Excuse me...you have an entire "country". That is a uniquely American attitude. Most other countries do not follow that philosophy. As I have stated many times before, Americans only represent roughly 5% of the world's population (albeit without question the most important 5%).

Drinking and driving? Carrying weapons? Ever been to Venezuela, for example? In Argentina, it is common for theives to enter a restaurant with weapons and rob everyone in the place at gunpoint. That would never happen in Venezuela. The theives know that all the patrons are packing. I am not advocating that. I am simply saying that viewing everything from the American perspective give you a highly skewed perception of reality.

Now, how did Anericans get this attitude that they must be protected? It wasn't always this way. It certainly wasn't the view when I was a kid. Our government has trained us to think this way - why? So we can need them and therefore require more government.

I love all Latin music I have ever heard. It is also very different from country to country, just like the food is. My favorite is Brazilian jazz. Two of my favorite songs of all time are "Girl from Ipanema" and "Lambada". I also grew fond of Mexican music after hearing the Marachi band at the Mexican restaurant around the corner. Hmm...forgot the name of the song however. Larousse, where the heck are you? Anyway?

Pio,

What's with you and Kenny G???? You would think due to all of the past years events you would have an aversion to JBJ not Kenny G. I know your philosophy of how his music incites riots and was curious to the history behind this bitter war...

Has Kenny emotionally scarred you Pio? I can only envision a romantic candlelight dinner, gemela all decked out in the latest fashion, all dreamy...an exchange of erotic conversation and then the dream turns into a nightmare and comes to a screeching halt as the music of ... KENNY G is piped into the secluded setting and you freak out...maybe you should mention this in IC if you ever end up going...there maybe some deep subliminal message or...you just have taste:)

Do you think that this has anything to do with why people want to live here? Do you think it is safer than other countries? If you attempt suicide in other countries do they spend gobs of money to save your life and try and keep you alive??? Just asking since I do have a narrow perspective and haven't lived outside the US to experience these views.

2much, okay you raised some good questions. Let's review what should be illegal. Anything which mitigates the life, liberty or property of another would be illegal. Think of all the laws which would leave the books...

Over half the prisoners behind bars today are there on drug related charges. And we worry about about our prison crowding problem. So, the first step is to abolish all drug laws. You want to smoke pot, smoke pot. Shoot heroin, shoot yourself. Mess up your life? You have the right. Don't misunderstand me, I am completely against recreational drugs but I would not deprieve my fellow man of using them if he wanted. If you decide you are hooked and need treatment, you are on your own.

We have laws against prositituion. Why? Same reason as anti-drug laws. We love to legislate morality. Any person should be free to do whatever they wish so long as it does not mitigate the life, libery and property of another. Now, if the "another" is a willing participant as in a john who sees a hooker and he gets an STD, he is on his own.

I believe the government has two rightful functions: national defense and a judicial system.

Legal to drink and drive? Not at all. That is an act which puts everyone on the road in jeopardy. Cary firearms when you want? Absolutely. Why not? Now if I shoot someone and I am not defending my life, different story.

I am guessing that you feel the gov has no role in public health either...how about disaster relief...how do you mitigate the impact that these nongov issues have on the public...I am guessing that taxfunds would not be allocated toward anything but Nat'l defenese and judicial issues?

If that were the case there would be gobs of $ circulating around due to less tax $ and a huge reduction in gov employees...wow, can you even imagine how many jobs that would be...where would these people go? The unemployment rate would skyrocket but then again there would be no Medicare, Medicaid or public assistance correct?

Believer,

It would be a multi prong program to halt terrorism in the US. Notice I didn't say the world. France is on their own.

First, I would say to every country who harbors, trains, supplies or even ignores terrorists within their borders: get them out or face grave conseqences. I would then follow through. Certain areas would be incinerated especially that area where we seem to know that the top boys hang out. Iran, I would take out their muke facilities and create a revolution to overthrow the current government. Like many, I am not so worried about the fool in NK. As crazy as he is, he mainly just wants to dance. I would develop Cuba into world class resorts, or at least pave the way for Trump to do it. There would be profiling under my government. Nothing agains Islam or Arabs, but what is the common denominator of the terrorist who crashed the planes on 9/11? Let's get real. I would fire every government employee who is not involved in defense and the judicial system. Borders would be secured. Airports, seaports and land borders. Redeploy all the people fighting the so called "drug war" and let them provide real protection.

