"I don't worry about anything here in Washington…" - President George W. Bush.

Here's the thing.

For me it's not about George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld or the rest of the gang.

It's about people who are so insulated by their "way of life" that they fail to see, hear and understand what the rest of the world does.

Eat junk, watch junk, read junk and make war… OBEY!

Why is it that with all that is going on in the world, newspaper readership, radio listener-ship and television news ratings are down across the board?

Why is it that so many people hold the highest regard for those who follow orders and do not (or will not) question authority, while vilifying those who do?

And why is it that heroic, patriotic, nationalistic praise and glory is reserved for those who kill over those who won’t?

There are actually people who believe that Deep Throat was some kind of traitor for ratting on crooks and liars.

Why is it that with the US dollar at bargain basement prices international tourism to US destinations is at record lows?

It's time that the fervent supporters of a system and "way of life" propounded by a leader with "nothing to worry about" realise that the rest of the world is looking at the United States (as a country) much the same way US citizens are indoctrinated to think about Iran, North Korea or South America.

Like a leader isolated behind a wall of security and surrounded by "advisors", the collective failure of Americans (and I use the term in the broadest sense) to see outside their media and culturally self-imposed isolation results in total ignorance.

There is nothing to worry about in Washington.
.

Source for the title...

Bush Rejects Talk of Waning Influence
.

Carseller4 wants him dead, Jestaman does, Pat Buchanon does, hell, on Scarborough Country they had one of them men who went to jail for the Watergate break in on and he said same thing, guy was a traitor and the punishment for a traitor? !DEATH!

Or on Fox News, Hannity, the guest, and a couple Republican senators on there all said same thing, he was a traitor and needs to be punished.

Or again on Fox News you have the man who blew the cover of an undercover CIA agent because the agent wouldn't give him a foot massage or something, saying the same thing, death to traitors, and Deep Throat is a traitor.

Originally posted by James the Lesser
Carseller4 wants him dead, Jestaman does, Pat Buchanon does, hell, on Scarborough Country they had one of them men who went to jail for the Watergate break in on and he said same thing, guy was a traitor and the punishment for a traitor? !DEATH!

Or on Fox News, Hannity, the guest, and a couple Republican senators on there all said same thing, he was a traitor and needs to be punished.

Or again on Fox News you have the man who blew the cover of an undercover CIA agent because the agent wouldn't give him a foot massage or something, saying the same thing, death to traitors, and Deep Throat is a traitor.

Culture of Life huh? You list examples of people who would put death on anyone who doesn't agree with their politics.

Nixon was a criminal, no doubt about it. He deserved what he got, so did the other WaterGate TRAITORS

The only people who side with criminals, must be in some fashion, criminals themselves.
They are the real traitors.

Isn't Pat Buchanan supposed to be a Christian, but here you say he is spouting desire of death on people. Thats called hypocrisy, so therefore, his opinion is worth about as much as used toilet paper.
Along with everyone else you site.

[edit on 4-6-2005 by Legalizer]

double post...? weird
But while I'm here, if Nixon had nothing to hide, then why did he resign?
Answer, same reason his vice president resigned before him, guilt.


[edit on 4-6-2005 by Legalizer]

They are the traitors, not us.

These people just love to isolate themselves, make themselves feel that they are right and that all opposing views are evil. It just makes it easier to filter them out if you’ve come to the conclusion that they simply want to destroy your way of life.

It was quite surprising after deep throat revealed himself, to here people call him a criminal. Do they all simply look at him in a negative light because he exposed a republican? Would they all be praising him as a hero if it was a democrat instead? In the minds of many, it’s wrong if it’s against them, right if it’s for them.

Though it does seem quite ridiculous that they would get the viewpoint from someone who went to jail because of it. What else would he think, he’s still bitter.

Originally posted by Gools
There are actually people who believe that Deep Throat was some kind of traitor for ratting on crooks and liars.

Deep Throat was a crook and liar himself convicted of the same type of crime he shadily fingered others for.

Originally posted by Gools
Why is it that with the US dollar at bargain basement prices international tourism to US destinations is at record lows?

