As Karen Carpenter Once Sang, "Where Do I Begin.......?"

[own_the_room]

To Slickgothgurl, I believe that God paved the way for every President we've ever had....even Bill Clinton. Read the writings of our forefathers, the ones that established this country, they mention God regularly. The House and Senate open with prayer, as (I believe) does the Supreme Court. If Kerry is elected, he'll place his hand on a Bible to

Comments

Hmmmm........

[own_the_room]

Well, I'll address your most (I'm assuming) light-hearted criticism first. Yes, tolerant does only have one "l". On the other hand, if we're going to be so unforgiving of one another, there's a key labeled "Shift" on most keyboards.....this enables one to "capitalize" proper nouns and the first words of sentences. You seem to have found it to emphasize certain words, so I suggest you buy, "Primary English" by Harper. It's crammed full of helpful insight on how to communicate properly.

Speaking of communication, you seem to have missed the point of what I said. I'll try to be succinct.

I want you to be successful. I want you to live "The American Dream", life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I want you to sell custom posters to bands and make a fortune. I want you to be able to keep at least 80% of that money. I don't want to take away any of your rights, as long as giving you rights doesn't violate the laws of man or nature. You're going to vote according to your heart and your needs. So be it. That's your right. I too, am going to vote according to my heart and my needs. Our fundamental difference is, part of your vote is being cast to insure what I believe is the right to murder. A fully formed, viable child, delivered in an unnatural way, then killed as it's head is delivered is murder. It just is. It's not your body at that point. If you had aborted in the first trimester, it would still not be right, but if you must kill it, I guess that's better than partial birth. I don't base this on religious beliefs, only on my love and respect for the beauty and importance of human life.

You will someday (hopefully) be my age and even though you'll go kicking and screaming, as we all do, you'll gain a modicum of wisdom along the way. The sooner you gain that, the better off you, I, and the rest of the world will be.

I have to go to work now....I'll read your post and, if you'll allow me, I'll reply there tonight. I know that being young is not easy...remember, people my age were young once, too.

Re: Hmmmm........

[slickgothgurl]

first of all, i type here sans capital letters because that's my style. just as e.e. cummings did. would you like to pass along "Primary English" to him as well? no wait, he's dead. this is style. spelling mistakes and the inability to push the "spell check" button is just lazy. and you didn't hit "reply" to my post, so i had to come back here and assume you were addressing me with this post.

anyway...

my question to you regarding the most important points in my reply to you in ana's journal is this: how can your conscience allow you to vote for a man who has proved to throw our country back so many years?
we are in worse shape economically than we've been since the depression. isn't a war supposed to "boost" the economy? a man who has outright lied to the american people (and you can't say "well, clinton lied as well" like every conservative does...yes, he did, but his lie was about a blow job or two that never KILLED anyone)? a man who has not done one thing for this country's educational system and continues to ignore the fact that the US falls way behind other countries in basic math and language skills? and finally, a man who waged war on a country that never invaded our soil because he wanted to get the man "that tried to
kill [my] dad"? saddam didn't bring this on at all! it was binLaden that attacked us, but as your hero, GW has said, binLaden isn't of any importance now that he's got saddam locked up. how can your heart and
conscience let you vote for a man like this?

also, why don't you encourage your son to enlist and fight in iraq? he's not too old. you obviously support the war, so why not send him over there?

and finally, all the (positive) points that you outlined in this post are things that happened before bush was ever elected, which shows that bush has done nothing for this country in the past 4 years. and you said As far as drug research goes, we'd all like to see those diseases eradicated but what did Clinton do about it? He had eight years. clinton funded research on the AIDS vaccine, something that reagan and
bush sr ignored, and he also started the ball rolling on the possibility of universal health care, which many other countries have already adopted. of course there are advantages and disadvantages, yet clinton was the first to ever propose it. the man you want to run the country over the next four years has "flip flopped" when it comes to the patient's bill of rights. not sure? read it here. don't you think that will effect you in your old age? i know it's something that i think about, even though i'm not even 30.

the difference between democrats and republicans, liberals and conservatives is simple. we democrats can see the big picture and want what is best for everyone in this country. from the women who are struggling to raise children on their own to the elderly men and women who rely on good health care in their final days, to the preservation of our environment to the decrease in big spending for frivolous things like a 'war on terror' and the 'war on drugs'. republicans are self centered and only care about what's good for them and their immediate family. and you've proved that to me over and over. you're voting according to your needs. i am voting with the needs of future generations in mind. that's what it comes down to. republicans are selfish people. or is that ok? does god have a special place in heaven for those who disregard the "little people" in order to make their lives better? if so, your god needs a morality check.

