Several months ago, Motown, myself, JBR, ricksqueal (just kidding rick), swoosh, road and Gray, we all went round and round about whether or not the USA is the greatest nation on earth.

Watching C-SPAN's Washington Journal for 5-21-04 yesterday morning, that very question was posed during a 35 minute session of open phones. Is the USA the greatest nation on earth?

Among the callers, about 98% said yes, America is the greatest nation on earth. Reasons cited were:
*while everyone may not be equal, everyone has the same opportunity.
*because we kicked German arse in WW2
*Americans can go to college via student loans and gov. grants
*Americans can go to yard sales on Saturday mornings (free enterprise)
*we aren't being bombed on a regular basis (bombed by domestic terrorists)
*one guy said America is the greatest because we have the most freedoms of any other nation on earth.

WJ's host for the segment asked "Aren't Swedish people free?"
The man said "not like we are..."
WJ's host said "well what about Britain, aren't those people enjoying freedom like most Americans are?"
The man replied, "no. In Britain you can get jailed for things that you cannot be jailed for here..."
The man hung up.

The session of open phones was open to international callers, and possibly two or three aired comments in support of the USA, with one dissenting.

One lady from Ohio said, "what do you mean by 'great'? Are you suggesting that only America is great and no other nations are great?" Great was never defined. The lady added more comments, not really answering the question.

I didn't have time to try and get through, I didn't call. At first I thought of what my comment would be. At first I thought, well I'll tell the guy that America is a great country because I once had to drive semi-tractor-trailers all over the nation. I saved every dime for college (although the pay was meager), went late in life to school and after getting all that young college snatch, I deduced that America is great indeed.

I went to walk the dog, and thinking about the question, I firmly decided on this response (sorry this is lengthy y'all, I know you don't enjoy reading, especially from a scum sucking librul demon like me):

America is great, but most Americans are not. America has a great government in which a growing number of Americans don't support, don't participate and don't care.

America has a great society, but Americans are mostly lazy, exploiting the labor of others so they can pop pills and get fat.

America fosters a compassion for all of humanity, but Americans are mostly mean and cruel people.

I figured the WJ anchor would have questioned me about this, and this would have been my response:

Go to any little league baseball game, or any little league sport for that matter. The younger the children the better.

You'll likely hear at these little league games, adult Americans berating the umpires, saying vicious, hurtful comments, oftentimes using the umpire's full name.

You will also hear adult Americans saying absolutley terrible and vile remarks directed at the other teams' players, most of whom are under 10 years old. You will see adult Americans watching the game and nearly foaming at the mouth in hatred at anyone or anything who does not allow their kid to excel or win. They'll say things like 'look at little Ricky Smith, quit pickin' your nose you disgusting little sh*t' and 'Joe Nelson didn't touch the bag, he ran over it. That kid's a rat, just like his whole family, they're all rats!'

If you inform a parent they are out of line, they'll become very defensive and begin to lecture you on how great their kid is. They'll even manage to get a few insults in directed at you, and then threaten to whip your arse.

Perhaps more viciousness can be seen among the adult spectators at a youth soccer game for girls.

If watching little league spectators being mean and brutal and does not convince you that Americans are, for the most part, cruel and mean, then drive a semi-tractor-trailer around the nation for one month, and I guarantee you that you will be spit on, flipped off, cussed at, cursed, punched and kicked off of any property you try to park at, including Colorado rest areas (no trucks allowed, they say). Your own company will treat you like dirt, give you the third degree, tell you that you're stupid, and play headgames with you like sending you to a shipper who does not have any cargo for you. On top of that, they'll try to screw you out of some of your pay.

Then you'll meet a cruel and vicious cop, state trooper, or DOT officer. He'll slap you for an over-weight fee that comes out of the drivers' pockets. He'll ticket you for not taking the required 8-hour break, or not logging it, and your dispatcher will tell you to 'screw that cop and get rolling...'

This is the kind of treatment that most American truck drivers receive from fellow Americans who buy, sell, trade, drive, wear, eat and sleep on all kinds of products that get to these Americans via trucks and truck drivers.

In conclusion, America is a great country and most of its people are great, if and only if 'great' means cruel, mean, brutish and nasty.

Now, tell me to leave, die, wish prostate cancer on me, and banish me to hell!

:snore: :snore: :snore:


:eek: OOH Cicadas!!!!

Yes, the US is the greatest nation in the world, for the simple fact that you weren't hunted down like a dog and shot for that post.

