Nov. 3rd, 2004 11:25 am
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razorjakI was holding out hope. I was really hoping we'd get out from under the thumb of this regime.
I had a feeling that the Smirking Chimp and his zookeepers would "win" by some electoral debacle. I was prepared for that. It happened last time after all.
What I wasn't prepared for was that he'd win the popular vote as well. That leads me to believe that there's a vast majority of you out there who couldn't be bothered to vote OR that this country truly has willingly swallowed the tainted opiate that BushCo has been spooning out since September 12th, 2001.
Either way, this is no longer my country. This is not the country that I spent years defending. I will always consider myself an American but I cannot call this country America anymore.
I had a feeling that the Smirking Chimp and his zookeepers would "win" by some electoral debacle. I was prepared for that. It happened last time after all.
What I wasn't prepared for was that he'd win the popular vote as well. That leads me to believe that there's a vast majority of you out there who couldn't be bothered to vote OR that this country truly has willingly swallowed the tainted opiate that BushCo has been spooning out since September 12th, 2001.
Either way, this is no longer my country. This is not the country that I spent years defending. I will always consider myself an American but I cannot call this country America anymore.
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I feel for you Jak. I really do.
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Been saving the world since 1983, not going to stop now.
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I vote my guns first, other freedoms second along with other major issues. If I can't defend myself in a life or death situation, it doesn't do me much good if I have access to free birth control or not. You think 10 million gun owners who care about other issues but care more about their firearms are going to vote for someone that runs towards strong gun control when ever he can? There's your election margin right there.
Until the major players like Feinstein, Boxer, Daschle (now a lame duck!) and others get a clue, the Democrats are going to have uphill fights.
I detest single issue voters...look at the big picture for a change
jobs are shipped overseas
our ever-worsening economy plummets
high unemployment
the majority of Americans DON'T have health insurance
the basic rights we've come to take for granted are taken away.
I hope your gun keeps you warm at night. I hope your gun gets you a job/keeps your job from being outsourced and gets/maintains your health insurance.
I guess you must need to defend myself in a life or death situation everyday, huh?
Where do you live...Israel? Iraq? Afghanistan? Do you tote your gun around because it keeps you SAFER? That is an illusion. America is safer than those 3 countries I listed where terrorists attack everyday. Now that Bush is in again, I fully expect an increase in attacks on this "great" nation of yours. Thank you.
Re: I detest single issue voters...look at the big picture for a change
India now has the telecommunications structure to compete with the world. It also has a currency that is next to worthless and people who will work hard for a fraction of the amount. Bush's choices are tough ones (they also aren't his, of course) and I believe Kerry or anyone else would have to come to the same conclusions. Either concede some jobs to outsourcing, or just lose the companies that are providing them outright to overseas countries.
Things will balance out, You just have to ride it out. Britain is in the same boat; you know only 1/6th of our population is actually in work? And we have a welfare state running off the back of that 11million workforce, much of which is being made redundant in favour of overseas companies.
As for the attacks, and I hate to say it, but why would Kerry be any different in terms of the risk to the US? Was he going to pull the troops out of Iraq the day he was sworn in? Wouldn't that be just a little silly, given the number of Iraqi civilians that they are still protecting from the factions that are fighting for power? Yes, I agree that the Iraqi invasion was a total disaster and had they wanted regime change, a covert assassination would have been a more effective way of doing so, but they've made the mess, they have to tidy it up - otherwise it'll be a hell of a lot worse for the Iraqis.
Re: I detest single issue voters...look at the big picture for a change
Re: I detest single issue voters...look at the big picture for a change
Most Americans can afford basic major medical coverage. It cost me $50 a month for that. Stay the hell off smokes and drink and you can afford that. How many poor take the extra money and spend it on cigarettes? There's your major medical right there. Health Insurance/Health Care. How are we going to pay for it? Do you really want a federal system of health care that's run like the US Post Office? The Clinton's couldn't get a national health care system going in their administration, why is that going to change now? Further, why does it have to happen at a federal level anyhow? Why can't it happen at the state level? Is health insurance even a correct federal level program given the commerce clause?
Ever worsening economy? Do you live under a rock? GDP has been going up, not down.
Kerry was a poor choice over Bush for many of the reasons that people revile Bush (including me)
1. Patriot Act. Kerry voted for Know your customer. He was on the Intelligence committee, he was connected with the FISA court. He was part of that process that had the laundry list that had patriot ready do go shortly after 9/11. No points there.
2. Communications Decency Act. Kerry voted to abridge Free speech. He went with the herd to "protect the children" from the Internet and lost when the act was deemed very unconstitutional.
3. CALEA. Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. Kerry voted for this back during the Bush Senior Administration. Bill Clinton Signed it into law. You and I have to pay for the FBI's non-encrypted wire tap points on major telecommunications gear.
4. COPA and COPA II. Kerry voted for these too. In order to get federal funds, libraries have to track and report user's habits and actions. No points there either.
Please explain how with the above voting record Kerry is any kind of improvement what so ever? Because during his campaign he says he's changed?
