sarcasm does not become you, dear.

I mentioned nothing about a conspiracy theory. Those are a dime a dozen and I'm getting a bit bored of hearing about them; they all pretty much sound the same. I'm talking about getting to the truth. If it unveils a conspiracy, so be it. I think few people would be surprised, though it would likely trigger WWIII (a good reason to prevent a legitimate investigation) though sometimes it seems like the world is in at least the early stages of WWIII already. The enemy does want to kill us, but "enemy" is a very strong word. You say you're not so trusting of the government, yet the one they call enemy you call enemy. This whole thing has too many unanswered questions and hints of deceit from from all involved for me to be sure who the enemy is. I choose my friends very carefully, and try to not make enemies. I try to avoid people who are a**holes. That isn't always possible, I know, and I will assume even more difficult on a worldly scale, which is why I don't think I would like to have the responsibility of running a country now. Don't mean to sound preachy, but evil, the dark side, or Satan, or whatever you want to call it is my enemy and it is not always so obvious to see. However, let them with eyes see, let them with ears hear. Stay cool, but not cold Rog.

Have you ever done any independent research by independent researchers about the whole 9/11 thing? The stuff I have discovered makes one think about how and why that happened and why this war is still going on. I'm not just talking about MIchael Moore stuff--there are a lot of very credible scientists and investigators, including firefighters, police officers, survivors of the 9/11 disaster and families of victims of it who are wondering why there wasn't such a thorough investigation as to how those buildings were destroyed the way they were. There is some compelling evidence that shows that those buildings were brought down by a lot more than planes crashing into them. It is definitely upsetting to consider the various possibilities that this implies, but as nice of a place this country may be to live, that does not make its citizens or leaders immune to corruption of any kind. As far as their government being corrupt, which I certainly agree with, for the USA, or any government, to say that about another government is blatant hypocrisy. One more thing Rog, what you call talking out of both sides of my mouth, I call looking at both sides of the story. I find that is the best way to get to the truth. These days it's difficult to trust journalists to not be biased, and as long as I can remember it has been difficult to trust the government.

This is an ever increasingly unpopular war within the United States and around the world, at least among the, shall I say, average person. I suppose that what appears to be the goal of it (helping a confused and distraught culture and people have a better life by teaching (forcing) the "American way" on them) is honorable, in a sense. However, it seems like most of them are happy with the way things are and have been for centuries and don't really want a change. If there are reasons for this war that the average person doesn't know about, which I would not doubt and even suspect, then this war is going to end badly for all concerned, which is looking more and more to be the whole world. There is no direct evidence that the Bush administration started this war, but the current administration certainly did inherit it. Although the current pres. hasn't done much and he hasn't kept a lot of his campaign promises to date, then again what politician does keep a lot of thier campaign promises, his record isn't that bad given the situation he inherited including the economy and the war. I don't want to imply that I am necessarily pro-Obama and I don't consider myself a "liberal" or "conservative" or whatever--actually the definition of those terms seem to change in context almost every time I hear them--I'm just trying to be objective and fair. Although this is certainly an interesting time to be alive, I think it would be a very difficult job to be president of the United States now. I don't think I would want the job. Soon enough there will be a one world currency and one world government. Best to make as many friends as possible, and know, not assume, who your enemies are.

I like that idea. I hope that one day we can get another source of fuel too. So far, no good, unfortunately. Looks like those in power--the ones with the $s--want to keep the oil thing going regardless of what it might do to the future generations of the earth. Why not? They probably won't be around to suffer from their mistakes. There likely are many alternatives to fossil fuels that those in power don't want to take a chance on and that those who are rich from fossil fuels don't want to risk not getting richer from (notice I didn't say "lose money"). Oh well. Until humans realize they are imperfect they are going to continue to mess up--until, that is, The Boss, God, Allah, Jehovah, The Spirit In The Sky, or whatever other name has been given to what I prefer to call God decides enough is enough and makes things right.

Stop whining and do something about what you're whining about. You sound like a typical spoiled American. No wonder the rest of the world is mad at this country. Americans could probably stand to be knocked down from the pedestal they put themselves on. A little humility never hurt anyone.

I didn't think I was whining. Some things ERs aren't sufficient enough to treat. Believe me, Thinking Man, I am working to earn my position and I have been doing that against odds for quite a while. It isn't easy to do things in the world (this country at least) with epilepsy. Medications are very expensive, thanks to capitalism, Doctors are very expensive, thanks to capitalism. However, as a writer, which is pretty much about all I can do because I can't really hold a regular job, I can sell my writings, thanks to capitalism. I'm not whining at all, but if it is possible for things to be better, at least give it a shot. You can always go back. What is there to lose in the long run by trying to make this a better country--even world--for everyone? Will nationalized healthcare do that? As I said, I don't know. But what would it hurt to try? As I said, if it doesn't work, you can always go back.

I wasn't refering to the original article, I was referring to the one that is published on this site. If this is published by a "British left wing paper" then they did a very good job of making it look American right wing. Also I know that the poor, sick, etc. are not supposed to come here expecting handouts--this is supposed to be the land of opportunity, right? But what are they going to do while they are too poor to afford healthcare while they are too sick too work and not citizens yet to medicaid or medicare, legally at least? There are plenty of people who are citizens who are healthy enough to work who are taking advantage of the current welfare system. I dare say they are not working because of lack of jobs. A person can get a job digging ditches if he/she needs to work bad enough. I certainly agree that a person should be able to keep what they earn through hard work, but the inevitable claws of greed come in eventually. The more a person gets, the more a person wants and the less likely they want to give any of it to anyone. If some of the 1% or so of the owners of the nation's wealth were willing to pay fair wages instead of use slave labor (for example Wal Mart and various other places that pay wages that are illegal in the US to poorer countries) and hire locally maybe that would fix a lot of problems and healthcare would be the least of our worries. But that's capitalism, right? That's what made this country great, right? I wonder when was the last time you purchased anything that said "made in America" on it. Also, I wonder what it was and how much it cost.

Sure, the government can have a channel or two, on its own dime and not any taxpayer's (if possible)--that's part of free press, right? Maybe they could do something like PBS and ask for donations or something to keep going? I see nothing wrong with that. But I would think it would be unconstitutional for the government to control all of the media. Sure, there are some things that should be censored at certain times--language, nudity and such--but there are channels available where a person can watch pornography and hear some pretty foul language if they want to. A person can also (or should be able to) watch a television show dedicated to communism or something. I'm not pro-communist necessarily, I'm pro-freedom of speech and I think that if the government started having a say in what should and shouldn't be on tv, magazines, newspapers, etc., that freedom will be in great danger.

One really should be careful about stats a person is using to make a point. I wonder why the writer of this article didn't mention any other countries that have nationalized (please stop saying "socialized!!!) healthcare systems? Some of them do work. This country does have very good quality technical medical stuff because it and its citizens have been able to afford it for a long time. Now this country is not such a big shot on the financial stage anymore. There is getting to be a larger gap between those who have and those who do not have and as history has shown, the next step is revolution unless something is done. If the something should be nationalized healthcare, I don't know, but there are a lot of people in this country suffering who can't afford proper healthcare and some insurance companies who are ripping people off. As far as immigrants (not illegal, necessarily) let them get some healthcare too! Does anyone remember what is written on the Statue of Liberty? Does anyone care? What does it mean to be American? I challenge someone to answer that because I don't know and from what I read from some of these posts I get discouraged by what it might be.