New poll/Old poll
The new poll question is up:
For China’s human rights violations, should President Bush boycott the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics?
Here are the answers to last week’s poll, which wasn’t as clear as it should have been, my apologies. “Family values” incorporated “Same religious views” in my mind.
Don’t know if that clarification would have made a difference in results, but here they are…
Click on one of the maps below to enlarge to find your personal brightly colored flag:
As always, make comments to either this or last week’s poll here, not on the Vizu website.
Jul.19, 2008 9:20 am |
Polls |
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
How about America’s “Human Rights Violation?” We’re killing the preborn & euthanizing the sick & elderly too! I say let all the hypocrites gather together anyway, boycotting the Olympics will not change anyone’s ideology!
SOMG: Just to inform you, you’ve been banned for 2 weeks on this blog.
Jill what about my question :(
OH yeah and if we boycotted how hypocritical would we be. Our hands are so deep in China’s economic politics that removing them would be absolutely devastating for our economy.
YIKES, look at all the blue (money) votes from our European visitors! Any European voters out there that would like to explain why such a demographic difference as opposed to the rest of the world?
All of America should boycott the Beijing Olympics, and China for that matter…
I consider shared religion to be communication, myself.
Your comment about Jill has been deleted Laura.
MK,
How was Truth today? My family had to leave to go to milwaukee to look at apartments with my brother so I couldn’t go. :( It made me very sad, Gabriella too. She misses you!
This is a test.
YIKES, look at all the blue (money) votes from our European visitors! Any European voters out there that would like to explain why such a demographic difference as opposed to the rest of the world?
Heh. I’ve spent some time on financial boards. I didn’t vote “money” in this poll, but I can see why other folks did: There are all sorts of horror stories. Anyone who’s been married to someone with different money values knows that shared financial ideas might not make a good relationship, but constant fighting about money can sure break one down!
There was one article over on MSN that quoted a study about the different reasons cited for divorce. Money ranked above adultery. The writeup was hilarius, “I guess Americans are saying ‘It’s one thing to screw around, but it’s another thing to screw around with my hard-earned cash!'”
LauraLoo: 2:20: YIKES, look at all the blue (money) votes from our European visitors! Any European voters out there that would like to explain why such a demographic difference as opposed to the rest of the world?
DRF: 8:14: Heh. I’ve spent some time on financial boards. I didn’t vote “money” in this poll, but I can see why other folks did: There are all sorts of horror stories. Anyone who’s been married to someone with different money values knows that shared financial ideas might not make a good relationship, but constant fighting about money can sure break one down! Anyone who’s been married to someone with different money values knows that shared financial ideas might not make a good relationship, but constant fighting about money can sure break one down!
Excellent points about the higher “money” vote in Europe! With the secularization of Europe, and religion and traditional family values having lost their appeal, I think serious communication between couples before they start a serious relationship has certainly diminished.
PiP: 1:06: OH yeah and if we boycotted how hypocritical would we be. Our hands are so deep in China’s economic politics that removing them would be absolutely devastating for our economy.
The word hypocritical is so overused. Drives me nuts! Does anyone who is not perfect have the right to call anyone else a hypocrite? From Wiki: It is a common fallacy to accuse someone of being a hypocrite to disprove their argument. This can be known as an ad hominem attack.
Isn’t it better for someone to admit they don’t want to support China, than to deny it for fear of being labelled hypocritical? I for one, couldn’t understand why the world was so eager to pour so much money into such an untested market some 20 (?) years ago, and am not surprised at the problems we are seeing today. As for the Olympics, I haven’t decided if I will watch or not. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to be there in person.
I can’t imagine why anyone would want to be there in person.
Really? Maybe because you have worked your whole life to get there? Or because you’re supporting athletes from your country? Or because, for better or worse, China is a becoming a major world power? I have friends who work in China and they do not agree with a lot of what China does, but they say it is an absolutely fascinating place to be right now.
China does some atrocious things. Helping them progress socially as well as economically will be a challenge. I think that symbolic gestures do more to inflame emotions and less to change minds than economic gestures. Of course, we have allowed ourselves to be put in a position where China could ruin our economy, so we aren’t necessarily in a position to impose punitive economic measures.
Janet said: I can’t imagine why anyone would want to be there in person.
Alexandra: Really? Maybe because you have worked your whole life to get there? Or because you’re supporting athletes from your country?
Sorry, I forgot the (*sarcasm alert*) on my statement that you extracted from my comments. Of course I CAN imagine why people would go for the reasons you mentioned. If I were an athlete competing, I’d rather be going just about anywhere else. Personally, I don’t like crowds, I don’t like being in a place where I couldn’t even begin to communicate in the native language, etc… That’s just the way I see it. Not everyone has to agree.
I think that symbolic gestures do more to inflame emotions and less to change minds than economic gestures.
One of my favorite sayings: “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”
But Janet, you don’t find it a blatant hypocritical action to boycott the Olympics that we helped support? I am repulsed by China’s human rights violations but I don’t see what “boycotting” the Olympics is going to do especially if our economy relies on China’s economy to survive. It will take something of greater impact to do something real about China’s human rights violations but I doubt Americans want to give up some of the comforts we have gotten used to.
PiP:
Jill’s question is “Should Bush boycott the Opening Ceremonies?” I would not be against that if he decided to do so. I’m not in favor of boycotting the games (for the athletes’ sake). I’m certainly not qualified to talk about our economic policy with China although I realize we have strong ties.
But honestly Janet, what will boycotting the opening ceremonies do?
PiP: 6:50: But honestly Janet, what will boycotting the opening ceremonies do?
I don’t know. If I had a crystal ball… Time.com has an interesting article:
Why Nobody’s Boycotting Beijing
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1823561,00.html
The Olympics are not about politics. For Bush not to go would be an insult to the incredible efforts our atheletes have made to earn the opportunity to represent our country. Well…..maybe the athletes representing us should be allowed to vote whether or not he shows.
Janet-
That is what I am getting at. If the US wanted to make a REAL statement against China, it would most likely involve sacrificing our economy. Since noone in the US wants to take that risk, seeing how our economy is declining already, any “sitting out on the opening” would be an empty gesture. It’s like saying “we will help save you from human rights injustices, just as long as it doesn’t hurt us.”
Money is the #1 reason why people get divorced.
Some people just blow all their money on a fancy wedding and start off their marriage in debt. So much debt.