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 Author Thread: The Bailout You HAVEN'T Heard About?
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 7 (view)
 
The Bailout You HAVEN'T Heard About?
Posted: 10/7/2008 3:12:46 PM

Here's how to fix the American Economy:

Give every tax paying household in the U.S............are you ready?
One Million Dollars. (end of crisis)
There are what......350 million citizens in this country?


Actually, I love this idea. there are actually only about 301 million people in the USA. Of those, about 200 million are adults. So, lets take that 700 billion and distribute it among all of the legal US adults. I don't know about you but that would be more than enough to pay off my house and get rid of all the financial problems that I have now and in the future.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 6 (view)
 
The Bailout You HAVEN'T Heard About?
Posted: 10/7/2008 3:06:13 PM
Well, OP, you have put your finger on exactly what is going to destroy the United States as a free country. The Federal Reserve is private and what most people don't know is that each and every dollar printed in the US comes from them along with an interest payment. They always recommend that we spend huge sums of money because they profit handsomely from it. They want the wars in the middle east to go on forever because they profit from it. All of it going into private hands. They are probably the most powerful of the special interests that actually run the country. Judging by the list of people that have replied to this post, it sure doesn't look like anything is going to get better any time soon. At least you and I and a handful of others will know what caused it all when the you-know-what hits the fan.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 8 (view)
 
Supreme Court upholds Oregon's Death with Dignity Act
Posted: 10/5/2008 12:21:34 AM

Has nothing to do with the issues though. The "facts" are specific that it was the "clarity" of the State law that led to the majority of justices to concur and "define" the state law as having authority in their decision to stand a decision to make a law clearly wanted by the majority of voters within Oregon.


Again, the Courts do not have the federal or state authority to make law. This is all to common these days for the Courts to create law and that's not their place according to the Constitution. Governors and Presidents alike take an oath to defend the Constitution but they have failed for decades to override the Courts when they overstep their Constitutional authority. Justice Scalia is a brilliant legal scholar and this is exactly why he voted against the wording of the courts decision. Justice Scalia and the others that voted against this know full well the danger to the American form of government when the Constitution is not followed.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 18 (view)
 
Alabama hitting obese State workers with fee
Posted: 8/27/2008 10:22:50 PM

Insurance buys him 5 pills a month... What is stopping him from buying more himself? He is in control of how often he has sex, not the insurance company...


Yes, that's true. However, the whole point of that was to show how insurance companies have statistics for absolutely everything. Again, this is an average and not at all representative of the individual.


Fitness and health conscious people should not be forced to bear the burden of other people's adverse lifestyle choices, whether that be smoking, overeating or inactivity.


Well, my second cousin was a pilot and a health freak and dropped dead at 34 but not before he rang up a considerable hospital bill. A few blocks from my home lives a 98 year old man that smokes like a chimney and he’s still going strong. Statistics penalizes people using averages that may not at all be representative of the particular individual.

Prisons have more Blacks than any other group. Statistically, it would cut down on crime if Blacks were just arrested on sight. Why is that not done? Well, because it is not fair to the individual.

The Ajax soap company has only 4% of Asians on its workforce. Yet, the surrounding community has a 16% Asian population. Using statistics alone, this firm is guilty of discrimination. Is that really proof?
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 29 (view)
 
What's The Big Deal About Democracy Really?
Posted: 8/27/2008 9:40:57 PM
The United States is not a democracy and never has been a democracy. Our form of government is a Constitutional Republic. The problem with democracy is that it can and often does trample the rights of the individual. One poster wrote:

Democracy: Two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner

That is exactly what’s wrong with a pure democracy. An example in human terms would be that the town has a vote to sell YOUR house and divide the proceeds among all of the townspeople. The vote passes and now you are a victim of democracy. There is nothing fair at all about it at least to you and your family.

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution are known as the Bill Of Rights. The Bills Of Rights give each American individual rights that cannot be voted or taken away from you or at least that was the idea when the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution.
It really is a fine system of government and quite a few nations have copied it in one form or another voluntarily.

The big problem we have here in the USA is that of “special interests.” It’s destroying this nation internally. In addition, special interests are responsible for manipulating our government to wage its economic and its military power against countries we have no right to interfere. Israel is one of those special interests, by the way. However, there are many, many more of them. The Rockefeller Foundation is another powerful one. The Federal Reserve which is a PRIVATE bank is probably the most powerful one. The Federal Reserve provides each and every US dollar to our country and with each dollar we owe them interest on that dollar.

You may ask: Why don’t the people of the United States make laws to get rid of these special interests? Well, these special interests are very smart. These special interests groups have loads of money and attract Americas’ best and brightest from Harvard and other prestigious learning institutes. They are experts at using propaganda to manipulate the American public. The special interests gained control of America’s mass media decades ago and that was the key to getting control of our nation. Most Americans get the information as to how to vote by way of the mass media. If one controls the mass media, they essentially control the vote. Basically, the people don’t have the facts or I am positively sure these special interests would be brought down.

If I were to say these things on American television, I would immediately be branded a “lunatic” or something of that sort. Hitler fine tuned the art of propaganda in WWII but America special interests have it refined like no other in history. God help us all.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 9 (view)
 
Alabama hitting obese State workers with fee
Posted: 8/26/2008 1:11:39 PM
Well, this is already the trend for insurance companies. They seem to be getting more and more control. They dictate to doctors the medications to use and even select treatments. All of this is done with the patient sight unseen. I have a friend with diabetes which adversely effects his circulation and also his ability to perform in bed because of that condition. He uses Viagra and his insurance pays for only 5 pills a month essentially dictating how often he has sex. How’s that for being in someone’s personal life?

The biggest problem I have using statistics is that it represents the average. I'm sure there are plenty of people that are quite comfortable being heavier than the norm and because of good genetics they will out live the average person and have fewer sicknesses too. By using statistics, these individuals are unfairly penalized. In a country like the USA which has always taken great pride in individualism, we sure are quickly being transformed into a sub-class of commoners with a corporate/governmental hierarchy dictating our every move.

This trend will get dramatically worse if national healthcare becomes reality. Please keep in mind that the major reason that healthcare is so expensive is because the poor in America already “by law” have free healthcare paid for by the rest of us. Government is the reason for healthcare being so expensive for the average guy. If government really wanted inexpensive healthcare, why then does every single plan for national healthcare involve the insurance industry? (It would be cheaper to cut them out of it altogether.) It’s really the insurance industry that is behind national healthcare and pushing hard for it. They want to tap into all of our bank accounts with the only motivation being bigger profits.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 6 (view)
 
Supreme Court upholds Oregon's Death with Dignity Act
Posted: 8/26/2008 8:57:16 AM
All physicians at one time took the Hippocratic Oath. In the classic version, in part, it states:




I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.

The Hippocratic Oath has been altered over the years. During most of my life, the Oath stated that a physician could not do harm to a patient but it also said that a physician could stop pain. So, in the course of treating pain, there was a very, very fine line where physicians could administer medication to relieve pain that essentially lead to death. Facing this awesome “fine line” is one of the greatest moral struggles a physician meets in his career.

Still today, the vast majority of physicians take one form or another of this Oath. Most of the newest versions are pretty meaningless in my opinion. I feel that assisted suicides will eventually lead to mass genocide of the elderly.

