<p>But his policies are being advocated, so it’s the same thing.</p>
<p>That is debatable.</p>
<p>Okay, which of McCain’s policies veers measurably from Bush’s?</p>
<p>McCain’s support for S.2191, America’s Climate Security Act of 2007, is in direct opposition to the Bush administration</p>
<p>McCain supports using stem cells for research</p>
<p>On the environment Perhaps McCain’s biggest departure from the president is on climate change. McCain has called for mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions, unlike Bush, who says such limits would be bad for the economy. McCain also supports a “cap-and-trade” system in which power plants and other polluters could meet limits on heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide by either reducing emissions on their own or buying credits from more efficient producers. </p>
<p>U.S. diplomacy and nuclear proliferation, McCain has strikingly different views from Bush, and while he shares the president’s goals in Iraq, he has been an outspoken critic of the way the war was managed.</p>
<p>On diplomacy, McCain has regularly distanced himself from the go-it-alone unilateralism of the Bush administration.
“We cannot build an enduring peace based on freedom by ourselves, and we do not want to,” McCain said in a major foreign policy address in Los Angeles in late March. “We have to strengthen our global alliances as the core of a new compact.”</p>
<p>In the same vein, McCain has significantly broken with Bush on nuclear security policy. Unlike the president, he supports a legally binding accord between the United States and Russia on limiting nuclear weapons, the elimination of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, a strengthening of the Nonproliferation Treaty, increased financing for the International Atomic Energy Agency and nuclear talks with China.</p>
<p>In the last 10 years, he’s been an independent voice for what he thinks is in his country’s best interest.</p>
<p>
McCain is a liberal; Bush is not.</p>
<p>McCain-Fiengold
McCain-liberman
McCain-Kennedy
etc.</p>
<p>In fact most bills entitled “McCain-(some Democrat)” are not something that President Bush would have originated.</p>
<p>McCain-Obama, too?
</p>
<p>You’re probably right about that razorsharp, given the fact that Dubya never spent a single day in the Senate.</p>
<p>I think Jim Crow was very devastating to Blacks in America, being perceived as a second class citizen took a toll. Blacks were not really “free” in this country until the 80’s. </p>
<p>I hope that the NAACP would spend more time on education, encouraging more Blacks to at least finish high school. We are failing our kids( especially black males). I think education should be a bigger part of the NAACP’s platform.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree with this.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s entirely America’s fault that blacks aren’t doing well. I do agree that it’s been hard for them throughout the years. However, I do think that some of the blame has to lie with them. When you look at how black kids (especially males) are brought up, you just have to question what their parents are teaching them. Look at sports as the perfect example. Black kids grow up, play sports, get rich, then think they’re amazing or something and forget where they come from. All those rich athletes break laws and have lots of fun. For the people who don’t make it, well I guess you have to work a low paying job. Not to mention lots of black families don’t have a father figure which means the kids grow up messed up b/c the mom is working two jobs. And did I mention they don’t care about school? In order for anything to work, blacks have to fix their dysfunctional families in my opinion and then combine this with a cleaned up education. The difference between blacks and other minorities is that instead of focusing on school, they focus on sports and entertainment and there’s much less opportunities there.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Simba, that comment was ignorant on so many levels, SO many levels. I can’t even bring myself to correct you. Read any study about the achievement gap and hopefully something will stick.</p>
<p>^and if you look purely at black role models that people have access to, you would never guess that their was any opportunity for success outside of sports and entertainment…</p>
<p>^ Hogwash…</p>
<p>On what basis do you call it Hogwash?</p>
<p>I’m personally waiting for one of the usual suspects to get his/her knickers in a twist about all the startling generalizations one of our newest members just packed into post 48. Good thing I’m not holding my breath, though…:rolleyes:</p>
<p>Bullet:
</p>
<p>Actually, I am a huge Al Sharpton fan. I certainly don’t agree with everything he says, but he has really matured over the years and his contributions have become much more helpful (years ago, I though he was a just a troublemaker - someone whose influence was destructive for all sides of race issues). He is an extremely likeable person, to me.</p>
<p>PH, it’s easy to see the symptoms and not understand the underlying disease, which is what post 48 is all about.
