checkmate

I won't address the abortion issue because, as you recognize, we have a difference in opinion that fundamentally does not allow us to have a discussion where we can persuade one another. As for gay marriage, really, I don't think the government should be involved in marriage at all. I know that is quite Libertarian of me, but I believe that should be with respect to only the church and let the church make the rules to govern that institution. As for the malpractice suits, you are just wrong. Most states have insurance funds for medical malpractice and charge doctors pro rata by specialty. Unlike Auto Insurance where you have to pay higher premiums for getting into an accident where it is your fault, malpractice insurance does not really increase when you make a mistake and are at fault. The good doctors are penalized for the mistakes of bad doctors. In states where there are caps on non-economic damages, insurance rates for medical malpractice still continue to increase. This is an insurance crisis. As for frivolous lawsuits, statistically there are very few. With respect to medical malpractice, there are virtually none because of the high cost a lawyer must undertake to prosecute them--many times spending upwards of 100k for experts, etc. The days of filing a lawsuit for medical malpractice for a quick settlement have been gone for years.

Can someone tell me why there is still all this name calling on the political board? I thought this was for intelligent discourse on topics. I watched Bush's speech last night and Kerry's last month. What I saw were two visions of America that actually fit neatly in the perspectives of their respective parties. This is a classic political race involving equally polarized parts of the electorate. As the candidates, by telling us about themselves (and ignoring the name calling of each other--by the way, Kerry is not a communist and Bush is not a fascist), you can merely have to choose in this election whether you believe in Democratic domestic and foreign policy or Republican domestic and foreign policy. I suspect the moderates out there actually torn. Many moderates want the domestic policy of Kerry and the foreign policy of Bush. However, the Liberterian moderates want Bush's domestic policy and Kerry's foreign policy. This election is way too close to call.

Debates--plural. You mean Bush is going to agree to more than one debate?

I like the second amendment (and I don't have a gun and suspect I never will), but remember the purpose of the second amendment is to be able to take arms up against your own government. That is not allowed today in our war against terror. Social security--I don't have any great ideas, but we need something to take care of working class without pensions in their old age. Taxes--I am not sure how you get 50%, but I do live in SC that has a low tax rate (I am in the highest category for both state and federal). But I think the scaled tax rate based on income makes some sense. Schools--What we learned in SC about vouchers for private schools is that standards in private schools get lowered. That's unfortunate, because the plan was to use vouchers to make the public schools better. I don't really have a solution.

I hope that the Republican Party moves more to the center on social issues. The candidates you mention could cut it. I suspect the problem with the moderate Republicans though is that the Religious Right likely will stay home rather than vote for Guiliani or Pataki. That might mean a landslide for the Democrats in 2008.

First, let me say that I am a Democrat, and a Liberal one at that, but I don't understand how Bush can say that he supports a government that stays out of the lives of its citizens and then says he wants to make abortion illegal, wants to make gay marriage illegal, and wants to limit recovery from doctors who commit medical errors costing people lives and limbs. Can anyone explain that to me?

No surprises in that bunch.

My case for Kerry. I don't believe we should pursue programs of corporate welfare to the detriment of the working class and neither does Kerry. Bush continues to ascribe to the economic theory his father called voo-doo economics which proved to be one of deficit spending, corporate welfare, and a deterioration of good-paying jobs.

I probably can give you several reasons why the Democratic Party has better ideals and is better for the country in the long term, but I only have a minute. I wanted to comment on your point about Pat Robertson types. The religious right was without a party prior to Ronald Reagan. He brought them into the Republican Party which previously had been reserved for only "economic conservatives." Those economic conservatives would be sick based on what the Republican Party has done to the federal debt and the budget deficit. The conservative ideals of old have been replaced with the new conservativism that involves more social issues than economic. Oddly, the social conservatives are not really following the ideals of conservatism, as they want the government to be involved in our lives, telling us who we can marry, what we can do with our bodies, and demand that we pray in schools. Conservative thought would say that the government has no place this decision-making. If it wasn't for the need to get votes, I suspect most big business conservatives would rather leave the government out of these social issues.

Everyone should keep in mind that Paul Hamm had a score to beat when he got on the high bar. Even if he did not know the score, if the South Korean had gotten a better score than was initially published, Paul may have been able to get a better score on his high bar routine. Judges, umpires, and referees make mistakes, even at the highest level and of this magnitude. The South Koreans should complain for at least the next four years. I am still complaining about the "just give it to them" phantom first down in New England several years back. I did not hear NFL suggest that Miami come to Buffalo for the WildCard Playoff game because only an officiating error caused Miami to have home field for that game.