SpawnPoint - Where Game Begins

i realize that this opinion isn't going to be popular, but i am kinda scared. i don't want to turn this post into a bash-fest, but i am amazed that not everybody can see how socialist his thinking is. government subsidized healthcare + the government stepping in on the student loan business + the government with the hands in the banks + government controlling what kind of energy we use = socialist imo i am really frightful that we may allow the government to get into places they re not supposed to be, and we wo't be able to get em out

Quote from RockSteady:

With the banks I believe it was Bush who nationalised/bailed out most of them, that wasn't something he wanted to do, it was just a necessity to avoid total collapse. Governments around the world have had to do the same, regardless of political ideologies.

I don't see trying to reduce your dependence on oil as a bad thing either. Just look at the places where most of the oil comes from, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Russia, Venuzuela etc. Not exactly the most stable or friendly are they? There are also serious questions over the long term viability of oil as the main energy source of the worlds economy. To me spending on other energy sources is good idea, both in terms of your national security and in the jobs that it will create.

Health care is another interesting area that needs some serious thought and restructuring. The US currently spends twice as much per head on health care as many other developed nations with no clear benefit. Currently spending on healthcare in the US is $2trillion and if trends continue would go from 16% of GDP in 2007 to 49% in 2082. So something is going to have to change.

It's not really surprising that the system is more expensive than other countries when you find out that doctors are paid for every procedure they administer, the more expensive the better. This is something that needs addressing, the cost control is the wrong place. From what I've heard Obama is intending to do something about this.

It's going to be interesting to see how much progress he can make in these areas and whether he's going to be able to do it quickly enough to satisfy the voters.

The only real issues Obama has dealt with so far has been the economy and Stem Cells.

I'm going to talk about Stem Cells first because it is the easier topic. I feel like he did the write thing in overturning Bush's ban against using stem cells for research. I believe that the proper restriction can be found to make everyone happy. Also the executive statement he made saying that science and politics should not intermingle is something that I agree with wholeheartedly.

Going on to the economy. All I got to say is that the stimulus bill is trash. We are just going to fix the problems by throwing money at it. And these shovel ready projects don't seem to be working that well. Creating 45 jobs here and there won't really help. One of these shovel ready jobs is taking place where I live and all I can hear is complaint about it. Now going 6 miles down the road takes over 1 hour when before it was 20 minute. There was no need to start that project to create an extra lane. It stupid projects like this that will kill the government. I believe that we should allow the banks and the automakers to go under and then restructure their whole business then. Bankruptcies doesn't mean that the company is dead, so those companies that are failing so go through it and rebuild from scratch.

For me, its sort of been just a guy trying to build up the morale by going from place to place yet the only major thing is the stimulus bill and that passed with a divided America.

Just to let you guys know, I supported Obama through the election but I am a liberal libertarian.

I gave this YouTube - The Obama Deception Part 1/12 a look see and as I suspected it's just more of the same divisive promotion of fear and hate that should have no place among our peoples. I judge politics the same way an Olympic competition is judged. I throw out the high and low, or the extreme left and right, and find the truth somewhere in the middle.

We see this kind of action from both the extreme left and right, and neither serve the best interests of peace and prosperity. This kind of display is designed only to stoke the fires of hatred and fear among otherwise peaceful people. This video plays to our fears, but says little about the real world. The left would have us believe that the right are war mongers who only serve the rich, while the right would have us believe that the left are tax and spend socialist bent on the destruction of democracy. Anyone who falls for either of these narrow views simply does not understand the game of politics being played out each day in the media.

I would suggest that anyone watching these types of productions keep in mind that we're AMERICANS FIRST, not liberals on the left nor conservatives on the right, just people going to work or school every day doing our best to survive turbulent times. Back in November America spoke not for Obama, or against McCain, but FOR change. That was the mantra - change is the engine. Now that change has come those who sponsor fear are working overtime. This is the way of things, and that won't likely change, at least not in our lifetimes. Knowing this should allow us to move forward and beyond such petty views. Videos like the one I just watched do not speak to what is good about America, rather to an America that will never exist except in the minds of those who choose to live in fear and hatred - the extreme left and right.

When the towers fell, when the Hummer drives by the IED, both Democrats and Republicans pay the price that is the burden of free people. The important thing to note here is that we live in a country where lives have been given just so that type of ridiculous video can be freely shown and viewed by all. Each of us free to form our own opinion and take from it what we wish. The key is not to submit to the fear and hate that feeds what is harmful to our ability to prosper. Understand the power plays and manipulation of your thinking, take things like that video with the simple understanding that after all is said and done we are not slaves to any ideology, just simple people trying to succeed in complex times.

