Jamie's take on the 2004 Election... — Page 5

see, bway, i was even gonna spring for patron or herradura silver at the very least.

sammy, there'll be at least 2 debates. currently 3 have been proposed by the committee on presidential debates but w hasn't committed to the 3rd one. the schedule has them proposed for sept. 30 in coral gables, oct. 8 in st. louis and oct. 13 in tempe with a vice presidential debate between dick cheney and the breck girl on oct. 5 in cleveland.

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curtain, like i said, if you're interested, avail yourself of the search feature, i've left a wide swath.

i think the phrase "i have several republican friends" is the new "some of my best friends are black."

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Ooh! Ooh! I'll tell you!

Because of a combination of Ariel Sharon being himself and this administration's idiotic attitude towards Israel and Sharon, Israel is farther from any kind of peace settlement with the Palestinians than it was for years with the Clinton Administration. And how does this affect a student in PA? Try the fact that my entire family lives there. And I'm sick of seeing their (and my) hometowns getting blown up.

ckeaton - all those military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan have family and friends. You might be surprised at where they all are.

fyi, jrb, then how was i able to search and find this thread from april?

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=off&thread=149037#149073

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Well, then groovy. Curtain, do a search. I just know that people have had problems finding threads on the off-topic board via a search.

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Certainly, Christopher.

My beautiful boyfriend and I have been discussing a way to make our relationship more permanent. We would like to stand before our families, our friends and God and declare our love for each other. But we'd like to make it legally stick.

We can't do that.

Now...I know what you're saying. 'But JFK2 doesn't support gay marriage!' However, he voted against DOMA and he would never in any way support a federal Constitutional amendment to make sure I cannot have any sort of legal recognition for my relationship.

These issues used to be theoretical for me. But now, every day, I wake up knowing that my relationship, which is good and nurturing and loving and fulfilling...not the grotesque distortion of a hetero relationship that the Right seems to think it is, is not valued nor protected in this country.

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How can anyone tow the line on every issue irrespective of the party? Politics is about compromise. As I remarked in another thread yesterday, the GOP's tent becomes a little larger around any critical election times, e.g. CA gubernatorial recall election, IL Senate contest before Keyes shot himself in the foot. I am a Capitalist first, then Democrat. There are numerous capitalist ideals extolled by great minds like the late Ayn Rand that transcend the 2-party system presently ruining our great nation. See http://www.capitalism.org/ when you get a moment.

It pains me at times that the GOP simply outclasses my party when it comes to manipulating mass media and relegating the issues championed by many Democrats to the fringe. Angst alone will not unseat the incumbent President. His record on the environment, lip service offered to the hydrogen economy, very Dixiecrat-looking ballooning federal deficit, and the ominous prospect of the reinstatement of the draft post-reelection due to Rummie’s jerry rigging of the military form a substantive Achilles heel. With all due respect, the touch feely social issues are best left in abeyance for a minute while we concentrate on moving away from a "fossil-fuel based economy", getting global warming in check despite the fact that GOP is still in denial about the phenomenon, and most importantly devising a way to fund "universal health care" that doesn't call for add'l taxes on wages. I’ve been card carrying Democrat for 22 years now but am the first to offer that the party needs to break away from the tax-and-spend/entitlement program paradigm. The model is no longer politically expedient.

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javero - why, oh why aren't the people in power in your party able to express themselves like that? Thank you!

i wish i was in the land of cotton...

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Ckeaton:

"They're just frothing at the mouth because they think they've been wronged. If anyone here has had their life directly impacted in a negative way, I'd love to hear the story. Because everything I've been reading is just talk."

Hello?! I'm A Gay Independent....and I am being wronged right now!! Good Lord! The Republican Party wants to rewrite the Constitution?!

When one of your relatives (a favorite niece, nephew, godchild) comes out to you....I ceratinly hope you'll feel just as certain about your your previous statement.

Updated On: 9/3/04 at 03:41 PM

Plum I must regretfully disagree with you. In my opinion, anyone who disagrees with the war in Iraq should also disagree with U.S. involvement in the Israel-Palestine conflict. How is it Bush's fault what's happening there?

At no time did I say what happening in Israel is all Bush's fault. That would be a truly ridiculous accusation. The current atmosphere there, I'm afraid, is partly his fault, though also the fault of the **** **** **** **** known as Ariel Sharon.

Second- the Israeli/Palestinian situation is an ongoing war between two sides who refuse to listen to just about anyone except the U.S. (and sometimes admittedly, not even that.) One of those sides is an important U.S. ally. Especially now that Bush has declared a war on terrorism- who knows more about Muslim terrorists than Israel?

The U.S. has already invested itself as the peacemaker in Israel. Clinton showed that with good maneuvering, the U.S. could help quiet the region and make considerable progress towards a peace agreement that actually gets fulfilled. Bush, in his eagerness to be the anti-Clinton, abandoned even worthwhile efforts like this one.

Working for a Palestinian state isn't unilateral nation-building. It's working to keep promises already made, and something the U.N. would be more than happy to help with, especially since they helped form Israel in the first place.

Oh, and there's no oil in Israel. That's a difference, too.

Going into Iraq was starting a war. Acting as a go-between agent in Israel is making peace. Nation-building and peacekeeping, contrary to the Bush Administration's beliefs, are not the same thing.