Free Republic

I start medicare next month, took social security at age 62 and thanks to retirement planning that I started 40 years ago, I have a million dollar portfolio which gives me a combination of continued growth and an income that allows my wife and I to live comfortably and still help out with our adult children and their children.

I actually retired from the workforce at age 53. After retirement, I kept a small hair salon that allowed me to continue build up additional retirement funds until I sold the business last year.

CNN is reporting that his wife will not change her busy public schedule. She is in Syracuse and will not return to New York to be with her husband.

I wonder if this changes Kerry's opinion of Governor Vilsak

Shaheen's husband is Arab American.

She was born and raised in California went to college in Mississippi and taught middle school in New Hampshire before getting into politics. As a politician she is a snake. She got elected by finding or creating dirt on every opponent.

Every thing that she does is based on political calculation but she is in over her head. She was a "photo-op" governor. Her chief of staff, Judy Reardon, actually ran the state while Shaheen ran around the state from one political event to another. She refuses to accept responsibiltiy for her failures (there were many) and grabs headlines at every opportunity.

She is as liberal as Senator Kerry. She increased spending at hight rates every term until her last year when she wanted to run for the Senate as a fiscal conservative. She was defeated by our current Senator Sununu.

We now have a conservative Governor who has held the line on spending and once again we are among the lowest in the country with regard to tax burden.

Maybe we are already seeing a reaction. In a special election for a State Senator, a Republican Scott Brown beat Democrat Angus McQuilken. Republicans do not usually win high profile elections in Massachusetts State races. I suspect that the Republican turnout was greatly increased in reaction to the Massachusetts Court actions re Gay Marriage.

Do you have any idea what Kerry is referring to with his comments regarding "President Bush's attacks on Kerry's service in country"?

I think that this is probably just political crap talk but surely he will be asked and he must have some thing in mind.

Do the Clinton's own anybody in this race other than Weasley Clark?

It appears that they at an excellent plan. ...oops, the 9 dwarves have said that they have no plan in Iraq. One wonders what Kerry's plan would have been.

Obviously, the Clinton war room is at work.

Not only did they have Mrs Clinton blaming Bush, but they had Gray Davis opining how it was done in Califonia and they had Governor Richardson whining that Republicans stopped the Clintons' energy plan.

This on top of Gore telling us how he would have done better against terror. ...and Madame Halfbright telling us that Gore would have done better after 911 and Gore would have been smarter in Iraq.

The Clinton campaign for President is in full gear.

Garamendi previously worked in the Clintons' administration so there is no doubt that Garamendi got the phone call from the Clintons.

I moved from West LA to New Hampshire 30 years ago. Things have changed a lot since then. Governor Shaheen almost finished us off. If Governor Benson stumbles, it will only be a matter of time before we follow Vermont into the land of liberals.

The MacDonalds in my town (100 miles Southwest of Chicago) arrived in 1958.

I am surprised that she did not complain about the fact that at first they only hired boys to work in MacDonalds.

Too bad, you missed the Spielberg Bush Bash. The Miltary General (Sipowitz' black boss) slams Bush 41 and then slams "junior".

Sununu 46 Shaheen 45

Incredible as it sounds, the Shaheen strategy is working BECAUSE in part Senator Smith refuses to make any statement. That leaves her free to continue outlandish statements that Senator Smith applauds her job as Governor.

Also, Christian Conservatives headed by Mark Hounsel are promoting a write-in campaign for their people to write in the name Bob Smith in order to teach the Republican leadership that they must give proper consideration to Christian Conservative organizations. It is an incredibly short sighted effort, given that they are pro-life (as is Sununu), pro-family (as is Sununu) and against same sex partnerships (as is Sununu). Shaheen on the other hand is pro-choice (including partial birth abortion) and she is for same sex partnerships. She claims that she will be an independent on New Hampshire issues but she is pro-big government and has repeatedly broken pre-election promises.

In their debates, Sununu answered every question honestly - no spin. That will hurt him in a close race because the feminazis and environmental whackos have launched a savage attack on his conservative positions which he has held onto inspite of the attacks.

It continues to amaze me that the conservatives have failed to recognize this. Sorry for the digression. If Senator Smith would simply tell his supporters that Sununu is their best chance for furthering their cause, it would help a great deal. This race is incredibly close.

Please let it be true. The thought of listening to her spin drivel everytime she makes a move (for 6 years - oh lord)would be too much. Thank God, I got TEVO - I never watch anything live anymore.

After the primary, Shaheen declared that she would take the high road and Smith was gracious in defeat stating that he was giving his support to Sununu. At that point it looked good for Sununu.

But then Shaheen's operatives (led by Shaheen's long term partner, Judy Riordan) realized that they were never going to win if they had to rely on Shaheen's record which is deplorable. They than launched into a ruthless attack on Sununu (everyone who has ever run against Shaheen gets labeled as a right wing extremist) to scare independents away from Sununu while at the same time they had Shaheen support President Bush in order to attract Smith supporters. I can not see how in the world any Conservative could ever do anything to get Shaheen elected, but if she wins, it will because Senator Smith allowed it to happen. He never campaigned for Sununu and he never made any public statement to disavow Shaheen ads which implied that Smith thought that she was doing a great job as Governor.

I am very pessimistic about this race. I think that Sununu can win but it will only happen if the Smith supporters vote for Sununu. If they vote for Shaheen or for Smith or do not vote, I can not see how Sununu can win.

The group polled for the Shaheen poll was "all voters". The ARG poll taken over a two week period (ending on the same day as the Shaheen poll) targeted likely voters. Shaheen's campaign is run by Mandy Grunwald (also works for Hiliary). She will wage a blistering attack on Sununu and if Sununu treats her with respect he will lose.

The Dims played right into Rebublican hands. They were beginning to gain ground with attacks on Economy. Then they began to worry about Iraq stealing news space from the economy. They apparently thought that they could push the Iraq issue back beyond the elections, if they demanded Bush go the UN (OK he did that) that Bush present his case against Iraq (OK he did that). Then Dashole says each day his case gets better but he is not quite there. What an idiot! This allows Bush to drag out the case. This week he is at the UN. Next week he'll show some proof about nuclear developments in Irag. Then he'll show some actual proof of OBL people in Iraq, etc. etc. - then bang here is the election.

So I say go ahead Dims, keep demanding more proof.

Lots of tears. Especially when listening to certain songs. It hurt but I kept listening because it brought back memories as well as tears. I would never shut out that part of my life even though I have remarried. My grief continued for about a year (each holiday and anniversary and birthday). I never felt any guilt for what I might have done or did not have opportunity to do, but I cried because I missed her a lot. I went to grief counseling sessions. But after a few sessions, I realized that I was much better off than the others - that in itself was theraputic. I also took my teen age son to grief counseling. It took him years longer then me to stop crying. It was ten years ago now and I am happily married again but I still think about my first wife a lot and honestly believe that she looks out for me.