Insom Elvis

I have to add my input here, I am an American, born and raised close to Las Vegas, Nevada and being an American I may or may not be welcome here but that's really up to your perception of myself, and possibly any stereotypes that may be floating around. I will support my country, my countrymen, and my president until one or the other does something to threaten the freedom that so many of our men have died defending. I would have died in battle under president Clinton's term of office although I hated his lack of morals and failure to be truthful. I don't agree with everything Bush, the current presiden does, but if I protest this in public, I am giving live ammunition to those who seek to destroy us. Perhaps we did start the Iraq war, for now lets go ahead and say we did. Iraq invade Kuwait, this is not fiction. In their greed, Iraq attacked an easy target for personal gain and who was there to protect them? Well America showed up and kicked Saddam's ass back to Iraq right? We could have had Iraq straightened out a lot faster except due to the fact that we willingly submitted to U.N. oversight, our mission for democracy and freedom for the people of Iraq was postponed for 12 years. In that time, many of the people of Iraq became extremely disenfranchised, they were so willing to surrender to the freedom of our jail cells rather than submit to the authority of a murderous dictatorship but we were foced to withdraw to see that things were done in the most sensible fashion. If I see a large boy hit a small girl I'm going to interfere even if I am not that boy's parent. Does this make me an evil satan worshipper? What's the difference in what we did with Iraq? Same with Vietnam and Korea, the little guy got picked on and we stepped in with great loss to our own assets. I'd gladly die for my country, but could you imagine dying for someone else's? Or say you live, but half of your comrades in arms were taken by whatever war you fought in and you have to live the rest of your life hearing their screams in your sleep at night and hearing people constantly badmouth YOU for sticking up for another civilization. As far as U.S. and Canadian relations, we're business partners. I see it as a bit more, we're long time neighbors and friends. You helped us gain our freedom and you have my personal thanks for that. I believe you also have troops on the field in Iraq, if I'm not mistaken, then rest assured that we appreciate their support. I feel a strong sense of pride that we've come so far, both civilized nations standing side-by-side without ever having to take up arms against eachother. Now as far as the politicians go, you're close, we need your resources and you need our money. Done deal, the transaction is made in the open, legally and with full support from both sides. Where's the problem? Our politicians may be arrogant, they might not care about you, but thats why they represent our budget and not our heart. At a time like this, where America is under quiet seige from terrorists and stressing out about wars abroad it's nice to know that if we get hit hard maybe Canada would watch our backs. And likewise, trust me! If your coastline was invaded it would take one phone call and you'd have so much support from the greatest military on earth that you wouldn't know where to fit them all. I know for damn sure we wouldn't sit idly by if you were ever hit, but if that never happens are you going to sit there and accuse us of wanting to take you over? That's ridiculous and I hope you rethink your logic because that's almost offensive.

Correct me if I'm wrong but in my understanding, marriage is composed of 2 parts... The traditional marriage, spelled out in the bible, held in a church and led by a minister, well it would seem that marriage is a religious thing. So unless gays found a place in the Bible, they just can't be married. Now the other half of the equation is the legal half, the shared finances, debts, insurance, the peice of paper that says you're married. Personally I think these should be two totally seperate entities and only a man and woman, both of age and consenting should be married. If 2 gay people want a civil union so if one dies the other gets the life insurance or whatever, fine, but then I want to be able to have a civil union with anyone I want, like my dog, brother, some homeless guy i meet on the street that I want to put on my insurance. Don't tell me that's different because the gay couple are in love where I'm not in love with the homeless guy, because love would fall under traditions of morals and emotions, where the government has no grounds to set guidelines.

I'd really liek to see the evidence that shows kids who aren't spanked are more likely to commit crimes. I'd be far more willing to bet that kids who get hit by their parents are more likely to grow up to see physical violence as an acceptable solution to their problems. Here's an example for you. I've been loving but strict with my 5 year-old daughter since birth. When she requests my attention in the form of asking me a question like "Can I have a drink?" I respond immediately. If she were to request my attention, like she used to, by making a scene in public, she'd get spanked. If anyone were to report this as a crime, let them do so. If society decides this makes me unfit to parent, so be it, I wont parent by someone else's doctrine just because someone decided it isn't cool to spank kids this decade. My little girl no longer throws tantrum in public places under my watch, EVER. I never really hurt her or gave her bruises, just a little swat to show I was serious. A vast majority of kids raised in the 50's were spanked, many even beaten. Are the vast majority of people from the 50's in prison? Do they run around randomly hitting people? Not that I've seen. If your kid slaps you in the face and you calmly tell them not to, how are your showing parental authority? They're not foreign diplomats to be negotiated with, they're young learners and need to know their limits. If the kid that slaps his parents is never taught that people will hit back, when does he learn for himself? When he gets his ass kicked for hitting the wrong person, and if that's what you want for your kid, they'd be better off without your guidance. After reading the post after mine, I must add the following: "Do not spank your kids when you are stressed out towards them or anything else!" If i spank my kid, it's a light swat, just enough to say "Hey, I'm telling you that what you're doing is bad." If you punish them when you're angry, you could go overboard and everyone involved would regret it.

I agree there as well, they might be their own little civilization within our borders, but do you think people like this will stay calm and cool when they outnumber us? Like the current siyuation in the U.S., not so much Muslims as Mexicans, and personally I'd rather have the Mexicans, but we left our borders open and we're close to being outnumbered by people from another country. We can't make English the official language, all of our lives have to adapt to allow room for their culture. I dread the day this happens to Europe with the Muslims.

That's really why all these protests and attacks exhibit the weakness of the underlying doctrine itself -- if they honestly believe in a powerful and omnipotent god who will strike down his enemies, why do they need to go to bat for him? He can just twiddle his little finger and take care of his enemies. Unless, of course, that powerful and omnipotent god doesn't exist, or they have doubts about his power and omnipotence. . . If they want their countries to be under total lockdown from freedom of speech, so be it. The muslims exhibiting outrage in the form of violence are only securing the fact that they can't tolerate the kind of lifestyle we take for granted. It's a shame that they feel the need to resort to violence but to each their own i guess. Personally I'm staying right here in U.S.A. where there's a lot of political drama, but I can draw a cartoon and not have to worry about being shot at. I can't wait to see Europe and australia, but you couldn'y pay me enough to step off a plane in any country where the people are so determined to not let others express an opinion.