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Republicans? My political philosophy is at the opposite end of the spectrum.
I'm gay, and I'm a second-class citizen. I can't enjoy many of the rights that heterosexuals enjoy. Republicans speak of limited government, but their actions defy their words. I don't call limited government passing legislation targeting same-sex marriage. Quite the opposite.
It defies logic how you could classify Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina with a positive, assertive spin. Assertive? No! Failure? Yes!
Affluent families are doing great, but many middle-class families are struggling. The great wealth of the upper 5% has not trickled down to less affluent families.
Crunch time is getting closer for aging boomers. Many are not prepared for retirement. Financially, health insurance alone is going to wipe out many retired folks. Quite a few people will not have the luxury of retiring at 62. In fact, huge numbers of people may be working well into their 70s. It's wonderful if you're productive and you can work in your 70s, but not everyone enjoys perfect health at age 70. In fact, some people have major health problems in their 50s. Those folks are screwed.
I give George W. Bush a grade of: F. Politically, his administration was quite successful early in the game, but this administration cannot govern.
Apparently, George W. seldom asks his father for advice. His father has been around the presidential block a time or two. Not asking his father for advice was a major mistake. Apparently, George talks to God.
Without a doubt, God let George down. Without a doubt, God let the American people down. Without a doubt, God let the world down. So much for God, and so much for George W. Bush.
Z
First of all, please let me say that I'm not here to judge people...in any circumstance. I have my views and you have yours and as long as we have respect for each other, I feel like we can have civil conversations, as per the forum. Would you be happy if there were the same benefits for gay people as people who are married...the only difference being that it would be labeled a "Civil Union"? I'm curious about that. A few of my best friends are gay, so this is not foreign to me. They are more interested in getting the benefits and I believe that they deserve them.
As far as the Baby Boomers not being prepared, I don't believe that is the Government's fault...I believe that credit has curbed our desire to save money. In most cases, you should only blame yourself if you are unprepared for retirement...I understand there are exceptions, but accountability is a rare thing, nowadays. People want everything handed to them on a silver platter...by the government.
I'm sad that you seem so hostile...
Last question...where were you when the chaos of Hurricanes Katrina/Rita struck? I was in Baton Rouge and we saw an EXTREME LACK of cooperation from the State and local government in this area. People who watched on the news only saw a fraction of what really happened. No, as I stated before, I don't believe that Bush handled everything perfectly, but the city of New Orleans was under water...there was basically NO communication - almost like the old days, remember? Please tell me what President Bush was supposed to do...drive supplies to everyone? It defies logic as to how the State and local government did not even TRY to get people out of there...fully aware of what would probably happen...THAT is what defies logic.
Last edited by Kimbercuddles; 11-09-2006 at 08:29 PM..
Reason: missed a word
I make only 40k ayear my girlfriend makes 28k a year. we manage with 4 kids. without gov help. I think the nation is in just as good a shape as it was in the clinton years only diff is we don't have a LIER in office. unemployment is low jobs are plentiful ya the war sucks I have 2 cousins over there but you know both parties voted to go in not 1. and they did find wepons of mass distruction and biological weapons but for some reason that didn't end up on the news except for a small soundbite. Bush leans a little far even for me but he is honest and the U.S. is doing good when all is taken into perspective. the natinal dept goes up anytime we are at war. and CLINTON taxed us to death he didn't cut spending he spent more and we paid more.
There is an ENORMOUS difference between "assertive" and "effective".
One asserts "mission accomplished", or that "Brownie is doing a heckova job", but then one has to back it up with effective action. If yu believe Bush was effective duing Katrina, you might be the only one. And, it took a major sea-change in control of the government to get Bush to finally get rid of Rumsfeld and start to actually think about Cheney's advice.
This Democratic victory may the the only thing that can ever salvage Bush's legacy -- he seems to have wakened up from a sleep that started on 9/11.
The mission, under this administration, has not been accomplished in almost every area.
Bush has been an assertive leader--war-wise. I don't think anyone could say he's played things safe. He's taken lots of risks, but his logic has been faulty. Assertiveness is one thing, but effectiveness is quite another.
Our country rallied behind George W. Bush after the September 11th attacks. To a large degree we ignored what went wrong, or where to point fingers for a long, long time. We didn't want to point fingers as to what went wrong, while we were still in a state of mourning.
Rallying behind our president was the right course of action, but that course of action has a certain time frame. George W. Bush doesn't have a free ride forever. I think Bush expected a free ride with little accountability. "I dare you question my handling of the war? I dare you question the mounting deficits? I dare you question the tax breaks for the wealthy?"
How does a president pay for a trillion dollar war with tax breaks? It just doesn't make sense.
Hurricane Katrina was the first big, big, big inkling that Bush was NOT an effective leader. We had essentially given him a free ride in the war up to that point, with the ultimate fate of the war still unknown; but Hurricane Katrina was one of the first real tests of this administration. It was on our turf, and not on foreign turf. Bush failed miserably.
After Hurricane Katrina, things just started unraveling--one-by-one, and scandal-by-scandal.
