EL-DUDERINO

I'm not going to get into the whole abortion issue other than to say that I completely disagree with you, but based on the arguments that we have had on other threads that shouldn't be much of a surprise. What I will say is that no matter what the VP choice is please vote. Unless you live in a state that doesn't allow third party candidates onto the ballot (Texas is one that makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible) then you can at least consider a third party candidate i

[quote]Now that the budget is for shit, you don't want to pay for it. Just who is so bad for the country? Take a look in the mirror.[/quote] The problem here is that increasing taxes isn't the way to fix anything. If we were to increase taxes with the intent of paying off the national debt the politicians would realize that they are taking in more money which will then trigger some gene that they all must have to spend the extra money coming in and then some. What we nee

What if I don't want to live on either side? I'm for Gay Marriage and abortion rights, but I'm also for drilling. I'm for closed borders, the military, low taxes, but I like some of the Hollywood entertainment. I'm torn on guns. I'm for people owning guns for hunting and home defense, but I see no reason why anyone but the military needs to have assault rifles. How about three Americas, the left, the right, and the middle.

[quote]I am sure the FBI has my name on file for a few of my signatures.[/quote] Big brother is always watching.

[quote]Good point. Anyone who makes the ballot should be allowed in the debates.[/quote] And if you ask me, anyone who meets the constitutional requirements for a particular office should be allowed on the ballot if they wish to run. The hoops that the states make third party candidates jump through are ridiculous. If a third party candidate has to collect 16,000 signatures to get on the ballot why don't the two major parties have to do the same? Sure the two major p

[quote who="Dr Guy" reply="3" id="1843176"]In one respect, it is no different from all the rest. The minute it was over the spin began.[/quote] It was also no different because only McCain and Obama were invited. Barr wanted to attend but he was denied. I simply can't respect any debate that doesn't respect the fact that there are more than two parties in this country.

[quote who="stevendedalus" reply="1" id="1841732"]We have too many checkds and balances to collapse completely. We have fared before in hard times.[/quote] No amount of checks and balances will be able to save us if our economy crumbles due to inflation, the declining dollar, and the fact that we owe so much money to foreign nations. If our economy takes a major tumble, worse thant he great depression, then it is not at all far fetched to think of the entire government crumbling

[quote]Hillary may have her chance yet...the Clintons seem to have taken over the convention before it's even begun, hahaha.[/quote] I couldn't agree more. When I heard that her name was going to be offered up for nomination at the convention I just started thinking about how hilarious it would be if the delegates ended up picking her as the nominee. Imagine all the uproar that would be caused by that, it would be hilarious. Sure it's not going to happen but it would

[quote]Duh! Hillary! [/quote] I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with you there. Before I get labeled a sexist I have no problem with a female becoming the president of the United States, in fact I look forward to that day, that said Hillary was NOT that candidate. She had entirely too much baggage with stigmas of dirty politics thanks to her husband, and he did nothing but hold her campaign back every time he spoke. Also there was the appearance of yet anoth

I view guns in the hands of teachers in much the same way that I view guns in the hands of pilots, one less weapon someone has to smuggle in. If a student is going to shoot up a school and he/she knows what teachers have guns and which of those are unlikely to keep the guns locked up then it is simply one less weapon that he/she has to acquire and sneak onto school property. I just see this whole situation as an accident waiting to happen, only in this case the accident can have d

Part of the problem that the Dems face in this election is that when they took control of congress in 2006 they made a lot of lofty promises and have failed to deliver on almost every single one of them, the biggest of which is Iraq. In 2006 most Dems ran on a platform of getting us out of Iraq, yet here we are 2 years later still there. This is causing a backlash against Dems which is part of the reason that the race is so tight. Sure voters are sick and tired of Bush and t

And don't forget the fact that it's cheaper, in the long run, to pump your own oil out of the ground (or ocean) than it is to buy oil from another country. Either way you cut it, it is definitely in the oil companies best interest to move rigs or build new ones to pump out domestic oil. And some of the numbers that I've heard is that if the OCS and/or ANWR were opened up for drilling tomorrow the oil companies could be pumping out oil within 2-5 years not 10 years.

[quote who="little-whip" reply="2" id="1838486"]This article should be renamed 'The Audacity of an Illegal Alien complaining about American politics.'Go home, Jesus-Lopez-Ledesma. Before I make a call to ICE on you.[/quote] That's rather unfair. How do you know this person is an illegal alien? They could be a legal immigrant or a natural born citizen. Hell they could be writting the article from outside the US.