Although I strongly believe in states rights over federal control and feel that the federal “war on drugs” laws should be eliminated altogether, as far as the Supreme Court’s decision goes, I agree with Justice Scalia. There was no need and no reason for the Court to expand the definition of the phrase "legitimate medical purpose" to include assisted suicide. That is making law and not within the Constitutional authority of the Courts. The Court just should have disallowed the interference of the federal government and left it at that. If they had done that, all of the justices would have been together. I’d bet the ranch that the former ACLU lawyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was responciple for that little addition. It seems like the courts make more laws these days than Congress.

Off Topic Comment: in reply to the above poster, G.W. BUSH is not a conservative and never has been one. Conservatives favor states rights and he doesn't. Conservatives do not spend money like water and he does. Conservatives don't start unprovoked wars and he does. Conservatives are for a small and a very limited Federal government, and he sure isn’t. If it doesn’t walk like a duck and doesn’t quack like a duck, it probably isn’t a duck. Bush is no conservative because nothing at all that he does follows conservative principles. People like Ron Paul are conservatives and there are very few of them in government these days.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 14 (view)
 
The New Style Republican?
Posted: 8/24/2008 7:14:27 AM

America needs two strong and valid opposing political parties, at LEAST two, if democracy is to have any hope at all.


Well, of course, the USA is not a democracy and for good reason. True democracy can and does trample the rights of individuals. That's why this country is not a democracy but a constitutional republic. Frankly, I see very little difference between the Democratic Party and the new Republican Party so your major point is a good one. The biggest difference is only in the party nomination process. The Republicans have to cater to the religious right and financial conservatives and the Democrats cater to the far left groups that desire special rights for their groups. After the primaries, both sides pretty much abandon their core constituents and campaign in the middle ground. Once elected, both parties run the government like traditional Democrats with the only major difference being nominations to the Supreme Court but even that difference disappeared with the current President, George W. Bush. I know there is a party difference about the Iraq War but please keep in mind that the vast majority of the country, Democrats and Republicans alike, are against the war. With the exception of the Iraq War, there is very little difference between McCain and Obama. The biggest difference is only in experience with Obama, a less than one term Senator, having virtually no experience in the operation of Federal government.



Why have the Democrats put forward so many heavy hitters, like JFK , RFK , and Obama and yet the Republicans can't ?

Yikes, not a history buff, are we? JFK was pretty much totally unprepared to be President and his lack of foreign affairs savvy is what caused the Cuban Missile Crisis. JFK and his wife Jacky were just very attractive people that inherited a USA from Dwight Eisenhower in excellent shape with the vast majority of people happy and doing well. JFK was not even alive long enough to do much of anything and it was LBJ that hammered what JFK talked about during the nomination process into law. (I am pretty sure that much of what JFK talked about would never actually have been put into law because much of that was just said to obtain the party nomination.) By today’s standards, JFK would be considered too ultra right-wing to even be considered for President by either party. (Obama is no JFK though, having even less experience and no military record at all – just what we need for commander and chief. LOL) Starting the Vietnam War was JFK’s only major accomplishment so he’s more like Bush than any other President in that he got us involved in a war that the people didn't want.

In my lifetime, I have never seen a poorer group of men running for President with the only possible exception being the last couple of elections. I believe at this point that policy is no longer determined by the people but by a vast political machine where the guy at the top really doesn’t matter any more. For years, it seems like the same people are in charge and all they do is shift chairs every 4 years. The new Republican’s are Democrats and visa versa.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 78 (view)
 
Russia invades Georgia
Posted: 8/19/2008 10:09:39 PM

Folks, your perceptions are being managed.


Yes, they sure are. Propaganda is the name of the game these days. The media has become the key to controlling the people and their views. People are all to quick to embrace their own flag when they really do not know the facts.

Please be aware that the United States is financially so far in the red that its people will be paying this debt off for the rest of their lives. Already long standing social safety nets are being discontinued because there is no money left.

The center of power is not and has not been the United States for some decades now. If you want to know where the power is, just follow the money trail because it will always lead to those in charge. The power these days is the Federal Reserve which is a private bank that provides each and every dollar to the US Treasury with INTEREST.

I feel the current strategy by the worlds most powerful (and that’s not the USA) is to keep the USA involved in constant wars that never end so we keep accumulating debt. What happens when the USA financially collapses, I’m not sure about. All I know is that it is not far away and it will be very ugly with tremendous suffering.

I’m not sure if this Georgia thing is the next conflict the USA will be fighting or not. However, I hope and pray that this once great country gets back on track and soon. That would mean not getting involved in this Georgia conflict.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 48 (view)
 
Russia invades Georgia
Posted: 8/10/2008 10:00:09 PM
Russia seems justified in their actions from what I have read so far. If you're going to war, go to war and hit hard. This police action stuff that the US prescribes to seems geared toward wars lasting forever along with the profiteering.

I am pretty fed up with the USA's imperialist policies justified by this bogus war on terrorism scam. We have huge problems here at home that are being ignored. Our treasury is bankrupt and that debt is going to enslave the American people more than Hitler’s Germany could have dreamed. Yet, I am sure that somehow we will be involved in this newest thing that will provide nothing but more debt to the Federal Reserve Bank. The only war I am for is a war against the Federal Reserve Bank!
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 43 (view)
 
Do husband`s and fathers have constitutional rights like everyone else?
Posted: 8/10/2008 9:02:50 PM
In Florida, the court system will issue a temporary injunction to a woman just based on if she is in "fear" for her or her children’s safety. Actual evidence is not required and the male need not have touched the woman or even threatened her in any way. Once an injunction is in place, the man must deliver any and all arms that he owns to the police. (Many times the police will destroy these weapons and the male never gets them back even after the injunction is lifted.) Injunctions are issued here without the male or the male’s lawyer having any say in the matter. The male only finds out about it when he is served the injunction. Permanent injunctions are just a formality and again, neither the male nor his attorney is contacted until after the judge has already signed the order.

Women’s groups are very powerful here in Florida and if any judge is not totally supportive of women, they will have these women’s groups campaigning against them at election time. Being a judge is a great job so there really are none that will risk it just to be fair to men. The system is horrible towards men, to say the least.

Someone stated Florida statistics from 2006 above where 82 women and 27 men were murdered by their partners. My guess is that at least a few of those murders occurred out of total frustration from males that were ignored in court proceedings. Florida is very biased in favor of women, providing them shelter, lawyers, food, daycare, and many other services free of charge. Men get no help at all from the state, nothing. Once a woman has filed an injunction, she has a huge advantage in the divorce proceedings.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 78 (view)
 
Dating Someone Who Gets Cold Sores.....
Posted: 8/9/2008 10:57:57 AM

Now after these posts, Im worried about what was said about it still being contagious even after the sore is gone.


Yes, this is a true statement. It is contagious even when cold sores are not present.


The virus can't live on an inanimate object such as doorknobs, countertops, toilet seats or glasses.


This is not correct. 80% of the human population has HSV-1 already and most got it at an early age from touching something that was in contact with an infected person. However, coming in contact with someone with a cold sore is the most promising way to become infected. If you have French kissed 6 people in your life, the odds are you already have this virus.

The odds are very great that you already have HSV-1, Becky and most likely so do your boyfriend’s children.

