Thought we were supposed to stay away from political discussion? Things could get nasty. Religion and politics--have an opinion but don't share them LOL!

You can say anything you like here....... why must things get nasty? Ana thinks that Clinton was/is a criminal and in a free speech country she is entitled to her opinion.

I am just making the point that some people seem so sure about everything. While others are wishy washy.

I really do not care if a politician makes love to a camel. Who cares about their love lives. What is important is that they do their jobs. The USA thing aout Politicians private lives is starting to surface here. They are entitled to some privacy away from the public eye.

So, Is GW in your opinion. Great or Rotten or Middle of the Road.

The master politician who runs our country is a sneaky, lying, cunning little guy. In other words, he is a politician. But in no way is he the worst Prime Minister that we have ever had.

Arthur, "The purpose of the Off-Topic Conversations area is to allow forum members to discuss topics unrelated to gardening. However, we ask that you please avoid topics like politics and religion where opinions vary widely and feelings can be strong."

I cherish the freedom of speech, but I also enjoy--and hope to conserve--the friendliness of this forum. I feel badly because I'm sure this is not the direction Ana intended the post to go. I respect you and this forum, so I will not post to this thread again.

Now, what do the rest of you do with your toothbrushes? :)

cbr4ifider,

You obviously just found us over here on the dark side. Welcome!!

People are often very opinionated here and the strange thing is that flame wars erupt 100 times less often than they do on the discussions side! Everyone here knows to take every thing with a shrug.

Threads are always hijacked here and people look forward to it. A thread about someone asking for computer help can often become a thread about Easter peeps.

Just don't talk about food. Arthur is sick of food!
-Mimi

Don't worry about it. I would not have even bothered about it except that if you go back to post one you will see a black and white statement.

Why are you going away? and why are you not going to add to this post?

Why are you so worried about expressing opinions?

Anyway, I'm going back to bed to cuddle up to the dragon woman. I've been working on the accursed orchid society bulletin. Really have to read the Filepro Manual on how to get figures out of my Database. I used to know all about Microsoft Access....but when you are eighty five is is hard to learn new things. The price was right on this MAC, free from my son, but i'm still not a mad MAC fan.

There is not much wrong with the forum but all this "friendliness" has killed the dark side. Lol.

Sorry for being a noob!

If charged discussions are welcome here, I'm sorry to have tried to dispel it. I learned something today--thanks for that! I'll stick around ...

For one, I like Bill Clinton.

And, it is extremely difficult to extract the liquid inside young coconuts under aseptic conditions, so please don't try infusing yoursef with it.

I like fruits, but I can't imagine myself getting out of bed to chew on an apple.

And Arthur, I am very sure that my tootbrush has had contact with roaches every now and then, being that it is harder to control roaches in tropical countries. But you know what...I can hardly care.

Ew. I don't want anything but me using my toothbrush.

But what about the test of true love. Would you use HIS toothbrush?

As for the cockies (roaches) it seems to be a losing battle. I know you can get the pest exterminators in but the stuff they use might be worse than the roaches for your long term health.

What about the mythical situation where you got stranded somewhere and the only thing left to eat was a roach? How would you go? Starve or survive?

Lol.

thanks ana, such a hoot.
my opinion is the dark side has been too gray recently.
so what!so someone says GW is a loon! should they do comm. service?
would you rather be denounced for your love of floof?
would you defend it?
love it more? even take a stand?
OPINION: implies a conclusion thought out yet open to dispute. these are opinions expressed hoping to open discussion/conversations. and this forum is earmarked for conversation.
just a thought: are you a flame warrior? if so thanks for perking things up

Arthur,
I would use his toothbrush but.. that's as far as it goes. I know where his mouth has been. (I think...)

Kwmackdog - I am a Flame wimp not a warrior and proud of it!!

Anyone - where is everyone??????? What happened to Nick???

Arthur,

Only a few days ago did a cousin tell me, that in our extended family we avoid insecticide sprays for the rice crop if it is for our own consumption. That portion earmarked for sale gets the usual doses as needed. Is that fair, or not?

