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August 6, 2008 at 9:47 pm #191868AlfredMember
Sprite, the handwriting may be on the wall, but let’s not throw our the baby with the bathwater. You seem to look at it like there are two US citizens groups here. We’re all in the same boat. Those who like myself, voted for Bush, and those who didn’t. We’re all still citizens of this republic, and to think those who voted for Bush were unenlightened, and will make another mistake by voting for McCain, smacks of elitist thinking.
Obama as a choice would be one of least vetted we could get. What has this man accomplished? Nada, zip, zero. He is being bandied about like a great world leader and savior of our country. He hasn’t done a thing, hasn’t been tested, and has not clearly stated most of his positions. Yet, millions are willing to trust a country , and their very lives to him. It doesn’t make sense.
McCain is an awful choice, but up against the opposition, he is the lesser of two evils, and certainly has a better grasp of how government operates. I wish we had better choices this time around, but it is what it is.
August 6, 2008 at 9:48 pm #191869AlfredMemberKenneth, make that two. Nice to know you.
August 6, 2008 at 9:55 pm #191870KennethMemberbradbard… Just my personal opinion, but I would much prefer to hear from you personally with a reference to a page rather than just a pure copy-and-paste post. I know it requires more intellectual energy, but I’m trying to have a conversation with you, not Craig Roberts.
August 6, 2008 at 10:14 pm #191871KennethMemberdavidcmurray – I agree with your approach regarding behavior completely. This policy about taking electronics at the border is not new, however. It has only now been publicly acknowledged. If it had been creating problems, we would have absolutely heard about it before. They aren’t taking laptops from salespeople, accountants, etc. They are going to take them from people who are suspicious.
Again I say that we are at war. Wartime rules are different than peacetime rules. Some liberties have to be forfeited in order to prevail in any war. Just ask the families of the draftees who died on D-Day.
The people in charge of protecting our lives are too busy to spend time stealing our sales leads. If the IRS starts using the law, then I’ll switch sides and march in protest with you, but until then let’s let them do their jobs. I want us to catch the people who want to kill us before they actually kill us and I’m willing to let someone use my laptop for as long as necessary if that might help them to find an enemy.
But I fly into the USA often, and nobody is taking my laptop, iPod, flash drive, backup drive or travel alarm. I don’t see it happening any time soon.
August 6, 2008 at 10:23 pm #191872terrycookMemberDON’T BET ON IT…THE U.S. HAS ABSOLUTELY TURNED THE CORNER YEARS AGO….IF YOU QUESTION THE INTENTIONS FOT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT YOU HAVE SADLY MISS WHAT IS GOING ON….JUST LIKE SO MANY OTHER U.S CITIZENS THAT THINK THE GREAT U.S. WOULD NEVER DO THESE KIND OF THINGS…..THEY HAVE…AND ARE ALREADY DOING SO AND IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE. I AM A REALIST AND SAD TO SAY WE ALL ARE WILLING TO LET BIG BROTHER TOTALLY CONTROL ALL PARTS OF OUR LIVES…
TERRY FROM TEXASAugust 6, 2008 at 11:05 pm #191873ecotoneconsMemberAlfred,
you said “Obama as a choice would be one of least vetted we could get. What has this man accomplished? Nada, zip, zero. He is being bandied about like a great world leader and savior of our country. He hasn’t done a thing, hasn’t been tested, and has not clearly stated most of his positions. Yet, millions are willing to trust a country , and their very lives to him. It doesn’t make sense.”
Maybe you could elaborate on what GWB had ‘accomplished’ to get him into the position he held?August 6, 2008 at 11:26 pm #191874maravillaMemberAnd what had JFK done prior to being elected? Oh, yeah, I forgot, he had a powerful rich pappa!
If we’re going to catch those terrorists we’d better get busy because Iran has 300,000 willing suicide bombers ready to spring into action if Israel launches weapons. I wonder how many of those 300,000 are already in the US??
August 6, 2008 at 11:53 pm #191875KennethMemberNice to know you, too, alfred! Bienvenido!
While I do think that libs outnumber intellectual conservative free thinkers among the Gringos in Costa Rica, there are actually more of us than I first thought. Most I have met tell me that they prefer to stay out of political conversations because the libs just get mad and offer insults rather than discuss the specifics of issues. That’s usually true, but if we can just free one person from the grip of political correctness… Give them one taste of processing facts into their own convictions… Open their eyes to the way the media has manipulated – almost brainwashed them… Then it’s all worth it.