Lastly, if you are a terrorist and get caught by the US, I can assure you will not go to Gitmo. You will not be so lucky. It is time to take back the streets and our country.

Maybe everyone on some form of probation should be forced to listen to a little Kenny G before or after their monthly meeting w/ probation/parole officer. They would know that there is constant KG music in the prisons and that, if returned to prison, they would be subjected to it on a nearly constant basis.

I think many people want to go live in the USA because it has great PR. Other developed countries are happy to sit back and not promote themselves so that they do not fall into the same trap that the USA has. Also, the people trying to go to the USA these days are like the people who rush out and buy IBM stock because they read in the paper that it jumped 40% yesterday.

OTOH, many people go to the USA and make quite a success of themselves. They do that because they know that they have to rely on themselves to make it happen - and they bust their butts to get it.

IMHO the USA needs to finds its identity again. It was once the melting pot. Now what is it? It is a very large economy driven by a tendency toward mediocrity. It is a service economy. We want everything done for us. On an aside, I am fascinated each time I go back and walk through the supermarket. I am amazed by how many clever ways people have devised to allow us to do less and less. Even the food we buy in the supermarket is fast food - in resealable pouches as if that were necessary. it isn't because they have already measured out the correct portions for us. We are no longer required to think and therefore should not be held accountable for our own actions.

I have a friend whose mother just died of cancer in Argentina. She was diagnosed and then prescribed morphine in case of pain. No other treatment. She was sent home to die (with which she complied). There was never any discussion of possible treatment. The inevitability of death was accepted without question.

Something that really amuses me: a bank robber gets caught in mid-robbery. The SWAT team surrounds the building. All snipers have a laser sight on the robber. The robber knows it is about over. He puts his gun to his head and says that he will kill himself if the police try anything. What do you think would happen? What would happen in the USA? What would happen in the same situation in Mexico?

That would never happen in the USA. It would be considered "cruel and unusual punishment".

2much,

There would be some temporary "structural" unemployment as government employees shift to private jobs but if I could get the average fed income tax rate down to 3%, do you realize the incredible impact that would have on our economy? It would zoom even more than it currently is. Taxes are a drag on the economy. We also would not need the IRS. There would be no complex laws no 10,000 pages of tax code or whatever it was. Three percent is deducted from each and every paycheck. Period. No deductions, no itemizations, nothing.

Here is an example of what tax cuts can do. After every tax cut implemented by our fed gov't, tax receipts increased! Increased. The dims talk about the "rich" paying their fair share. Before the Bush tax cuts, upper income earners paid an average of 35% of their income in taxes with a lower tax rate, they now pay 37%. Isn't that odd? It is because they are participating in a bigger economy and hence making more money and paying more taxes. Amazing isn't it.

And I am so sick of the liberal media smirking at how in the year 2045, China will be the world's largest economy. In 2005, the amount of growth of the US economy was greater than the entire Chinese economy. Moreover, the 2045 forecasts are based on extrapolation which means someone took China's current sustainable growth rate of 10% and did the math. The Chinese have not had yet to deal with the whacko environmental crowd. As China more fully participates in the world economy, rights will accrue to its citizens. It is inevitable. China will have to deal with that. Meanwhile, the US is doing fine, thank you.

I read an article by AP the other day, the headline of which was:

US economy to grow as Asia and Europe Predicted to do Well, or words to that effect.

Guess what? The headline writer lied! When I read the article, it was predicted, by non US economists that the growth rate in the US would slow to 2.7% Europe was forecasted to slip to 2%. I can only guess that the percentage decrease in the US projections was greater which is another way of saying that the US was doing better than Europe and will continue to do so next year.

But, the hapless AP hates the US so much, they misreport facts. That is why it is of critical importance to read the news with a critical eye or even research the data and facts yourself.

Here is a trick question: did we find WMD in Iraq?

And no, government should have no role in public health or disaster relief. The people in NO were told days in advance that Katrina was bearing down on them. The smart ones got in their cars and left. Okay, not everyone has cars so the government lined up busses in the poor neighborhoods. Some left but many stayed behind. Darwin at work.

2much,

There would be some temporary "structural" unemployment as government employees shift to private jobs but if I could get the average fed income tax rate down to 3%, do you realize the incredible impact that would have on our economy? It would zoom even more than it currently is. Taxes are a drag on the economy. We also would not need the IRS. There would be no complex laws no 10,000 pages of tax code or whatever it was. Three percent is deducted from each and every paycheck. Period. No deductions, no itemizations, nothing.

