Republicans & Conservatives: Archives

In British, it is reported that some website collected over 1 million pround in donation every 2 hours. A certain website is even crashed because too many donators visited.

Hey, Look at USA! Ebay is proud because they are able to collected 1 million donation in 24 hours!

What a joke! Take into account there may be many indoesian and indian and Thai native lived in USA and they naturally will give a lot to help their countrymen in suffering, it proves, in fact ,the real amount donated from average American is just tiny tiny.

American is at their best when it comes to bomb women and children in some remote desert cities in Iraq. Charity?! Don’t kid me!

Jack, regarding that Guardian article, I think the disconnect comes from the Bush administration forcing democracy on Iraq at the point of a bayonet, while people crying out for freedom in Taiwan are thrown to the communists. Don’t forget, the Bush administration was backing Yanukovych.

In other words, labeling criticism of President Bush’s policies ‘anti-American’ is unfounded.

As for the tsunami, why is it so hard for you guys to admit that Bush screwed up by waiting three days to make a public statement?

I hope the USA will be paying close attention to this relief money, and make utlimately certain that none of this money will be going into Kojo Annan’s pockets. Horrific disasters like the tsunami provide the world with an example of what the limits of the UN should be. A cutesy little organization doling out water and food.I pray a speedy rcovery to each and every victim of that disaster. I also pray the wedge between the US and the UN grows deeper, and we help them in ways we see fit, without regard to wether France and Annan approve of what we are doing.
The UN experiment is a failure, and it is time Americans realize that. And get out.
President Bush didn’t make a mistake in waiting 3 days to have a press conference, his mistake lay in responding to any foreign entity about what the US does. Bush’s biggest lie to the UN came a few months ago when he said the American people share the views and ideals of the UN. We don’t. I’m going to end this here, because I don’t consider myself a writer, particularly first thing in the morning.
HR1146

You’d think the party that houses the Religious Right would have made this analogy by now:

And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.

And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:

For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

— Mark 12:42-44

Yes, the US is giving a larger total than any other country — but we’re casting in of our abundance. As a percentage of our wealth, we’re giving much less than many other countries. By the standard that Christ set, we’re failing.

The most annoying part of all of this is how it relates to the War on Terror. Half of winning the War is going to be in Public Relations — convincing Islamic fundamentalists not to blow us up. Dropping a couple of billion dollars on two of the world’s largest Muslim populations (India and Indonesia) in their time of need could go a LONG way towards this goal. Considering we’ve spent over $100 billion on Iraq, this shouldn’t be too hard.

The fact that many in that area saw 9/11 as a joy puts off some of my eagerness to listen to the complaints about USAID. The fact that it took President Bush several days to make a statement is nothing compared to UN SecGen Annen’s sking vacation. It was three days before he left the slopes and returned to NYC. How come nobody said anything about that? You’d think the UN SecGen would be more important in this then the US Pres don’t you?
Bottom line is no matter what the USA does or doesn’t do will catch hell from most of the world. Hate the USA is a sport that everyone can play. The only thing I hope for is that the USA goes down. The world will follow and it’ll be worse for them then it’ll EVER be for us!

Cleveland rocks! Happy New Year to All!

The more I read the more I wish we could go isolationist for a year or 2. Screw em all. The US draws fire when it steps in and draws fire for not stepping in. We should close ranks, find out how we can make ourselves more self reliant to close the import/export gap and stop giving free handouts - turn the money back into ourselves. 35 million and a the promise of up to a billion would go far in schools, the billions in Afganistan and Iraq - screw em, its not our bodies in the mass graves lets put that cash into health care. National defence - forget it, just drop a nuke on who ever takes a shot (the old if they come at you with a knife shot them with a gun). Pull out of the UN, NATO - bring everyone home and stop spending our dollars on thier economy. That would sure do something to the dollar.

Its heartless to say but there was a comment in msm that said one reason that there was no prewarning system was the countries were too poor and chose not to spend money on a system since a wave that size was a long shot. sure saved them cash - but wait, why didnt the US install it for them. Getting tired of it. I dont feed a dog that keeps biting my hand. My donations are staying at home. I feel bad for them, its a horror, but I taking my ball and staying home.

Let me get something out of the way. Let’s stipulate that George Bush missed a public relations opportunity to get up in front of the cameras and stake his claim to being the most concerned. That is a lost American opportunity. We lost the chance to make ourselves look better. There is no excuse for anyone except the shallow to cast it any other way. It is like giving your wife a very nice gift that is not wrapped well. It is annoying if she keeps on bringing it up and not conducive to a long-term happy relationship.

