Don't forget to vote later today.

Although our political system stinks, we have the right to vote. Exercise that right on Tuesday. If you don't vote, you can't complain.

Ron Paul has my vote.

I don't haver the right to vote not 18. So we have to sit in school and talk about it and it will be our future that is being changed depending on who's ellected - but of course if you aren't 18 it doesn't matter.

That sucks.

Question from far far away: Who do you think will make the race for the democrats? Hillary or Obama? I read and heard a lot of stuff here about this close duel.

What i would like to know from you guys: what tendencies are there at the moment in the states? what do you americans think 'cause i 'only' have the opinions of european journalists here. don't know what sources they have.

Quote :

Hillary or Obama?

Only Hillary is on MI ballot, other Dems boycotting.

From Det News:

Quote :

Clinton is alone among major candidates to leave her name on the
ballot. Now, supporters for her foes are seeking revenge. Few analysts
doubt that Clinton won't win, but that has not stopped her opponents
from trying to cut into Clinton's vote total by mounting a last-ditch
push for Democrats to vote "uncommitted."

Quote :

Supporters of Obama and Edwards urged voters to vote "uncommitted."

If 15 percent of the vote in a congressional district is uncommitted, its delegates will be free to represent any candidate.

Bernard Parker, a Wayne County commissioner who supports Obama, said he was disappointed with Clinton for keeping her name on the ballot.

"I think she took advantage of the situation," he said. "If she hadn't done that, we would have had a different situation. Either all the candidates' names would be on the ballot or none would."

Last week, Rep. John Conyers Jr., a Detroit Democrat who supports Obama, began running radio commercials imploring party members to vote uncommitted.

She is such a big wafflier and liberal that we will see socialism and higher taxes. No way I would vote For her and her hubby.

Then you have Obama......

Quote :

1. Was Barack Obama a Muslim?

The issue of Barack Obama’s possible Muslim past has re-emerged with conflicting reports about the presidential candidate’s childhood in Islamic Indonesia.

The controversy was initially touched off in early 2007 when several media outlets reported that Obama had attended a radical madrasa, or Islamic school, when he lived in Indonesia.

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs quickly countered with a statement: “Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian.”

The reports about the radical madrasa turned out to be false. But in March 2007, Gibbs amended his previous statement, telling the Los Angeles Times: “Obama has never been a practicing Muslim,” the key word being “practicing.”

Obama, his Kansas-born mother and Muslim stepfather moved to Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, in 1967, and Obama lived there from ages 6 to 10.

The Times sent a reporter to Jakarta to investigate Obama’s childhood years there, and published an article on March 16 that included these details:

* A close boyhood friend of Obama, Zulfin Adi, said Barack “was a Muslim. He went to the mosque.”
* Obama’s first-grade teacher at a Catholic school, Israella Dharmawan, said: “Barry (Barack’s nickname) was Muslim. He was registered as a Muslim because his father was Muslim.”
* In the third grade, Obama transferred to a public school, where he was also registered as a Muslim. At the school, Muslim students attended weekly religion lessons about Islam.
* In his autobiography, “Dreams From My Father,” Obama mentions studying the Koran and describes the public school as “a Muslim school.”

More recently, Middle East Forum director Daniel Pipes wrote on FrontPageMag.com that his research led him to conclude that “Obama was born a Muslim to a non-practicing Muslim father and for some years had a reasonably Muslim upbringing under the auspices of his Indonesian stepfather.”

But on Jan. 2, the liberal organization Media Matters for America (MMfA) took issue with Pipes’ report, criticized him for relying too heavily on the Times article, which it claimed was “disputed,” in an effort to “revive Obama-Muslim falsehood.”

Media Matters cited a March 25 article by Kim Baker in the Chicago Tribune that challenged several assertions in the Times story. Barker wrote that boyhood friend Adi “was not certain” about his statements regarding Obama’s childhood and that he “only knew Obama for a few months.”

The Media Matters Web posting stated: “Additionally, the Tribune reported that ‘interviews with dozens of former classmates, teachers, neighbors and friends show that Obama was not a regular practicing Muslim when he was in Indonesia.’”

Media Matters also said that “Pipes did not note that Obama’s Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, has been described in the Tribune as ‘much more of a free spirit than a devout Muslim.’”

Pipes fired back with a FrontPageMag.com article on Jan. 7, titled “Confirmed: Barack Obama Practiced Islam.”

Pipes asked if any of the information from the Chicago Tribune article refutes “my analysis, as MMfA contends. It raises questions about two details in the Los Angeles Times account — the accuracy of the Catholic school’s registration form and the reliability of Zulfin Adi as a source on Obama. But on the larger issue of Obama’s religious practices during his Jakarta years, it confirms the Times account.”

Pipes concludes: “Therefore, what MMfA calls the ‘Obama-Muslim’ falsehood’ is in fact confirmed by both articles as truthful and accurate.”

And he adds: “All this matters, for if Obama once was a Muslim, he is now what Islamic law calls a murtadd (apostate), an ex-Muslim converted to another religion who must be executed. Were he elected president of the Untied States, this status, clearly, would have large potential implications for his relationship with the Muslim world.”

I am an independent voter, but this scares me, he will have a hard time working with the muslum world, let alone those who did not declare war on the USA.

We either need a good Repub. president or an independant.

I think John Edwards, Fred Thompson, and Rudy had best hang it up and wait to be selected for VP on somebody else's ticket.

Hey, swiss...it is neat to see your interest in this election from so far away.
Personally, if Benazir were still alive, I'd vote for her as a write-in. Crazy, yes, but it's my vote.

