Deficit:
President Bush and the current administration have borrowed more money from foreign governments and banks than the previous 42 presidents combined.
According to the Treasury Department, from 1776-2000, the first 224 years of U.S. history, 42 U.S. presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions, but in the past four years alone, the Bush administration borrowed $1.05 trillion.
Yep I do agree with you on this, should have mentioned it. The fact is that the administration and the congress went back to a tax and spend (yes tax and spend) position that the dems held for a long time. I think that the need to be a fiscal conservative first regardless what party you are gives the country a better chance in moving forward.
But with that said, the GAO and TD both have been clear that the economy is moving forward at this time and not since 1965 has there been such a gain in all segments of industry and services in this country. You can counter my opinion; but I feel it is due directly to the tax cuts, not the actual $300 dollars we got back but the reduction in many of the taxes that triggered this move in the economy which I hope won’t end for a while.
Reputation:
From what I have read, America's reputation around the world is hurting. If anything, Bush appears as an imperialist. In my opinion, his policies have only enhanced al-Qaeda's jihadist recruitment.
Ok I see where your coming from, but truthfully al-Qaeda’s recruiting has been stepped up for a number of reasons, one is attrition of suicide bombers and loss of leadership within the organization. Now what I find really puzzling is that we look at only one group of terrorist to see this allegedly happening, but I made the statement that we, the US has not caused the increase in recruitment for Moroccan Algerian, Palestinian, Egyptian, Indonesia, Spanish or English Muslim terrorist. Hamas and Hezbollah are recruiting for their fight against Israel. So I don’t agree with the policies are the reason why, we are in a religious war, a war that pits us against them and they will not give up.
Separation of church and state:
Just where is the line between moral relativism and religious beliefs? For example; abortion, stem cell research, governmental funding of faith-based services, public decency standards…? Where do these issues fit? In my opinion, religion should be totally separate. The right wing whacko’s claim those without religion are without morals. My opinion is just having religion does mean one has morals. The only connection I see with morals and religion is some religions teach what morals they want to align with. Morals exist with or without religion.
It has been my observation that the people that are so, so, concerned about moral sexuality issues are often times found to be the people that many would consider the most sexual deviant. lol
I see you point and agree with the base premise. As for Abortion, I will not go there. Stem cell research is simple, the conservative right wing Christian position has been somewhat proven with embryonic stem cell research – there is less of a need to expand the base of cells as there is to put money and research into adult stem cell research. I don’t agree with their message but the science, true research science has been proving them right all along.
Now government funding of faith based services works. The return on the funding seems to have been better spent on the local level than putting money into a government run service. This has been proven since the 30’s but ignored since the whole separation issue has come up. I am not saying we should give money to any church or what ever but look at what outreach services can be done without interjecting or forcing religion into the help.
As for religion being total separate, sorry the country was based on one principle, a country created with the blessing of a supreme being. Through out the entire process of our country, God was an integral part. What the intention was for the separation clause was simply to avoid the problems England had with a state run church, church of England and the persecution of people who believed in other religions.
Morals, well I won’t go there. This country need more morals and from the top down. Starting with a reality check on how we present our children things like prime time tv to the problems we have with teachers having sex with students. I also have to add that with the homosexual issue and the dems, there is a clear separation between two people getting married and a group fighting for rights that include pedophiles. Both these groups need to be clear what they support and not support and it looks like they support pedophiles.
Civil liberties and freedoms:
For starters…two words: Patriot Act. I am sick of the “I have nothing to hide peopleâ€. I, too, have nothing to hide. However, I should not have to worry about hiding anything in the first place. The government should not be allowed to tape my personal telephone conversations, read my personal e-mail, or inquire as to what books I check out of the library without probable cause and a warrant.
In addition, I don’t subscribe to the concept of torture being a benefit in obtaining worthwhile reliable information and don’t like the idea of our government being involved in secret prisons.
OK now you defined a couple things.
Such is life, we live under the magnifying glass all of our lives and for once when the subject is brought up, everyone seems to be so concerned about it. Well lets start with the basics – driver license and voter registration information. I think that this all started with the Dems, I know my state it was a democratic governor who signed the bill allowing my information to be sold. This raises a fundamental question, what puts you at more risk? Having an email read or you address, voting record and other information publicized? I would tend to think the latter is far more important.
The government is monitoring you and I and they don’t have to produce a warrant to you or me to do so. I find that any secret court is worst than having them do this on their own - Thank you Mr. Carter for the secret court that allows this to happen – where is the ACLU on this issue?
But I won’t go to far into this.
I want to bring up something to you so you can understand something – every administration has been damaging our liberties and slowly eroding our rights. Two issues are simple, gun control and cryptography. Now that the assault weapons ban will again be on the agenda for the dems, I must remind you it is not about the actual weapons (read the law) it is about controlling access and limiting our options, I won’t say anything further on that but I want to tie that into the cryptography issue. When the assault weapons ban was being debated and voted on, Janet Reno, Jamie grelick and Clinton wanted to put in the ban a clause that would force everyone to give up a part of their rights, privacy. They were going after the software developers of products like PGP MS5 and other crypto programs to put in back doors so they could read our email, listen to our encrypted voice transmissions and even have access to our financial records. This part of the assault weapons ban was taken off the table as a sacrifice after a compromise was reached on another part of the bill. The funny thing is I am afraid that will be revisited soon by the dems in congress.
On last thing, I am glad to see the talk of prescription drugs and the drug companies. I hope this time that the re-importation of drugs becomes a reality but I am not holding my breath. Pharma companies have deep pockets and contribute a lot of money to both parties to hedge possible issues that may come up.
