" Booboo, so then you would agree with me that huge corporations shouldn't be getting government handouts, correct? When you look at the welfare situation, corporations rule. I find this to be totally objectionable. We are the stingiest country in the world when it comes to helping out those who need it most, and most giving to those who need it least. Your anger and concern is very misplaced. "

" A constitutional republic based on democratic principles. Remember "of the people, by the people, for the people?" (I may have those out of order, but you know the concept). The people are supposed to be represented EQUALLY regardless of class, race or gender -- via the electoral college. In principle it should work, but it has been skewed over the years and corrupted, like so many other things. Well, I'm pointing out that much of the corruption of the stated aims have been skewed going way back -- that often those much-touted aims were to get backing from the masses when they were needed to force change (as in the American Revolution), then to cut them off and go back to a form of power only for the aristocracy once the new regime was secured. In the case of our country, that aristocracy was one of money rather than of birth, but it operated (and still operates) the same way -- those with power and money do everything they can to consolidate and increase their power while sticking it to the lower classes. I am not a communist or a socialist and don't think those forms of government work better. I personally think the directing of power should be in the hands of those who can act most responsibly with it, those who are answerable to the public when they misuse it. But over the course of many centuries, the opposite has come to be as corporations have secured for themselves constitutional rights beyond those given to natural human persons and given precedence over the constitutional rights of natural human persons while being absolved of the responsibilities any one of us would have if we went around doing what they do. And Corporations drive our government. That is not right, just, or "republican" any more than it is "democratic" -- I put it in these terms since Bobbo cannot seem to comprehend the world around him unless he assigns every concept into one diametrically opposed camp or the other, even when I clearly state that it has nothing to do with political parties. At any rate, lunch break is done and time to get back to work. "

" It was in the paper that the only vehicles they were planning on using a boot on were the ones that came up with so many outstanding parking tickets, etc. I think it is a good idea...it is one way to get those that ignore the tickets to pay. Maybe the next time after paying the fee for the boot or a towing they won't ignore a parking ticket. "

" To the idiot who asked whats the big deal over M Vick. Well lets put you in a ring with two or three pit bulls and see how you come out and what was done years ago wasn't right then and still isn't right today. You give meaning to the saying your a MENTAL MIGET. "

" The expression "My Bad" is just a fad and is used by teenagers and other adults. It'll pass by soon, just like furbys or tight pants (which are now also coming back). "

" Briliant point, FarmersGal--well spoken. You have shamed us all with your acumen. True it is, that it has always been the interest of the Aristocracy to skew things so as to protect their own interests. My argument vs Bobbo is that they must not be allowed to continue to do so! "

" You're right Farmer's Gal, it doesn't sound very democratic. Maybe that's because the founding fathers set up our government as a Republic, not a democracy, to save the country from mass ignorance. In fact, you don't have the right for vote to count in a presidential election. The state can decide who to give its electoral votes, regardless of how the people in that state voted. "

" AJ, its funny how you think I'm heartless, yet you wish "hard times" on me. Brew, your right about mental illness, but liberalism is the mental illness in this case. Karl I find it strange how you hate the church, but love the democrat party. They are very similar. Both oranizations use guilt to secure money and loyalty. Democrat leaders know that liberals vote on emotions instead of facts and statistics. Question, with the trillions we've spent on poverty in the last 30 years, why hasn't the poverty rate decreased? There is only one cure for povery - creation of wealth (capitalism). Redistribution of wealth (socialism) does NOT create wealth. I'm not saying we don't need a government safety net for those in DIRE need, but thanks to democrats, what was once emergency funding has now become a way of life. FYI - I am not financialy wealthy, but but because of our healthy economy, my skilled trade allows me to provide for my family and not burden the rest of society. "

" On the subject of the way our government (supposedly) works, I thought this passage from James Madison was illuminating. For those with short attention spans, let me summarize before I back my assertions up with the actual quotation. Madison is advocating setting up our government specifically in such as way as to keep wealth and power in the hands of the very few who were already wealthy and powerful and preventing the majority of people from ever getting a piece of either one. If you are too ADD to read it all, skip to the last sentence: "The landed interest, at present, is prevalent; but in process of time, ... when the number of landholders shall be comparatively small, ... will not the landed interest be overbalanced in future elections? and unless wisely provided against, what will become of your government? In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of landed proprietors would be insecure. An agrarian law would soon take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as TO PROTECT THE MINORITY OF THE OPULENT AGAINST THE MAJORITY." And kids, he got his way in the long run, "capitalism" or no "capitalism." Doesn't sound very democratic, does it? Nor even republican, in the sense of those words which have nothing to do with the names taken by subsequent political parties. "

" Exactly brew - he has emptied the lake and hoarded everything!! "

" Boobie, I can't wait for you to fall on some hard times so you yourself can see how idiotic your statements are. "

" EBONICS ,A EXCUSE FOR NOT KNOWING HOW TO SPELL OR PRONUNCIATE . "