Dear Spell-Check Mamma.....

[own_the_room]

Ha!

FYI...my "reply at web page" option freezes my computer....that's why I answer here.

Sorry.....

Actually, I'm sort of a spell-check snob...I figure if one is so illiterate as to not be able to spell correctly without using some computer tool, one shouldn't be writing a journal, anyway...

Punctuation aside, I'm curious as to what lies President Bush told....Just name five or so, I'll answer them as best this feeble minded old geezer can....

I actually encouraged my son to enlist. He thought about it for about two seconds, then decided to go to California to join a rock band....Go figure.

Regarding the patient bill of rights.....what's THAT? If you want free health care, go to your public health department. I did when I was your age. I got flu shots, "penis-healin'" (as we called it in the 60's), my son's baby vaccinations...just about everything you can think of except major surgery is available there. Also, publicly funded hospitals (like Grady Memorial, here in Atlanta) cannot, by law, refuse you health care, including major surgery.

Your last premise proves that you're so closed in your circle of friends that you don't really know a real conservative. Let me introduce myself. "Hi, I'm Steve....a conservative and a Christian."
Now, with that out of the way, can we come to know each other's hearts instead of judging each other by stereotypes? I know it's a great time to hate someone right now but I really think if we give each other half a chance, you and I might just become friends.....even if we don't agree on every facet of life. Hell, even folks of the same party bicker about stuff...

As I said before, I want you to be successful. I want you to have kids if you want, or none if you choose. I'd like you to give 10% of your income to the needy, although I'd not force you to. I'd like for you to be able to support your mom and dad (if they're still around) in style, I'd like for you to hire 10 employees for your business and be able to pay them well. I'd like for you to have a nice automobile and not have to worry about public transportation. I want that for you because that's what I want for me.....and there's nothing selfish about that.

I give 10% of my income to my church, plus $80.00 a month to our building fund to help the church grow to help more needy in our area. Last year, we fed and clothed over 14,000 people and found shelter for all that applied. We provide baseball/softball fields to the non-religious community out-reach programs as well as open up our tennis center to kids that otherwise would never have the opportunity to touch a racquet (that's the way I spell it...it's my STYLE). We have a gymnasium and exercise center open to the public that also caters to the under-privileged.

I believe that there is a God that designed all of this around us....do you realize that our bodies, the floor under us, the planets and stars that surround us are made of nothing but emptiness? If you could see the atoms that form our existence, almost all of it is space between a nucleus and a few minute, circling particles. That took design, my friend...as did you and I and all else around us. That's why, no matter how much you hate me or my faith in God or my belief that all life is sacred (including you)....I'll never judge you, nor hate you or think anything of you other than your one of God's beloved (as is John Kerry). I wish you happiness and success beyond your dreams.....that's not selfish.

in two parts...part 1

[slickgothgurl]

ok, this is my last reply to you because you keep wanting to hearken back to the good 'ol 1960's, instead of focusing on the present. have you noticed that you haven't addressed anything i've said in any of my posts? you just keep stuffing your religious fanaticism down my throat (which i don't appreciate, by the way) instead of actually addressing the things i've mentioned. especially in ana's journal where all of this started. i do not have the time to go back over it, either. but that's typical of republicans. skirt the questions and just fire off what bad things clinton did and how horrible liberals are for our society.

ok, so on to your question: I'm curious as to what lies President Bush told....Just name five or so.

do you mean besides the whole "weapons of mass destruction" thing? and the fact that saddam and iraq were not a threat to us or our soil? woah! there's two! ok i'll continue, but it will be difficult to limit it to 5. just beware that i can back up this bulleted list with sources. i'm not a right wing media hound after all.

