O.B.A.M.A. One Big A-- Mistake

[SirJosephPorter]

EagleSmack, I remember on the canada.com forum there was an American participant, Benchmark. He considered himself to be a liberal. But after participating in the forum for a while, he expressed surprise that while he thought he was a liberal, most of the time he agreed with conservatives in the forum, and invariably got into argument with liberals like myself.

He had no idea that a liberal in USA is considered a conservative in Canada. Our conservative Prime Minster, Harper is more liberal than Obama on many issues.

 

[JLM]

The ONLY place that is very strict is Utah because of the Mormons.

EagleSmack, it is not only Utah which is puritanical, there is the entire Bible Belt. Until recently sodomy was a crime in Texas, punishable by 10 years of imprisonment, until Supreme Court overturned it. And religious right has vowed to make sodomy a crime once again.

So the whole Bible Belt, Texas, Alabama (home of Selma and of the Ten Commandment judge Roy Moore), Mississippi (of the civil rights fame), Georgia and so on. Then there is the Midwest, which while not as a puritanical as the Bible Belt, is still very conservative.

There are only pockets of liberalism in USA, such as New York, California, Massachusetts etc. (and they are not really liberal by Canadian standards). Most of the country is very conservative, much more conservative than Canada or Europe.

That is also evident in the laws of the country. Homosexuals do not enjoy equal rights in USA, in many states, it is perfectly legal to throw a gay person out of his/her apartment, to fire him from a job just for being gay etc. Compare that to Canada, where gays can get married, same as heterosexuals. Incidentally, support for gay marriage runs at 35% in USA and at 60% in Canada.

In USA there is a big movement to ban abortion, and it would very likely have succeeded if McCain had won instead of Obama. In Canada, there are no laws regulating abortion.

USA has death penalty and the Bible Belt states, especially Texas execute several criminals every year. Canada has no death penalty. Prostitution is illegal except in some counties of Nevada. In Canada (and most of Europe), prostitution is legal.

In most issues, USA is very conservative and puritanical, much more so than Canada or Europe. Indeed, a liberal in USA will be considered a conservative in Canada. If Obama had to run for political office in Canada, he would have to run as a conservative, not as a leader of the Liberal party (and Obama wouldn’t’ get my vote, too conservative for my taste).

People are much more religious in USA compared to other countries, a much greater proportion of them attend church compared to Canada. I have also read statistics that interracial marriage is much more common in Canada than in USA.

By most measures, USA is a puritanical society.

Perhaps "decent" would be a better word than "puritannical".

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Perhaps "decent" would be a better word than "puritannical".

JLM, now that is a matter of perspective, isn't it?

 

[Socrates the Greek]

self-righteous, a big problem in the westrn world.

 

[JLM]

JLM, now that is a matter of perspective, isn't it?

I suppose, but it would be nice if a person could just be decent without having to be labelled "puritannical".

 

[RanchHand]

"Homosexuals do not enjoy equal rights in USA, in many states, it is perfectly legal to throw a gay person out of his/her apartment, to fire him from a job etc. just for being gay"

Being a lawyer oriented society, this would result in the gay owning the apartment or company. What you say is not true.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

"Homosexuals do not enjoy equal rights in USA, in many states, it is perfectly legal to throw a gay person out of his/her apartment, to fire him from a job etc. just for being gay"

Being a lawyer oriented society, this would result in the gay owning the apartment or company. What you say is not true.

My understanding is that only a handful of states have passed legislation outlawing discrimination against homosexuals. Presumably in the states where homosexuals are not protected by anti-discrimination laws, a landlord or an employer may let a gay employee or a gay tenant go without any legal repercussions. That covers most of USA.

 

[Tonington]

There is New York... LA... South Beach...heck even here in Boston! A quick ride from Salem.

Whatever you want... you can find it.

The ONLY place that is very strict is Utah because of the Mormons. Now THAT is as close to puritanical as you can get. But they are great people.

Probably why Utah has the highest online pornography subscription rate per capita in your country! :smile:

 

[CanadianLove]

That works out to $2700 per American- not huge money when compared to the average person's net worth.

That only works if they divide it equally. The first one they put the money into the hands of about 10 000 executives who, IMO, immediatly had to get their year end bonuses. The waste is unbelievable with the fat cats at the top.

eg. CEO of FedEx gets $10 000 000/year. WTF. This promted the Post Master General in the States to vote himself a bonus of $135 000 bringing him up to a meager $850 000. I think that is close to twice the President's salary. And the Postal Service was reporting losses of $2.8 billion. Good Job - here, have some more.
Postmaster General Gets Pay Bonus as Agency Falters - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com

 

[A4NoOb]

It produced the same result.... huge debt. Reagan''s tenure was teh beginning of the deficit cycle

Compared to the growth of economy, deficit is excusable. What Reagan proved, is that deficit is allowed to increase if GDP increases. When the ratio of GDP to deficit is the same, then there is no negative affect on economy. The results of Reagan's economics were a decrease in unemployment by 8%, an increase in the median income by 13% and an increase in per capita income by 23%. He also increased GDP by almost 50%. Reagan's style of spending was not burden to America but a benefit.

