“We need to stop this standing up for people who cannot stand for themselves and go back to letting the Butcher of Baghdad feed them into plastic shredders. Our money is much too important to fight against evil!!”

Yes Hussien was a nasty guy who ran a nasty regime. This was true in the 80’s when Ronal Reagan called him “one of our closest Arab allies” and still true when Donald Rumsfeld was lobbying congress to get biological weapons to him. The issue is not whether Saddam was a nasty criminal, he certainly was (even back when conservatives in this country loved him). However, he had nothing to do with 911, AlQuida or the militant Islamic terrorism movement they were pushing at all really (they were as much a danger to him as to us). So spending vast resources going after him made our country weaker by ignoring the funders of terrorism (Saudi Arabia) and the harborers of terrorism (Pakastan – both of whom the current president has described as “close allies”).

“. . . why, how DARE you criticize the wonderful state controlled education system. Next thing you’ll be saying is its the Teacher’s union fault. Mind control by the liberal left is a wonderful thing!”

The public education system in America is a microcosm of the nation itself. If you live a prosperous area where education funding is a priority, then you have some of the finest public education available anywhere on the planet. If you live in an impovrished area (most urban areas for example) where resources and priorities do not provide sufficiently for education, well then your just out of luck.

“… yes, we most certainly do. We have monopolies selling us oil (OPEC comprised of entire nations taking money from us) yet we pursue the 5% of the oil provided by Exxon and the like calling for confiscating their businesses (nationalizing the oil industry), or taking any profits they make (about 5%) while the government rakes in about 15% in taxes. Yes, punish the job providers, the oil producers and the risk takers. We’re MUCH better off having the same people who gave us FEMA, the Corps of Engineers and the state sponsored educational system running the oil industry too! That’s a GREAT strategy!”

Where I think we differ here is your belief that the problem is just America’s dependence on foreign oil (from the Bush family friends the Saudis who apparently just can’t control OPEC alone anymore) and no recognition of the problem of oil dependence in general.

” . . . Right again. What a terrible system where people flock here from all the better medical systems, like England and Canada, to get our overpriced, inefficient and terrible healthcare. Again, we need the same people who gave us FEMA, etc. to manager our healthcare. Ask anyone in socialist Europe which system they’d rather have!”

Most Europeans I know (I have to assume you dont actually know any?) truly pity Americas Healthcare system (we are what, last in infant mortality among industrialized nations, yet we spend the most money by nearly 100%? How is that possible?). Like education the American Healthcare system is a totally different experience depending solely on what economic stratus you happen to inhabit. If your wealthy enough to stroke a check for services rendered by a healthcare provider, then you have access to some of the finest healthcare available on the planet in America. However, very very very few people can afford this, especially in America. If you need insurance to help you pay for services, then you have access to fairly mediocre healthcare in the United States. It’s the most expensive in terms of cost but really pretty average when compared to modern industrialized nations. Lastly if you are too poor to have insurance, America is a substandard third world country when it comes to healthcare. Do you think people die in European emergency rooms awaiting care . . . they do in America. We are number one in procedurally preventable deaths of all industrialized nations, number one. More people die in the United States from the lack of proper care then in any other industrialized nation (yet once again we spend money then anyone else, by tons). There seems to be a lot you don’t know about the American Healthcare system, be glad you don’t, it’s a pretty scary industry at the moment. If you think healthcare in America is so great I suggest you look into “Medical Tourism” and ask yourself why Americans would want to go to Mexico, Panama, Brazil or Malaysia to get treatment.

“it has always been the responsibility of the gub’ment to make you save for your retirement. And, if you do save, they double and triple tax you on it, and then don’t pay you back what you put in. You can’t even invest what you put in in what you choose to invest. Rather, we have them invest it for us at an average 2% return. Yes, the lifestyle you deserve in your retirement (if you count on social security instead of self reliance) will be what you deserve.”

Social security is what makes the Republican s method of big government big spending possible. The Government simply lumps that money into the general fund and uses it to help make up for the budget-taxes shortfall (there is no retirement savings account, it’s a myth, it never existed). FICA allows the American worker to be taxed disproportionately without him even knowing it. Why did I pay 30+% of my income in taxes in 2001 and Dick Cheney only paid 12 to 18% of his income in taxes? FICA my friend that’s why, the secret tax on the working man.