Oh My...
Reply #44 –
This thread has already gotten far more political than we generally allow on this forum, but what the hell, I'll throw some gas on the fire before it gets really ugly and inevitably closed. Time to push this thing off a cliff:
I would be really surprised if the disclaimer on the CARS site wasn't a product of the Dept of Homeland Security, and is likely buried somewhere on every gov website. You know, that same Dept of Homeland Security, the one trampling all over civil rights and liberties of US citizens daily, that is a Bush legacy. I don't know what's more deplorable: The Republicans' very active and very blatant (and very sadly, apparently successful) attempts at dividing the country, or the fact that many people are falling for the propaganda, and in turn spreading it themselves with no regard whatsoever as to its truthfulness (the ignorant, factless statements being made all over the place about C4C, such as what happens to the car when it's turned in, and people claiming you have to pay taxes on the grants are but two examples out of about eleventy billion). It's almost like the Republicans are gunning for civil war and are using any stupid old thing they can come up with to try to start it, including something that is likely very much a product of their own policies (the cars.gov disclaimer), and other things that are definitely products of their own policies (the shiznitty economy, the auto bailout, which was a legacy of Bush, the even bigger banking bailout, which was another legacy of Bush, etc), not to mention things with no basis in truth whatsoever (Obama's birth) but they've grabbed it and run with it simply because it's another wedge to divide the nation. It took Bush 8 years to wreck the economy, yet Republicans are turning on the propaganda machine against Obama because he couldn't turn it around in less than 200 days? Bush gave away three quarters of a trillion dollars to the banks with no strings attached, yet the Republicans are gleefully watching Obama twist in the wind while trying to come up with ways to pay for it? They're resisting everything Obama tries to do, throwing up every roadblock they can, then very publicly chastising him for not doing it?
Republicans can cry about Obama all they want, but it is the Republicans that are driving your country into the shiznitter with their hypocrisy, underhanded tactics, propaganda, etc. Divide and conquer, that is their goal.
And don't mistake me for some left-leaning loon, either. I am no liberal. I believe in capital punishment, I believe in stricter sentences for criminals, I am against governments supporting private businesses and I own and use guns (hunting rifles, anyway). I drive a big, polluting V8 T-Bird with no catalytic converters. I resent every nickel that goes to the taxman, especially when I see those nickels being wasted on the aforementioned corporate bailouts, or even worse, supporting a lazy bum of a woman whose sole means of earning a living is to keep herself constantly knocked up so she can stay on welfare indefinitely.
I'm no right wing nut job either. Being Canadian, and having experienced firsthand that just about all of the propaganda spread by US conservatives about public health care are untrue and the few tidbits that have some truth to them are far outweighed by the benefits, I fully support it. I also believe that the state should not be legislating morals, and that everyone should be given the same rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (and this includes gay marriage, immigration, freedom from religious persecution, etc). I think that corporate lobbying should be outlawed, as it is nothing more than legalized bribery (just as gov't should not be running private industry, private industry should not be running the government). And while I do not think the government should be paying for private business, I do believe they should be regulating it. Not excessively regulated, of course, but regulated just enough to keep it honest, both to shareholders and to the public (the lack of which being what got the economy to the point it is today).
Now, let's see how long it is before the insults start flying and the thread is locked (which will show, once and for all, why we cannot allow political discussions on this forum).
I couldn't have said it any better myself - excellent post. And even though I do consider myself left-leaning, I also agree with that paragraph as I'm also a gun-owning libertarian who wants the governemt out of my life and wants them to learn to live with the tax revenue as it exists today (no more taxes.)