There is a huge difference between this and genital herpes, so I would not worry yourself to death over it. Even infected people may go through life without recurring cold sores. Actually, infection of the fingers with HSV-1 is the most painful of all.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 28 (view)
 
BIG BUSINESS OR BIG GOVERNMENT
Posted: 7/4/2008 8:39:31 AM
I did not try to write my thoughts in a condescending or demeaning way, OP. Fact is that your support of large government is exactly what has mutated what was once a country run by the people into one that is run by special interests. If we ever hope to get control back in the hands of the people the whole key is to dramatically decrease the federal government. We actually agree on a lot of things because the state of our economy and social infrastructure is horrible so we see the same problems and the only difference in is the solution to those problems.



OUR government must be getting smaller by the minute as major corporations that used to employ Americans lay off and move their businesses overseas where they can take advantage of workers who will jump at 75 cents an hour.


Local government may be getting smaller but the federal government has never been bigger and it is still growing at a record pace. That's the advantage of having the printing presses that create cash money. Manufacturing is not attracted to the 3rd world because of low wages there; they are just running there to get away from the mountain of red tape that is here in America courtesy of your big government. The fact is that America has huge productivity advantages over those 3rd world countries that more than offset the lower wages there. The reason that manufacturing is leaving here for there is because of federal policies specifically aimed to move manufacturing from here to there. Manufacturing creates wealth and the feds are pushing it over there to create wealth for those countries so that the billions of people there can become consumers and buy the products of the mega-corporations. Don't you remember Clinton on TV telling the American public that the feds were actively altering our economy from a manufacturing based one into a service based one?

If you really want a strong America again, you and me and a hell of a lot of other Americans need to find candidates that will dismantle the current cash cow federal government to a fraction of it's current size. Right now, I can't think of any Republican or Democrat that wants to take us in that direction with the single exception of Ron Paul. However, the special interest groups, the ones milking the cash cow, saw that Dr. Paul never had a chance. The news media is one of those special interests.

Do you really think that the latest government laws are helping Americans? Obama's only major legislative package was to guarantee 2.5% of America's GNP to the countries of Africa. OMG That is 2.5% of every product and every service created or provided in all of America. The other guy running for President is not much better. No matter who we vote for we will go in the absolutely wrong direction. The current President is spending money like crazy too and that's horrible for you and me and every other American out there.

The very entity that created the mess we are in now is a huge federal government that is growing out of control. The Feds screw up everything that they touch. Healthcare was fine and affordable BEFORE the feds got hold of it and they were the ones that made it so damn expensive by legislating that every poor person get free healthcare . If you really think that an even bigger federal government will make matters better, you are horribly mistaken.

Again, we are both very upset with the way things are so we do agree on the basics. Our only difference is in the solution to the problem.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 25 (view)
 
BIG BUSINESS OR BIG GOVERNMENT
Posted: 6/27/2008 8:12:30 AM
Respectfully, I disagree that it is a choice between either big government or big business. Fact is that our government has never been bigger and it is still growing bigger everyday. Big business in fact LOVES big government because big government installs lots of red tape that small business cannot afford to competitively cope with while the huge corporations can deal with red tape effortlessly. Big government actually creates an atmosphere for big business to flourish because it drives small firms out of business. The painful truth is that our big government is what causes big business.

The reason I am not for big government is because government doesn’t produce anything it just consumes. Government is also the most inefficient possible entity to deal with any problems. If you are looking for the absolutely most expensive way to deal with any issue, just have the government come up with a solution for it. Once a department of the government is created, it lives forever too so even after the objective has been reached, that department justifies a new mission so that it survives and grows forever. Back in the Great depression, FDR created the rural electrification department and now that the whole country has electric and has for more than 40 years, that department is still alive and well and consuming our tax dollars. The department of education doesn’t educate anyone yet it only returns 1/3 of the money it takes in and consumes the other 2/3s. You really want more of that? Geez!

Another thing, big business and big government feed off of one another to the detriment of the citizens. Big business lobbies big government for things to help it and typically none of that is to the benefit of the public. Politicians only win elections with huge sums of money and that money comes from special interest groups with strings attached. Those public servants are not there to serve the needs of the public at all.

Lastly, when government is reduced in size along with the red tape that it creates, small business becomes extremely competitive and takes market share from big business. Consumers actually are given a choice between different products in the stores instead of the one and only product that the huge corporation used to provide. Essentially, the point here is that reducing big government results in reducing big business.

The happy news for you, OP, is that smart people like me are far and few between these days primarily because of government run education so your side (i.e. those that want the federal government to take care of everything for them.) is winning. The funny thing to me is that you seem unhappy with the results of your winning. Perhaps a lightning bolt of inspirational thought will hit you and others like you one day so that you all will see that big government is what causes big business to gain control. Perhaps the government needs to create a new department to study the concept. LOL
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 40 (view)
 
US Sucked Into Israeli - Iran Conflict
Posted: 6/25/2008 11:11:53 PM

Is it the US's responsibility to support Israeli objectives?


Unfortunately, anyone in U.S. national politics that does not support Israel will not last very long even if they are promoting policies that are in American interests. That is a fact in national politics for several decades now.


Is the middle east conflict more about protecting Israeli sovereignty than democracy and oil?


Of course, it is. There us no other logical reason for doing what we are doing in the Middle East other than defending Israel. Democracy, oil, and all the rest were never reasons for our military being in the Middle East … ever!


Will siding with Israeli incur the wrath is Russia, China?


Since the USA will support Israel no matter what, who cares? According to a fellow on another thread, he said about a week ago that Israel will take out that Iranian nuclear plant before the US presidential elections. You can bet the farm on that one. Now it is absolutely clear that is what is going to happen.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 33 (view)
 
Bad Cop NO donnut!
Posted: 6/23/2008 2:37:23 PM
I feel these men were gunned down by the police and not deserving of that treatment at all. The police will cover up this like they always do and get away with murder.

All I can tell you all is that I feel very threatened by the police. I feel they are flat out dangerous people and I fear them more than any criminal out there. I do not believe that SWAT teams should be allowed at all or No-knock warrants or that any police should be out of uniform (ever) or in any unmarked car. They need NOT have automatic weapons, armored vehicles, or anything else that is military in design. Generally, as a group, they are about the rudest people I have ever met too. An officer “should have to justify each round discharged. No officer should be allowed to search or stop anyone without probable cause whish is no longer the standard. Perhaps all of them should be wired with cameras and sound to watch everything they do if things do not change for the better and soon.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 16 (view)
 
How to convince a mature woman
Posted: 6/23/2008 7:21:38 AM
May I ask, how much older are the women that you are interested in dating? Are we talking 3 years, 5 years, 8 years, 10 years, 15 years or 20 years?
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 65 (view)
 
What are the Consequences of attacking Iran ?
Posted: 6/23/2008 6:13:16 AM

Put boldly and simply, we have to drop a nuclear bomb on Iran.


That's just crazy talk. There is absolutely NO WAY that the USA would use nukes of any type in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world for that matter. I hope none of you get your news from that paper.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 60 (view)
 
What are the Consequences of attacking Iran ?
Posted: 6/22/2008 6:17:23 PM
^^^ That sounds like the most reasonable outcome to me as well. The time table seems reasonable too because it will be easier on the incoming President to have this happen while Bush is still in office.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 24 (view)
 
Whatever happened to TRUTH?
Posted: 6/22/2008 10:54:54 AM
In my view, this is the best thread of the year. You like many of us wonder about the truth and why it is never clear anymore what is true. There is great power and great wealth is marketing a particular brand of truth. What you hear on the news influences who you cast your vote for in elections, what you buy and basically what you think about almost everything. Can you see how directing your view and the millions like you is a very profitable business? The news media these days is only providing propaganda with the purpose to control your view which provides them with power and wealth.

