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1000 Reasons not to vote for GW
fogman:
I've stayed out of the political discourses in an arcade controls forum, but I thought I would add something to this discussion.
I have a lot of Canadian friends...they are just like everyone else and if a group of Americans and Canadians are in a room, except for a few "ehs" you can't tell them apart.
As for stem cell research...it is NOT illegal in the US. Goverment funding of new strains is. Private investors, Universities under private grants, and anyone else can do all the research they want, just not with Government dollars. I personnaly think this is more beneficial...see what it did to the Human Genome project.
As for the Health Care system in Canada, I only can go by what some of my friends say. It is good...but not great and they come to the US for a lot of things due to the waiting time that they face in Canada. Also, (and I'd have to check with the statistics) I beleive that the US spends quite a larger percentage of its tax revenues on Defense than Canada. Canada does have an advantage in that their defensive armed forces are significantly reduced from what they would need to be (or would have needed to be) if it weren't for the US being below its border. You can argue that we spend too much on Defense, but Canada does reap some of the reward. (I am not trying to imply that Canada needs a body guard, only that it is a fringe benefit.)
As far as Bush being stupid...I do not understand why someone's speaking ability proves him to be stupid. The very fact that he went to Yale and then was admitted and graduated from Harvard business school proves he is not stupid. I know a lot of people will flame for that comment, but to say that his father's political influence got him into school, got him through it, into Harvard and through that is just silly. Many, many, many people who go to Ivy League schools have influential families. To say this gets them a free ride completely devalues these schools. It is to say that everyone who got through them could have done it on influence alone. I am sorry to tell all those who did not attend an Ivy League school (myself included) that the schools actually are better than other schools. If you get through, you are not stupid. Not saying that people who attend other schools aren't just as smart. No matter how influential you father is, they do not hand out degrees. Also, as far as his father's influence at the time (1968), his father was a junior Congressman from Texas, who lost two bids to the Senate. His appointment as CIA director was a year after G.W. graduated from Business school. All told, he was certainly not the most well connected person at Yale and certainly did not muster enough stroke to be handed a diploma from both Yale and Harvard.
I know half of you stopped reading a long time ago, but the fact remains, if you agree with a conservative approach to government, vote Bush. If you agree with a liberal approach, vote Kerry. Neither candidate or party is evil, stupid, bent on world domination, eats kitten, steps on puppies or cheats on their taxes. OK, maybe both on the last one.
Sorry this was so long! God bless the US and Canada (and Mexico too!)
DrewKaree:
--- Quote from: fogman on August 24, 2004, 02:33:08 pm ---I have a lot of Canadian friends...they are just like everyone else and if a group of Americans and Canadians are in a room, except for a few "ehs" you can't tell them apart.
--- Quote ---right there, everyone knows you're a flaming-pants liar. A "few" ehs, RIIIIIIGHT! Like, every other word is eh...the other one is "aboot", with a few "nice goal" comments thrown in there.
What made you think that you could get that by me? ;) ;D
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Minwah:
My only thought is that it is terribly worrying that the world is in the hands of a few people, such as (nutcase) GW :-\
fogman:
--- Quote ---That's absolutely correct. I'm all about undermining the way of life in America, because I believe it could be a lot better. I think it's important to destroy core values that suck. The inferiority of blacks compared with whites was such a core value of America that the Constitution of the United States actually defines a black man as 3/5 of a person. I don't care about the status quo, I care about right and wrong.
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The Constitution of the US does not define an African American as "3/5 of a person". For determining how many Representatives a district has, the number of slaves were counted as 3/5 of a person. The delegates agreed that the Constitution would state that population would be determined by counting the number of "free Persons . . . plus three-fifths of all other Persons . . ." The Northern "free" states wanted slaves to not be counted at all! It would have been much better for the slaves if they were not considered people at all, because this would have given the South fewer representatives in Congress, and therefore less power in the US government, which would have allowed slavery to have been abolished much earlier.
Not meaning to argue any of your points...just making sure we all get facts, not legends.
shmokes:
--- Quote from: fogman on August 25, 2004, 07:26:01 am ---The Constitution of the US does not define an African American as "3/5 of a person".
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That's absurd. The were considered property. You make it sound like the northern states considered them lower than the southern states. The only reason the northern states wanted them to not be counted is because the southern states wouldn't allow them to vote. It's a little bit ridiculous to count them for purposes of representation if they couldn't even participate in voting for the person who was suposedly going to represent them.
Black people were completely dehumanized. They were not considered people. You might notice that white women, who were also not allowed to vote, were counted as whole people. To suggest that the consideration of blacks as inferior to whites was not a core American value in 1776 is ridiculous. George Washington was probably the largest slaveholder in the country. It was perfectly okay to kidnap thousands of people and enslave them. It was not illegal to beat, rape or kill them. The Civil War wasn't even fought until nearly a hundred years later and we still had legally segregated schools, many of the black schools having no running water, nearly two hundred years later.
It's meaningless to say, "Well, the Constitution doesn't say the ARE 3/5 of a person. It only says we will COUNT them as 3/5 of a person." It's the same thing.