Why did you vote for Obama or not...?

[Marigold2]

Yes I agree with all of your points but still..............
As a woman, as a mother I cannot image wanting to bring a child into this world to watch it starve to death. It is beyond my understanding. Perhaps I expect to much from these people and their leaders.

[Karen]

Yes I agree with all of your points but still..............
As a woman, as a mother I cannot image wanting to bring a child into this world to watch it starve to death. It is beyond my understanding. Perhaps I expect to much from these people and their leaders.

But without access to birth control or education, you wouldn't, as a woman, have a choice about whether or not to bring a child into this world.

I wish we, as human beings, could manage to do more to help people, so that things like preventable disease, malnutrition, and poverty no longer existed.

Feel as you like about Bill Gates, but at least his foundation - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - is putting money into some very worthwhile international causes. It is sad that the need exists, but good that they are trying.

[RICHARD]

There are homeless in the US, there are poor people in the US.....

But we don't have entire cities made up of cardboard shacks.

Years ago my parents would take us into Mexico to camp on the beach in Rosarito.

You would hit the border in San Ysidro and boom, There was literally a shanty town made up of cardboard house. It was built in a little valley/river bed that would flood out during the rainy season washing all the cardboard out to the ocean where the river emptied.

The river was also the sewer and a place for people to get water. All the time we drove by there I could not imagine that just over the border is a place where being 'poor' was having one TV in the house. Sharing a room with two other brothers, only having one car, getting one Christmas present- A good one, but one only. I remember getting a pillow and a candy cane filled with M&Ms one year. The local American Legion post gave us a box of food so that Christmas wasn't a total loss.

Being 'poor' in America is nothing like it is being poor anywhere else.

--------

Used garage doors.,

The huge one piece garage doors people replace on their homes to give them curb appeal?

On Interstate 5 we'd drive to work and see these huge trucks with 30-40 garage doors loaded on the back.

I was thinking aobut loud an asked "what are they doing carting them down the freeway?" HOUSES, my brother answered. Houses?

Instead of tossed them out as scrap, people in Tijuana and points south would pay to use them as walls to the their shanties/homes. Go figure-people are b!tching about taking out low cost paper on their homes and other people put together homes out of mismatched garage doors.

I love America.

[blue]

Adult stem cell research gets plenty of public funding, as do most areas of medical research.

Yeah I screwwed that up pretty bad.

Adult stem cell research dosent have the sticky morale issues that embryotic stem cell research has.

[carole]

As a young person visiting the USA, i was totally gobsmacked when i crossed the border into Mexico, i don't know what it is like now, but you went from skyscrapers,to shanty towns, i have never forgotten it,seen nothing like it before, i was only 18 at the time, and it really had an impact on me.

I have to agree with a lot that has been said, i also think that poverty in Africa,India etc is way different to poverty in America or New Zealand, especially here as you are eligible for welfare if you need it, i don't know how the American system works, but in my opinion there is no need for homeless people in my country, it is their choice. I may get flamed for that comment, but i am saying this about my own country,as i know how the system works here.

Marigold, my teenage daughter often comments on why they keep having children in these countries,as has been said it is because of a lack of education and lack of access to birth control, it is a sad fact indeed.

People in Africa don't have the same access to food banks, or shelters as we do,there just is not enough food to go around, and a Tv, car, what on earth are those things,they do not even know what they are.

Poverty is poverty and is bad no matter where it is, and i feel for all who live lives that are indeed miserable, i feel for the homeless in the USA,but i have to be true to myself, i feel more for those in Africa.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

as you are eligible for welfare if you need it, i don't know how the American system works, but in my opinion there is no need for homeless people in my country, it is their choice.

Ok, I'll give you the point that the homeless in other countries are different than here. But I know of NO ONE in this country who would chose to be homeless!!!

Only families with children can get welfare here. While waiting to see if my disability would go through, I was on public assistance. A grand total of $125 a month. I defy you to live on that!!! Luckily for me, I still had a bit of my profit sharing money left to help pay the bills until my disability came through.
Then I paid ever cent of the public assistance money back so someone else could be helped.

Believe me, you don't know how terrifiying it is to not know where your next meal will come from or how you will keep a roof over your head until you've been through it. Sleeping in the cold in America is still as miserable as sleeping in the cold any where else!

Poor people in America aren't the ones who can only afford one car. I can't even afford that any more. I think they are lucky if they can still afford one.