As much as I hate Republicans, I'll probably vote for Romney...

why must we declare a party? I'm neither!

I need to go to confession. I voted for a Republican today...

I don't like having to declare a party nor only being able to vote for only one. Be nice to have a say in deciding both parties.


OF COURSE LIKE IT REALLY MATTERED IN MICHIGAN FOR THE DEMOCRATS!


WHAT A JOKE!

Hey Swiss Tiger, What is the political landscape in Switzerland like?

We Rarely hear anything about it in the U.S Media!

it was a joke.

I would sincerely like to visit there again...last time was in 1981!!

Never been there! But it sounds nice from what I have heard and read.

Beautiful...clean....prompt trains....friendly folks, most of whom are tri-lingual (German, Italian, & French, usually English in there too).

It's interesting for me to see that votes and considerations are highly influenced by religion and church.
This is absolutely irrelevant and not of interest to anybody when we vote for our politicians.

I'll keep on reading and checking news what happens! This election has a lot of influence for us in Europe too. From an economic point of view it would be slightly better for switzerland if a republican would be in the white house again, because imports to the states are a very important business for us. And this would get more complicated with a democrat as i heard. They want to protect the US economy much more than the republicans.

Your country is absolutely light-years ahead of ours in so many ways.

gs78 wrote:

I don't like having to declare a party nor only being able to vote for only one. Be nice to have a say in deciding both parties.


OF COURSE LIKE IT REALLY MATTERED IN MICHIGAN FOR THE DEMOCRATS!


WHAT A JOKE!

What did you expect? She was the only Democrat on the ballot! Of course she was gonna win!

I didn't get to vote

Luckily I do get to vote later (I think in February) in the California primary. This really sucks that this is my first election to vote in. Every candidate sucks - more than usual!

I think of myself as a democrat I guess but don't care for either major candidate. I won't vote republican and I won't vote for a third party so it's going to be a tough choice.

laprimamirala wrote:

I would sincerely like to visit there again...last time was in 1981!!

Wow that is a long time ago! But you know, not a lot of things have changed since then. :lol:
Mountains are still high and our cheese and chocolate are still awesome.

That's how Switzerland is. Everything is very constant and steady. We are very open minded but like our traditions and dislike big fast changes. But i guess that is one of our strenghts too.
Despite this love for traditions we are very modern and economically strong.

Be sure to come again sometimes!

laprimamirala wrote:

Your country is absolutely light-years ahead of ours in so many ways.

You know, funny thing is, i always thought (and most of the people here think this way) that you are ahead of us!
My opinion changed when my ex-girlfriend had the chance to work for Comerica Bank in detroit for 6 months. That was 2003 i think. She's working here in a bank too and this was some sort of an exchange program to see how other countries are handling their banking tasks.
And she was quite shocked how ahead we are here in Switzerland (and Europe generally).
A lot of things that you still are doing manually are integrated in automated processes since several years in our banks.
A lot of people were surprised when she told her stories and experiences she made at Comerica Bank.

I stayed at a friend's house in Wetzikon for a week. We swam in the Pfaffikersee & did side trips to Zurich. Would love to retire there! unfortunately, too poor....

laprimamirala wrote:

Beautiful...clean....prompt trains....friendly folks, most of whom are tri-lingual (German, Italian, & French, usually English in there too).

That's what everybody says. Clichés. But it's quite true actually. We are complaining when a train is late for 5 minutes. Even when this happens only once a year! haha.

I think the americans are a lot more friendly than we are. There is a huge gap if i compare the staff in restaurants, bars and shops here and in the states. You are much more attentive and friendly the the people here! When you are in a restaurant in Switzerland and you want to order something, you nearly have to fire off a signal pistol to het a waiter to your table.
Everytime i'm in the states, that's what strikes me the most.

Nearly everybody speaks english here. Globalization told us to do so i guess. Swiss-german is my native language, my french is not so good and my italian is lousy actually. It's quite special that we have more than one language here. 20 Miles from my place, people are speaking french. Thank god, most of them are speaking german too.
We actually have a fourth language: romanic. Not a lot of people are speaking that. It's only a small part of Switzerland.
This multilangual thing is no fun if you are working as an IS consultant like i do. You have to consider this in every program that we develop. It's a pain in the actually. :lol:

laprimamirala wrote:

I stayed at a friend's house in Wetzikon for a week. We swam in the Pfaffikersee & did side trips to Zurich. Would love to retire there! unfortunately, too poor....

That sound very nice! Switzerland is quite expensive, that's true. Especially for americans at the moment. Look at the dollar exchange rates!
It's great for us though. Traveling and ordering stuff from the states is so cheap for us now! The american eagle, hollister, etc. orders i do are much more fun now. :lol:

catbox_9 wrote:

I didn't get to vote

Luckily I do get to vote later (I think in February) in the California primary. This really sucks that this is my first election to vote in. Every candidate sucks - more than usual!

I think of myself as a democrat I guess but don't care for either major candidate. I won't vote republican and I won't vote for a third party so it's going to be a tough choice.

I consider myself a Democrat also. I was going to vote for Edwards, but I couldn't! And if you're going to vote "uncommitted" then why even bother to vote? So I went with they only guy that promises jobs in Michigan, Mitt Romney. (Just because I voted Republican in the primaries doesn't mean I'll vote Republican in the main election in November. The people on tv told me that I can switch parties if I wanted to). :lol:

sounds like what I did. I really like Edwards but think an Obama-Edwards ticket would be great.