Five-in-six Americans support making English the official language of the United States

[homesick_american 1]

You guessed it...I'm really Karl Marx and my plot is to empower more states to become communists and ultimately fail.

*shrug* You and Karl Marx both have a warped sense of social justice.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

You guessed it...I'm really Karl Marx and my plot is to empower more states to become communists and ultimately fail.

*shrug* You and Karl Marx both have a warped sense of social justice.

When did pointing out political corruption at the hands of corporate power become Marxist? If you understood my inference, I was specifically adressing the fact that our trade agreements with Mexico have underminded fair competition for Mexican farmers who couldn't compete against our heavily subsidized agriculture. Some people dismiss NAFTA's negative consequences on the Mexican economy stating that because Mexico signed the treaty, it's their problem. Nice way to counter an argument...how about actually articulating a postion and let it stand on it's own merit?

And yes, social justice is tantimount to alleviating a lot of the problems this country faces. To call anyone who believes that our responsibility towards social justice should extend beyond our borders a bleeding heart is an isolationist attitude. If we didn't give a rats ####### about other country's economic problems, our foreign policy would dramatically change. If that's your position so be it...just don't hide from the fact that it is a very isolationist attitude. I try to be pragmatic about the issue of illegal immigration, but yes, I do care about our neighbor, Mexico.

I'm curious though...you've said several times that you're a Democrat - I'd like to know what prominant Democrats throughout history do align your ideology with?

[homesick_american 1]

I'm curious though...you've said several times that you're a Democrat - I'd like to know what prominant Democrats throughout history do align your ideology with?

I usually vote Democrat. I'm not a member of the party, and I do not *always* vote Democrat. What, you think people who aren't cry-me-a-river/bleeding-heart liberals must necessarily be Republicans?

My vote for the 2008 election is still up for grabs. I haven't seen a candidate from either party that I could get excited about. I voted for Clinton in 1996, Gore in 2000, and abstained in 2004. I can't stand Bush, but I couldn't be fussed to pay the price of a stamp to send in an absentee ballot for that idiot Kerry either. Since my vote would have been counted in Texas which was a mortal lock for Bush anyway, I didn't see much point.

I align my ideology with MY OWN sense of right and wrong. I do not need other people to tell me how to think and I don't need to read vapid puff pieces not even written by the politicians themselves to help me decide what *I* feel is right and wrong. I align myself with myself, but the fact that you even asked that question tells me a lot about you, i.e. you need someone to tell you how and what to think. You need reassurance, justification, someone to agree with you. I don't. That's the difference between you and I, I suppose.

[mawilson 2,133]

When did pointing out political corruption at the hands of corporate power become Marxist? If you understood my inference, I was specifically adressing the fact that our trade agreements with Mexico have underminded fair competition for Mexican farmers who couldn't compete against our heavily subsidized agriculture. Some people dismiss NAFTA's negative consequences on the Mexican economy stating that because Mexico signed the treaty, it's their problem. Nice way to counter an argument...how about actually articulating a postion and let it stand on it's own merit?

NAFTA came into effect in 1994. Mexicans were pouring in by the millions long before NAFTA.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

When did pointing out political corruption at the hands of corporate power become Marxist? If you understood my inference, I was specifically adressing the fact that our trade agreements with Mexico have underminded fair competition for Mexican farmers who couldn't compete against our heavily subsidized agriculture. Some people dismiss NAFTA's negative consequences on the Mexican economy stating that because Mexico signed the treaty, it's their problem. Nice way to counter an argument...how about actually articulating a postion and let it stand on it's own merit?

NAFTA came into effect in 1994. Mexicans were pouring in by the millions long before NAFTA.

I don't have the exact stats, but the numbers have increased exponentially in the last decade since NAFTA went in place. But the fact remains that the U.S. is dumping onto their market, heavily subsidized agriculture and it's obliterating any chance for them to compete.

On the first day of 2003, protective tariffs on imports of sorghum and most other farm goods will disappear under NAFTA and cheaper U.S. imports are expected to flood into Mexico and dominate market share.

Yanez says that even now, with protective tariffs on imports, he and other Mexican producers cannot compete with cheaper U.S.-produced sorghum, which is used in snack and baked products, to produce ethanol and as animal feed.

Mexican farmers, many of whom till small plots with donkeys and follow ancient traditions such as sowing seeds barefoot, cannot compete with U.S. machinery or infrastructure and, ultimately, in price.

In January, import tariffs on apples, wheat, sorghum, rice, soy and many other farm products will drop to zero, from between 1 percent and 2 percent now, in the second phase of trade liberalization between NAFTA members Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Chicken and pork imports will see tariffs lowered more drastically, from as high as 49 percent in the case of poultry.

Four other products, including powdered milk, corn and beans will get five more years of protection before tariffs go to zero in 2008.

DEATH SENTENCE?

Producers see a death sentence in the agricultural chapters of NAFTA, signed a decade ago and implemented since 1994, and blame the Mexican government for not preparing them for free trade.

