I love my neighbours in the US! And I have never really been interested in politics (perhaps because Canadian politics are exceedingly dull, LOL). However the past while has changed all of that, and I appreciate "soapboxes" as a valuable tool to other people's insight.

That being said, I am SO EXCITED that President Obama will be here in Canada on February 18th....I wish I had the money to fly to Ottawa just to say I was there. After the last few tough years between US and Canada, it is a really uplifting sign that Canada is your President's first official visit.

Onwards and upwards!

Well Obama has just signed off an $800 billion cash injection to try and stimulate the economy in the US.
The Republicans were dead against it, surprising that, considering they caused the problem.
At least Obama is trying to sort out the problems, so he gets nothing but respect from me. I am off my Soapbox too now, I congratulate all
those that take a more egalitarian approach to their politics and are prepared to express their soapbox viewpoints also.

I know this is a good time to beat up the Republicans, but it just so happens that not all the Republicans were against the big stimulus program AND a bunch of Obama's Democrat friends were among the loudest naysayers.
What worries me is how Obama says that the only way the economy can be righted is through government action. Look at history. The more the gov't messes with the economy, the worse it gets, not better.

FYI -- the detainees in Gitmo were not under the rules of the Geneva Convention, because they were terrorist acts and not acts of war.

And I hate to say this, but partisan politics are the name of the game. Obama ran a very partisan campaign, and for all his talk about unity, it will remain to be seen how he defines unity. Sure, it's unity if you do it my way . . . if you disagree, then you're the cause of disunity. All those who were so quick to dis Bush and call him a liar, a war criminal etc want everybody to play nice with the new guy.

The contention that Gitmo detainees are not covered by the rules of the Geneva Convention is a new, novel and highly controversial legal argument that doesn't hold up very well with most legal analysts.

How come no one balked at giving all the money to Iraq? We were operating at a deficit then.

How come no one balked at Bush giving banks funds -- with no oversight -- yet again? That didn't do anything besides save the country from financial ruin.

I'd rather see that money put back into our country, especially now that they're laying teachers off for goodness sake.

It's everyone's prerogative to disagree. That's healthy. But the truth is no other new ideas are coming out of congress besides this package. Republicans would do nothing best I can tell. This is a deep recession. It will take years to climb out of.

If you want to make a difference and have your voice heard, try this site: http://www.whitehouse.gov/strongmiddleclass/

Campaigns are always partisan to one degree or another. I don't think that rehashing the campaigns is helpful to anyone. All that does, to my mind, is to continue to sew seeds of division. We have some terribly serious stuff ahead of us in this country, and it will require all the energy we can muster to solve the problems.

But after eight years of living under an administration that lined the pockets and filled the coffers of the wealthy, truncated our civil rights, made it unpatriotic to care enough about this country to be informed and to disagree with the Bush administration, kept running tabs on what we checked out from libraries (though some librarians refused to hand over such records) in case we were looking at subversive materials, saw the middle class lose ground while sitting idly by, waged a war costing senseless bloodshed and costing trillions of dollars (and where we will be sorting it out for decades to come...), alienated our closest allies, as well as increasing the fervor of radical groups, we are entitled to breathe a sigh of relief at the change in the guard and to say so.

I don't see this as a time to beat up anyone. But we live in a real world, and people need to be held accountable for their actions.

Why is it that no one remembers that the Democrats were much of the cause of the banking failures -- it was Mr. Obama and a bunch of his colleagues who voted against any kind of oversights regarding all those loans -- which in hindsight wasn't such a good idea and now the Republicans are at fault again.
I get a little tired of hearing how the rich Republicans are always lining their pockets -- you mean to tell me that the Democrats are all poor , common folk? They have as much money or more than the other side, just look to see the buckets of it they poor into their causes.
People like to talk about how our middle class is suffering and how soon we will have only the upper and the lower classes, but what they generally do not know is that, in all the developed world, we have the strongest middle class and the highest standard of living, yes, even when compared to all the European nations.
Yes, we are all still entitled to have our say -- yours and mine, and my son is one of the soldiers committed to keeping this country free. So you may certainly have your sigh of relief at the change of guard, and I may continue to be wary and concerned about the direction Mr. Obama wants to take our country. You have your guy in office now, so maybe it's time to stop flogging the last administration.

lauralpn, I didn't say that Republican's were lining their pockets. I said that the policies of the Bush administration lined the pockets of the wealthy. Deregulation is another issue altogether and goes back decades.