I have always heard a dogs mouth is cleaner then a humans . I watched Myth Busters they did cultures from a dogs mouth and a humans ...Would be better off french kissing the dog (gag) ..According to them the dog has less bacteria than we do .
They did one on toilet flushing and tooth brushes awhile back .. my tooth bruch is now in another room lol . Gin

That's interesting. I've seen what dogs eat when we are not watching. I wonder what we are eating to cause the bacteria to be worse in our mouths.
-Mimi

Myth Busters also did a thing on the duck's quack not having an echo. Took a couple of rounds of testing but they found that it did echo....

Ack, I didn't need anymore usless facts Ana! : )

DH and I do share a toothbrush- one electric and one regular. We're gross. :)

And about the germ thing. I am so sick of hearing about GERMS. Antibacterial soap is going to be our death- I am sure of it. Purell and all those other companies are making a mint off 'germ fear'. Those stupid antibacterial liquids to use when you don't have soap don't really work unless you rub your hands together really fast to create friction. And then it's the friction that kills germs, not that stupid lube! So there.

OK, I've been admonished by GW for posting that pic, if you all recall, it was my second time (first was Spike when I posted a semi political joke in the regular forum and I was told that there was a forum, this one, for that type of jokes) now is you guys, IT'S A JOKE... get it? the only reason I post jokes here is because lots of you told me that they enjoy them.
My intention was not political, is something that somebody send me and I'm just forwarding, as a matter of fact, I like Clinton), however, is the third time, and, if GW gets a wind of this, I'll be banned, so, just in case, it was nice while it lasted, had a ball, you all take care!
Ana

Ana, i think you are being a worry water. Thanks for starting the thread, i'm sure some people got a laugh or two out of some of the posts.

What use is a forum if we are not allowed to discuss meaty subjects? The subjects are not a problem, there is only a problem if a flame war starts. But that doesn't seem to happen over here.

Ps. I like Bill too.

Ok: put down the lid when you flush. Not just the seat, but the lid.

I miss Bill.

Now come on Ana, you know a thread on this side can go in any direction. Most of us let the skeletan's out of the closet over here. I have to share a toothbrush with the STBEx but after 11 years I've gotten used to it. He just can't figure out that blue is for boys and pink is for girls, or that his is purple and mine is yellow, or that his has his frickin' name on it.

What burns me up more than the shared toothbrush though is when he uses my razors and leaves them all clogged up. How am I supposed to shave using that mess? Of course, he can't put a fresh razor in the shower and he can't change the blade on his so we can both use it.

Or he'll give the dog a bath and not rinse out the tub. GROSS.

I miss Bill too. He was entertaining and didn't piss me off.

Okay, answer me this, have you noticed since the last election that anytime you make a negative joke about Georgie boy,every one laughs? WHO THE HELL VOTED FOR HIM? It doesn't seem anyone is fessing up to it now. The whole country acts as if they had nothing to do with him getting re-elected. Including my ultra-conservative, religious right mother. The 51% that voted for him play dumb now. Me, no, not me, I wouldn't vote for such an idiot.

What is this?

Religion and abortion have NO business in politics. Why does half this country think those are the only two issues government should address?

Oh, yeah, we were discussing germs. Here's a scary one. How about Klebsiella? Hospitals have entire floors devoted to patients with bacteria that are resistent to everything. And you know what, those patients never go home.

Oh all of you who doubted the STBEx would ever leave, he has left. Of course, a bunch of his junk is still here but he as an address all his own in another state. There is a god.

I'll speak up..

I'm part of that 51% and not afraid to admit it, still better than the alternatives in my opinion. (But then I live in Ohio and look what we are putting up with for a govenor)

Thank goodness the tb's and the toilet are separated by a door.
Don't share tb's with DW unless an emergency.
And finally, I'd eat the roach...

Bob

Wow, this one got interesting while I was away!

Laura: you said it best...WHO THE HELL VOTED FOR HIM. I, for one, did not. I wasn't so much voting for Kerry as I was voting against GW. First time I voted as a matter of fact. Oh, and congrats on STBEx's departure.