"The governments of the recent past and of the present have refused to assume the commitment of rural development; they have refused to assume the responsibility of promoting agricultural activities, as it has been much more comfortable for them to be simple spectators," legislators said in a recent document sent to Mexican President Vicente Fox as part of a petition for more protection of the agriculture sector.

"The countryside is being abandoned," said Sergio Ramirez, a sorghum farmer from Yecapixtla, a tiny farming pueblo some 50 miles south of Mexico City. He said he believes he will soon be yet another casualty of NAFTA.

Ramirez said more and more sorghum farmers have abandoned their lands in the area since Mexico entered NAFTA because they could not compete with their U.S. counterparts, blessed with economies of scale most Mexican farmers can only dream about.

The average farm size per Mexican farmer is between five and seven acres, whereas U.S. and Canadian farmers' properties are normally over 250 acres each.

Critics say that, other than some fantastic success stories in fruits and vegetables, the Mexican farm sector is unable to compete virtually across the board.

"The Mexican countryside is becoming deserted. Many have gone already," Yanez said. He said disillusioned farmers usually make their way into Mexico City where they do bit jobs, or cross illegally into the United States to find work.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1228-07.htm

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I align my ideology with MY OWN sense of right and wrong. I do not need other people to tell me how to think and I don't need to read vapid puff pieces not even written by the politicians themselves to help me decide what *I* feel is right and wrong.

Gee, I don't know. I thought everyone's understanding of the world are influenced and shaped by what they read, see, and experience. To merely dismiss someone else's perception as vapid is arrogant. Arguments can and should stand up on their own merit no matter who's making them and there's a lot of insightful, creative, thought provoking people that have something we can learn from. It's why education is a liberating experience.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I align my ideology with MY OWN sense of right and wrong. I do not need other people to tell me how to think and I don't need to read vapid puff pieces not even written by the politicians themselves to help me decide what *I* feel is right and wrong.

Gee, I don't know. I thought everyone's understanding of the world are influenced and shaped by what they read, see, and experience. To merely dismiss someone else's perception as vapid is arrogant. Arguments can and should stand up on their own merit no matter who's making them and there's a lot of insightful, creative, thought provoking people that have something we can learn from. It's why education is a liberating experience.

Hmmm I don’t know. Arrogance is as it does I guess. I think we’ve all been party to a fair few ‘perceptions’ on the part of various people that highlight a distinct lack of education. The unquestioning reliance on political rhetoric that we’ve seen in recent years is a good example…

[homesick_american 1]

I align my ideology with MY OWN sense of right and wrong. I do not need other people to tell me how to think and I don't need to read vapid puff pieces not even written by the politicians themselves to help me decide what *I* feel is right and wrong.

Gee, I don't know. I thought everyone's understanding of the world are influenced and shaped by what they read, see, and experience. To merely dismiss someone else's perception as vapid is arrogant. Arguments can and should stand up on their own merit no matter who's making them and there's a lot of insightful, creative, thought provoking people that have something we can learn from. It's why education is a liberating experience.

Awww, can't score any points so you employ the ad hominem attack strategy by implying that I'm not educated.

:lol:

Been reading Philosophy For Dummies?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I align my ideology with MY OWN sense of right and wrong. I do not need other people to tell me how to think and I don't need to read vapid puff pieces not even written by the politicians themselves to help me decide what *I* feel is right and wrong.

Gee, I don't know. I thought everyone's understanding of the world are influenced and shaped by what they read, see, and experience. To merely dismiss someone else's perception as vapid is arrogant. Arguments can and should stand up on their own merit no matter who's making them and there's a lot of insightful, creative, thought provoking people that have something we can learn from. It's why education is a liberating experience.

Awww, can't score any points so you employ the ad hominem attack strategy by implying that I'm not educated.

:lol:

Been reading Philosophy For Dummies?

I wasn't implying you lacked an education (you've already stated before that you're college degreed) but that education is liberating because it exposes students to different viewpoints - something you consider vapid. Is that not what you meant?

[homesick_american 1]

I wasn't implying you lacked an education (you've already stated before that you're college degreed) but that education is liberating because it exposes students to different viewpoints - something you consider vapid. Is that not what you meant?

No. I consider YOUR analyses jejune, as in lacking in experience or knowledge. Please consult a dictionary next time you contemplate putting words in my mouth.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I wasn't implying you lacked an education (you've already stated before that you're college degreed) but that education is liberating because it exposes students to different viewpoints - something you consider vapid. Is that not what you meant?

No. I consider YOUR analyses jejune, as in lacking in experience or knowledge. Please consult a dictionary next time you contemplate putting words in my mouth.

Oh, ok. Thanks for clearing that up.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

A great man once said, de ja vu is that feeling you get when you feel like you're taking the SATs all over again.

[Mirorgate 0]

A great man once said, de ja vu is that feeling you get when you feel like you're taking the SATs all over again.

aawwww... you flatter me G