Sydney

I don’t think we could “kid” you. It takes a certain level of understanding to be kidded.

Bigotry doesn’t count as argument. Yes, there are a lot of people from the affected countries who are now American citizens. Among the other things we do is take in more immigrants and refugees than anyone else. Your point is?

AP

Taiwan is a very complex issue, but there is one thing abundantly clear. Taiwan would be part of PRC China today without American power. Our support of Taiwan is an abrasive part of U.S.-China relations and we pay a diplomatic price for our principles all the time. A more “realistic” policy would make life a lot easier for us.

Re Ukraine – this is another place where we acted for astonishingly pure motives. The realistic argument was to do nothing and let Ukraine slip back into whatever it would slip into. A realistic policy would dictate that we needed to keep Putin satisfied so he would help with our other priorities. Instead we stood on principle and – again – paid a diplomatic price. I am unabashedly proud of our actions in this situation.

Let others read in what nefarious motives they may, with the reminder that a person’s view of the world is often a confession of his own character.

Rob

The story from Mathew is well known. It is meant as a personal parable. It refers to personal salvation in the kingdom of God. Jesus was not at all interested in governments on this earth and provided no advice for them. In Caesar’s sphere, size and organizational ability does matter.

The small donation might help the donor enter the kingdom of heaven, but the abundant donation will help keep disaster victims from arriving there in an untimely fashion.

I love our country ! I am proud to be a American . America in my view is a giving country and we have helped so many , many countries in their time of need . I say screw the UN and Nato . They complain about America and how much they hate us . We helped Germany , Japan , France and countless other countries in their time of need and what do we get from it , more hatred of America . I am tired of them hating us . You would think they would be grateful that we helped them . But , instead they spew more hatred ! Personally , I think they are jealous and envious and so therefore they hate us . You would think that they would not bite the hand that feeds them . I am tired of giving to them .
I am not heartless or anything . It is good to help people in need and know that God would want us to do so . I also think that we need to pay for money at home for the people that are homeless and hungry too . What about those people , they need help too . What about our schools needing more resources to be able to give our kids a good education .
Maybe America needs to stop helping so much on things , because no matter what we do or say they stil hate us regardless . I have to wonder if we are just doing it so that when they are on their feet they will still hate America , so what is the use with that . I do not get it .
I am glad America has helped and been compassionate towards those people and all . I just think we need to provide for our people at home too . We have to take care of our own too not just the other countries in the world .

“Pfizer will give $35 million in kind and in cash.”

Generous of them. Especially since they were ordered to pay 430 million in fines after pleading guilty to illegally marketing neurontin, one the largest selling drugs in the world, with sales last year of $2.7 billion dollars:
http://www.yourlawyer.com/practice/news.htm?story_id=8074&topic=Neurontin

“Wal-mart is giving its employees time to help”

Oh, how sweet of them to give employees time off, especially since most of them won’t due to the fact that they don’t make a living wage.

“and so far has raised $2 million.”

2 million is chump-change to Walmart. But maybe they’ll find a way to illegally make it back.

Either with illegal immigrants:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/05/national/05WALM.html?ex=1104642000&en=a7f8c04eaf4d30dd&ei=5070&oref=login

Or maybe by denying workers the right to unionize:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/transform/employment.html

“Charles Schwab is matching grants.”

That illegal mutual fund trading must’ve really paid off:
http://www.newratings.com/analyst_news/article_467086.html

“Bill Gates foundation gave $3 million.”

Which in Gates-dollars, I believe is the equivalent of a hot lunch and a shoeshine.

Adrienne - Your comments are exactly why the US should leave the rest of the world to thier own devices. You blew out 40 million in donations - do you really think the poor slobs with no home, food, water or even non-body stench filled air care where the money came from? Would you refuse to save a drowning man because the rope was made from hemp and everyone knows hemp is the same as drugs and drugs are bad? Hell no - they want the help, morality gets thrown out the window as your child dies in your arms covered in pus filled sores. Yes - you have a problem with how the rich got rich and it most likely took money indirectly from my pocket too but the issue transends that. What a moral hypocrite as you sit warm, fat, dumb and happy because you think they didnt give enough.

America the Beautiful.

Hate the rich because they became rich without bringing you along.
Hate the rich because they refuse to give everything away and become poor again.
Hate the rich because they thought of it and YOU didn’t.
Hate the rich because they ‘made it’ and believe anyone who works hard enough and comes up with the right idea can too.
Hate the rich because poor people in other countries don’t have all they need and want.

Aww hell … just hate everybody who doesn’t do things just the way you want. It is blame everybody else but yourself time in our history anyway.

