Re: RE: US Invasion of Iraq-U
Reverend Blair said:
You are a third world nation in all but wealth, James. Look at he hallmarks...little respect for human life, allowing religion to dictate governmental policy, massive disparity between rich and poor, militaristic foreign policy, massive federal debt, massive personal debt, environment teetering on the brink of collapse, declining educational standards, lack of access to health care and other social programs, massive subsidies for corporations.
Not so Rev. The Bush policy on abortion proves that we do indeed have respect for human life, the most valuable of all human life, our youngest.
Also, you noted that we allow Religion to dictate govn't policy. If a majority of the Citizens want to have an interface between their faith and the government, then so be it. The same can be said about Canada's ties to the Queen. Why doesn't the Canadian govn't sever ties to the Queen?
There is also a massive disparity between rich and poor in Canada as well (even with the high taxes ... and now that is unacceptable). With a few exceptions, this is true in all developed countries.
As for the militaristic foreign policy, the US is doing the right thing. We have every right to defend our freedom and national security. We will not surrender and we sure as hell don't back away from an attack.
As for the massive federal debt, the smart and strategic approach is to get the money and assets working for you first and not just using it to repay a debt.
In regards to the environment, many states here have emissions control checks for older vehicles every couple of years. Don't know about other cities in Canada, but when I was living in Montreal, it was a free-for-all. There were guys there with old cars emitting all kinds of black smog.
As for educational standards, on higher education, we have better Colleges/Universities than Canada (ex. Harvard, MIT ...etc). When it comes to lower education, President Bush passed the
No Child Left Behind Act on January 8, 2002. This act drastically improved the acheivement of students from every background, and especially improving literacy skills.
As to the lack of access to health care and other social programs, heath care here does not involve a 5 hour wait to get stitches as it does in some cities in Canada. For those who do not have health insurance here when in need of services, are taken to facilities that offer them health care with no charge. I could not believe how efficient emergency rooms are here. No patients left in cooridoors like you have in Canada. I always thought that was unacceptable. What kind of hospitals leave it's patients lingering in cooridoors for days without putting them in a room.
When it comes to massive subsities to corporations, you are correct. Many corporations here pay very little in Federal taxes and there is a good reason. They will have more money to hire more workers and more money to invest in more work.
Reverend Blair said:
If you guys don't smarten up, you'll be looking like Somalia in the next couple of decades. I know you don't think that can happen, but there have been massive collapses of superpowers before and they all followed the same basic pattern you are following. Ask the Romans.
I say the chances of that happening are about as likely as the chances of finding a snowball in hell. We have the best strategists who forsee any such scenarios (or in this case, lack of).
Reverend Blair said:
Hmmm...maybe you should change your name to Nascar Nero and take up the fiddle.
I prefer "Emperor James". It has a nice ring to it.
