[teakboat]

Yes, if you've spent any time in a muslim country, Tulsa will look like the emerald city when you get back, believe me. You will not be critical of the good ole USA for a year or two. But the decline of America is very painful to watch.

[Bass&Catfish2008]

Originally Posted by teakboat

Yes, if you've spent any time in a muslim country, Tulsa will look like the emerald city when you get back, believe me. You will not be critical of the good ole USA for a year or two. But the decline of America is very painful to watch.

Truth on all fronts.

[StillwaterTownie]

Originally Posted by Bass&Catfish2008

Don't kid yourself, anyone who's been there knows it's a lot worse.

Are things bad (getting bad) and is America in decline? Sure. But we still have so many freedoms, mostly taken for granted, which the vast majority of folks from Muslim countries do not.

Still, I don't think America stands out very special to the world as a free country where much liberty happens to be respected or valued. This is due to the fact that America imprisons more people than communist China. America has 5% of the world's people, but 25% of the world's prisoners. Over 3000 people are in prison for life over non-violent offenses. Texas, Oklahoma and some other states are still putting some criminals to death. I don't know what kind of comeback you can make other than to say those evil, tyrannical dictators over there have taught people such a healthy fear of punishment, such as losing life, limb or family from not staying in line, that it does a good job of suppressing the will to commit crime.

[Bass&Catfish2008]

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

Still, I don't think America stands out very special to the world as a free country where much liberty happens to be respected or valued. This is due to the fact that America imprisons more people than communist China. America has 5% of the world's people, but 25% of the world's prisoners. Over 3000 people are in prison for life over non-violent offenses. Texas, Oklahoma and some other states are still putting some criminals to death. I don't know what kind of comeback you can make other than to say those evil, tyrannical dictators over there have taught people such a healthy fear of punishment, such as losing life, limb or family from not staying in line, that it does a good job of suppressing the will to commit crime.

There is no "comeback" and I do not think that America is "special" in the sense that God has only blessed our land/people. There are freedoms that many Americans take for granted all the while, unbeknownst to them, they defend Muslim countries that do not allow said freedoms.

I will not attempt to defend our criminal system as I think it is shady beyond belief. A man that sexually molests a child gets off anywhere from 1-4x without going to jail (his tallywacker should be cut off the FIRST time!) while someone who smokes a little weed (or other minor offenses) gets put in the slammer for 5-10 years. I would say that our greatest indictment against the judicial/criminal system would be that it appears that we, as a society, do not value babies/children. That is a great travesty and something I will never understand.

[Howest2008]

howest2008....no you can't the vast majority of red ststes are on welfare from Washington D.C.

howest2008....the masses of unproductive unemployable and underemployed so called parasites are
already in the blue states and no more are coming here. American is going to move back toward the
WPA model of dealing with the unemployment problem " over your loud objections of course " mark
my words.

WPA
Works Progress Administration - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

President Lincoln , Kennedy and his brother soon to be President all were assassinated before programs
could be put in place that focused on nation building instead of free hand me outs....

howest2008....you wish upon a dream CALIFORNIA has a 2 1/2 BILLION DOLLARS SURPLUS in theirs
current STATE BUDGET. Now show me some red states doing that " dream on " then wake up and
smell the coffee.....

howest2008
Detroit didn't adapt like other CHOCOLATE CITIES like ATLANTA and WASHINGTON D.C. who diversified theirs economics base past the BLUE COLLAR ERA and didn't go down like a ANCHOR IN THE OCEAN. We are in the I.T ERA meaning that cities who are not in the I.T ERA are left behind in the dust.

Yeah with the way that you talked about it , you had me fooled......LOL

[Howest2008]

howest2008......no Canada didn't have the worst system of African Enslavement known to Mankind
Canada mainly enslaved Native Canadian ," not Black African " and did away with Slavery a whole lot sooner
(1833) than the United States.

Canada Slave Era
Slavery in Canada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also note this The USA decided to not send all former slaves to LIBERIA AFRICA because of the cost of doing so ,
there was of course termendous profits in the SLAVE TRADE , but alas no money in sending millions of slaves back
to Africa.

LIBERIA AFRICA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia

howest2008..you made it illegal for Black African to study during slavery , you made it illegal for Black
African to study with Whites American until the 1950's and 1960's. You sold children of Black Couples as a
commodity during slavery ( and you broke up Black (AA) Family in order for the woman to receive free
hand outs Welfare Benefits. I wonder why no one saw the need of keeping a Man In The House , and
giving him a WPA or Community Service Job(?).

The future isn't going to be any different than it is today " I imagine that you had no HINT that we would
have a two term African American POTUS"....now did you (?).

[teakboat]

I stand by all my comments.

And I would have loved a GOOD black president, but we ended up with Obama instead. That he was elected a second time proved that we have fallen below a critical threshold of collective IQ, we are no longer able to successfully manage our country.

No racism here, I would welcome the many thousands of PRODUCTIVE black citizens into the new Texoma Republic (USA version 2.0)!

[teakboat]

Liberal municipalities and states continue to have the worst bond ratings. California has the second lowest rated General Obligation bonds of any state, second only to Illinois. Chicago will be the largest municipal bankruptcy the country has ever seen, in about 12 years. Pensions are almost completely unfunded. It will be entertaining to watch. I will also remind you again of Detroit. These people either cannot or will not balance their checkbooks.

And you dare cite DC as some sort of fiscal success? When I was a bond broker we almost couldn't give DC GO bonds away. At the moment their credit rating is ok, thanks to the fact the Government has become the biggest growth industry in the nation, and DC has benefited.

[Johnhw2]

Liberals have no sense of fiscal matters... the answer to spending more than you take in tax revenues is put it on the credit card. Michigan and Illinois are just two headed for disaster....I for one could care less they re upset with Coburn or anyone else in congress.. they screwed this up locally and can not expect a national bailout

[Howest2008]

I Apologize For Every Dumb Stupid Utterance Of All Oklahoman Political Leaders....howest2008

Michigan National Park System Remain Just As Beautiful And Inviting As You Have Always Been In
The Past howest2008......