Z
Last edited by Zelia; 11-09-2006 at 09:01 PM..
Reason: spelling error
As far as the Baby Boomers not being prepared, I don't believe that is the Government's fault...I believe that credit has curbed our desire to save money. In most cases, you should only blame yourself if you are unprepared for retirement...I understand there are exceptions, but accountability is a rare thing, nowadays. People want everything handed to them on a silver platter...by the government.
I'm sad that you seem so hostile...
Last question...where were you when the chaos of Hurricanes Katrina/Rita struck? I was in Baton Rouge and we saw an EXTREME LACK of cooperation from the State and local government in this area. People who watched on the news only saw a fraction of what really happened. No, as I stated before, I don't believe that Bush handled everything perfectly, but the city of New Orleans was under water...there was basically NO communication - almost like the old days, remember? Please tell me what President Bush was supposed to do...drive supplies to everyone? It defies logic as to how the State and local government did not even TRY to get people out of there...fully aware of what would probably happen...THAT is what defies logic.
Great post!
In reference to paragraph one above: It seems everyone expects the government to BE THERE, pay their way, see to their retirement. No one wants to take responsibility for themselves.
Paragraph two: Hostility is a personal choice.
Paragraph three: I don't believe Bush handled everything perfectly, either, but not only was the city under water, how many BUSES were under water? How many people could those BUSES hauled out of the city? Some woman, I think it may have been the LA senator, when asked why they didn't use the buses (while being shown a picture of the tops of all these buses standing in water) told the reporter "those buses are under water." And Bush was stupid??? Bush didn't do everything right?? Same mentality as discussed in paragraph one. Never take responsibility if you can shove it on someone else!
First of all, please let me say that I'm not here to judge people...in any circumstance. I have my views and you have yours and as long as we have respect for each other, I feel like we can have civil conversations, as per the forum. Would you be happy if there were the same benefits for gay people as people who are married...the only difference being that it would be labeled a "Civil Union"? I'm curious about that. A few of my best friends are gay, so this is not foreign to me. They are more interested in getting the benefits and I believe that they deserve them.
As far as the Baby Boomers not being prepared, I don't believe that is the Government's fault...I believe that credit has curbed our desire to save money. In most cases, you should only blame yourself if you are unprepared for retirement...I understand there are exceptions, but accountability is a rare thing, nowadays. People want everything handed to them on a silver platter...by the government.
I'm sad that you seem so hostile...
Last question...where were you when the chaos of Hurricanes Katrina/Rita struck? I was in Baton Rouge and we saw an EXTREME LACK of cooperation from the State and local government in this area. People who watched on the news only saw a fraction of what really happened. No, as I stated before, I don't believe that Bush handled everything perfectly, but the city of New Orleans was under water...there was basically NO communication - almost like the old days, remember? Please tell me what President Bush was supposed to do...drive supplies to everyone? It defies logic as to how the State and local government did not even TRY to get people out of there...fully aware of what would probably happen...THAT is what defies logic.
Every citizen of this country should have equal rights and benefits--black, white, Asian, Hispanic, single, married, heterosexual, or homosexual. Apparently the word: "marriage" in a heterosexual context is okay but not okay in a homosexual context, within the religious communitiy. Therefore, civil unions may be the best technical name to describe a legal document between two loving people, sharing the same house, possibly raising children, and sharing the same bed.
Individuals should share some of the responsibility for a low savings rate, but the government is not totally off-the-hook. Certainly, there's a lot of blame to go around. I don't want to write a book, but I take issue with you.
Hurricane Katrina? I also take issue with you concerning the culpability of the Bush administration.
The first thing that comes to my mind is the lack of preparation by the federal government. A major hurricane hitting New Orleans was the worst-kept secret. Everyone knew it was going to happen at some future point in time. It was only a matter of when. It defies logic that the levee system was not improved evenly marginally. It defies logic that more preliminary steps were not taken.
During the very, very critical time frame right after the hurricane, there was a break down in the chain of command. The federal government head honchos weren't calling the shots, and that's what they're supposed to do. People at the lower end of the command system follow orders, but very few orders were being given. Someone is always the boss in an emergency, and no one was stepping up to the plate. The head honcho should always be saying, "Mr. X, you do this. Mr. Y, you do this. Mr. Z, you do this." Very few orders were being given. That's my main understanding of the debacle.
Sadly, the FEMA boss wasn't calling many of the shots, because he was more interested in his appearance on camera. He was more interested in his appearance, while people were dying in the flood waters. I think he called a few friends on his cell phone, and wanted comments as to his appearance on TV. "How did my Polo shirt look?" Something along those lines--something.
I do give the Bush administration a good grade in one specific legislative endeavor:
A+
All of us making a million dollars a year are paying less taxes. Good job, George.
Every citizen of this country should have equal rights and benefits--black, white, Asian, Hispanic, single, married, heterosexual, or homosexual. Apparently the word: "marriage" in a heterosexual context is okay but not okay in a homosexual context, within the religious communitiy. Therefore, civil unions may be the best technical name to describe a legal document between two loving people, sharing the same house, possibly raising children, and sharing the same bed.