Let's see, I miss Bill...the toothbrush thing is gross...antibacterial products are indeed causing resistant bacteria...I would eat the roach. I think that covers everything.

Ana, don't worry about complaints on this topic! You did a good job spicing things up around here.

Ana we love you. Hasn't everyone but me been admonished at one time or another on this forum? Don't know why I seem to have a halo...

I loved Bill. I really don't care about the president's personal life unless it interferes with his running the country and as far as I can tell, it didn't. I felt a hell of a lot safer during that administration.

I wouldn't eat a roach even if it were covered in chocolate.

I didn't vote for GW. Everything I was afraid he would do has happened. I'm just happy the rest of the country hasn't been blown up...yet. Don't feel safe any more...

-Mimi

OK! WOW! I'm still here!... hmmmmmm.....let's see:
Arthur:
What is a worry water?
kwmackdog:
Naaaahhhhhh, I'm not a flame thrower.
Bob:
I'm also part of that 51%, and I went thru lots of loops to vote, since residents of Guam do not vote on Mainland election, except: if you resided in the mainland previously, and intend to get back to the States (eventually), have to fill lots of forms, but I did it. They just pass the exception law, I don't think too many people overseas know about it.
Laura:
That was also my impression, that you could get more 'risky' here, EXCEPT: if somebody complains to GW about you, then, they'll admonished you, like they did to me, and deleted my post.
shannon and all of the others that supported me, THANK YOU!
Clairewags:
About the germs... you are right,' Antibacterial soap is going to be our death'. Did you know that the country with more allergies in the world is the USA? Why? Because we keep everything too clean, specially around babies, and our immune system can't develop a fighting defense for when we go out in the 'real' world.
Ana :)

OK, I'm a huge Bill fan too. Miss him to death.

The obsession with germs is driving me nuts. What's with this "killing germs in air that cause odors" crap? I can't believe there are stinky germs floating around. It's the piles of rotting stuff people leave all over the place that creates the stench.

Haven't looked at this side in a while.

K

Kevin- they are talking about poop stink. There. I said it- because they won't. I'm pretty sure it isn't 'germs' causing this odor, it is the Big Mac and fries that was eaten at lunch.

As for the roach, I would drop a lot of creative variations of the F bomb, cover it with a glass and wait for a man to show up.

Ana- you preformed a little CPR on the dark side and got it's heart beating again. Well done. :)

Ana, a worry water is a person who frets excessively about trivial things.
"Germ" I though golden staph (very nasty) was the main problem in hospitals but a semi retired doctor friend told me that an organism related to pseudomonas (spelling) was far worse because it got into peoples lungs and the available treatments do not work very well. It that the same beastie that was mentioned in a post above?
Raining outside (yipee) and i'm going down the backyard soon to fiddle with my orchids in the glasshouse. Should really go and spray everything with insecticide but i hate doing that because it will bump off the net casting spiders and other beneficial fauna that live there.
Claire, can you please explain the second paragraph of your post. Lol.

Hey, Arthur!
Would like to tell you something about 'worry'... but don't have your e-mail LOL! (not suited for the forum hehehe)
Thank you, Claire, always aiming to serve :)
'Pseudomonas' is a very dangerous infection, you can read about it on Google, type: Pseudomonas
people like us, working with soil and plants should be aware of it.
Ana :)

i knew all that...now how bush got re -elected gets me..

Tony, we can't figure it out either.

It's simple.

There are two types of people in the US - "us" and "them". There just happened to be more of "them" this time. "Them" did it.

K

No they didn't! Them that did it is all those people who did not vote.

They only reason politics are slewed a little bit more left here is that you will get fined if you didn't vote (Unless you have a good reason)

There were some posts here about registering as a Democrat or Republican voter and they made my head swim.

And every time we want to get rid of the queen...all people do is point at the circus over there in getting a nominee and we are stuck with the queen. Forever.

