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JES
ParticipantOn that note I think we have beaten the dead horse enough with this thread. Not much else to say about what Kerry said, other than the fact that the remarks were stupid and a sorely needed gift to the GOP. I’m not convinced that his explanation about the written vs. spoken speech and the ommitted word is truthful. In my opinion he meant to say it just as it was spoken, but did not properly consider the implications or consequences of his words. It’s a throwback to Vietnam when there was talk about having to go to college or go to Vietnam, and there were debates about the underclasses of society being unfairly burdened by the draft. Even if the remarks were written differently by the speechwriter, his words were clear and he was unappologetic until the end. Whose to say that he didn’t just conveinantly discover that adding a word changes the meaning and then use that as his explanation? The kicker is that it makes a heck of alot more sense the way he actually said it than the other way around!
ParticipantPowayseller – Who appointed you as moderator? And this is the off topic section so I have no idea what you are talking about?
ParticipantZK – Much of what would be conveyed very well in a conversation is lost in a blog. Reading between the lines, sensing sarcasm etc. are all very difficult. I have a few friends who are very liberal and I joke with them all the time, ride them about the issues etc. On this board comments seem to always be taken at their face value, when in fact many of us are trying to be funny while at the same time making our points. JG excels at this!
ParticipantGive me a break. You chose a sample that would back up your own point…
Participant“They have pared away your freedoms in the name of “security”.”
And in the process we have stopped numerous terrorist attacks and put ourselves in a position to hopefully stop future attacks. Heaven forbid the government have the ability to wiretap suspected terrorists or look at their email. I mean, these guys really should have the same rights we have, even if they are planning to kill a million Americans, right?
ZK – We’re you crying when you wrote that reply to jg? Just wondering since it was such an emotional, hate filled response.
If Kerry’s remarks were not directed at the troops, then why has he appologized to them? Why has every Democratic leader come out and insisted that he appologize?
ParticipantI save my fantasies for more private moments and wouldn’t dare share them here at Piggington:)
For starters, with unemployment at near all time lows and the economy strong I would recommend getting a job! Even better, become a plumber, electrician, pipefitter or any other trade related job where you can get in at entry level, get training and eventually make good money.
Secondly, it may very well be the case that recruiters target certain groups, that people join for the money and GI Bill or that a larger percentage of minorities join the enlisted ranks and upper class whites do not serve. None of these take away from the responsibility that is placed on an 18 year old adult to make a personal decision whether or not to volunteer to serve. And we should not assume that these volunteers were all somehow forced to join, feel sorry for them because they are doing a job that they signed up to do and then broadly attack those serving in Iraq as being uneducated.
Lastly, a large number of people in every administration that has ever been in office have served without military experience, so your point is irrelevant. And by the way, if Kerry’s comments were valid wouldn’t Karl Rove be serving as a grunt in Iraq right now since he is uneducated and dropped out of school?
ParticipantI am on vacation in the mountains for a month right now, but I can’t resist posting on this one! Can someone please explain to me how Kerry’s comments were directed at the President and not the troops? In a broad sense, I can see that he might have been slamming the President’s policies, but wasn’t he also making the point, through a failed joke, that our troops are uneducated and that our soldiers have somehow been forced into serving due to lack of education?
We have a volunteer force, so the fact that most of our troops don’t have degrees is irrelevant. In fact, the military provides many of these folks with discipline and money so that they can go on to get education after they serve, unlike their peers who are still smoking weed back on the block. And I think every officer and enlisted servicemember with a degree should be offended by these remarks as well. Some of my friends in the service went to Ivy League schools and I know one guy who did undergrad at Harvard and has a law degree from Stanford. He’s in the Marines because he volunteered, like all the rest!
If Kerry was trying to say that the military is the only route for some to college and a good paying job, that is also untrue. There are plently of alternatives, and when someone joins the military it should not be for the college money or they pay. They should join with the full expectation that they will be sent to war and die in combat for their country. Are we supposed to feel bad that our troops are doing what they are supposed to be doing and fighting in a war – one that John Kerry himself voted for?
ParticipantWhenever I back out of a parking space in Carlsbad or Encinitas and a driver suddenly appears in the lane I am never given the go ahead to pull out. Never, ever, ever:) Even if I am already half out, the driver will zoom right by every single time. Their business is obviously more important than mine and every situation in our SoCal lives needs to be viewed as a competition.
ParticipantYet another classic post!
