Types of People Post on this Forum

[LostInAustin]

TDDude....haven't been on the forum in a while. Busy and OOT....but your post is one of the first I read. Excellent!!!

[safetypro]

TDDude, OUTSTANDING POST! Your sincerity came through.

Not only do you get 2 thumbs up from me, , but in my book, you've won the "Outstanding Post of the Month" award.

DITTO joe817...could not have said it better!!

[marksiwel]

I'm a 25 year old, who lives in the Austin Area. I've never been in the military, never been a cop. Have only been into firearms for alittle over a year. I lean right when it comes to Money, but I'm a raging lefty when it comes to peoples "Rights". I'm all for gay marriage polygamy, nudity in public, breast feeding, I want to get rid of the Mpaa for Censorship, I get mad that Public and Private TV is censored to such an extreme. I dont understand why I cant own a Machine gun without the government Games.
I'm strangly for the Iraq and Afghanistan war and wish we would send every troop we have sitting on their duffs in Germany and Japan to Afghanistan and Iraq and get the job done right.
I'm Pro Choice, but wish there wasnt a need for abortions.
I wish Frank and Open talks about sex would take place at home, but am fine with the schools forcing kids to open their damn fool heads and learn the facts.
I cant stand the Religious right in this country and how they turn separation of church and state into a "War on Christmas"
I dont think global warming is "real" but am all for doing everything we can to stop the pollution on the planet
My wife is becoming a Lawyer, I work as a dog groomer

[dicion]

I'm a 25 year old, who lives in the Austin Area. I've never been in the military, never been a cop. Have only been into firearms for alittle over a year. I lean right when it comes to Money, but I'm a raging lefty when it comes to peoples "Rights". I'm all for gay marriage polygamy, nudity in public, breast feeding, I want to get rid of the Mpaa for Censorship, I get mad that Public and Private TV is censored to such an extreme. I dont understand why I cant own a Machine gun without the government Games.
I'm strangly for the Iraq and Afghanistan war and wish we would send every troop we have sitting on their duffs in Germany and Japan to Afghanistan and Iraq and get the job done right.
I'm Pro Choice, but wish there wasnt a need for abortions.
I wish Frank and Open talks about sex would take place at home, but am fine with the schools forcing kids to open their darn fool heads and learn the facts.
I cant stand the Religious right in this country and how they turn separation of church and state into a "War on Christmas"
I dont think global warming is "real" but am all for doing everything we can to stop the pollution on the planet
My wife is becoming a Lawyer, I work as a dog groomer

You, sir, sound like you might enjoy reading about the libertarian party.
I pretty much agree on most of the above, and I, like many other people that love our freedom, have found that neither of the other parties fit what we believe very much.

I Invite you to read about the Libertarian party, if you have not before, and make your own decision about it :)

http://www.lp.org/platform" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Purplehood]

I'm a 25 year old, who lives in the Austin Area. I've never been in the military, never been a cop. Have only been into firearms for alittle over a year. I lean right when it comes to Money, but I'm a raging lefty when it comes to peoples "Rights". I'm all for gay marriage polygamy, nudity in public, breast feeding, I want to get rid of the Mpaa for Censorship, I get mad that Public and Private TV is censored to such an extreme. I dont understand why I cant own a Machine gun without the government Games.
I'm strangly for the Iraq and Afghanistan war and wish we would send every troop we have sitting on their duffs in Germany and Japan to Afghanistan and Iraq and get the job done right.
I'm Pro Choice, but wish there wasnt a need for abortions.
I wish Frank and Open talks about sex would take place at home, but am fine with the schools forcing kids to open their darn fool heads and learn the facts.
I cant stand the Religious right in this country and how they turn separation of church and state into a "War on Christmas"
I dont think global warming is "real" but am all for doing everything we can to stop the pollution on the planet
My wife is becoming a Lawyer, I work as a dog groomer

