damn look what i started.
the draft doger im yappin about is clinton, HELLO?

ACTUALLY, I never watch Rush. what happened?

Higher Taxes

Higher Gas Prices

Economic Depression

Less Security

A Woman Going thru Menopause who has Her Hand No the Doomsday Button All VERY bad things

hahahaha

... havent heard much Gub control nonsense lately, since the Bush presidency....
its a tough sell during war time when all the enemies are packin.... hmmmmmm

GUB = GUN

CBX, I'm not entirely in agreement with you but I am interested enough to look at some of the references. I tend to like to read arcane stuff anyway. I might mention that I have a tendency to disbelieve things that seem illogical or implausible. Having said that, I always like it when I hear theories that seem to ring true with the other facts I have at hand.

Kidatheart, Taxation may have something to do with your perception that the US get Canadian resources cheaper than Canadians can buy them. Have you compared the relative retail taxes on the products for consideration of the tax effect on final prices to consumers?
I understand that Canada has a slightly higher tax burden on certain types of activities and goods than the US does. When I was in Europe for example gas was over twice the cost as in the US, and the difference as I understand it was the tax added to the price in Europe.

I usually thought the draft dodgers were those of a brave and adventurous spirit, with enough self reliance and determination to drop everything and flee across the border to try to start an entirely new life in Canada. It seems as the years go by that I am finding that a more wealthy sort of draft dodger existed as well, those who used influence and wealth to gain special privilege. I would like to say I have more respect and admiration for the first sort, but I think that in the case of a draft, there should be some provision for exceptional people to gain exception. The definition of exceptional comes into play here, perhaps we are seeing evidence that the line was drawn at wealth and influence rather than special needs or capabilities.

Taxation is only part of it.
The US collected $5.2 billion from softwood lumber which is owed to Canada. Where is that money now?
30% of the US lumber comes from Canada. The WTO and NAFTA regulatory board have ruled in favour of Canada and the US keeps finding ways to try and weasel out of paying. This has been going on for over 20 years! There were 15,000 jobs lost in BC alone. What would the US do if it was the other way around?

Is this man a coward?

Silver Star

On February 28, 8 days after receiving his second Purple Heart, when his swift boat was hit by a RPG round. A wound that he still carries a piece of shrapnel from in his leg came the incident for which Kerry was awarded the Silver Star. On this occasion, Kerry was in tactical command of his Swift boat and two others. Their mission included bringing a demolition team and dozens of South Vietnamese soldiers to destroy enemy sampans, structures and bunkers. Along the Bay Hap river, they ran into an ambush. Kerry directed the boats "to turn to the beach and charge the Viet Cong positions" and he "expertly directed" his boat's fire and coordinated the deployment of the South Vietnamese troops, according to Admiral Zumwalt's original medal citation.

After the South Vietnamese troops and a team of three U.S. Army advisors that were with them had disembarked at the ambush site, Kerry's boat and another headed up river to look for the fleeing enemy. The two boats came under fire from a Viet Cong B-40 rocket-propelled grenade, shattering the crew cabin windows of PCF-94. Kerry ordered the boats to turn and charge the second ambush site. As they reached the shore, a Viet Cong soldier jumped out of the brush, carrying a loaded B-40 launcher. With the enemy soldier only a short distance away from the boat and crew, forward gunner Tommy Belodeau shot him in the leg with the boat's 7.62x51 caliber M-60 machine gun. "Tommy in the pit tank winged him in the side of the legs as he was coming across," Fred Short said. "But the guy didn't miss a stride. I mean, he did not break stride." Belodeau's machine gun jammed after he fired, and while fellow crewmate Michael Medeiros attempted to fire, he was unable to do so. Kerry leaped ashore and, followed by Medeiros, pursued the man and killed him. The medal citation notes that Kerry "then led an assault party and conducted a sweep of the area" until the enemy had "been completely routed." The mission was judged highly successful for having destroyed numerous targets and confiscated substantial combat supplies while sustaining no casualties.

Kerry's commanding officer, Lieutenant George Elliott, joked that he didn't know whether to court-martial him for beaching the boat without orders or give him a medal for saving the crew. Elliott recommended Kerry for the Silver Star, and Zumwalt flew into An Thoi to personally award medals to Kerry and the rest of the sailors involved in the mission. The Navy's account of Kerry's actions is presented in the original medal citation signed by Zumwalt. In addition, the after-action reports for this mission are available, along with the original press release written on March 1, a historical summary dated March 17, and more.

