November elections are coming up quick. What issues are most important to you?

Homeland Security? Economy? Healthcare? Energy? Social Security? Middle East?

GOP hones its core agenda
Flag burning, gay marriage, abortion top Republicans' Senate plan

Get ready, tools.

Last edited: Sunday, April 16, 2006 at 4:36:40 AM

My views on those issues:
flag burning = fine (What's so bad about it?)
gay marriage = fine (What's so bad about it?)
abortion = bad (What's so bad about murder?)

In a nutshell.

Wait, should I actually read the topic title first? Nah, not worth the time. XD

Mon you read the bible?

Sheeesh not again. Good on ya fofo XD

^^ Yes, in fact I do. Read Galatians 3.28.

We are running desperately low on posts in the Describe the Person Above You thread. In order to get you into that thread more quickly, Jacob will post a poem he wrote in THIS thread. XD
Yes, that was a joke. :)

Flag burning = moral (we have a right to free speech)
Gay marriage = moral (why's everyone flipping out over it?)
Abortion = moderately moral (to an extent, but banning all kinds of abortion = serious overpopulation problem, among others)

44 - you act as if the political parties manipulating their constituents is a new thing. ;) I mean, obviously the Democrats have never manipulated their voters before. And you and I are obviously totally immune to any such manipulation by anybody, be they political parties, religious organizations, or the media.

Cynical TMO

^ has some great points. Sorry but I feel Groucho Marx-ish today so I'm gonna need to get as many jokes as possible out of the system.

It says we are all children of God through christ. Big whoop.

Gay marriage is wrong.
Flag burning is disrespectful.
abortion, in every form, is wrong.

People say gay marriage is wrong, but why?
Flag burning may be disrespectful but in America you are allowed freedom of expression (First Amendment).

You go, ^!

Many of you are proving 44's point.

Egads.

Moooooo?

Wow...well, at least they focused on the important stuff...maybe we could all go live in caves, too. How progressive...

Speaking of republicans...another perp walker http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-060417ryantrial,0,4525779.story?coll=chi-homepagepromo440-fea

How many republicans have now gone down? I've lost track.

No, no, no. Hate me?

THOSE weak topics are their "top" issues? Jeez, talk about concentrating on the low-hanging fruit!

Reporter: "Sir, about the thousands dying in the continuously extended war in Iraq? Will there be a push for an exit plan?"

Republican: "What? Who cares, when there's all of these gay people wanting to get married? Now there's the TRUE death to this country I tell you!"

Reporter: "Errrr...right. How about this rumor about the scientists' study on our increased rate of environmental destruction? Is there a plan to slow or reverse this trend through use of renewable energy sources and conservation."

Republican: "You better get them priorities straight! First we got to deal with those wanna-be terrorists who are burning flags! Such insults are a serious threat to our security!"

Abortion I suppose is a reasonable agenda. What constitutes as "murder" should not be taken lightly. I just hope they actually have a PLAN and some actual backing rather than beat the bible about it. There were some pretty serious repruccusions from when it use to be outlawed.

I foresee myself doing a lot of groaning in the future debates.

My views on those issues:
flag burning = don't like it (plenty of other things to burn)
gay marriage = don't like it (but banning it doesn't do anything, let 'em try it)
abortion = bad (but willing to work @ compromise)

_{and then he spoke...}

I'm starting to think that I'm not going to vote along those issues and if any candidate really starts to trumpet their support for such things, then they'll probably NOT get my vote. Just like Neo, I can see it, the Matrix that is, the world that has been pulled over [my] eyes to blind [me] from the truth. For the most part, the GOP hasn't made a lot of progress in the 3 mentioned topics, not in a way that would be really meaningful to me, but enough to get things stirred up and distract us from other issues. So we vote against gay marriage and abortion so they can nuke Iran and ignore the environment (two issues that have the potential to directly effect me much more than if Adam and Steve are married and an Oslen takes a RU-486 pill.) Sure, maybe those issues are personally self destructive, but its not the Government's job to protect us from ourselves. Otherwise, booze, smokes and fatty foods would be illegal too. The Fed's job is to care for the Nation, to keep the States together, foster the economy and insure my pursuit of happiness while protecting the Bill of Rights and other big picture stuff.

