Question about moving out of one's country--

I hope that you find life someday, even if it's just in Second Life.

This must be the "compassionate conservatism" I've heard so much about during the campaign. I can feel the love.

Nope.. nope... nope...

I never claimed to be a cmopassionate conservative. Never.

I am a curmudgeon.. . want me to repeat it so you can remember?

I doubt that would help as I'm pretty dense.

Under Hussein's rule:
- Iran/Iraq War - Est. 1 million dead.
- 1987-1988 - campaign of terror against the Kurds killed at least 50,000 and possibly as many as 100,000 Kurds.
- October 1991 - Iraqi leaders were privately acknowledging that 250,000 people were killed during the Shi'a uprisings, with most of the casualties in the south.
- 1998 - 2003 - 400,000 Iraqi children under the age of five died of malnutrition and disease.
- Prison execution - 4,000 prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in 1984.
- Prison execution - 3,000 prisoners at the Mahjar prison from 1993-1998.
- Prison execution - 2,500 prisoners were executed between 1997-1999 in a "prison cleansing campaign.
- Prison execution - 122 political prisoners were executed at Abu Ghraib prison in February/March 2000 & 23 political prisoners were executed at Abu Ghraib prison in October 2001 .
- At least 130 Iraqi women were beheaded between June 2000 and April 2001.
- Saddam has had approximately 40 of his own relatives murdered.

Under American occupation:
- Civilians dead in Iraq - 14219 to 16352 estimated.

In America:
- Poverty - 34.6 million living in poverty.
- Homeless - 3 million men, women and children (est.)
- Drunk Driving deaths - 17,500 (est.) annually.
- Violent Crimes: Homicide - 20,000 deaths annually (est.), Suicide - 30,000 deaths annually (est.).

Uh.. my response... chalk one up to death by statistics (me).. I have no clue what your point was. Want to state it.. uh, one?

Ya, I agree, Korg. America is no democracy, in the sense of the word most Americans believe in. And people with your attitude is why we let it happen.

Go "ballistic" and see what might "HAPPEN".

You didn't finish eating all of those dying Ethiopians? You left those poor Ethiopians on your plate?

How... un-Swiftian of you!

Nope: I just love numbers.
Actually, I just wanted to add some perspective to the point of view that the 16,000 or so deaths in Iraq equals to some kind of massive catastrophe for the Iraqi people, who have already survived the top half of the stats in my post. Further, I included the stats on America to show that as a country, we experience far greater losses yearly than Iraq has in the two years since occupation...and I just woke up.

Sorry Donovan. While you were cogitating I was defending your right to do so. I was raveling the world examining and making memories of the other world governments in whose countries I happened to be stationed or was stationed near. I have a pretty good idea why I believe America is the way it is now... and I think I am a part of it. People like myself ARE why people who have no intention of EVER serving their country will have the time and security to postulate and grouse about things as they are and how they could or should be. I deal with reality. I picked up dead babies killed by other people's governments during elections... have you? I got my left arm broken while acting as an peacekeeper and observer coinciding with an election in another country... have you? I take pride in the fact that I have done those things and think as I do. Thank you.

As for going ballistic.. Mutually Assured Destruction .... yep. Both sides agreed that was not necessarily a realistic strategy for winning a conflict.. But I can pull an executioner's switch on death row for you.. and I won't lose a wink of sleep over having done so.

Yes, Korg, I have a bullet hole in my backside, earned in the service of my country. And I didn't throw away the honors my country gave me, either. And I have scraped the guts of women and children up off the ground, too -- who were murdered by desperate forces opposed to my country, and by the iron bombs, guided missiles, and stray tank and artillery shells of my country.

You, sir, as a person who has done and seen all this, should know better than to exhibit such a cavalier attitude toward human life and rights. And you should set a better example for others who haven't had your experiences.

Donovan: I just have to say that I find your outlook on this absolutely moving, and I want to thank you for so strikingly representing this viewpoint.

Thank you

Looking into it already.

Donovan, that you too have served is laudable.

That you feel so strongly about things in apparent opposition to what I think and feel is fine with me. That my feelings and appraoch to life do not comport with your views seem to cause you more discomfort than your views does to me. Sorry.. I gues I am just thick skinned. I have considered myself already dead too many times to get all worked up over dying, over politics per se, and over damn near anything that will not directly affect me.