Wow. I sat on my "duff" for a total of 4-1/2 years in Japan on two separate tours. I wonder what your opinion of the Government and Military would be if all of the troops sitting on their duffs in the Pacific were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan and the North Koreans or Chinese woke up and noticed the power-vacuum. I don't doubt for a minute that someone, somewhere in that neck of the woods would hesitate to take advantage of our absence.
I am and have been against the war in Iraq. Terrorists blow up the WTC, we ID them, and we go after the country that we know didn't have anything to do with it (Iraq), and leave the one that we know did (Afghanistan) alone.
I am for the war in Afghanistan. That is where we should have gone in the first place. The problem with that conflict is that it can never be won until the people of Afghanistan are brought out of the stone age and leave behind the trappings of tribalism. They need a complete basic infrastructure (roads, irrigation, communications, banking and security - army and police). With that, they will realize that they are a nation and not just a member of the local Pashtun, Dari or whatever tribes. Until then, they simply do not care about their neighbor, let alone their government.
Unlike a large majority of posters on this board, I did not grow up Liberal and "wisely" become a Conservative. I grew up incredibly Conservative (which equates to me as = leave Big Business alone) and gradually became Liberal when it comes to our general preoccupation with imposing religion and all its trappings on what is supposed to be a secular nation (Separation of Church and State).
I could care less about Gay marriage or Gay divorce. That is for gay folks to decide, not me. It is simply none of my business to get into other peoples business. All this tripe about its threat to marriage, the family and our children is simply ridiculous. What scares me is the growing trend of women to feel that they no longer need a man in their lives. That is what is really tearing up the fabric of our society IMHO.
Global Warming is a joke. Any school kid that reads his science-book knows that this planet has been through a number of Ice Ages. We are just now coming off the tail-end of another one. Coming off of an Ice-Age means that it is getting warmer. Get it?
I am pro-choice. I think abortion sucks. I really think third-trimester abortion sucks. I don't like seeing abortion used as birth-control. I do however feel that a woman has the absolute right to refuse or request an abortion. I also think that a Christian Scientist that wants to refuse medical treatment has that right. I think that those same Christian Scientist parents do not have the right to refuse Emergency (trauma) treatment for their child that has not yet had the opportunity to decide if their parents faith is right for them. When it comes to long-term medical care (Cancer, diseases, etc.) I feel pretty much the same way, but would probably give those same parents more leeway.
I also despise how a generation ago us baby-boomers all started feeling guilty about how kids were raised, and decided to allow the local PTA to take over the raising and care of our children. Kids need to be spanked when they are bad, but NEVER abused. Religion should stay out of school. If you want religion in your kids school-life, send them to a private school. Politics should stay out of school. Kids should be taught Civics and be made aware of how our nation works, but they should never be taught to sing "Kumbayah (sp?)" to the great President.
As long as we let people drink booze, we should let them smoke marijuana. I don't do either, and I don't plan to. But I don't see what the difference is. People become sheer idiots using both. Tax it and forget about it.
I think that the FCC should only monitor the airwaves for violations of laws (not FCC regulations). If a TV or Radio station wants to run trash, let it run trash. It will either thrive or go broke. That is free speech. I don't have problems with rating a TV or Radio station, but that should be done by someone other than the FCC and not have any binding influence on those same stations. It should simply be a tool.
I believe that the USA is a nation of immigrants and it is what has made us the country that we are today. I believe that during our entire history we have discriminated against the latest group of immigrants without exception. Whoever was here first, complained about whoever came next. I cannot think of a single ethnic or religious group to come ashore that did not offend someone that was already here.
Get off the immigration issue and enforce our borders. Our strength is in our diversity.
I believe that the absolute coolest cars in the world are those that can be called "MOPAR". If they are over 30 years old or have an SRT tag on them, then they are even better.

