muirjm

you're right, it would be impossible for us to do it, but if the Arab nations step up to the plate it could be done. I should have been clearer.

ack, I shoulda known that would stir the pot a little bit look, Prez, Bush pushed through huge tax cuts for the rich and didn't cut spending to match. Now the deficit is quickly going through the roof, and I think that's cause for worry. I call that irresponsible. That's all I was saying. And I'm not at all a left-winger. For me, it's quite frequently a toss-up as to which party does a worse job. I distance myself from both. And for the record Jag, I'm 16. But in my own defense I'm not an average 16 yr old. And please don't immediately call me arrogant either cause everyone who knows me knows I'm not. I'll just leave it at that.

There was just something on the news that they killed the #2 al-Qaeda guy. How many #2's do they have? Arabic names sorta run together in my head til they all sound the same (no offense to any Arabs reading this, of course.) It's hard to tell how significant this really is. The only thing I know is that you will continue to have terrorists until you shut down all the madrasas (spelling?), which is impossible.

Obviously Democrats waste money, too, Prez. But you've got to admit, Bush has set new records with it. At least Clinton pretended that he cared about the deficit. At least he had a PhD in economics so he sorta new what he was doing as far as managing the economy. (Emphasis on sorta!) Bush hasn't even made an effort to check spending. And $ilk, remember that in recent history, nobody has managed the economy worse than Reagan and Bush (cough...Republicans!).

Wow. How relentlessly sad. I am resisting the temptation to make a snide comment about the Republican party. But just barely...

quote:Originally posted by Jaguar: quote: I am a liberal because I was influenced by people who's beleifs did not jibe wit conservatives. I have read and reread ML.King, MLK was a conservative, no matter how much some of the current black leaders of today would like to say otherwise, or think otherwise. He was against affirmative action, he was against anything that would give blacks advantages over others. He wanted a level playing field, that was all. He felt if given the same rights as others, blacks could excel. Affirmative action was not at all what he wanted. AS a matter of fact he would have felt slighted if the thought had even come up. He had faith in Black Americans that they were smart enough and capable enough to do ANYTHING without special rights and favors, IE affirmative action. He also knew what affirmative action would do in the long run. Special rights are another way to create anger at the minority that gets them. Blacks may feel it is fair for them to have affirmative action, but in the long run, it was the worse thing that could have happened to anyone. Affirmative action caused the black minority to become beholden to the democrat party, because they were the ones that felt that Blacks were not able to do it by themselves, that they needed an extra boost. In the long run it is one of the most destructive things that could have happened. Blacks are intelligent enough to be able to excel within a level playing field, but those handouts are just too nice to refuse, even if it destroys you in the long run. Oh, and pretty soon those helping hands not only become nice to have, but necassary, that is when things get real bad, and that is what is happening now. Equal rights is one thing, a level playing field is what was needed, but giving special rights because even with a level playing field, blacks couldn't do it, is the most unfair and racist thing that I have ever heard. Affirmative action is racism in action, and the black minority just eat it up, even if it is the biggest insult imaginable. Thank you Jaguar! Why can't liberals understand this? If minorities truly are as good as whites (and I'm not racist, I think they are), then why do we need affirmative action? Since you already put my 2 cents in for me, Jag, I'm just going to sit back and watch the fireworks!

Once again, Jag, you said it for me. A side note on the WMD: what is the big mystery??? Watch The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. They had several Brigadier Generals on a few months ago that had solid evidence that most of the WMD have been shipped over to Syria. Why has nobody realized this? Saddam wasn't stupid enough to leave his nukes in Iraq, sooner or later we would have found them, but move them to Syria and we can't follow (unless we decide to invade them next).

quote:Originally posted by Kalshion: To be honest, I work for this "media" I work for the school news program and there are things where NOT allowed to print and not allowed to broadcast, that includs bush's accomplishments which, btw, we air anyway when the teacher isn't here CNN and several other news agencys are all ANTI-AMERICAN, there anti-american because they report only the wrong stuff and they also report things that are completly military related. That includs WHERE our troops are, HOW there doing CNN is one prime example of an Anti-American news agency, they only reported the bad stuff and in some case's LIED about other stuff. Thats the reason I don't watch CNN anymore, and thats why they earned the name Communist News Network cause they can never tell the truth LMAO!!! Although the first part about CNN is hardly funny. But Communist News Network!

