Snowbird...you are a sweetheart and I always read your posts.  I hope you weren't implying that I am not concerned for the

welfare of others just because I verbalized my own contentment. 

You have to start with your OWN life.  When you make your life happy and prosperous, you are in a better position to help

others find the same.  I pay taxes....lots of them.  I want my taxes to go toward the betterment of the whole country in a

well-thought-out balance that includes all our needs, not just the needs of a particular segment.  I also believe in personal

charitable donations to causes that are near and dear to me that perhaps aren't covered as much as I would like through

the divisions of the tax pie. 

I like what Jesus said:  Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

I know it's overused, but for good reason.

Hi J-O,

My concerns are about our country, and the erosion of the middle-class as well as the erosion of civil liberties. As you stated, things are like a pendulum and hopefully they will swing back. A recent poll said 81% of Americans feel this country is on the wrong track. So I am not alone in my concerns.

While we may have different outlooks on some things, I wholeheartedly endorse what you wrote here:

Some of my postings on the forum may come across as dyed-in-the-wool liberal (and add in the fact that I recently came out as atheist -- I must really be off my rocker).

But I am at heart a centrist, or I am really trying to be. I believe that America is like an eagle with two wings -- and it needs both its right and left wing working to fly straight. America has greatly benefited from progressive ideas which got it out of previous centuries' type thinking. However it needs the conservative wing to make sure that the changes the country makes are pragmatic, we can't let government get out of control.

Since the early 1980's the country has shifted right-ward. During much of that time though, there was a counterbalance between the executive and legislative branches. i.e., one being majority Democratic and the other being majority Republican. However in the early part of this decade both the White House and Congress have been controlled by the right, and we've seen the implementation of many neoconservative ideas.

IMHO the country moved so far right, that we now need to veer left to get back to the middle. And that's what we're likely to see during this upcoming presidential election.

Poverty begins between the ears.

There's an old Jewish refrain that says "Raise a son without teaching him a trade, and you are raising a thief".

BTS

Even with your elaborate example of dear ole grampa, you still sound like the above description.

Republicans and conservatives are NOT against programs....they're just against stupidly planned

ones that never get the job done that just keep going on and on and on with no real qualitative results.

We HAVE to cooperate to effect real results with some of these "programs", but unfortunately the people

you have to cooperate with are so (see description above) that they just continue as always, ad infinitum.

Republicans and conservatives are NOT against programs ....they're just against stupidly planned ones that never get the job done that just keep going on and on and on with no real qualitative results.

Horseshit. If that were true they'd be famous for working to fix programs that don't work as good as they could, and proposing new better programs to solve ever-changing problems.

 Republicans are famous for "heck of a job, Brownie" and the transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the already wealthy.

The problem isn't "conservativism" per se.  It's good to be conservative of things of real, lasting value.  The problem is taking a fairly positive concept for ones personal values, "conservativism", and making political ideology out of it.  It's a horrible, mean, stupid, opposed-to-expansion-that-benefits-newcomers political ideology.

 It's also antithetical to everything Jesus is written to have stood for.

It is as popular as it is because it appeals to the lesser angels of the human soul. 

Fortunately, I think even most "conservatives" are growing a bit tired of their own merde and are seeing the value of cleaning up their own house.

1)  Raise taxes, and not just capital gains.  Income taxes will be raised as well.  And if you make more than $200k/yr, you are "rich", and defined as such you will get SOAKED; thus, you will have little incentive to keep earning what you do now,--the opportunity to make a nice profit will simply not be there....And all of us working stiffs fortunate enough to make over $50 k/ yr, you better hold on to your wallets as well... we are going to pay for the social security bailout

Raising taxes by re-writing the tax code - good idea.

       2)  Nationalize health insurance.  We're going to cover EVERYONE, including illegals/immigrants--guess who's going to pay for it?  Remember, there's no such thing as a free lunch.  Someone has to pay...It ain't gonna be the super rich, and the poor certainly cannot pay for it.  Yup, you're right--those of us in the middle, working class will be footing the bill

Good. Everyone should be covered. If you have a law in place that places a heavy fine on corporations or employers using illegal workers then enforce it or get it off the books. Sure someone has to pay. Big deal. It would cost less in the long run to have nationalized health care than it costs now and your citizens would be healthier for it.

3)  Draw down troops and eventually withdraw from all military involvement in the Middle East.  The mullahs in Iran are counting the days....They love Obama!

The occupation and it's cost has a direct effect on both the morale and economy of the country. A loss of 4500 American lives, 9 trillion dollar debt, no secure region, displaced Iraqi's - what is to be gained in remaining?

4)  pass the "card check" unionization bill--no more secret ballot, as has always been the case up till now in votes, union thugs will be able to intimidate and coerce people into voting for union representation because now they will know which workers are not on the 'list', and thus they can apply pressure and coercion tactics.

Yeah!!!! Yeah!!! Union busting - I believe the US figures are something like 3,500 people who have been fired for even attempting to get a union in place ...and yet we fight for democracy?