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

Wow. I sat on my "duff" for a total of 4-1/2 years in Japan on two separate tours. I wonder what your opinion of the Government and Military would be if all of the troops sitting on their duffs in the Pacific were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan and the North Koreans or Chinese woke up and noticed the power-vacuum. I don't doubt for a minute that someone, somewhere in that neck of the woods would hesitate to take advantage of our absence.
I am and have been against the war in Iraq. Terrorists blow up the WTC, we ID them, and we go after the country that we know didn't have anything to do with it (Iraq), and leave the one that we know did (Afghanistan) alone.
I am for the war in Afghanistan. That is where we should have gone in the first place. The problem with that conflict is that it can never be won until the people of Afghanistan are brought out of the stone age and leave behind the trappings of tribalism. They need a complete basic infrastructure (roads, irrigation, communications, banking and security - army and police). With that, they will realize that they are a nation and not just a member of the local Pashtun, Dari or whatever tribes. Until then, they simply do not care about their neighbor, let alone their government.

Im sitting on my "duff" here in San Antonio. Maybe all of us should leave and quit monitoring the southern half of our hemisphere and let the terrorist down there loose. Wait, Im sorry there are no terrorist in Central and South America. What was I thinking?

marksiwel,
There are soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines sitting on their "duffs" ALL over the world and they are in those places for a reason...a tactical reason. So to say that EVERY military personnel should leave Germany and Japan would be a tactical and political disaster. We are there as freinds to our allies and deterrents to our enemies. We are also there so that in case stuff hits the fan we can rapidly deploy to either help or fight. If ALL the troops in Germany and Japan were actively engaged in Iraq/Afghanistan and there was an immediate need for troops in another country in that area what are we to do? We just gonna drop operations in Iraq/Afghanistan and leave? No, we are gonna get troops from another tactical point in the world and leave that part vulnerable. Or better yet we can deploy some units that just re-deployed back to the states. They dont need time to relax and be with their families.

[3dfxMM]

Terrorists blow up the WTC, we ID them, and we go after the country that we know didn't have anything to do with it (Iraq), and leave the one that we know did (Afghanistan) alone. I am for the war in Afghanistan. That is where we should have gone in the first place.

We did go to Afghanistan first. We went there within weeks of 9/11 and were there for almost two years before we went to Iraq.

[Purplehood]

Terrorists blow up the WTC, we ID them, and we go after the country that we know didn't have anything to do with it (Iraq), and leave the one that we know did (Afghanistan) alone. I am for the war in Afghanistan. That is where we should have gone in the first place.

We did go to Afghanistan first. We went there within weeks of 9/11 and were there for almost two years before we went to Iraq.

I know, I was there. But our initial presence was pretty much limited to SpecOps troops only. It was half-hearted and reminded me of our Observers at the start of our part of the Vietnam conflict. It has only slowly ramped up to anything appreciable.

[android]

There are soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines sitting on their "duffs" ALL over the world and they are in those places for a reason...a tactical reason.

I think you might mean strategic here. Military strategy is concerned with longer term goals and how specific actions are related. Tactics usually pertain to short term actions like how to take a hill or defend a position.

Regardless, having a worldwide US military presence is a very important part of US defense strategy. It keeps bad guys off of our shores, shores up our relations with our allies and allows us to keep an eye on hot spots from a much closer position.

[Purplehood]

There are soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines sitting on their "duffs" ALL over the world and they are in those places for a reason...a tactical reason.

I think you might mean strategic here. Military strategy is concerned with longer term goals and how specific actions are related. Tactics usually pertain to short term actions like how to take a hill or defend a position.

Regardless, having a worldwide US military presence is a very important part of US defense strategy. It keeps bad guys off of our shores, shores up our relations with our allies and allows us to keep an eye on hot spots from a much closer position.

As an additional clarification to the above, I would submit that lifting a Marine Expeditionary Unit from Japan, or an Army Armored Brigade from Europe is logistically much easier than from the Continental US to anywhere overseas.

[The Annoyed Man]

I cant stand the Religious right in this country and how they turn separation of church and state into a "War on Christmas"

With all due respect, that particular piece of analysis is as shallow and simplistic as that of which you accuse the religious right. But, you are young still (25), and maybe when you get to be more than twice that age, like me (57), you'll take a somewhat more charitable view of those with whom you do not share a particular spiritual viewpoint.

