Bird Flu now human-to-human?!

[satalac]

the news just needs another story to pull in viewers and readers. i just hope i don't get it now. then i'l be eating crow. sorry, that was a fowl joke. oh ooops, i did it again.

[runawayjim]

Well... I agree with you that our government hasn't been too generous with mass-transit, but how are we the laughinstock? We've seen 9/11, Katrina, an expensive war, and we're still by far the strongest country in the world.

our reactions to all 3 of these have contributed to making us the laughing stock.

we were attacked on 9/11 and the president vowed to find osama, yet he said a few years later than he's not too worried about him. instead, he attacked a sovereign nation because of faulty intelligence and removed that sovereign government. now the people of iraq are in the middle of a fight between the organized american army and the unorganized insurgents. i don't think we're winning this battle. americans die everyday and the insurgent attacks are not decreasing. i'd say it's time to give up on this war. at the same time, the iraq police force and army is a joke and can't defend themselves. we've setup a perfect situation for us to occupy another country. don't we usually try to stop others from occupying other sovereign nations? should i even mention that after the president found out about the 9/11 attacks, he continued to read stories to school children?

the fema reaction to katrina was also a joke. i shouldn't have to even explain that one. they knew years before that hte levees in new orleans needed some serious work. did they get it? nope. the federal reaction was pathetic.

i don't know if i'd call us the strongest country in the world. we're still very susceptible to attacks. people can easily get on planes with banned items. and our congress is debating over an amendment to the constitution that they all know doesn't belong in the federal constitution so that the republicans can win the vote of the religious right. it's a mockery of what our founding fathers wanted.

[damus]

If we're not the strongest nation in the world, which is stronger? European "powers" have pretty much nothing militarily and are weaker than us economically. Russia is not what it once was, and its only power is its military might and status as a middling oil nation. China relies on us even more than we rely on them, and if you take away the prosperous eastern seabord China literally has nothing. Then there is Japan, with a shaky economy and no military.

I don't think too many people laughed at what happened with 9/11 and Katrina, and anyone who did is just a morbid America hater. Sure there were failures, with Katrina it was a local and state failure in addition to the feds. America has its own problems, but so does every country. Did we laugh when that chemical spill happened in China not too long ago resulting in the loss of a major city's water supply? Their government was not only secretive about it, repoting it on CCTV days after the free press, but also responded pitifully. Did we laugh when the French government's poor immigration policies resulted in race riots?

Seriously, who is the laughinstock? I don't want to get into a vs. thread, but some of the "next in line" for #1 do silly things, too. Some have monarchies and men who wear powdered wigs, some wear funny outfits, others are run by corrupt individuals with ties to organized crime. Aren't those Japanese TV shows on American TV that are run as farce here somewhat serious in Japan? Our culture actually laughs at other cultures, while the rest of the world watches Hollywood movies.

[runawayjim]

If we're not the strongest nation in the world, which is stronger? European "powers" have pretty much nothing militarily and are weaker than us economically. Russia is not what it once was, and its only power is its military might and status as a middling oil nation. China relies on us even more than we rely on them, and if you take away the prosperous eastern seabord China literally has nothing. Then there is Japan, with a shaky economy and no military.

I don't think too many people laughed at what happened with 9/11 and Katrina, and anyone who did is just a morbid America hater. Sure there were failures, with Katrina it was a local and state failure in addition to the feds. America has its own problems, but so does every country. Did we laugh when that chemical spill happened in China not too long ago resulting in the loss of a major city's water supply? Their government was not only secretive about it, repoting it on CCTV days after the free press, but also responded pitifully. Did we laugh when the French government's poor immigration policies resulted in race riots?

Seriously, who is the laughinstock? I don't want to get into a vs. thread, but some of the "next in line" for #1 do silly things, too. Some have monarchies and men who wear powdered wigs, some wear funny outfits, others are run by corrupt individuals with ties to organized crime. Aren't those Japanese TV shows on American TV that are run as farce here somewhat serious in Japan? Our culture actually laughs at other cultures, while the rest of the world watches Hollywood movies.

the american dollar is very weak in europe. i laughed at the fact that we went to war with iraq in response to 9/11. i still have yet to see a reason behind this war other than the fact that bush hate saddam. the whole saddam trial is a publicity stunt and a joke. i don't hate america, but i don't think we have our priorities straight. we have a problem with illegal aliens, we have a problem with health care, we have tons of problems in our country, yet out government is worried about 2 men marrying each other and a war that was a losing battle from the get go. how many more lives do we need to lose and how many more billions of dollars do we need to spend on this war? and i won't even get into the whole "war on terror" name... it's basically a way for bush to allow our country to be perpetually at war, giving himself more power.

[damus]

the american dollar is very weak in europe. i laughed at the fact that we went to war with iraq in response to 9/11. i still have yet to see a reason behind this war other than the fact that bush hate saddam. the whole saddam trial is a publicity stunt and a joke. i don't hate america, but i don't think we have our priorities straight. we have a problem with illegal aliens, we have a problem with health care, we have tons of problems in our country, yet out government is worried about 2 men marrying each other and a war that was a losing battle from the get go. how many more lives do we need to lose and how many more billions of dollars do we need to spend on this war? and i won't even get into the whole "war on terror" name... it's basically a way for bush to allow our country to be perpetually at war, giving himself more power.

And the Euro is weak when compared to the Pound... we're still stronger economically, though not as dominant as we were, say 40 years ago.

