**A scary World***

[NautyOne]

Good lord.  I went to the store today, and walked out with 2 1/2 bags of nothing and it was $56.00   Holy Chiat !!!!  Gas is now almost 4.00 a gallon.  almost 130.00 to fill up my truck......WTF.  Dammm republicans.  How are people making it?  I am fortunate.........others are not, and I just don't get how some people are making it, and it's only going to get worse........How sad.......

[katemom]

Huh. You don't by any chance live in the state of Maine, do you?

[allaboutmary]

I really believe that if everyone had health care it would ease up the ER visits.  Most people that use the ER instead of making a doctors appt. is because they don't have ins. Doctors office's will not see you unless you can pay, but the ER will.  Yes there will always be those who abuse the system, but it's really getting abused now.

[VicUser]

That is interesting, maybe different people there feel differently as well. The people that I have talked to said it is better than nothing, but they have long wait times to get problems taken care of. Many have come here and paid out of their own pocket and don't think the level of care that Canada provides is as good as what we have. This is only hearsay, and I have no first hand experience.

One thing that makes me really concerned about “free” health care is what will keep it from being abused?  Right now if I get sick and go to the Dr I pay a co-pay, if I go to the ER I pay a lot more. I have had people that I supervised before, I won’t go into their whole story, that used the ER as a Drs office for their kid because their child was receiving public assistance and it didn’t cost them either way. It burnt me up since someone pays, namely the rest of us. Don’t get me wrong his kid needed care and was glad they could it was just the fact he didn’t care what it cost.

[allaboutmary]

I must admit as far as education and schooling go ....I don't know much. Only know what I hear from friends.  I have no children and since I hit menapause ....I don't particularly like them. LOL  (just kidding, but I really don't have the patients any longer)

So I'm off to a 4year olds birthday party this afternoon. Where I will drop off my gift and run like hell. lol   ( Ok  I lie, I will stay for cake.)

[allaboutmary]

I have talked to many, many Canadian's.  I've had about 30 Canadian customers in the past 7 years.  They own homes here in Florida.  They will not move here permantley because they would lose their healthcare in Canada. Many of them said they feel sorry for us American's that don't have healthcare.   They are very happy with their healthcare and find it obsurd that we don't take care of our people.

[VicUser]

I would love to have a rational conversation with you, but I am not sure that is possible. I don’t think that the current administration has done a great job, but there is more than one person responsible for the current problems here. However, it is clear to me that you won’t look beyond the hate you have towards President Bush and the Republican party, too bad you will never grow beyond what you are with that type of thinking.

A similar resume could have been written about any past President, but what good does it provide? None, it is just a bunch of slanted statements aimed to feed the hatred that some just can’t get past.

No, I am not blaming the parents for education funding. I think that if you look at the parents that take an interest in their kids and their education you will find a kid that does well. Kids that have parents that don’t see the need for a good education or don’t care typically don’t do well and drop though the cracks. I would try to explain how money ties in to that, but I am sure you would misconstrue what I am saying so why should I even try.

[newgirl2708]

I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy....*wayne's world rendition*
Verbatim
Getting back in my cage.
Newgirl

[wait2long]

Edwards was my first choice...but he dropped out...i think people were afraid he couldnt do his job because Elizabeth is sick...but i bet cancer research would be fully funded

and as far as hatred being "spewed" towards our current president...how can you not hate the guy?  come on...what GOOD has he done?  absolutely NOTHING, not 1 thing, Flmagis post with his resume said it all...

i have talked to a few canadians, they  were not unhappy with their healthcare at all...one of them is or was here at the forum, dont know if she still here...and it sure beats having nothing for health care at all...

now parents are to blame for education funding...??????

and as far as raising taxes on the rich, i hear so many complaining about this...what i dont understand is NONE of them (that i know personally) are in that bracket...they are all middle to low income and some are even below poverty level...why would THEY complain and worry about someone who has more pocket change than they make in a year..?  is this where all the greed is....

i think the next administration should absolutely not worry about the top 5%, lol...they have been doing just fine these past 7 years...even Donald Trump says thats the ONLY reason he voted republican...he gets to keep his money and the tax breaks and write offs are simply amazing for his wallet...lol!  i liked that...quite admirable of him to be so truthful...he also said hes made enough money these past 7 years that hes willing to pay more in taxes so he'll be voting democrat....he knows what little he did pay in taxes went to an illegal occupation of Iraq...

[VicUser]

I need to go to the websites and read what the health care plans that Hilary and Obama are proposing. I just don't want nationalized health care, have you talk to people from Canada? I do think there is a bigger underlying problem, primarily we need to cut the overhead that the doctors face, namely malpractice insurance and the cost of filing insurance papers, both private and gov't. My Dr and I have talked about what he really makes and you would be shocked. Yes, he makes a good income, but not nearly what one would think.

I too think NAFTA is a bad thing, remember Ross Perot and his quote about "the sucking sound from the south" that everyone made fun of? I find it interesting that has been 16 years since then and neither side has done anything to fix this problem. So what will Obama really do?

Any candidate can say what they want about getting big business out of Washington, but as long as we have greedy corrupt politicians, on both sides, only looking out for themselves and the ability to be re-elected it won’t happen. If he has a plan, what is it and is it something that can really work?