So let's really rock the vote this time by choosing our own issues, setting our agenda and selecting people of character who will represent those views.

Rabban: you rock!

Great post!

Rab dawg, speaking like
a true person with thought.

Peace

I've missed hanging out with ya, Rabban. Always good to read your stuff!

So...seeing that we have the most "Republican-Heavy" government to date, it puts them into the position that anything that is going wrong is the Republicans' fault. We'll never know if the Democrats would have done better or not, but it does make for an interesting election. The Republicans will talk of what they CAN changed or what hasn't gone wrong _yet_. The Democrats are going to sling mud like crazy about everything that has gone wrong during the Republican power. Iraq, economy, oil, etc.

While I'm not neccesarily a tree-hugger, the current environmental/energy policies are one of the most disturbing to me, and I'm not sure if EITHER side wants to touch that with a ten-foot pole. Green policies rarely result in cheaper oil and energy. As for our foreign policy, I'd like to hear the beginnings of a future PLAN. Right now, we have Republicans saying "we did it right, and we're going to stay the course" and Democrats saying "they did it wrong, and we should just leave." Both are simple-minded pipe-dreams. Now that we've torn down the old Iraq, what is the PLAN to rebuild it enough for its own security forces to take over? Giving continuous smack-downs to pockets of resistance is an endless, fruitless task.

So, what other issues would you like to see? Me, I'd like to at least hear some opinions on what each representative thinks on the whole immigration thing. Raiding homes and throwing them over the border is certainly not the solution.

Bomb...James Bomb

Gay Marriage? Check.

Just trash marriage entirely if you're going to do something like this.

Flag burning: check.

So, any of you republicans taking notes? Figure this out yet? Republican candidates only use these issues to get their ultra conservative base riled up...which means they only go through this in election years. The rest of the time? They are passing legislation that generally works against their ultra conservative base (being working poor)'s economic interests, and running up record deficits for you guys and your kids to pay at a later date.

But they need your votes because there aren't enough selfish, rich white people out there to keep them in power...they need to convince you legions of working poor and low middle class folks that you and them are on the same page. You aren't, but that doesn't bother them.

They appeal to your conservative christian side. They themselves aren't conservative christians, but they like to trick you fellers into thinking that they are, so you will keep on keeping them in power, so they can keep on passing legislation to keep them and their buddies rich. If christianity won't work, perhaps nationalism will: thus, the anti-flag desecretion bit that's going around now.

What do you get out of it? The same thing I get out of it. The shit end of the stick, and that's about it. Worse: the longer you fall for this trick, the longer you postpone the day that politicians will actually work to make our lives better.

Stinky, your optimism is showing.

Regardless, I'm only voting for canidates who support local American Idol contestants by declaring official days in their honor. Because it's my right as an American to not work on Taylor Hicks day.

:) I dare to dream. So do you, apparently!

President Bush this week urged Congress to pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, at a time when the United States faces some of the greatest challenges in our nation's history.

So, logically, what could possibly better ensure the prosperous and bright future of working men and women and their families than for the Senate to work on a constitutional amendment that is guaranteed to fail?

It's clear that cynical, patronizing White House political strategists are trying to rally a conservative base that they believe is more base than conservative. They're wrong on all counts.

We're fighting a war against radical Islamist terrorists with ongoing campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, we're drowning in debt from our growing record trade and budget deficits and we're watching our public education system fail a generation of students. Congress has yet to act on an effective solution to our illegal immigration crisis as millions of illegal aliens flood our borders every year, and our nation's borders and ports are still woefully insecure, four and a half years after the September 11 attacks.

I believe most Americans are far more concerned about their declining real wages and the lack of real creation of quality jobs than the insulting insertion of wedge issues into the national dialogue and political agenda.

But President Bush and the Senate have decided they should take up a constitutional ban of gay marriage. Polls tell us most of us oppose gay marriage. Those same polls are also shouting to our elected representatives in Washington that we want real leadership and real solutions to real problems.

