jlells01,
Check the facts. Al Qaida has trained in Iraq.....Sadam was offering cash rewards to the families of Al Qaida suicide bombers that killed Westerners (Americans). You don't believe Sadam is a radical Muslim that supported Al Qaida ?

 

That would be funny if it wasn't so serious. This isn't about Iraqi's or Al qeada, It's about extreme radical muslim (caps omitted on purpose) terrorist scum....they wanna see you dead just as much as they want to see me dead, just as much as they want to see John Kerry dead, etc....they brought the fight here , once..now where do we take the fight? Wake up and have a whiff of the Foldgers, dude.

 

I knew that I was going to work late so I set the Tivo to record. I just didn't pay attention to the channel it selected and when I started the playback it was in Spanish. Since I don't speak Spanish I didn't hear the debate.

It really doesn't matter though because there is no way that I could vote for a democrat for president.

 

Here is a few rambling thoughts from one of those undecided voters who watched a portion of the debate.
A lot of it concerned Iraq and Sadaam, Does anyone trust Sadaam?? Did Sadaam and his scientist posess the knowledge and have the equipment to produce weapons of mass destruction?? Could he or did he give this knowledge to others???. I will admit i think we should have concentrated a bit more on afghanistan before taking aim at Iraq.
North Korea was also brought up in the debates. Should the United States go into the North militarily?? Not just NO but HELL NO!!!. China would never tolerate a US military presence along its border. We would most definatly end up fighting China in addition to North Korea.. North Korea claims to want what it allready has. protection from the US. The North knows without a doubt it would be helped by China if we were to attack. So what is their game??? Kerry hammered BUSH about "going it alone in Iraq" and then hammered Bush for his insistance on including North Koreas neighbors in any talks with the north. I am now a bit confused by Kerry. DONT go it alone in IRAQ. But DO go it alone in North Korea. I think Bush is right to follow his present course concerning North Korea. The North is a far greater problem to China and the norths other neighbors than to the US. And if push comes to shove. Look for China to go in and remove the Norths Nuclear Capability.
I also found Kerrys accusation of Bush's lack of equipment for our troops hypocritical at best after he voted against funding for operation and equipment for our troops. That was probably the one thing in the portion of the debate i saw that made me really sit up and take a hard look at kerry and question his honesty the most.
You have to admit there has been no more planes flying into buildings here in the US. and i do like the idea of all those terrorist migrating to Iraq instead of enrolling in universities and technical schools here in the US while turning in job application at Nuclear Power plants and chemical storage facilities, refineries etc etc. Fighting terror is like fighting a ghost. They have no National infrastructure, no one base to hit. I think Bush and his people have done an extraordinary job in this regard.
Iran was also brought up. A lot of the insurgency in Iraq is being financed by Iran. Irans idea is if the US is bloodied enough in Iraq then the American people will far less likely allow an incursion into Iranian territory by US forces. And make no mistake. Iran will have to be dealt with. Their number one favorite phrase there is "DEATH DEATH USA". They CANNOT be ALLOWED to go NUCLEAR. I really think that Isreal will take care of that for us though. If not. then a free pro US Iraq will allow us the ability to take apart Iran's nuclear capability much easier than a Sadaam controlled Iraq would be able to help us.
For all the above i would Vote for Bush Readily. What worries me about him is i think he is spending us into the worst economic condition imaginable in the very near future. The deficit is out of control. Personal debt is out of control. Energy cost are skyrocketing. Our manufacturing base is being dismantled here and moved to other countries. These are not good things. and i fear Bush will not deal with them effectivly if at all. I hope the next debate is more revealing and reassuring to me. But at this point i honestly feel i cannot trust anything Kerry has to say. And the only thing i do trust with BUSH is that he is still mad about 9/11 and IS going to continue to relentlessly go after the terrorist.

 

jlells01, In the simplest terms UN had placed 17 resolutions against Saddam in 11 years. They said if you don't conform there will be serious action yada, yada, yada, the US took the yada out and put in Hellfire missiles something he understands. The UN has no backbone and Saddam knew it so he flips them the bird. That is where we have to put action with words so every other country doesn't flip the UN the bird and do what ever. Personally I think we should get out of the UN they do nothing but put leaders of third world countries in a position to bad mouth the US.

Just my opinion for what it is worth. You can sit back and talk about peace or you can stand up and do something to help make peace. I think if someone is peaceful because they are scared to death, great either works for me just as long as they're peaceful.

 

There are quite a few things I don't like about Bush...

- The plan to make a bunch of occupations exempt from having to pay overtime. What was that about? Giving employers a reason to work current employees over 40 hours at the same rate rather than hire? Cut the income of the folks working OT, while also discouraging creating new jobs?

- Bush administration seems to do everything it can to keep drug prices high in the US. Opposes legalizing importing from other countries, aid money to fight AIDS in Africa with the catch that it be used only for name brand drugs. Our drug prices were always higher than other developed nations, but since the ban on direct patient advertising sunsetted, they have skyrocketed...

- Bush promised to sign the so-called assault weapon ban if it made it to him...


Even so, there is no way I would vote for Kerry. He seems to think he has a great idea, that other countries should pay more and provide more troops for Iraq. Gee, why didn't someone else think of that? He votes agaist funding the troops in Iraq, then brings up that the troops don't have enough armor?