[quote] Bush can very easily get this nation ready for war with Russia. [/quote] What??? How exactly is Bush going to get this nation ready for war with Russia, where is he going to find the troops? We are so tied up in Iraq right now we simply can't support another war with anyone, Iran, NK, or Russia and the world knows it. Why do you think Iran keeps thumbing their nose at us, because t

[quote]Good to hear you are thrifty. But how can you justify bailing out lenders but not borrowers? Not all first time borrowers are as wise as you--they easily get duped.[/quote] I don't think he was justifying the bail out of the lenders. Bail-outs are bad, plain and simple. The market needs to correct itself and its needs to do so without the government sticking its nose in. Will a market correction be painful? Yes, but it will be faster like pulling off a b

[quote]Pelosi has done none.[/quote] That's not entirely true. She did get the minimum wage increased. Everything else failed miserably. Although the most offensive thing that is find is that she promised to bring "bi-partisanship, compassion, and integrity" back to congress and instead she has been one of the most partisan leaders congress has ever seen, openly denies votes on bills that she doesn't like (drilling for oil, anti-fairness doctrine, etc) which

[quote]There's no such thing as government run health care unless you mean those in the armed services. All the government does is pay the bills, such as in Medicare.[/quote] Not true. Any hospital or doctor's office that accepts Medicare has to adjust their services based on what Medicare will "approve" for the patient. It is much like other insurance programs where certain services are deemed necessary and others are not. What used to be classified as a heart attack 20 years ago is

[quote]How about health care for all as a start.[/quote] I have no problem with the idea of health care for all. What I have a problem with is government run health care. Every time I hear people talking about government run health care I just think about how well the government has done running our public education system. Similar problems with that system would crop up in a government run health care system. Don't get me wrong I don't much care for the current health care

[quote]El-D this is a subject we agree on.[/quote] It was bound to happen eventually. I can understand the fear of jail time, but at the same time you have a duty to raise the child. If the kid ends up getting taken away, so be it. As long as you're not abusing the child you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

[quote]I have a friend who has a son in his 20's. The kid is useless. He has no ambition, no goals and is aimlessly walking thru life. My friend, who has always been a hard worker blames the government. See, when his son was 12 he gave him a much deserved spanking. The kid went to school and told on his father. The CPS came by and threatened my friend saying he was NOT to lay a hand on his son unless he wanted to see jailtime. My friend said it was humiliating to sit there and take this f

[quote]yes, there are lots of peaceful Muslims DESPITE what their Qu'ran tells them to do...just like there are plenty of rebellious Christians DESPITE what their scriptures tell them to do.[/quote] And this is my main point, religion is about interpretation. The same religious text is used to justify both groups of people. As such claiming that the violent Christians are "real" Christians or the non-violent Muslims aren't "real" Muslims just doesn't fly because those same violent Chr

[quote]we doneed alternatives and the sooner the better.[/quote] I don't think anyone is arguing that we don't need alternatives as soon as possible, only that we don't have any alternatives that are available at the moment and due to that we need to increase oil production to lessen our dependence on foreign oil until the alternatives are ready.

[quote]El-Duderino are you a Muslim?[/quote] Nope. And I haven't done much research on the Koran or Qur'an to be completely honest. I just know that there are plenty of peaceful Muslims out there which leads me to question whether the passages are really meant to be interpreted as go out and seek out fights with non-muslims or rather fight them when they fight you. But like I have said I don't know much about the Koran so I will take your word for it that it is as violent as you say.

[quote]they were NOT acting on behalf of Christ but themselves. They were acting out of greed for power, pride and whatever else they were motivated to do what they did. But it was NOT in the name of Christ.[/quote] I realize wikipedia may not be the best reference in the world but it is easily available (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades). To quote the first few lines from the entry: "The Crusades were a series of military campaigns of a religious character waged by much of Christ

[quote]No, it does not. The bible says to love your enemies and do good to those who harm you. The Koran is submission by sword. In Christianity it's to win one over by love. Big diff.[/quote] Really? What were the crusades then? Christianity has a very violent past where they attempted to spread the religion thru force (and in many cases were successful). And as a little aside here on "love your enemies", then what is with the bombings and violent attacks on abortion clinics? Am I