Sorry for answering a rhetorical question. I know my comment is so obvious that it sounds stupid, but…
The reason why notcynical should care more about the Arizonan is that the Arizonan cares more about him/her. That’s the deal, whether we like it or not. The world we were born into is divided up into countries. People within a country share laws, culture, and resources (to a degree.)
The government of the US was designed to serve the citizens of the US. Same thing for every other country’s government. Of course, the US should be a good world citizen, but our government is OUR government.
I agree with the thrust of your point, but I can’t get by the hypocrisy that the Republican party made a big to-do over Clinton’s marijuana experiments, and then suddenly clam up over Dubya’s cocaine past. E.g., while it isn’t anything against Bush himself, it is a smear against those he’s affiliated with.
According to most legal scholars (among them Alan Dershowitz), the Gore camp’s requests for recounts were all completely legal and in line with existing Florida election law. The only people opposed to the recount requests were the GOP, and IMO the whole “Gore tried to steal Florida” mantra is a myth that should die an ignoble death.
Hairy says Bush did coke. I say Hairy regularly sodomizes miniature poodles.
I have the same amount of evidence about this as Hairy has about Bush.
[sub](heh-heh … heh-heh … I said “hairy” and “bush” in the same sentence)[/sub]
P.P.S. - Whack-a-Mole has found four people who believe Bush stole the election! Keep counting!
And when do we get around to counting the people who thought what Gore was attempting to do was pretty damn close to a coup d’etat?
There are some Dems who believe without evidence that W had done cocaine in the long-ago past. However, there are some Reps who believed without evidence that Clinton (or, at least, people in his administration) were doing coke while he was President.
This is really the crux of it. Diplomatic endeavours by the US in recent times seem poorly thought out and initiated. You can negotiate from a position of strength, so long as you negotiate.
Your first cite is for: http://www.consad.com/ - “An Economic and Public Policy Analysis Consulting Firm”
You might be interested in their client list: http://www.consad.com/clients.htm
From the provider of your second and third cites : “API In Brief : API is the major national trade association representing the entire petroleum industry: exploration and production, transportation, refining, and marketing. With headquarters in Washington, D.C…”
Forgive me if I’m not overly convinced of the independence of either source.
No problem, SPOOFE. However, that’s just the headline figure. To restate my previous point; The first world is increasingly approaching something loosely termed ‘post-industrialisation’. In part, that means ‘we’ concentrate less on heavy industry and other labour intensive industries and more on technological fields like Micro Chips, Pharms, Financial Services, etc.
So, while we have ‘cleaner’ but highly costly items in our trade accounts or National Products, other countries don’t (they still being o the road to industrialisation) - in other words, we have increasingly less justification to use an argument saying we produce ‘x’ so we can pollute ‘x’.
Very weak. 45% of people responding to an aol poll last year believed that Hanson would end up having a longer career than the Rolling Stones. This poll was probably skewered by the number of children who responded to it. You ever think that maybe more people who thought George W. stole the election responded to it? Polls will say anything you want, just keep asking people until more answer the way you want them to than don’t.
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Something he did in his 30’s is recent?? I wasn’t even born until he was 31. And why would this be a bad thing, anyway? Usually giving up one’s bad habits is considered a good thing.
I am German and I’d like to give my personal opinion which largely equals the opinion that dominates in Europe:
The American government is arrogant. It never obeys international law except in cases in which int’l law favours the US; then, the US eagerly urge other countries to follow, but if agreements are a disadvantage for America, Washington ignores them (examples: Cuban embargo, declared illegal by the UN, or the penetrant American refuse to pay UN debts, the construction of NMD despite the 1972 ABM treaty and so on). This was better during Clinton’s presidency (Germans usually regard Clinton as the best President since FDR and JFK), but this idiotic GWB never cares about anything going on beyond the US border.
Americans (the society as a whole) are egotistic. They are 5 % of the world’s population but consume 25 % of the world energy production. They drive idiotically big cars with fuel consumption of 20 litres per 100 kilometres while European car companies are developing cars that need 3 litres/100 km (I’m too lazy to convert it into gallons per 100 miles). They ignore their international duties concerning climate protection by refusing to join the inevitable Kyoto Protocol. They seem to have never heard of energy saving - the electricity consumption of an American household is incredible, you only have to look at those silly Christmas illuminations.
They blame China for violating human rights while executing peope, regularly (UN says death penalty is BAD) and they torture their citizens in cruel bootcamps, supported by populistic law-and-order-sheriffs.
They are not willing to learn; they have high school shootings regularly, but they seem incapable of breaking the power of NRA and introduce overdue gun control.
Their social system is ridiculous.
This is not to say I hate all individual Americans; I simply do not agree with what’s going on politically within the US.
Hi, welcome to Great Debates. I’m going to thrash your post. Don’t take it personally. Think of it as a learning experience.
First off, in the Great Debates forum opinions don’t count for much. That’s what the In My Humble Opinion forum is for. Opinions are not easily debatable unless they are based upon falsehoods. Whether you feel the US government is arrogant or not is up to you to decide for yourself.
It is unlikely that the US, which has veto power, allowed the UN to declare the Cuban embargo illegal. If you have evidence contrary to this please share. While being behind on its payments to the UN is a rather sad state of affairs, it is a bit of a stretch to call it a violation of International Law. The US has not yet violated the ABM treaty and is working with the Russians to find a way to modify the treaty so as to not violate it. (For the record, I think The NMD is moronic.)