I have no idea where you got your tourism data from...the data for international tourism to the U.S. are actually quite good:

The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced that 3.1 million international visitors traveled to the United States in October 2004, an increase of almost seven percent over October 2003. Arrivals for the first ten months of 2004 totaled 32.2 million, an increase of 12 percent from the same period last year. The U.S. has experienced growth in visitation for 13 consecutive months.

OTTI

[edit on 6/5/2005 by djohnsto77]

dj
www.uschamber.com...

US Chamber of Commerce disagrees with you, and they need your help.

[qutoe]
The travel and tourism industry was hit hard at the beginning of the decade by a number of factors, including terrorism, new security measures, and an economic downturn. Since 2000, the number of international travelers visiting the United States declined by 9 million, and travel-generated employment dropped by 4.2%. Following September 11, business travel decreased 30%, and leisure travel by air dropped precipitously. And while domestic travel is recovering, the number of inbound international visitors, who spent $80.6 billion in the United States in 2003, is still down.

(My emphasis)

The number of inbound international visitors is steadily down, and I think we all know why.

The numbers should be sharply up, given the trends observed in the currency...


[edit on 5-6-2005 by WyrdeOne]

The rest of the world is NOT looking at the U.S. in a negitive way! Just a loud few who are overly covered by the media. Most all nations what to be friends with the U.S. because they can trust us and we can help thier countrys with econmic support and aid.

Those who give their lives for this country should be praised over those who sit back and complain while sit enjoing the freedoms that wars protect! Get real people!!!

Tourism may have dropped following 9/11, but it has grown since then. Saying that international tourism to the U.S. is currently at record lows is nothing but a bald faced lie. My link is from the U.S. Department of Commerce and clearly backs up this statement.

Other nations can trust us? Like the people who lived here before us trusted us? Like the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan trusted us? Like Iran trusted us? Like Iraq trusted us? Like Columbia trusted us? Trust us to do what exactly? I'm not saying we're not predictable, but we're sure as hell not trustworthy.

Other nations want to befriend us? Is that out of fear, or respect, do you suppose? I actually believe Machiavelli had a point when he talked about the difference between love and fear. However, I think he neglected the third, and most important pillar that trust can grow out from; respect.

If we had remained the sleeping giant, the world would still love us. But the giant woke up, got drunk on power, and started crushing villagers with his club.

Nobody loves a violent giant, they just do their best to stay out from underfoot.

Edit:
dj
You're right insofar as tourism is not at record lows. Record lows surely existed before planes were invented. However, you'll notice I too linked to an official government source, and the information is there in black and white: while domestic travel has increased, international tourism remains low. This is made far stranger by the fact that our dollar's condition would normally spur a flood of tourism.

So why has the flood materialized into a trickle?

Because at least 2/3 of the world perceives America as a dangerous bully.



[edit on 5-6-2005 by WyrdeOne]

Originally posted by WyrdeOne

Other nations can trust us? Like the people who lived here before us trusted us? Like the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan trusted us? Like Iran trusted us? Like Iraq trusted us? Like Columbia trusted us? Trust us to do what exactly? I'm not saying we're not predictable, but we're sure as hell not trustworthy.



Because at least 2/3 of the world perceives America as a dangerous bully.



[edit on 5-6-2005 by WyrdeOne]

Iran, Iraq and Columbia. Are all not trustworthy my friend. Are those the country's that you want America to be like??

Also, where does your "2/3 see us as dangerous bully" come for, your twisted mind??

boatphone
Edited out pointless criticism (useless in the sense that it was incorrect and now it's too late anyway)
Your sentences are readable, it just took me several tries to figure out what you were talking about.

I think what you're trying to say is that the countries I've listed are untrustworthy. What bearing this has on the trustworthyness of America..I could only guess. I was making the point that America makes promises like there's no tommorow, and breaks them whenever it suits us.

Not that we're any different from the rest of the world in that regard, don't mistake my lack of enthusiasm for American foreign policy for some kind of love for the policies of other countries...

Just let's not pretend to be better than everyone else, okay? Cause we're not. Never were. It was always an illusion created to increase nationalistic patriotism and provide grist for the mill.