" Booboo, lets talk about who's "brainwashed"! I talk about FACTS that are reported daily, and you give me lame-brained Faux News talking points. That "study" was probably one of those that Bill O'really(?) makes up to support his spin. Did ya ever think that the SIZE of lots in Englandis smaller because England IS AN ISLAND?!?! Oh, sorry; I forgot, you've never left NY State, much less the US. Your postulation about Democrats needing to kep people in poverty to survive is SO STUPID that I can actually understand WHY you said it--your sometimes-rational brain found it so unpalatable and vile a thought that it HAD to spew it out, like mental Ipecac! As if the Poor need any help in staying poor! What a boneheaded statement! So you say that "there will ALWAYS be people in poverty"...YES! EXACTLY, BOOB! So what do we do with them--let them starve in the streets? AHHHH!! DO you Smell that? The sickly-sweet smell of the ROTTING HEART of a Conservative being thrust into the blinding spotlight of TRUTH! Thank you, Boobie, for showing us all what you're really made of! BTW, we're currently spending BILLIONS (and on the way to trillions) to maim and kill people in foreign lands--where would YOU rather spend our money?! (as if I need to ask you that! =( ) "

" Part of the reason that poverty levels remain the same is that we have not cured mental illness and the inability of people to obtain normal levels of intelligence. There will always be the weaker of the species. Unlike the other animals we have compassion for the weaker. Other species of animals and republicans feel that only the fit should survive. "

" Booboo has learned to fish but he probably eats it all and shares none of it with the poor. "

" Another thing. The best way to fight poverty is capitalism. The free market allows the rich to become poor and the poor to become rich. Adversely, Socialist wealth redistribution teaches people to depend on the government, and stifles dreams to become the next Bill Gates. "

" Karl, you're so brainwashed that you may never recover. From a study on wealth redistribution from 1964 to 1994, FACT: "Since the onset of the War on Poverty, the United States has spent over $5.3 trillion on welfare. But during the same period, the official poverty rate has remained virtually unchanged." You see Karl, we've spent TRILLIONS on the so called "war on poverty" and the poverty rate remains unchanged. But how could this be? Maybe because if the poverty problem was really solved, then democrats would be out of a job. Democrats must keep people in poverty to survive. That's why they want the illegals to flood the nation, more poverty votes. That fact is that there will ALWAYS be people in poverty. Poverty is relative. Studies show the average American in poverty lives in a home/apt bigger than the middle class England. "

" So then domesticated animals are better and more worthy of life than wild animals? The only reason we need so-called wild animal control is because humans are destroying the homes of millions of wild animals - we are the ones encroaching on their habitats, not the other way around. However, humans and wild animals can live in harmony side by side. The way I see it, the only animal that should be hit with any kind of object is one that is about to attack or kill someone. Bats especially are not a "nuisance", as they provide an invaluable service to us by eating thousands of harmful insects per night and pollinating many flowers, fruits and plants that would otherwise die out. And as for population control, most bats in the world only bear one pup a year, and now nearly half of the species in the U.S. are threatened or endangered. "

" Sue Riford was able to run A.C.T. because her hubby was a State Senator and open the pork barrel for her every year...she also led the theatre down the road to financial embarrassment )ask some of the local merchants that she hung with unpaid bills)...Ed Sayles (who worked for Riford during her last three or four years) has brought the theatre to the place it is today...one of the most highly respected summer stock theatres in the country...typically Auburn you want filet mignon for ground beef prices...wake up....theatre of the MGR magnitude costs upwards of $80.00 per seat in other places...be happy you are getting a bargain instead of whining like an Auburn Lemming.... "

" MayHaruka, the difference between dogfighting and bats, vermin, or even deer hunting, is that dogs were domesticated thousands of years ago. They have become "man's best friend", a loyal and intellegent (compaired to other animals) animal. They trust they're welfare unto us. Wild animals need population control, disease control, and nuisance control by beating them with tennis rackets. Would your arguement prevent me from stepping on ants too? "

" Defending that monster Michael Vick by bringing up cock fights and dog fights is like defending rape by "remembering" child sexual abuse. Dumbest "two cents" comment I've read in a LOOOOOONG time! "

" Hey Booboo--sometimes your stupid remarks come flyin' out of your piehole so fast that they exceed both the speed of logic and the speed of sense--but ahhhhh!--they're not fast enough to escape HYPOCRISY!! And here's what it told me about your brainless post regarding Liberals adding people to the gov't dole--YOUR STUPID, HEARTLESS CONSERVATIVES have put MORE PEOPLE INTO POVERTY AND THEREFORE ONTO PUBLIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS than any method Liberals might ever dream of! Housing repossessions are skyrocketing, loans being defaulted at record rates, bankruptcies are up, credit debt is at unprecedented rates, and Americans still have THE LOWEST RATE of savings IN THE FREE WORLD! See, Boob--you just can't hide from your hypocrisy and idiocy! You can label LIberals all you want, but at some point you have to stop these emotional outbursts and STICK TO VERIFIABLE FACTS! "

" Many people who are appalled by Vick's heinous actions wouldn't think twice before brutally killing a maternity colony of bats or smacking a wayward bat or squirrel to death with a tennis racket or a hammer. "

