That GASLAND movie was filmed by a guy from my area. There are several properties in my market with gas leases signed. I had one listed for sale and nobody was interested in purchasing the beautiful home and 16 acres.......I loathe the idea of these gas drilling activities...and there are many here in power who are in favor of it because they are ones who signed the leases!

this is going to KILL our area. Our area is a destination for people who want to GET AWAY FROM "it all." Now, they'll be getting away from it - somewhere other than what was once the most beautiful country in the state....

Sorry, rant in progress....off topic but the GASLAND thing got me going.

Those 12 contaminated wells are about an hour's drive from me - maybe an hour and a half.

Yeah it's pretty scary and if people knew what they did to their land they would not sign the lease.

If you did sign the lease you would be smart to get 10 times what they are offering because your land and house will be worthless at that point and you would need to move away. I am surprised that lenders would not put restrictions on buyers having a loan on a property with a gas lease.

Yes. I believe that too. Think of it as an October Surprise. Stocks will soar, confidence will return, middle of the road types will trend back to Obama. The right will flop aroud like a fish out of water. Caught flat footed and speechless, the moderate GOP will break off from the Tea Party tack as soon as pressure lifts from the crowds at home.

There is simply no way O can succeed in his current political condition especially if you add his oversight of the return on taxes to the married, to parents, investors. He really has no other choice if you think about it.

When are we going to start actively talking about bailing out the States ? They're far more important than Wall Street, AIG, GM or Chrysler.

I suppose that's left for AFTER the Fall Elections . . . . if they can stay afloat that long.

At least South Dakota is operating in the black. The rest are going to the pits.

Ron Paul predicted a de facto 10th amendment secession, whereby most states go at it alone, or in loose partnerships with one another, when the checks from the US treas. become worthless.
The idea of bailout really now means....who is allowed access to borrowed funds. If that credit pipeline is interupted somehow get ready to here the question asked (from states to the feds), What have you done for me lately?

Then listen for the answer from at least some of the states, What's the point in hanging around with Uncle Sam anymore?

Why should "we" bail out the states or any government entity for that matter? Why are we spending billions weekly on a war we can't possibly win? Why should we be increasing taxes to cover retirement benefits for govt. workers and military retirees when private companies can cut them loose or reduce their benefits. Why should we pay the prices we do for gas and oil when some company on wall street never touches the stuff and can control pricing and make billions. Why is just one illegal immigrant still in the US? Why is the federal reserve privately owned by big banking institutions? Why do we keep spending money we don't have and creating it out of thin air?

What is going to stop this recession from continuing ?

Very good questions. I think the recession will continue to deepen unless the government stops uncontrollable spending. The housing and credit crisis, IMO, basically happened because there was a feeling that everyone should have the things they want, not need. Just put in on credit or get a loan for it. Now the government is doing the same thing.

Or ourselves ? Who is "we" anyway ?
When "we" unilaterally abrogate all of our obligations, and walk away from our debts. Then the spigots will stop.

Hard assets, denominated in something other than US Dollars, will prevail.

I think your first step should be to stop voting for all of your geriatric senators.

As well Califorina has made some interesting reforms to the primary system which should enable more moderates.

PA did that by getting rid of that old crooked forked-tongued codger, Arlen Specter. GOOD BYE, GOOD RIDDANCE...

Actually, I have to find it again, but that email has LONG been debunked. It's been around under a different guise since before Obama was elected. The TEMPORARY tax cuts are set to expire. THey will be renewed for the average Joe, but those earning over $250k a year will take a hit.

I agree, the US sovereign debt is currently in excess of $13 and growing. Unfunded liabilities are at nearly $110 Trillion.

My belief is that over the next 6-12 months we are going to see a huge increase in tax, and the start of hyper-inflation.

There is a "debt clock" at the following link - makes for some scary reading: http://thedingogroup.com/web/guest/tools

Artiste....c'mon, do you really want to be quoting Che Guevara??

I have a Che quote for you:

"Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!"

"Hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine. This is what our soldiers must become … " Che Guevara

Che was no lover, he was a Stalinist murdering thug. Here is a list compiled by the Free Society Project of documented victims of Che: http://cubaarchive.org/home/images/stori...a_9.30.2009.pdf

Dr. Douglas Young, Professor of Political Science & History at Gainesville State College says it best in his essay:

The meticulous myth of Senor Guevara is of a handsome Argentine heroically helping Fidel Castro’s guerrillas liberate Cuba from Fulgencio Batista’s military dictatorship in 1959. Then he became a global revolutionary icon inspiring the downtrodden to rise up everywhere, even personally leading rebel warriors in the Congo before being executed doing the same in Bolivia in 1967. The (communist) party line says Che personifies the selfless humanitarian courageously fighting for “social justice.” He’s the Marxists’ martyred Christ figure replete with pictures of his half-naked corpse riddled with bullet holes. And the classic poster of an angry young Guevara has scarred countless college dorm rooms for over 40 years, putting a face on the eternally young rebel for angry adolescents everywhere.

The real Guevara was a reckless bourgeois adrenaline-junkie seeking a place in history as a liberator of the oppressed. But this fanatic’s vehicle of “liberation” was Stalinism, named for Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, murderer of well over 20 million of his own people. As one of Castro’s top lieutenants, Che helped steer Cuba’s revolutionary regime in a radically repressive direction. Soon after overthrowing Batista, Guevara choreographed the executions of hundreds of Batista officials without any fair trials. He thought nothing of summarily executing even fellow guerrillas suspected of disloyalty and shot one himself with no due process.

Che was a purist political fanatic who saw everything in stark black and white. Therefore he vociferously opposed freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, protest, or any other rights not completely consistent with his North Korean-style communism. How many rock music-loving teens sporting Guevara t-shirts today know their hero supported Cuba’s 1960s’ repression of the genre? How many homosexual fans know he had gays jailed?

Did the Obama volunteers in that Texas campaign headquarters with Che’s poster on the wall know that Guevara fervently opposed any free elections? How “progressive” is that?

How socially just was it that Che was enraged when the Russians blinked during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis and withdrew their nuclear missiles from the island, thus averting a nuclear war? Guevara was such a zealous ideologue that he relished the specter of millions of Cuban lives sacrificed on the altar of communism, declaring Cuba “a people ready to sacrifice itself to nuclear arms, that its ashes might serve as a basis for new societies.” Some humanitarian.

Che was a narcissist who boasted that “I have no house, wife, children, parents, or brothers; my friends are friends as long as they think like me, politically.” This is a role model for today’s “post-political” voters claiming we should get beyond partisanship?

Adding to the ridiculousness of the Che cult is that he was virtually a complete failure. As a medical doctor, he never even had a practice. When put in charge of the Cuban economy at the start of Castro’s government, his uncompromising communist diktats ran it completely into the ground, from which it never recovered. Humiliated, and also angry that Castro wasn’t fomenting enough revolution abroad, he then tried to lead such quixotic adventures in Argentina, the Congo, and Bolivia, failing miserably everywhere while sacrificing the lives of scores of naïve, idealistic young followers as deluded pawns in the service of his personality cult.

Another reason he fled Cuba in the mid-1960s was the complete mess he made of his private life. Though he preached sexual purity to his colleagues, he was a shameless adulterer who abandoned two wives and many children, some legitimate, others not. As a grandson put it, “he was never home.” The public Che who supposedly had such great love for humanity privately couldn’t stand most folks.

Guevara’s promiscuous communist adventurism was the pattern of a terminal adolescent running away from his problems to get caught up in some heroic crusade against his eternal bete noir, “Yankee imperialism.”

So why do so many well-heeled American libs still admire this thug? Are the young simply ignorant of his execrable record and drawn to the image of the dashing young rebel? Do older progressives feel guilt for their free market prosperity, and showing solidarity with Che absolves them? Do hippies-turned-yuppies get nostalgic for their youthful protests and rationalize that the symbolism of Che as a “social reformer” eclipses his actual horrific human rights record? And are some American Guevaraistas truly dangerous leftists who seek to emulate their icon and destroy our free, democratic, capitalist society? Ask that guy wearing the Che t-shirt.

Kill 'em with love, right Artiste?

- El Luchador

My bet is that we are going to follow the same path Japan followed.. until it's too late. Kick the can down the road, keep putting things off and burdening future generations, with politicians afraid to make the hard choices. A long, slow, painful deflationary period (possibly depression), followed by the prospect of hyperinflation. Could take 5-10 years or more.

This entire economy is politically manipulated to serve special interests.. including the real estate industry. Just look around the globe to see what happens when debt becomes unserviceable and you will see the future of America.

Oh so he killed people, was a narcissist and had sex? Gee, he sounds like every leader I've ever known. Since you can't attack the ideas, you attack the person. Wut-evah.