[...]
Z
I would vote for Civil Union immediately...I believe every human being should be treated equally. I'm sure that I have totally different views than you do regarding Homosexuals raising children...but that's another forum.
Seriously, were you in Louisiana when the hurricanes hit? If you weren't, then you pretty much only heard what the media was reporting and it was definitely not in favor of FEMA or Bush. As I previously mentioned, President Bush made a lot of mistakes, but you CANNOT POSSIBLY blame him for all of the mistakes that were made regarding Hurricane Katrina!! This might be a long post, but I have such strong feelings about this situation....sorry.
1. Ray Nagin did not even issue a VOLUNTARY evacuation until the end of day on the 27th of August (when everyone knew where Katrina was headed)
The MANDATORY evacuation came less than 24 hours before Katrina was supposed to hit NO. It takes at least 48-72 hours after you issue an evacuation for the people to even feasibly be able to get out. Traffic was horrendous!!! Ask Houston about that...before Rita.
2. The Superdome was a LAST RESORT. 20% of the city either chose not to leave or didn't want to. People were told to bring plenty of food and water for at LEAST a few days. What is the deal with everyone expecting the government to take care of everyone?????
3. Everyone thought NO was okay after the storm hit...it wasn't until a DAY later that people realized the levees had been breached (not overflowing --totally different). The levees had been breached more than likely because there were construction flaws...a lot of money had been designated for these levees (more from Bush than Clinton) yet Louisiana is so corrupt that WHO KNOWS what happened? As I understand, it was not built up to par and I think state and local politics has a LOT to do with that.
continued...stay with me!!
Last edited by Yac; 11-10-2006 at 04:59 AM..
Reason: quote shortened
4. Governor Blanco DID NOT ALLOW BUSH TO HELP EVACUATE these people!!! Federal troops cannot go in to help unless the state government specifically asks them to. He offered to help...she said she had that part under control, which is obvious to all of us now, right?
5. Once we realize the horrific situation, attempts to rescue these people are made and what happens? Everyone is AFRAID FOR HIS/HER LIFE because of the overwhelming violence and gunfire. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't care about rescuing the people if they were SHOOTING at me...and by the way, that HAS been verified - many times. Unfortunately, those people probably ruined the rescue efforts for other innocent people.
6. Keep in mind, ALL of the towers for cell phones were down...no phones, roads or method of communication!! It was actually almost a month before I was able to call my family and let them know I was okay...and that was in Baton Rouge.
7. More than HALF of the police force deserted after Katrina and instead of focusing on rescuing people, they were trying to prevent more people from dying because of the violence....that's another long story.
8. When the French started building New Orleans, they built it on elevated ground, ...not below sea level. Is Bush to blame for the ignorance of people building this city in a "BOWL"???? Of course not.
9. Michael Brown is another story...that's where the majority of Bush's fault lies, in my opinion. I think he would have done OKAY with a disaster not quite of this magnitude...but I don't know for sure...
10. Nagin also declined help from Amtrak...who knows why???
Bottom line: If I lived in New Orleans and there was a hurricane forecast for that area, if there were ANY way I could leave, I would. EVERYONE knows what the predictions were. America was told what the media wanted them to hear when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck...I was here and I KNOW what happened....
I'd like to know why so many people in the Gulf area thought they were entitled to flood insurance even though they didn't pay for it.
I mean, we are talking about the South were no one wants to pay taxes, yet when something happens, they expect the government to come and bail them out? Why don't they pay more in taxes so the government has more money to come and bail them out? Why are they counting on the states who pay all the taxes to come and send them money? I see those charts that show where the federal tax monies go and those Southern states like Mississippi and Louisiana are so hooked to the government teet it ain't funny! For every $1 they send in, they get like $1.50 back -- and that's during years when there isn't a disaster!
They get all those Republican guys in office who say things like "cut taxes, cut taxes, cut taxes" and then they say "send us money, send us money, send us money." HUH?
(I'm being the devil's advocate here, so don't yell at me! )
I'd like to know why so many people in the Gulf area thought they were entitled to flood insurance even though they didn't pay for it.
I mean, we are talking about the South were no one wants to pay taxes, yet when something happens, they expect the government to come and bail them out? Why don't they pay more in taxes so the government has more money to come and bail them out? Why are they counting on the states who pay all the taxes to come and send them money? I see those charts that show where the federal tax monies go and those Southern states like Mississippi and Louisiana are so hooked to the government teet it ain't funny! For every $1 they send in, they get like $1.50 back -- and that's during years when there isn't a disaster!
They get all those Republican guys in office who say things like "cut taxes, cut taxes, cut taxes" and then they say "send us money, send us money, send us money." HUH?
(I'm being the devil's advocate here, so don't yell at me! )
Good point about the flood insurance....same thing happens on the coast of NC. Federal government has to help out. Get real folks, build on the sand at waters edge and you just might have a problem....live in a basin and you might get under water!
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I agree
Woo Hoo!
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