way OT, but very very interesting

Is anyone else ( besides me ) wondering who they will choose for president?
I mean, I watch the news and I try to keep up, but I have no idea which
candidate's views are more like mine. My mom sent me this link and its very
very informative.

Check it out... http://www.eenvandaag.nl/stemwijzerusa/en/

Click on the link. Read and answer about 20 key questions, and view the
results to see which candidate your view match.

One quick note... when you get to the page where you can choose which
candidate you want to measure your results by, make sure that all 5
candidates are checked so you can see how your answers measure up to ALL
candidates. You just never know - you might have thought you were a
republican all these years and find out after you do this quiz that you
really "think" like a democrat. hehehe


Sterling

Sterling wrote:
Is anyone else ( besides me ) wondering who they will choose for president?
I mean, I watch the news and I try to keep up, but I have no idea which
candidate's views are more like mine. My mom sent me this link and its very
very informative.

Check it out... http://www.eenvandaag.nl/stemwijzerusa/en/

Click on the link. Read and answer about 20 key questions, and view the
results to see which candidate your view match.

One quick note... when you get to the page where you can choose which
candidate you want to measure your results by, make sure that all 5
candidates are checked so you can see how your answers measure up to ALL
candidates. You just never know - you might have thought you were a
republican all these years and find out after you do this quiz that you
really "think" like a democrat. hehehe


Sterling



That's a Dutch site.

Yes, I thought that was Dutch. I like to see political observation on the
US from other countries. It's usually more objective. I thought it was
pretty good, though there are some other questions I would have liked to see
on there.

I'd like to see what the chances are that the "War on Drugs" could also be
dis-engaged. The US has 10 times as many people per capita in jail as
England!!!! That's 1,000%. I think we are getting too much collateral
damage.

And I'd like to see what the chances are that we could have a REAL health
care reform. I think insurance should be optional and that the only things
insurance should pay for are "vanity" items, like keeping people on life
support, and fertility treatments, or getting faster treatment, or paying
for a fashionable doctor. That things that keep people healthy like setting
bones, antibiotics, obstetrics, and TESTING, and such should be covered by
government and big business, because big business is who will profit
(financially) most from a healthy population. Part of those normal health
procedures should be dental and optical care too, so people can see and can
smile, and can work. (And remember, people do still die of dental infection
here in the US).

And then there's a place where drugs, jail, and health, and sound economy
intersect. Drug treatment costs much less than jail and works much better.
The medical model works, or at least works better. And then take this one
step further, and include mental health treatment. By including mental
health issues, it will normalize mental health treatment, minimize the
stigma, and get people into treatment willingly. Then there will be fewer
TV shows asking why there are crazy shooters or 13 year old murderers.

And you know how we're going to pay for this? Easy. When we no longer have
a budget that has to pay all that money out for warehousing prisoners, there
will probably be more than enough to pay for the whole medical program.
Currently, the fastest growing industry in the US is privatized prisons!

Oops; unintended rant

Tina


"bartje m" wrote in message
...
Sterling wrote:
Is anyone else ( besides me ) wondering who they will choose for
president?
I mean, I watch the news and I try to keep up, but I have no idea which
candidate's views are more like mine. My mom sent me this link and its
very
very informative.

Check it out... http://www.eenvandaag.nl/stemwijzerusa/en/

Click on the link. Read and answer about 20 key questions, and view
the
results to see which candidate your view match.

One quick note... when you get to the page where you can choose which
candidate you want to measure your results by, make sure that all 5
candidates are checked so you can see how your answers measure up to ALL
candidates. You just never know - you might have thought you were a
republican all these years and find out after you do this quiz that you
really "think" like a democrat. hehehe


Sterling



That's a Dutch site.

Sounds like you should be living in The Netherlands.:-)

As far as I understood trt opinions on. Stopping the war on drugs is
obviously not a hot item at the moment... And as with any war: only losers.

The bad news: Even in our liberal country we are losing some of our
liberal point of view regarding drugs.

Bart

I'm voting for Hillary Clinton because I feel that she is the most
qualified. I've been working on her campaign. Go to www.hillaryclinton.com,
her positions are there, her plans to deal with this incredible mess
Pres. Bush has managed to get the U.S. into with Iraq, the economy,
the eroding of our reputation around the world, don't get me started.
Anyway, if you wish to read what she has really said, unfiltered by
the media, go to her website and the other candidates websites and see
where your positions match theirs.

I admire Sen. Obama for the way he has reached out to younger voters
and gotten them excited about voting, but he doesn't have enough
experience to pull the country out of Bush's mistakes. He would,
though, make an excellent choice for VP when Hillary wins the
nomination.

Patti

The real trouble with drug abuse in this country is what it does to children
of drug addicts. These children are more likely to be sexually and
physically abused, molested, neglected, starved, and otherwise mistreated.
By tolerating drug abuse, we are tearing apart our most important natural
resource. Add to that the increase in diseases associated with addicts
(HIV, Tuberculosis, hepatitis, MRSA, and STD's), we have a national health
crisis caused by the supposed "harmless" activity of drug addicts. The
strain on our national budget is in the neighborhood of $200 Billion per
year at this point. We're the ones losing.