...and somehow that is different from previous administrations? It contains far less pork than the last two budget.

Evidence? Don't forget that it is Congress that approves the budget for America and for the last years of Bush's presidency, the Congress was Democrat controlled. But I am not justifying Bush, I personally blame him for a lot of economic and political screw ups. Bush had a quasi-firm resolve that was heavily tarnished by left wing political midgets. The result was his atrocious implementation.

 

[gopher]

''The result was his atrocious implementation. ''

Bush did not change one bit in his 8 years in the White House.

 

[Tyr]

Tyr, where did you read this rant? Let me list all the epithets that the far right has used in describing Obama.

Socialist
Marxist
Fascist
Communist (inexplicably, the far right calls Obama Fascist and a Communist at the same time).
An illegal alien, a non citizen of USA
A Muslim terrorist – he supposedly got his education in a terrorist Madrasaa in Indonesia and took part in terrorist activities with Bill Ayers.
A tool of USSR – Supposedly he was groomed by the (now non existent) USSR to take over USA and do USSR’s bidding.
A tool of Reid and Pelosi – He is supposed to be just a figurehead, all the power being wielded by the leader of the Senate and Speaker of the House.

I am sure there are several more that I have missed.

Tyr, where did you read this rant?

Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)

 

[Tyr]

There is New York... LA... South Beach...heck even here in Boston! A quick ride from Salem.

Whatever you want... you can find it.

The ONLY place that is very strict is Utah because of the Mormons. Now THAT is as close to puritanical as you can get. But they are great people. Maybe some places down south..some counties are a little strict. But this Pilgrimesque (new word!) type living is just a fantasy AND FEAR MONGERING by the Left! :lol:

uh. No.

There is still a considerable moral "authority" in some countires in the USA. Using alcohol as an example, there are 129 "dry" counties
Dry county - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[A4NoOb]

Bush did not change one bit in his 8 years in the White House.

He fired Donald Rumsfeld, who orchestrated the successful invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. This was political mistake number one on Bush's shoulders.

 

[EagleSmack]

uh. No.

There is still a considerable moral "authority" in some countires in the USA. Using alcohol as an example, there are 129 "dry" counties
Dry county - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A dry county does not make them any more moral than a county that sells alcohol. There are dry towns right here in Mass. A dry county or town means that alcohol cannot be sold or served. We have a dry town next to our town and the only reason the town is dry is because they don't want any bars or liquor stores in their town. You can still drink in a dry county.

 

[CanadianLove]

Here is the latest attempt from the media to bring down Public Confidence in Obama.

Russian scholar says U.S. will collapse next year

Updated Wed. Mar. 4 2009 6:30 AM ET
The Associated Press

MOSCOW -- If you're inclined to believe Igor Panarin, and the Kremlin wouldn't mind if you did, then President Barack Obama will order martial law this year, the U.S. will split into six rump-states before 2011, and Russia and China will become the backbones of a new world order.

CTV.ca | Russian scholar says U.S. will collapse next year

 

[JLM]

The latest from the increaingly strident and desperate far right fringe

Of course they're selling it (gotta make a buck on everything not nailed down)

O.B.A.M.A. One Big A-- Mistake, America. Barack Obama is a Marxist and is opposed to the conservative values that made America great. His recent signing of the $787 Billion Stimulus Bill marked the end of America as we know it and the beginning of socialism on a national scale.

Let's face it. It was one colossal, stubborn, "donkey" of a mistake for Americans to elect Barack Obama. These are humorous yet strong words. There comes a time when strong language is necessary to get people's attention. This technique was used in the Bible during times of crisis and/or when circumstances required a wake-up call. Take a moment to listen to Pastor Mark Driscoll address the subject of the Bible's use of harsh language. This video is not meant to be an endorsement of this bumper sticker or a reflection of Mark Driscoll's political views. But it does make you think.

We have enough sh*t in our own country (four cops at VYR, a beheading on a bus n Manitoba, gang killings around Vancouver) without going to a foreign country to denigrate what so far looks like a very decent man trying his damndest to do the best for the wellfare of his people. Let's clean up our own sh*t before badmouthing others.

 

[GreenFish66]

Obama is the first president I actually trust and respect...All the power to him...Hope he is successful...Like any politician he has his interests..Unlike other politicians he is in touch with the peoples interest..He knows what the people are looking for.He is heading in the right direction..Republicans have no chance in any distant future ..from where I sit(right here).It is in his best interest to continue to walk with the people ..not only in the U.S. but worldwide..He is a great leader..Hope He proves me right!

 

[Tyr]

We have enough sh*t in our own country (four cops at VYR, a beheading on a bus n Manitoba, gang killings around Vancouver) without going to a foreign country to denigrate what so far looks like a very decent man trying his damndest to do the best for the wellfare of his people. Let's clean up our own sh*t before badmouthing others.

Glad you agree

 

[grumpydigger]

The mistake was 8 years of Bush......, 2 months of a intelligent Obama is just to confusing for a lot people to handle.......