Rant #2 (in reply to Rant #1)
1. Israel. Should defend itself. The MSM is bias in the US, as it only shows the Isreali prespective of things, but the truth is Israel, like China doesn't treat its neighbors very well. It occupies land that doesn't belong to it by claiming a "divine right" to it, as if it were on a Crusade. Most Arabs are willing to recognize Israel as long as they stay with their borders, even Hamas as said it would being willing to agree to a cease-fire as long as long as Israel returned to the 1967 border. No country (not even the USA) recognizes Israeli Territorial occupation.
2. The economy does have its ebbs and flows, thats true. But that doesn't mean it isn't impacted by outside events. The current economic situation is largely because of Bush. We have 2 wars, 2 huge Tax cuts that benefited the wealthy, we have huge cuts of corporate taxcuts, followed by the Government bailout of any huge company that falls victim to its own greed (see Bear Sterns). High oil prices, high food prices, and deregulation which led to curruption (EnRon, Worldcom, Tyco) and predatory lending practices which led to the housing crisis. Our economy is vast, but when you put this much strain on it things start to break. Bush wont even admit we are in a recession, despite the evidence to the contrary (just like he argued for 2 years that we were winning in Iraq, when we clearly weren't).
3. About Oil, your totally wrong here. First of all the problem isn't oil (theres plenty of crude available), the problem is a lack of refining capacity. This has always been the problem. The US does have untapped oil reserves (like ANWAR) but they aren't that large. Often, its more expensive to get to the oil out tham the oil is actually worth. The oil prices have
NOTHING to do with environment. It has to do with Overwhelming Demand from new markets in China and India, every single economist (liberal or conservative) as said this. China has a Billion people, and they are all trading in bicycles for cars. -Thats the problem.
4. BioFuel is only a short term solution, It was never intended as a permanent solution. Its merely meant to buy time until technologies like Hydrogen Fuel cells can be perfected. The GLOBAL rise of Food prices has more to do with the price of oil than biofuel, because transportation costs are so much higher. Thats the real culprit.
5. I don't disagree about the Orwellian state, but alot of this new executive power was done during the Bush Administration because in their arrogence they never once imagined that they were wrong and that they would lose power. The question is this: if the Democrats win the White House and control Congress, will they relinquish the powers of the new Imperial Presidency that Bush obtained? Or will the temptation of absolute power be too great, as it was for the GOP. I say its 50-50.
6. Want to hurt China? Don't buy their junk. That means don't shop at discount stores like Walmart and K-MART which are basically Chinese import warehouses. But are Americans willing to spend extra to buy American? so far that doesnt seem to be happening. China is rearming itself using OUR money. which we spent buying their junk. But whose at fault? Ours.