“Your comments are exactly why the US should leave the rest of the world to thier own devices.”

Bullshit. Companies like the ones I gave links for have all benefitted by the global economy - and when the world suffers, our own economy will always pay a price.

“You blew out 40 million in donations - do you really think the poor slobs with no home, food, water or even non-body stench filled air care where the money came from?”

You completely missed my point. And I find it very offensive for you to say that people who are poor are slobs.

“Would you refuse to save a drowning man because the rope was made from hemp and everyone knows hemp is the same as drugs and drugs are bad?”

Marijuana is not drugs, nor is it bad. And no, I wouldn’t refuse.

“Yes - you have a problem with how the rich got rich and it most likely took money indirectly from my pocket too but the issue transends that.”

Of course the issue transends that, moron.
I just don’t like fat cat corporations who lie, cheat, and steal whenever possible and often benefit from the poorest nations on the planet to be painted as great moral examples of American greatness and generousity.

“What a moral hypocrite as you sit warm, fat, dumb and happy because you think they didnt give enough.”

I’ve given all I can afford to give to Oxfam. How about you, where did you send your money?
And you’re damn right those corporations don’t give enough - they don’t pay enough in taxes, they don’t pay a high enough price for their illegal activities, and they didn’t come close to paying enough to help the people of South Asia for me to laud them for how kind and wonderful they are.

Adrienne

Being able to find fault with some things doesn’t mean you should find fault with everything.

You mention Charles Schwab and I was thinking of Charles Schwab when I wrote this. I am a customer of theirs since 1982 and I invested in mutual funds with Charles Schwab. I am a victim of whatever they did – according to the lawyers – but I really have not been harmed.

I have been a member of class actions against Charles Schwab twice (it is almost impossible to get out of the class once the lawyers have roped you in). I never felt harmed by Charles Schwab and I never was helped by “My” lawyers. They settled and made Charles Schwab pay their fees. I got nothing. Many times these attacks on firms are just a type of piracy.

After a more than 23-year relationship with Charles Schwab, I remain a happy customer. I wish the lawyers would just stop protecting me.

Anyway, it is good they made the money that is now saving lives. If Charles did manage to cheat me in some way I don’t understand, it is better than having it go to pirate lawyers.

It’s difficult to impose the American will on evry other country.All politics is local. People in the third world have customs that have endured for 2,000+ years. Perhaps they’d rather not be indebted to us. In any way. I admire the lack of sentimentality I perceived when I travelled in Europe and Russia and Africa 15 years ago. A two week cruise from Milan to genoa up through the baltics and black sea is an amazing way to sample the world. Nigeria was a seperate summer long trip.I’m actually afraid to fly so I rarely get over there now. I can hold my breath from here to LA but 14 hrs is just not my thing. Still i receommend it to the hearty. Or the hardy,

“After a more than 23-year relationship with Charles Schwab, I remain a happy customer. I wish the lawyers would just stop protecting me.”

What they found with Charles Schwab was illegal “Late Trading” - which allowed select customers to place orders after hours to take advantage of late breaking news - which is illegal.
They also uncovered arrangements Schwab had with five institutional customers, which allowed them to quickly trade what they call Excelsior funds, while discouraging other investors from doing so. That practice is known as “Market Timing” - which means that Charles Schwab put an expense burden on its other shareholders by driving up fund expenses and diluting the profits of other investors. This is not strictly illegal presently, but _should be_, because it is what most people would consider, dirty business.

The US has always gone to the aid of other countries when disaster strikes. If the UN or any one else who thinks we’re not doing enough dosn’t like that it took Bush a while to respond I have a place they can kiss.
The UN needs to kicked out of the United States.

Adrienne

As a Schwab customer, I didn’t care. More precisely, it is something I think they shouldn’t do, but I can’t get very worked up about it. When I think of all the good service I got from Schwab over the years, I am not willing to see them in a negative light overall.

You liberals are funny people. The United States is the greatest nation on Earth and have helped nation after nation over the years. It’s people are made up of immigrants, many of which sacrificed everything to be here. Many of you are simply unhappy people who can’t find anything positive to say about the President or the US. We are a giving nation and People. The US will end up being the largest donor nation for the Asian tragedy which doesn’t count all of the private donations from US citizens.
My suggestion is to grow up, look at the positive things in life, and be happy. I am so proud of President Bush and the United States.