The president and the Senate's Republican leadership are now claiming that an amendment to our Constitution is necessary to save the American family. No matter how you feel about the issue, and many of us feel deeply, a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage is utter and complete nonsense. It's an insult to the intelligence of every voter, Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative.

The president and the Senate are focusing on one of the few reasons that has not been proven to cause divorce. They instead should look to financial hardships, and the lack of communication about family finances. The median family income is stagnating while gasoline costs and higher interest rates are eating up the family budget.

Nor is the Senate looking at the national tragedy of out-of-wedlock births: In seven states, more than 40 percent of our children are born out of wedlock. Nationally, more than one out of three of our children are born to unmarried parents.

Both political parties love to excite and enliven their so-called "bases" by focusing on wedge issues like gay marriage, abortion, gun control, school prayer and flag burning. Both the Republicans and Democrats raise these issues to distract and divert public attention from the pressing issues that affect our way of life and our nation's future.

Are these wedge issues really how Congress should be spending its time, especially given how little time politicians spend in Washington, D.C., these days? I'd rather see our 535 elected representatives and this president use their time to combat poverty, fix our crumbling schools, secure our broken borders and ports and hold employers accountable for hiring illegal aliens. And like millions of Americans, I am desperate for a resolution to our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

How can we tolerate elected officials who press wedge issues when 37 million people in the United States live in poverty, one in every eight Americans? Almost 18 percent of children under the age of 18 live in poverty -- 13 million children.

Nearly 46 million people live without health insurance, about 16 percent of the population, a number that has risen by 6 million since 2000. More than one in 10 children are uninsured, and one-quarter of people with incomes below $25,000 also lack any health insurance.

College costs are skyrocketing. There's been a 40 percent jump (inflation-adjusted) in tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities over the past five years, according to the College Board. The costs for brand-name prescription drugs have also increased twice as fast as the rate of inflation. In fact, over the past six years, the average rise in the price of brand-name drugs is 40 percent, according to the AARP.

But while these increases in the price of the basics make it harder for hard-working men and women to make ends meet, the president and Congress would rather drive wedge issues than work toward real solutions.

I wonder if the president's political advisers know just how ill-advised and smarmy this wedge issue looks to the millions of us who want solutions to the critical, urgent problems facing this nation. Worse, I wonder if they even care.

--Lou Dobbs
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/06/dobbs.june7/index.html

Gotta give it up for dobbs. He's a rare conservative that generally puts america's interests above political interests.

But what is this load? :

Other than a feeble attempt to equivocate, once again.

C'mon dobbs. All of those issues are conservative wedges. Every. Last. One. I'll concede the establishment democrats don't do much for their constuency though, as they too have primarily been bought and paid for by big money interests as well...the liebermans, clintons, and bidens of this world. They are as bad as the republicans, the nelly turds.

But that isn't the point here. The point here is pandering and manipulation of wedge issues. That is republican territory. They'll stop doing it when people stop buying it...which sort of appears to be...now.

Without wedge issues to rile up the looney right, all they have is a record of endless incompetence, cronyism, and pro-wealthy policy.
see ya GOP. It hasn't been nice.

Last edited: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 at 9:13:13 AM

Why do you insist on dissing Bubba?

Lieberman? Have at him.
Biden? OK...no great loss.

But Bubba? Come on, stink...he feels our pain.

:)

And, I wouldn't write of the strategy...Dobbs may be talking sense, but watch how soon we'll be arguing one or more of these issues in here. I won't bet against redneck america's willingness to go do a straight line lever pull simply because they hate faggots.

Last edited: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 at 9:23:21 AM

Not aimed at the bubba, fo, but at his "wife." can't abide her.

Very true. Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups goes, the saying. But I've noticed that the MSM is calling this one for what it is. Even the nutless Today Show got it right.

JB: True, in the short run. But at least with a green policy you get something in return - a healthier ecosystem (i.e., we're not shatting our own bed). But ask yourself why we have a double-negative: a crappy environmental policy and record-setting energy prices... Hint: record corporate energy profits brought to you by policy set by Enron et al., the folks that fixed the game in the California "energy crisis" just a few short years ago.

