Sometimes to be away from that, that one takes for granted, gives 'new eyes'..and yes, has an opportuntiy for comparisons..

My brother spent many, many years in Japan, as a resident, and when he returned to Australia, could not help but see the vast differences between the cultures, (and compare) and was also saddened by what he saw as a 'backslide' in traditions and cultures here.

I can see the "normalcy" part as I have wanted that myself as well....but we arent talking food or toilets here!!!

Davinci.......do you see a major depression coming soon? Or has it already started?

Doc.......you said :

who would wish to fix something if only to be chatised for the way it was fixed.


Education....you have lived so far in the bluff that you are so used to the way.....wouldnt you like to be able to have things in your country that other countries take for granted and not have to pay through the nose for???

hoping the sycopant comment wasnt for me, not knowing of who you speak.

Toilets? No I agree- culture. Open and honest, and yes I truly believe that we as Americans are still the most liberal with regards to the rights bestowed on its citizenry. Even in the great east the man demeans the woman moe so than do we with our glass ceilings.

Our great depression... To think that we shall be depressed to any standard of the great one that '28 started is not to give credit to the knowledge of us all to prevent such acts again. I think we're smarter now. Dont you?

We shall see I guess!!!

and to not pay through the nose for it.....

if history is any indication of anything, it has shown us that again and again that the socialist ways of providing everything to everyone never comes to fruition. Some one will always be cold, hot, unclean and unwanted for not sharing the ideals of the community.

take for example if you would please this very thread.
in this excercise who is the societal outcast? the one who doesnt agree with the community? that would be the one who gets left in the dark or cold. the old saying that you can not please all the people all the time was well written and very prophetic.

Do we have to choose outcasts now??? Sheesh, I am taking my bat and ball and going home, if that is how we have to play..

Lol ok......which to me says, the old ways are good nuff' for you so why change them? What are you actually fighting for? I hope its your freedom because at this point, the old ways are in need of a new way.

And as for the thread.....everyone has their own opinion...even if they are wrong!!!!

I think I am the biggest outcast on this current events thread btw.....don't try and take my spot doc!!!!

wow, dont go away.

outcast are inevitable- wouldnt want to be anything but...

okay, no the old ways are not good enough. yes they do need to be fixed, tweeked as it were, but to tear it down only to put something in its place proven to not work is akin to doing it the way it is now, fixing the wrong problems. as I stated earlier demanding truth and I will now throw in accountabilty on everyones part is the first best place to start.

And Gypsy- the reason I fight, just know I fight for those who may wish to but cant, can but dont, but mostly I fight because someone seems to have to in a world that even this article says is not good enough the way it is.

Hmmm I wonder what would happen if GW Bush demanded that all fight and not one person did......sorry Im offtrack as usual...

I'm not advocating socialism,
but the playing field has
got to be leveled.

The middle class is being
destroyed by high hospital bills,
high interest rates, high taxes,
etc...

The wealthy have had everything
handed to them on a silver platter
by this administration.

And yet they howl at how unfairly
they are taxed, etc...

I know everyone can't have everything
they want, but how about a little common sense,
sanity and fairness?

And also, it's pretty hard to fight
for your rights if you don't have
the money to buy high powered lobbyists.

Hmmm...nice offtrack Gypsy, I have trailmix..

Jess......I love trailmix!!!

The problem is nobody wants our kind of "fixing" because
everyplace we "fix" is worse off for it. And it's a shame
but our toxic culture is affecting much of the world.

I'm not advocating socialism,
but the playing field has
got to be leveled.

The middle class is being
destroyed by high hospital bills,
high interest rates, high taxes,
etc...

The wealthy have had everything
handed to them on a silver platter
by this administration.............. really? in this society that we are living in now we have more "new money" than ever before. Millionaires being created everyday. Am I one- hell no, but do I bow down to the class envy, no! I am a man who takes my lumps for my own destination created in life. How many of the new money crowd developed their own companies or invented something that supply and demand demanded?

And yet they howl at how unfairly
they are taxed, etc.................what is the tax rate of the wealthy compaired to the tax rate of the middle class? would you like to spend 45 cents on every dollar you made to support the people of the US who chose not to support themself. Yes I realize that there are indeed people who cannot do this for themself but, having said that, how many times have you been the charity someone asked for?

I know everyone can't have everything
they want, but how about a little common sense,
sanity and fairness? ............................to do something for yourself is more self sustaining on the individual than to have it handed over to you. sanity common sense, yes please. fairness? who said life was fair?

And also, it's pretty hard to fight
for your rights if you don't have
the money to buy high powered lobbyists........I chose to be my own lobbyist, nonconforming in nature to the whims of the now crowd. thinking longer down the road is more difficult to do and I understand why someone would not want to gravitate towards to practice. Truth and accountabilty would smack down the practice of the high powered lobbyist anyway, and which ones do you think would be the first to go I wonder? the ACLU, NRA, Electric CoOps, the utilities? Lawyers lobby (yes please, but will never happen) we all share the principle that something has got to give but differ on the way in which to do it. we cant get five people here to agree, let alone the 300 million living within our borders.

I am wondering about this "new money" you are talking about....... From what I understand and have read a few years ago is there isn't much new money around, and if you were so bequeathed it in a will then you were lucky.

someone will always fight. if we chose not to and instead stood passive do you think no one else would fight? I like my head.

The problem is nobody wants our kind of "fixing" because
everyplace we "fix" is worse off for it. And it's a shame
but our toxic culture is affecting much of the world..........our way of culture is toxic? I hope so in a biological sense where it spreads deeper into the underbelly of the world. we leave the places we fix worse than when we found them? recent history such as Japan after the war of wars has turned them into a power house in world economics- your right we should not have fixed them. Germany emerged after the war of wars only a few years after the war, split down the center we saw a true test of communist values pitted against that of the toxic crowd of which you now speak- the wall came down, people that were oppressed by their own admission were now no longer made to wait in lines for the essentials of life, like a simple loaf of bread.
are there others? of course there is the world is full of those who have in some fashion or another been helped- those far out weigh those who have been hurt- e.g. cuba which is what? socialist? who knows what the world has instore for us in the morning? does it even matter sometimes I wonder.

gypsy according to the IRS, the collectors of the funds. more people filed as new millionaires last year than the year before, a trend that has been on going now for some almost 20 years.

It should matter to you!!!! Why else are you fighting for? Besides fighting the "enemy", you should be fighting your government for the basic necessities!!!! Geeeeeeeeez I give up!!!!