Oh dear! It looks as if I have stirred up controversy again. Just stating my opinions.

Christa, I'm sorry if you think that "I took what you said and completely screwed it around. And then basically went back and proved what I was saying."
I'm afraid that I can't see it that way myself. I just thought that the comment was totally over the top and replied in kind.

"You'd vote for anyone else, so long as it's not Bush? Is that not what that statement means???"
I suppose that's how it sounds, though I obviously didn't mean just anyone. I was basing it on the choice between Bush and Kerry (who I knew much less of then). I just couldn't imagine that the Democratic party would put forward a candidate who could do worse than Bush has. I'm sometimes not sure whether Americans are aware of just how much damage this administration has done to the reputation of their country. Not to mention their disastrous attitude to the global environment, to foreign policy, and the suspicious links to huge Corporations in the oil industry. And how about their actions against the health care bill which ensures that the pharmaceutical industry will earn an extra 139 billion dollars in the next 8 years, and that your medicine prices will continue to be much higher than neighboring countries? The medical industry, together with the White House used 900 million dollars and over a thousand lobbyists to ensure that.

You don't have to get so het up about it all, it's only my opinion. I'm sure you would consider me a pinkie liberal minded socialist if you ever met me. But it's not as simple as that, it's not just black and white.

I'm not scared of you.
I'm not intimidated by you.
And just for future reference, LEAVE RICHARD ALONE!

Please relax Christa, I must surely be one of the very last people in the whole world that you have to be scared of, and I am quite sure that Richard can look after himself, I doubt very much that he needs any help from you or anyone else. I don't even own a gun!
And I must admit that I can't for the life of me see how "dissing" Richard is narrow minded and arrogant.

Originally posted by Mkitty "i wish people didnt hate us and that there were peace"
Yes, it's so sad isn't it. Unfortunately, the main reason that so many people now hate America is a product of the actions of the Bush administration. It's as simple as that. America went to war against the wrong enemy on the wrong premise and lied about the facts. Saddam obviously had to go at some time or other, but it was a disastrous decision to go to war with such a large country without any plan for the aftermath. Especially when we are all facing a much greater threat from international terrorism. There were no terrorist organizations in Iraq before the war, now the place is crawling with them, and millions more Muslims hate America. All the money and resources and lives that have been spent in Iraq should have been spent on facing global terror. Not Saddam first and in a great hurry. That must surely be obvious to everybody now. I think that the Bush administration have let down their own armed forces shamelessly. How tragic for all the brave soldiers fighting for their lives against the wrong enemy.

From CNN I think:
Bush Rhetoric Becoming More Aggressive
In chats with reporters, two of Bush's closest advisers - Rove and Karen Hughes - together used the word "liberal'' nearly a dozen times to describe Kerry.
Bush then warns - his audience often chanting along with him - that Kerry "can run but he cannot hide" from a record that the president criticizes as both unimpressive and unabashedly liberal.

I really cannot understand why so many Republicans seem to hate the idea of someone being liberal. I checked it's meaning in the dictionary, and there isn't a negative definition to be found. Here are some examples:

Liberal: Not narrow or contracted in mind; not selfish; not bound by orthodox tenets or established forms in political or religious philosophy; independent in opinion; friendly to great freedom in the constitution or administration of government; having tendency toward democratic or republican, as distinguished from monarchical or aristocratic forms; independent; free; not servile or mean; humanitarian; impartial.
… or this:
Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded; free from bigotry.

What on earth is wrong with being liberal???

"The poll found six percent of likely voters are still undecided about the race with barely more than three weeks to go until the Nov. 2 election, and 16 percent of the voters who identify themselves as independents are undecided."
I think it was Pam that mentioned this earlier, and I agree with her. How on earth can so many people still be undecided? But then again, there are so many conflicting reports in the media it's difficult to decide what's the truth and what's fictional propaganda.

Karen: Actually I am (or was) from England, I just haven't lived in an English speaking country since 1962. Since I left before I was 21 (the voting age), and postal votes weren't allowed then, I didn't have the right to vote in any national election until I was nearly 50. And that in England, a country I hadn't lived in for over 30 years! After all these years in Denmark, I still can't vote here, since I won't give up my British passport. But it does, as you say take a bit of work, and I constantly have to resort to the dictionary and spell checker!

Mugsy: Thanks for the compliment! I just try to do my best and think before I open my big mouth. Doesn't always seem to work though!

… and Christa: thank you for "letting me off easy", you had me worried there for a moment!