I definitely agree with the lack of doctors. I did a paper in my 3rd year of Univ. about the general medicine (family doctors) becoming non-existant.

Most medical students are choosing a specialty rather than general medicine. This could be one of the reasons we see so many more people in the Emergency Rooms. Over on this side of the country as well, many doctors are not taking any new patients.

As far as illegal's receiving medical care, that is a completely different topic, but a very good one.

In addition,

Not only was the money accepted, it was heavily sought and asked for.

And again, I am not bashing any candidate that has every run for office. It is just a fact that money is taken (accepted) from the American people. And now, as much as any time in America's past recessions, we need that money in the hands of the American people. To brag about how much money was raised, I think, is a sign of how little one may care about the "little people" who donate verses the power all that money can buy. One who says they care about the "little people" and then takes SO MUCH money (as President-elect Obama said) from the "little people" - during a recession, makes me wonder.

President-elect Obama may do wonders for our country, I am not saying anything different. The fact that we have stepped beyond any bounds that would have never been considered 40 years ago is a huge deal. I dont think that means there is, all the sudden, not going to be any devious political tactics anymore.

In all honesty, a person either accepts or rejects a gift. In this case, as with the case of all Republicans and Democrats, money is ACCEPTED.

I am not saying it is not necessary to run a campaign of this size or calibur. It is not a bash against any candidate, it is a fact. I did not say that the person donating the money HAD to do it, but it was accepted by the receiver.

Drew,

There is a chance for every American to one day become President. The raising of 600 million dollars for a campaign is absolutely rediculous. I do agree with that. Not only is our President taking that money away from his people who definitely could use it right now, he is also campaigning to every city and state with precise emphasis on "the little guys".

Knowing that President-elect Obama has taken so much money from "the little guys", yet every state has an electoral group, and "the little guys" are just tossed into a sea, I definitely would have to agree with you about the money issue.

The favors, however, are going to be there and have been there for quite some time now. I dont believe that we have a true democracy anymore. I dont think democracy really exists anymore in America. There are too many people in power who can appoint people they like to continue their legacy and too many people with money that can flash it around.

Hope in politicians? I think there can ALWAYS be hope. Whether or not the hope is deserving, and whether or not it was a fair battle to earn the trust and hope, we should still always look at the future with hope.

I see hope as waking up in the morning facing the day, facing all the hard times in my life, because someday I might make some things easier for my family.

I do have hope for my local politicians, but that's just the start as far as government is concerned. Where would we be right now without the United States of America and all that our flag, people, and nation stand for? It would be a cold day to wake up and realize that I was under the rule of an islamic country, or some other communist country. Hope?

Yeah, I do have hope, even in our President.

Tina

OK, so, here you are saying that you do not share the emotion of "hope" in the politicians. Then go on to say, the fellow citizens, whatever profession they have chosen, you have hope in them. You believe in them and would want to "hope" you could count on them.

Well, isn't our president one of us? Isn't he, too, a citizen, just like we are?

Thomas Jefferson-
“I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be.”

We need to see our president as a human, not a manufacturing machine. Though we may expect much more from him than our fellow workers we see on a daily basis, so much more is riding on their job and efforts. There can be no human in office that will ever be perfect.

The "hope" you are referring to should be held in our president, just the same as in a marriage. As I was talking with someone just tonight about this same thing, we elect who we marry amongst many other candidates. You said that you have hope in your family and in your nation. Your hope should hold the same value for your president. This IS your future. This could, eventually, hold the outcome of how your life changes over his term in office.

The definition of "hope" is: to cherish a desire with anticipation

I would "hope" this is the case with everyone.

Tony Blair-
"At the heart of my politics has always been the value of community, the belief that we are not merely individuals struggling in isolation from each other, but members of a community who depend on each other, who benefit from each other's help, who owe obligations to each other. From that everything stems: solidarity, social justice, equality, freedom."

All said in a lump sum. We live in a community and survive off of community effort (yes, even when it comes to elections). You said you have "hope" in our nation (community effort), so it would be an oxymoron for you to say that you have "hope" in our nation without "hope" in our president.

Tina

I'm still trying to get the flippin' hang of this.

The point of infinite is not our bodies, or the flesh on our bones. For instance, there are infinite amount of numbers.

Our presence here on earth is finite, while our soul, many seem to think is our conscience, will live on (that is if you believe in a higher power, such as God).

As far as the vastness of space you were talking about earlier, like I was saying, numbers are infinite because we will never reach an ending point. The same with space. If we will never come to the ending point, it is safe to say that space is infinite.

Pantheist is suggesting that the vast space IS God. There is a huge difference between having infinite but separate components and having everything lumped together as one. That's just my opinion anyway, buy hey, I am VERY new here.

EXACTLY!!!

I said this exact same thing about the bible being twisted and turned in every which way to appease whomever was reading it in another post (different topic).

"When people put their faith in the Bible they aren't putting their faith in God. They are putting their faith in an ancient mythology that came from the Mediterranean region, and clearly has many parallels with thing like Greek Mythology as well as all the other myths from that part of the world, including the idea that the gods required blood sacrifices to be appeased."

Actually, one of the said reason for Moses to have brought down the 10 commandments was because of a worshiping of false idols.

I agree with what you are saying here. I do believe, though, that we can learn from mistakes. The bible has been distorted from it's original version to cater to what the reader's needs are. There's the student bible, the man's bible, NIV, KJV, the woman on the rag's bible (exaggerating there). Anyway, spirituality and faith in what YOU believe to be right should the only way to have any sort of faith at all.

The bible should be some sort of reference, if anything. Many times I hear so many people speaking of rediculous ideas such as, "give it all to God, he'll take care of it". HOW!

If you believe there is a God, which I do, he gave all of us a brain. If we were to give all of our problems to God, why the hell are we here in the first place. There would be no reason at all as far as Christianity is concerned.

That's an entirely different topic for discussion anyway, and oh, dont get me started on prayer and how people blow that out of proportion as well.