Can we agree that government controls business? At least to a degree?
Now look at the number of our politicians that have their pocketbooks lined with oil money. We're screwed until the band together and stop voting in politicians with their hands in the cookie jar.

Some places, like here in Oklahoma for example, also need to build markets closer to the residential areas of town and actually get something resembling REAL public transportation. Hell, make a bike lane to help keep me safe (the drivers here seem to think you get points for running over cyclists) and I could get out my bike again. Hey, it would even help the obesity problem! Vote "no" for oil-funded politicians, "yes" for better city planning and bike lanes.
OK </rant>

The response to my original post supports what I originally said. US citizens are very loathe to accept criticism of anything they or their corporations or their government does in their name. Bush invaded Iraw, not because he wanted to replace a dictator and create democracy, and he lied about WMD, so that he could invade and get hold of their oil. Just because the US invaded what right did they have to steal the oil from the Iraqi people? How is US law supposed to grant ownership of another country's resources to some US corporation?

It is equivalent to Italy passing a law saying that hence forth all Pizza huts in the US now belong to Belusco bakeries.

Utabintarbo can you recall how you felt when the planes flew into the Twin Towers? Did you ever ask yourself "Why are these people so desperate that they have to do this?"

US foreign policy is driving people to desperate actions, and things will not improve until yanks can accept criticism and force their government to change what it does.

No, especially not in the US where corruption of politics by the corporations has existed since the 19th century.

This sounds like an argument against gov't involvement in the economy. If so, we are in agreement.

And then here you support gov't planning. Does not such cognitive dissonance make your head hurt?

The hijackers were in anything but a "desperate" state. Their minds were clouded by religion and the politics of subjugation to that religion. They were driven by hatred of our freedoms and envy of our consequent success. They viewed all of those innocent people as pawns worthy only of sacrifice to their bloodthirsty cause. US foreign policy is just an excuse they use to dupe those itching for a justification of their hatred of America.

I don't need to ask myself why they did it. I know why they did it.

What I am really against is the fact that politicians let their pockets control what they do. It's one thing for survival (as in, I have to steal to buy something to eat or I'll die), but entirely different when you're thinking about your fourth vacation home.

And, Tzumli_D, when I said that government controls business, perhaps what I really should have said was "politicians." The teams of "Corporations" and "Politicians" have many of the same players. While it's fine in idea, in practice it leads to too much confusion and corruption.

I am one of those that would really prefer that religion, politics, and financial issues be kept in separate pots. But, I am not dumb enough to believe that humans can fully separate all three. We are human after all and are the sum of all of the above and many more experiences in life.