Most of Europe disagreed strongly with our decision to invade Iraq. Asia also disagreed, with the exception of Japan of course. Russia disagreed. Africa generally has its own problems to worry about, but there's no love lost there either...

Canada disagreed, Mexico disagreed. South and Central America have been under the American boot for so long it's not even funny, they've suffered under our drug wars, and we play hopscotch with their politicians as if to say their wishes don't matter. We claim to be exporting democracy, but all we're really doing is opening foreign markets to exploitation.

The 1/3 of the world that doesn't hate us is in no danger of getting smashed with our club, nations like Japan, England, Australia.

The SE Asian nations are an interesting study in international poltics. Like most places, the people despise our influence over their natural resources, but their politicans love us because of big money kickbacks and contract manipulation.

And for the record, my mind is perfectly sound, it's the world that's twisted.

[edit on 5-6-2005 by WyrdeOne]

Wyrdeone, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is not an official government agency.

The link I provided is from the U.S. Department of Commerce, which is part of the Federal government.

Hint: Your link ends with ".com" and mine ends in ".gov" if you haven't noticed...

In 2004 there were 46,077,257 international arrivals in the U.S. compared to 41,218,213 in 2003. In 2000 there were 51,236,701, so while it's still down from that record year, it's hardly gone from a flood to a trickle. We've basically just gone back to 1998 levels.

[edit on 6/5/2005 by djohnsto77]

Wyrdeone, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is not an official government agency.

The link I provided is from the U.S. Department of Commerce, which is part of the Federal government.

Hint: Your link ends with ".com" and mine ends in ".gov" if you haven't noticed...

Good catch, I missed that.

Doesn't necessarily mean my numbers are not valid, but I was under the impression they were official gov. numbers.

My bad, sorry, I'll go hang my head in shame now.

Edit: While we've got you here on this thread dj, what's your opinion on my other statement, that 2/3 of the world perceives America as a dangerous bully? Do you think that's accurate, or not? What percentage of the world's nations support our current doctrine of pre-emption?



[edit on 5-6-2005 by WyrdeOne]

There are always disagrements even between the best of friends. I'm sure you understand how complex the world is; nothing is going to go perfectly. Here's the thing all the countries that disagreed with us over Iraq are going to come crying back once the job is done. They just don't want to do all the heavy lifting.

And I don't mind screwing over the horrible governments of violent nations like Iran & Iraq.

Thanks too, for the advice, very classy and it really added to your point.

Originally posted by Boatphone
Most all nations what to be friends with the U.S. because they can trust us

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
Edit: While we've got you here on this thread dj, what's your opinion on my other statement, that 2/3 of the world perceives America as a dangerous bully? Do you think that's accurate, or not? What percentage of the world's nations support our current doctrine of pre-emption?

I don't really know, I'm sure there is a wide range of opinion in most countries. I know there are plenty of French and Germans who like GWB and support the War on Terror even though their governments have been generally hostile. In the final analysis, I don't think it really matters too much, we're not in a popularity contest and the U.S. needs to do what's in its best interests and not try to get the French to like us or something....IMHO.

Originally posted by Boatphone
Also, where does your "2/3 see us as dangerous bully" come for, your twisted mind??

BBC's warped mind i guess:
news.bbc.co.uk...

As part of the What The World Thinks of America programme, 11,000 people in the UK, France, Russia, Indonesia, South Korea, Jordan, Australia, Canada, Israel, Brazil and the US responded to a poll asking their views and opinions on America.

1. Q: Do you agree that America is a force for the good in the world?

Americans: 79 Favourable
World: - 6 Less Favourable

2. Q: Do you agree with the statement "America is a beacon of hope and opportunity?

Americans: 85 Favourable
World: 5 Favourable

3. Q: Who is more dangerous: America or Nth Korea?

World Average: America 43 - Nth Korea 43 - No Opinion 6
Americas Average: America 14 - Nth Korea 83 - No Opinion 1

4. Q: Who is more dangerous: America or Iran?

World Average: America 46 - Iran 40 - No Opinion 6
American Average: America 18 - Iran 77 - No Opinion 2

Are you saying that those 10 nations are 2/3 of the world??