Good point, SC. In my opinion though, the entire welfare system is f*****. I don't think welfare is really necessary for any ethnic group. I am not racist and I do not have anything against the Indians, or blacks, Hispanics, or whoever. The people that I have a problem with are people who refuse to work and help themselves or society and who expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter, at no expense to them. I realize there are many hard-working Indians, blacks, etc. in this country who have good jobs, and I applaud them. It's the ones who sit around and do nothing and then want the rest of us to take care of them...those are the ones I despise.

Way to go Jaguar! You took the words right out of my mouth. I think the situation in Iraq is really anywhere near as bad as the media would have us think. People think the media always tells the unbiased truth, but the media has just as strong a political agenda as anybody else, and there agenda is to get Bush out of office. Our casualties have averaged about, what, maybe 10-15 a week? Correct me if that figure is wrong. But, now lets think about how many people are murdered in the US every day. How many car wrecks are there and how many die in those every day? My point should be obvious. The liberals (and by the way, I do not consider myself a Republican either; like Jag, I agree with Bush on Iraq but not on some other issues) keep talking about how we're taking unacceptable losses in Iraq. Our casualties over there are so small, compared to all the good we're doing! Read Jaguar's list above again, liberals. Is a few deaths a day worth all that? I think so. Here's another way of looking at it. How many people would have died in one year under Saddam's rule? How many of his opponents would he have dragged into an interrogation chamber and poked their children's eyes out in front of them to get a confession? Still think this war isn't worth it?

This thing about the Indians is fairly simple in my mind. It was their ancestors who were wronged, not them. How long should we have to keep them on welfare for something that happened to their great great grandfather? I met a few Indians living on a Pomo reservation north of SF. Know what they do? None of them has ever had a job, or even applied for one. They sit around on the reservation and do nothing. They drink a fair bit, smoke some weed, and sit around and dream up bullshit to tell the anthropologists when they come along and ask questions about their "native lifestyle." Now, before everyone accuses me of stereotyping, I will admit that, yes I am. And generally I disagree with stereotypes. But this sort of life is not that uncommon among Indians living on reservations. But take a look at the many Indians who have successfully and completely integrated themselves into our society. Some have good jobs, a family, etc., and are very happy. This proves it is not impossible, as some would have you think. So remind me why society is paying for the lazy ones in the bunch when they are giving society nothing in return? I agree that we did some horrible things to the Indians a few hundred years back. And if it were possible, I would wholeheartedly agree with compensating those people who were wronged. But those are not the people who are alive today. I know I'm going to get flamed for this and I'm sure I'll offend a lot of people with this, but at least consider it.

I think John Ashcroft is one of the scariest people out there. Given a little more time, Ashcroft and the rest of the Bush administration will have turned the U.S. into a police state no different from the three superpowers in George Orwell's 1984. (Awesome book, if you haven't read it yet. Scary seeing the parallels with our society, but a good book.) My favorite Ben Franklin quote goes like this: "Those who trade some of their freedom for a little security deserve neither freedom nor security." And that is exactly what we are heading towards. In our paranoia, our panic to "Kill the terrorists, Kill the terrorists," we are letting those in power destroy the country they're trying to protect. One of the scariest provisions in the Patriot Act (the very name, "The Patriot Act," is sooo obviously a smokescreen. More atrocities have been committed in the name of someone's country or their god than for any other reason.) is "Sneak and Peek." It allows law enforcement agents at any level (FBI, local police, anyone) to go into anyone's home without a search warrant and remove any items they want, all without even notifying that person! And the most outrageous of all is a recent bill whose name I can't remember. It allows anyone to give any information to the Department of Homeland Security (I wish they wouldn't call it the "Homeland." It makes me feel like I'm living in Nazi Germany in the late '30's.). That information will be sealed from the public, being declared a "National Secret." Well, if the right (actually the wrong) person comes along, that could be pretty damn scary. They could arrest you, hold you in prison indefinitely without ever charging you, and then give all the records to the Department of Homeland Securtity, have them declared as "National Secrets," and no one would be able to prove otherwise. Now where is the ACLU when we really need them?