Your next two points go hand in hand. Keeping business here and taxes. I am sure that you are aware that the taxes that are paid by companies on profit are close to 50%. This is the same for large corporations and the small sub chapter-s corporation. This does not include the 7% social security tax that the employers are required to pay for each employee. Right now the top 5% of wage earners pay over 50% of the income tax that the feds receive each year. A typical middle income person pays 15% in taxes and person in the top 5% pays 35%, this is fed tax only. I won’t go into the Illegal aliens, aka undocumented migrant workers, not payment of taxes right now.

So with that said, if we continue to raise the taxes on corporations and the “rich” what do you think that will do to jobs?  I do think that the average American deserves a break, I support the “fair tax” but most people are too ignorant to really look at this, but it fairly distributes the tax burden and helps the poor and low income. Also, it would provide tax revenue from the illegal’s. Another added benifit is it would eliminate the IRS and look at the savings to the gov't there.

I agree the gas tax reduction is stupid. If it is repealed for the summer and passed on to the oil companies, they will just raise prices and we will pay it any way, actually more because the Gov’t will have to get a cut of their added income. How is that for screwing us?

Since you mentioned it education funding is very sore subject for me. Have you ever looked at the fed and state funds, per student, that are given to a large city school verses a suburb or rural school and the results for that buck. In this case money is not the answer, parental attitude is.

[allaboutmary]

Oh, I also agree with his stand on this gas tax break. It's won't help and actually cost people 7000 more in job losses.  
Did you hear what McCain said .  It would give family's a little break and maybe they could buy an extra text book for their child.  Grrrrrrr children should get their school books free.  When you say text book , you mean school book, right ?
McCain has even admitted to his lack of knowledge on the economy.
This election are like all the recent ones.  It's really a choice of lesser evils.  

[allaboutmary]

I have gone to all canadate's web sites and seen where they stand on issue's. I haven't found one that I agree with 100%.  They even have a test you take. You answer all these questions and it matches you to a canidate.  It's pretty cool.  I think John Edwards was my match.

[allaboutmary]

He does have a plan for health care very similar to Hillary's except it is not mandatory. McCain's is for a tax cut of 5,000 for a family which would leave us most with 14,000 left to pay each year.  
Also Obama wants to clean up NAFTA, so we benefit, not lose.  
One of the big things is he wants big business out of Washington.
He says Pharmisutical (sp) and Insurance co. etc can have a seat at the table to figure things out , but they will no longer have all the seats.
He wants to make it more profitable for companies to keep there business here instead of shipping jobs out of the country.
He also wants to get rid of the tax cuts that the wealthy benefit from and not the poor and middle class.
I so want to stay and talk all day, but I have to get some stuff done. lol  Hope your around later or tomorrow.

[VicUser]

I like this post too, do you know what Obama's plans are? Other than working with both sides how is he proposing to fix these problems?

Do you remember Gilligan’s Island? There was one show that a exiled dictator was put on the island. During the show they decided that they should “elect” a leader. The exiled guy promised them ”dis, dat and the other thing”. So far that is all I have heard from the three candidates as well.

[allaboutmary]

Got tons of stuff to do today, but I'll be back later.

[allaboutmary]

I know what your saying.  Thats one reason I am for Obama. Nothing is going to get done unless republicans and democrats work together.  Obama is the only one out of the 3 that wants to work with the opposing party to get things done.  He knows its going to take compromise. I really wouldn't be surprised if he chose a repub for vice pres.
He knows before anything gets done the country must be united.

I am really loving this post.  It's really great to be able to debate these things.

Hugs,  Mary

[VicUser]

Let’s talk about what the candidates and their solutions to the problems that Mary mentioned, I too would like to see these solved. So far I have seen a lot of hand waving and heard a lot of rhetoric that each have a plan, but what is it?

[allaboutmary]

Your happy with America the way it is ???????  Millions losing jobs, homes, dieing because they have no health insurance. The government is backrupt, and we are in a bogus war that is costing young men their lives, and is putting this country in such debt that our grandchildren's children will be paying for it.  Yeah, America is just fine the way it is ????

[flmagi]

I concider myself an independant too, but I'm registered Dem, because I wanted to vote in the primary, which didn't count anyway.
One of the reasons I like Obama is, he is the only one that wants to cross party lines and take whats good from both parties and seems more willing to do what the people want (that would be us). He's extremely intelligent, honest, level headed and of the 3 candidates is the least swayed by big bussiness and lobyists. He is for change and there can be no doubt, change is needed.

[allaboutmary]

Ron Paul just said on CNN that if he had to vote right now he would vote for Obama.  He said it was not an endorsement though. Which is kinda weird.  He said uniting the republican party was important, but over that, you have to vote for what you think is important.  This is good news for us Obama supporters.

[avisg]

mary ,
I am as well

[allaboutmary]

ditto  That's why I'm a registered INDEPENDANT .

[VicUser]

Well said, I couldn't agree more

[avisg]

I agree ...I dont like being labeled LOL

[Jacqui805]

Avisg and allaboutmary...I think the media has portrayed both sides to be something they're not.  We've all been unfairly characterized by what party we happen to have on our voter's registration card, and that's a shame.  A republican does not mean they believe in everything the republican's have on their platform, and a democrat does not mean that they believe in everything the democrat's have on theirs.  It's rarely all or nothing for most people, but unfortunately, it seems that if you identify with one of these groups, people think they know what you're all about.  I'm thinking, the best candidate should be considered, rather than their affiliation.  Glad we're not all afraid to voice our opinions here, and I for one, appreciate all that this forum has to offer, as well as it's people.