Obama '08?

Just overheard McCain on MSNBC: "Obama says I"m running for George Bush's third term. I think he's running for Jimmy Carter's second." Once more, the "leader we can believe in" is reacting to Obama slogans instead of acting of his own initiative. If he keeps that up, Obama's campaign is looking pretty good.

Good for Obama.

I think I'm a pretty smart guy, but every now and then I come across something and say to myself "man, that **** is deep".

This morning, in doing a little bit of remote-term planning for features that we might add to the site in the distant future, I was doing some background research on liberal-conservative scores and other methods of vote classification and stumbled across a website called voteview.com, created by a University of California at San Diego professor named Keith Poole. Voteview uses an extremely rigorous methodology for ordering Senators from most liberal to most conservative which to my mind produces some fairly intuitive results. (Five most liberal senators thus far this year? Russ Feingold, Chris Dodd, Bernie Sanders, Sheldon Whitehose, and Ted Kennedy).

This is how Voteview classifies Senators McCain and Obama over the last four Congresses; for good measure we'll also throw in Senator Clinton:

Congress Obama McCain Clinton107th -- 57/102 22/102108th -- 96.5/100 21.5/100109th 21/101 100/101 25/101110th 10.5/101 94/101 20/101By this method, Obama is liberal, but not that liberal. He was the 21st most liberal senator in the 109th Congress and has been the 10th or 11th most liberal thus far in the 110th. The surprising result is John McCain, who rates as the 8th most conservative senator in the 110th Congress, the 2nd most conservative in the 109th, and the 5th or 6th most conservative in the 108th.

In the 107th Congress, however, McCain was quite moderate. Voteview doesn't have rankings before the 107th, so I'm not sure whether there was some permanent change in McCain's political philosophy on or around 2003 (perhaps coinciding with the start of the Iraq War) or whether it was his behavior in the 107th that was unusual (perhaps he took some pleasure in being a thorn in President Bush's side after having lost the primary to him). But this is more evidence for the notion that the 2008 version of John McCain is a very different politician than the 2000-2002 version of John McCain.

(including Iraq despite its improvements, a step up from hell does not a success make)

What exactly is a "windfall profit"?

I already did; it identifies the causes of mental illness. I want you to identify for us which ones are self-inflicted? Name one if you can?

...our study provides evidence that new-onset postpartum depression is associated with substantial weight retention after childbirth...
http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v16/n6/full/oby200871a.html

Abstract: We report on elevated total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels in 22 individuals with Asperger syndrome compared with well-matched controls, after accounting for lifestyle variables and clinical symptomatology that could affect them. A potential role for dyslipidemia in the pathogenesis of some forms of autism is discussed. [Copyright 2007 Elsevier]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Psychiatry Research

Jan2007, Vol. 149 Issue 1-3, p321-324

"Hypercholesterolemia in Asperger syndrome: Independence from lifestyle, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and social anxiety."

Author Affiliations:
1Center for Brain Health, HN-400, New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA
2Department of Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Germany
3Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA

What exactly is a "windfall profit"?

McGentrix wrote:

What exactly is a "windfall profit"?

According to some Democrats, it is any national or worldwide condition that generates profit for big corporations. And, according to them, it should be confiscated by the government immediately.

McGentrix wrote:

What exactly is a "windfall profit"?

According to some Democrats, it is any national or worldwide condition that generates profit for big corporations. And, according to them, it should be confiscated by the government immediately.

[

Exaggerations is not one of Fox's weak suits.

cicerone imposter wrote:

I already did; it identifies the causes of mental illness. I want you to identify for us which ones are self-inflicted? Name one if you can?

Cicerone - what are you talking about?! Countless mental problems are caused by lifestyle choices; that doesn't just mean excessive alcohol and drug intake, it can mean just eating lots and lots!

