Muslim world! Hear us who have more experience with the Middle East. Try to incorporate, rather than isolate, the "other" ?- BUT stop telling us that we have to let Turkey into the EU.

Cease militarizing the globe! See instead the world as an interconnected family of liberal societies that is trying to settle differences by reason ?- BUT stop trying to prevent us from selling hi-tech arms to big Communist China to threaten tiny democratic Taiwan.

Learn from our more humane culture! See how our short work week, cradle-to-grave entitlements, and pacifism promote well-being ?- BUT how exactly do you rich and powerful Americans do all that you do?

Remember that we are your critical partners in the war against terrorism! Appreciate our unheralded work that goes unnoticed amid the loud bombs and tanks of you rowdy Americans ?- BUT Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization and cannot be labeled as such (and Hamas isn't either and needs our financial support).

Sign Kyoto! Start acting like good global citizens! BUT quit suggesting we had a hand in the Rwanda mess, the Balkans mess, the Oil-for-Food Mess, the Saddam-reactor mess, the Hezbollah/Hamas mess, the Arafat mess...

Quit proceeding unilaterally! Refer events that affect the world to the U.N. Don't just act on your own as if your deeds don't affect others ?- BUT don't remember the Falklands, the Ivory Coast, the unification of Germany, or the oil deals with Saddam.

Don't tamper in the Middle East! Do you cowboys realize what madness you are unleashing? BUT if you succeed we might just stop our caricatures ?- IF democracy follows and we can take credit for and profit from it.

What are we to make of this strange passive-aggressive syndrome? The usual explanations, offered weekly during the last three years, are that in the post-Cold War era the monopoly on military force, and its accompanying opportunities for unilateral action by the United States, naturally earn opposition. Our military prompts envy and with it mistrust from those far weaker who seek to curb raw power with multilateral protocol, shame, and bureaucracy. Perhaps.

Of course, there have always been tensions arising from our two differing views of the Western cultural paradigm. Those disagreements are now brought to the fore thanks to the demise of the common threat of Soviet imperial Communism that could have overrun Western Europe in weeks. Europe bites now ?- simply because it can. Maybe.

But in all of our own lives ?- especially in the case with beloved teenagers ?- we have endured such immaturity: the 16-year old who demands "her" allowance and the freedom to use it as she wishes, but calls at midnight when she is broke; the 21-year-old who comes in at 3 A.M., but apparently chooses not to entertain such hours in his own home at his own expense.

These are the natural contradictions in the evolution from childhood to maturity. Europe may be old, but its union is young. It wants to be independent and powerful, but given its past bloody history and present utopian ideology it's not sure quite what that entails. Its leadership points to a strong Euro, low inflation, trade surpluses, and a high standard of living, but is really more worried about a low birthrate, troublesome unassimilated minorities from the Middle East, static worker productivity, high unemployment, and poor rates of economic growth.

Europe has cash to buy off enemies like Iran and bribe terrorists like Arafat and Hezbollah, but apparently not the will to maintain a military to protect itself. No doubt it will have a part to play in the new Middle East, as it did in Eastern Europe ?- even as it quietly forgets how it slandered Reagan and Bush, who alone made that role all happen.

Our cousins abroad cannot figure out why a crass nation of former European rejects, led by a cowboy from Texas, is wealthier, stronger, and more willing to sacrifice for principle than a more venerated, cultured, and aristocratic civilization. Europe, it turns out, worships class and privilege in the flesh while it damns them in the abstract ?- even as the uncouth popular culture of America that has corrupted the planet is most welcome and at home in, of all places, Europe.

All this was known to our ancestors, chronicled in our literature, enshrined in our popular memory, and carefully noted by our diplomats from Jefferson and Lincoln to Roosevelt and Wilson. Yet the half-century aberration of the Cold War disguised our differences and lured us into collective amnesia. Unlike World War I, after World War II we wisely stayed on to prevent another conflagration. Yet having a common enemy in the Soviet Union misled some of us into thinking that an identical Europe and American would always see eye to eye, when we never really had ?- despite our cultural and democratic affinities. And now we have come to the end of the Age of Exception, a sobriety brought on by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the stark aftermath of September 11, which scrapped off the thin veneer and revealed particle board, not oak, beneath.

