Topic awaiting preservation: Time of Crisis for America?

Okay. I don't watch the news much, but is America heading for trouble? It's true that we are helping other nations and stuff with their issues, but what about the issues here. I am amazed that people are making an extremely huge deal about gay marriages, when we really should be focusing more on what is going on in the schools, with our kids. I mean, there is a lot more there than people are telling. Now, I'm not saying have a whole lot of safety precautions. No. All I am saying is that no one really pays attention to the youth of this country anymore. Sure, you see a few things about it, but everyone is too concerned with less trivial issues. The youth of this nation will soon be the leaders.

Another thing: about gay marriages...I am not saying that I agree or disagree with it, but what is all the fuss about? I know that there is a religous argument in there somewhere, and the whole thing about the Constitution, but why put so much effort into something that isn't a HUGE deal. I mean, yeah, it is important to the way we stand about things in this country, but what about the other things that are really important?

Well, I think it is a time for crisis. I think we are just asking for trouble. I mean me have a lot of unemployment right now, prices are going up on everything. And we are in a war that shoudlnt really be a war. I believe that we do need to pay more attention to the youth, but some think they are doing fine. About four or five months ago, not too sure exactly when, but the Senate passed an 88 million dollar bill to help out Iraq. That could have been used to help us over here in the US. Some politicans can be so damn stupid. I fear for the youth today to rule, because what are we teaching them, how to fight, and hate gays.
As far as your comment on the gay marriages, well it is a huge (well kind of) because that is discrimination for one, and denying their first ammendment rights.

BiGCaC

Kind of irrelevent, but I think it was 87 billion.

How I feel about gay marriage.

What's wrong with the American youth? Nothing, the parents have the problem. Oh, and the society we live in.

And just for good measurehow I feel about the alternative to Bush.

Ramasax

[This message has been edited by Ramasax (edited 03-29-2004).]

Pancake batter milkshake?

Oh man... I need to get to my kitchen pronto!

The world would be a much better place all around if people would quit sticking their noses in other people's business.

I sort of thought that the US was already in the middle of HUGE crisis... you mean there's worse coming?

And Ramasax - I'd rather try 4 years of Mr. Kerry than 4 more years of Mr. Bush... I'm reasonably certain that Mr. Bush can only make everything worse. There's always a chance that Mr. Kerry might make something better. Other than that - your editorial cartoons are perfectly to the point.


Cell 617

[This message has been edited by bodhi23 (edited 03-30-2004).]

I believe very strongly that Kerry would be bad for this country. Bush with all his shortcomings is a far safer choice. I'm mainly concerned with foreign policy and that is why I say this. I believe our domestic affairs are not as important as making sure the world is a safer place for us all.


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"Se ficar o bicho pega, se correr o bicho come"

Do you have any saying similar to this one?
The meaning is something like: if you stay put, you're going to be eaten; if you run, you're going to be caught.

It means, no matter what you do, things are going to get worse.
But, if I were American, I'd vote in anyone but Bush. Bush is the certainty of bad administration, specially in the foreign businesses, and with any one other, there is a hope that he/she might do something better, which wouldn't be much difficult, anyway.

viol, maybe "you're damed if you do and damned if you don't" comes close.

I know this has been said before, but we don't know how good we have it in this country. We think things are worse than they've ever been but I think it is just the opposite. We don't know what hardship really is because we are so spoiled.

And back to MoonyPadfootProngsMe's point, I think that may be the most contributing factor to any crisis we are facing, our greed and love of money and self. I think money is fast becoming... if it already hasn't... our god.

We are the most prosperous nation on the planet and we should be doing even more to help others with that prosperity.


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[This message has been edited by Bugimus (edited 03-30-2004).]

I was going to start a seperate topic for this, but it fits in here, so here you go...

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News - A federal appeals court has opened the door for police officers in Texas and two other states to search homes and buildings for evidence without a warrant -- a ruling that two dissenting judges called "the road to hell."

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This pretty much sucks.


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Ozone Quotes

"1984" here we come...

Bugs - you're a conservative, I'm pretty far left... we probably won't see eye-to-eye on this matter. I'm content to let the election handle that decision. Kerry wasn't my first choice for a democratic candidate, but he's what we got stuck with. Far as I'm concerned, anybody but a Bush...


I like you anyway!

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Far as I'm concerned, anybody but a Bush...

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Amen.

I'll put my cat on the ballet...

And wow, GN, that is bad bad bad....

I'm still a liberal at heart. I'm the sort of liberal that JFK would have been proud of for he would be branded a right-wing fanatic in today's Democrat party. I think the Democrat party has been taken over by the far left and that is one of the reasons they left me behind. Joe Leiberman tried to pull things back a bit closer to the center but clearly his positions hold little sway.

bodhi23, you know I like you too My honesty is simply that. I want everyone to be clear on what I think... agreement is optional.