It is not like the US is stealing other nation’s energy supplies. The US pays for or produces that 25%. We’ll put Christmas decorations up if we want. Actually your bah humbag spirit has me riled up enough that I’m going to add a Christmas strobe light shining down on a full electric train set featuring a lit Santa astride a modern glowing monorail engine that will wind its way around several electric generators that are being used to power a Dolby sound system blaring “Silent Night” 24 hours a day.
There is considerable evidence that the Kyoto Protocol will have little impact on global warming.
Again, the UN can’t say anything that the US doesn’t let pass and the US isn’t in the habit of letting the UN call its actions “bad.” It should also be kept in mind that China executes more people in a single month than the US does in a year.
Considering the US is a world economic power with a technological sophistication that gives its military system an almost incomparable edge, you are going to be hard pressed to defend the statement that the US isn’t willing to learn. Your definition of “regularly” needs to be examined. High school shootings in the US are quite rare, although covered extensively.
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Vague statement.
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Eh, wait a few years. Our politics change at a rapid pace.
OK, but of course you’ll concede that I want to defend my post?
It was not the Security Council that did this decision, it was the General Assembly in which the US vote (thankfully) counts exactly as much as every other nation’s. I do not know the exact resolution title, but if you insist on it I’ll research - believe me, these decisions exist, more than one.
The situation of the UN is irrelevant; the US have debts towards the UN, and debts have to be paid. Making demands (“We pay only if you do this and this”) is simply impudent.
OK, not yet, but they are about to do. I hardly think Moscow will agree with any modifications.
No, but doing this they destroy the world climate, which is not US property.
Of course you are free to do it, but I am free to tell you that the Americans, too, should pay their contributions to stop global warming.
I could quote a few scientists to say it does.
Take a quick look into the Human Rights Declaration of 1948.
I never said I approve China’s policy; I simply find it hypocritical that the US condemns China while themselves continuing the executions. It’s not about executing 1 or 10 or 1000 people - you shouldn’t execute at all.
I didnt’t mean “learning” in the technical meaning, but in the political one. US politicians are very stubborn towards foreign ones and don’t let them tell if there’s something going wrong.
OK, I change that: Social security system in the US practically does not exist. Compare it to European countries (classic example: Sweden) and you know what I mean. God, you even have to pay to go to college in America!
Germany is a good learner? It took WWII to teach Germany a lesson. I wouldn’t call tht a bright student by any means. And I don’t care for what Germany was trying to do either. Let’s see… would I rather Germany have won the war and gone on to dominate the world… hmmmm… I don’t think so.
Did I say Germany was a good learner in the 20th cenntury? No. Did I say Hitler should have won the war? No. Am I myself to blame for being a German? No. Do I, despite being a German, have the right to say the US government is not a very good learner if that’s the fact? Yes.
Geez, Blackclaw, for all your boasting about your supposed “thrashing” of Schnitte, your post was actually quite weak. First you say that opinions don’t count for much - then to counter Schnitte’s assertion about the Cuba embargo, you say you don’t think it could have happened. I guess opinions are bad, but misinformed speculation is OK.
Then you tell how Kyoto won’t do much. Your proof: A website by Exxon. That’s not even opinion - it’s basically just PR by Exxon, motivated by self-interest (whereas an opinion might actually be based on a reasoned analysis).
Please, this is Great Debates. I don’t mind a weak post - but please, before you brag about how you are going to “thrash” somebody’s post, make sure you have either facts or logic to support you.
I agree that this is improper. There is widespread belief in the US however that we are paying dues to an organization that largely reviles and hates us. This belief generates a reluctance to appropriate funds to the UN. This belief isn’t entirely true of course but it contributes to the political atmosphere.
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When / if the Bush moves forward with the NMD without the agreement of the Russians it could be argued the the US is not in violation of International Law because the nation with which the US made the agreement, the Soviet Union, no longer exists. (I wouldn’t argue this because I think violating the ABM treaty goes against the interests of the US, but you can see how difficult it is to pin down a nation as being in violation of International Law.)
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Entire threads have been spawned on the effect human beings have on climate change. There is no confirmed evidence that Kyoto will effect the global climate in any meaningful way. Additionally the US would not have been able to meet the requirements set forth in the treaty even with its best efforts. Despite the Mr. Bush’s recent moves on the ABM treaty, I’m hopeful that the US isn’t going to make being in violation of a treaties an ongoing habit. (Mindful that we did this with our own Native American peoples)
The US was founded by breaking away from Europe and a certain amount of doing things are own way should be expected as a matter of tradition. As foolhardy as some of the US actions have been, the overall effect has still resulted in a prosperous nation. Given the track record of other European nations, it is hardly surprising that we ignore their advice.
Yes, but we compensate for that by having a far lower tax rate. It’s a different approach than the European one, but I hardly see while that makes the US something to cast distain upon. Indeed, the US has some of the finest universities in the world.
Now we do have this program that is actually called Social Security which is a big train wreck waiting to happen… but no nation is perfect.
I know… I got hurried by stuff at work. I was rather surprised he didn’t thrash me for the Exxon link, but maybe he wasn’t familar with the company.
So there was no “thrashing” but I’ve still held my own. I hold a Master’s degree in International Relations so my opinions in such matters are hardly “misinformed speculation.” No binding resolution can pass withouth the Security Council’s agreement and indeed no such agreement has ordered the US under the rules of International Law to end the Cuban Embargo.