Hi there, My name is Roy. I am a Navy veteran (13 years in) and student at NC State University majoring in English and Political Science. I saw the boards and hope that I have found a place where intellegent dialog can actually occur when discussing our current political times. I consider myself a Moderate. I am very, very socially liberal but I am a fiscal conservative. I support marriage equality, was really happy about the repeal of DADT(because I served alongside some very honorable gay and lesbian shipmates), I am pro-gun, anti-religion (from the aspect that the government should stay out of the religion business per the Constitution.). Fiscally, I believe we should stop sending billions and billions to other countries and perfom major cuts on the DoD. I have not quite made up my mind on the effectiveness of Keynsian economics, but I do not fully believe in the effectiveness of Supply-Side economics. I believe that the biggest problem with our current political system is that no one, politicans or citizens, talk to each other anymore: they just talk at and yell at each other. Both sides call each other names and neither side see the other as Americans. I will make this promise to everyone on the board. You are all Americans to me. I did not serve in the military for Red States or Blue States; I did not serve for Liberals or Conservatives. I served to protect EVERYONE. We need to get that feeling back. I can't wait to talk to you, not at you!
makes complete sense to me Roy and thanks for serving our country.. wish we all could get along.. Ron Paul made a comment today that I really liked..instead of taking care of the poor here in our country we send it off to the rich in other countries..
Oh really? If you're hoping for intelligent dialogue, prepare to be disappointed. I too find it depressing how partisan American politics is. And to make it worse, it's catching in Australia. Welcome anyway, and goodluck!
lol...I love the Aussies. Huge rugby fan and the best teams are in the Southern Hemisphere (even though I must warn you...I am an All Blacks fan.). I have talked to many people from Australia, and it is even one of the two countries on my bucket list (Australia and New Zealand). I was able to travel alot while I was in the Navy, but most of my travels were in the Med.
Hello Roy, and I hope you find a decent conversation you can discuss your opinions on! I agree with you on everything except the guns. I'm not opposed to people owning them, but I am opposed to people carrying them when they walk down the streets. Heck no, mate!!! I'm an Aussie!
World Rugby rankings and the location of the Rugby World Cup Champions would have to disagree with you. It is a war in my house when Tri Nations rolls around because my wife is a Wallabies fan and I am an All Blacks fan. Thanks for the welcome.
I should change it to" "All of the Americans are Americans to me." It is nice to see the boards more international than I thought it would be.
Just wait until the next World Cup - this time around we had a mostly very, very young squad, and look how far they got! I didn't think the All Blacks were exactly 'dominant' (especailly without Carter), considering their home advantage and reputation, although they still deserved to win. The gap is definately closing, though - it would close even further if the were All Blacks stopped from being allowed to pass the ball forwards, and Richie McCaw was stopped from at least some of his more outrageous cheating around the rucks!
Welcome aboard Navy! What is an IC1? I was an SK2 in the USCG years ago, but I don't know a lot of the new ratings.
Thank you Roy, for not only serving our country to keep our freedom, but also for posting such a valid and well spoken post subject. When my post gets moderated, please read it and I will be interested to hear your feedback. It seems like these days, the political stance is whoever has the most money to spend will do so on slandering their opponents. They forget what the issues are and focus or try to focus our attentions on the candidates and their misfortunates instead of letting us know what their own personal agenda is. I fo one am sick of this kind of politics. It gets so bad, that one just simply does not want any of them running this country. I believe that people are people, we all have a brain, we all have an opinion and we certainly do not need to be wasting our hard earned money supporting their slander campaigns. You seem to have a head on your shoulders and realize what the real issues are and for that I thank you.
An IC1 is an Interior Communication Electrician Petty Officer First Class. IC's in the Navy have been around since the 1950's when they were created as an offshoot of the Electrician's Mate (EM) Rating. Today, we are a mix between an EM and and Electronics Technician (ET). We work on the shipboard telephone systems, Electonic Nav systems, Sound-powered phones, Data-multiplexing systems, CCTV, etc. Most IC's are in the Combat Systems Departments but some of us spent most of our time in the Engineering Departments on ships. As the IC rating has become more specialized in Electronics instead of electrical systems, they have transitioned us more to the CS world.
The problem is that we have stopped looking at people as people and see them as "The Enemy" if they disagree with our opinions. What we need to do is stop the hatred and divisive speech and start talking to each other again instead of hating each other. There was a time when our politicians might not have agreed on the best course of action, but they would still get along with each other and even talk with each other over dinner. That does not happen anymore. Politics and religion have divided this country and it is exactly what those in power want (and I am not talking about just one party or group here, politicians are not in charge, money is).
Roy welcome to you from Westbrook Maine!! you will find that the forum membership is varied . We do love our Aussies though
