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Peace Train derailed

Started by gkg, September 22, 2004, 06:20:23 pm

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oldfolkie

I\'ve been off-line for a week, so have had to catch up on this discussion. More like this going on all around the net, as the campaigns heat up.

Not being a US-American, I really don\'t feel eligible to enter directly into your political discussions -- those are for you to delve into and (I hope) resolve. Of course, that doesn\'t prevent me having an opinion on the subject. I will confess that, with the Republican domination and Dubya at its nominal head, our southern cousins make kind of uneasy neighbours at times. My preference would be to see Kerry & the Democrats win. Not that it would be all peaches & cream for Canadians, or anyone else outside the USA. But it would relieve some of the border paranoia we\'ve seen lately, and maybe ease some of the international tensions. The Republicans appear to us on the outside to be set only on increasing & aggravating all of that.

And dang it all -- you ARE our cousins, and our friends!

Good luck to you, and don\'t forget to vote!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. ~  R.A. Heinlein

edjane_maps

 Dear GKG you\'re welcome, adorei ter escrito em portugues, beijos

 Best Wishes, excuse me the hastes,

 edjane maps :-* :-* :-*
edjane maps :)

gkg

September 24, 2004, 09:48:55 pm #32 Last Edit: September 24, 2004, 09:49:14 pm by gkg
thanks for the kisses - i lost most of my portuges in my fierce fight to speak english as well or better than the kids in my class when we came up here - i am american but lived in brasil until i was 6, my parents were missionaries - so when i can i try to use what little portuges i have...  

thank you for the best wishes - and for the support in our effort not to fall to the Shrub a second time.

i grew up in the brasil of the early 60s - doubtless too long ago for you to remember Edjane, but it was a hard time.  the US is starting to remind me of my childhood! :\'(

 :-* :-* :-*
Peace.

image = <i>"Blue Velvet"</i> (front of 2-sided piece) (c) georgia k griffin - all rights reserved

Beatnik

Dear SNGWTME - I am very flattered by your praise - there is my selfishness. But more importnatly, thank you for registering to vote and joining in the debate!!

Darling Ocean - Don\'t blame me when you get arrested for "nutty assault"! Currently my Mother has the article - I will get the date and by line and see if I can find it in the NY Times  online and give you the link here, for additional articles as well that i have not yet mentioned.

Goddess gkg - I\'m sure your childhood holds many tales, both in growing up in Brazil in the 60\'s as well as your assimilation into the American culture. I\'m also sure that there were many children who were less than kind about your accent, and made it difficult for you to fit in. I myself, was the kid everyone picked on. Couldn\'t tell could you!  ::) Because of that experience, I believe that is why I have never "conformed" to what other people thought I should be. I am SO thankful I eventully gave up trying to fit in. Conforming with your personality is the same as conforming your thoughts. Otherwise I might have become a mindless line towing zombie. I have a much more interesting group of friends, from all persuations and walks of life.

I am enjoying this forum board so very much because of all of you wonderfully inteligent , humorous people.  :-*

Most of all, thank you Travis for getting this set up!! I am so glad I stumbled upon all of you!!  :-*

Beatnik  8)

Travis

Thank you all. I am very pleased that you have picked this place for your informed and intelligent discussion, not just this thread but this board as a whole seems to be populated by informed and either aware or eager to be aware users.

gkg

it is a wonderful atmosphere here.  i used to felt a little guilty throwing politics in before - but Travis, being the wonderful "host" that you are, you made it cool.

dear Beatnik, yes my life is full of intresting stories.  you\'re right about the kids being unkind but it\'s hardly their fault.  any blue eyed blonde girl coming into a school in South Bend, near Gary, Indiana, in the mid-late 60s who couldn\'t speak a word of English would have gotten the same "welcome."
Peace.

image = <i>"Blue Velvet"</i> (front of 2-sided piece) (c) georgia k griffin - all rights reserved

edjane_maps

 Dear Travis and GKG

 I Love this forum and you\'re welcome friends!

 A nice great week for all!

edjane maps
 :-* :-* :-*
edjane maps :)

Ocean

September 28, 2004, 03:06:33 pm #37 Last Edit: September 28, 2004, 03:17:12 pm by Ocean
 I think it\'s wonderful to have an open , friendly atmosphere in which to share about the legal platform that sustains our day to day.

 Thank You Travis and all the member\'s of this forum. With the contribution of such wonderful open minds and intelligence, you make politics fun! How refreshing.




FYI: For your consideration,
the first Presidential Candidates Debate will take place this Thursday, September 30th @ 9p.m. Eastern Time at the University of Miami, Coral Gables Florida.

CSPAN ~ Link: http://www.c-span.org/  (See: "This Week" Column @ the right of their homepage)
CSPAN has, imho, the best non~commercial coverage for this event.

Please consider this link for the
Commission on Presidential Debates full schedule: [/b]http://www.debates.org/pages/news_031106.html


Bush has already made demands to curtail the current schedule from 3 Presidential debates , to 2. And the Washington Post reports that in Wednesday\'s edition, (10/1) , they will publish other of his demands to further alter the  format.  (Source Link: http://www.atsnn.com/story/78623.html )

The Candidates are rehearsing everything about this event thus far, and it is my prediction that Bush will expect all the questions so that his camp can research and thus provide him all possible answers, including assistance via/ audio cues.
 Imho, he\'s not the brightest bulb in D.C. , as he\'s proven time and again, and this debate is critical.

