Okay, I'm sort of breaking a rule here with this, and trying to get away with it by saying that this is on the political/public debate board. I know we say no commercial links, but this may be worth the 8 or 9 bucks it costs. And right now, slamming the current President of the United States might fall under a special dispensation (if I don't go overboard?) with my fellow managers. Let me know if I err to far, guys.

I got this link off of our dear Marcel's Blog! Check out Backwards Bush!

While I'm on this Bush Rant (something I don't waste time with near enough- I need to start working on campaigning for Hillary or something! lol) I thought I'd share this. I picked the following pic off of someone's blog. Gave me a chuckle. Thank you whoever you are.

dear son of walt, could you explain what george bush ever did to gay people? please don't take offence at this post as i am new. and it wont earn me any points to get a moderator mad at me right out of the gate. he had the same stance on gay marriage as kerry. he has kept the more nuttie christians at bay. i know he's a born again but that not realy a sin. i mean i just don't get the out and out hatetred this guy has
had throwen at him sence he took office.

Well, I knew that this might get me in trouble and I can't go pulling rank for it, so please do not worry about my taking offense. We've said in the guidelines that we can talk about anything if we talk to each other out of respect. After all this section of the message board isn't called "Touchy Topics" for nothing. So no worries, okay?

As to your question, Actually, I didn't mention in my posts above any claim that our President has done anything to gay people. That little Tinkerbell graphic was actually something that amused me because of my disagreements on why we went to war when we did and how it is being handled.

General Wesley Clark who led Dessert Storm had similar feelings. Recently I think it was four Generals who made public statements about their displeasure with the way things in Iraq have been handled by the president. And please, let's not get into a discussion of whether or not I support our troops, because I do and I do so in some practical ways, including helping to raise funds recently for the families of soldiers wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq (this was part of last month's Memorial Bataan March). You see, in a democracy, I do not believe that one has to agree with the president to support our soldiers.

And while my disagreements may be harsh, I am not sure that I would go so far as to say that by spoofing and complaining I am heaping hatred on the man. That would make me a bush-aphobe or something, wouldn't it? Ah well, I won't waste my energy. But I think it's so amazingly clear that GW's father was a far better leader than Bush Jr.

Since you bring up the gay issues regarding Bush, I'll adress them. First of all, I make no claim that Kerry would have been better to gays than Bush has been. But he at least claimed that he would push for "civil unions" even if he didn't like the term marriage, which would have afforded some legal protection for gay partners.

But heck, even Bill Clinton, back in 1996, after promises to help the gay community all throughout his campaign, signed the Protection of Marriage Act , which basically stated that marriage was between one woman and one man; there's a kick in the gut to any gay man who wishes to marry his partner.

So, no, in my opinion democrats have not been that much better to the gay community, they just have managed to get more out of us in campaign contributions. Of course, neither has every republican been anti-gay. In 2004 Senator John McCain stood up with other key republicans and democrats against President G.W. Bush when he called for a ban on gay marriages.

So, yes, I am not a fan of our current national leader for many reasons. Perhaps my poking and spoofing here has gone farther than this community should allow though. I shall give that some thought. Thanks for joining and not being afraid to share your thoughts. I appreciate that.

Yours,
David

walt, first off your not in truble with me! i love to match wits with a worthy opponent!!
our president has a coupleof tragic flaws he doesen't get along with the press and he gets toungue tied when he talks about foreign affairs. he shines in a town hall meeting or 1 on 1 but put him up in front of the press and the boy drops the ball every time.

haveing served in the military( at the lofty rank of pvt.) i can tell you he doesn't make the dicision of how we go to war only when.
however if we lose or win he gets to take all
the credit. the problem with iraq was we were streached to thin with men in bosina and afganistan. we had also used most of our realy
high tech bombs on golf war 1, bosnia and afg.
i am sorry about the long explanations but none of these topics lend them selves to short replys. should we have gone in when we did?
useing all my lofty experance that i gained as a pvt. in the usmc. i can say no with all the confedence that 20/20 hine sight affords me.
but we would have had to go in.

now on to the ban on gay marriage.

he actually called for a constitional admendment to ban gay marriage.he knew that it wouldn't pass. not with a 48/ 50 senate. i know
wishey washey but so is "don't ask don't tell.

i know i sound like a right wing nut but realy i'm not. i just believe in my contry and it's leaders. hell when i was young and stupid i voted for jessie jackson. i've sinse repented.
--bob--

Jesse Jackson! Oh my... lol... ah well, it's big of you to admit it now. You can call me David, by the way.

Yes, I really was trying to not get too long in my reply last night either (especially last night! yikes...) I honestly have more free market republican blood in me than my dear Smokey would like.

I suppose that I am liberal socially while being conservative fiscally. As with the church, I'm not sure that either of the larger camps would be proud to have me.

I also believe that despite our reputation in Europe right now, there is no government on earth as ingeniously wrought as ours. Our freedoms come with responsibilities and I am happy to have been born an American. I believe it's not merely my right to vote, but as a member of a voting republic, it is my duty as a citizen to take part in the democratic process.

Okay... time to smack myself up-side the head now. Having said all that, I know that it is also my duty not just to bitch and whine but to productively help move the nation forward. Smokey and I have both talked about our growing need to be more politically active.

And hey, it's been another long 13 hour day, so I don't even know if I've properly responded to you. But hopefully we are at least getting to know each other. Hope your weekend is a joyous one. I still need to get over to the other message board and respond to you there. My life will ease up a bit with a job move in about 11 days (but as Smokey always hears me say, "Who's counting?)