:wave:

If anyones answer to that question is no, I suggest you relocate yourself to your 'better' place. Surely if were not the greatest in your mind than you must have your #1, but please don't stay here and whine.

SDSundevil Wrote:If anyones answer to that question is no, I suggest you relocate yourself to your 'better' place. Surely if were not the greatest in your mind than you must have your #1, but please don't stay here and whine.

I hear Mexico is nice this time of year :D

Klutz...

Per your overall question, "Is the USA the greatest nation on earth", it seems more subjective than anything. With all its many faults, I think the USA is the greatest country for me. To put it rather simplistically, it has the greatest amount of the summation of personal and economic freedoms. To someone who prefers a more centralized/less individualistic society, then I really wouldn't expect them to say America.

I highly doubt your claim that "most Americans are lazy". I would've even understood if you said 'aggressive' or 'workaholic'. But lazy? Are you sure about that (compared to other countries)?

Per your sports examples... In other countries, they just don't yell and shout the occasional obscenity. People are hurt and killed. When Columbia lost to USA in the World Cup in 1994, they killed one of the players for allowing the last American goal. European soccer riots of yesteryear make college campus riots look tame by comparison.

Did you know a drunken crowd in attendance at the Mexico-USA soccer game in Monterrey chanted/mocked "Osama!" as the losing USA team left the field after the game? Now, who is cruel and mean again?

Now, I'm not the most optimistic person in the world. I can have a pretty dour overview about certain aspects of society. But what I notice from you, klutz, is an over-the-top pessimism. A nihilistic view that almost borders on unhealthiness. I mean, "most people are cruel, mean, brutish and nasty"? Because some jerk cut you off on the freeway, or some obnoxious little league dad hollared at the coach, doesn't mean that we are the Great Satan. Yes, there are a-holes out there you'll run into every day, but welcome to the Planet Earth. You'll get a certain degree of road rage, rudeness, snobiness, thuggary, and brutish behavior at every corner of the globe. Not just America. In your day-to-day life, I recommend just befriending those who you find friendly and down to earth, and simply avoid those who are. Freedom of association is a good thing.

I think America sucks.

Does that make me unAmerican?

When you get past the feel good flag-waving jingoism of Faux News, Chevrolet and barely legal poontang, there ain't a whole lot about this country that makes me want to stand up and go "Woo hoo!" about.

I mean, we have people who think just because they have it worse in other countries means our country must be great by comparison. My mother, in fact, was famous for talking up whatever circumstance we faced by concluding, "Well, it could be worse."

"We could be in India."

I don't buy that argument.

Not to say that this country hasn't been great at certain points. When labor was stronger, that was ideal. When the government wanted people to go to college, that was better. When politicians actually worried about a War on Poverty or started programs to get people back to work, that seems like my idea of what this country should be about. When integration was an idea reasonable people liked and war protests actually changed things, then we could say this was at least somewhat of a democracy.

But this freedom-hating hardscrabble no-beni existence is for the freakin' birds. I am glad we still have the freedom to ride Masi 27 speeds up and down our potholed streets. I'm glad there are still people out there who think rationally and are working for everybody's benefit.

It does seem to be getting worse, though. Do I have to move to France now?

to quote south park, "if you don't like this country you can git out."

Quote:When you get past the feel good flag-waving jingoism of Faux News, Chevrolet and barely legal poontang, there ain't a whole lot about this country that makes me want to stand up and go "Woo hoo!" about.

I guess I have a unique and different perpective, growing up in Detroit. Through my years, the worst of "flag-waving jingoism" came from the well-left-of-center labor mouths of the monolithic United Auto Workers (UAW). You know, if I bought a Toyota or Volkswagen, I'm supposedly a traitor to my hometown and the U.S. of A. Where's my American worker pride and concern for my comrades, if I buy one of them 'foreigner' cars? Owning one of these during the 1980s was an invite for possible vandalism and verbal abuse, along with hush-hush racial remarks about 'kraut cars' and 'Jap rice-burners' (and worse). Man, how could those nice, open-minded lefties talk in such a way? So I have to laugh about how "flag-waving jingoism" is almost always trotted out when describing anything remotely conservative or about the antichrist itself... Fox News Channel.

Quote:When the government wanted people to go to college, that was better.

Who gives a rat's hindquarters what the government "wants" individuals to do when deciding on their own life paths? I'm tempted to look at a copy of the Constitution, and find where it states that one of government's responsibilities is to promote and facilitate a college education to young people.