The actual truth varies but I’ll hit a few major topics:

Middle East: Everything done in the Middle East by the USA is to defend Israel without exception. In 1990, Iraq attacked Kuwait because Kuwait was stealing Iraq's oil through slant drilling. Do you really think that Saddam Hussein would have refused to sell us oil? We are not there spreading democracy or there preventing atrocities, or there to stop terrorism or are we there for the sake of oil supplies.

Expensive oil: The vary nature of the uncertainty of war creates fear which escalates prices. Future exchanges are bidding up the price of oil but these are international so not under the jurisdiction of the USA. The USA is also spending huge sums of money that we do not have to run these wars and that has devalued the dollar and a devalued dollar buys less on the world market. Domestic oil supplies are cheaper but blocked by environmentalist groups. Federal and State taxes on each gallon of gasoline are about 5 times the profit that the oil companies make on a gallon.

Terrorism: What alternatives do simple people have against a super power invading their way of life other than to attack in the only way they have left? The USA is only hated because of our support of Israel. Israel already has our best war machines and nuclear weapons. I’ll give you one guess who gave them all of that stuff along with about 6 billion dollars each and every year.

President: Your choice this year is between a Marxist (Democrat) and a Fascist (Republican). These candidates are pre-selected by special interests in the USA before anyone even gets to vote. The news media is one of those special interests.

Is there anything else I can help you with today?
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 54 (view)
 
Onward Christian Soldiers! - atheist sues Army
Posted: 6/22/2008 9:25:54 AM
I read about this over the last new months. I am not an atheist but I do feel it is wrong to have a superior officer impose punishments based on someone's religious views or lack of religious views. If the officer just kept it as a disagreement, it would have been fine. However, he used his authority over a subordinate and that officer in my view should be punished for his bad judgment. This seems crystal clear to me but I question why the military did not handle this instead of the civilian courts.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 23 (view)
 
Quebec girl takes father to court over class trip
Posted: 6/22/2008 9:08:44 AM
Although the article did not say what the mother's wishes were, my guess is that the girl’s mother was for the trip or it would have never made it to court. Just because the father has primary custody doesn't mean that the mother cannot have her way on the raising of her child. Was the girl’s mother motivated to “stick-it” to her ex-husband? Did the fact that the judge was female bias her decision in favor of the mother over the father? What kid has the kind of money it takes to retain an attorney? This is not a very well written article.

This would never happen in the USA just because it takes so many months to get in front of a judge what with the overbooked court calendar. Here in the USA, the trip would have been long over by the time the court even heard the case. All I can tell you is that when the day comes that my kid has their attorney contact me to negotiate terms of their punishment, my kid better have enough money left over for a couple of armed body guards.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 8 (view)
 
What are the Consequences of attacking Iran ?
Posted: 6/19/2008 5:19:52 AM
The United States attacking Iran is the same as attacking Iraq. Unlike so many that think this is all about oil or all about human rights or all about spreading democracy, I see it as all done in the defense of Israel. I don’t see anything in any of this that is helping the national security of the United States. I know that the Jewish control of the United States is very powerful but it goes much deeper than that. Fundamentalist Christians believe that Christians are to defend Israel because it says so in the Bible. If the United States was not giving $6 billion a year to Israel and our full diplomatic support on every avenue, the Arab nations would more than likely consider us their friends.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 17 (view)
 
The media said he was quitting but they lied again ! Pathetic !
Posted: 6/14/2008 10:29:54 PM
off topic / Good site you provided, shieldvulf. Thanks.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 12 (view)
 
The media said he was quitting but they lied again ! Pathetic !
Posted: 6/14/2008 10:57:33 AM
At one time, reporters did a good job and actually investigated stories to find the facts. These days, the vast majority of reporters just report what the news services provide them or report what the politicians release, verbatim.

I would LOVE to see Ron Paul as President but it's just not in the cards this year unfortunately. His views are nearly identical to my own so of course I feel he is positively brilliant!
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 53 (view)
 
What do you think of the Tomato Ban ?
Posted: 6/14/2008 10:31:38 AM
A few years ago the FDA issued a similar warning about chives making people sick. About two or three months later they retracted it saying that they were not sure what caused the outbreak.

It seems very odd that salmonella would be on fruit or vegetables of any kind once they were properly washed. I am fairly sure that salmonella would only be on them and not in them. Since there were relatively few infections, I'd bet the causes were unrelated to tomatoes and the real cause was possibly from a combination of sources like contamination from the unwashed hands of the food preparers or cross-contamination from raw meat or eggs or that the fruit were never washed. (Fecal matter often contains salmonella, particularly that from birds.) Thousand of these cases happen every year in homes and restaurants nationwide and these 168 cases are just part of that.

Many years ago, the FDA also banned all of the produce coming into the USA from one of those South American countries. I think it was Chili. Anyway, that ban was based on finding arsenic on three grapes on a ship in New York. I'm sure that the growers of that Latin country where devastated financially by that move. Perhaps it seems logical to you to ban all of the produce on an entire country based on 3 grapes. That seemed like a leap in logic to me.

From what I have read about this tomato ban, the evidence is not conclusive at all so this ban seems more like a guess than something based on fact. Most probably the FDA was under pressure to find a solution so they found one. Who cares if some farmers get devastated as long as they can alleviate the pressure to find an answer?
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 29 (view)
 
Senate Republicans block windfall taxes on Big Oil
Posted: 6/13/2008 10:05:44 AM
Well, guy, for one thing I am not a Republican. I admire the common sense of Ronald Reagan's generation so that's why I am particularly fond of his quotations. Since Democrats want to tax oil companies to deal with this problem and Republicans want to allow drilling domestically, of course, oil and gas industries are backing Republicans. I did look at your site and found that of the top special interest donations, oil and gas was far from the top of the list. The following is a list of special interest donations:

Rank Industry /Total Dem Pct /GOP Pct /Top Recipient
1 Lawyers/Law Firms $71,919,280 80% 20% Hillary Clinton (D)
2 Retired $51,125,695 54% 46% Barack Obama (D)
3 Securities/Invest $39,401,180 71% 29% Barack Obama (D)
4 Real Estate $35,296,623 62% 38% Hillary Clinton (D)
5 Misc Business $32,535,514 76% 24% Barack Obama (D)
6 Health Professionals $25,963,246 60% 40% Hillary Clinton (D)
7 Business Services $16,801,139 73% 27% Hillary Clinton (D)
8 Insurance $16,666,000 55% 45% Hillary Clinton (D)
9 Education $15,827,442 87% 13% Barack Obama (D)
10 Misc Finance $15,526,768 61% 39% Hillary Clinton (D)
11 TV/Movies/Music $14,248,693 78% 22% Barack Obama (D)
12 Lobbyists $13,809,962 57% 43% Hillary Clinton (D)
13 Commercial Banks $13,541,014 55% 45% Barack Obama (D)
14 Leadership PACs $12,949,868 41% 59% Susan Collins (R-Maine)
15 Computers/Internet $12,184,627 68% 32% Barack Obama (D)
16 Pharm/Health Prod $9,649,142 56% 44% Barack Obama (D)
17 Electric Utilities $8,876,488 52% 48% Barack Obama (D)
18 Misc Mfg/Distrib $8,274,298 56% 44% Hillary Clinton (D)
19 Hospitals/Nurs Homes $8,036,539 69% 31% Barack Obama (D)
20 Oil & Gas $7,958,840 31% 69% John McCain (R)

