Today's the day! What's your prediction - Bush or Kerry?

[tex111]

Unfortunately I think Bush will win again. I think the latest Bin Laden tape will actually help him and make the difference. What do you guys think?

Just caught up on all the posts. Really interesting about Haliburton. I know very little about it but friends in Texas always mention it. Good to have some 'inside' info!

KATG, I know just the attitude you're talking about. Very hard to take, especially when it comes out of the mouths of people you consider to be intelligent. Of course, coming from Texas I hear it all the time. At the moment my email inbox is full of messages from friends in Texas trying to convince me that GW is basically God and I've heard the 'just bomb the whole Middle East and get rid of all of them' argument many, many times. It just kills me. What can you possibly say in response to a statement like that?

I agree actually. But we can hardly leave them as they are now. Something will surely happen in Fallujah soon. Iraqi's murdering other iraqi's... that can't be left as it is.

Nothing I'd like more than my brother to come home. But, I know he has a job to do... :-(

oh, wait. i thought the US was there to make Iraq and the world better. Now you say that they, like all governments are after oil? I'm confused....

She is screechy, not squeaky (as in, it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease/oil/etc...)

If you believe so, then the best way to make this world a safer place would be to remove the dependency of oil. Which candidate promised to move away from this dependency?

Uwila, point taken. What I don't understand is that we have the technology to start moving away from oil. Electric cars, solar energy, etc. I know it can't happen overnight but why aren't we make those changes now and in a more organised fashion. Why aren't governments encouraging those changes? Is it all about money? Surely money could be made making electric cars and the like. Perhaps that sound very naive but there's only so much oil on the planet. We're going to have to make changes at some point. Wouldn't it be better to choose to rather than wait until we're forced to.

Papillon, great minds!

When I worked for HAlliburton in LA many moons ago, a group of us went out one night. One of our co-workers was from Jordan, and another from Florida. The Floridian got snappy with the guy from Jordon and said "yeah, we bomb countries like yours." I tell ya, the rest of us wer horrified. There was so much tension in that car, I thought the windows were going to break. The point is, those remarks on bombing everyone are so ignorant, they aren't worth our time.

Incidentally, you will al be surprised to know that I think Paletinians are getting a raw deal. I think there is plenty of blame to go around. But Israel is not exactly innocent. That's my take.

And on that note, I'm off to an election party. Bit early, but I must go now...

I think Kerry would be much better at ending the war than Bush. Bush seems to like fighting and being devisive. Ending a war well takes diplomacy and Kerry is far better at that than Bush.

I didn't say the oil decisions are specifically regarding iraq. it was a general point about decions that governemnts make.

However, I will say that I do think that protecting the world's economy is perhaps relevant. And oil is related. But, that is very different from the accusation that we are there to steel their oil.

The French don´t hate Americans, they hate kitch. Alot of countries have kitch.

Uwila- I'm very confused. In an earlier post you say the US isn't in Iraq for financial gain or occupation, and we were there to do good, but then you just said that oil runs politics and it was hypocritical for anti-war nations to act like they don't make decisions based on oil in what I'm guessing was a response to Papillons post about the US not going into other nations. So which view do you hold about us being there?

Sorry, I see already been posted. I took too long chasing after Colin in typing my post.

REMOVE the dependancy of oil? That is not possible.

Papillon, what's kitch?

Uwila, I don't want for you to miss your party but why is that not possible? Won't it have to happen at some point?

I should say that I'm certainly not talking within a presidential term but in a very long-term approach.

1- electricity is generated from oil fuel. So you are back to square one there.

2- electric card do notperform like comustion engine driven cars, hence will not sell

3- Research is being done, but it is not anywhere near marketing a suitable replacement to the current cumbustion engine driven cars

When the oil runs out alternatives will be the only possibility. As Tex says it won´t happen immediately but now finally there is research and interest in alternatives I hope the dependency will become less over time.

i gotta go

No, it won't. There are a zillion examples (which I don;t have time for) But I'll give you one. Plastic. You can not have plastic without oil. Without plastic, you would have no computer, no car, and so one. Think of all of the medical advancements that use plastic, replacement limbs, pacemakers, and so on. You can't make that computer you are typing on out of wood. Do you want to light your house by candle? Travel by what? Steam engines?

Even chewing gum is a by product of the oil industry... that'll gross you out, huh?

I'm sorry, I really have to go now...

incentives needed re: sustainable power. our local authority charges £80 for parking permits, but they'r free to people who have electric vehicles, the same is true i think of the inner london congestion charge. i know it's not much, but every little helps.

Tex, your sister's email is very encouraging, although I'm not sure there's much hope in Texas.

An update on my anecdotal story. I just saw my undecided neighbor who was leaning towards Bush the other day. She said she voted for Kerry this morning because she had to go with her gut.

It's exciting if nothing else!

Have a good party.

Oh Uwila, almost forgot you're voting for Bush! Hope you have a good party but obviously hope your candidate doesn't win!

KATG, I'm sure you're right about Texas. They just love that 'good ole' boy' or at least that's how a lot of friends and family see Bush. I always argue that they might like to have him over for dinner but that doesn't mean he makes a good president.

Going back to oil, I can see that perhaps we'll never live totally oil-free lives but surely we can start to lessen the dependence on it. I agree that incentives are important and things like a higher tax on larger cars (though of course the people with the larger cars probably have enough money to pay the tax) can make a difference. If we don't have the technology for a good electric car yet we certainly can produce energy efficient cars which will not only reduce the need for so much oil but help the environment as well.