It is official, Hillery is running for President...

[Thomas Rogers]

I lived in NY for the first 32 years of my life. Once I left the downward spiral seemed to just pick up speed. Sure, NYC has turned around quite a bit in the last 15 years, thanks to Rudy when he was in charge. But the state as a whole (and having grown up in Central NY I am well aware that there is more to NY than NYC) is in the crapper.



NY voters voting in Hillary happened after I left. Had I still been there I probably would have been the last straw to push me out.



The state is doomed.



TJR

 

[Todd Z]

YUP NY SUCKS, !!!!!



Any one look at the numbers before they just start bashing a state ???



What about all the other states that voted idiots like bush in ??



What about the states that "FIXED" elections to get idiots in office ??



And I did not for for GW, or Hillary.....



Just checking...

Todd Z

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Todd Z,



I'm not your typical out-of-state, NY state basher. I lived there most of my life. It's just a really crappy state overall. It could be so much better and that is why I am bitter. I would LOVE to still live there close to my extended family, but doing so would mean having a lot less than my family and I have now.



Rural, Central NY (where I was born and raised) has poverty the likes of which you have to go to the deep South to see similar of. Sure, the downstate area has it's virtue (I lived in Westchester Co for 12 years), and LI is nice; if you are into a lifestyle that has you making more than 80% of the rest of the country, but living a relative lifestyle below that same percentage (meaning COL is just too darn high).



There is a lot to be proud of in NY, but they seem to outweigh all the reasons so many people are leaving the state and not coming back.



TJR

 

[Rick Kent]

Todd Z,



Another born and raised NY'er. Born in Brooklyn, moved to LI, went to school at SUNY Buffalo and Stony Brook.



I can safely say that NY sucks. Everyone in my immediate family has fled to the south and southwest looking for a better life.



There are 3 things I miss. Pizza, bagels and going to MSG to watch the Rangers play.



Other than that, NY can kiss my lower tax paying, bigger house living, less crime ridden, no traffic to speak of a$$...



So no one gets upset here is the obligatory :lol:

 

[WXMotorSports DecalsPartsAccs]

Wow, tell us how you really feel...bhahahahhahaha

 

[Richard L]

Tom T,

No I am not at all supprised that Hillary dediced to run. I just find it funny that all the candidates deny they are running all the way up to the moment they announce that they are candidates. People knew they were running months or years before they made the announcement.



It would be refreshing to hear a politician say "Yes, I intent to run for President in the upcoming election, but talking about issues now is premature".



...Rich

 

[Ryan Schaecher]

The news media and such forget one really important fact in all of this:



We have had a Clinton or Bush in office for the last 20 years. I don't see the general public wanting another one of those names in for awhile.



I also don't see Hitlery making it out of the primaries without losing a ton of face. She has way too many skeletons (and reportedly too many lovers of the femanine persuasion) in the closet. She is not as suave as Bill was (and she cannot keep control well enough to let the mud slide off).



She has yet to go anywhere where she gets tough questions sent her way. 20/20, Oprah and Meet The Press have done nothing but puff pieces on her. You want to see tough questions, go on O'Reily's show (FNC) or Glenn Beck (CNN-HN) or even Nancy Grace (CNN-HN). We know she won't go on the hostile programs like Hannity and Colmes or on the radio with Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh.



As far as the Republicans....



McCain will not make it out of the primaries AGAIN. No matter how much the media plays him up, the Republican base will not elect such a leftist to be their candidate.



Guliani - may be the same position as McCain. Too liberal for the base. He would be an excellent VP to let the Rep's see where he would want to take the playform to. He has alienated Gun Owners, Evangelical Christians and Traditionalists alike. If he can honestly explain his platform is to: 1) not take away guns, 2) not allow gay marriage and 3) scale back the legality of abortion, he would have a chance. He would also have to prove that he would appoint constructionist judges, not activists,



Romney - If America can get over the fear of Mormons in office, he would be one of the best candidates. Reagan conservative, constructionist. He does have some explaining to do over the Gay Marriage issue out of Massachusetts that he first apposed then endorsed though.



Tancredo - Again, more than likely a better choice than McCain as far as the conservatives go, but is only really well known by Iowans and those that are very politically astute.



Huckabee - Downside - Another former Arkansas governor. Just as I don't think America is ready for another Bush or Clinton, I don't see them wanting another Arkansas Govenor any time soon. The last one screwed things up enough. Given that, I think Huckabee could do a decent job. He didn't mess anything up in Arkansas while in office (course, I couldn't tell he did anything at all, other than increase the state's surplus to $175 Million...).