No, "them" did it. No ones know what "those people" who didn't vote would have done. Yes, they could have made a difference, but since they decided to remain silent they don't count. Chances are, they will continue to remain silent no matter what. It's a shame, but reality.

Have never understood why you guys keep the queen. She really just costs you a lot of money doesn't she?

K

The Queen doesn't cost us that much but we have the Governor General and the State Governors to support. If we got rid of the queen, we would still need a head of state. Sort of a figurehead. But, everytime we try to get rid of her of her, the keep her lot points to your political circus and people shake their heads.
Bet your booties, that most of the non voters are the poorer section of the American Community and if the trend here was followed they would vote Democrat.
The lot that are in power here now are mostly funded by business. I call them the bean counters. Every so often the other lot, mostly funded by the unions gets in. I call them the dreamers. The country moves forward when the dreamers get in, but then the bean counters get elected. keep the good things the dreamers enact. Straighten out the finances etc. etc. So the country moves forward.

Even here, I believe most of the people who don't vote are democrats too. I think their live and let live attitude keeps most from bothering to vote. Just a guess.

I don't know Arthur your countrys politics/laws are rather interesting. You've got laws forbidding almost everything but yet everyone ignores half of them and no one complains. In this country if there is a law not to walk your dog on the beach (and signs posted everywhere as they are on some of the beaches I went to in Australia) and one person ignored it and walked their dog, you can bet some Dudley-do-right would call the cops. We don't need cops in this country, we have busy-bodies with their noses bent out of shape everytime someone doesn't 'conform'.

Your culture, at least what I saw, just has a very nice laid back, easy going attitude about the "little" things. It's nice. I could live there easily.

I'd like to know what pic you posted that was so bad you were almost torched? I love your jokes and am glad you started this thread. I'm always afraid to put in my two cents, especially about US politics when I live in Canada, but really enjoy reading other's opinions.

Dottie, we love hearing what people in other countries think of our politics. 49% of the people in the US think it is as absurd as the rest of the world. The other 51% need to hear it.

I often wonder why people in other countries even talk to us if they know anything about our politics. Then I think either you must be really nice, understanding folks or yours are just as absurd as ours.

K

Very hard day at work today (still here) and so I came over for the first time in maybe 8 months. The gross politics are bad enough but what about the economic suicide that is being committed by the 'bean counters'? I recently heard that feasability studies are being done to see if it can be effective to fly patients needing certain elective and non-time sensitive surgeries to Eastern Europe or India to have the work done by overseas doctors. One of the big East Coast medical centers has already offshored all non-triage radiology to India via broadband internet lines. Am I wrong for wondering why a company that is based in the United States shouldn't be required to hire Americans to work there? Certainly at least people who actually reside within the physical U.S.? How do the companies that are disenfranchising resident Americans expecting us to pay for their goods and services when they are trying to eliminate our means of acquiring those means? Somehow I think these issues go beyond Democrat or Republican, in the rarefied world of money and power which people who are in line to rule the most powerful country on earth live the Republican ideals are just way too seductive. I see a lot of wannabee Republicans at the top of the Democratic party.

H

Well, good post, Howard, however, since we are closer to Asia/India we are very well aware of the medicine practiced in those countries. They have the best technology, the best surgeons, the best hospitals in the world. There was a special, no long ago, can't remember if it was 60 minutes or some other show, that the reporters went to India and the Philippines and interview a whole bunch of Americans that have gone there for treatment and surgeries. They couldn't stop talking about how great the service, performance and attention the got. The hospitals look like 5 stars hotels, the nurses and doctors all in starched uniforms, with the nurses hat, very professional.
The price is one third of what we are charged here, for no service, rude doctors and nurses, and the attention is deplorable. Now, you ask "Am I wrong for wondering why a company that is based in the United States shouldn't be required to hire Americans to work there?"
Our doctors and nurses would not pass the entrance test there, let along be hired. We have become very sloppy on most things we do, because we are very arrogant, we think that since we are the #1 power in the world, we can do anything... well, we better wake up... the "third world" is waiving at us bye as they pass us on the highway of knowledge. My husband needs surgery and his doctor is sending him to Taiwan, where he sends a lot of his patients, also to the Philippines.
The price is one third to what is charge for it here, and in the price, hotel is included for the relative that is accompanying the patient.
Is very sad that we are letting this happen... but our teaching institutions have gone down to the point that college kids can't read or write to save their lives.
Foreigners come here, study, get degrees and go back to their country and practice any chosen carrier and they do it professionally.
Ana

