OP ED-"Little Timmy Wants to Know Why Nobody Likes Airplanes Anymore?

[scottfromiowa]

Because liberalism destroyed the USA including general aviation...

[flyboy0681]

Spare me.

 

Maybe You'd like to live in the country that has the cheapest gas, Venezuela, where it costs a mere six cents a gallon at the pump.

[aaronk25]

Some truth there!

[flyboy0681]

Some truth there!

 

Yes, some truth, but the conservative undertone is quite evident.

[aaronk25]

True, but I'm a conservative so that's why I believe what he said is true. I think we need true conservatives to get us back on track, conservative leaders unlike any we have ever had, that explain to the public what freedoms you give up for "free stuff".

[co2bruce]

Like, and agree. Conservative undertone sounds a lot like truth.

[flyboy0681]

True, but I'm a conservative so that's why I believe what he said is true. I think we need true conservatives to get us back on track, conservative leaders unlike any we have ever had, that explain to the public what freedoms you give up for "free stuff".

 

Maybe Sarah Palin will win in 2016 and you will get your wish. Her recent diatribe on fast food workers was an absolute gem.

[aaronk25]

Maybe Sarah Palin will win in 2016 and you will get your wish. Her recent diatribe on fast food workers was an absolute gem.

Well I guess at least we have a thread dedicated to politics now.

Most of the time I agree with Sara Palin but sometimes I think Sarah, why did you just say that?

I could here your undertone in your statement. But you got to give her some credit, she says what she thinks, maybe to much sometimes.

[flyboy0681]

I could here your undertone in your statement. But you got to give her some credit, she says what she thinks, maybe to much sometimes.

 

Agreed.

 

I just wish she knew how to speak grammatically correct English.

[alex]

Or be as coherent as Joe Biden? He's not an idiot, he's just good ol' Joe, right? somehow conservatives always seem to be dumb extremist hicks and liberals always come out smelling like roses from a pile of crap while being regarded as the smartest people in any room.

Please, spare me!

[Marauder]

Maybe Sarah Palin will win in 2016 and you will get your wish. Her recent diatribe on fast food workers was an absolute gem.

Funny stuff!

As is this (from my home state man): http://youtu.be/Ll_goH-aivU

As far as I am concerned... I'd rather not talk about it.

[co2bruce]

I love this, discussion is what makes the country great. Each side stating their view, and backing it up with facts. ... About Palin, she is a talking head on a news channel, like Rush or Chris Mathews. Who cares what they have to say, it means nothing. What matters is what our elected official do, and what we do about it. VOTE

[flyboy0681]

Or be as coherent as Joe Biden? He's not an idiot, he's just good ol' Joe, right? somehow conservatives always seem to be dumb extremist hicks and liberals always come out smelling like roses from a pile of crap while being regarded as the smartest people in any room.

Please, spare me!

 

 

I'm not defending good ol Joe, but when he comes out with gaffs (remember, a gaff is when the truth is inadvertently spoken) at least the listener can understand him. Here is what Sarah said a few days ago, tell me it's not incoherent (and she was a journalism major):

 

“Wait, I thought fast food joints. Don’t you guys think that they’re, like, of the Devil or something? That’s what — Liberals, you want to send those evil employees who would dare work at a fast food joint that you just don’t believe in, thought you wanted to, I dunno, send them to Purgatory or something. So they all go vegan and, uh, wages and picket lines, I dunno, they’re not often discussed in Purgatory, are they? I dunno why are you even worried about fast food wages because…”

[Marauder]

I'm not defending good ol Joe, but when he comes out with gaffs (remember, a gaff is when the truth is inadvertently spoken) at least the listener can understand him. Here is what Sarah said a few days ago, tell me it's not incoherent (and she was a journalism major):

 

“Wait, I thought fast food joints. Don’t you guys think that they’re, like, of the Devil or something? That’s what — Liberals, you want to send those evil employees who would dare work at a fast food joint that you just don’t believe in, thought you wanted to, I dunno, send them to Purgatory or something. So they all go vegan and, uh, wages and picket lines, I dunno, they’re not often discussed in Purgatory, are they? I dunno why are you even worried about fast food wages because…”

 

And then there's Joe... 

 

I don't care what political affliation or political view you support, we lost the "We the People..." piece. 

[1964-M20E]

Well we do not need more liberals or conservatives (republicans or democrats or whatever you want to call them) they both have contributed to the demise of our great country.  We need more libertarians and constitutionalists at the federal level who will repeal laws that severely stretch the powers granted to the federal gov’t by the people and the states and return us to a national gov’t that lives within its means and its authorizing constitution.

[flyboy0681]

And then there's Joe... 

 

I don't care what political affliation or political view you support, we lost the "We the People..." piece. 

 

 

At least I understood every word he said.

[fantom]

Yes, some truth, but the conservative undertone is quite evident.

 

Mike, Mike, Mike....YOUR undertone is also quite evident, and it ain't 'moderate', like you claim  .

[flyboy0681]

Well we do not need more liberals or conservatives (republicans or democrats or whatever you want to call them) they both have contributed to the demise of our great country.  We need more libertarians and constitutionalists at the federal level who will repeal laws that severely stretch the powers granted to the federal gov’t by the people and the states and return us to a national gov’t that lives within its means and its authorizing constitution.