 

As far as overtime rules the people affected make over $100000 a year. How many people make $100000 at an hourly rate? When it went in to effect 1.2 million people started getting overtime that didn't before (sears, walmart, target...) The Dems. started jumping and screeming before they knew or wanted to know the deal. Now they have reversed it and people have lost their overtime. It sounds good on TV to say "Bush is taking your overtime" But really the people it affected were salary to start with. It was to clear up overtime rules.


As far as drug prices if medicare was to try to lobby to get lower prices the drug industry wouldn't pay attention 41 million on medicare makes it the 4th or 5th largest insurance group and the reports say 30 million already have drug coverage under their retirement benefits so you are talking lobbying with 11 million people I think what I saw made it then 7th or so. You don't have alot of power when your 7th largest anything. I know drugs are expensive. Alot goes into the R&D in developing medicine. Also the generic of somethiing doesn't always work.


With the assault weapon ban? It was one of the things I disagreed with Bush about from the start so him not signing it pretty much evened us up. That bill did nothing and was just feel good legistlation to start with. I'm glad he didn't sign it.

Bush has been a good President even with everyone trying to knock him down. He's done somethings I don't agree with like the Medicare drug plan I don't think we should have that at all. Again just my opinion.

 

I think you misunderstood. I wasn't upset with Bush for not signing an extension for the "assault weapons" ban... I was upset with his promise to sign it if it came to his desk. Fortunately, it never made it to his desk, so he kept his promise and it sunsetted. That was a badly written law that infringed on 2nd amendment rights without doing anything to reduce criminals doing crime with firearms.

Regarding the overtime thing, I hadn't heard that it only applied to $100K plus. That's interesting.

With drug prices, if those prices are needed to support R&D, why are prices here higher? Sometimes several times higher? Are sick people in America the only people who are funding their share of R&D? I agree allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prices alone would not solve the problem, nor would banning direct advertising, but it would be a start. I would bet in most drug companies, R&D probably comes in behind both advertising, and profit. Allowing reimport isn't a fix either, and perhaps the final solution is price control here. If drug companies weren't making at least some money (for R&D or profit) at Canadian price levels, they probably wouldn't put their products on the Canadian market.

Still, I support Bush, even though I don't agree with him on every issue. At least in my opinion he has demonstrated a willingness to do what he feels is right and in the best long term interest of America, even when he knows his decision would polarize some folks against him and complicate his political future. A politian who could act in accordance with a moral or personal conviction, even when doing so may not be in his own best interest is a rare thing.

Kerry, in my opinion, seems to present whatever view he feels is best for his political future. At first, he wasn't the NRA's candidate, and I believe he ran an ad here critical of Republicans allowing the assault weapon ban to expire. Now, after it apparently got pointed out to him that all but a couple of the vocal anti-firearm people got voted out of federal office recently, Kerry doesn't mention it much anymore and he does a photo shoot holding a gun. He won medals in Vietnam, and he protested it. He voted for the war, but not to fund it.

If the debate wasn't held indoors, would he lick his finger and hold it in the air before answering a question?


Barry, not to ramble, but I thought you were spot-on about the UN. Remember the first inspectors (unscum sp?). Didn't they not find anything, until a few key defectors told them where to look? Then they found barrels of buried chemicals. Didn't they get refused access to a military installation, to later photograph a gas centerfuge (can be used to make uranium into weapons) leaving on a semi out the back? Didn't the inspectors get kicked out of the country shortly after that?

And what did the UN do about it? Nothing.

If I recall the time period, Wag the Dog had been out for a while, something about some girl named Monica...

Clinton got himself into a position where he had no moral authority to act, but my main point is that the UN is like a rock, it doesn't move unless someone is there to kick it.

 

Jeff in TD, I agree with your post. Medicine companies do make quite a bit of money there is no doubt they could lower cost and not hurt themselves. That is the great thing about capitalism.

 

What you HEAR and what you READ are different things. That is why we have so many uninformed in this country, because they go on what they HEAR from their buddies who are just as clueless as anyone else. It would help people to actually read and understand an administration's policies before making a decision on whether you support it or not.

 

You know, about medications, it seems there's a double edged sword there.

First, they need the profits from today's drugs to fund new development. They only get the patent for 7 (?) years. However, it might take 10 years or longer to develop the drug. Afterwards, the generic versions are available.

Well, it has only gotten worse. Since pharmacutical companies can now advertise directly to the public, the costs have sky-rocketed due to advertising budgets balooning. Personally, I would like to see a ban on drugs to the public. I know people who want the drugs advertised and their doctor won't give it to them. So, then they resort to doctor shopping trying to get the drugs because the feel they "need" them.

Banning the advertisements to the pulic would help drive the cost of drugs back down.

 

What Scares me we live in a country that elected the Man of no Morals (Clinton) Twice so Kerry could get elected. Hide your Guns and wallets if he does!!!!

 

Watching Bush try repeatedly to drink water from an empty glass during the debate capped it for me.
I'll vote Independent.

 

It scares me to think that an observation, such as an empty glass, sways peoples opinions as to do what they think is right for the country.

 

Crobtex, I agree! It's scary.