Howard, the USA is one of the great trading countries of the world. Now every time the great protection wall thing comes up i have to point out that i am sitting here at my computer using (mostly) legal software developed in America. If i go down to the Chemist shop for my drugs, i will probably be paying some American company for the research. There is scads of stuff in this brothel (australian for messy) of a house (all legal) bought via Amazon or bought locally after being exported here.,,,Dvds, cds, books, stamping material.
So, if you do not buy anything from us (Australia) or India or China etc.. How on earth are we supposed to pay for all the goodies that you want to sell .
But, Howard, It gets worse. I actually own assets in the USA via way of money invested in my superannuation or by directly owning shares in companies that operate over there. Real estate. Junk recycler, wine company.
The world is becoming a very complex place indeed and perhaps that is what the globalisation protestors are going on about...but i think their protests are in vain. The horse has bolted and that horse is, of course. The internet.

wahoo! this turned into something interesting! I should have watched it out! roaches...definitely chocolate covered roaches....; ) Voting: my husband's co worker recently moved. Carlos asked him where the voting location was for this area, and he said he didn't know, and that he hadn't bothered to change his address yet (it has only been 2 months) so he wasn't going to vote...heck I would have trotted over to the old voting station and voted there.....but I guess I got lobotomized in my government classes in jr high and hs, as well as in debate (we debated over whether or not the U.S. should significanly change the method of selection the Pres. and VP candidates...sort of influenced my thinking all these years and I have only missed voting once, when I went on a merry chase trying to find where I was supposed to vote and gave up after the third try...yes...I went to 3 separate polling places and the last one, which I presume was the correct one, I turned away from because it was so poorly lighted and I was in a bad section of town...oh yeah, I forgot..one other time I went to vote and the line snaked around in the school and out the door....the wait time to vote I was told was 2 hours. They hadn't taken into account the number of condos which had gone up in the area and the general development and didn't look at the voting lists....and hadn't prepared.

Okay, I'm back by request, and since I am kinda bored I'll go ahead and express some opinions...

I voted for Bush because I had a better idea of what he planned on doing than Kerry. I watched the debates, and I know it was about split down the middle in people's opinions of who "won," but to me, Kerry was no more than a politician, saying little more than "We've gota make this right!" Yeh, I agree, but how? Pull out all the troops over seas and leave them on their own for civil war? Raise welfare benefits? Several states pay as much for welfare as an entry level computer programmer can earn--if welfare pays more than minimum wage, why would anyone be motivated to get off welfare? And yes, it's nearly impossible to live on min wage ... so let the school kids work at McD's and get a certificate and be a nurse or something! They are in great demand right now. Oh, hospitals--that's gross what Lisa said in "roll call." But I don't know how to fix it so I'll be quiet on that one.

There's a lot wrong with America, but I live pretty comfortably here when I don't starting thinking about politics. I think about politics, and then I think about moving to Canada or Australia. But as previoulsy noted, those countries have problems of their own too.

I didn't vote yesterday either. And I know that's part of the problem. The Hispanic population succeeded in voting into legislation that all public school teachers must speak fluent Spanish w/in something like 3 years or they could lose their jobs. Hell, if a 50 year old person is able to lean Spanish in that amount of time, you know that white guys gonna have such a bad Texas accent that the Hispanic kids could barely understand him anyway... And how about those kids just learn English??? Mexicans are taking their land back, and I don't blame them. We've got a great welfare system.

I vote for Bush for one main reason:

He is Republican and I believe in the the general attitude of the Republicans party that:

To have a strong and successful country, you have to have a very strong trade and business sector which needs supporting. The businesses will take care of the workers if they are successful.

