posted 11-01-2004 09:45 AM         

If I was at all the pessimist, I'd think we were heading for a civil war, and even more bizarrely, I think it's actually what the Democrats want. Aside from philosophically endorsing Michael Moores trash propaganda and perpetuating the myth that it was a "documentary", the Democrats have played (to death) the class warfare card (Bush tax breaks for the "wealthy" - lemme tell you, I'm self employed, I'm the group Kerry is targeting, and while I do okay, I'm not "wealthy" by any stretch of the imagination), the race card (funny how the Democrats did nothing for the Black community for 8 years while Clinton was in office, but now they're being told how critically important they are and that the "evil" Republicans are trying to keep them from voting which is supposed to generate the knee jerk reaction to vote Democrat in defiance), Democrat pundits keep throwing out the "missing" explosives, even though they're now largely accounted for and, as it turns out, were never really "missing" in the first place), Kerry's mantra that we are in the "wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time" which sends a wonderful message to our troops and to the rest of the world, which I'm sure will make them all want to enthusiastically join us in our "great diversion", their newest talking point designed to create the illusion that the Republicans are "trying to keep people from voting" when in fact all they want to do is make sure Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, dead people, and felons are not allowed to cast ballots, which, coincidentally, is the law in this country, and have characterized asking for photo ID in order to cast a vote as "intimidation tactics" to keep the poor, blacks, and latinos from voting (personally I think EVERYONE should be made to show a photo ID - that seems logical to me. If you are a US citizen with the legitimate right to vote, producing a photo ID should not be a problem, right?). God forbid this is really as close a race as it appears, and the aftermath of the election could be worse than '00. We may not have a winner declared for months, and the next Presidency will be cast as "illegitimate" as so many Democrats claimed the last one was, which does nothing to unify our country, our people, or restore the required confidence and dignity to our position as leader of the Free World.

This has become a "win at any cost" campaign for the Democrats, and the cost will be immeasurable.

I have had many lengthy conversations with many friends and business associates about the ramifications of a Kerry presidency in accordance with all of his campaign promises. If Kerry is elected, many of us will immediately downsize our companies, terminating any non mission critical employees to protect our bottom lines. If Kerry is going to raise my taxes, I'll compensate by lowering my overhead so my net income remains constant. What that means is that, after months of listening to Kerry distort the facts about the economy (we are at 5.4% unemployment which is lower than the average of the last 3 decades), his horribly flawed "tax the rich" mentality will not only dramatically impact the creation of new jobs, it will cause the immediate loss of many current high paying jobs.

This is not some unimportant "contest" to see who can "beat" the other guy to make some sort of silly political statement - the results of this election will have dire consequences. Set aside all the partisan stupidity, and look hard at the world we live in, the realities of terrorism, the loss of effectiveness and credibility of the United Nations, and the REAL numbers that determine the health of our economy. Recognize that heath care will be no more affordable or accessible 4 years from now with a President Kerry - he is not the Wizard of Oz and has no magic wand to wave - until frivolous lawsuits, malpractice insurance, and defensive medicine are addressed, NOTHING will happen with health care. And since both of them are attorneys, with Edwards being a personal injury lawyer, you can bet your sweet *** they won't be doing anything to hurt the legal community during their turn at bat.

We need someone we can trust to at least try to do the right thing. Is Bush perfect? Not by a long shot. But says what he means and he does what he says. Kerry says whatever the closest political advisor whispers in his ear at any given moment. It's easy to play Monday morning quarterback and judge the Bush presidency from that perspective, and it's easy to say you have "a plan" if you don't have to articulate it, and it's easy to promise you'll make America "more respected in the world and stronger at home" and your fix healthy care and fix medicare and fix social security and fix the educational system and elevate blacks to a new social standing and make sure the Cubans are treated better and create a warm and fuzzy place in the world for homosexuals and save the whales and the trees and the spotted owl and invent alternative energy sources and get people in wheelchairs to get up and walk. But doing it is a whole different animal, and if you put aside your irrational hatred for Bush, you'll see that nothing in Kerry's past gives any of us any reason to believe for a minute he'll accomplish in the next 4 years 10 times as much as he's accomplished in the last 20. That is just not reasonable.

As Bush said over the weekend - this election comes down to "who do you trust?". Bush has made mistakes and miscalculations and missteps and misstatements - but we haven't been attacked in 3 years, we had the shortest and shallowest recession in history, and most importantly, we know where he stands.

Do you really know where Kerry stands on ANY issue? Or do you just know what he SAYS he stands for?