Quote:When politicians actually worried about a War on Poverty or started programs to get people back to work, that seems like my idea of what this country should be about.

The government has spent billions upon billions on this 'War on Poverty' since the 1960s. How's that going? Has that war been won yet? I guess we won't bring up 'locked dependent cycles' here.

Quote:It does seem to be getting worse, though. Do I have to move to France now?

That'd be risky. France's unemployment rate has oscillated between 9%-12% for quite a while now. Double the rate of the US. And this is with massive social programs. I wouldn't check out their next door neighbor to their east, either. Unemployment in Germany has also been in the double-digits for a long while now. They, too, have very generous social program packages.

I have to ask...

Do you hold an individual's own poor decision-making accountable at all? If a teenager drops out of school, knocks up his girlfriend without considering the financial consequences, then loses his job at a convenience store because of being late every day, should we just blame "society"?

georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:Yes, the US is the greatest nation in the world, for the simple fact that you weren't hunted down like a dog and shot for that post.

:wave:

Actually, he would not have been hunted down for that post anywhere in North America (except Cuba) or anywhere in Europe (except, perhaps the far eastern reaches of that continent).

Whether or not America is the greatest country on the planet comes down to your values.

We have (nearly*) the highest median standard of living on the planet -- but many of us work longer hours than we would like and far more of our children are in poverty than in most of the First World.

We offer the most advanced health care treatments available anywhere on the planet -- but many of our working poor face financial ruin if they try to partake in such treatments, unlike much of the rest of the First World.

And, when it comes to international diplomacy, it isn't clear to me whether we hew to the golden rule as firmly as other nations do.

I don't know if America is the greatest country on Earth or not. But I love America -- and I believe we can make it better.

---
* I believe a couple of Middle Eastern shiekdoms have median incomes that are higher than the United States.

Wherever you live, be it Europe or the U.S. You beleive you are in the best place. Any country that allows you to get in your car and drive without fear of being jailed or shot, works for me.

Klutz, your negative outlook on life may be clouding you judgement on america. You are most likely a young man that has never even visited any other country. As a man that has lived in several, I can tell you what you desribe is human nature, of witch you could find exsamples of in Britain, France, or Germany. Frankly my travels have given me a deeper love for the USA.

Not only is it the greatest nation on earth it is the greatest in history

UCBearcats1125 Wrote:Not only is it the greatest nation on earth it is the greatest in history

Didn't Caesar say the same thing?

georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:Yes, the US is the greatest nation in the world, for the simple fact that you weren't hunted down like a dog and shot for that post.

:wave:

Agreed Schwagger.

Likewise, if I lived in Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, India, Japan, Italy, South Africa, Chile, Mexico, Canada, etc. etc. etc. and wrote a similar post critical of these nations' cultures, I would not be hunted down in any of those nations and shot for being critical and many, many more nations apply.

So you pointed out that the USA allows for open criticism of its culture and government much like many other world nations. Is that the only reason the USA is the greatest of all nations?

One caveat:
Back in Feb. of 2003, if one spoke kindly of the French, or sold French wine in one Mississippi community then they would have had their homes picketed. I know of one MS liquor store that continued to sell French wine and every Saturday morning there were activists out there, about 25-30 of them. This isn't hunting one down and shooting them, but it damaged their business anyway.
Today that liquor store no longer sells French wine, but they will special order you some if you ask, and if the owner knows you well.

SDSundevil Wrote:If anyones answer to that question is no, I suggest you relocate yourself to your 'better' place. Surely if were not the greatest in your mind than you must have your #1, but please don't stay here and whine.

Are you suggesting that if an American citizen who loves this nation decides to say some things critical of American culture, then that American must relocate? Are you suggesting that if Americans exercise their right to criticize the gov. or culture of the USA, then they have no right to live here?

I think other nations openly welcome criticism, and for the most part the USA does too.

Why would I want to live anywhere else and why do you say my post is "whining"?

Motown Bronco Wrote:Klutz...

Per your overall question, "Is the USA the greatest nation on earth", it seems more subjective than anything. With all its many faults, I think the USA is the greatest country for me. To put it rather simplistically, it has the greatest amount of the summation of personal and economic freedoms. To someone who prefers a more centralized/less individualistic society, then I really wouldn't expect them to say America.

