While I am loathe to get entangled in another protracted and
probably pointless (has anyone ever changed their views after-
wards?) political discussion,,,,,,uh,,,,well, a couple reactions.
A: the question about whether Joni and her admirers are Dem
or Rep::: lets just hope more people are choosing "none of
the above"....(more)....>>
Marian wrote:
> One thing I learned during this last election
> is that the essential ideas of republicans are smaller government,
This is PR talk designed to appeal to the common man.
What it really means is that they don't want big government
when it comes to pesky things like pollution standards, worker
rights, laws preventing monopolies, environmental protection,
etc etc. Big government is a good pal for pork-barrel sweetheart
pentagon projects, jailing marajuana smokers, peering into
peoples private lives, outlawing abortion.....
>
> decentralization of social programs,
"elimination" - or let the states and counties that want it and can't
afford it deal with it.
> less government control,
see above
> lower taxes,
read his dad's lips
> I feel more comfortable with a party that cares
> about the welfare of the poorest citizens -
I'm not sure which party you are referring to. Couldn't be the
Democrats, who under Clinton have dismantled the welfare system,
and while talking about job placement programs, have not really
provided them, pushing many kids and poor families further into
poverty and hunger. The US has a huge number of malnurished
people compared to other developed countries. For the life of
me, I've never understood why the Republicans didn't love
Clinton. Maybe they were jealous that he did what they only
had wet dreams about.
>
> I feel really worried about the current US government and
> the effect it will have on US citizens and their environment. Did anyone
> else hear that the US has pulled out of the anti-germ-warfare treaty talks?
> This has been a seven year process and they were nearing agreement on a
> treaty and the US pulled out. Scary!
The mainstream media is not interested in such things. I heard a
reporter who was in Genoa (this was on an alternative radio news
show) talking about coming back to the US
and being blown away by the lack of coverage of the indiscriminate
police brutality there. He said that in Europe it was major headline
news every day, with much inquiry, editorializing, outcry. He said
that just getting to Genoa was an ordeal, you had to walk because the
city was basically cordoned off and cross-fenced into little squares.
The residents were encouraged to leave. He finally made it to a
press area that seemed peaceful and he considered safe. The cops
closed all the exits and went nuts assaulting and beating innocent
people. And of course they shot and killed that unarmed Italian
man. The coverage here by the TV news referred to 'skirmishes'
between police and violent protesters. It's like the Gulf War-
they had media blackouts and 'controlled' reporting pools-
most Americans are to this day unaware that we killed 100,00
Iraqi civilians with our 'smart' bombs.
This Orwellian control of information is what scares me.
RR