Sources close to Kerry say the incident had a profound effect on him: "It's the reason he gets so angry when his patriotism is challenged. It was a traumatic experience that's still with him, and he went through it for his country." It affects the way Kerry lives his life every day, the source said, since "he knows he very well would not be alive today had he not taken the life of another man [he] never ever met."

Read what the swift boat captains who served with him have to say. Funny when it is convenient to the liberal argument the military is 100% credible otherwise they are a bunch of murdering liars. The fact still stands that Kerry was wounded once by the enemy and twice by John Kerry. If he is so damn brave why did he opt for an early out from Viet Nam citing his 3 purple hearts two from self inflicted wounds. Actual lost duty time from the 3 wounds combined a couple days. They were little more than scratches.

Hey, Forge, the swift boat captains' credibility was shot to shreads then, remember? It came out that their agenda was fully funded by Texas lobbyists for Bush, remember? If you have any other proof of Kerry's "cowardice" during Vietnam(at least he was there, unlike the last two presidents), please let me (and everybody else) know what it is.

Oh, and before you call me a "Kerry apologist" let me say that I think Kerry is one of the WORST politicians around, regardless of political affiliation.

May I suggest checking out: imageevent.com/firesat/strangedaysstrangeskies
Google: "Pathogenic mycoplasma"
Look at: http://www.raven1.net/kilde1.htm
- You tell me where you draw the line.
You tell me how far the battlefield extends.

it don't matter who funded the swift boat captains and they did recrive a lot of donations from the general public to keep their website up and running etc, that don't chance their opinion of Kerry nor the fact that he got an early out from Viet Nam because he had 3 purple hearts, two from wounds that were shrapnel from his own weapon because he fired a grenade launcher at a target that was too close and they amounted to no more than scratches.

But he was there-which is more than I can say for the 2 most recent presidents.

hey rambutt79... noby cares what you think anyways!... who cares???

well here in cali
over 10,000 people have lost there jobs to mineing!!
the gov wont let us mine here anymore
my familys been in mineing for over 30 years!!
its sad to see what the gov is doing!!!

.. then get off my thread or quit whining like a momas boy. mabe you should move out of your momas basement.

The swift boat captain. It was one man, and his story is filled with holes.
He said there were 3 gun boats on the river the day the mine blew up, wounding Kerry, anf tossinf a Special Forces SGT in the river.
There were, according to the Navy 5 gun boats out there that day.
He said Kerry suffered contusions on his left arm.
The Navy Corpsman said it was his right, and he recieved shrapnel to his butt cheek. Three others on Kerry's boat were wounded, and had to be medivaced.
The gun boats accelerated to leave the area when gunfire erupted from both shores.
Kerry realized that the SF guy was no longer on the boat, and returned under fire to rescue the man from the river. The other gun boats returned fire, while Kerry wounded and bleeding went to the front of his boat and pulled the man from the water.
The SF sgt said after being thrown from the boat, the fire was so intense that he had to dive under water several times. He begin swimming to shore, thinking he would be captured when kerry's boat returned and saved his life.
This info is all very well documented. Unlike Bush's record.
His commanding officer wrote letters to his chain of command recommending Bush be thrown out of the Reserves. These letters exist, but the man that wrote them is dead. The rest of the story and records have mysteriously disappeared or have been doctored so as they are unverifiable.
Another of the many Bush coincidences??????

The swift boat captains were a bunch of men still alive and they signed their names to the documents they wrote on the website. First it was a rpg round that hit his boat and wounded him now it is a mine. Wonder what it will be next. It still don't change the fact that he was wounded once by the enemy and twice by himself. then he requested and received an early release from his tour in Viet Nam because he had been wounded 3 times. Damn I wish I had thought of that, 3 scratches and I could have come home 6 months early.

He was wounded 3 times, recieved a silver, and a bronze star. The web-site you refer to, is paid for by the Republican in Texas that Knox mentioned, and are not men that served with Kerry. Some were on the first boat kerry commanded. The one that the crew was disbanded because of the incidents of firing on civilans. It was three officers that reported these incidents, together, and asked for the offical policy of firing on anything that moved be changed. The very same incidents that everyone refers to as calling the men war criminals. These are documented too, esp one with witnesses that all reported an unarmed father and child being killed by a man on kerry's boat. The man fired on a sampan that was occupied by the man, his wife, and two children. His wife and one child survived.
The incidents I just mentioned are 2 incidents which are documented by the Navy, men on his boat, and men who's lives were directly saved by his actions.