5)   Want to 'engage' and talk with countries and leaders that openly hate us and show us no respect, like Hugo Chavez, Amejinad(sp?) in Iran, Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Bashar Assad in Syria, etc..etc...Bottom line, if he's a dictator, Obama wants to talk, make nice, and negotiate with you.

Respect is usually earned not just given. Perhaps negotiation might be a start - force hasn't been. I'm not even certain that you can say that the country is hated - could it be that the anger is toward the leader and policy? Maybe it will come down to negotiation combined with some ramification for non compliance or even force - who knows?

6)  grow government and the welfare state to a size that cannot be even imagined right now.  Bush as a republican did a bad enough job enlarging the size of our federal government, under Obama it will exponentially get even bigger.

Governments are voted by the people for the people. Use the government to benefit you. If you don't like what they do - find a way to change it.

7)pass more regulation and red tape to hamstring business in the name of 'helping the workers'--which in turn will only drive away investment and jobs...

Yeah!!!! Regulation. I love that word. Deregulation is in large part why you ended up with the banking mess. Deregulation has created monopolies who own the government - break them up and drive the prices down. Deregulation in the markets is why your commodities are spiraling out of control as investors bid and keep the prices high. I say go back to regulating it all and start over....

Roosevelt didn't have all the answers but thanks to his efforts, the middle class was able to grow into a secure, healthy population - quite unlike the shadow of middle class that exists today - and while they are at it - regulate the credit card industry and banking industry to halt criminal interest rates and service charges....

Gopher, Teddy was the last of the good ones.

THE ROUGH RIDER TAKES ON THE ROBBER BARONS

"We Republicans [must] hold the just balance and set ourselves as resolutely against improper corporate influence on the one hand as against demagogy and mob rule on the other."
—Theodore Roosevelt

The former president began to speak with a bullet lodged in his chest.

Less than five minutes before, a deranged gunman had shot Theodore Roosevelt at close range as he walked to give a speech on behalf of his bid to recapture the White House in 1912 as a Progressive. Aides insisted that Roosevelt head straight to the hospital, but flush with a sense of destiny, the old lion refused. He would not retreat; he would give this speech if it killed him. With the blood spreading against his white shirt, he began:

I have altogether too important things to think of to feel any concern over my own death. . . . I am ahead of the game anyway. No man has had a happier life than I have led. . . .

This effort to assassinate me emphasizes to a peculiar degree the need for the Progressive movement . . . every good citizen ought to do everything in his or her power to prevent the coming of the day when we shall see in this country two recognized creeds fighting one another, when we shall see the creed of the "Have-nots" arraigned against the creed of the "Haves" . . .

My appeal for organized labor is two-fold; to the outsider and the capitalist I make my appeal to treat the laborer fairly . . . That is one-half appeal that I make. Now, the other half is to the labor man himself. My appeal to him is to remember that as he wants justice, so he must do justice.

The rest of the article here  http://www.independentnation.org/theodore_roosevelt.htm

The future doesnt look promising. The next democrat president will have been Bushwacked and have a mess to deal with.

If McCain wins he will be Bush.5

Bush was not a conservative he spent out the ying yang. He just doesnt have the balls to tax for his spending which bankrupts Amerika.

He shouldnt have allowed us to be attacked and he shouldnt have gone chasing the boogie man.

Before we were attacked he had a deplorable record of spending time doing presidential things like protecting the national security his number 1 job and priority.

He spent more time on vacation than anyone since his fellow Bushwacker father was in office.

It's obvious he wasnt protecting national security on the golf course.

What are we doing in Iraq if Osama Bin Ladin was responsible for 911.

All information indicates that Sadam Hussien and Bin Ladin were Adversaries.

What ever happened to the war on terror and capturing Bin Ladin.

Do you have a 2 week memory like Bush and all the politicians figure?

In my opinion we have 3 bad choices for president.

McCain being the baddest in a way that is not good.

Clinton is too dingy and puts her foot in her mouth too often and even if you discont that, it doesnt appear that she is going to win the primary.

Which leaves us Obama vs McCain.

Where bank rupt sliding into a depression now with Bush and McCanin is going to go full tilt behind Bush. McCain is  Bush point 5.

The Bush family came up with the great Nafta plan which sucked all of the jobs out of the US.

Which is why we are in a recession now. You cant run a country when you dont produce anything.

If all of the jobs are service jobs, you have no one to tax. Because no one is making anything.

Servants serve workers, producers. It doesnt work everyone being a server.

If countries could be prosperous selling insurance and service, Africa would not be a third world country.

America used to make things cars, tractors, trucks, tools, musical instruments, televisions, airplanes, refrigerators. computers. Boat motors. All that stuff has gone out of the country.

We have a country of scam artist trying to scam other scam artist. Kind of like Nigeria and all the desperate e mails they send out to get their millions out of Nigeria into your bank account.

Telemarketing and boiler rooms the new american business model.

Telemarketing the new growth industry.

And to top that off the government has come up with a do not call at home list of numbers to stiffle our new growth industry of tele marketing and they wonder why we are in a recession.

They dont wonder. They manipulated it.