So if Europe sounds conflicted, that's because it is. One symptom of such a troubled patient is its blustering rhetoric ?- as if words can mask reality, as if idealistic vocabulary and shots at America can substitute for faith in Western values, sacrifice, and risk-taking. One reason that Europe understands so well the braggadocio and sense of inferiority of the impotent Muslim world is that it suffers precisely from some of these same maladies in its own problematic relationship with the United States. A Muslim in Europe who puts a picture of bin Laden on his wall is the equivalent of a European chanting that Bush is Hitler: The Arab does not really wish to destroy the opulent European network that he counts on, nor does the European in jeans with a cell phone truly wish the U.S. would stop protecting his lifestyle. Yet each feels terrible about his own hypocrisy and accompanying appetites for what he professedly hates, and so looks to express angst on the cheap.

The world as we knew it is now in flux, and in one of greatest transformations since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Middle East is slowly rejoining civilization. In response, Europe snores, awakening only to chastise the United States, which alone set off the chain reaction of liberty. After all, would Europe send help to the Lebanese if the Syrians brought in more troops? Would it do anything if Iran announced that it actually does have five or six nukes and the missiles to deliver them? And would the vaunted EU joint force or the French navy mobilize if China invaded Taiwan or if North Korea shelled Seoul? Or does the free world stop at the borders of Europe? Did the Spanish army ensure the election in Iraq? In the meantime, it is better to damn the United States, which got al Qaeda out of Afghanistan, toppled Saddam, and ignited democratic movements across the Middle East.

What should the U.S. do about these aggravating moments, these 40-something nesters who like staying in the house but not maintaining or repairing it? Like all parents, ignore the childish slander and wish our Europeans well on their belatedly new lives. So close the door firmly with a warm hug, and remind them that they are still part of the family after all ?- always welcome for visits, but of course never quite encouraged to move back in.


©2005 Victor Davis Hanson

http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson030405.html

I really can't get about what Europe Hanson is writing here: the EU 825 members), the OSCE (over 50 European states).

Where does "40-something nesters" fit?

It's a euphemism I think for 40-ish year olds who just keep the status quo and make judgments without any inclination to roll up their sleeves and do the work themselves.

Thanks.

Walter - FYI Hanson is a pro-Israel Christian fanatic, a farmer by trade, who actually wrote one good book on Thucidides' History of the Peloponnesian Wars as viewed from the standpoint of agricultural constraints on military action.

Kaiserl. Feldmarschall Wallenstein could have made some changes in that book, given the destruction of the 30-years war, but let's not get into details.

Fact is nobody takes Hanson seriously when he writes outside his area of expertise - sorry, Foxfyre <G>

Um Hoft, I think a more careful look at Hanson's credentials and track record is in order. "A pro-Israel Christian fanatic?" Wow, what some people do think. Here's a mini vitae sheet on him:

Victor Davis Hanson was educated at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, and received his Ph.D. in Classics from Stanford University. He farmed full-time for five years before returning to academia in 1984 to initiate a Classics program at California State University, Fresno. Currently, he is Professor of Classics there and Coordinator of the Classical Studies Program.

Hanson has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Daily Telegraph, International Herald Tribune, American Heritage, City Journal, American Spectator, National Review, Policy Review, The Wilson Quarterly, The Weekly Standard, and the Washington Times, and has been interviewed on numerous occasionas on National Public Radio and the BBC, and appeared with David Gergen on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. He writes a biweekly column about contemporary culture and military history for National Review Online. He has written or edited eleven books, including The Western Way of War, The Soul of Battle, and Carnage and Culture. He is a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institute, Stanford University.

Looks like a lot of pretty influential folks take him pretty darn seriously.

Foxfyre - there being exactly nothing in your post to contradict anything in mine, might I suggest you read mine again.