neutralguy

Well obviously I understand that its not literally free, meaning we all pay through taxes, but the idea that everyone wasn't covered or that everyone doesn't have the same access seems wrong to me. I am all for the govt. getting out of a lot of areas and giving the power to the people, but here, I think its just a matter of compassione.

If the USA could use the force they used for Iraq..this would be a much happier story. Again Mr.Bush messed up.

Well, no doubt. I'm just saying, let's not pretend its some kind of fear tactic that also prevents crimes.

I agree with Bush/Cheney here. I went through a war in Bosnia. Wars are not without loss, not without struggle, not without many things going off course. But none of that means there is never a positive end to such a story. Many of us view the world in us/me/individual terms, but really, many don't. Soldiers are basically those types of thinkers. They know they could die but they see their service as something greater than themselves. That is why they join. That is why they can risk their life. And that is why we have to be more sympathetic about what we say. What's going on in Afghanistan is indeed very sad but it is winnable.

You keep saying this over and over like you really believe it. Explain to me how a person on drugs gets effected by tougher sentences? How does a psycho serial killer>

I'm a Libertarian by heart, but if we can't agree that healthcare should be free and available for everyone, then I don't think we can agree on anything.

In my sig there. You can check it out. I've set up a cool and realistic system. I'm always curious to see what people would do if they actually had a shot at making policy (and would they be able to work with other people, communicate, lead) or would we end up exactly like what we blame other politicians for?

Well, George W Bush was right on one thing (i'll give him that one - he needs it) that the true judgement in Iraq will come much more into the future. When there is a new govt. there and it functions much like any other nation. Same thing in afghanistan..success/failure..you won't really know for a long long time. I would say a success is anything where there is a democractic country in place, the people have power, and they can secure their own country.

There are a lot of armchair politicians here, that's why you guys should join my game. Let's see your talk in action

lol

When cops see people smoking pot and don't do anything about it..that basically tells you what most people think about it.

People on drugs don't think clearly..they dont' care about tougher sentences.

I don't have a problem with harsh punishment for people that do wrong. But it is after the fact. I am more talking about drugs or treatments that can legitimatley treat people that have destructive instincts which they can't control. We aren't all like that.

I went through a war as a child (Former Yugoslavia) Neighbours got killed, some further removed relatives are gone, went through a lot, so what do I deserve? One thing war thought me is, I am not special. My family is not special. They are just special to ME. But when you take an example, as extreme, where people are killed, tortured, raped, little children getting sniped from buildings, that tells me everything I need to know about the "fairness" of any individual life. When you experience something like that, the only way you can live life is by saying, "this world isn't about me, or my family (even though i care about them for obvious reasons), this is about humanity as a whole. That is the simply the only way a victim becomes something more and regains some kind of meaning and purpose in their life. So why do I bring up the criminal first? Because, the war wasn't about me, and no crime really is. I am interested, if at all possible, in finding ways to stop crime and treat criminals. Because, in the end, what I learned, was that, when the chips are down, any human is capable of doing wrong. And we need to try to see if there is a way to stop those kinds of "animal" instincts.

Nobody said anything about not helping victims, right? I think we should be an understanding and compassionate society. I clearly said, there are people we can help (who have committed crimes) and there are people that we can't. The latter being that we aren't intelligent enough as a society to do so in some cases. But just like I noted that I think fear tactics might stop petty crime, I also think in the same way, there might be things we can do to prevent or treat non-violent crime.