The middle class is suffering now. Clearly we have it better than in many other countries, but we are losing ground. Healthcare alone is in crisis and with an ageing population, the crisis grows more urgent. The healthcare system in this country is in shambles, and we're using outdated concepts to deal with the cost of the system when we tie healthcare coverage to employment. At one time people started and ended their lives working for the same company, and when that was so, the healthcare through the employer worked. Today with no sense of loyalty either from employers or employeees, people now hold mulitiple jobs in their lifetimes, antiquating the notion that healthcare should be tied to employment. We need a lot of reforms.

I don't see anything wrong with speaking up about what the Bush administration did. I find it to be a health discourse. Clearly, with the new election, and a lot of hope for change, this is topic of current events. While I'm hopeful, I also realize that we face some of the most difficult problems that this country has faced since the early part of the last century.

Where is your son serving? My nephew is in the service, at this point in basic training.

You know I am not for republican or democrat. I am for who is for the pepole. And I tell you that you think only republicans got us in this mess your wrong. I also still say that Obama is an arrogant fake. The things he has already done that have made me cringe. nHe won because he was African American not because he was qualified. Yeah history. I don't vare if he was green he does not deserve to run our country because

Greetings Gentlepeople,

I think we should all agree to respectfully disagree and wrap this discussion up. No one is going to change anyone's mind.

It's always stimulating to have intelligent discourse (probably lots more interesting than dwelling on Lyme!), but as they say in the musical OKLAHOMA- "I think we've gone as fur as we can go!"

Perhaps we all have a bit of "Babisiosa Brain.' That's what I call my husband when I want to needle him.

The election is over. I, for one, am hoping for the best for our country (just as I wished good will toward George Bush, even though I didn't vote/like him) and still I wish no ill will on anyone. OK , I had my fingers crossed about Cheney.... KIDDING!!!... (I think... )

Let's look to the future, vow to take the best forward, learn from past mistakes and build a better future together. And I for one will quit thinking/saying, "I told you so"... does no good.

To those who hate Obama, I would ask them to give him a little time before rushing to judgement. I honestly gave Bush my open mind after 9/11.

I think it's great that we aren't so consumed by this stupid Lyme (that at times feels ALL-consuming) that we are a little feisty about politics- about ANYTHING! We still have strong feelings. It's a good thing (as Martha Stewart would say)!

My best to you all!

Yeah Republicans. Looks like Obama is having a hard time finding cabinent members because none of them pay their taxes!!!!! And you blame the Democrats for our problems at least it looks like they obeyed the laws. just another point to say this President isn't right to run our country.So much for republicans not lining their own pockets huh?????

You know I just can't understand how certain members on here can be so bigoted.
I live in the UK, and let me just point out we are paying the price now for the decisions made by the awful bush administration.
I have lost $50K off my pension, because the market crash was brought on by the sub-prime market in the USA.
The UK currency has devalued by 30% and my property is worth 30% less than it was two years ago.
The UK has the greatest level of debt since the end of the second World War, my children's, children will be paying off the huge debt
caused by Mr Bush and his greedy oil obsessed ways.
And what has caused the demise of the financial sector in what used to be the European trading capital of London??
Dealing in the shares that were floated and traded in the USA
sub-prime market, we as a nation have done nothing wrong.
So lets just decide that its "Obama's" fault even though all this happened before he was sworn into office.
I for one will not be a member of DS "Lyme" any more, the ideas
banded around on here have lessened my appetite for this support group.

Thank you my genuine friends, I send you my heartfelt gratitude
I just can't stomach the hypocrisy, racism and complete lack of the facts any longer. ( Wish my children the best of luck in their lives!!)

Ponder,

I wish you would reconsider and stay around. I am new to this Blog, but I have appreciated your posts and you have much to contribute.

This thread should never have been started as it has nothing to do with Lyme- unless we are all hotheads because of it.

Plus, whatever happened to the pledge below, which states "I promise to be nice?" Some of the comments I have read are decidedly NOT nice.

Ponder, I wish you and yours the best of luck! Hope you stay on.

Dave, stay around. What matters here in this forum is that no matter our political feelings, we all band together for one purpose...each other. These same people who are sniping a bit at each other's views will be the same people who are standing here with arms opened and shoulders to cry on, no matter who voted for what.