• the clinton administration did nothing about binLaden or terror threats, and in fact, ignored all intelligence pointing to terrorist cells forming.
  
• it's funny you mentioned that hospital in atlanta, because Dubbya made a speech in '01 stating that one of his priorities as president is to "make sure the health care system is funded". but what did he do? his first budget proposed cutting grants to children’s hospitals by 15% ($34 million). his 2004 budget additionally proposes to cut 30% ($86 million) out of grants to children’s hospitals.[1] hmmm...
  
• he promised to support state and local fire fighters ("first responders") after 9/11, but yet he rejected $150 million for grants to state and local first responders. this is why the fire fighters union has endorsed kerry. and rightfully so.[2]
  
• he spoke at length about the container security initiative (you know...those people who are working to keep our ports safe?) yet he turned around and vetoed the bill he was hyping so much! as a matter of fact, his 2004 budget slashes the 'border and transportation security' by $284 million. so how am i supposed to feel safe, exactly??[3]
  
• The president also said to the father of twins, "I've been to war. I've raised twins. If I had a choice, I'd rather go to war." Mr. Bush was a member of the Texas Air National Guard between 1968 and 1973 and never left the country in pursuit of his duties. [3]there are some other good ones in there, too!
  

in two parts...part 2

[slickgothgurl]

during the election 4 years ago, bush tried to get as many women voters on his side as he could by stating that he's not totally anit-abortion. The lengthening string of anti-choice executive orders, regulations, legal briefs, legislative maneuvers and key appointments emanating from his administration suggests that undermining the reproductive freedom essential to women's health, privacy and equality is a major preoccupation of his administration - second only, perhaps, to the war on terrorism. new york times article. i think you should read that one too. oh, but wait... you won't! you don't have any daughters and your wife has already gone through menopause at this point, so why should you care, right?

<--my favorite lie--> bush said in his radio address ""In 2002, our economy was still recovering from the attacks of September the 11th, 2001, and it was pulling out of a recession that began before I took office." you can look this up in the national transcript archive yourself. you know this is a load of shit. and if you don't, there's something wrong with you mentally. well all know that the economy was the best it's ever been while under the 8 years that clinton was in the white house. it's a fact. but because republican right wing media lovers can't fathom that, read more here.

lied about enron and how long he's known kenneth lay, and also lay's role in his bid for the presidency, as far as monetary support is concerned. there's so much to weed through on that one. google it yourself.

bush lied about his drunk driving charge in texas. thankfully, there's a record of his DWI in maine, since the report from texas has been destroyed. he's also been arrested for theft and disturbing the peace. you can look those up too. [4]

he says he's for helping to save the environment, yet he has proposed massive funding to help clean up our water and air. he's actually taken measures to undo all the good clinton did while he was in office. bush wants to allow snowmobiles in yellow stone! what the hell is wrong with him? [5] not to mention that most of his funding comes from big polluters. "One of the Bush administration's biggest, most damaging environmental policy changes to date would weaken the Clean Air Act to allow power plants to emit more smokestack pollution," said John Walke, director of NRDC's clean air program. source.

of course, if you just google "bush+lies", you get this good site. you might want to peruse it on your down time.

wow. i got ten lies! TEN! and there are so many more that i just don't have the time to post them. oh wait, what about the uranium? yeah, i forgot about that one. and what about him saying that he actually saw the first plane hit the towers on 9/11, when in fact no one saw that because there were no cameras!

like i said above, i'm done with this discussion with you because you refuse to actually put yourself in present time and talk about the issues at hand. you keep referring to 'god' when i specifically said that i do not believe in a 'god'. you've ignored my comment about seperation of church and state, and all the issues women are facing in this country don't seem to register with you. you go ahead and vote bush, and i will vote kerry. i will be able to sleep at night knowing that i voted for a good, honest, upstanding man who has defended his country in time of war, and had the balls and the strength to come home and speak out against it. all the while bush was trying to make the big bucks drillin' fer oil with his daddy's friends.