As for Iraq, you can neither prove nor disprove the existance of the weapons. The Clinton administration had the same intelligence that he had WMD, and there were news reports of trucks going from Iraq to Syria in the days leading up to the war. The reason behind it was never specifically 9/11, but to help prevent a future 9/11. I believe they usually used "terrorism" as the word, and it was true that Sadaam was funding Palestinian suicide bombers. Regardless of the reason we're there, everyone must support the troops and by doing that the mission as we see it today. Train the Iraqi force to do the job itself, and pull out gradually. Unfortunatly a non-secular government seems to be taking hold...

Our problem with illegals could be fixed in a number of ways. My best ideas are actually fining the illegals when they are caught working or illegally crossing the border before sending them home, otherwise send them to jails where they can pick all the lettuce (I'm in favor of the more humane chain gangs that are making a comeback) they want til their debt to American society is paid off; the other is to levy huge fines on all businesses and individuals caught employing them.

Gay marriage, stupid religious right.. but we have to choose between the more socialist Democrats and the mixed bag of big government neocons and small government types in the Republican party. Large groups of individuals vote for "family values", and the Republicans have a solid hold on those votes.... I usually vote "red" for small government and gun rights (just as important as 1st ammendment), and have gotten neither from the bush administration. BTW, it's kinda funny and petty that the Republicans became the "red" party in recent years. I believe some people didn't want the Democrats psycologically linked to the commies.... not that it makes that big a deal to me.

[runawayjim]

And the Euro is weak when compared to the Pound... we're still stronger economically, though not as dominant as we were, say 40 years ago.

As for Iraq, you can neither prove nor disprove the existance of the weapons. The Clinton administration had the same intelligence that he had WMD, and there were news reports of trucks going from Iraq to Syria in the days leading up to the war. The reason behind it was never specifically 9/11, but to help prevent a future 9/11. I believe they usually used "terrorism" as the word, and it was true that Sadaam was funding Palestinian suicide bombers. Regardless of the reason we're there, everyone must support the troops and by doing that the mission as we see it today. Train the Iraqi force to do the job itself, and pull out gradually. Unfortunatly a non-secular government seems to be taking hold...

Our problem with illegals could be fixed in a number of ways. My best ideas are actually fining the illegals when they are caught working or illegally crossing the border before sending them home, otherwise send them to jails where they can pick all the lettuce (I'm in favor of the more humane chain gangs that are making a comeback) they want til their debt to American society is paid off; the other is to levy huge fines on all businesses and individuals caught employing them.

Gay marriage, stupid religious right.. but we have to choose between the more socialist Democrats and the mixed bag of big government neocons and small government types in the Republican party. Large groups of individuals vote for "family values", and the Republicans have a solid hold on those votes.... I usually vote "red" for small government and gun rights (just as important as 1st ammendment), and have gotten neither from the bush administration. BTW, it's kinda funny and petty that the Republicans became the "red" party in recent years. I believe some people didn't want the Democrats psycologically linked to the commies.... not that it makes that big a deal to me.

the only support that i give for our troops in iraq is to bring them home. this "war" is a crock.

the current republican party is not in favor of small government. the democratic pary is not either, but they are in favor of a smaller government than what the republicans want.

[PghUSA]

The Dollar being weak in Europe puzzles me? Exports rise when the dollar is weak, and most currency rates are relative to what type of transaction you are looking to do. There are times when the dollar is so strong it is actually hurting the U.S. There is a ton of inside baseball economics that go into currency rates, they do have an affect on the strength of a nation but simply saying a nation is a laughinstock or very weak based on its exchange rate compared to the Euro is a vast over simplification of how it impacts Americans. In fact many Americans would love for the dollar to weaken a bit more against the Euro, it would mean many many more jobs for U.S. workers.

[monsoon]

The dollar is weak against Europe because our idiot president and republican party are piling on so much national debt the rest of the world is losing confidence in the dollar. It might come as a shock to most Americans that are clueless as to anything outside our our borders, but many many international investors and countries are using the Euro now as they consider it a safer place to keep their money.

Conservatives have blasted democrats for in the past by calling them the "tax and spend" party. Well they ought to redirect their criticism to the "borrow and spend" party which is what we have now. This is very dangerous to the long term prospects to our economy.

[PghUSA]

As far as the borrow and spend I tend to agree with you metro, what a few GOP legislators have been doing is extremely destructive (the Alaskan bridge to nowhere, Lott's Biloxi pork, etc. etc.) it is the exact opposite then what they promised in 1994. If the party doesn't straighten up the Dems might get their chance again very soon. But what the GOP has been doing has been done for years by such Dems as Robert Byrd, typical pork barrell spending.

As far as the dollar goes, others are investing in the Euro because some of the radical muslim nations and fortunes decided they were going to wage financial war on our debt and currency, the investors elsewhere followed their lead to make a profit for themselves as well. Lincoln faced a similar financial strain during the Civil War with financeers on Wall Street manipulating currency, debt and commodity prices to benefit from the war, most of the time hurting the union in the process. Nothing new there.

But again I will state for most of the posters on this board having a strong dollar would HURT us more then help us. There are several factors that go into the currency rates and several ripple effects they have on the economy. The dollar has lots of room on the downside left to go before it affects our national stability, and most of us would love its affect on our wallets and purses if it went even lower!

Metro you might recall the old Econ 101 approach to having a stronger currency, invade invade invade, nothing gets your currency to go up faster then your military going in strong, staying and changing the world. The approach to having your currency go down so low it destroys your economy was the old surrender theory.