Does America need to push for a stronger family unit and better role models and goals for the AA community? Emphatically, yes. But that is only a part of the problem, and not the ultimate underlying cause. The first step would be a frank and open discussion, which just doesn’t seem possible sometimes amongst all the rhetoric on both sides.</p>
<p>But this is a huge problem for America, and anyone who can’t see that improving the situation for the down-trodden part of the AA community will only benefit the ENTIRE country though more tax revenue, a better educated populace, and a litany of other benefits doesn’t really understand the situation outside of what they read on the blogs.</p>
<p>poetsheart:</p>
<p>I’m not touching it with a ten-foot pole. If there’s one thing white folk have learned, it’s that expressing opinions on African-American issues is verboten. I leave that analysis of those political issues up to James Clyburn and the other members of the Congressional Black Caucus. I might say something unacceptable like “Lyndon Johnson helped make MLK’s dream closer to reality with the passage of the Civil Rights Act” and be tarred as a racist.</p>
<p>And, I do have a personal interest since my daughter lives in a neighborhood that is 85% African American in Washington DC. – a neighorhood that was burned to the ground by its own people in 1968 and left to rot for 30+ years.</p>
<p>ID, I understand your sentiments. An open-heart, and willigness to listen, will only sometimes get you a slap in the face. Some people (on both sides) just want to be heard and will take ANYTHING said as an attack.</p>
<p>Someone I admire came up with a good philosophy on this situation: turn the other cheek. </p>
<p>If we all stop trying, we all lose.</p>
<p>(And I’m not trying to take this down a religious philosophy road; the sentiment just seems appropriate)</p>
<p>Bullet:
</p>
<p>I totally agree. I also know from experience (completely different issue, but personally educational in terms of what can happen to families over generations) that certain “gifts” (crimes, abuse, illnesses, wars, etc.) keep on giving for MANY generations. The pebble in the pond (or in this case, the rock in the pond).</p>
<p>I still say that for the most heinous things that are done to people, there really are no reparations. $40,000? $100,000? $1,000,000? How can you put a price on some suffering? How could you ever determine who got what?</p>
<p>Additionally, your point about more recent crimes against AA’s, while valid, does not negate the argument that many, many people who do not deserve to do so would be paying the bill. Many of those people would still be those who themselves deserve reparations for other horrible things which happened to them personally, or to their families.</p>
<p>Spideygirl, yes, but those same people who you say are not responsible for what happened 50 years ago (and you are correct in that sentiment) have benefitted from those policies. Their past generations where able to take advantage of all the opportunities afforded to them; the AA community was left out in the cold. </p>
<p>Am I saying reparations are the way to go? Well, no. But I think we should find a way to make up to the AA community by ensuring that they not only have the opportunities today (which we have federally mandated at this point IMO), but allow for some way to “catch up” to teh head start we gave everyone a few generations ago. Subsidized and garuanteed higher education for those who put in the effort to achieve it is one way, again IMO.</p>
<p>How about reparation to descendants of the half million (white) union soldiers who died to free the slaves ?</p>
<p>Reparation? Haven’t we paid enough in welfare and affirmative action ?</p>
<p>Poetsheart
</p>
<p>I can imagine the within the black community itself part, because I get how suffering and its effects can transcend generations. </p>
<p>What specifically are the messages of inferiority, which are still being conveyed daily through the larger society? Please describe what you see, because I see a society tripping over itself to do the right thing, to right itself. I see hope and good intentions everywhere on this issue, with hardly any exceptions (those being the pariahs who dwell in the shadows, and for whom racism is a pathetic effort to be above something or someone, anyone). I get what you have described historically, but what do you see today? </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Outside of the dusty and frankly irrelevant corners of society, where do you see this message specifically (today)?</p>
<p>Please do not take a sincere request for elaboration as
</p>
<p>I dont know what response youll get from anyone else, but I read all of your long post and appreciated it. I think my questions are good ones.</p>