I see the Democratic ticket being centered aroud Chris Dodd in reality. He will either be the candidate or the running mate. If the running mate, it will be a Clingon/Dodd ticket. If he is the man, it very well could be a Dodd/Obama ticket.



I see the Republican ticket being all over the place. It could be a McCain/Tancredo ticket, or a Romney/Huckabee or ...

 

[Chad Merry]

Why is it that we get 2 choices for President, but we get 50 for Miss America?:huh:

 

[Nelson Atwell]

Chad, I don't know, but I'd vote for ANY of the candidates in Miss America. :lol:

 

[Bill V]

chad, I don't think we get 50 choices this year. Didn't Donald Trump fire a couple of them?

 

[Nelson Atwell]

I have had several people come to me and ask about our country, since I've been overseas. Many of the people I work with are from Eastern bloc countries, like Estonia, Slovakia, etc. They look to us as a model of what they want to become someday. These guys look to the U.S. as the greatest country on Earth. What really hurts is when they see something in the news about how our politicians are behaving and they ask me to explain or ask my opinion about someone's actions.



In most cases, I tell them I can't explain, and I can't give my opinion, because I cannot speak for the Government in my position.



This is what I'd like to tell them:



"I feel ashamed for the statements I see on the news as the politicians bash each other, and tear down our country's reputation piece by piece. It saddens me to see how many people have forgotten those people that died on 9-11, in Khobar Towers and on the USS Cole, and how many of my brothers in arms have died protecting the ungrateful masses that speak ill of the mission we are performing. I get sad when the press criticizes our government representatives, and nit-picks their every word or sentence.



This isn't the country I grew up in. The country I grew up in went to church on Sundays. The children had respect for their parents and elders. The people respected their government and politicians. People worked hard long hours to make sure they would never have to go on welfare and that our country would always be free. They took pride in their homes. My mom would dust and mop the house every day, even though some of our houses weren't much more than a shack. We were a proud people, and no one outside of our borders would ever take that away. Unfortunately, we did ourselves in. The enemy within divided us. Selfishness, greed and arrogance took away our pride."



It really makes me sad that my daughter will never experience that America. I also don't have the heart to tell the guys that ask me those questions, that the America they aspire to be, doesn't exist anymore. None of the candidates have stated that bringing that Pride back is one of their goals. I am proud to be an American, but sometimes I am not proud of America. It really hurts to think about it.

 

[Dre L]

Just curious, why would Rudy Guiliani get votes? Because he was the mayor of a city that was attacked on 9/11? That makes him America's Mayor? If he gets elected, he'll finish destroying this country. Don't get me wrong, he did good things like let the NYPD run rampant and flood crime ridden neighborhoods, which did clean up the criminals along with a few innocent bystanders, and set the standards for police abuse of the citizens of NYC. However, shortly after that quality of life crime clean up, the poor people living there were pushed out and replaced by luxury apartments, the police left, the whores and dealers came back, and rich people are paying $4000/month to live with streetwalkers and addicts.



Giuliani has too much of an ego, and let's his tongue slip too much.

Other than that, NY can kiss my lower tax paying, bigger house living, less crime ridden, no traffic to speak of a$$...

Agreed, and your leaving is a sign of great intelligence. But then you moved to VA, and that's like a shaved armpit hair better than NC. Your poor taste and judgement have been clearly established, you should have kept going south.

I'm not your typical out-of-state, NY state basher. I lived there most of my life. It's just a really crappy state overall. It could be so much better and that is why I am bitter. I would LOVE to still live there close to my extended family, but doing so would mean having a lot less than my family and I have now.



Rural, Central NY (where I was born and raised) has poverty the likes of which you have to go to the deep South to see similar of. Sure, the downstate area has it's virtue (I lived in Westchester Co for 12 years), and LI is nice; if you are into a lifestyle that has you making more than 80% of the rest of the country, but living a relative lifestyle below that same percentage (meaning COL is just too darn high).



There is a lot to be proud of in NY, but they seem to outweigh all the reasons so many people are leaving the state and not coming back.

Dear god, for the first time maybe ever, I agree with TJR. Hate PA, but have to agree with him, and PA is at least an armpit hair nicer than NY. I'd rather live in NJ.