Participant“…you lose the benefit of interacting with people from different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds”
Give me a break. I live in Encinitas and come in contact with people from every ethnic group imaginable every single day. You don’t need to move your family to the Barrio Logan or downtown Detroit to experience cultural diversity. And the idea that we need to appreciate and champion every aspect of other cultures is also an misguided notion. There’s a big difference between moving to a middle class black suburb of Atlanta where your children can interact with black families who have strong values, culture and have been sucessful and moving the urban ghetto in St. Louis where crime is rampant, gangs rule the streets and white people are attacked for being white. Now that whites are a minority accross California you should consider moving to a place like Rancho Santa Fe or Del Mar to experience a ‘diverse culture.’
ParticipantLet’s start a fouth!
ParticipantMost of us seem to agree that traffic and drivers are worse here than just about anywhere. There’s other people out there who insist that traffic is bad everywhere and that you are no better off in a place like Denver or Portland. My conclusion is that many of our problems come down to the people behind the wheel, and not purely the levels of traffic, although traffic jams can also cause changes in a person who would otherwise be calm. Are there just more worse, self absorbed people in SoCal than elsewhere? Instead of answering that question, let’s lay out examples of situations you’ve seen here that would never happen elsewhere. I’ll start (Actually, I already did above, but here’s another!):
-Every single time that I have pulled up to a four way stop at the same time as another driver the past 8 years, the other driver has never waved me to go first. I routinely tell other drivers to go ahead, and whenever I visit other cities I am routinely provided with the same courtesy.
ParticipantAs a Midwest transplant who has lived here 8 years I’m still sickened by the way people drive in San Diego! 6 months ago I merged into a right lane and a guy with his family in a Mercedes followed me into the Home Depot parking lot! I parked and he got out and threatened me as I walked towards the store. I stopped and we nearly threw down in front of the store and his kids! When I pointed out his stupidity and the fact that his kids where there he left. What a piece of work…
On another note, allow me to share a passage from a short commentary I recently wrote:
“…Trucks passed me at breakneck speed near inches from my Honda Odyssey that had delivered me safely over 2000 miles from Iowa. Listening to the purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, I started to think about all of the great places that I had been in my life and the wonderful cities I visited on my trip to Iowa and back. I entered San Bernadino County, picked up speed, and descended from the mountains into the valleys of Southern California. It was now past midnight but traffic swarmed around me from every direction. Cars passed me at over 100 mph and some swerved recklessly in and out of traffic. Not only was I physically tired, but increasingly mentally and spiritually exhausted. Tired of viewing the people in the cars next to me as faceless objects to deal with in traffic. Tired of competing with them for limited resources in an overpopulated region, and tired of seeing the problems that the trappings of wealth and status cause in the community.
San Diego is certainly one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and many people who have ‘headed west’ have settled in Southern California and are living perfectly content and prosperous lives. For families like ours, however, the cost of living and overcrowding have created a strong desire to find another ‘best place.’ Thankfully, we are blessed to live in a vast country with endless great places to lay down roots. My only regret is that I was only able to drive through a select few cities and not tour the entire country. What I saw were small and medium sized cities with good schools, low crime, plentiful job opportunities and housing costs that are a fraction of those along the coasts. For those willing to trade in their surfboards for skis, the opportunities are endless. My only request is that only a few people follow in my footsteps. These cities are already showing the strains of rapid growth, and I would hate to have to begin my search anew to find another best place!”
ParticipantAnother Marine here! I came out here in 98′ and served 6 years in the Corps and a few years in high tech sales driving all around the county every day. I second the advice to stay away from 15 at all costs and focus on the areas between South Carlsbad and the Carmel Valley area along the 5. Inbound traffic from Riverside County commuters has made the 15 an unpredictable nightmare most hours of the day. The 5 backs up, but you can generally plan around it and it is clear sailing very early when I assume you will be driving. To contrast, I’ve tried hitting the 15 at 0530 a few times and encountered grid lock traffic at the 78/15 merge and all the way south!
There are some very nice communities in South Carlsbad/LaCosta/Encinitas with 10-20 YO homes, great schools, low to no HOA and mello roos and prices in the 700-900k ball park right now.
Here’s an example of a home in a great area of Carlsbad and close to the beaches in the 700s right now:
http://www.encinitascarlsbad.com/page.cfm?page=HomeDetail&ID=467043
Even better, here is a home in a fantastic area of Encinitas with no HOA, no mello roos and listed at 689+. I know – I’ve lived in this neighborhood. Having lived in Carlsbad, San Marcos, Temecula and Encinitas I can say this was the most family oriented neighborhood I’ve seen in San Diego so far. It’s right next to very upscale areas and new shopping and good schools, but is unpretentious and in this particular neighborhood you ever get access to a nice community pool.
http://www.encinitascarlsbad.com/page.cfm?page=HomeDetail&ID=438069
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