One has to go to #14 on the list before a Republican even shows up on the list. Are you really suggesting that this site you provided has any merit at all to this tax issue submitted by the Democrats in the senate? My guess is that you are a die-heart Democrat and you just helped to prove how my vote becomes cancelled out by the votes of the seriously misinformed.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 27 (view)
 
Senate Republicans block windfall taxes on Big Oil
Posted: 6/13/2008 8:59:42 AM

Some where some how we have placed an sinister image on the word government maybe because we have forgot who the government is. So we need to revisit the constitution and realize that we live in a society that is governed by “We the People “ we are the government and whether through complacency or just plain laziness we have not been doing what we need to do and as a result of that we are on the edge of economical and environmental extinction, history should be used as a tool to accurately predict the future. Every society that has risen to power has fallen because they have spread their economic and military resources to thin, if we allow our public servants to continue to serve their own interests we will become another example of a society that has repeated the mistakes of the past


In a grammar school setting what you say is true. However, the reality of the situation is that the federal government is and has been out of control for more than four decades now. The federal government is possibly the most inefficient entity ever created to solve problems. Few if any federal programs started by the government are ever discontinued even after the original goal is achieved. The federal budget is so vast and so complex that even seasoned economists and accountants cannot fathom the totality of it let alone the common man and woman. There are some extremely powerful forces that are tapped directly into our paychecks and there is little the common man can do about it. These special interests are foreign governments, international corporations, non-profit organizations with social agendas, and so on. These special interests are the reason that a candidate for congress will spend 100 times the salary of the job they are seeking to get elected to that position.


Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. Ronald Reagan


I believe this quotation to be very true. So, as a general rule, I dispute and vote against most new federal programs. If the new program truly does have merit, the funds can easily be obtained by discontinuing one of the many thousands of programs that have long since served their purpose.



Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
Ronald Reagan


I agree with this too so in principle we do agree. The only disagreement is how we get there. I strongly feel that my money IS my freedom. The more of it that the federal government takes, the more I lose my freedom. In principle, I also do not want your money or the money of others, even that belonging to corporations, to be consumed by the federal government. We are so vastly away from the point of meeting the basics that the federal government does need to provide that I have absolutely no worries that the basics will go undone.

The more that people depend on the federal government to solve their day to day problems, the more freedom will disappear. For those of you that were stupid enough to buy a tank to drive around town of course it hurts filling up with 4 dollar a gallon gasoline. Make adjustments and deal with it yourself but please don’t look to me to support your wanting the Feds to bail you out of your own bad decisions. I know for a fact that the Feds will just add to the problem and make it worse than it already is if they become involved. Their track record consistently proves that. If we cut off the money from the federal cash cow, the system will correct itself. That is why I disapprove of this tax plan.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 84 (view)
 
Friend Found Wife's Strap-On
Posted: 6/13/2008 6:34:47 AM

perfect example on how one man's trash is another man's treasure. i know plenty guys that DREAM on marrying such a kinky woman, look what ur friend made out of it... LOL


Agreed, there is someone for everyone out there. Although my personal dreams don't involve women with a strap-on desire, I have heard POF'ers describe and brand women as "S-L-U-T-S" that sounded just perfect and very desirable to me. I enjoy women with a strong appetite for sex and an experimental desire to experience different things. Life is short and should be enjoyed.

Although, I can understand the hurt in being left out of the loop by someone so close. If this man really loves his wife, I would hope that he opens an understanding dialog with her to put this behind them, especially if they have children. Love is sometimes most appreciated and needed when the reciever of that love is not deserving of it.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 13 (view)
 
Why haven't the Texas Polygamists been checked for Missing Children??
Posted: 6/12/2008 10:14:38 PM

yna-that's the problem right there..."consenting adults"...adult in the case of Texas means OVER 16...getting married to an old geezer when you are underage ain't legal, or consentable. And it IS considered child molestation...that's the LAW.


consentable? LOL Actually, the LAW in Texas was that 14 year olds could marry just a few years ago. The law was changed as a direct result of this fundamentalist Mormon group moving into the area.

I agree that child abuse should be punished and why those that have committed child abuse in this case, namely the Texas Child Protective Services, have not been brought up on charges is shameful. CPS never had anything of substance to even enter that property legally, let alone search personal property and kidnap children. CPS broke literally hundreds of constitutional rights against these people and relentlessly released carefully worded propaganda to the press who reported it to the public like they were facts.

The only "old geezer" married to an underage girl was in the imagination of the bogus caller that triggered this thing. That call was made from out of state by a 33 year old Black woman that had never set foot on the Mormon ranch. Any reasonable detective responding to a call like that should have investigated the caller prior to asking for a search warrant. The judge that supported all of these unconstitutional measures needs to be disbarred immediately. She is a disgrace to the judiciary.

The OP should be doing press releases for the TX CPS with his active imagination.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 12 (view)
 
Senate Republicans block windfall taxes on Big Oil
Posted: 6/11/2008 2:48:41 PM

We make government sound like a bad word when the reality of it is that we are the government, We elect the public servants that represent us and right now we are in a mess and we are responsible for letting our country get in this shape and we are also responsible to see to it that we recover


Unfortunately, this is not a true statement. I wish it were. The fact is that in order to get to the point where a politician is voted on by the public in a federal election, the politician must embrace special interests and party leaders. The news media also is very biased and they have more to do with the selection process than the people because they control what the public sees and hears and what the public does not see and hear. Those with the best ideas are overwhelmed by those with the most advertising dollars and the right connections. The vast majority of the public determines things by watching 30 second to one minute sound bites and typically, they still vote along with the party they associate themselves to be part. Please note how none of the Presidential candidates accepted federal funds because when they agree to that money, they much give up the really big bucks provided by special interests.


The politicians that do "get it" simply do the wrong thing for the appearance that they somehow went after the offending parties on our behalf and we are better off for it when clearly we are not. Government went after trade, we lost millions of jobs, they went after medicine, we have to pay $27.00 for an aspirin in the hospital, they went after education and we have high school graduates that can barely read and write, know nothing of history, geography, and *gasp* economics ... the list of government failures is endless, yet for some reason politicians can always count on finding enough people lacking in common sense to back their hair brained ideas.


Wow, you sir are one of the very few who do “get it.” All I can say is... Tim Pommell for President!

The federal government is at its best when it is small and very limited in scope. It's long past the point of out-of-control and it is killing America and not helping at all.

Oh, and OP, I am an independent and I do not support the war in Iraq.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 2 (view)
 
Senate Republicans block windfall taxes on Big Oil
Posted: 6/11/2008 5:10:28 AM
The above is written as if the Democrat sponsored legislation to increase taxes would have helped the public and the Republicans' wronged the public in some way by blocking it. Currently in the United States, depending on what state you live, the taxes on gasoline are 4 to 6 times more than the entire profit made by the oil companies on that gasoline. What makes any of you think that even higher taxes on oil companies would result in something for the common Joe on the street? Companies do not pay taxes; they pass them on to the public. I don’t fear Arab terrorists. What sends shivers of terror down my spine is hearing my own federal government tell me that they are here to help me.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 90 (view)
 
support our troops? but they are terrorists.
Posted: 6/9/2008 8:38:32 PM
Terrorists are people that intentionally go after innocent people to mutilate and create horror. Frankly, we don't. Even in WWII, my Uncle Ed who was in Patton's 3rd saw dead children as our armies advanced into towns and cities. That was a just war of the type I believe in fighting. Still, it was sad hearing him talk about seeing a little girl dead who looked justs like his little sister. That sister was my mom so that part of his story stuck in my mind.