I highly doubt your claim that "most Americans are lazy". I would've even understood if you said 'aggressive' or 'workaholic'. But lazy? Are you sure about that (compared to other countries)?

Per your sports examples... In other countries, they just don't yell and shout the occasional obscenity. People are hurt and killed. When Columbia lost to USA in the World Cup in 1994, they killed one of the players for allowing the last American goal. European soccer riots of yesteryear make college campus riots look tame by comparison.

Did you know a drunken crowd in attendance at the Mexico-USA soccer game in Monterrey chanted/mocked "Osama!" as the losing USA team left the field after the game? Now, who is cruel and mean again?

Now, I'm not the most optimistic person in the world. I can have a pretty dour overview about certain aspects of society. But what I notice from you, klutz, is an over-the-top pessimism. A nihilistic view that almost borders on unhealthiness. I mean, "most people are cruel, mean, brutish and nasty"? Because some jerk cut you off on the freeway, or some obnoxious little league dad hollared at the coach, doesn't mean that we are the Great Satan. Yes, there are a-holes out there you'll run into every day, but welcome to the Planet Earth. You'll get a certain degree of road rage, rudeness, snobiness, thuggary, and brutish behavior at every corner of the globe. Not just America. In your day-to-day life, I recommend just befriending those who you find friendly and down to earth, and simply avoid those who are. Freedom of association is a good thing.

Motown,

I didn't say the USA is the Great Satan, whatever that is.

I'm healthy, had the prostate reamed the other day, boy was that fun! :D

Would you consider it healthy to point out the big purple elephant in the room or ignore it and hope it goes away?
The real pessimist avoids confrontation and tells themselves that everything is okay, whereas the optimist points out problems, whether these are political, social, personal, organizational, etc. Only by identifying a problem can the problem be solved. Simply saying Americans are great, a great people in a great culture represents the real pessimism because those comments aren't qualified, aren't criticized and 'great' is left undefined.

Sports and road examples were merely the first off the top of my head. I have a gazillion more. I will preface the following comments by letting you know that I am a sports reporter and photographer, I must be around insane sports fans who are entirely consumed in the game. I do avoid these folks, but it would be disingenuous of me to not say something to a parent (and business owner) that he/she is embarrassing themselves (sometimes the umps kick them out, one time an alderman refused to leave and the game was suspended until the cops came and exited him from the park, the next day he offered a public apology only to act the same way two weeks later. All for a 12 and Under softball league). Signs posted on the parks' entrances in my locality ban fireworks, alcohol, drugs and profanity, but many of the fine-upstanding representatives of the community violate one or more of these rules every day little league/youth sports is going on.

My sports examples were, however, those sports in which the participants are in the beginning and basic stage. For parents of other participants to be so brutish toward children of other teams represents a special kind of nastiness that is much more nasty than fan behavior at World Cup soccer events, NCAA football, or NFL for that matter. I intentionally did not include those examples because the object of the beration are adults who are used to it and are, generally, professionals who must perform to their utmost ability.
Children as young as 8, 10, 12, maybe even as old as 14 don't realize that the adults berating them don't really mean it. For many, I think this nastiness directed at very young athletes conveys to the children that sports and athletics aren't games after all, but athletics is what really, really matters--more than ethics, God, school and family. (that's a stretch, I know, but we are a gaming society)

Also, the continual barage of cheating accusations directed at umpires and other little league/youth sports officials represents some level of individualism, such as "my kid and my family at-large can do no wrong and for you to call him out on that pop-up to the shortstop shows you are intentionally cheating my kid out of his RBI-double, you fat alchoholic slob who's wife is a whore..."

So Americans are much like other people in other nations, I thought your thesis was Americans are great, greater than the people of any other nation, but you say other nations have people just like those of the USA. By that answer, either the people of the USA are great, and all other nations' people are as well, or the USA does not have great people (for the most part) just like the people of all other nations suck, too.

I would say most Americans are entirely individualistic. Ever notice many cars in the HOV lane during rush hour? I don't, but I don't blame them, I wouldn't want to carpool to work anyway.

There's another form of individualism in many American communities. In my community, currently, the county is growing by leaps and bounds. Since I've lived here in central MS, we've had a 14% increase in population in the county in less than 7 months. For the calendar year 2002-03 the county population increased from 125,000 (give or take) to 132,000 (+, not less than 132K). The population explosion (known as 'white flight') here caused a very large high school to have to split off because the state mandates a certain amount of kids per school. Today that same school is over its limit by 500+ students. The school that was created in 2002 to offset the population increases is now over its limit by about 400+ students. Getting that school bond was an uphill battle all the way, and now the county is embroiled in another bond issue for another new school.