Here is an example of what tax cuts can do. After every tax cut implemented by our fed gov't, tax receipts increased! Increased. The dims talk about the "rich" paying their fair share. Before the Bush tax cuts, upper income earners paid an average of 35% of their income in taxes with a lower tax rate, they now pay 37%. Isn't that odd? It is because they are participating in a bigger economy and hence making more money and paying more taxes. Amazing isn't it.

And I am so sick of the liberal media smirking at how in the year 2045, China will be the world's largest economy. In 2005, the amount of growth of the US economy was greater than the entire Chinese economy. Moreover, the 2045 forecasts are based on extrapolation which means someone took China's current sustainable growth rate of 10% and did the math. The Chinese have not had yet to deal with the whacko environmental crowd. As China more fully participates in the world economy, rights will accrue to its citizens. It is inevitable. China will have to deal with that. Meanwhile, the US is doing fine, thank you.

I read an article by AP the other day, the headline of which was:

US economy to grow as Asia and Europe Predicted to do Well, or words to that effect.

Guess what? The headline writer lied! When I read the article, it was predicted, by non US economists that the growth rate in the US would slow to 2.7% Europe was forecasted to slip to 2%. I can only guess that the percentage decrease in the US projections was greater which is another way of saying that the US was doing better than Europe and will continue to do so next year.

But, the hapless AP hates the US so much, they misreport facts. That is why it is of critical importance to read the news with a critical eye or even research the data and facts yourself.

Here is a trick question: did we find WMD in Iraq?

And no, government should have no role in public health or disaster relief. The people in NO were told days in advance that Katrina was bearing down on them. The smart ones got in their cars and left. Okay, not everyone has cars so the government lined up busses in the poor neighborhoods. Some left but many stayed behind. Darwin at work.

Pio,

The UN or some other worthless organization just completed a study and concluded that immigrants are better assimilated into American culture than any other country in the world. In Britain and France especially, immigrants are disenfranchised out of the mainstream. Remember all the riots and fires in Frahn-say? That is why. When they interview Arabs in Britain and Frahn-say, all I hear them do is complain. The largest concentration of Arabs in the US is in or near Detroit I believe and they are pro US. There has got to be a reason.

And BTW, the reason we have a service economy is simply because that is the next step in economic evolution. Mfg will naturally go to the counties whose citizens will assemble tv's for .50 per hour. The unions are killing mfg in this country.

Here is another pet peeve I have. I lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma for 12 years. Tulsa built its airport out in the middle of nowhere. As property values grew as did the population, many people built homes closer and closer to the airport. Then something happened. The airport wanted to add a new runway. Suddenly the airport made too much noise. It was disturbing people in their homes. Not only was the runway cancelled but the airport authority then had to invest in sound-proofing peoples' homes.

The city wanted to build a bypass on the south end of town. The south end was new but growing. The bypass, after careful environmental impact study, chose the route to disrupt the fewest frogs and unfortunately required the demolition of 7-10 houses. Those houses suddenly became family treasures containing all the memories and sentimental value a home only two years old can have. Many of those buyers already knew of the plan to build and bought the homes on spec only to require that they be compensated for their pain and suffering for losing the homestead.

Both those things really happened BTW. I was there.

That would be cruel AND unusual.

This will surprise everyone but I believe in capital punishment. However, I think the crooks should be executed the same way that they killed their victims.

Remember the Olympic Park bomber here in Atlanta in 1996. His bomb drove nails into a woman and killed her. So, here's what we do. Strap a bomb to him with a timer he can look down and see. Set it for, say, 10 minutes. Give him some time to comtemplate life. Then, have the bomb not go off, merely make a loud click sound. The second time, okay send him to he!!.

If the woman was unaware that bomb-driven nails were about to kill her, then your solution is not fair and equitable.

Pio,

You are right of course. I would not tell him that the thing strapped on his belly was a bomb nor that it contained nails. Good point.

Hey BigK,

TKO is no longer quiet.

Oh...that's okay then. I was afraid you might be guilty of abusive government.

I admit that I can get carried away.

For rapists, I have special punishment in mind. I would take them out to the woods, locate a tree stump and use a ten penny nail and nail their member to the stump. Then I would give them a gun with one bullet and a rusty, dull knife. They get to choose.

Child molestors? Don't get me started.