Frankly, I believe in the old fashion kind of war were you conquer and keep the land and strip the population of all wealth. I’d add enslave the people too but that’s so unpopular these days so I will exchange that for raping and pillaging... oops also unpopular so just take all they have. However, because of the severity of war, it needs to be used very judiciously. That’s because innocent blood is part of war – the tragic side of war. That’s an always about war.

What with the feminization of the military, it’s used like a tidy police giving the inflicting public the impression that it’s clean and neat. I’m not a Trekie, but I did see an episode decades ago where Kirk comes upon a civilization that have removed bombs in favor of a computerized war simulation, essentially video games where when you lose, a portion of your population is incinerated willingly by your own side. The wars never ended because they were so clean and neat. Kirk dismantled the computer simulated war games making the people face the horror of real war. Now both sides had a reason to end war because they saw and smelled the stink of war.

No matter how much one tries to run war in a clean way, it stinks. I’ll grant you that going into Iraq was wrong and that is on the heads of leadership here. The troops themselves are under oath to serve the President so they do. Giving ones word of honor really means something so they fulfill their promise. I am sure that as a whole, our military are trying to run this “wholesome” war with as few casualties as is humanly possible. A real terrorist goes after the innocent as a target and the fact is that we do not. That is an important distinction and why our troops are certainly not terrorists. I do support our troops and for that reason I want them out of there and soon. I do not believe we should stick around and nation build Iraq.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 43 (view)
 
Why is McCain getting $58,000 a year in disability income?
Posted: 6/9/2008 5:14:36 AM

McCain is a hypocrite for accepting these very healthy benefits while at the same time refusing to take care of others that have participated and suffered in the war.


You make it sound like there are no veteran benefits currently or that they are not generous enough. Yet, at the same time you are critical because McCain's vet. benefits seem too generous. McCain is collecting just like any other would in his situation. So, am I to understand you feel McCain should get even more? Perhaps you are in favor of a means test to collect one's benefits? You appear to be saying that you think his benefits (which are just like anyone else’s) are too high but argue at the same time that these benefits should have been increased. I’m not picking on you but your post seems self-defeating. Again, I’m not picking on you just a bit confused with your post.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 36 (view)
 
Evidence now proves that run away government spending is a direct result of women given the vote.
Posted: 6/7/2008 7:29:57 PM

I've seen you on POF before and previously thought you were a more open minded person.


eastendwoman, if this was written by a tabloid or even the NY Post I would have passed it by. Fact is the writers are John R Lott from Yale University and Lawrence R. Kenny, U of Florida, and they are currently at The University of Chicago. These universities are not diploma mills and give a pretty solid education. These are not men in wife-beater T-shirts drinking beer at that local pub ranting.

Both reports are in PDF format and I purposefully did not take excerpts for fear that people would say that I was bias in my selections. I actually have not really taken much of a position because of the political correct nature of the subject matter. The PDF reader is free so I am not sure why the one reader was not able to see both reports for free or why he talked about having to spend $10 to see it.

I am very open-minded and for that reason I do not blow off casually any topic. I will go into “politically incorrect” territory but I try my best to be respectful and have my ducks in a row before speaking. Originally I was all for the American idea of a colorless and genderless society where everyone is treated fairly without regard to these things. That concept has changed from the original concept to the one today where people are totally obsessed with the concept of who votes how and why. Take the Clinton/Obama primaries and it’s always discussed as to who on average Blacks are voting for and who women are voting for and who Hispanics vote for and so on. So, for quite a long time, there has been a data base building that one can look at to determine how people of different types vote. The data that these authors are using is solid and the techniques that they are using to analyze the data are first class.

Basically, the authors have identified that women as a whole are much more likely to vote for large government programs, more likely to approve programs that redistribute wealth from the taxpayers to the poor and are basically much more generous with the US Treasury than men. If one excludes the female vote, totally different candidates would win the primaries of both political parties and totally different people would be our senators, sit in the house as congressman, and even Presidents would all have been different with a few exceptions. The candidates that women support are much more likely to be big spenders than those chosen by men. Next time you hear voting analysis on TV, I’m sure you will hear the breakdown of how people are voting. The authors used to same data that the news people use.

Some women are very fiscally frugal but statistically most are big time spenders and they vote that way according to the polling data. I suppose that one could attack the reasons the authors provide as rational but the data few could dispute other than on purely emotional grounds. If I told you that the vast majority of Blacks voted for Democrats based on the polling data, would you believe that? The data used by the authors came from the same exact place.

This most definitely is a sensitive issue in the reactions I am receiving and I did foresee that and said please do not kill the messenger. I did not write this paper, I just read it and submitted it out of curiosity as to what others think of it. So far, it has only really been answered emotionally or by personal attacks on me and I was hoping for more to be honest. So, my disappointment in your reply, eastendwoman, is even more than your disappointment in my posting this. I submit that I am far more open-minded than you in that I address the actual issues and try my best to avoid personal attacks.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 19 (view)
 
People facing starvation
Posted: 6/7/2008 3:53:29 AM

The US has about 5% of world population.
It consumes 25% of the world's energy.


I just get so mad when I see those figures and the rest of the story is left out like Americans are not doing our fair share to help out. The fact is that America provides MOST of the humanitarian assistance to the world. The USA provides more assistance to the world than anyone else BY FAR in all kinds of ways. The first way is directly out of the US Treasury and this is what is generally reported as all we give (which is still quite generous and more than any one else). However, we also give in all kinds of hidden ways too. What I mean by hidden ways are agencies not controlled by the USA like the World Bank that loans staggering amounts of money to poor countries and then when those countries cannot pay the loans back, the loans are forgiven but the World Bank is paid back AGAIN out of the US Treasury. Then there is money given by the American private sector which is again the most generous of all the people of the world.

The fact is that the USA is so generous that basic needs in this country are not being fulfilled and still foreign people are pointing fingers at us like we are doing nothing.

Then there is all the aid we give to countries that really do not need it but they are somehow tapped into our economy like they are part of this country. Specifically, Israel comes to mind. The following was written some time ago by another so all of the figures given are now low but it describes the situation accurately:

There are at least three ways in which aid to Israel is different from that of any other country. First, since 1982, U.S. aid to Israel has been transferred in one lump sum at the beginning of each fiscal year, which immediately begins to collect interest in U.S. banks. Aid that goes to other countries is disbursed throughout the year in quarterly installments.

Second, Israel is not required to account for specific purchases. Most countries receive aid for very specific purposes and must account for how it is spent. Israel is allowed to place US aid into its general fund, effectively eliminating any distinctions between types of aid. Therefore, U.S. tax-payers are helping to fund an illegal occupation, the expansion of colonial-settlement projects, and gross human rights violations against the Palestinian civilian population.

A third difference is the sheer amount of aid the U.S. gives to Israel, unparalleled in the history of U.S. foreign policy. Israel usually receives roughly one third of the entire foreign aid budget, despite the fact that Israel comprises less than .001 of the worldÿs population and already has one of the world's higher per capita incomes. In other words, Israel, a country of approximately 6 million people, is currently receiving more U.S. aid than all of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean combined when you take out Egypt and Colombia.

