Thread: I need a vacation

Good find zeezil.

And our Laws are broken.

Dixie

wtg zeezil...........you hit the nail on the head!

I will put my two cents into this. I know there are a lot of conservatives here; I am a moderate.

The challenge of 9/11/2001 put a severe strain on the American psyche. Almost one year earlier I had been at a weeklong conference of Nobel Peace Prize winners and others, hosted by the UN in New York. This had been the brainchild of Mikhail Gorbachev, but in its earlier years was also participated in by the likes of Margaret Thatcher and George HW Bush. The 2000 State of the World Forum was also attended by Colin Powell, Jane Goodall and over a thousand people from all parts of the globe. I personally met two high level UN officals and came away with a somewhat different perspective than what one might hear in a lot of conservative circles, especiall religious ones. I was somewhat skeptical of how far this ideal would get since I saw almost no attenders from the Arabic world and a very few Chinese.

After 9/11 and in the buildup to the invasion of Iraq people asked me what I thought the US should do. Based on what I observed of the UN people I met I said that I thought we should let the UN mission in Iraq continue. I also knew from my experience with missions that Middle Eastern people are very headstrong. One time I remarked "I would rather see slow progress than a rapid disaster." Everyone seems to like to blame the US, so if we failed we would be living down that reputation for a long time. I think once the weapons inspection was finished that UN missions could have turned its attention to human rights violations in that country. (I know this is a big challenge for them,) But President Bush, being a product of Texas style fundamentalism has been indoctrinated that the UN is practically the incarnation of evil, so he swept them aside and plunged into a situation that will drain our Federal budget as much as we can stand.

Maybe that is why everything seems to be broken. Well, what's the choice; continue deficit spending and probably await a general increase in income taxes. Or find a way to solve problems through partnership instead of unilateralism. I'm not trying to apply this to immigration. I'm very active locally in seeking to curtail excessive spending that is dependent on federal dollars, such as in our transportation planning. Many groups, and the liberal politicians, are trying to salvage a huge program to "rebuild America's infrastructure." I say if it ain't broke don't fix it. Running a high budget deficit, along with a trade imbalance, and various hostilities and attacks from other peoples, could be ruinous.