Is America great?

[Nick M]

This is almost like reading the rap sheet on Boehner and Obama.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

 

[Ktoyou]

This is not the America in which I always took such pride and comfort.
We are fast approaching that definition which caused God to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.
That which is good is curtailed or forbidden. That which is abnormal and against nature is celebrated.

I agree the America I came to love and hold as the greatest nation was once all that. Now I do not think we are approaching Sodom and Gomorrah, rather it seems America is becoming a nation where one has no liberty to think. It seems we are all temporally guilty now; just watch a movie, before it starts the FBI issues a big warning about sending you to prison and a huge fine if you act, in any way, unapproved by the government and companies they support.

Freedom has been submerged by the "give a dog a bone" policy, that being, in part, the queer marriage thing, as if to say, "Look how well we care for all of you equally, now be good children."

It is almost like one must rise above mere citizenship to assume an adult role.

WE have no strength in production, only services, as we service each-other, and consume any new toy made available. It is hard to assume the role of an adult, when the government tells you how to sit your child in a car, how to conduct yourself in business, and, in return for your obedience, we get to dress like slobs and ever wear the clothes of the opposite sex, what a trade to be made for the labor of individualism!

Some call that 'freedom of self-expression' while I call it the right to look like a hobo and act plain nuts!

So the people of Sodom acted bad because they wanted to be so; for us living in the USA, we have to think a certain way, and allow many others to train our children to think as they believe all should think, and think alike.

When is the Second Coming? Not when the world is full of evil thinking people, rather when the decent people have no longer an independent conscience. This is what is happening fast!

 

[The Barbarian]

This is almost like reading the rap sheet on Boehner and Obama.

Haven't read it, um?

 

[bybee]

I agree the America I came to love and hold as the greatest nation was once all that. Now I do not think we are approaching Sodom and Gomorrah, rather it seems America is becoming a nation where one has no liberty to think. It seems we are all temporally guilty now; just watch a movie, before it starts the FBI issues a big warning about sending you to prison and a huge fine if you act, in any way, unapproved by the government and companies they support.

Freedom has been submerged by the "give a dog a bone" policy, that being, in part, the queer marriage thing, as if to say, "Look how well we care for all of you equally, now be good children."

It is almost like one must rise above mere citizenship to assume an adult role.

WE have no strength in production, only services, as we service each-other, and consume any new toy made available. It is hard to assume the role of an adult, when the government tells you how to sit your child in a car, how to conduct yourself in business, and, in return for your obedience, we get to dress like slobs and ever wear the clothes of the opposite sex, what a trade to be made for the labor of individualism!

Some call that 'freedom of self-expression' while I call it the right to look like a hobo and act plain nuts!

So the people of Sodom acted bad because they wanted to be so; for us living in the USA, we have to think a certain way, and allow many others to train our children to think as they believe all should think, and think alike.

When is the Second Coming? Not when the world is full of evil thinking people, rather when the decent people have no longer an independent conscience. This is what is happening fast!

This is so on the money!
Thanks Kat. No one tells it like you do!

 

[The Barbarian]

When is the Second Coming? Not when the world is full of evil thinking people, rather when the decent people have no longer an independent conscience. This is what is happening fast!

I heard the same things when I was young, and apparently, every society has always had the elders shaking their heads and predicting the end of it all.

Maybe it always happens when generations pass.

 

[Ktoyou]

This is so on the money!
Thanks Kat. No one tells it like you do!

That one should be POTD!

 

[Ktoyou]

I heard the same things when I was young, and apparently, every society has always had the elders shaking their heads and predicting the end of it all.

Maybe it always happens when generations pass.

:nono: These past elders thought the younger generation thought wrong; they never believed individual thought was vanishing!

The old of yesteryear would shake a finger, not shake their head and :sigh:

 

[The Barbarian]

These past elders thought the younger generation thought wrong; they never believed individual thought was vanishing!

That's what the old folks I knew, were telling us.

The old of yesteryear would shake a finger, not shake their head and

Maybe our generation finally wised up.

 

[Sancocho]

We are in the final times because the amount of bloodshed is unprecedented in history. The leading cause of any type of death in the world is abortion BY FAR with 26 to 40 million deaths estimated compared to a total of ALL OTHER CAUSES at 58 million.

Where abortion is legal the homicide rate is that of a WAR.

