God, don't say that. I know its getting that way but its not that bad yet. Blair did seem a bit taken in by all the excitment over going to war, I think he wants to run America to be honest.

Honestly the way I see this entire topic is that it's fine to hate America, because yes America has serious issues, but your respective countries are no better, socially, politically, or morally. I don't care how much someone hates Bush, because that is not a good enough reason to hate the entire country. We're not here to compete which countries are better. And, can you judge a country just based on what you see on your local news, which as someone pointed out, is biased and scewed? If we're gonna talk "objectively", then it's difficult to comprehend someone who merely hates America for our foreign policy "fall-out".

Which is why I said I don't hate Americans, it just tends to be the people they elect.

^Right on. But, there aren't too many good guys that can run for office. I don't personally think Kerry would have been any better, because essentially he had the same position on the major issues, but his attempt to appeal to both sides didn't sit well with hardcore liberals. I dunno if you kept up with the Democratic Primaries, but I really liked Dennis Kucinich (I think I was the only one), Al Sharpton, and Howard Dean- pretty much the extreme liberals. I don't consider myself a liberal but these guys were (in my opinion) the best of the worst. Out of the GOP, I really would like to see John McCain run again, I think most would agree. Almost everyone I know has positive things to say about him.

Like the thousands of troops we have in Africa? And no, I didn't say that was the only two...I asked you which of those two do you believe is better?

Question: So do you hate America?

No. I do not. It is my favoured holiday destination, because the people are so friendly and the shopping is so incredibly cheap.

seems we have two options..join brussells or join america. both suck

Nah, the European super state won't go ahead, not with Britain's full involvement anyway. Gordon Brown is much too smart an economist to let Britain go down such a disastrous road, I'm 99% sure he's just using the Blair idea of being the centre of Europe to eventually bolster his own position when he decides to take over Labour.

Joining the Euro won't happen either, makes absolutely no sense in our current economic position, and the government is aware of this.

everyone hates america because one: george bush is a horrid president, and two: america seems to think it is dominant over every other country in the world, and that is why the middle east hates us.. i think, but still, its dumb how we think we are doing better than any other country when we arent, the war, and we have a bad economy, and its just retarded

Yeah.... but when have those 3-9 months u need to watch and keep eye on the child ,also feeding[breast]... stuff like that changing diapers dont have time to watch the diet frequently being awaken at weird times when baby needs assistance,... its not nearly enough time to get back into ur old habits...also craving for food when pregent still use to those habits...

Our economy isn't in the ****ter as most of you seem to think. If our economy were truly "bad"...a lot of other countries would be screwed because of it.

It all comes down to this............ everybody hates america because our ****ing government is so ****ed up. end of story.

Because George Bush kills innocent civilians with his barehands blah blah blah, we've all heard it before.

Bush Inaugurational Speech
 

Transcript: Bush's Address

Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief Justice, President Carter, President Bush, President Clinton, reverend clergy, distinguished guests, fellow citizens:

On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution, and recall the deep commitments that unite our country. I am grateful for the honor of this hour, mindful of the consequential times in which we live, and determined to fulfill the oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed.

At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For a half century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical - and then there came a day of fire.

We have seen our vulnerability - and we have seen its deepest source. For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny - prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder - violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.

America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time.

So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own. America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way.

The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it. America's influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause.

My most solemn duty is to protect this nation and its people against further attacks and emerging threats. Some have unwisely chosen to test America's resolve, and have found it firm.

We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.

We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people. America's belief in human dignity will guide our policies, yet rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they are secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty.

Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty - though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt. Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery. Liberty will come to those who love it.

Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world:

All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.

Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country.

The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it."

The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people you must learn to trust them. Start on this journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side.

And all the allies of the United States can know: we honor your friendship, we rely on your counsel, and we depend on your help. Division among free nations is a primary goal of freedom's enemies. The concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude to our enemies' defeat.

Today, I also speak anew to my fellow citizens:

From all of you, I have asked patience in the hard task of securing America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom. And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well - a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.

A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause - in the quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy … the idealistic work of helping raise up free governments … the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our enemies. Some have shown their devotion to our country in deaths that honored their whole lives - and we will always honor their names and their sacrifice.

All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself - and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character.

America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at home - the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty.

In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act, and the G.I. Bill of Rights. And now we will extend this vision by reforming great institutions to serve the needs of our time. To give every American a stake in the promise and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools, and build an ownership society. We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance - preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society. By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear, and make our society more prosperous and just and equal.

In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character - on integrity, and tolerance toward others, and the rule of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before - ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In America's ideal of freedom, the exercise of rights is ennobled by service, and mercy, and a heart for the weak. Liberty for all does not mean independence from one another. Our nation relies on men and women who look after a neighbor and surround the lost with love. Americans, at our best, value the life we see in one another, and must always remember that even the unwanted have worth. And our country must abandon all the habits of racism, because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time.

From the perspective of a single day, including this day of dedication, the issues and questions before our country are many. From the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that come to us are narrowed and few. Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our character bring credit to that cause?

These questions that judge us also unite us, because Americans of every party and background, Americans by choice and by birth, are bound to one another in the cause of freedom. We have known divisions, which must be healed to move forward in great purposes - and I will strive in good faith to heal them. Yet those divisions do not define America. We felt the unity and fellowship of our nation when freedom came under attack, and our response came like a single hand over a single heart. And we can feel that same unity and pride whenever America acts for good, and the victims of disaster are given hope, and the unjust encounter justice, and the captives are set free.


