Ok so I love polls. And I love politics. So what political party has the most lapband recipient votes? We'll soon find out!!

Our education systems are to blame as well. Students in poor areas don't have books, computers, clean schools. Things that are instrumental in education. Their parents do not make enough to pay taxes into the school system to change it. Why not? Lack of education...from where? The same school system. It is a vicious cycle of the system. It is hard to get out of cycle.

Lack of resources=Lack of education=Lack of job opportunities=Lack of FUNDS!

I agree our education system is BROKEN . Money however is not the problem when it comes to the schools. The issue of schools needing more money is not an issue. Its the system itself. Do you know what America's school sytstem is lacking that other countries like Sweden is NOT ? COMPETITION.

What happens in Business if your business does not succeed ? It closes right? SCHOOLS Should be the same way . If you do not perform you get SHUT DOWN . How do you do this ? You allow the parents to Pick and choose where their children go . The US Is about the only system that tells their parents Where their kids have to go .

There was a big 20/20 report on this and they were 100% right. Charter schools EXCEL because if they do not they are closed, if the teachers fail the kids they are out. My son struggled in school for 5 yrs , the school TOLD Me for 5 yrs he had ADHD TOLD Me to medicate him ( Which is ILLEGAL AS HELL) Suggested I medicate him to " Rule out ADHD" I have on TAPE them suggesting I medicate him 29 times this is after He was diagnosed with Dyslexia and ADHD Ruled out . Can I do anything about that NO . why ? Because if i sue the district I have to get "permission first " then if I LOOSE I pay the distircts fee's. Its impossible to change things that are broke. My son was in a school for 5 yrs and was reading at a 3rd grade level because they school was LAZY not my son . The school he's in now has had him for 1 YR and they have him reading at GRADE LEVEL. something the other school told me " DOnt get your hopes up Ms Tolbert He'll never read at grade level like normal kids " . There is a HUGE Problem and it needs to be fixed. I Could go on and on about Schools. Im a parent advocate for others in my sons old district and they do not LIKE ME and try to keep me out of ARD Meetings. lol

Mindy

The problem with "The Path to 9/11" is that it is a docuDRAMA. NOT a documentary. Some of it is based on facts, and some of it is made up (dramatized).

Unfortunately for most of us, it is virtually impossible to know exactly what is true and what is false. The vast majority of Americans seem to assume that if they see it on TV or read it in the papers that it is TRUE - 100% true.

"Spin" is everything... Look into your everyday lives and everyday conversations. I will bet you have heard the same story told by two different people, and it sounds like two totally different events - and yet they are reporting on the same occurence. It doesn't take much to misrepresent facts, or to completely make them up.

The worst part about this movie is that there is no reason to docudrama anything - 9/11 is such a recent occurence that the TRUE history and facts are easily available, and yet the movie chose to dramatize certain events.

http://www.cnn.com/US/9607/30/clinton.terrorism/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/08/AR2006090801949.html

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/05/clarke-blasts-abc/

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh090806.shtml

http://mediamatters.org/items/200609060007

If you think I am picking on you (or flaming, bashing, etc.) please tell me to leave you alone and I will.

I am curious; what has BuSh tried to fix? Which presidents mess things up? When did things go wrong?

Jack,

There is nothing wrong with two adults sharing the differences in their ideoligy. You ask what has President "Cowboy" Bush done...??

Employment Increased In 47 States Over The Past 12 Months Ending In June.

Real GDP Grew A Strong 3.5 Percent Over The Past 4 Quarters.

Productivity Has Grown At A Strong 3.5 Percent Annual Rate Since The First Quarter Of 2001

Real After-Tax Income Has Risen By 13.5 Percent Since January 2001.

Industrial Production Increased 4.5 Percent Over The Past 12 Months.

Manufacturing Production Has Risen 5.7 Percent Over The Past 12 Months

A few other notes are we have not had another attack on our soil since he's actually started the war on Terror rather than watching it!

We also have some great legislation that has been signed and passed; Deficit Reduction Act, The Pension Plan overhaul Plan;

Senior Perscription Plan (even though its too expensive for me)

As far as being a 'good christian", don't you feel the term is an odd term?? I mean you can't catgorize people like that, Only God knows whats in your heart. I have posted this once but I think it explains the "Christian" term so well.

by Maya Angelou

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'."