I would highly recommend a book for you to read: What Americans Really Want...Really: The Truth About Our Hopes, Dreams, and Fears, by Dr. Frank Lunz. Lunz has run surveys and focus groups for republicans and democrats alike, and he is also frequently hired by some of the nation's largest corporations (and unions), and he has compiled quite a list of what Americans really do want. As a 25 year old, you will probably find much in there with which you'll agree. You'll also find stuff in there that will give you the fantods. I had exactly the same reactions, coming from my own older perspective.

But the bottom line is this, people of faith - whatever faith - view their world through the lens of that faith, and it tends to inform their politics. You don't have to like it, but it is a fact, and it has always been so in this country, all the way back to the founding fathers, including John Adams, who famously said:

Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure than they have it now, They may change their Rulers and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty. They will only exchange Tyrants and Tyrannies.

..and..

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.

..and less you think that Adams was some kind of Christian bigot, he also said:

I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. If I were an atheist of the other sect, who believe or pretend to believe that all is ordered by chance, I should believe that chance had ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate to all mankind the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty sovereign of the universe, which I believe to be the great essential principle of all morality, and consequently of all civilization.

I'm just sayin'...

[android]

Wow, it's interesting to see that there are others that have equally eclectic political views. I'm very much in the same camp as Purple Heart and marksiwel but with a few exceptions....

I think the Federal govt should mostly get back to doing the stuff it was originally given in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. It should be a very limited govt. Stuff like housing, urban dev, education should all be up to states. National Defense is definitely part of what the feds should be doing.

States should be able to do what they want, but should not be allowed to override the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Basically incorporation of BOR should be a given. The city of Chicago should not be allowed to overrule the 2nd amendment of the United States.

The thing that keeps me from being 100% Libertarian is that I do think Feds need to regulate business. Caveat Emptor was a fine concept when my business was walking into a general store and buying a bag of flour. I could examine it and make a deal that both buyer and seller agree to. But in this day and age, corporations are financial bullies. They can hire a room full of lawyers and write a cell phone contract that the average person can never really understand, yet we agree to them every day. There is a game theory in poker. If equally good players all come to the table with $1000, but 1 player has $10,000, the player with greatest resources will eventually drain the other players dry. That is the state of big business in my opinion. And we're not even on a level playing field since they can afford the room full of lawyers. But it need to be evenly applied. Too many lobbyists on the hill getting the laws written in their favor has led to most of the problems we are in.

I am tired, Tired, TIRED of hearing about some school district in TX telling some kid how he should cut his hair. If he's an native American, it's too long. If he's black, it's too short (yes, these are real cases in the last few years) Shut up already with the hair, OK.

There are too many stupid laws about how we can't do something because it *might* lead to something else. Example: I can't carry a "too big" pocket knife, because I might stab somebody with it. We have far too much of this nonsense on the books.

[joe817]

TAM, very well put sir! I embrace all you say.

[mr.72]

I'm a 25 year old, who lives in the Austin Area. I've never been in the military, never been a cop.

And many of the things you say make me think you've also never been a parent.

but I'm a raging lefty when it comes to peoples "Rights". I'm all for gay marriage polygamy, nudity in public, breast feeding, I want to get rid of the Mpaa for Censorship, I get mad that Public and Private TV is censored to such an extreme. I dont understand why I cant own a Machine gun without the government Games.

I like how you put the word "rights" in quotes, appropriately.

A true libertarian is all for the government getting out of marriage altogether. But as it is, every person has equal rights to marry. This whole gay marriage thing is a political misdirection.

I don't know how on earth you can support nudity in public. But again, it indicates you have not likely had kids or spent any time as an adult supervisor of adolescents if you think this is a good idea.