So comparing what is going on nowadays to ANYTHING in the past, whether it be the Romans, Mao, Stalin or Hitler or whatever, PALES in comparison to the current day slaughter of INNOCENTS.

Throw in the onslaught by the US and UN to force real Christian countries to legalize abortion, homosexual marriage and indoctrination, AGAIN WITHOUT PRECEDENCE, and yes indeed we can say with confidence the end is near.

EVIL IN THE WORLD IS AT UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS IN HISTORY, WITH THE US BEING THE LEADER OF PROPAGATION OF EVIL.

 

[Ktoyou]

That's what the old folks I knew, were telling us.



Maybe our generation finally wised up.

That is what the so called, 'baby boomers' thought about themselves, they wised up, had it right. Look what a mess they have made!

You will not heed to my warning, there is no sense debating a known truth with someone who thinks it is a matter of debate.

 

[noguru]

I agree the America I came to love and hold as the greatest nation was once all that. Now I do not think we are approaching Sodom and Gomorrah, rather it seems America is becoming a nation where one has no liberty to think. It seems we are all temporally guilty now; just watch a movie, before it starts the FBI issues a big warning about sending you to prison and a huge fine if you act, in any way, unapproved by the government and companies they support.

Freedom has been submerged by the "give a dog a bone" policy, that being, in part, the queer marriage thing, as if to say, "Look how well we care for all of you equally, now be good children."

It is almost like one must rise above mere citizenship to assume an adult role.

WE have no strength in production, only services, as we service each-other, and consume any new toy made available. It is hard to assume the role of an adult, when the government tells you how to sit your child in a car, how to conduct yourself in business, and, in return for your obedience, we get to dress like slobs and ever wear the clothes of the opposite sex, what a trade to be made for the labor of individualism!

Some call that 'freedom of self-expression' while I call it the right to look like a hobo and act plain nuts!

So the people of Sodom acted bad because they wanted to be so; for us living in the USA, we have to think a certain way, and allow many others to train our children to think as they believe all should think, and think alike.

When is the Second Coming? Not when the world is full of evil thinking people, rather when the decent people have no longer an independent conscience. This is what is happening fast!

Rugged individualism is all good until a place starts to get crowded. Then one should also consider their civil responsibility. Those who refuse to consider that are just being willfully ignorant to their changing environment.

 

[Desert Reign]

What are your feelings?? Is America still great?

America isn't Great but Britain is.

However, both the UK and the USA are United.

Britain is probably less united than the USA, though, because Scotland is only half with us and the channel islands are half French, let alone the Irish. Being half Irish equates to only being 1/4 British. The Irish are like that - more concentrated...

As to my feelings, well, America is in a rather queer spot right now. 60 percent of the population are right wing leaning but there is no compelling leader who can issue a rallying call to them and so they rally round the most prominent leader even if they know she is going to be as useless as the incumbent monsieur. So either way, it doesn't look that great to me. If you who are republican want some advice, take it from a famous conservative party campaign slogan back in Maggie's day when she came to power after years of Labour party mismanagement and years of influence by communist controlled unions. The campaign ad went "Labour isn't working". How about something like "In debt to Democrats"?

Well, you figure it out, it's nothing to do with me...

 

[Ktoyou]

Rugged individualism is all good until a place starts to get crowded. Then one should also consider their civil responsibility. Those who refuse to consider that are just being willfully ignorant to their changing environment.

I am not talking about carrying your bear gun into town.

Very few places sacrifice the freedom of thought for giving one the right to wear purple hair, to dress like a hobo, or clown, to act like a crazy person, and all for what? To not call a retarded person just that? To believe dumb people are just culturally disadvantaged, and to have to be afraid to say so, as to offend anyone based on arbitrary thought?

This is not civil responsibility; it is the loss of freedom to think what one naturally thinks. To fear not conforming to a phoney ideology, and all for what? To parade around like an idiot as long as you do not call a purple haired tattooed freak a freak? This is freedom?
There is more real freedom not most countries today than in the USA.

Sure, there are scary places, yet the people in those places know what they think.

 

[noguru]

I am not talking about carrying your bear gun into town.

Very few places sacrifice the freedom of thought for giving one the right to wear purple hair, to dress like a hobo, or clown, to act like a crazy person, and all for what? To not call a retarded person just that? To believe dumb people are just culturally disadvantaged, and to have to be afraid to say so, as to offend anyone based on arbitrary thought?