I'm not so sure that the Dems feel that is the right way to a strong country.

"Usually" pretty simple in my mind, but I'm a little more flexible below the federal level.

Bob

>The businesses will take care of the workers if they are successful.

That is no longer the case. The business model that prevails in America right now is that labor costs are the best place to gain on the profit vs costs equation. The more successful a business becomes the more likely it will be that they will reduce payroll to further inflate profits for the executive management and shareholders.

Not everyone is equipped to become an MBA, nor should they need be in such a vast economic system as the United States. We need burger flippers as well as CEO's and they should and can be paid a wage that is sufficient to live on without derailing the company growth. Most companies only need a single CEO but they always need vastly more labor consistent with the size of the company. If our destiny truly lies in automated personal service delivery and outsourced skilled trades manufacturing then unwed mothers should not be pressured to have children they don't want. Republicans make most of the pro-life arguments but then argue just as fervently for Globalization. Huh? I don't think effective methods of birth control should be blackballed with trumped up allegations of danger. In fact it probably isn't out of line to suggest that if things are really so bad that ones country cannot guarantee its citizens employment consistent with their availability then maybe couples should be limited to one child only!

The U.S. displays a shocking lack of ability to learn from history. After decades of a direct correlation between production and profit the U.S. began experimenting with a stock market economy which crashed badly in 1929 and the same dynamic is working again less than 100 years later. The U.S. also experimented with a free labor economy which indirectly led to a Civil War. This Red State/Blue State division is tearing our country apart and when it isn't doing that it definitely inhibits forward progress. The rest of the world is racing by with quality of life improvements for its citizens and we watch as China ascends to the place that we once held as a mover and shaker on the international stage.

H

Wow! I really want to talk about cows going down steps, but somehow I feel compelled to get political first. I voted for Bush twice and Bill twice. But since the Democratic party insists on moving far more left than its traditional roots (in the South, anyway), I don't think they have any danger of regaining national political power anytime soon. Everytime Bush's polls go down, his speech writers crank out a prime time speech for him, and his polls go back up. That tells me people believe what he says, they just don't hear it as often as they need to. Bush gets too busy being President to do the National hand-holding that's required. The only Democrats I'd consider voting for now are Zell Miller, and maybe Leiberman. And I don't think their party likes them right now.

Now, back to the cow - a family tale. My great-grandaddy's goat scared Bessie, the cow, who ran up the barn steps into the loft. She spent about 4 days up there with all the hay she could eat and no way to get down. Cows don't go down steps, you know. They had to build a massive ramp with switchbacks from the loft window down to the ground. With a little coaxing, she walked down it without any trouble. Grandpa removed the bottom 4 steps in the barn to make sure no other cow went upstairs.

Actually, you're not correct in the "No piece of paper can be folded in half more than seven (7) times" point.

In 2001 a math student was given the tase of folding a piece of paper in half 12 times. If she did so she would earn extra credit points on her report card.

She did it. The student worked out if you have a piece of paper (long and thin.. like toilet paper) 2.1km (1.3miles) it is possible. She used the formula W = pi T 2[to the power of 3(n-1)/2].

I got this from a book by Dr Kruszenlnicki, a well known scientist across the world.

You mean Doctor Karl l Kruszelnicki. He is as mad as a two Bob watch and writes popular science books.
Is he really well known across the world? He does a road safety ad on TV about micro sleeps. One short nap and you're pap. That last line is mine. Sorry.

And while we are on about road safety. What is the most dangerous thing you can do. No! its not take a ride on the New York subway. About 100 killed on the roads here over the Christmas Holiday break and that's for a population of 20 million, must be near 1000 over there. Not much in the media about those terrible figures.

Kinda hate to tell this story, but I have been impulsed...

Not too long ago an airplane had trouble stopping on landing and slid across the runway and into a road, killing a motorist. No one on the plane was seriously injured. See? Flying IS safer than driving.

Very sick humor, I know, especially since it's a true story. Sorry, couldn't help myself from sharing.

i learned the coconut thing in the army... strange....