Bush seems hard put to cut short his vacation. I know that may sound petty, but the world is passing him by once again, and the truth is, when his next four years are up, he will have all the time in the world to rest and relax.

ackley, I hope your children and grandchildren will accept your pride in lieu of a viable economy and jobs and social security after all your support for bankrupting America to help the poor elsewhere in the world. Seems to me someone wise once said, charity begins at home. Bush is borrowing against your children’s future earnings to be a big spender to help foreigners, while trying to undermine our public schools, our social security which insures against poverty for Americans, and retracting all manner of environmental protections which actually stemmed the destruction of our natural land, air, and sea all these decades.

I too am proud of American ideals, volunteered and served 3.5 years in the Army to help insure those ideals were preserved. I am proud of some of Bush’s actions, but, overall, very disappointed in his overall leadership, and loathesome of his completely failed policies in Iraq. Our country has a few lousy Presidents. Even the really lousy ones did a couple of good things. Having a lousy President doesn’t mandate support for his faulty policies. It is appropriate to support policies which work for the betterment of America and Americans. It is just as appropriate to criticize and condemn a President’s policies which fail in those goals.

The President’s fiscal policies are abhorrent. Not just to me. But, to a large number of Conservatives as well. Should Americans be proud of being 7.6 Trillion dollars in debt and adding another 1.77 Billion to it each and every day of the year? I supporters of Bush’s fiscal policy blindly and foolishly partisan.

Ackley,
“My suggestion is to grow up, look at the positive things in life, and be happy. I am so proud of President Bush and the United States.”

Yes, let’s just trust the President. It’s good to hear from the Britney Spears school of conservative thought.

David Remer,
This President is not a lousy President. I do not agree with everything Bush does, especially spending. However, I do think compared to most Presidents he is one of the best. Reduction of taxes, confronting terrorism headon, and adding moral integrity to the office are important.

You mentioned Social Security and Public schools as those things that the President is trying to destroy. Give me a break, these two areas (and there are more) are perfect examples of what is currently broken. The Social Security System is broken unless fixed. The President wants to make the system stronger for everyone. Wealth creation does not come from Government. Allowing people to invest their own money and earn a higher return generates wealth for individual families.

As for the public school system, this is the most broken institution there is. Nothing else to say.

Phx8, thanks for being rude, since you can’t make a good argument I guess this is your only answer. The US is a great place and the President is doing a good job. He was reelected by a large margin and is supported by the vast majority of counties in the Nation. I am one of those people. His actions are making the world a safer place in the long term, addressing a broken social security problem, addressing a broken tax code, and a broken legal system. At least he has the leadership to make these issues at the top of the agenda. Past Presidents didn’t have the guts to stand up and deal with what needs to be dealt with. He campaigned on these issues and won the election.

Ackley,
Cite a specific, & I’d be glad to politely reply.

“I do think compared to most Presidents he is one of the best.”

Here’s a list of better presidents:
Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Lincoln, Roosevelt, maybe Wilson, Taft, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Carter (yes, Carter), Reagan (yes, Reagan), and Clinton (yes, Clinton). Placing Bush in the middle of the pack would be very, very generous. With two wars, a recession, and a jaw-dropping deficit to his credit, Bush will have a long row to hoe just to maintain a so-so evaluation. By any criteria, terrorism has increased under Bush’s watch. And moral integrity? Well over 10,000 innocent Iraqi civilians are dead at the hands of the US military because of the invasion of Iraq. That doesn’t count Iraqi v Iraqi, Iraqi soldiers dead in the initial fighting, car bombs, etc. I’d love to see an essay explaining moral integrity, with frequent references to 10,000 innocent civilian casualities. No need to even refer to the long list of administration lies about WMD…
Since earlier comments are directed towards David, I will step aside there, and respond to comments in your reply to me.

“He was reelected by a large margin…”
Bush won the electoral college by the margin of Ohio’s 119,000 votes. If you’d prefer to judge based upon the popular vote, why was Bush there instead of Gore in the first term? The number of counties supporting a president is utterly irrelevant, and we both know that.

“His actions are making the world a safer place in the long term…”
How? You’re welcome to take this any direction you like. Personally, I think his inaction on Global Warming is especially depressing, and unforgivably short-sighted. Domestically, he has nominated an Attorney General who has signed off on torture. The US runs a concentration camp now. This is your country & my country, Ackley. I’m not ok with torture or concentration camps. I don’t believe you are either.

“…addressing a broken social security problem…”
Nothing has actually happened, yet. The concept of privatizing Social Security is foolish, completely contrary to the concept of Social Security in the first place, and meant only to satisfy the largest contributors to the election campaign, namely financial institutions.

“…addressing a broken tax code…”
Won’t happen anytime soon, Bush has already made that clear.