We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul. When our Founders declared a new order of the ages; when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty; when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner "Freedom Now" - they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of Liberty.

When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, "It rang as if it meant something." In our time it means something still. America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world, and to all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength - tested, but not weary - we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom.

May God bless you, and may He watch over the United States of America.

Blaa :finger:

****, did I forget to quote his "Hail Hitler" at the end of the speech?

^ hahaha, perfect response to a rediculous post. On another note, I know the pro/anti bush topics have been beaten to death a million times over already, but I'm genuinely concerned about what his next move is going to be. Iran, North Korea, and Syria have all been targeted already, and american spies are already stationed in Iran. There's barely enough troops in Iraq, if Bush decides to invade another country under the guise of "giving them freedom", I shudder to think of what means he'll go through to provide not only the economic resources, but also the troops needed. Aside from all that, because he's not eligible to run for presidency in the next election, he's ultimately not responsible to the american public. So he's got a free run to do anything he wants, as long as he stops just short of anything that will get him impeached. He started a war in his last term of office, and that was when he had to think about re-election.

Here's an article I found about the situation as is stands in Iran:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/...ran/index.html

BUSH/HITLER SIMILARITIES!!!!!!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Its true though.

My post was ridiculous? This bull**** of a thread is rediculous. I've read more truth in the National Inquirer, than in this speech. ^^^^^ Good Output though.

Please...did you read it at all? Did you watch it all? I'm guessing no to both, but maybe you read a paragraph or so and then your brain started to hurt again.

I hope there isn't a next move, but I'm sure that they are genuinely concerned with Iran, mainly because if they ever do get things going in Iraq, they don't want Iran to mess things up. Bush KNOWS he messed up in Iraq, not by invading, but with the way he has handled it while there. I think he knows that not only will he not be supported by a great deal of the public, but also the military will not support this move. I think/hope he plays its smart for a little while, and keeps the troops in Iraq, lets the troops have a more strict order of ruling in order to have a sense of discipline there, and I believe things will start working out better. I truly don't see the Govn't going anywhere else until the Iraq "crisis" is seen as more of a success to the general public.

Hahaha I did actually read it all. I would never watch it cause i'm an iggnorent Canadian,and yes my brain did start to hurt.

Fran's thoughts: His speech writers need to buy a thesaurus. Too much freedom.

^Only if you class his bad desicions as intentional. I think its just that he's not the brightest bulb in the box, its not like he got to president just so he can murder everyone.

Alejo's Thought: They were trying to emphasize "freedom"....but could be wrong.

i dosnt matter he still is put in the position to be able that kill or hard thousands of people.

Translation please

Bush is the most dangerously imcompitent man since stalin

Fran's second thought having re-read it: How come he never says Iraq once? Isn't the death of over a thousand American soldiers slightly important to the next four years?

The whole farce from over here looks like he's living in a fantasy world, he's enjoying lavish, million dollar balls whilst on the streets of Baghdad American soldiers are scraping the remains of suicide bombers into garbage bags.

Certainly Bush is attempting to emphasise freedom, but wouldn't it be a good idea to actually focus on the most important issue in the American world, nay, the whole world, right now?

Stalin wasnt incompitent (sorry if I cant spell) He did a lot for Russia, just because his methods were dangerous and killed many doesnt mean he was incompitent.

In a military sense he was woeful. With the sheer size of the Russian army they should've been able to crush everything in sight, as it was they barely managed to win a war against Finland.

He was cruel, oppressive, insecure and daft as a brush. Nobody in Russia was sorry to see the back of him.

Im not saying he was a saint or what he did was right for anyone. Youre right, of couse he could have done a lot better for Russia, but he did bring her up to the modern age of industry at the time.

Im not defending him at all, I agree that things would have been a hell of a lot better without him, I just wanted to say that he wasnt completely incompetent.

Ok that's just blowing it way out of proportion. how about saddam hussein, slobadon milosevic, radovan karadzic, ratko mladic, edi amin, mohamed farrah aidid, khartoum, I could list dozens more, but maybe you should start with these to get some perspective. I wouldn't call Bush a good president, but it's rediculous to compare him to Stalin.

Didn't Stalin kill more people than Hitler? If so poor analogy.

^yeah he did, huh, just realized I didn't list hitler on my list of people worse than bush, but that one's pretty obvious, so it doesn't really matter.

Alejo's reply to Fran's though: (I like the 3rd person speaking haha) I think that he didn't mention Iraq for a variety of reasons.
1. He knows he's messed up already in the handlings of it.
2. He was at a mid-hostile crowd and the mentioning of Iraq could not have been great.
3. Balls have been done for a while, it's just kind of a way of congratulating (or at least giving them a break) of the normal daily decisions/work that they normally make.

Hes a ****ing murderer. Get it?

i went up to these bush protestors on my campus and called them lowlifes, and one of them called me a "typical right wing fascist". I laughed so hard. One, considering I am not republican. Two, I don't have a favorable impression of the prez. But, these guys had signs and statues comparing bush to hitler. That isn't liberalism, that's extremism. And, the signs right next to them said things like "bush: divider, not uniter". well I'm glad to see the liberals are working hard at uniting the country as well when they compare the prez to hitler. it's so fashionable to hate bush, but most of the people i talk to (including these protestors) don't know what they are fighting. and signs that say "bring the troops home" - how stupid. You can't start a fire then let it burn. We have to finish the job there, even if we went in on totally false pretenses. the liberal's beloved kerry would say the same. In fact, his views on the main issues were exactly the same as bush's, except he was so vague on his position. i'll stop there for now.