At meetings to discuss the bond issue, many county taxpayers show up and say "I don't have any kids in the school system, so fock them kids--make 'em go to school in those trailers, they don't need no stinkin' air conditioning. We walked to school in the snow back in 1925!." Another large contingent send their kids to Jackson, MS private schools (out-of-county) and consequently they oppose the bond issue. At meetings they say "if everyone sent their kids to Prep, then we wouldn't need a new school." The parents moving into the county can't afford the property rates, much less the boo-coodles of dollars in tuition at Prep or JA!

In the possibility that local taxes are reduced (won't happen here in the near future, but it has happened here in the past) then at community board and supervisors' meetings you'll see John Q. Public in there raising cain "how's my kid going to throw for 3,000 career yards if the school district doesn't have enough money to pony up for some new footballs and a contract for Billy Pocket Passer Smith, the new QB coach for the Mustangs?" Likewise, today at meetings you got fat-cat rich-arse parents who are misty-eyed that one schools' students decided to start a lacrosse program. Currently it gets no state or local funding, but Sally Q. Public is raising cain "my little Sally needs a new lacrosse helmet and and new field because soccer can't be played on the football field. You're telling me you're going to use MY tax dollars to build a new school???"

It's always me, me, me, my, my, my. The former gov. of Maine said it best, if Americans want something...well...ain't nothing free, so they better be prepared to pay for it some way or the other.

What these parents and taxpayers need to do, is count their blessings that they even have schools and high school athletics, and clean drinking water and the right to discuss things such as these topics with county officials.

Much individualism is espoused on this forum, i.e. don't take my money away and give it crack-smoking mothers who want to have gov. funded abortions!! On the Left, they say "don't take my money away so you can bomb Syria or treat G.W. to Pebble Beach greens fees the rest of his life!"

There's also the common theme of "don't tread on me" espoused on this forum, which is a kind of individualism.

Want to see individualism? Wait tables or bartend for a while. I guarantee someone will DEMAND something that is not on the menu, i.e. "waiter, I want the escargeaux in a creme sauce, on a bed of angel hair pasta. Also, I want an ice water with no ice."
Answer: "m'am, we don't serve escargeaux..."
Rebuttal: "are you telling me the customer is WRONG in this establishment????"

Bartender to guest: "what'll you have?"
guest: "a Warsteiner draft and no lip from you!"
Bartender: " the only draft we have is Bud light and Miller light"
guest: "I thought I told you no LIP!!"

In the restaurant biz, you'd be surprised how individualistic those who dine are, not to mention the people who work in restaurants. They are so individualistic, team-work is rarely achieved.

When I said "lazy" Motown, I meant Americans are lazy in that they never try to improve on things in our culture and society and a big example of that would be our continued dependence on oil, gas and the combustible engine inside an SUV when we know full well that we'll be invading nations, and/or, getting suckered by OPEC to keep these things running.

Americans are lazy because a growing number, about 45-48% go to head shrinks and say I have emotional problems-- "give me the drugs"-- or go to the doctor and say "suck this fat off of my thighs, it's too hot to jog regularly."

Americans are comfortable, very much so, and for the most part we don't want to use our muscles or our heads, we want instant gratification. And by gawd, we sure as hell don't want to think about the unsavory characteristics of our great society and culture.

Lastly, you say Planet Earth always presents pot-holes, could one of those pot-holes be that Americans (the people) are by and large nasty a people and we pride ourselves on that, or we simply ignore that aspect to our collective identity? And it wasn't my question, it was the Washington Journal's question, and I repeated it on this thread.
This C-SPAN show can be seen every morning from 6 a.m. (CDT) to 9 a.m.

Motown, I'm an optimist because I can recognize and isolate the problems in my community thus giving me the knowledge that things must change if we're to continue in this greatness we've experienced. I reiterate, the pessimist would call someone in the community like me a "pessimistic" mal-content who loves Stalin and is brooding over spilt milk all day.---Such rhetoric is great and funny, but it does little to solve the problems. The optimist, furthermore, recognizes the problems we are faced with as a people and KNOWS that we CAN get better. Greatness is great, but to stay great we need to work, WORK, at staying great and I know we can do it!!