My mom would dust and mop the house every day, even though some of our houses weren't much more than a shack... It really makes me sad that my daughter will never experience that America.

I hear you, working families are killing this country. Too bad they can't afford to live without both parents working.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Nobleman, the area of PA that I live in is a sight nicer than any part of NY I ever lived...much nicer than "just an amprit hair nicer".



Why do you "hate PA?"



TJR

 

[Dre L]

These were some beautiful words, seriously. I had to comment on them from a youngn's perspective.

This isn't the country I grew up in. The country I grew up in went to church on Sundays.

No time, precious little time to get things done before going back to work, if we even stopped for the weekend.

The children had respect for their parents and elders.

Still do, when their parents are actually parents.

The people respected their government and politicians.

McCarthy, Nixon, Bush, Bush. I'll give you Clinton's BJ, but we weren't really upset about that, we actually sort of related to him more.

People worked hard long hours to make sure they would never have to go on welfare and that our country would always be free.

They still do, just working hard long hours to barely scrape out a life.

They took pride in their homes.

They can barely afford them, or acquire them, let alone to repair them. The idealism of "buy a new one" "turn it in at end of lease" and "why bother fixing it" has replaced maintenance, discipline, and care for self and others.

We were a proud people, and no one outside of our borders would ever take that away.

We've been able to do fine destroying it from the inside thank you. Don't blame it on anyone else.

Unfortunately, we did ourselves in. The enemy within divided us. Selfishness, greed and arrogance took away our pride.

So did the impossibility of living here.

... the America they aspire to be, doesn't exist anymore.

Sure it does, for a select few who keep it that way, and think it is that way for everyone. One of my VP's suggested I rent out a nice $2000 apartment in LI. He lives in that America.

None of the candidates have stated that bringing that Pride back is one of their goals.

Why would it be? They can't do it, and we would hold them accountable. That's like saying "I'll bring world peace" without occupying every nation.

I am proud to be an American, but sometimes I am not proud of America. It really hurts to think about it.

Don't worry, many Americans are not proud either. By admitting that, you joined millions of desperate, de-motivated citizens, who aren't just leaving NY, but some are even leaving the country. You described the youth of a nation who are facing an all but impossible path their parents have never experienced, or even dreamed of facing. You can say every generation has its difficulties, and the prior doesn't understand them. Well, one thing remains true, the old generalize the young, and vice-versa.

 

[Dre L]

Nobleman, the area of PA that I live in is a sight nicer than any part of NY I ever lived...much nicer than "just an amprit hair nicer".



Why do you "hate PA?"

In a nutshell, 3 out of every 5 people I have met there. Very pompous, holier-than-thou, arrogant, nasty, well I guess you could say the same about some New Yorkers, but I never went to a "visitor welcome center" anywhere in this country and had it made clear I wasn't welcome, until I visited PA. Gorgeous place, nasty bastards running rampant.



Then there's Philly and its traffic. I've been to some bad places in my life, I've never been so threatened as on the mean streets of Philly, which surround the rich part of town. My hats off to anyone born and raised there, I won't drive through those streets unless I'm armed.



I have also met some wonderful people there, not enough to change my mind. The pizza really sucks and I would rather eat Stouffer's. You can only buy beer by the case. I'm not a drinker, sometimes I just want "A" beer. Paintball is great, and there are some fantastic young people there, but I can say the same about NY. Not enough incentive for me to up and move to PA.



Edit: I forgot, too close to Camden, NJ. On the same trip I drove through the mean streets of Philly, I drove through Camden. I can't tell which was worse, but I've never seen tumbleweeds and glowing red eyes in dark windows before, even in Philly.



While I'm on the topic of Camden, let me mention East Orange, NJ. I've seen a place that looked like East Orange before, but only if you take the mean streets of Philly, mix them with the buildings in Camden, and then run Operation Iraqi Freedom through it.



Let no one cast a stone on NYC until they have visited these places.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Nobleman, interesting.



You have written off an entire state and say you "hate it" because of your dealings at a visitors station, bad pizza and city traffic in Philly, and Philadelphia's proximity to Camden.



Nice!



Sure, the average Philly pizza is not as good as the average slice you get in NYC, but it's a far cry from Stouffers. Philly traffic is NO WHERE NEAR as bad as NYC traffic. That's a fact.



The rest I just don't get. You seem to be comparing Philly vs NYC, and I don't ever expect that someone in NYC will ever rate Philly as the winner of that contest.