Gun rights go to a basic concept that an individual is responsible for their own safety (ultimately) and that the government can't take those rights away and is not supposed to mother us. Any politician that doesn't get that has a serious problem and is in the wrong country.
If you're going to attack me on my stance you better have more than a littany of campaign griefs to throw around. I'm an ACLU, EFF and NRA Member. I care about more than one issue, but when they're all equal and the few left stand out that's where the decision goes.
Re: I detest single issue voters...look at the big picture for a change
You seem to be very well informed, and good about making your points. Still wish someone I wouldn't have minded voting for had run for the seat, even if he didn't make it all the way.
Re: I detest people that don't look at the big picture for real
high unemployment
Where were you during the early Clinton years? The unemployment rate was at a peak of 6.6 in 1994. That's 2 years into the Clinton administration. It's 5.4 now and peaked at 6.3 in '03. Its going down now. Does that make any sense to you? Hey look, economic recovery after an industrial adjustment and bubble burst. Mind you your really can't pin the economy on Bush, certainly not for the Post Dot.Com adjustment nor for the post 9/11 down turn.
Numbers to support my argument.
http://data.bls.gov/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?request_action=wh&graph_name=LN_cpsbref3
You want bad unemployment. Look at the US unemployment rate with that graph (you can move the dropdowns to get extra numbers and increase the date range). It peaked at 10.3 during '83.
Re: I detest people that don't look at the big picture for real
http://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.us.htm
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jobs are shipped overseas
our ever-worsening economy plummets
high unemployment
the majority of Americans DON'T have health insurance
the basic rights we've come to take for granted are taken away.
That's your definition of the big picture? Do you know why oil is $55/barrel right now? Bush, you say? Try Hurricane Ivan for the correct answer.
Seems that most U.S. refineries can only handle sweet crude that comes from the Gulf of Mexico. Ivan wrecked havok on the offshore drilling platforms and mudslides underneath the water of the Carribbean tossed pipelines around like so much drift wood at sea. That wiped out 400,000 barrels of oil production a day from the globe and will be enduring (estimates are about 1 year to recover), and pinched all the refineries dependent on that grade of crude (which is not available from the Middle East).
Big picture means actually recognizing the globe as a holistic ecosystem. I don't mean to be harsh, but the issues you have listed are pretty limited in scope. E.g.
jobs are shipped overseas
Outsourcing and Work VISA programs have reduced the number of jobs available to Americans. Furthermore, politicians are convinced (Kerry and Bush) that Americans are too lazy or incomptent to do jobs like working at McDonalds, working on farms, working on construction crews, building houses and offices, etc. So they endorse uncounted illegal immigrants to be allowed to roam the country at will. Bush didn't start this. Kerry couldn't stop this. Congress is starting to act after it dawned on someone that anyone can pay to be smuggled illegally into America from Mexico - including the bad guys tm. The best resolution is to deal with the root of the problem: reduce and monitor VISAs, enforce immigration laws, and finalize tax treaties with other nations reducing double taxation on multi-national or export business while enforcing tax fairness and collection. Businesses are not obliged to stay in the U.S. but I believe most would rather be here than deal with unknowns elsewhere.
our ever-worsening economy plummets
We are in a recession because too much debt is floating around. Americans must stop spending, reduce debt, or we will all go bankrupt to correct the problem. It didn't help that during the Clinton years the incredible levels of corporate fraud resulting in a very unsound and overvalued market. This is a correction period and no one can fix it without getting back to fundamentals.
high unemployment
High by U.S. standards certainly. Low by double digit numbers compared to other westernized nations. I'm not sure if we will have to accept higher unemployment in the long run, but the important thing to keep in mind is that business creation creates jobs. Not government spending nor large corporate welfare packages. New business is the lifeblood of the U.S. Start a business today and employ yourself and others - and if everyone does that then the boom economy will return.
the majority of Americans DON'T have health insurance
Yep. And they never did.
the basic rights we've come to take for granted are taken away
Do you have some you can name? I still seem to be able to breathe, work, eat, sleep, defecate, write, speak, etc.
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I suspect I'll feel much the same way if we fail to shift piety Blair next spring. Which seems increasingly likely. :-/
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Not so good.
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What I wasn't prepared for was that he'd win the popular vote as well. That leads me to believe that there's a vast majority of you out there who couldn't be bothered to vote OR that this country truly has willingly swallowed the tainted opiate that BushCo has been spooning out since September 12th, 2001.
An alternative explanation is that Kerry was a bad candidate that never really connected with a lot of voters because he predominately existed as an opposition to Bush. I don't think Bush, with his fumbling presence in the debates and inability to provide a clear message himself, can be blamed for people not liking Kerry enough to vote for him.
This was, as someone else said elsewhere, the Democrat's election to lose. And lose they did - without any undo chicanery or trickery.
And this is still your country, and the country you spent years defending. So you need to stand up and remind your local municipality and county and state that being righteous is not an acceptable alternative to being tolerant and just. And this is still America, moreso because each one of us will need to work on building a stronger America so hopefully we can have solid candidates that understand the tyranny of a minority (like the fundamentalist christians) is not acceptable nor tolerable to most Americans.
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and
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.html
M.
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i was thinking the same thing on monday.