...Oh God! I'm away from NS over a week and I come back to see one of these threads.
There is nothing wrong with being critical of our leaders, but using unfounded arguments is a cornerstone of an ignorant population. Lets clarify a few things.
1. How is Bush a puppet to his cabinet? He appoints all of them. I also recall that he has changed several cabinet members during his tenure. This theory holds about as much water as a cardboard box.
2. Done more damage to the environment then "several" of that last presidents put together? Could you be more vague next time please? Its hard to make a bold claim like that when you don't have anything to back it up...it just makes you look stupid.
3. I'm not even touching the war in Iraq. Its been explained 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times in hundreds of threads. Hell, Bush even explained himself in his Sunday address.
4. WE ARE NOT IN THE FUCKING DEFICIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO YOU PEOPLE HAVE ANY SLIGHT UNDERSTANDING OF ECONOMICS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! WE HAVE NOT BEEN IN A DEFICIT, AND WE ARE NOT IN A DEFICIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD KILLS A BABY SEAL EVERY TIME SOMEONE SAYS WE ARE IN A DEFICIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5. Our country's public education system already sucks ass. I agree that the No Child Left Behind act is not a solution. I am one that believes the education system of this country needs to be reformed top to bottom. In actuality though, NCLB is not the "biggest fuckup" of an education reform that "we" have seen. There has been worse. This is just the most recent. Its sad you will NEVER find a politician that will want to pony up the cash to overhaul the schools.
6. We are not the "best" country in the world. "Best" is only a perception. We are however currently the most SUCCESSFUL country in the world.
7. "Why shouldn't other countries take care of themselves, like we do?" We have $$$ and power, many countries don't. Money and power are what makes the world go round. Not to mention being isolationist is 100% IMPOSSIBLE with a country the size of the US coupled with a global economy.
8. All of you people that do not agree with the Patriot Act clearly have no understanding about it. Mind you I dont agree with it 100%, but I do agree with a lot of it. CNN, FOX, NBC and every other news source don't even scratch the surface of how deep that document is. It adds regulations to everything from seaports to banks. Read the document. I know you'll all say, "No, its to long and I don't have time." Bullshit. You can't have an informed opinion if you don't even know what it looks like. Read it or shut up!
9. The only people who care about legal marijuana are...well...stoners. I have yet to see otherwise. It's a non-issue and I really don't care. Its easy enough to get anyway. If you want to smoke it, go ahead.
10. I said it before and I'll say it again. John Kerry is an idiot. The Democrats can seriously do better than him. They lost the election because of his mediocrity. People who still believe in him are pathetic. They can also do better than Hilary too. That party has no direction right now except "right wing BAD!" YAWN!
This was not directed at any single person. This is directed at the majority of people in this thread. Please think. Its this kind of crap that hurts society.