August 7, 2008 at 12:36 am #191876terrycookMembermarvella….answer…too many…we do not have any idea but you can bet it is too many for us to overcome.
terry from texasAugust 7, 2008 at 12:38 am #191877*LotusMemberWowa!
August 7, 2008 at 12:51 am #191878ecotoneconsMemberKenneth,
Perhaps you could elaborate on what exactly makes a person ‘suspicious’?
As well perhaps you could make a list of liberties that you would be willing to forfeit in this war?
Vague statements such as these are what should make all thinking people nervous. Are you basically saying that big brother knows best, just trust him?
Public oversight and criticism has been integral to the development of all western nations would you not agree?August 7, 2008 at 12:53 am #191879ed fMemberNever underestimate the power of denial—
Kenneth, bradbard put it out there, pretty strong stuff, why don’t you spend a few free thinking minutes of your (complaining but reportedly) happy life thinking about and replying coherently to what he had to say.Otherwise maybe Scott should put an end to our misery and stop this madness.
We were having fun here—-August 7, 2008 at 1:28 am #191880AlfredMemberecotonecons, GWB was Governor of Texas. I think that gives him an edge over a first term Senator.
Maravilla, JFK came from political and wealthy family. And a quite powerful one at that. I don’t think you can compare Obama with Kennedy. Even though JFK was a democrat, by todays standards his speeches would be considered conservative. How times have changed.
I still ask the question, what has the Illinois senator accomplished? I for one, won’t take a chance voting for an unknown quantity. I did give him a serious look when all the hoopla started, because of my dissatisfaction with the republican choice. But I don’t particularly care for those whose sentiments are decidedly anti-American. There is plenty wrong with the US, but I don’t like negative populists trying to garner votes by bashing the US, and not having real solutions for its problems. Putting air in my tires is not a solution for an energy price crisis. Until we can come up with solid alternatives to improve gasoline mileage, or an alternative fuel that does not deplete food supplies, drilling our own reserves is a real-time answer.
No matter how this election turns out, we are in a world of s**t. We have a war to contend with, an energy situation that stinks, an economy in the crapper, and whichever candidate becomes POTUS, they will have to deal with it. I would rather have an experienced senator, with whom I don’t agree with all the time, than someone who has not been around the block enough to know we are 50 states in the union.
Being a magnificent orator is one thing, becoming President is another.
August 7, 2008 at 10:34 am #191881DavidCMurrayParticipantYou can make fun of it to your heart’s content, but the fact is that the cheapest, most available and most reliable source of energy is the energy you save. Nothing you can do, nothing the oil companies can do, nothing the government can do will save you more at the gas pump than your own conservation efforts. Works at home, too.
Obama has it exactly right, but he doesn’t go far enough. Keeping tires inflated would, in fact, save billions of gallons of oil and keep billions of dollars out of the hands of foreign producers. And what does it cost? Virtually nothing. In his effort to belittle Obama’s message, McCain is giving away FREE tire gauges. Get one. Pump up your tires at the local gas station (for free). And pocket the immediate savings. (And your tires, made from petroleum, will last longer, too.)
The point of Obama’s message is that merely producing more petroleum to waste isn’t the answer. Yes, there may be lots of oil offshore, and maybe it can be safely extracted. But none of that implies that it can be done cheaply and cost, not availability, is today’s problem.
Obama’s message, however, is larger than merely being about tire inflation or oil conservation. The larger message is about changing the way we use resources and the environment. And therein lies the real difference between the Obama and McCain camps. True, Obama hasn’t a long track record. Neither did George Bush who was the governor of a state with a very weak governor system and who didn’t do much in that position. Unlike McCain, however, Obama is willing to offer new solutions . . . to think new thoughts, to bring new ideas to the table.
There is plenty that ordinary Americans can and should be doing to address energy and environmental problems. Simply extracting more natural resources to support continuation of a profligate national lifestyle is not a sustainable long-term approach. At least give Obama credit for coming up with new ideas.
And, by the way, if a potential President is to be faulted for the lack of a long record of accomplishment, we need to immediately cease the veneration of Abraham Lincoln who, in retrospect, did all right.
August 7, 2008 at 11:22 am #191882spriteMemberA simple definition is sometimes required: Progressives look for and fight for NEW solutions. Conservatives fight to maintain the status quo. We don’t need no more stinkin’ status quo, people!
Edited on Aug 07, 2008 06:24
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