Whose lifestyle choices are you talking about? Some people's inability to control their own bad habits is more than just personal "choice." Do you understand anything about "addiction?" Probably not; because if you did, you wouldn't be pointing fingers at people who really can't overcome their addictions to food, drugs, or anything else in their lives. I had a friend who had diabetes, but he loved to eat, and knew the consequences of his "bad" habit. He always argued with his wife about his eating habit that eventually killed him. It's a not simple matter of "choice" for better health. Many people continue to smoke, because they are addicted, and they know the harmful effects to their health.

Here are 2 very serious mental disorders, autism and depression, both linked to excess body weight:

Quote:

...our study provides evidence that new-onset postpartum depression is associated with substantial weight retention after childbirth...
http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v16/n6/full/oby200871a.html

Quote:

Abstract: We report on elevated total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels in 22 individuals with Asperger syndrome compared with well-matched controls, after accounting for lifestyle variables and clinical symptomatology that could affect them. A potential role for dyslipidemia in the pathogenesis of some forms of autism is discussed. [Copyright 2007 Elsevier]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Psychiatry Research

Jan2007, Vol. 149 Issue 1-3, p321-324

"Hypercholesterolemia in Asperger syndrome: Independence from lifestyle, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and social anxiety."

Author Affiliations:
1Center for Brain Health, HN-400, New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA
2Department of Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Germany
3Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA

High Seas wrote:

cicerone imposter wrote:

I already did; it identifies the causes of mental illness. I want you to identify for us which ones are self-inflicted? Name one if you can?

Cicerone - what are you talking about?! Countless mental problems are caused by lifestyle choices; that doesn't just mean excessive alcohol and drug intake, it can mean just eating lots and lots!

Whose lifestyle choices are you talking about? Some people's inability to control their own bad habits is more than just personal "choice."

Here are 2 very serious mental disorders, autism and depression, both linked to excess body weight:

Quote:

...our study provides evidence that new-onset postpartum depression is associated with substantial weight retention after childbirth...
http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v16/n6/full/oby200871a.html

Quote:

Abstract: We report on elevated total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels in 22 individuals with Asperger syndrome compared with well-matched controls, after accounting for lifestyle variables and clinical symptomatology that could affect them. A potential role for dyslipidemia in the pathogenesis of some forms of autism is discussed. [Copyright 2007 Elsevier]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Psychiatry Research

Jan2007, Vol. 149 Issue 1-3, p321-324

"Hypercholesterolemia in Asperger syndrome: Independence from lifestyle, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and social anxiety."

Author Affiliations:
1Center for Brain Health, HN-400, New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA
2Department of Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Germany
3Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA

......... [/color]

Foxfyre wrote:

McGentrix wrote:

What exactly is a "windfall profit"?

According to some Democrats, it is any national or worldwide condition that generates profit for big corporations. And, according to them, it should be confiscated by the government immediately.

Well, we are in a war; what's the difference between the limiting of profits during wartime in the past, and the limiting of profits now?

The oil companies are taking advantage of the world-wide situation in order to make truly record profits on the backs of the American consumer. And to a certain extent, every company does this. But the idea that this cannot be limited, ever, is ridiculous. We could cap oil company profits at the levels they are at RIGHT NOW and they would still be pulling in billions of dollars of profit PER QUARTER. The businesses would survive just fine, and we need the money worse then they need ever-expanding profits.

Cycloptichorn

Foxfyre wrote:

McGentrix wrote:

What exactly is a "windfall profit"?

According to some Democrats, it is any national or worldwide condition that generates profit for big corporations. And, according to them, it should be confiscated by the government immediately.

Well, we are in a war; what's the difference between the limiting of profits during wartime in the past, and the limiting of profits now?

The oil companies are taking advantage of the world-wide situation in order to make truly record profits on the backs of the American consumer. And to a certain extent, every company does this. But the idea that this cannot be limited, ever, is ridiculous. We could cap oil company profits at the levels they are at RIGHT NOW and they would still be pulling in billions of dollars of profit PER QUARTER. The businesses would survive just fine, and we need the money worse then they need ever-expanding profits.

Cycloptichorn