Hey Hersh, what ever happened to the having most qualified person/company get the job?

I think it's pure BS that ANYONE gets a legal advantage over ANYONE else.

There cannot be equality when some groups (be it by race, sex, sexual orientation, etc) demand special treatment, regardless of whether or not the programs they want actually result in benefits to those groups.

That isn't working towards equality, that's trying to turn the tables, and that only results in furthering animosity between the various groups.

I don't think anyone said that AA or EO was a crutch for anyone, just that those programs don't promote equality. Like I said, could you imagine the reaction if there was a National Association for the Advancement of Caucasian People, or if Universities offered scholarships that are for male students only?

People need to earn opportunities to advance, not given those opportunities based on their genetics.

- NCSU

 

During that period, I felt that things were getting into a mess because we had a "glad handing" president with little back bone that was a liar and mainly into self gratification. I felt he would leave a mess for the next President to deal with.

 

Therein lies the crux of my problem with the current administration, mixing 9/11 with Iraq.
I supported 'going after them' in Afganistan and wherever else they were.
In 2003 I kept asking "why Iraq?" "Why is Bush taking his eye off the ball?"
Saddam would not have allowed rogues to run amuck in a country he tightly controlled. Iraq was probably the one place in the middle east we didn't have to invade.
That certainly isn't the situation now, thanks to Bush.

Many just wanted blind blood revenge for 9/11, anyone with a towel on their head would do.

Nothing made my blood boil more than Rumsfelds' comment when asked 'Why Iraq and not Afganistan?'
He said, "Because there are no good targets in Afganistan."

95 percent of our 'war' is in Iraq and Iraq WAS Bush's choice.
Yes, he did all that, in the Eighties and I think we were aware of it at the time.

When Statue of Saddam was toppled, Bush was looking for WMDs just like OJ was looking for the 'real killers'.

Difficult? I'd call it perpetual.
We aren't capturing a Flag or city in this one.
We try to kill one and fooliishly think three that knew him will not turn on us.
We are growing our own opponents with no end in sight and yet the neo-cons say we 'must win this'.

It is endless war, you cannot defeat a 'word'.
That is the 'War On Terror'.

(I hope I have not quoted you out of context, if so it was unintentional)

 

Raoul, heavy hearted, I agree. - Og

 

wow I am awestruck in 1996 gas was NOT $0.89a gal my first tank of gas I bought was in Oct '92 and it was .86 per Gal within 8months it was over a $1.00
and it has not come down since (I live in AZ historically one of the lowest fuel averages in the country)

jobs were being out sourced in the 70's just ask my dad he was a die stamper at Alis-Chalmers and his job was outsourced overseas in 1973

no real wars hmmm but plenty of little "private wars" and plenty of laying the groundwork for us to be attacked

as for the sex scandal no one ever polled or asked me if I approved, approval ratings can be skewed anyway they want if you ask one demographic you will get one answer more often than others so those numbers mean nothing to me

oh and BTW when the media proclaimed that Clinton had "practically zero unemployment" the unemployment rate was at 5%

when the media proclaimed that "unemployment was spiraling out of control in 2003" the unemployment rate was at 5%

please explain that one to me

 

Not only would he let those terrorists run amuck but he would probably invite them over to his palace for dinner!

 

We had him in a box.
Sanctions, no fly zones...
He/Iraq was no worse a situation than North Korea.

Much was made of some Al Queda member who had a broken arm mended at Iraqi hospital.
4k dead and 500 billion for one, ONE! guy with a bad wing?
That's whats factually on the scale, to date.

 

Raoul, I agree with most everything you said.

I guess the question is, what should we be doing to safeguard our country?

Even if going into Iraq was a mistake, the mistake was made and we have to decide what we're going to do about it.

Immediate withdrawal of all troops is almost universally seen as a bad choice. But you're right, we aren't trying to capture a city or raise a flag, we've already done that.

Unfortunately I don't think there is any way for the US to end this, the real solution lies with the millions of innocent people living over there. They have to decide not to allow the terrorist minority to exist in their lands. The vast majority of Muslims are peaceful people who want to live their lives unmolested, just like the vast majority of Christians, Jews or any other religion. (Hell, Muslims, Jews and Christians all share the same God anyways) However, I could see the same thing happening in the Muslim faith that happened to the Christians and the Catholic Church back in the middle ages.

Except they have nukes. We'll deal with them after we deal with Iran....

- NCSU

 

and somehow that is supposed to stop him from cavorting with terrorists how ?

 

What to do is a question far beyond my pay grade.

I can only do what I can do, vote on the single most important issue, for me.

I can tell you this, the Air Force has had two nuclear incidents this year.
Today, the Secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force Chief of Staff were fired.

They did not load the planes but, they were ultimately held accountable.

 

Our President, regardless of who it might be could not keep our economy from being in the mess we have now. This mess is caused by old fashioned greed, whether it is in the housing industry where loans were being made that encouraged people to buy homes they could not afford or whether it is oil speculators driving up the price of oil which affects every sector of our economy. What would you have a president do, nationalize every industry he sees getting out of kilter? I don't think so.

I normally do not express political views on here but this thread is different than most. Everyone seems to be discussing ideas politely and not getting out of hand, so I will express mine. I think George Bush inherited a mess in the making and though he may not have handled everything as I would have preferred, I'm not sure anyone else could have done any better. I wish we were not in the Iraq war, but I also wish 9/11 had not happened. I think he did what he honestly felt was needed at the time to protect our country. It may be proven in hind sight that it was not a good decision, but then maybe someday history will shed some new light and he may become a hero. The fact is, he did it and I think he did it for the right reasons, so I will back him.

Compare him to Truman. Was his decision to drop the bomb approved at the time? Was he critisized? It is now looked upon as a courageous decision that ultimately won the war and saved lives. I know this, we have not had another 9/11 and I dang sure know the enemy wanted another one. We had several attacks leading up to 9/11 and we did nothing. Had we done something then, 9/11 might have never happened.

I have two problems with Obama. I am concerned that we do not know the man and I don't think he has the experience to be President. I do not think much of McCain as President either. Basically, I feel the nation will lose in this election as there is no real candidate for me.

 

I am pretty sure there is a lot more to invading Iraq than we know about. The average American Citizen has no clue what the military is up to. All we know is what the media allows us to know. Unless you are a high level military officer you really cant say how many Alqueda's were in Iraq because you just dont know the truth. You only have what the media tells you to base your assumptions on.

And I love how people seem to know the solution to all the worlds problems on internet forums. Its funny when they offer solutions that are a fix all like its that easy. We have some VERY smart people running this country. Bush isnt the only guy in charge.

 

Fair enough.

Of course your vote probably won't matter, neither will mine. I wish we could do away with the whole electoral college crap and go popular vote. The technology is available to count them all, and if my vote could cancel out a vote from San Francisco, I'd be even more motivated to make it to the ballot box.

- NCSU

 

That is a practice that makes no sense to me. We have come to expect the top position to get axed whether they deserve it or not. Just seems stupid to me. That person may still be the best for the position and if he truely had any control over the error down at the lower level, at least he learned from the error. It happens every day in the corporate world and has become the norm because it is expected. The next guy will probably be worse or he would have been in the position in the first place.

 

I had no access to 'inside information' yet, I had plenty of questions at the time just applying common sense.

I typed in this forum too at the time, and let me tell you as a veteran it was no fun having my patriotism questioned.