[carole]

Please don't mis-understand me, i have a lot of empathy for your situation, i really do, i have been pretty poor myself, not to that extent, but i have experienced hardship to a point, but i still consider myself extremely fortunate, even back then when things were tough.

Yes i do think the welfare state is different here than the states, you still don't get a lot to live on, but way more than that.

I am not saying it is not tough for homeless people, i just think it is tougher in other countries that is all,I am really not coming down on you personally, please don't see it that way, i have great empathy for you and your situation,I always would want to help those who are less well off than myself.

You are right with a lot you say,can i just end this by saying I feel for all the people in the world who are having it tough, you included.

I just wanted to add in NZ there is no need to be homeless in my opinion, because there is adequate welfare to get you by until you can either find a job or place to live, the homeless here are mostly people who do not want to work, do not fit into society for one reason or another , or who choose not to,some have drug or alcohol problems,are gang affiliated or young people who just do not want to conform to rules set by their parents, anyhow that is my take on it, in my country.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

That's ok, Carole, I see your point.

Take it from me though, no matter what country you live in, save as much money as you can while you are young because when your health starts to decline and the jobs dry up, you'll need it. The older you get, the harder it is to get work.

The unemployment numbers are increasing really fast here. I really worry about middle age people (or older) who will need to find work. The jobs just aren't here right now.

[kitten645]

"But I know of NO ONE in this country who would chose to be homeless!!!"

I actually do I've met people that argue that it's a "lifestyle choice" They have no interest in working or having any responsiblity. They like to be "free" to move about wherever they please. They chose that life and get very defensive if they percieve it's being threatened. Go figure
Claudia

[carole]

Yes same here, we even had this man on the telly who choose to be homeless, he was very likeable, but he relied on soup kitchens for meals, and he really just did not want the normal lifestyle,however he had been doing this for years and now decided he would change,amazing.

Yes unemployment is getting bad here too, we have had my husband laid off twice in different jobs, and it was no picnic in the park that's for sure, i am always scared it might happen again, especially the way things are right now,one can never feel secure.

Again to those people who are genuinely homeless through no fault of their own, you have my utmost empathy and understanding.

[Marigold2]

Humans have known for over 7000 years how and where babies come from. Millions of people know the answer to this question without ever seeing a book or having a test.
If people in Mexico and Africia can't afford a child they should keep their pants on and their hands busy trying to make their life better.
I just cannot understand how anyone could bring a child into this world knowing it will starve to death, that is murder and the adults need to put their urges aside and find a way to make their lives better.
I have no pity for these people.

[Edwina's Secretary]

Humans have known for over 7000 years how and where babies come from. Millions of people know the answer to this question without ever seeing a book or having a test.
If people in Mexico and Africia can't afford a child they should keep their pants on and their hands busy trying to make their life better.
I just cannot understand how anyone could bring a child into this world knowing it will starve to death, that is murder and the adults need to put their urges aside and find a way to make their lives better.
I have no pity for these people.

I have to disagree with you on this Marigold. There are many places on this earth where women do not have the power to refuse sex with their husbands.

There is also the issue of biology. Organism are driven to reproduce. It is why they exist. The imperative to reproduce is as strong as that for food and water.

I agree with the idea that people should only have children they and the planet can afford. But then reality intrudes.

[Marigold2]

ES, I certaintly understand the needs of the birds and bees. But I would find a way to put those aside for the life of my children or child.
On the other hand expecting teenagers to "just say no" is being naive.

[Edwina's Secretary]

ES, I certaintly understand the needs of the birds and bees. But I would find a way to put those aside for the life of my children or child.
On the other hand expecting teenagers to "just say no" is being naive.

Yes, you probably would find a different way. But you are not living the life people do in third world countries. And, as you understand that expecting teeangers to just say "no" is naive you surely understand that many of "those people" are merely teenagers as well. Life expectancy being what it is and all.

I think to have no compassion or pity because they do not know how to control the size of their families (other than total abstinence) is a bit...short-sighted?

I have never understood why missionaries and other religious/aid workers do not hand out birth control as the first thing. But that is for another thread.

[Marigold2]

LOL I am short sighted, been wearing glasses for years.
I am one of those people that when told it can't be done or you shouldn't do that, well that is a challage and I love challages, builds charactor, strength and it's fun as all get out.