This year, the U.S. Congress approved $2.76 billion in its annual aid package for Israel. The total amount of direct U.S. aid to Israel has been constant, at around $3 billion (usually 60% military and 40% economic) per year for the last quarter century. A new plan was recently implemented to phase out all economic aid and provide corresponding increases in military aid by 2008. This year Israel is receiving $2.04 billion in military aid and $720 million in economic aid there is only military aid.

In addition to nearly $3 billion in direct aid, Israel usually gets another $3 billion or so in indirect aid: military support from the defense budget, forgiven loans, and special grants. While some of the indirect aid is difficult to measure precisely, it is safe to say that Israelÿs total aid (direct and indirect) amounts to at least five billion dollars annually.

On top of all of this aid, a team from Israelÿs finance ministry is slated to meet with U.S. government officials this month about an additional $800 million aid package which the Clinton administration promised Israel (and the Bush administration later froze) as compensation for the costs of its withdrawal from Lebanon. The U.S. also managed to find another $28 million in the 2001 Pentagon budget to give Israel to purchase "counter terrorism equipment."

According to the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE), from 1949-2001 the U.S. has given Israel a total of $94,966,300,000. The direct and indirect aid from this year should put the total U.S. aid to Israel since 1949 at over one hundred billion dollars. What is not widely known, however, is that most of this aid violates American laws. The Arms Export Control Act stipulates that US-supplied weapons be used only for "legitimate self-defense."

Moreover, the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act prohibits military assistance to any country "which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights." The Proxmire amendment bans military assistance to any government that refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to allow inspection of its nuclear facilities, which Israel refuses to do. To understand why the U.S. spends this much money funding the brutal repression of a colonized people, it is necessary to examine the benefits for weapons manufacturers and, particularly, the role that Israel plays in the expansion and maintenance of U.S. imperialism.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 56 (view)
 
Senate proves Bush lied us into war.
Posted: 6/6/2008 3:49:24 PM

You are defending this person? Seriously?


I am not defending Bush Jr. get_mad_baby. Don’t be so damn sensitive. I am just pointing out that there is no way Bush Jr. will face war crime trials based on lying. Now, if you do figure a way to hang him, I will have no problem pulling the lever to open the trap door. Just be aware that I am pissed off with absolutely everybody in Washington DC including everyone running for the Presidency. I’m beginning to think that the Arabs running a plane into the Capital and the White House may have been doing us a big favor and why they wasted 2 on the World Trade Center just shows they cannot be trusted either.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 78 (view)
 
Is U.S.America Rasist? Obama is White
Posted: 6/6/2008 10:36:17 AM
Just off hand, I agree with the OP on his basic premiss. Basically, the old-timer rasists saw any Black blood as contamination so the whole person was typed as “Black” and not the mix that he or she truly was. The same goes for Tigar Woods who is half Asian. Just for fun, I have said to my golfing buddies that Tiger Woods is the best damn player the Asians have! It usually takes a moment to set in and the confused look to disapear.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 31 (view)
 
Senate proves Bush lied us into war.
Posted: 6/6/2008 10:06:07 AM
Under the 1977 Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, ruses of war are not prohibited and that includes misinformation i.e. LYING. War crime trials are not possible based on lying.

To continue your list of liars: JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush Sr., and the king of the “spin” Clinton. My life span is insufficiently long enough to name all of the liars in government but I will add Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, and that old liberal Republican guy that’s running for President too.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 15 (view)
 
People facing starvation
Posted: 6/6/2008 7:15:54 AM
Please be aware that it is common practice in many starving nations for the oppressive leadership to intercept food supplies, sell them, and divert the proceeds into the purchase of weapons to further insure the survival of the oppressive regimes.

Also be aware of the point that the fat American atheist “Wherefore Art Thou?” makes with the example of his ice cream dessert. Just because he does without it in no way translates to there being food left over for the starving peoples of the world.

When one deeply examines the welfare of a nation’s people, one must be struck with the fact that those nations whose people are well off are that way because the government has few restrictions on free enterprise business. That rule applies even to nations with very few natural resources like Hong Kong. Those nations that have huge layers of governmental bureaucracy on business whether militarily oppressive or peaceful have huge poor populations of which many go hungry. India is an excellent example of the latter.

Americans may well consume more but then they also provide more than any other 10 nations put together to the poor of the world. I submit to you that placing more governmental restrictions on America or any other developed nation will result only in those nations becoming poorer and that will directly result in less giving than is currently the norm. However, being the kind and caring people that we are, I submit an alternative plan that will divert over two BILLION additional US dollars to feed the poor of the world. I propose that all funding by the United States to support the United Nations be eliminated and every penny of that money be used to feed the hungry of the world. Obviously, the needs of the starving far out weigh the need to support the UN by their own calculations.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 40 (view)
 
Not with us - are they against us? Canada's parliament welcomes American war resisters.
Posted: 6/5/2008 10:45:03 PM
loonytunz, I think you may be confusing the Declaration of Independence with the Constitution. The US Constitution is only for United States Citizens as it states in the Preamble:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

I’m tired but wanted to just add a few more comments on things so that some may understand some key points.

First, a lot of you are quoting civil law. When one enlists in the US military, you forfeit all of your civil rights and accept military law in its place. So, those of you quoting civil law are quoting things that do not apply to the military.

Second, we do have a checks and balance system given to us by the US Constitution. The Congress can override the President and the Courts can overrule the President IF he violates the Constitution. Individual citizens and that would include those in the military cannot override the President, we can just vote. However, special interests have huge control over who actually makes it up the ladder to the point where we citizens can vote. So often all of the candidates that we citizens are given to select from all are horrible and none of them represent what we the people really want. So, it gets down to casting our vote for the least horrible candidate.

The fact is that Iraq had nothing to do with the attacks on America on 9/11. They did not have weapons of mass destruction. They did have a horrible and cruel dictator but then that also describes 50 other countries just as bad or worse. So, I absolutely can see and understand the view that America should not be in Iraq. Very few American citizens want the USA to be the world’s police force yet we find ourselves in the position because of our leadership.

If someone in the military really feels so moved by the injustice of what we are doing, they by all means can be martyrs, stand up and protest and deal with the fall out which probably would not be great at all for them individually. I would admire a man that would do that. However, I feel the majority of the desertions are because they did join just for all the generous perks that the military offers and then when faced with what they are really there to do, wage war, they ran away. They are just using the cover of “illegal war” as an excuse. These are cowards using this higher calling to avoid fulfilling what they took an oath to do. If our wonderful Canadian friends want them, no problem here, they are yours. We still love Canada. Night now.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 35 (view)
 
Not with us - are they against us? Canada's parliament welcomes American war resisters.
Posted: 6/5/2008 9:10:21 PM

Just curious what is the presidents oath AS the C-in-C, you know the obligations he must bear to have others follow his command?


Okay, it's as follows:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.


This has traditionally been followed by the words "So help me God."

So you feel that Bush has commited crimes of the likes of those tried in Nuremburg?The traditional reason that officers have side arms is to execute deserters on the spot. That was when armies actually waged war. What with the kinder, gentler conversion of the military into "peace keepers" performing "police actions", that's not done any longer. During WWII, over 21,000 US military personnel were convicted and sentenced for desertion. Of those, 49 were sentenced to death but only one was actually executed. The Germans' executed over 15,000 deserters and the Russians many more than that. Joseph Stalin made Hitler look like an amateur. War crime trials are traditionally only for those that lose the war so the odds of President Bush being tried for war crimes is the same as a snowball’s chance in hell.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 29 (view)
 
Not with us - are they against us? Canada's parliament welcomes American war resisters.
Posted: 6/5/2008 6:38:33 PM

And what if they were lied to. This isn't what they signed on for.