The MPAA is not censorship. It is a private organization joined voluntarily by movie studios in order to provide a level playing field and unified market expectations with respect to film content. Censorship is a result of government, this is a result of private companies looking after their own interests. Suffice to say, the MPAA is a result of private marketing expertise. There is nothing to prevent you or anyone from making a film with whatever content you desire, but you may have a heck of a time getting any private movie theater to show it or any private movie studio to fund it. This is capitalism at its finest.

Public and private TV is not "censored" really at all. Television that airs over public airwaves has to comply with FCC rules but if there were no FCC rules then there would be no authority by which TV or radio could be licensed and broadcast and you can be sure radio and TV would be basically totally useless. I mean, it physically would not function. The only way to have a means of broadcast over the air and have an audience receive your signal would be to ensure that your signal was orders of magnitude stronger than that of your competitor and with no regulation or licensing there would be a huge number of competitors, the one with the most powerful transmitter (and the most money) would always win, only until someone else could overtake them. Basically the whole usefulness, channels, encoding standards, etc. is all 100% reliant on the FCC. Take that away and we will just have no more useful TV or radio. Considering that radio space is a limited resource that obviously belongs to the public at large since we can't exactly "own" the air as individuals, then some government rationing is more or less a requirement. I'm a less-government guy but chaos is not a better solution. And by the way, you can disagree with the decency rules but they are not "censorship". "Censorship" is Barack Obama's administration saying that Fox News is not news and trying to silence radio and TV personalities that are not in agreement with his political aspirations (well, that's attempted censorship). If he succeeds, then you can complain about censorship. But decency rules do not benefit the government over the people or one political group over another, so these are not censorship. They apply equally to all people, broadcasters, etc. They are just rules. Rules <> censorship.

I'm Pro Choice, but wish there wasnt a need for abortions.

There isn't a need for abortions. But there is a need for apostrophes

I wish Frank and Open talks about sex would take place at home, but am fine with the schools forcing kids to open their darn fool heads and learn the facts.

The public schools would be experts on "fool heads". Again, clearly, you have not been a parent, certainly not a parent of teens. This is why I don't think you should be able to vote. Hey, we can all have an opinion, right?

I cant stand the Religious right in this country and how they turn separation of church and state into a "War on Christmas"

Actually, I think most of the "Religious right" as you put it would be perfectly happy if government would universally get out of the business of religion altogether, but what most of them object to is the overtly anti-Christian sentiment that has no counterbalance against other religions. So if you don't allow Christmas, then no other religious holidays of any kind period, end of story. But nevermind that Christmas is just as much of a universal cultural element in America as Independence Day so it's very difficult to deny Christmas without angering people who could care less about the birth of Christ.

I dont think global warming is "real" but am all for doing everything we can to stop the pollution on the planet

Finally, one thing upon which we agree. As long as you can include pollution of morality in your diatribe then we're all good. If the gov't can force me to drive an electric car then they can very well force you to not teach my children your ideals regarding sex or religion or public nudity or polygamy or whatever. Either we're free, or we're not, right? So maybe I'm free from your opinion about pollution and you're free from my opinion about morality.

[mr.72]

I could care less about Gay marriage or Gay divorce.

Me too. Just get the gov't and insurance companies and all that out of the business of any marriage and we're fine. But if we are going to govern anything regarding marriage, then you are inviting the electorate to enforce their opinion.

I think that the FCC should only monitor the airwaves for violations of laws (not FCC regulations). If a TV or Radio station wants to run trash, let it run trash. It will either thrive or go broke. That is free speech. I don't have problems with rating a TV or Radio station, but that should be done by someone other than the FCC and not have any binding influence on those same stations. It should simply be a tool.

It is not done by the FCC. But I'm with you. However, you may be shocked to find just what will die off and what will not. Take the taxpayer's money out of PBS and NPR and they will disappear in less than a week.

I believe that the USA is a nation of immigrants and it is what has made us the country that we are today. I believe that during our entire history we have discriminated against the latest group of immigrants without exception.

Prosecuting illegal immigrants is not discrimination or racism. It's adhering to the law. Legal immigrants are fine by me. Pandering to the illegals has got to stop.