“…and a broken legal system.”
You mean the 5-4 Supreme Court decision in Bush v Gore? Please cite an example of how Bush is addressing a broken legal system.

If you’d like links or supporting documentation I’d be happy to provide them. An Optimistic stand is a good thing; I think it’s even better when it has firm ground beneath its feet.

Bush promises a lot, delivers little.

I could just speak of Osama Bin Laden and that would be obvious. I really wanted to believe him when he said he’d get Osama Bin Laden, dead or alive. That’s not what happened.

He promised that Iraqi’s would welcome us with open arms as liberators, that it would be a cakewalk. He promised that the capture of Saddam and the handover of sovereignty would drain the insurgents of their resolve, that the troops we had there would be enough, that- man, could go on about everything he said would happen in Iraq, but didn’t.

On nearly every issue you can imagine, he’s promised leadership but not shown it. He’ll put something through the House and Senate and sign it into law just to score the political points, even if what he signs doesn’t do the job. He’ll move forward with costly changes to our government institutions even as the people who know the subject, even people of his party question the judgment behind the laws in question.

I think the biggest problem is that Bush is such an incompetent president that Republican almost have to go overboard to sell him in order to keep him from taking collateral political casualties around him.

An interesting post by Steve Clemons.

Ackley said: “However, I do think compared to most Presidents he is one of the best. Reduction of taxes, confronting terrorism headon, and adding moral integrity to the office are important.”

I could not disagree more. Reduction of taxes while adding trillions to the national debt is foolish at best and downright injurious to future tax payers.

Moral integrity by this President was lost when he invaded Iraq, when he campaigned on fiscal responsibility and then abandoned all such notions, when he touted environmentalism while severely gutting the legal enforcements need to protect environments and now with serious budget cutting from environmental protection to compensate for his stuptid and idiotic tax cuts during a time of national emergency and even war.

I will give him credit for taking out the Taliban in Afghanistan, but, he has done little else of worth there since. No OBL, no end to the opium trade, and his strengthening of Pakistan’s dictatorship as both president and military leader is just another huge mistake that will have to be paid for by others to follow.

Ackley
The reason the Public education system is broke is because it has been hyjacked by the NEA a left wing organization deticated to dumbing down our kids so they will except “Big Brother”.

Ron,
What magnificent irony! Three mispellings in three sentences, and a vague, unfounded, & unsupported accusation that the NEA is conditioning children to accept totalitarianism. Nice. If these three sentences are a result of public education, well, you’ve got me. You’re right. Public education obviously is failing, and your apparent support of Bush does… oh, never mind.
War is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength.

Phx8

I am not trying to give you a hard time; I am just puzzled.

In your presidents’ list you have Taft, Taylor, & Tyler. These guys are rarely included on anyone’s list of presidents good or bad. And you put them in the first group above Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Reagan. Is there any reason for this?

Re Bush’s reelection, Ohio was not close. Bush’s final tally in Ohio alone was about the same number that John Kennedy won over Nixon in the whole U.S. in 1960.

Bush’s victory was more decisive than many others because he brought so many other Republicans with him into the Senate and House. We have not seen such a wide victory during a second term election since 1936. In 1936, that signaled a realignment of politics that lasted until the 1980s. That parallel is what is making Democrats so nervous and so determined to try to create the myth of being robbed in Ohio.

Jack,
The list is chronological. There are a number of debatable calls there, for anyone who enjoys that sort of thing. Taft, Taylor, & Tyler were all admittedly average, at best. I left Bush #41 off the list, which was an omission. Imo he does belong. I also omitted presidents from the Reconstruction era, which may not be entirely fair. During that time the Executive Branch was weak, and the Legislative strong.

The Cold War presidents belong due to their consistent foreign policies over a period of fifty years. I omitted LBJ because of Viet Nam, Nixon for Watergate, and Ford for pardoning Nixon.

I’ll take a pass for now on the debate about the closeness of the election, except to note it was decided by the difference of one state in the electoral college, and to repeat that 119,000 votes in Ohio out of, what- three million or so?- is a relatively close margin. You know I’m very suspicious about the Florida results & the unsecured networks, but it takes more than suspicion, so I’ll give it a rest for now.

The United States is the strogest nation on Earth when it comes to overall economic and military might. It is important that the power be used correctly. Because of this great power we should be giving and are in fact giving, the most money to the tsunami victims. This is a fact. Being the greatest power comes with many other responsibilities that cost this citizenship lots of money. And while we may not be donating as much per capita as the Swedish, the Swedes don’t have to worry about maintaining a vast military to protect itself, and nor does any other country.