"bartje m" wrote in message
...
Sounds like you should be living in The Netherlands.:-)

As far as I understood trt opinions on. Stopping the war on drugs is
obviously not a hot item at the moment... And as with any war: only
losers.

The bad news: Even in our liberal country we are losing some of our
liberal point of view regarding drugs.

Bart

My brother is in jail because of cocaine. Being in jail has probably kept
him alive. His skin was yellow-ish grey and he was skinny. And I am a
recovering alcoholic. Alcohol was my drug of choice and not significantly
better than many other drugs.

On the other hand, I don't think the woman arrested at the airport with 34
Vicodan who we returned a true bill for (indicted for a felony) deserved a
year in jail. And I don't think exposing potheads (or alcoholics for that
matter) to jail inmates and bringing them into the system helps.

Jail and exposure to the people in them is really harmful for people and
families too. I'm not at all convinced it's less harmful than their own
behaviour. I'm also very much against drug abuse, but jail just isn't a
very good way to stop it -- and it adds other harmful effects.

The choice is not between "tolerating drug abuse" and "war on drugs" or
jail. There are lots of other options. The last one that worked well was
during Reagan's FIRST administration when rehab was easily available -- "the
medical model". Drug use and drug related crime was down then. Until he
initiated his "war on drugs"; then it went back up.

Did some people put themselves in rehab without being serious? Sure, of
course. But that's still much cheaper than warehousing them in jails and
teaching them additional bad behaviours. Medium security jails cost
something like 4 or 5 times as much as rehab, and work about one forth as
well.

One more thing is my sweeping plan that would made our police force and
well-ness system more effective is greater promotion of something called
"Community Oriented Policing", in which policing goals are determined in
conjunction with community members. One of my favorite teachers, who used
to teach Justice at Yale, was very active in this program. Another thing
that works. It changes the whole mood of law enforcement from one of a
paramilitary organization (per the Albuquerque Chief of Police) to one of
co-operation with the community.

Tina


"Mystified One" wrote in message
...
The real trouble with drug abuse in this country is what it does to
children
of drug addicts. These children are more likely to be sexually and
physically abused, molested, neglected, starved, and otherwise mistreated.
By tolerating drug abuse, we are tearing apart our most important natural
resource. Add to that the increase in diseases associated with addicts
(HIV, Tuberculosis, hepatitis, MRSA, and STD's), we have a national health
crisis caused by the supposed "harmless" activity of drug addicts. The
strain on our national budget is in the neighborhood of $200 Billion per
year at this point. We're the ones losing.

"bartje m" wrote in message
...
Sounds like you should be living in The Netherlands.:-)

As far as I understood trt opinions on. Stopping the war on drugs is
obviously not a hot item at the moment... And as with any war: only
losers.

The bad news: Even in our liberal country we are losing some of our
liberal point of view regarding drugs.

Bart

I love and appreciate Patti's devotion to her candidate, as I am
equally devoted to Barack Obama. My boyfriend and I are both working
on his campaign. Hilary is our front-runner, but has yet to unite the
party and in the meantime, Barack Obama is being seen as being the
candidate the furthest away from Bush, at least to a lot of people.
It is sad that the whole thing is running AGAINST Bush but having
watched every campaign in my entire life run against the existing or
the last President, I am sick as hell of it.

When I saw the last democractic primary, I was SO PROUD to be a
Democrat. And remain today. We have a white woman and black man who
wiped out all the male candidates. I've been waiting my whole life to
put the issues of race and sex behind us. It is happening now, in my
lifetime.

I also watched the Repub debates, and it was too much of the same-ole,
same-ole. I have great respect for John McCain in a lot of ways. I
don't want him to be my President. I am tired of being represented by
Presidents that I don't like.

Becki

And, one more. I saw a Gore-Obama bumper sticker yesterday. It made
me want to puke. LOL.

I live in Silicon Valley, where Gore is absolutely revered.

Becki

Omigosh!! Absolutely amazing!!!

--
Jerri
www.beadbimbo.com
"bartje m" wrote in message
...
Sterling wrote:
Is anyone else ( besides me ) wondering who they will choose for
president? I mean, I watch the news and I try to keep up, but I have no
idea which candidate's views are more like mine. My mom sent me this
link and its very very informative.

Check it out... http://www.eenvandaag.nl/stemwijzerusa/en/

Click on the link. Read and answer about 20 key questions, and view the
results to see which candidate your view match.

One quick note... when you get to the page where you can choose which
candidate you want to measure your results by, make sure that all 5
candidates are checked so you can see how your answers measure up to ALL
candidates. You just never know - you might have thought you were a
republican all these years and find out after you do this quiz that you
really "think" like a democrat. hehehe


Sterling



That's a Dutch site.