This is not civil responsibility; it is the loss of freedom to think what one naturally thinks. To fear not conforming to a phoney ideology, and all for what? To parade around like an idiot as long as you do not call a purple haired tattooed freak a freak? This is freedom?
There is more real freedom not most countries today than in the USA.

Sure, there are scary places, yet the people in those places know what they think.

No one is stopping me from thinking what I think. I don't have to tell everyone what I think about them. In fact that scenario is even more crazy, then reserving comments for when they might be advantageous. It is about choosing your battles wisely.

I have never had a problem being considerate of others sensitivities, though I myself am not easily offended. If I discover that I am offending someone I can reserve my commentary for a more advantageous time, or not at all if it won't help. I have gotten pretty good at deciphering that in life. I am not here to impress anyone or live up to other's standards. But it makes no sense to completely ignore the concerns of others.

 

[Ktoyou]

I'm just sick of hearing how these queers are doing so much damage to so many people when and, you are going to have to take it on faith here, I have never met one person who told me he or she was a homosexual. I have seen cases of pedophiles, cases of prison rape, hardly condoned, and there were some COs, usually female who looked to me like they tried to look and act like men. Then not one ever told me she was a dyke, and had she, I would have made a case out of it.

I never lived in any neighborhood where I seen people acting like they were homos. It seems to me, they may have been around, yet had the sense to know I was not one to confide in?

All in all, I have not been bothered by any.

Maybe had I worked into the mid 2000s, I might have had a different experience, yet doubt any would mess with me the way they did the cake sellers; I think they were wimps for letting it happen.

I like my outlook on life, and only get annoyed about this when the news comes on talking about it as if it is all OK. You may know our governor has said he would not go along with the homo agenda?

 

[noguru]

I'm just sick of hearing how these queers are doing so much damage to so many people when and, you are going to have to take it on faith here, I have never met one person who told me he or she was a homosexual. I have seen cases of pedophiles, cases of prison rape, hardly condoned, and there were some COs, usually female who looked to me like they tried to look and act like men. Then not one ever told me she was a dyke, and had she, I would have made a case out of it.

I never lived in any neighborhood where I seen people acting like they were homos. It seems to me, they may have been around, yet had the sense to know I was not one to confide in?

All in all, I have not been bothered by any.

Maybe had I worked into the mid 2000s, I might have had a different experience, yet doubt any would mess with me the way they did the cake sellers; I think they were wimps for letting it happen.

I like my outlook on life, and only get annoyed about this when the news comes on talking about it as if it is all OK. You may know our governor has said he would not go along with the homo agenda?

I went to college in 1983. I am sure I met gay people prior to that. Like a couple guys in high school band with me, and the female gym teacher. But they never made much out of their sexual orientation.

In college I met a very good friend. I as well as all our friends knew he was gay. He had a lot of female friends, but he preferred shopping with them rather than pursuing a sexual relationship with any of them. On his 50th birthday this year he finally came out of the closet. He has never been obtrusive about his sexual orientation, and he has always been polite and respectful of me. I think it would be wrong for me to return to him anything other than the respect and consideration he has shown me. I do not condone homosexual activities, but I realize the world, up until very recently, has not been very considerate of them.

I agree with you about this bakery situation and the supreme court decision. As I think gays and lesbians are being overly dramatic about all this based on the past and the perception of injustices they feel they experience now.

 

[Alate_One]

Is America great, maybe but mostly because a lot of other places are worse. Some places may be better though, Canada, UK and Denmark to name a few.

We have taught a lot of other nations how to do things better by our negative examples.

Our biggest problem is we fail to admit and deal with our collective mistakes because of excess patriotism. We fail to make positive changes because of poor voter education and voter apathy.

For those that say America isn't great, what country do you think is better?

 

[noguru]

Is America great, maybe but mostly because a lot of other places are worse. Some places may be better though, Canada, UK and Denmark to name a few.

We have taught a lot of other nations how to do things better by our negative examples.

Our biggest problem is we fail to admit and deal with our collective mistakes because of excess patriotism. We fail to make positive changes because of poor voter education and voter apathy.

For those that say America isn't great, what country do you think is better?

Sancocho thinks Chile is better.

 

[Ktoyou]

I think I am too old for this?

The issue in my time was the racialism in the South. I was never convinced about race as a construct and I thought black people were victimized, yet I never did anything about it. The issue was too daring for me then, and I did not want to be ostracized, and rebuffed by schoolmates.