But the state of PA is no more simply Philadelphia then the state of NY is NYC.



As a whole, taken state for state, PA wins hands-down over NY as a place to live...for me anyway, and I have lived decades in both states. Clearly if I thought NY was a better state, I would have never left.



Your 'hate' for the state of PA is myopic, by your own admission.



P.S. I've been to Camden, been to the "Oranges", spent my fair share of time in other parts of NJ. It's a nice state, just a little too, well, built out, for me and has that "suburb of NYC feel", that I didn't like (most of the entire upper 1/2 of the state).



P.S.S. NYC is a fine city, one of the best to live in. If I never had kids I would probably live and work there (I had a job in NYC working in an office bldg in lower Manhatten). But for little kids, quality of life, and all that, NYC and the surrounding burbs, and even the extended bedroom communities never did it for me. Just felt like a hamster on a wheel. Worked too hard always had too little...too old and too small a house...no lawn...less then great neighborhood...not great schools. Etc. And that was AFTER moving from the depressed Central NY area to the economic boom area of downstate NY.



Leaving NY state for me was like the old joke of the guy hitting himself in the head with the hammer. When asked why he does it, he says: "Because it feels so good when I stop!"



Leaving NY state was like that.



TJR

 

[Dre L]

Your 'hate' for the state of PA is myopic, by your own admission.

I've earned the right, NY has had to deal with that same treatment from other state'ers for years. I can pick apart any state I have or even have not been to, just because I'm a liberal democrat yankee city boy from NY, which is why all I meet in NY these days is a bunch of relocated out of state wannabe's that heard a Frank Sinatra song and are trying to prove themselves. "NYC is great, I've been here for 6 months and I love my 400sq. ft. apartment, $2000/month rent, and sh!tty pay!" As I've said before, if you can make it here, you could have made it wherever the **** you were from, go home. By the way, thanks for teaching me a new word, the NY education system sucks.

But the state of PA is no more simply Philadelphia then the state of NY is NYC.

OMG, WTF IS THAT THE STATE MOTTO???! That's EXACTLY what the welcome center lady said. I asked her if she knew of any U-Pick farms in the area. She snapped at me that PA was more than just the Poconos.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Nobleman, you shouldn't adopt the same stereotyping behavior that you abhor and call it your "right".



If anything I have more of a “right” to be offended by that stereotyping behavior than you as I was born and raised in the other 95% of the state that gets dismissed by everyone as NOT being NYC. I was born in raised in Central NY (referred to as Upstate by you, I suspect). The funny thing is that even when I moved to Westchester County, which is clearly “downstate”, people in the city CONTINUED to refer to where I lived as "upstate"....JEEZ.



NY State what with its upstate vs downstate, and NYC vs everywhere else is clearly one screwed up state. And, yes, the rest of the country doesn't help, because 9 out of 10 people when finding out you live in NY State will say something stupid like: "Can you see the Statue of Liberty from where you live?"



But I digress. I guess what I am trying to say is don't let other people’s narrow view of an entire state as viewed by some glimpses and notions of one of it’s major citys bias you to do the same.



Oh, and U-Pick farms in the Poconos? That's not what I expect. Most of the U-Pick farms I have seen are in Berks County (around Lancaster) and Bucks County (upper). I am sure Poconos probably has some.



Don't judge an entire state by the stupid thing one person says (me included).



And regarding "OMG what is that the state motto"...of course not. Just a good analogy that I thought would mean something to you.



TJR

 

[Rick Kent]

Nobleman,



I'm rubber and your glue....

 

[Dre L]

But I digress. I guess what I am trying to say is don't let other people’s narrow view of an entire state as viewed by some glimpses and notions of one of it’s major citys bias you to do the same.

Can't help it, I can't beat them, I'm joining them. I'm going to keep re-electing Ted Kennedy, I'm going to buy foreign goods, I'm voting republican just because, and I'm going to bash any state that I don't like, even if I can't get a damn cup of coffee at the waffle house because some idiot won't service a yankee.

Oh, and U-Pick farms in the Poconos? That's not what I expect. Most of the U-Pick farms I have seen are in Berks County (around Lancaster) and Bucks County (upper). I am sure Poconos probably has some.

That would have been more helpful coming from that witch, even a simple "not one that I know of."



As for this being a screwed up place, yes, yes it is, so I know quite well when I'm in another.