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Well I think anybody but Bush to, but I think we all know Bush will be re-elected.
I always use the simplest method to tell who's gonna be president and you might think it's wrong but if you look back every president seems to have a certain look to him. And John Kerry don't look like a president. Neither did Al Gore, who was actually the elected president right? We all know what happened there don't we. So call me crazy or whatever but that's just my opinion.

UnusualFrequency -=BmF=- Clan

I am for Bush all the way. I was raised in a Democrat household growing up, but my whole family and theres lots of us have embraced the Republican party. We feel like Bugs. That what the Democratic party use to stand for no longer exist.
They are for special interest and self interest. And they have embraced extreme liberalism. Which to me, is responsible for the moral decay in America. Their concerns are no longer for the ideals that Kennedy is remembered for. Kerry is no Kennedy.

I was listening to a lady who told me one of the reasons the Muslims hate America or Americans is because of fear. Fear that they will be westernized by the America they hear about from the liberal media news and Hollywood movies. And this view is not what the real America is. Most are hard working people who want the freedom to live & be happy and bring up their children in a peaceful world, just like the Muslims do. They feel we are a threat because the America they see on TV is abhorrant to they way they believe and live and since the world is becoming so westernized it is a possibility and they will fight to the death to stop that from happening. And in some ways I can agree that we live in moral decaying world where we have become selfish and greedy by using the system of "freedom of the individual rights of the American citizen" to push an agenda that leads to moral decay. To them they are fighting for Allah to preserve the earth from infidels. And in a way I can sympathize their mission. Not the extremist radical methods, since all of us who are believers, pray & hope America will not degenerate anymore than it has in the last twenty years.



[This message has been edited by jade (edited 04-04-2004).]

I think the only problem for America.. is that there are too many Amercans there..

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I was listening to a lady who told me one of the reasons the Muslims hate America or Americans is because of fear.

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jade: I cannot help but find this and the proceeding paragraph highly ironic. You point out that these people are getting a twisted view of America and thus feel that all Americans are evil, and yet you are guilty of the same view of the Muslim world. The radical, terrorist contingents are a tiny minority of the entire Muslim population. Most Muslims do not "hate" America with such intensity.

Granted, there is significant anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world, just as there is pretty much anywhere you want to go. I have found, though, that much of this is purely ideological, and when it comes down to individual people there is little problem.

Have you had the opportunity to live outside the United States for any significant length of time? If not, I would encourage you to do so at some point in the future. The experience will broaden your horizons and give you an entirely different perspective on the world and on your homeland.


___________________________
Suho: www.liminality.org

Damn Xpirex, where ya been? I've missed those witty one liners. I know that was a statement probably meant as an insult, but it cracks me up. Welcome back.

Jade, people hate us because we are evil and stick our noses in where we do not belong. We are all cowboys and cowgirls who seek to conquer the world. That is their perspective. Oh well. We should pull out our troops and monetary suport from all these countries and mind our own damn business and let the UN rule with endless negotiation and idiotic idealism. We should wait for terrorism to come to us, not vice versa. Rather than defend we should appease.

Ok, enough of that, actually I agree with Suho I just couldn't help myself.



[This message has been edited by Ramasax (edited 04-08-2004).]

You said it! I thought X died and went to heaven already Nice to have ya back

newbielike, have you considered that the taller candidate usually wins? By that standard Kerry has the advantage.


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Greetings gents.. Nice to see you. Yeh I just put myself on a different reading and thought diet for a while.. and been on some 'hunter gatherer' excursions. .. and er, I met an interesting and most distracting female. I didn't mean to insult anyone (on this occasion.. honestly!), but imagine the population was halved..or even quartered.. they wold be so busy taking care of themselves.. they would not have time or resource to be 'bearing the burdons' of the planet entertaining and dramatising in the world as though it were a movie. ...and the world could become a "bigger place" ..and we could be nice to each other
Yeh a monkey up in a tree resisting the desire to drop coconuts.

Hope everyone's in good health and spirits..

Recently back myself, actually. Good to see old faces again, so to speak.

Suho is correct. Americans need to leave their country to better understand the world, and I don't mean a Caribbean cruise to some Vegas-like seaside resort town. (If you go Caribbean, go deep within the country, beyond the docks and colorful markets and discover the Third World right in your back yard.)

We were once a revered Republic. You could go to Europe and people would be happy to know you were American, probably buy you a drink. Now, you're better off to pretend you're from Canada. It's like we've become a reviled Empire. And I fear that Bush has only helped to exaggerate that image.

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X: ..and we could be nice to each other

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Hey, just because the political minority decides how the rest of us live doesn't mean we can't be nice to eachother. That's a copout man.

I think the country is in a crisis...and I think it is going to get worse...much, much worse. We still haven't seen the full consequences, of the war on Iraq, and what is now becoming a low-intensity conflict (forget "building"...that has gone up in smoke).