It was also my full awareness, that too many of my peers were adamantly against any 'race' mixing.

Even our water fountains were segregated. The public swimming pools were segregated. the restrooms, the restaurants. Blacks had to enter the town theater by a black outside stairs and buy their ticket from a black ticket man at the top of the stairs; they have to sit in the balcony. There was no mixing at school, even though Brown V. Borad was long since passed. I was a young adult when Governor Wallace stood on the college gate to run interference, blocking black students from attendance.

With the homosexuals, I see no similarity and it seems to me they are taking advantage of what people of color in the US had to long endure. I think homosexuality is a mental illness, and it is all parlor games as to why it was removed as a mental illness. I see no reason for homosexuals to be allowed to marry because now we do not discriminate between different groups based on color.

To me, civil rights was undoing a wrong done long ago, while this applied to homosexuals is undoing a right and making it artificial and blatantly wrong!

I have seen blacks pushed, punched and called names; I heard far worse. They, usually, did not do anything to cause it, they were hated for what they appeared to be.

I would never condone this, and when blacks sat at lunch tables reserved for whites, i see no more than a protest to be given their natural rights. Yet they were beat up, and sometimes killed over this!

Now think about the baker, who only wants to act on his and her beliefs, yet these homos did harm them, and took away their way of life.

If black persons were beaten for sitting at a lunch counter, not wanting more than a meal, why should homosexuals attempt to force others to do their bidding, and when denied to succumb to their demands, these homosexuals ruin their lives. I ask you fairly, is it just, they should be allowed to ruin lives because others believe it wrong to cater to something which is obviously and essentially different and abnormal?

 

[noguru]

I think I am too old for this?

The issue in my time was the racialism in the South. I was never convinced about race as a construct and I thought black people were victimized, yet I never did anything about it. The issue was too daring for me then, and I did not want to be ostracized, and rebuffed by schoolmates.

It was also my full awareness, at the to me many of my peers were adamantly against any 'race' mixing.

Even our water fountains were segregated. The public swimming pools were segregated. the restrooms, the restaurants. Blacks had to enter the town theater by a black outside stairs and buy their ticket from a black ticket man at the top of the stairs; they have to sit in the balcony. There was no mixing at school, even though Brown V. Borad was long sense past. I was a young adult when Governor Wallace stood on the college interference to block black students from attendance.

With the homosexuals, I see no similarity and it seems to me they are taking advantage of what people of color in the US had to long endure. I think homosexuality is a mental illness, and it is all parlor games as to why it was removed as a mental illness. I see no reason for homosexuals to be allowed to marry because now we do not discriminate between different groups based on color.

To me, civil rights was undoing a wrong done long ago, while this applied to homosexuals is undoing a right and making it artificial and blatantly wrong!

I have seen blacks pushed, punched and called names; I heard far worse. They, usually, did not do anything to cause it, they were hated for what they appeared to be.

I would never condone this, and when blacks sat at lunch tables reserved for whites, i see no more than a protest to be given their natural rights. Yet they were beat up, and sometimes killed over this!

Now think about the baker, who only wants to act on his and her beliefs, yet these homos did harm them,and took away there way of life.

If black persons were beaten for sitting at a lunch counter, not wanting more than a meal, why should homosexuals attempt to force others to do their bidding, and when denied to succumb to their demands, these homosexuals ruin their lives. I ask you fairly, is it just, they should be allowed to ruin lives because others believe it wrong to cater to something which is obviously and essentially different and abnormal?

Perhaps that is why I can empathize with homosexuals more than most. I started dating black women at a very early age, though I did not date only black women. But once I did, it certainly put a limit on the white women who would go out with me. And in many cases I experienced overt racism from both blacks and whites when I was with a black date.

I think it is wrong to treat any other human with disrespect and indignity because they are different. Unless of course they begin to treat me poorly. Of course even then I remain as respectful and considerate as the situation allows. Because if I succumb to the disrespect and tyranny of others. then none of us win except the disrespect and tyranny.

I use to love the movie "Billy Jack" because he stood up against the intolerance to minorities. And so I began studying the martial arts also. What I have found is that people who bully others are often cowards themselves. And if you stand up to them with the dignity and self restraint that the martial arts require, then they usually back down before a physical confrontation. They may whine and moan as they leave, but they do usually walk away.