I'm whispering "I was lost,

Now I'm found and forgiven."

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I don't speak of this with pride.

I'm confessing that I stumble

and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not trying to be strong.

I'm professing that I'm weak

And need His strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not bragging of success.

I'm admitting I have failed

And need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not claiming to be perfect,

My flaws are far too visible

But, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I still feel the sting of pain.

I have my share of heartaches

So I call upon His name.

Ok... I am sure you all have had enough of me today... Thanks for sharing your ideas!

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not holier than thou,

I'm just a simple sinner

Who received God's good grace, somehow!

The problem with "The Path to 9/11" is that it is a docuDRAMA. NOT a documentary. Some of it is based on facts, and some of it is made up (dramatized).

Unfortunately for most of us, it is virtually impossible to know exactly what is true and what is false. The vast majority of Americans seem to assume that if they see it on TV or read it in the papers that it is TRUE - 100% true.

"Spin" is everything... Look into your everyday lives and everyday conversations. I will bet you have heard the same story told by two different people, and it sounds like two totally different events - and yet they are reporting on the same occurence. It doesn't take much to misrepresent facts, or to completely make them up.

The worst part about this movie is that there is no reason to docudrama anything - 9/11 is such a recent occurence that the TRUE history and facts are easily available, and yet the movie chose to dramatize certain events.

That is where I tend to disagree a little bit. I admit I have not read the 911 Commission report and I am well aware of Spin.

My point with the movie was even if HALF Of it was dramatized I was still SICK . And I am sorry I really doubt we, the people will get ANY TRUE Facts with 100% accuracy about the events leading up to 911 from EITHER Administration . When it comes to what went on inside the goverment and inside the agencies I do not think that the TRUE Facts will ever come out , I Dont think they can for the sake of " trust" In the People. Call me paranoid but that's just what I think.

Mindy

Mindy -

I agree 100%. There is NO WAY I personally will ever know "the truth". Cynicism - my middle name... lol

What's that saying? How can you tell if a politician is lying? His lips are moving... lol

Honesty is not a rewarded trait in U.S. politics. I certainly don't trust the media to feed me all the facts without spin, and I will never be in a position to KNOW for a fact what is true and what is false.

My opinions are based on my gut feelings and my idealistic view of how things "should" be, or in my opinion "could" be...

I believe this war was begun under false pretenses. I believe there is some big U.S. business/es benefitting from our current situation. I believe there are gross inadequacies in our society. I believe politics and religion should be seperate, and that we as a people should not be governed based on religious "morals" that are not held by all of us.

The worst part about this movie is that there is no reason to docudrama anything - 9/11 is such a recent occurence that the TRUE history and facts are easily available, and yet the movie chose to dramatize certain events.

I agree, I didn't get the point of the show at all.

A few other notes are we have not had another attack on our soil since he's actually started the war on Terror rather than watching it!

Love the poem, it's one of my favorites and sums up how I feel about my faith.

As far as the attack on our soil, I'm not sure I give Bush credit for that. We had only had one other one in all the years before. I don't count OK city only because it was domestic terrorists. And now there are lots of Americans in the Middle East to be targets.

Mindy -

I agree 100%. There is NO WAY I personally will ever know "the truth". Cynicism - my middle name... lol

What's that saying? How can you tell if a politician is lying? His lips are moving... lol

Honesty is not a rewarded trait in U.S. politics. I certainly don't trust the media to feed me all the facts without spin, and I will never be in a position to KNOW for a fact what is true and what is false.

My opinions are based on my gut feelings and my idealistic view of how things "should" be, or in my opinion "could" be...

I believe this war was begun under false pretenses. I believe there is some big U.S. business/es benefitting from our current situation. I believe there are gross inadequacies in our society. I believe politics and religion should be seperate, and that we as a people should not be governed based on religious "morals" that are not held by all of us.

I agree with you 100% on all of the above. I just didnt say it very well . lol

:clap2::usa2:

As far as the attack on our soil, I'm not sure I give Bush credit for that. We had only had one other one in all the years before. I don't count OK city only because it was domestic terrorists. And now there are lots of Americans in the Middle East to be targets.

