On Wed, 26 May 2004 15:23:40 GMT, figaro opined:

It does not appear that this issue can be debated. Too emotional for both
sides.

The Democrats are appalled at the incompetency of this administration and
the damage done to our reputation, economy, justice system, and environment
and the Republicans have this "Patriot at all costs" attitude which prevents
them from acknowledging even the simplest facts which make their team look
bad. There is no movement on either side; no rational discourse.

It used to be that journalists were held to a higher standard. Spin or
personal points of view had no place in the NEWS genre. Just the facts.
But then Rush L. began calling the media LIBERAL which allowed the
conservatives to throw out all previous teachings at journalism school and
attack based on emotion and not facts. Now we have conservative and liberal
media conglomerates that continue to blur the line between fact and fiction.
I judge news stories now by the station they appear on and not the content.

What a sad state of affairs for a country which prides itself on being
morally and intellectually superior. How much further into this pit do we
need to fall before people of reason rise up and take this country back to a
place where all can speak and all can be heard?

Excellent points, but to answer your question of falling into the pit and how
far do we need to go before people rise up? In my opinion, when we start
electing men who don't operate by what God tells them, directly. The moment I
hear that a person talks to God and God talks back, I'm outta here.

Not saying there is no God, though I do not believe in the conventional sense of
God, but this is seriously starting to look like America is in a holy war, and
my friend, we are going to lose. The majority of the world dislikes us. We
can't fight the world. How will we pay for the Medicare Prescription Program?
Gee, I wonder how much the trillion dollars it is going to cost for this war on
terrorism. I wonder how many houses we could build for the poor, how much
medicine we could have given to our senior citizens with nothing, on and on.

The bullshit piles coming out of the current administration are the worse I've
seen in my entire 48 years of life.


Allow each other to have different viewpoints no matter how stupid you think
they are. If we can do this, and ask the other side how they arrived at
their conclusions without spin and without derision, maybe we can understand
why there is such a huge chasm in this country. This "us vs. them" attitude
has to change if we want to become the country we know we can be. Closing
our minds and screaming at the tops of our lungs doesn't seem to be
accomplishing much more than emotional venting.

There will always be differences of opinions because we are all from
different backgrounds, educations, intellect. We are at different points in
our lives; some happy, some miserable. Some are rich, some are poor. Some
seek enlightenment, others seek money or fame. Take this into consideration
when someone says something idiotic. They are probably in a different place
than you are. Allow them the dignity of having their opinion without
resorting to name calling or labeling. We are all trying to get to the same
place.



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