" "Retard", like "gay", is also used as a synonym for stupid, but the difference between them and "my bad" is that "my bad" isn't derogatory and prejudiced, and it doesn't hurt other's feelings. But I don't care for "my bad" either - I'd rather get a real, direct apology. "

" And another thing, if you liberals care so much about the poor and downtrodden, then why do you insist on making more and more people dependant on the government? That's communism! Give a man a fish and you've fed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you've fed him for a lifetime. Learn to fish, that's capitalism! "

" Welfare does that on purpose,meeting after meeeting hopeing you will not show or walk out and i bet it works well cause it is alot of BS "

" Its sooo sad to read such ignorant posts (especially from one w/3 post HS degrees). You don't know his situation any better than I. I was offering sincere advice to a person in need. You are the ones who assumed this person is disabled with starving children. All he said was he needs money and is frustrated by having to wait 45 days. Without reading too much into it, I offered the most common solution (most humans use this same solution), get a job. I wasn't being rude, just sincere. If the guy is disabled w/ starving children (like Farmers gal) then I sympathize, but I wasn't rude, just uniformed of his particlular situation, just like you. Liberals are so judgemental, ugh. "

" Why can people that own businesses park right oustide their stores and feed the meter all day and I get a ticket for feeding the meter cause I'm in a restaurant for two hours? Isnt one of the store owners at the top of the ticket scoflaw list? "

" Here's the rub: If you are truly down and out and trying to scrape by, that 45 days doesn't work. If you are poor enough to be applying for welfare, you can't go 45 days with zero income. I was a productive worker. I am again now. But there was a time in between when I was disabled. Because I wasn't able, I lost my Unemployment. I couldn't qualify for either federal (had to be a 12 month injury) or state (had to be no more than 26 wks since you were employed and it had been 26 wks and 4 days) disability. So I tried to get welfare -- I was, after all, in a wheelchair and no one knew if I would ever walk again, I was constantly exhausted and in pain and couldn't even dress or bathe myself (couldn't bend to reach my feet). I had absolute zero income and very little savings which were fast slipping away, esp. with medical bills. So I tried to apply for welfare. It wasn't easy for me physically to sit through all these meetings that dragged on and I was sick and in pain, but I made it through the 4 mandatory meetings (I was excused from the one where they told you about the workfare part because I was disabled). Then I was told I'd have to 45 days to receive any benefits, and I could not get money from any other source during that time or I'd lose my benefits, and if I didn't report them, I'd also be guilty of fraud. But I don't know what I was expected to live on for a month and a half when the reason I was applying for welfare was that I didn't have any money. If I had had enough to live on for all that time, I wouldn't have been in there applying in the first place! (As it happened, I pushed myself and got walking again, was declared partially disabled, and got my unemployment which carried me through until I could get a low-paying job in a different field. Then I did finally find a professional position for which to apply and I've been here ever since). ***** Get this clear -- the system does not work. Good, decent, hard-working people who fall on hard times through no fault of their own fall through the cracks. There is no safety net. And people who have never had to live through such hard times don't know what they are talking about. Like I've said before, some people's comments are so ignorant they are not even worth reading. BTW, I have 3 academic degrees past high school, so I don't exactly fit your stereotype of a lazy welfare slob. I now have a terrific job. I worked very hard and was able to walk again. But I would not have made it through that hard time if I had had to depend on the government or a charitable organization -- a personal friend carried me out of the goodness of his heart. Not everyone gets so lucky as to have a such good person come into their lives to help them out. I'd rather see my tax dollars go to help people who are in positions like I was in than to pay for killing people in foreign lands. "

" I loved the article in Lake Life on "New York's scenic canals, rivers" by John Keshishoglou. I would love to make that trip! "

" I worked at AMH about 40 years ago and they had no respect for employees with the exception of doctors and nurses. Anyone below those positions were considered to be inferior human beings. Sometimes things just remain the same for ever. "

" Booboo once again proves that right wing Republicans are heartless uncaring persons that have no compassion for the disadvantaged. If one has no income and has children you ask for emergency help. This helps to cut some of the red tape and your benefits will come to you retroactively. The welfare caseworker generally will not inform you of this so you have to speak up. You can then ask your church or the Salvation Army for some help until the government can react. Luckily this country has more compassion than republicans and help is there for the truly needy. "

" Re: Morale at AMH,I used to have a boss who walked by all of the night staff to her mailbox, then back to her office in the morning, rarely ever saying a word to us. We were expected to respect her???????? Then the night supervisor from HEL*....I could write a book about her display of disrespect to staff. Retirement is wonderful! " "

" Lol, bobbo. I agree. "

" Wow Bobbo, that is pretty harsh since you don't know what type of assistance the person is asking about. Perhaps they have a valid reason as to why they are not or cannot work? Geesh, you should try to be a little nicer. "

" What century did you come from? Slang does not mean someone sounds like an uneducated dimwit. Take the term gay. Now defined as stupid. The English language has a variety of these. "

" Your entitlements take 45 days to get through the bureaucrazy (offices, paperwork, ect.). I suggest getting a job to avoid this headache. "