Skipuno Wrote:Klutz, your negative outlook on life may be clouding you judgement on america. You are most likely a young man that has never even visited any other country. As a man that has lived in several, I can tell you what you desribe is human nature, of witch you could find exsamples of in Britain, France, or Germany. Frankly my travels have given me a deeper love for the USA.

I've been to Mexico and I certainly don't want the USA or its people to degenerate into that!! In order to stay great we have to work at and that means identifying what our problems are and effectively working for resolutions of those problems (see above post). I've also been to Canada and I want to go to Europe to visit Ireland, England, Italy and Amsterdam (of course), I'd also like to visit South America.

My age and my travel experience are non-sequitors in this case. These facets to my being are entirely irrelevant, but for the record, I'm 34.

My grandpappy is 83 years old, had a 27-year career in the US Navy and saw combat in three wars. In addition to that he's been to Hong Kong, various Pacific Islands, Indonesia, Australia, Korea, Vietnam and Japan, the Dom-Rep, Cuba, various Caribbean Islands, Honduras, Panama and likely a few countries I'm leaving out. You know what? My grandpappy says the same damn things I'm saying about American people and American culture. In fact, listening to him for years point out how we may lose our greatness is probably the reason why I think the way I do.

And don't counter with ad hominems--such as "your grandpappy is a mal-contented old man who can't get it up, blah, blah."

My grandpappy has a rosy attitude and shares things with his family that he wouldn't share with others. He's an active man for 83 who walks 4 miles a day, is a deacon at his church, volunteers at the food bank, attends his high schools' athletic events year round, and has voted Republican since '48 (which will come to an end in this national election, so he says). He also takes viagra and keeps a stellar yard and vegetable garden.

He says his attitude is so rosy because he'd rather be here around all these lazy, nasty and cruel Americans than having to order American youths to their deaths in some god-for-saken hell hole known as Vietnam, Korea or Okinawa.

All of you guys are missing the point(s).

America is great, I agree. Americans are not great, not the majority of Americans. There are and have been some great Americans. There will be more great Americans. If one is to claim their country is great, or their nation's culture is great, then one needs to qualify that assertion by saying...."my nation, the United States and its people, the Americans, are great for reasons x, y, and z.

I don't see people doing that, I merely see comments like "I went to Europe and now I see how great America and Americans are...." or the famous "America and Americans are great and if you don't like it, France will accept your visa..."
Well, as a foreigner in European nations, one is out of their element and experience culture shock, just like a European traveling over here for the first or second times. Heck, one gets culture shock if one goes from New Orleans, La. to the nation of Mississippi.! :roflol:

UCBearcats1125 Wrote:Not only is it the greatest nation on earth it is the greatest in history

Why is the USA the greatest in history?

America is great, but Americans are more and more losing sight of what made America great.

What makes America great is opportunity. Opportunity exists in other countries, but in America you literally have a chance to be whatever you want to be.

Americans, however, are becoming lazier and lazier because they didn't have to work to have their opportunities. My grandparents worked double shifts at a factory in Cleveland because that was their opportunity. It's become easier and easier to get and maintain your opportunity, and that has made Americans lazier.

There is one area where Americans have not been lazy - finding more and more ways of taking advantage of the opportunities available in the U.S. Spill hot coffee on your lap because you're too stupid to put it in a cup holder - sue McDonalds for not warning you that the coffee is hot (like you ordered it cold :rolleyes: ). Smoke cigarettes for 40 years and sue when you get lung cancer. And along that line - sell extremely addictive and dangerous products yet keep the USDA off your back because of all your lobbying money. Or produce substances under your name while keeping naturally occuring substances on a controlled substance list.

Yes, there are people that take advantage of welfare. IMO, they're not worse human beings than people that try to bilk you out of your money, like Enron executives, or bankrupt S&L leaders, or junk bond salesmen. Compassionate people, especially Christians, should embrace the idea of helping the less fortunate or those that have had adversity through their problems - no, not with cash handouts, but with opportunities. It sickens me to see the way many Christians practice selective compassion.

America is great. Americans are foresaking what made America great. The Paki in the cab, the Indian behind the counter at 7-11, or the Mexican picking tomatoes - those are examples of how America is great - opportunity. The frat boys that stiff the cab driver, the potato chip vendor that is trying to double the prices of his product for the 7-11 and the tomatoe farmer that isn't willing to put the Mexican on his payroll because he doesn't want to pay Social Security and Medicare - those are the lazy Americans that give America a black eye.