And fo, taking on the real issues is too difficult. It's much easier to pander and stir and then claim a blank check of political capital to do whatever you wanted to do in the first place.

I am curious about one thing. Since the president isn't running for office, is he hoping this will influence people's vote in the upcoming congressional races? If so, then the amendment won't go for a vote until after the election, so that candidates can "promise" to vote for the amendment, right? Of course, by then people may lose interest or we'll hear some story why the amendment was put on hold (or something to that effect). It is rather frustrating not to have a good reason to vote Republican based on the terrific things they've done for our nation, other than a dead al-Zarqawi.

Whoever's running in '08 needs to ask that Reagan question, is your life better now than 4...er...8 years ago?

Homosexual mariage is now legal in Canada... Been legit for months now. And the overarching question is: so what? What was all the big fuss about? One nice thing about it being legal is that we don't hear anymore the 'pro' and the 'against' lobbying one way of another - the issue has disappeared!

I remember for years all the media clamor for or against it... Now that Parliement made it legal, life goes on... And indeed the political and lobbying and mass mediatized class focus on other issues.

Who cares if thousands of folks want to go same sex mariage? We're now millions and billions on this planet - we have to focus on the larger issues not the minor ones, i.e. Not on the ones affecting minorities.

Rabbit: "Since the president isn't running for office, is he hoping this will influence people's vote in the upcoming congressional races?"
yes, he knows that if the democracts gain one or both houses, that congress will once again perform its crucial role of oversight, and that multiple investigations into all the possible illegal activities conducted by this administration will FINALLY occur.

Results: possible impeachment.

But honest investigations will only happen if democrats gain control.

Thus, his desperate pandering.

^ Look kids, fink used "honest" and "democrats" in the same sentence! As if one party was really more honest than another. Try this on.

Yep, ole Bill himself. :P

Last edited: Thursday, June 08, 2006 at 12:54:25 PM

^look kids, rabbit substituted cliche for analysis of actual circumstances. More honest than the other? Well, if number of perp walks is any indication, the republicans are many times more dishonest. Yes, bill told a lie about a blow job. I guess that about evens things up though, eh? Don't get me started...

But my point was, no oversight has occured under the rubber stamp republicans. If you wanna get cute and remain entrenched in your "born republican" ways, go for it. Keep working on finding a reason to feel good about voting republican again.

I haven't really said how I'm voting, but if you've been paying any attention at all you'd know how I've changed. Besides, I know you always get lathered up whenever Clinton's mentioned so I posted that in the same spirit as your multiple Midianite references. XD

Perp walks? I wouldn't know off hand. Surely you can scrounge around and find a "villian" chart on the Internet so I could see the difference, but I just don't believe one group of politicians are more honest than the other and I'm pretty sure you've said the same elsewhere.

I have noticed your change rabbit, and have commented on the improvement in the past. You look great in that dress...what? No...it doesn't make you look fat...

Ps. I'm no fan of clinton...now who's not been paying attention?...but I hate the attempt to equate his blow job/lie with current culture of corruption. There's no comparison in terms of scale...

Perp walks: its been a regular walk of shame from congress lately. True, the last guy to go down was a democrat, Jefferson. He hasn't done the walk yet, but will soon. Difference? The democrats denounced him early and often, and even barred him from sitting on committees. The republicans? Remember they actually changed the rules of the house to allow an indicted member, Tom Delay to continue to precide over that body. There's the whole abramoff scandal, which isn't finished yet, randy duke cunningham, and many others...hastert is currently under investigation, as is bill frist...these are big big names. You must be watching fox to be so uninformed?

By the way, I think I may have found a good reason to be proud of the republicans: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/06/08/gop_takes_aim_at_pbs_funding/
they are attempting to starve off PBS. Quite heroic, no?
summarize the last couple of days: push for constitional ammendment to ban gay marriage, push to extend the estate tax (which only kicks in at 500,000 dollars by the way) and a push to cut off PBS. Proud yet?

^See? You're dissing Bubba again.

@Rabban, Keep coming towards the light...we're waiting for you.

^^ wow your politicians kick a$$~! :P