I have a few liveral bones in my body but I am considering surgery to have them removed. Having seen the results of the last election as the media managed to keep it in the news for four years, and along with having seen far too manypeople at their worst, including having had to deal with child rape as a terror weapon while I was overseas, I have no doubt that mankind is only as safe from itself as a whole as its strongest man. A strong dictator has the potential to do more for a people/country than does a weak leader... That has been proven time and again.

In my perfect world we would be led by a benevolent dictator..not a democracy. But that is not going to happen. So, the closer we can get to that, the happier I am. (starts counting the second s before the libreal charge fo Fascist gets thrown back at me).

As for setting a good example for people, why? Who gave me that job? Who pays me to be their example? I certainly don't remember applying. I state some of my background as a means of explaining my position... not as a means for others to lok up to me. Don't try to drag me onto your high horse. I don;t ride.

Aaron--I bookmarked that web site, thank you very much!!!
Korg--I have to finish my education or else I won't have any way to get a job; suffice to say I'd be a better English teacher than anything else, so I should use that talent. If I am able to afford the last few years of my education and you're still around here at that time, I'll gladly take you up on the offer to move me out of the country.
Talen--My loan costs are increasing while my tuition cost is increasing while my financial aid is decreasing. When Bush said he was giving out more financial aid than ever before, what he really meant he was giving quarters to every college student in the nation instead of a dollar to those who really, really need it. I really, really need financial aid, which is paid by taxes, and taxes which I wish would be raised on people who can actually -handle- the loss of income quite honestly. My financial aid is dwindling and the amount I LOST last year in financial aid was over $1500, while my tuition increased $1500 just the same. When does the trickle down effect start to work? Becuase I'm losing an extra $3000 a year now and I'll be paying it back for the rest of my life. Meanwhile, there are people building their third floors to their homes and lining their bathroom walls with gold. Disparity levels, people.
Did you know that Denmark's lowest tax bracket is 46%, they have public healthcare, schooling, has had gay marriage legalized since 1956, and has virtually NO poverty? None at all? They require that you stay there for 10 years and pay $1000.00 a month before you become a resident, though, so that's not looking like a viable option. Sounds like an amazing country, though--and no, they are not Socialist.

If more than half of this country is stuck to conservative morals and 10 states yesterday just BANNED American homosexuals from having legal relationships, then it's time to face the facts: America is not as free-feeling as it used to be and it makes perfect sense for me to look elsewhere. "If my cheese has been moved, I chase it," says the mouse.

Hi Guys...

Can anyone tell me how to move to America from UK?

Yes I am serious

i second what he said... i want to come to the USA for a varied amount of reasons.. and i really don't want to have to get married to do it

no in all seriousness.. i really do want to... help~?

1984
Harrison Bergeron
Animal Farm

Pick your poison. Political extremists all have agendas that will, in one way or another, bring us closer to one of these extremes. Personally, if they're the only choices I have, the above order is my order of preference.

But my real preference, if it were an option, would be moderation & compromise. I fall somewhere along the lines of a Libertarian or Centrist.

I honestly believe there are more moderates in this country than either conservatives or liberals. Unfortunately, our political system is polarized, and the majority of the population really isn't represented.

Not at all, Korg - it's apparent that our real differences lie in your belief in a Hobbsian moral and political world, while my own beliefs are more transcendental and Kantian. You look to the Leviathan to discharge all your responsibilities, and I look for the transcendant experience that may obligate me to look out for others as I can.

But I have seen too many veterans who place war and service in their lives as a rite of passage, and expect others to kneel to their ideas and POVs. Doing service does not give a man or woman wisdom, merely experience. The wisdom comes from what they do with that experience.

In my world, however, the experience obligates them to others who have none. Service means service for life.

Just a different POV. And I've fallen off a few horses.

yeah i'll be moving to NM hehehe yay for green cards

NM... IM UK... DONT CONFUSE ME!!!

I just wanna moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove

Where you going, What you doing? who with? HUH HUH UH?

Garth and Willow, I don't know what your skillsets are, but the best way to move to the States (long-term or permanently, and legally) would be with a work visa, IMHO.

I have a friend that came to the US years ago on a student visa, got a job after college and stayed on a work visa, and is now a citizen. You need a visa and a sponsor that will last long enough for you to make it through the immigration process if you actually want citizenship.

skills?! uh oh... i'm doomed...

skilled in producing man mayo..does that count? lol but ya either a green card or maybe a visa I guess...I have my sponsor and a place to stay if i can get in

*campaigns for a sponsor*

*flutters eyelashes*

I'm GOOD