 

I think we can all agree on this. But literal interpretation of the Constitution can also have a severe downside.

[aaronk25]

Scott look at what u started! Lol.......

[yvesg]

Yves

[aviatoreb]

Yves

 

Hey, but yer Canadian.

[aviatoreb]

Actually, this a fine thread - a place to vent differing politics.  I have sometimes expressed being frustrated when a discussion about tire pressure or camguard or whatever suffers severe thread drift because it makes it difficult to discuss specifically aviation specific details, but this is a good and honest dedicated thread for exactly this.  Have at it!

 

P.S.  I believe in investing in Solar and Wind energy since I believe that someday those technologies will be much better than they are today.  I believe in an "all the above" approach to energy sources.

[flyboy0681]

Mike, Mike, Mike....YOUR undertone is also quite evident, and it ain't 'moderate', like you claim  .

 

Not sure what I said to make you say that, all I did was criticize Sarah for not speaking the Queens English. Here is where I stand on Scott's thoughts:

 

1. The U.S. does not control its crude prices, it's a world market and is driven by supply and demand. The remark I said about Venezuela was based on an article I read just yesterday about the price of gas there. Citizens are paying about six cents per gallon but it's all subsidized by the government. They don't have enough refining capacity to keep up with demand so they (ironically) import gasoline from the U.S. and pay market price for it, which it said was $2.70 a gallon and the Venezuelan government foots the entire bill, at the detriment of the infrastructure (mainly roads, ports and power) and much needed social programs in this oil rich, but dirt poor country. Iranian's, by the way, pay .35 a gallon.

 

2. There's probably some truth about trial lawyers, but why all of a sudden did things change in the 70's?

 

3. Yup, the government did start borrowing like there was no tomorrow. Not to make a partisan remark, but it increased exponentially during the Reagan years, probably due to his increased military spending. With a brief period of a balanced budget during the late 90's, things have certainly gotten out of hand. However, the budget shortfalls are not a result of "free" cell phones (the program is actually paid for by you and me through the Universal Access fee we all pay each month on our landline and cell bills), birth control (which only started last January) or stamps for free steak and beer. Added up all together, these programs account for a few places to the right of the decimal point in the overall federal budget. Most of the taxpayers money goes toward the military (quickly approaching a trillion dollars a year) as well as Medicare and Social Security, which are the biggest chunks.

 

4. Manufacturing. Yup, it's a problem but I'm not sure what the solution is. Companies have to answer to one person, and one person only: the shareholder. The shareholder demands maximum return on his investment and as a result American companies have gone overseas seeking cheaper ways to get the work done. My brother is the CFO of a manufacturing business and his company established operations in China about four years ago. I asked him the actual difference in costs and he said in the US his company was paying roughly $12 an hour for assembly labor. In China they are paying around $3 an hour, but it's not necessarily apples and oranges because terms of employment are different in both locations, but the cost differences are real. Now you might argue, regulation and government oversight here is costing him $12 an hour for local labor, but what's the solution? Paying his American workers the same $3 an hour? How many American's would work for $120 a week, less taxes? Cheap and fast transportation from all points of the world exacerbated the problem, as Thomas Friedman explained in The World Is Flat. Last word on the subject, one that hits home with me as a software developer. I run up against Indian competition just about every week (and usually lose out to them) and outsourcing is a real problem. In 2008 Obama did address this in his campaign and did follow up with it in 2010 when he proposed tax penalties for those companies that layoff American workers and outsource the jobs overseas. The bill died before committee because the GOP viewed it as a tax hike on American companies. So what is the answer?

 

5. Terrorists. The WTC attacks are a lot deeper than capitalism. It goes back decades to American foreign policy in Muslim countries. Iran and the rise of the Shah immediately comes to mind, but there are others and it's a very complicated subject that can't be blanketed by a simple statement such as they hate us because of our spending habits.

 

6. The EPA. Like all moderates, I believe there is some good and some bad within this department. Should a dam project be tabled because of a tiny fish called the snail darter? Absolutely not. Has regulations on emissions from manufacturing cleaned up the air and water around the country since Nixon signed the EPA act, most definitely. Some of you who are old enough can remember the Cuyahoga River catching on fire in 1969. My memories are of growing up in New York City and seeing the incredible amount of debris floating in the Hudson and East Rivers, with all kinds of chemical slicks mixed in. They are long gone. Would manufacturers have cleaned up their act on their own if the EPA wasn't around? What do you think? 

 

My point in all this is that there are no simple answers and placing blanket claims on them is too simplistic an approach to solving them. To say that if we stopped giving out Obamaphones and took away Medicare from seniors would solve problems is being disingenuous at best.

[Rwsavory]

There is a lot of "woe is me" stuff going around in the aviation internets.  It's a waste of time.  Get your butt up and go flying, and take a friend with you.

[Marauder]

There is a lot of "woe is me" stuff going around in the aviation internets. It's a waste of time. Get your butt up and go flying, and take a friend with you.

I absolutely agree, lately it seems all of the major aviation boards are in need of an enema...