I wouldnt give Bush Credit for that either. I mean how many yrs did it take for 9-11 to be planned ? We dont know for sure. how do we know its just something that is being planned now and wont happen for another 4 yrs ?

Bush cant take credit for something that HASNT Happend that he cant PROVE he's stopped.

Mindy

Both Clinton and BuSh share in the blame for 911.

However, there were some people who served in both the BuSh and Clinton cabinets and they have said that events in the "Path to 911" mini-series movie that were supposed to have taken place under Clinton have been distorted. Either something was said in the movie that was never actually said, some event that was depicted in the movie never actually took place or something that was said in the movie by one person was instead said by someone else or worse yet somethings that two people said where given credit to one person for saying it.

That is why there was a lot of complaining about the movie from the Democrats and why Rush, Sean, Billy O and other Republican Talk show hosts (AKA the "Fair and Balance" crew from FOX) were so happy.

Sunday, Clinton looked worse then he actually was in part 1 due to the distortions of fact and the combination of characters. Monday, when BuSh's errors were high-lighted, Monday Night Football stole the audience. Both WABC and ESPN the networks that played the movie and Monday Night Football are owned by the same company who produced the "Path to 911" movie. But that is just a coincidence. Right?

This is my dream for our politicians (I'm sure it would never be practical for many reasons that are not obvious to me, but this is my fantasy, so I got to make the rules! lol)

ALL people "serving the people" MUST live as the majority of Americans live. I.E., if 53% of Americans earn between $$ and $$$, then our political servants must as well. If the majority of Americans don't own their own homes, then our public servants cannot either. If the majority of Americans only have $$$ in savings/checking/investments, then our public servants cannot have more. No golden parachutes - if the majority of Americans are retiring to SS, then so must our public servants. I think you get the idea. All their surplus wealth must go towards ONE big pool that pays for ONE TV channel/radio station/newspaper to be used for campaigning. In order to run, each candidate must have xx amount of support from the people. There is NO fund raising and no private campaigning. All politicians running for election get equal time rotated through the reserved media specifically for this purpose. There is one big mass "stomp" across America for campaigning purposes. Everyone goes on the same bus, to the same places. They each get to do their stint enough times so that anyone interested in hearing what they have to say has an opportunity to attend. Then they all pack up together and go to the next place.

I doubt being a politician in the above scenario would be very attractive to most of them. The draw for doing it would be simply because they genuinely want to do the best for the people.

It seems to me that our politicians are so far beyond the "average" American's experience that they are completely out of touch with the daily struggle of the majority. When was the last time one of them could live on $60,000 a year? And I believe that amount is higher than the "average" American's annual income...

I hate that it seems once these people get into politics they pretty much have it made...

I think this poll may be skewed.

Many Republicans are ashamed to admit it because George W. has his foot perpetually in his mouth

and

Many Republicans think that George W. has become too liberal. :faint:

LOL. So true. So true.

I am not all Republican or all Democrat. I have voted for both Democrat and Republican presidents. I have typically voted for people based on issues more than political party. I seem to always flip back and forth right between the Democrat and Republican views. Even in Political Science class in college, I ended up right on the line between the two in the survey.

I personally think that it takes all types of views, opinions, beliefs, etc. to run our country successfully. I don't have a "warm fuzzy" feeling right now. I'm tired of the war. I was watching Condolezza yesterday. She said "they" all thought Sadam had biological and nuclear weapons and you can't go back in time. My jaw just dropped.

It's funny... I play on-line games and chat with people from all over the world. Almost everyone I meet doesn't like USA and when I ask "why" their comment are something like "because you guys think that you rule the world and you don't" or "you are bullies".

I get exhausted just thinking about politics right now. Clinton and his "non-sexual relations" with Monica were much easier to handle than Bush's Iron fist. I wish infidelity was the issue we were dealing with at the moment instead.

LOL. So true. So true.

I am not all Republican or all Democrat. I have voted for both Democrat and Republican presidents. I have typically voted for people based on issues more than political party. I seem to always flip back and forth right between the Democrat and Republican views. Even in Political Science class in college, I ended up right on the line between the two in the survey.