Thank you for giving me someplace to vent my frustrations.

And have an excellent day.

posted 11-01-2004 11:26 AM         

I actually find it totally and absolutely shocking that there is even a race here. Here is a quote from another Canuck on another site "Kerry has made an entire political career out of criticizing the American way, working behind the scenes with your enemies, and basically mocking everything you all claim to believe in. And on top of that, his running mate is arguably one of the biggest tort lawyers in US history." I have never once heard anyone say that Kerry is great or would be a great leader. He has done absolutely nothing other than betray his country, propose to "steal" more money from the so-called rich, and is accompanied by a trial lawyer who has cost every single American a ton of money. Why do you think insurance and health care are so expensive - it is called litigation. And when someone sues and wins millions of dollars, where do you think it comes from - it comes from YOU through higher insurance premiums and health care costs - the money doesn't just come out of thin air. Why would you ever vote for these guys. Even if you don't like Bush, are these the guys you want running the country - I highly doubt it.

It is shocking to see a capitalist country like the US turning socialist while a country like China is going the complete opposite way. Who do you think will be better off in 10 years.

I specially love the "showing a phot to vote is intimidation", yet if you don't show one at the airport ... you NO fly! What are they scared of except being caught trying to stcak the deck and stuff the ballot box.

When you think of huge lawsuits like the tobacco one, the lawyers got the lions share and what was supposed to be earmarked for the states either ended up being minimal or nonexistent.

posted 11-01-2004 03:15 PM         

quote:

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Originally posted by Ray:

I specially love the "showing a photo to vote is intimidation", yet if you don't show one at the airport ... you NO fly! What are they scared of except being caught trying to stack the deck and stuff the ballot box.

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Arizona is voting on a Prop 200 proposal,,,all the other states should be watching this one. If voting succeeds, it will require 'everyone' to show U.S. resident identification to vote, to get health care benefits, and to receive other state economic benefits. Az taxpayers are really tired of illegals voting, bankrupting our state assisted health care programs, and draining all the funds for economic support as well. The Demos are screaming over this issue,,,,they love the poor illegals who vote for them and need liberal laws to hand out the taxpayer's dollars. California passed such a proposal a few years back, but it has landed into the courts where it is stalled forever. Az proposal is a little different and maybe will fly? We here in Az,,, are sick of the illegals who devour our tax dollars and work for nothing, causing the wages of everyone else to go down
Keep an eye on this one!!!

Vote early,,,vote often

posted 11-01-2004 03:42 PM         

quote:

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Originally posted by idive:

On tort reform, I'm personally against it. Here's an example why. Say a chemical plant releases toxins into the air that cause cancer. They do this to save money by not disposing of it properly. So they save $10 million knowing that IF they get caught, they will only face a $500K fine, and anyone sueing them can only get a MAX. of $750K. They still come out way ahead financially. Where's the incentive for them to do what's right? The same goes for the careless Dr. that leaves instruments inside of a patient, or amputates the wrong limb. Or the drug company that puts a drug on the market that will make your kids deformed when born, or cause them to be more likely to commit suicide when taken off the drug. I know, it raises insurance premiums and drug costs for all of us, but the insurance companies need to be held more accountable for that.

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There absolutely needs to be tort reform.

I would start by limiting the lawyer compensation per case. Lawyers taking 20% of a billion dollar settlement is insane - especially when the money is coming from our pockets. Corporations are only made up of people - nothing else - they don't grow money on trees - it our money, either by being a shareholder or employee. Guess what - if they pay a fine, it comes from you!!

Sure corporations, individuals need to be responsible, but exhorbinant lawsuits don't change that. Let's use a doctor who for example, delivers babies for $1,000 a pop. He does one a week for 30 years and charges in total $1,560,000. He pays staff costs, hospital costs and taxes and might be left with $500,000 (from just this activity). One delivery goes wrong and may not be his fault, but gets sued for $20 million. He can never recover. But insurance will pay - that is you and I. We pay.

On drug companies, I'd say any drug company with a new drug should do so from overseas - you would be crazy to set up in the U.S. Drugs get approved by the FDA before they can be sold - that is your insurance. Everyone knows some drugs are not going to work with all patients and the results could be bad. But if you didn't take them, results could be bad too. Sue the FDA - oh yeah, thats you too. Its all coming from your pocket.

If you are a drug company and you have a drug that will work 99% of the time, but 1% is a problem, you can no longer afford to bring that drug to market - you will be sued into bankruptcy. However, if I am a patient requiring that drug - I want access to it. Who do you blame for not being able to get access. It's the lawyers.