~A

you all will think im racist if a say anything elaborite, so ill keep it simple:

so far, i don't like where he's going and i've never really liked him.

but thats just me. and no, im not racist (again).

i agree that a lot of stuff is very tainted, but this group that put out that obama deception clearly stated more than a few times that they believed that all presidents since kennedy have "worked" for the same group of people. not just obama, but bush, clinton, bush and especially carter they said. i don't sa i believe all of it, but it isn't hard to imagine something like this from occuring. even if you love obama, it's worth checking it out. i'm not usually one for concpiracy theories, but i try and be informed as much as possible about all sides, no sides, both sides, whatever. i find that is the best way to make a decision.

also, on voting for "change", i personally hate that. it was a slogan, a catch phrase that was fed to the masses by the media and they ate it up. obama has already wishwashed on things that won him his campaign. like bringing the troops home in 6 months, wait no 16, wait no 23. obviously, situations change, as do strategies, but don't run your campaign on something that you have no clue about. also, sorry i have a lot of alsos :), alot of people imo voted for him because of a certain physical feature. don't misconstrue this please, just hear me out. if you looked at the demograhics that they were showing on election days, at least here in indiana, indianapolis, and other very heavy metropolitan cities voted for obama, while rural areas voted for mccain, i guess you could say well people just voted for mccain because he didn't look like obama, that may be true, but i was watching a program where a group of students or something went out into the city and represented mccains views as obama's, they were asking people what they thought about obama's view that he was pro life, and other views that clearly he didn't hold, and these people said o i agree with him he is gonna be a great president, we want change c'mon, i know this was abolished in the 20th century, but i really think it would be amazing if ALL voters had to take a test to see if they were informed, not just certain races or anything like that as that is wrong, but we had people voting for someone just because of what they looked like, i'm sorry but i don't want my president to get in on something like that, i want my president to be the best, btw i don't think mccain would have done a good job either, but thats a different subject, k im sorry nuff rant :)

i see your point on the snafu thing, i just hope obama comes out of bush's snafus like reagan came out of carter's, i dont hate obama, i just disagree with him on a lot of things, but now that hes in, i really do hope that he will be the best president we have ever had, we all know we need it

Obama will leave office after 4 years with a lower approval rating than that of Carter.

Its a sticky thread though, is that an exception?

Well since it's active again I hope it's allowed I write down my personal opinion too ;)

I must say for me it was quite simple: it was either choosing between McCain (& Palin lmao) or Barack Obama. For me it was rather obvious to choose the side of Mr Obama. Not because he's black (altho I sometimes catch myself of discriminating "colored" people in a positive way) but I like the way he handles things. Not in a macho-texas-cowboy way (plz don't be offended if you're a Texan, no harm meant) but in a positive thinking & respectful way... The way he handled the speech he gave to the people of Iran, was simply amazing. The way he reached out his hand to the Russians, but still pointing a finger at the same time, was also something that really impressed me. This is (imo ofc) a very intelligent & humane person. Although I'm a soldier myself, I could not live with the stupidity Bush handled the Afghanistan & Iraq matters. Also Guantanamo is something that should never have been built. That place is as evil as the people it keeps captured. The guilty people, that is.

I think it might be a little early to wonder whether Mr Obama has been doing a great job or not, tbh I don't really care about the economical crisis because it's not something the small man like me, has something to do with. It's capitalism itself that created this, if top managers earn insane salaries like that you can expect the system to collapse. What I am interested in, for myself as a human being & as a soldier is if the USA will continue invading countries. Because all other democratic countries get dragged into it. I went to Afghanistan in 2007 and why? I don't know, not my war & definately not my cause. What's the reply of people then? "Wait till they throw some planes in Belgian buildings & 5000 people die..."
Won't happen since we don't act like we're superior (ofc we aren't either) but Belgium is also one of the countries where freedom of speech is holy. Never heard of manipulated news broadcasts here, unlike the American broadcasts etc etc... Hmmm just caught myself floating away from the Obama subject. Sorry for that...

Ok I think Obama is doing ok, and I hope with all my heart he will be able to make changes. He just needs some time to undo the mistakes G.W. Bush made + I also think they gave him the toughest problem to solve in the last 20 years...
Anyway, gotta go now... Will reply on this later when others have done too!


Quote from LeeRoy:

And LeeRoy: if you expect to be taken seriously plz write down some reasons why u think this is gonna happen.
Making a statement without explaining it makes it quite hard to write down reasons to prove you're wrong ;)