I personally think that it takes all types of views, opinions, beliefs, etc. to run our country successfully. I don't have a "warm fuzzy" feeling right now. I'm tired of the war. I was watching Condolezza yesterday. She said "they" all thought Sadam had biological and nuclear weapons and you can't go back in time. My jaw just dropped.

It's funny... I play on-line games and chat with people from all over the world. Almost everyone I meet doesn't like USA and when I ask "why" their comment are something like "because you guys think that you rule the world and you don't" or "you are bullies".

I get exhausted just thinking about politics right now. Clinton and his "non-sexual relations" with Monica were much easier to handle than Bush's Iron fist. I wish infidelity was the issue we were dealing with at the moment instead.

Right you are.

The American Eagle can not fly with either it's left wing or it's right wing missing.

That is the problem right now.

House of Representatives: Republican-Conservative

The US Senate: Republican-Conservative

The President: Republican-Conservative

The Federal Court System: Republican-Conservative

Many claim that the judges of the federal Court System are Liberal.

The judges of the federal Court System are appointed by the President.

I doubt that any of the judges of the federal Court System that were appointed by Jimmy Carter are still on the bench. That means that since 1981, the last 25 years, because Republican presidents have been doing the appointing for 17 of those 25 years, that about 70% of the judges on the federal Court bench are Republican.

If conservatives are complaining about the the LIBERAL judges of the federal Court System, it might indicate that the conservatives have become too radical.

I doubt many of the Conservative majority would agree with my conclusion that "The American Eagle can not fly with either it's left wing or it's right wing missing."

They are intent with trying to fly with no left wing. They are setting up the American Eagle and this country for a terrible crash.

This is my dream for our politicians (I'm sure it would never be practical for many reasons that are not obvious to me, but this is my fantasy, so I got to make the rules! lol)

ALL people "serving the people" MUST live as the majority of Americans live. I.E., if 53% of Americans earn between $$ and $$$, then our political servants must as well. If the majority of Americans don't own their own homes, then our public servants cannot either. If the majority of Americans only have $$$ in savings/checking/investments, then our public servants cannot have more. No golden parachutes - if the majority of Americans are retiring to SS, then so must our public servants. I think you get the idea. All their surplus wealth must go towards ONE big pool that pays for ONE TV channel/radio station/newspaper to be used for campaigning. In order to run, each candidate must have xx amount of support from the people. There is NO fund raising and no private campaigning. All politicians running for election get equal time rotated through the reserved media specifically for this purpose. There is one big mass "stomp" across America for campaigning purposes. Everyone goes on the same bus, to the same places. They each get to do their stint enough times so that anyone interested in hearing what they have to say has an opportunity to attend. Then they all pack up together and go to the next place.

I doubt being a politician in the above scenario would be very attractive to most of them. The draw for doing it would be simply because they genuinely want to do the best for the people.

It seems to me that our politicians are so far beyond the "average" American's experience that they are completely out of touch with the daily struggle of the majority. When was the last time one of them could live on $60,000 a year? And I believe that amount is higher than the "average" American's annual income...

I hate that it seems once these people get into politics they pretty much have it made...

I could not disagree with you more.

I have read where people have said that congressman should serve without pay because it is an honor. Some small states have office holders who are part time workers.

The only people that can afford to serve as elected officials when the pay is lowered are people who are rich. Most of those people will be those who were born rich. President BuSh's father was a President and his grandfather was a Senator.

Do we want to return to a Monarchy?

Do we want rich people deciding on what laws should be passed?

The less pay elected officials make, the less chance a common working man (or woman) will have of getting into politics.

I certainly don't think that they should serve without pay!

But if only rich people can afford to serve at the average American wage...???? Now, how wrong is that?? Why can't the average American serve at the wage they're already currently earning? That is my point. And in order to serve under my fantasy rules, the rich would have to donate ALL of their extra wealth (what they have above and beyond the average American) to the campaigning pool. So the rich would not be allowed to stay rich if they wanted to serve - they'd have to give it up and live like the average American.

The less pay elected officials make, the less chance a common working man (or woman) will have of getting into politics.

If the pay is already the same as what the common working man/woman is making, then they should not be disadvantaged in serving. In fact, for a lot of them that "average" wage would be a step up.