John McCain doesn't know how many houses he owns .....

[Aegis]

Just what have all the so-called "experienced" people accomplished in the last thirty years, and especially in the last eight year??   

[squall_01]

The guy was rapidly blinking during his speech.  Thats a sign that he wont hold his word.  Also, he was saing that the american people should join in hand.  But he claims that he'll end the war?  Makes you think?  Do you trust him?

[mcxeb52!]

I'd vote for Obama. I'm a democrat.

However, in the event that McCain wins the Nov 2nd election, it would be ok only if he did his duty and made me a happy camper like Clinton did 

But Palin is a fresh face. An old commander with a lady of the next generation?

[squall_01]

thats funny cause I'm independent.  I see what you mean.

[Zylstra]

I was discussing this with my politics-obsessed music teacher.

I mentioned: "He's a bit full of himself in his speeches" and that I didnt think that his speeches were really that great.
His response: "<Laughing> Thats really about the best he can do. He's just not into todays technology*"
*Technology does not necessarily mean electronics. Keep this in mind.

His speech is out of his "language."
Chances are, he is unfamiliar with some of the word choices that were used in his speech, which was professionally written. Sentence structure, word choice, and even grammar and emphasizations (for the record, this isnt a word) change over time.
Thats one of my two greatest fears with McCain:

Does he know enough about the modern world?
Sure, you can learn, but, the older you get, the thicker your brain gets, and the less accepting you are of new ideas. This is actually proven. As you get older, new ideas are difficult to comprehend.

And will he live long enough to be our president?
He is older. He may seem healthy, but, age can turn tables quite quickly. If he were to die, the whole nation would go into "Devastation" mode, and things would really slow down for quite a while.

I mean no disrespect to the older generations in our world. I realize that some old people are very into technology, but even then, I don't really see that in McCain.

[typhoeus]

Neither McCain nor Obama represents my values.  Plus, no-one really knows what Obama thinks, because he has not told us and he did nothing as a senator.  I tend to lean towards the Libertarians' views, but this spreadsheet told me I was more in line with the Constitutional candidate: http://www.2008electionprocon.org/candidatesurvey.htm  On a side note, Sarah Palin is a refreshing change.  And she doesn't look half bad either.

[squall_01]

The thing is thats why we have a vice, yes every thing would be slow.  At least with mccain you know where you stand.  On the other side of the fence.  Check our fiance stats.  Congress is spending more money then we have to mine an get oil an bring it back.  We have that stuff here.  Why not use it in reverse to pay back the money we owe?

[typhoeus]

I am totally in favor of drilling here, but I do not agree with several of John McCain's policies, like abortion.  John McCain has been in the Senate for many years.  I believe he is part of the problem, not part of the solution.  While Sarah Palin has some good views, she is not the Presidential candidate, she is the Vice Presidential Candidate.  I would rather vote for the Libertarians or Independents.  It's time America moved away from the two-party system.

[Zylstra]

Abortion... thats a really difficult one...
I'm not 100% pro-life, or pro-choice... I disagree with using Abortion as "birth control", however, if it was risking someones health to be pregnant, or of it really was a huge accident, or rape, then it should be fine.
I'm also not a woman, nor is John McCain, or Obama. I think its partially something guys will never fully understand.

Check our fiance stats.

Finance, you mean? (I am guessing it was a typo)

I dont think drilling is the answer to our energy "crisis".
We can drill all we want, but, in the end, no matter what, we are going to run out. Oil wont be around forever. I think we really should look into research of "Green" alternatives, as well as promotion of the alternatives, and pushing people to use them.
As Dead_Reckon was just telling me, we have all the propane we need right now, and propane is also quite efficient. People could start converting their vehicles to propane or natural gas even. It can be more efficient than Electricity.


I also think we should attempt to really start fixing our debt...
We will never be debt free as long as our politics system stays intact. Theres a reason for this, revert to High School History for a moment for me, people:

In the early days of our government, debt was purposely created with Great Britain. Why? So Great Britain cared about our well-being.
As long as we owed them money, they will want it back eventually, and they will not attack us.
Well, heres the con of this system:
If we start owing too much, and if they see us going into economic failure, they may demand their money back. Thats where things get tough, since right now, its impossible for us to pay back any country we borrow money from, we dont have any money.
Since we are in debt, each dollar we spend has more debt (in Interest) attached to it. For that debt, we borrow more money, which also has interest. The US borrows money at interest, since we cant make money out of thin air.

Heres something to ask yourself:
When was the last time you saw the inside of Fort Knox?
How do we even know there is gold in there "backing up" the dollar, which, personally, to me is nothing but paper?
We don't.

Before the 1920's, on the Dollar Bill, it said: "Redeemable for Gold"
After the 1920's, this was removed, and all gold was demanded back. What happened to it?
At this point in time, our money became worth nothing, gold backing it up or not. We can not redeem a dollar bill for an actual value.
Sure, we can buy one dollar pieces, but the metals inside are worth less than a dollar to make it cheaper to produce.

What do you think of our economy now?
I think I want to move to Canada...

[typhoeus]

In some very special cases, abortion might be okay.  But the fact remains that it is still killing an innocent, defenseless life.  And yes, it is alive when they are calling it a "fetus."

Yes, we should research alternative energy sources, but drilling should start also.  In fact, we should have started researching alternative energy sources along time ago.  If we had been researching solar panels, they might be affordable now.  Also, more nuclear power plants should be built.  They are highly efficient and perfectly safe.  Goverment subsidies should be stopped.  They are hurtful to the economy.

The national debt is, I believe, unsolvable at this point.  With the billions of dollars we are in debt, and more spending all the time, I think an economic collapse is inevitable.  But perhaps the economy will right itself after a while.  And you are right, there is no gold whatsoever backing up our paper money.  The best thing to invest in now is gold itself, or guns.

[computeruler]

good idea zylstra LETS MOVE TO CANADA!!!!!!!!!!! and we can all move into a mansion and make a ch cult thiny!!!!

[typhoeus]

Wrong.  My idea for years has been to move to Antartica.  There is an unclaimed piece of land that can be settled if we build a bio-dome.  I need researchers to help me build it, people to fund it, and in return you may live there.  I get to live there because it was my idea. 

[Zylstra]

If we look at events like Chernobyl, we see that nuclear power isnt always safe.

Sure, we know what went wrong (graphite is a reactive... we discovered that the hard way) , but what if something else somewhere else goes wrong?

It affects a large area, and kills many people when something goes wrong. I'm not willing to risk it.

Dam power (Hydro Electrics) is safe, and only has one environmental impact, and that is on fish. All you need is a descent river.
Its also the cheapest power you can get.

BTW: Were trillions of dollars in debt... not just billions. I wish it were billions, then Bill Gates could solve half of it...

[squall_01]

Didnt have time to read replies.  But Yes I agree.  But at the rate things are plastics are the social structer of are economy.  Go threw your house an name something that isnt plastic made?  I mean the fact theres none in your home.  You cant for the most part.  So oil will still be used an even if we did there would be a lot of carbon dieoxide in the air causeing gobal warming an ....... but the point is see what I'm getting at.

[Zylstra]

My Piano isnt made of plastic, nor the couch I am sitting on, our furnace has no plastic (its old..), the tables we have here have no plastic, my stepdads built in desk has no plastic, there is no plastic used for the construction of our house (which is also old...), I own a computer almost completely built with Metal...

For us, we do try and avoid cheap plastic things.. but there are definitely a lot.
We need to come up with a material that will biodegrade within at least 100 years underground...
Plastics will be around for a long time, and of all things, they will cause problems with the ocean more than anything else.