That's a fair question although many might think that a decision based on incorrect intelligence is not lying. Nonetheless, your question is fair, lie or not, to examine what they sighed up for.

EVERYONE that joins the United States Armed Forces must without exception take the enlistment oath. That, my friend, details what they signed up for.

In the Armed Forces EXCEPT the National Guard:

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

In the Army or Air Force National Guard:

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the State of (STATE NAME) against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the Governor of (STATE NAME) and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to law and regulations. So help me God.

What they sign up for and solemnly swear is that they will obey the orders of the President
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 24 (view)
 
Not with us - are they against us? Canada's parliament welcomes American war resisters.
Posted: 6/5/2008 3:51:42 PM
When one joins the American armed forces, many do have a contract that promises selected special training and if that job is not available, the enlisted man can opt out. However, if that training is available or you agree to another specialty, you are in and you give up many civil liberties. A military force would not work very well any other way. I am personally not very understanding of someone that volunteers to go into our military and then goes AWOL. Any enlisted man has the option of refusing to fight on the grounds that they are doing something illegal but if the court finds otherwise, military prison is likely. Hey, no one twisted these guys’ arms to join and there is always the possibility that any of the armed forces will see combat. They should have thought of that before joining. There are never any promises as to where a soldier will be deployed that I am aware.

I still like Canada even if they do accept our deserters. Remember that it was some brave Canadians that helped get some of our diplomatic personnel out of Iran when our Embassy was stormed during the Carter years. I am confident that when things really matter, they will be there for us and as we will be there for them. I believe that the invasion of Iraq was not warranted and we should not be there but even I would go if I was in the military and I was ordered to go. That's what military men do, follow orders.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 17 (view)
 
Court Order Releases US climate change report
Posted: 6/4/2008 9:28:20 AM
Dave, I never said that there should be no government, just limited government. Excuse me if I do not rush in to emulate the totalitarian government of China despite there success in wind technology. The example of the battery assisted Honda came to the USA through free market forces. Granted, the proliferation of gas guzzling SUV’s and huge trucks came in the same way. I am a little shocked that you provided China as an example given the 3rd world horrible working conditions there. I truly believe that you are a very decent man with descent life’s goals and concern for your fellow man. Despite what you may think of my views, I too care very much for people and the environment. When opportunist companies were collecting hazardous waste and warehousing these poisons with never any plan of disposal with a criminal business plan to bankrupt the company and take off with the profits leaving the community to deal with the toxic stock pile, I was all for government stepping in to stop it.

Basically, we have about 100 years of accurate temperature data that through all kinds of extrapolation “experts” have determines that we have a crisis and we must take immediate action right now or else we will insure disaster for generations to come. The government’s solution is not to plant more trees, not to work through free market solutions but to come into each and ever business and each and every citizen’s life to control us for our own good. Thanks but no thanks. That solution just takes us closer to living in a totalitarian state and causes more harm and more suffering than anything Mother Nature has in store for us. Again, going back to the temperature chart on page 51 of the report, why was there the same magnitude of temperature increase from 1910 to 1940 as in the last 30 years when cars back then were few and far between and the population was much less?
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 11 (view)
 
Clinton says she's open to being Obama's VP - Who should it be?
Posted: 6/3/2008 10:03:24 PM
I really cannot see Hillary as Obama's VP because on stage, Bill Clinton will get more attention than Obama and Obama has worked to hard to share the glory. Hillary would be okay with it because she would remain in the lime light but Hillary already KNOWS Obama will not pick her and when he loses next November, she will capitalize on whatever happens. Like in any election, VP candidates always end up being the attack dog while the Presidential candidate is lower key and dignified. So, whoever he picks has to know how to be very aggressive. Obama's biggest task is to convince the middle class white folks that he doesn't have some single focused black agenda. He's already in danger of alienating the Christian vote because of his controversial church selections and also his decision to not go to church at all. The right VP may go a long way in easing those legitimate concerns.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 38 (view)
 
Any Solutions ? to the Pricy Gas & Recession
Posted: 6/3/2008 9:38:02 PM

impeach bush


I’d be for hanging him if it would help anything. Unfortunately, I don’t see any of the alternatives as having a viable plan to fix things. It’s all the same people and they are just going to switch chairs in the coming election and that, my friends, is not going to change things for the better. It’s not the figure head but the mechanism behind the figurehead and today there is not a lot of difference between the Republicans and the Democrats. At this point, more hijacked planes crashed into the Capital might overall be a good thing for America. Your right if I seem exasperated and frustrated over the state of our leadership to you.

The funny part is that US exports are at a staggering high so the USA indicators that let the Feds know that we are in a recession have not triggered yet. Technically, we are not in a recession because that requires two quarters in a row of negative growth and we have not even had one month of negative growth so far. With that said, it sure looks like and feel like a recession so people are acting like we are in one, even those that are not hurting at all. It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I’m doing okay personally with fuel because I never did the SUV or truck thing like most people. Over all things are okay for me but because of the big picture, things are very tight now. Like most people, I have others in my life that are not doing so well so the helping hand is tapping me.

If you have one of those SUV’s or trucks, you will be SHOCKED when you go to trade it in. It may be worthwhile to hold on to yours and hope for the bubble to burst long enough for the trade in prices to rise.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 6 (view)
 
The Secret Government
Posted: 6/2/2008 6:33:47 AM
If you would like to see the Bill Moyers documentary, follow link below:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-86926225312642413

One of the interesting things about Moyers is that he was an ordained Baptist minister. His Bachelor of Divinity degree was from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. He also worked for LBJ in his early career.

Unfortunately, the Secret Government is very real and not at all nonsense and only the tip of the iceberg. The irony of it all is that many of the positions that people take on here and in America have been orchestrated by these high powers so a lot of you are working for them and don't even know it.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 15 (view)
 
Court Order Releases US climate change report
Posted: 6/1/2008 11:09:52 AM
Oh yeah, Dave, I see Tesla all electric cars all over the place here in America – NOT! However, your question was a fair one. By the way, I am all for conserving energy and that is a smart thing to do.

The owners and entrepreneurs of business are the ones that have the expertise to efficiently manufacture and run their businesses. As government become more intrusive on business, business spends more and more resources not on manufacturing the best product but on minimizing the cost impact of the government. John Stossel did a brilliant report where he traveled the world looking for countries that were economically booming and what it was that allowed this prosperity. In every single case, all of the booming economies were that way because government had very low interference and controls on businesses there. Governments are monuments of inefficiency and without exception, when government becomes involved in business, those businesses become inefficient and uncompetitive in the world market. The reaction of businesses these days is to pick up and move if government interferes too much and that is exactly what America is experiencing now. Global warming is theoretical but governmental intervention causing deterioration of business is fact. I will take a fact over a theory any day. I very much dispute that the theory of global warming and the proposed doomsday scenario is real and to exclusively focus all manufacturing’s attention on this and to create a massive new industry and work force based on this is lunacy.
 warmthnpassion
Joined: 7/18/2007
Msg: 25 (view)
 
French judge annuls Muslim marriage over bride's virginity lie
Posted: 6/1/2008 10:21:34 AM
I for anything that upsets the French.
 
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