Source, NPR Audio report link:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4049255

Beatnik

Ocean,

Thank you for all the links regarding the debates. I am not suprised about the audio cues for Shrubya, it seems he can\'t answer questons with out script, and sometimes he can\'t even with one!

I must apologize, the articles for the NY Times I spoke of, have been sent on to my Aunt who lives in Greece. My mother - who had them - thought we were done with them. So I don\'t have dates and by lines to reference, to search by. We now have a new batch of them, and I promise to get those links up, so that you may all read them. Again my sincere apologies.  :-/

I am looking forward to the debates, as I believe that they will boost the Kerry/Edwards ticket into November.

Beatnik  8)

gkg

there\'s no surprise in Dubya\'s game playing - his campaign said (and quite rightly) that it\'s Kerry\'s side that stands to gain from the debates.  even his own people know that Dubya is a liability if he gets pushed to answer direct questions without someone to spoon feed an intelligible response.

there is a whole slew of good stuff to read - if you don\'t have time to research everything for yourself, i recommend signing on to some good email newsletters, like: //www.AlterNet.org, //www.Mortie.net and the one man operation of //www.InformationClearingHouse.info - Tom Feeley does a good job with that.  check into your area peace alliances too - they are excellent sources of emails with hot-topic articles about the war, the W and peace efforts.  in SoCal the best ones i know of are //www.TopangaPeaceAlliance.org and //www.PalisadiansforPeace.org (Dwight Stone\'s great project).

yeah, i know, i\'m in NorCal... but my peace pals are down south.  we\'ve been working on a move south for a year now - things just keep getting in the way.
Peace.

image = <i>"Blue Velvet"</i> (front of 2-sided piece) (c) georgia k griffin - all rights reserved

Ocean

No worries Beatnik. I appreciate your search for the article, in any case.

As promised, though this is an article link to :
"The New Yorker", the update on the "rules of engagement" for tomorrows Presidential Debate.
http://www.newyorker.com/shouts/content/?041004sh_shouts

And for the occasion, (like we\'re surprised someone came up with this one!  ;) ), the "Democratic Debate Drinking Game" *Link http://www.strangecosmos.com/content/item/24948.html

That certainly will put it all in a better light.  Why whine about George W. when there\'s wine on the table!?
 :D  
Yeah, I know, stomped grapes can only do so much ! ::)

gkg

September 29, 2004, 04:40:58 pm #41 Last Edit: September 29, 2004, 05:16:39 pm by gkg
that depends on the grapes involved.   ;D

thanks for all the goodies, Ocean.  although, i\'m not big in the drinking games.  i take my drinking seriously.   ;)

whether you take your debates straight-up or over ice, keep your fingers crossed that light bulbs go off for people around the country about the scary place we\'re in.   :\'(

hey y\'all - the "PATRIOT ACT" takes a hit!  
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&u=/nm/20040929/ts_nm/rights_patriot_dc&printer=1
Peace.

image = <i>"Blue Velvet"</i> (front of 2-sided piece) (c) georgia k griffin - all rights reserved

Ocean

*Happy Bounce*

TY GkG for that wonderful news link! It\'s a start, and perhaps it\'s a sign of the times!? Like that old  song lyric, "The times they are a changin\' "

Ever the optimist, I like to think this is the first step in the right direction to freedom from the illegal, unconstitutional U.S. Patriot act, in total.

One way to insure that promise of a future san\'s Federalism , is to let our voices be heard in November.

I once saw a bumpersticker that read:

 [glb]" Re~Elect NO ONE!"[/glb]  

What I wouldn\'t give for that to actually manifest.  Yes, we the people are sick and tired of the alleged "two party system" and have chosen not to elect any one of two evils, lesser or no!

Ok, besides being an optimist, I\'m also a dreamer! ;)

gkg

Ocean, you\'re a lovely brilliant soul, but you\'re right, you\'re also a dreamer.

you know, i\'ve heard that sentiment a few times now, "the lesser of two evils is still evil."

i think perhaps that simply becomes a cop out.  your duty in voting is to do what is truly best for the country - and if you truly think that the current administration is heinous and evil, then it is your duty to remove them from power.  to winge about two evils is to waffle and leave the remaining citizenry to try to pull your weight.  voters are already saddled with pulling the weight for those who don\'t vote, and now they are charged with the responsibility to pull the weight of those who choose to waste their vote on someone who A-has not a chance in hell to win, and B-is running on pure ego with backing and financial support on the side from the very party eveyone voting for him claims is the worst to rule the nation in eons.  the smartest thing the GOP and other Bush-o-philes have done is give financial and court support to Nader\'s efforts to get on ballots.  [glb]the man was at the GOP convention drumming up deals and glad handing, folks - does that not mean anything to anyone?[/glb]

the two party system may suck, and i too believe that it does in many ways, but it is right now the only way to remove that evil little toad from office.
Peace.

image = <i>"Blue Velvet"</i> (front of 2-sided piece) (c) georgia k griffin - all rights reserved

gkg

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040929/ap_on_el_pr/uninformed_americans

interesting little indictment of the way campaigns are promoted and media focus is distorted - but to me it\'s also an indictment of the citizenry that more don\'t make the effort to learn about the candidates.

just one more reason the level of political participation among people in this forum, although dedicated to music the majority of the time, is so remarkable.
Peace.

image = <i>"Blue Velvet"</i> (front of 2-sided piece) (c) georgia k griffin - all rights reserved