yea, I know where this is heading, I say, by July the latest.
After my wife crunched the numbers; less maint. costs on my cobra as I won’t be driving it very often, insurance break ( offset by the additional car) it would still take 6 years to realize a savings from the Focus, at present prices, BUT, I don't think we will see a drop, so that would make it pan out sooner as the prices are still going to go north of $5 anyway....so there ya go.

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We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile....

Are you referring to Ford's Cobra, not the Shelby version? If the Cobra is a classic (you probably wouldn't be using it as a commute piece) very inexpensive insurance coverage is available from several companies. If not a classic you should consider selling it and putting the money into a classic where MPG isn't a consideration and the appreciation is beyond your wildest dreams.

see my pics page on the forum here, its an 06 Shelby Cobra....its a limited run and will be a classic one day etc....no way I'll sell it, I love it and frankly as I said in an earlier post, its not so much the money per gallon, I can afford it, its the idea, I feel used and ill served. I am not a baby, I know we have lived the life of Reilly for a long long time regarding gasoline and cheap energy, but we are not doing a damn thing effectively to address the issue, so I'll spring for the focus and use the cobra once or twice a week, maybe.

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We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile....

And you're voting Republican?

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If you stop trying to bring the Bible into the classroom, I'll stop secretly sneaking biology textbooks into the pews on Saturday nights. Deal?

If the flag is precious to YOU, then don't burn YOURS.

Now $130/barrel, a 14% increase in one month. Wholesale vehicle auctions are clogged with big SUVs and pickups, as are dealer retail lots. I recently read a post by someone in the vehicle financing business that said they're now deluged with repossessions where only one or two payments have been made and in spite of putting the vehicles on retail lots at under wholesale prices to move them, no one seems to want big SUVs or big pickups at any price.

Stop the war in Iraq, start reducing the Empire....700 military bases in 130 countries and you'll save hundreds of billions of dollars a year - the dollar will strengthen as confidence in the dollar comes back.

Right now even when Saudis agreed to increase production - the oil prices rose instead of falling - Iran jumped up and said "See we told you so - it is the Dollar that is the culprit not oil". They've already dumped trading in the dollar.

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"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
~Thomas Jefferson

"There is Still No Such Thing As a Fair Tax"

Saddam went off USD oil trades and look what happened to Iraq. Look at the military threats directed at Iran and Russia for the same currency position. Americans dislike being reminded that their currency is in danger with oil hedge speculation and, like most addictions, seek any solution to achieve what they consider their birthright - cheap gas. There is no longer any such thing. With no reduction in unsustainable military spending and equally debilitating public debt accumulation, the US will either remain at war, perhaps expanded, or run out of credit when our markets become unable to produce required margins.

A new bill was just passed by congress that will regulate futures markets within the US. As most of the world's crude oil production is traded in USD, it looks like another power play by the world's largest oil consuming country to maintain that critical avenue of USD expansion. In the year 2000, Kenny Lay 'convinced' administration to not pursue oil futures regulation. Some interesting times are ahead.

Itll just cost us more when we have to go to great lengths to fight our enemies, now that they do not have us on their border watching them, and we have no bases to extend our reach. Besides, national security spending is a minority of our budget. If you really want to strengthen the economy and the dollar, and reduce gas prices, cut govt services, reduce taxes. This will give people more of their own money to innovate.

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http://www.fairtax.org

Elminate all taxes on income and replace with a national sales tax.

You can't spend three trillion dollars of borrowed money on war mongering and cut taxes at the same time. Well you can.... if you want a total collapse of the economy and the currency.

We do not need 70,000 troops guarding Germany.

Govt. services sure can be cut - but they make up a negligible portion of the total spending that the federal government does. It is the spending on maintaining the empire that is draining the resources of this nation - trillions of dollars of taxpayer's capital that are wasted. instead of bombing countries - try trading - like we did for the most part since the birth of this country and what made us the most powerful, technological, economic power in the world.

Recommended reading:

At What Cost the American Empire?

__________________
"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
~Thomas Jefferson

"There is Still No Such Thing As a Fair Tax"

According to the Department of Defense publication, "Active Duty Military Personnel Strengths by Regional Area and by Country," the United States has troops in 135 countries.

Here is the list:

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Antigua
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Congo
Costa Rica
Cote D’lvoire
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guatemala
Guinea
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Liberia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Mali
Malta
Mexico
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia and Montenegro
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovenia
Spain
South Africa
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

This means that the United States has troops in 70 percent of the world’s countries. It is cheaper to make your enemies into friends.

The average American could probably not locate half of these 135 countries on a map. Do we really need to be guarding them? What possible justification can be made for such spending?

Taxes do not go down—even if we vote to lower them. They can’t, as long as spending is increased, since all spending must be paid for one way or another.

Recommended Reading:

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt

__________________
"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
~Thomas Jefferson

"There is Still No Such Thing As a Fair Tax"

The list you pasted doesn't match the source. North Korea is an example.

Plus, if you look at the source, many of those countries have less than 10 soldiers/marines/airmen/sailors total. 10. Hardly a base.

__________________
"Take me back to the way life's never been."

I dont accept the 3 trillion dollar figure. The number specifically dealing with Iraq is closer to 500bil, which is bases on the sum of the appropriations bills that have been dedicated to Iraq and Afghanistan. Its too easy to claim other spending is related to Iraq, and likewise easy to dispute. But, in the same time we have spent 7.5 trillion on social programs. Perhaps if were to spend less on that we would have more to spend on the nations highest priority, national defense. Whether its 500billion, 3 trillion, or even 10 trillion, no cost is to much for my physical security. And yeah, for the most part we do need to have troops in all of those countries. Im not about to second guess the generals and presidents that have decided what is needed by our military to physically secure this country.

__________________
http://www.fairtax.org

Elminate all taxes on income and replace with a national sales tax.

Oil execs are testifying on CNN.com/live now. They are pathetic.

Well, there's your problem!

__________________
"Take me back to the way life's never been."

How else would the MIC have reached its current resource hogging status without implanting fear? Gotta have that fear. I treasure the way people calculate only the deficit spending as the cost of war in Iraq. That our foreign policy at the point of a gun is acknowledged to be a major factor in oil speculation costs and the decline of our currency seems to be lost in their fear.