jeblackstar

Reply to Bush Worst President in US History? in Politics JoeUser Forums

Sorry, that was an aside for our economic discussion. Cheers

Reply to Bush Worst President in US History? in Politics JoeUser Forums

> > Truman finished that war and started one in Korea. North Korea never > > attacked us. > > From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of 18,333 per year. > > > > John F. Kennedy started the Vietnam conflict in 1962. Vietnam never > > attacked us. > > Johnson turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1

Reply to Ceding responsibility to the government in Politics JoeUser Forums

Alas, one of the responsibilities of sovereign governments is to force the payment of taxes, and as Adam Smith said, take care of all things which private enterprise is incapable of doing. Cheers

Reply to Ceding responsibility to the government in Politics JoeUser Forums

Lunaticus, your taxes pay for far more than just welfare programs, in fact a MAJORITY of your taxes pay for stuff other than welfare programs. If taxes were voluntary, no one would pay, then there would be no roads, no schools, no armed forces, no national parks, etc. Cheers

Reply to Ending the War on Drugs in Politics JoeUser Forums

My favorite example of a "harmless" drug is extasy. An interesting little pill that makes you feel good, and, which it's supporters have none of the harmful side effects of "hard" drugs. Now, here's why X is bad for you. X triggers the Seratonin emitters in your brain causing them to release all their Seratonin, that causes the "good" feeling you get. This has the unfortunate consequence of causing your now depleted Seratonin emitters to work over

Reply to Bush Worst President in US History? in Politics JoeUser Forums

But bush's tax cuts caused the HUGE deficits that exist now, yes? Cheers

Reply to Ceding responsibility to the government in Politics JoeUser Forums

I'd preer a system where there is a minimum tax of say 10%, even if you're poor. I can see your point, but my point is, if you're poor, you aren't even making enough to fulfill your basic needs. Cheers

Reply to Freedom in America? in Politics JoeUser Forums

In California, the state used to pay the tuition, but after awhile people felt the students were acting like ungrateful spoiled brats Actually, in California the state passed a tax measure which drastically cut property taxes, the usual number one supplier for schools of all kinds. It didn't matter at

Reply to Ceding responsibility to the government in Politics JoeUser Forums

Everyone should pay a fixed rate of tax on every penny they earn. Social welfare can then redistribute it's agreed share of the tax among those who need it. At least everyone then contributes in proportion to their earnings. So are you proposing a flat tax? Or do you support the idea that those below t

Reply to Teachers' Unions and the State of Schooling: America's New Joke? in Republican JoeUser Forums

4. indigenous: originating, produced, growing, or living naturally in a place 5. local, especially aboriginal, inhabitants: characteristic of, belonging to, or relating to the indigenous inhabitants of a particular place, particularly those with a traditional culture </TAB

Reply to Teachers' Unions and the State of Schooling: America's New Joke? in Republican JoeUser Forums

Oh, and of course, the Native Americans aren't native either. Cheers again.

Reply to Teachers' Unions and the State of Schooling: America's New Joke? in Republican JoeUser Forums

I believe the point was, and since I was trying to make it, I should know, that the only people who are "native" to America, are the Native Americans. Obviously it takes a higher form of irony to pick up on that. But since I'm a Ph.D, and you're what? a high school graduate? I guess we can understand that. Oh, and if that sounded condescending, it was supposed to. Cheers

Reply to Teachers' Unions and the State of Schooling: America's New Joke? in Republican JoeUser Forums

You mean that they both want the same job, but since the job can only go to one, it'll go to the immigrant who'll accept a lower wage? Tell me Messy, Which native American tribe do you belong to? Cheers

Reply to Bush Worst President in US History? in Politics JoeUser Forums

Blaming Bush or Clinton is silly IMO. Again, my only blaming of Bush is of turning surpluses into deficits. Cheers

Reply to Bush Worst President in US History? in Politics JoeUser Forums

Jeb - nothing you wrote there contradicts anything I said. Where is the evidence that the rich are the greedy ones? I'd say greed is pretty well distributed amongst the classes. I favor the current tax structure. But I haven't seen a good argument for why we shoudl pay more taxes. I certainly don't see how more taxes help the ec

Reply to Teachers' Unions and the State of Schooling: America's New Joke? in Republican JoeUser Forums

Teachers' Unions have effectively crippled the American educational system. No longer can teachers be fired for being incompetent. Now they get to stay unless they do something like molest a student. That is bunk, no matter how you look at it. <TABLE cellpadding=8 width="95%" align=center bgColor=#FFF39

Reply to Teachers' Unions and the State of Schooling: America's New Joke? in Republican JoeUser Forums

On the language issue: I'm another one of those who's in favor of the "When in Rome, do as the Romans" approach. When traveling abroad, I do my best to try and accomodate to the culture I'm visiting. If I'm in France, I pull out my French-English dictionary and phrase book and do my best to communicate. Afterall, I am the gues

Reply to A Pacifist Dictionary in Politics JoeUser Forums

I think the goal of pacifism is a good one, if everyone used it, then it would be true, there would be no need for war, unfortunately, as I think most of our posters agree, there is a need for war in our imperfect world. I don't think we should get down on PoetPhilosopher for giving us a goal to shoot for though. Cheers

Reply to Teachers' Unions and the State of Schooling: America's New Joke? in Republican JoeUser Forums

But if English was the official language of the U.S., you'd agree with him? It's bigotry in other countries, I just don't live there, so there's nothing I can do about it. <TD class="mb-Body-Quote-Text

Reply to Freedom and Democracy in International JoeUser Forums

This is an old varient of the "Panis e Curcunses" philosophy, which translates out of the Latin into "Bread and Circuses" meaning keep the people fed and entertained and they will be happy. It is by far an oversimplification, and not even true in Roman times. Cheers

Reply to Bush Worst President in US History? in Politics JoeUser Forums

put > > nuclear inspectors in Lybia, Iran and North Korea without firing a shot, There are Nuclear inspectors in those countries? Since when? North Korea is allowing this? God, I can't believe I wasn't payin

Reply to Teachers' Unions and the State of Schooling: America's New Joke? in Republican JoeUser Forums

This is of course a sensitive subject since I am an educator. I apologize if xr700 has had a lousy education experience, but there are a lot of really good teachers out there. Further, having seen the other side of the education system, I can say that if there is a lousy education system where XR700 lives, it's not because classes are being taught in Spanish, Korean, Japanese, or whatever. This is another excuse for bigotry, something I for one want

Reply to Kerry affair with Intern in Democrat JoeUser Forums

That's about it. So, since we're only talking about rumors, it seems kind of silly to get all hyped up about it. Cheers

Reply to Teachers' Unions and the State of Schooling: America's New Joke? in Republican JoeUser Forums

Is that really your justification for immigrants moving to the U.S. and demanding the U.S. conform to them and not the other way around? Would you support it if an American did the same in another country? Other countries do have officially languages. The United States doesn't. And since a majority of

Reply to Kerry affair with Intern in Democrat JoeUser Forums

Jeblackstar: see my blog "draft dodging with honor". I have, I enjoyed it, I fail to see how the hypocrisy relating to "draft dodging" which, by the way, I think it can successfully argued that either both Clinton and Bush draft dodged, or neither did, the problem I think most democrats have is that Bu