As for Mr. Bush - he's as incompetent as they come. He has gotten more soldiers killed, because of stupidity...and mangled American Foreign policy so badly, that it will require huge amounts of effort, to reverse the damage. I remembered when this all started, and many of the debates that got started...look what we have in Iraq now. It's a mess...a huge mess. There is talk of sending in more soldiers...sounds like escalation, to me. Believe me when I say, that the world is watching Iraq closely...should the building efforts fail...there will be hell to pay, on an international scale. The price for this failure, will far outwiegh the political aspects of Vietnam - for we (America) are the only super-power...there won't be any "scapegoat" that we can hang this one...like the USSR or China. No, we'll have to swallow this pitter pill alone, if we fail. Not to mention all the American (and iraqi) lives "thrown away" for nothing, if America does not succeed. i really don't think enough people are considering this issue seriously enough. The price for failure here is huge. Massive. Not just abroad, but at home, as well. It took decades to recover somewhat from Vietnam. I hate to think, how long it will require to recover from failure in Iraq.

One should ask "How the hell did we get into this mess?" - look no further, than a President and his administration, that did not look forward...instead, just reacted...and planned as they went...(at least, I hope that is what they did, because if this mess was actually planned...hooboy). Nothing that this President and his administration has said, has turned out to work, or be true. The actual war itself - a mess. Good thing that some Generals kept their wits, and re-iplimented a real war plan, instead of Mr. Rumsfeld's disaster. Then the "re-building"...a mess. Anyone remember Mr. Gartner? Or the original rebuild Iraq team? Gone...just gone. WMD in Iraq? No sign...and the head of finding them quit in disgust...and the second one (under huge pressure, no doubt) finds nothing, either...just "hints" that Saddam "Was planning something"...that's the best they can come up with?

Al-Qaida is still out there, plugging away...see Spain. Why are there troops in Iraq, when Bin Laden is still on the loose, still doing and plotting terrorism, against us and our allies? I remind everyone, that years have gone by...this is not a question of a few weeks, a few months...we are speaking about years here. Instead, America was (and still is) concentrating on Iraq...I don't think I have to mention, on just how...inane, that is, do I? If we had poured just a fraction of the cost, effort, and focus on Al-Qaida, that we have on Iraq...there would probably be a lot of Spanairds still alive.

As for Kerry...personally, it doesn't really matter to me, what he is - though his background is pretty solid. I will vote for him, to defeat Mr. Bush.

As for Gay Marriages, I say why not? In countries where it is allowed, they haven't suddenly been destroyed by it...or anything near that. In fact, no negative things to report on it at all. Legalize it, get on with life...don't know why some people are making such a big deal of it, and are against it - it isn't affecting them anyway.

WebSham! glad to see you are still around - or have i just been missing your posts? i agree with you except for the gay marriage thing. sure, it's only natural - if you're a monkey - but humans are above that - or are we?


Radio Free

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Americans need to leave their country to better understand the world, and I don't mean a Caribbean cruise to some Vegas-like seaside resort town.

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yeah, this is true, but on the same note: it would be an enlightening experience for most americans to walk a few miles in the hand me down ill-fitting shoes of thier fellow americans who have fallen through the cracks, living day to day in hopelessness . . . that's what 's really pitiful.




[This message has been edited by outcydr (edited 04-10-2004).]

Outcydr, in what way, shape, or form, are Homosexual marriages affecting you? I personally don't see how this issue could be one that really concerns you...or are you Homosexual? Note that I'm not being sarcastic, or putting you down...I really don't understand anyone's reason(s) for being against such...maybe you could explain your reasons?

short answer - homosexuality is totally incompatible with my faith. i'm not being self-righteous here; i've done probabably more than my share of sinning - but, imho legalizing gay marriage is akin to thumbing your nose at God.

i don't expect anyone to adopt my beliefs or follow my reasoning on this. it's a bit (too much to me) like the marriage of church and state. most would apparently be against this (and it depends on your definition of church and state). but in the meantime, there sure seems to be a whole lot of fornicating going on.

bleh. now i've most likely went and confused you again. or was that me standing in the corner loosing my religion?

Removing post because I don't wish to offend.

I'll leave it at this: http://www.faithfreedom.org

Later,

Ramasax

[This message has been edited by Ramasax (edited 04-11-2004).]

Both answers still don't answer my question "in what way, shape, or form, are Homosexual marriages affecting you? "

I don't get it...is someone forcing you to marry the same sex? Or are you, in your belief-system, responsible for the sins of others?

I have never heard of a belief, that teaches "Thou shall go to hell, if Homosexuals in your country are allowed to marry".

Now, I can attempt to understand, that some people are against Homosexuality...or that some religions are. But from a personal standpoint, just exactly what harm is legalizing homosexual marriages doing to individuals who will never be marrying as homosexuals??

well, the only think i can think of off the cuff is that it gives them an unfair (imho) tax advantage, unless they happen to have children already or choose to adopt, in which case my case is at a loss, in which case i don't give a flying monkeys backside what they do as long as (as you say) it doesn't affect me personally, in which case, if it happens to be so, then i have loaded my proverbial virtual shotgun with gay (happy?) buckshot so as to not harm any innocents and bought up a store of happy (gay?) tobacco with which to prime the peacepipe should any afore mentioned individual wish to share in the attempt that we should enlighten each other.