" sorry brew:
reality about socialized medicine comes from the mouths of those that live there!
I think I would rather believe those that allready have it and suffer VS. some news/Gov official trying to convince me it is GRAND!

the only thing Grand about it is the cost it will take out of my wallet(GRANDS) "

" What we have to do is abolish NAFTA, close our borders, begin the regulation of out of control corporations, and end special interest lobbyists in Washington. We have to STOP allowing corporate greed from dictating our foreign policies. Some might say that this is "protectionism", but I would say your wrong!! We have to start doing for ourselves, and we have to start somewhere. We have the capacity to become energy independant. Let's get it going!! "

" Bill Clinton the genius? Then you go on to say that NAFTA was penned by the republicans. It was enacted under the Clinton Administration, nature lover. NAFTA was like a car with three wheels. Yes the republicans built it. Yes it could have been fixed before it was driven. BUT--Bill Clinton was the idiot that got in it, started it up, and tried to drive away with three wheels. I guess it did take a genius nature lover. How many wheels does your car have? "

" NAFTA -- no argument that it was (and still IS) the darling of both parties, because they are equally owned by the corporations. Sorry, cm, I wish it were true, but the negatives to companies who have cut American jobs to move their production to slave-labor abroad is not enough to make them move their jobs back home.

It's like the pathetic fines they put on timber thieves in the cases where they are convicted - the fine is way less than the profit they made on the wood they stole, so they pay up and just keep stealing. (I have a friend whose timber was stolen and this is exactly what she learned the hard way).

Now we have both sides of the fence (Democans and Republicats alike) supporting not only NAFTA as it exists, but now they want to put a highway through to bisect the country from Canada to Mexico to help speed up the rate at which our money flows OUT of the country (and which is also ecologically and socially awful as well -- I just know most people care more about the money than the environment or the social impact on human communities).

Brew, that took class -- thank you for your explanation and apology. "

" The comments about socialized medicine are myths made up by right wing neo-cons. England and Canada have state of the art medical care and you don't wait a long time to get surgery. Do some research and stop chirping the words of the right wing talk shows. You will find that reality is far different than the myth. "

" TY, unknown for pointing out NAFTA was a -REPUBLICAN- mapped idea. EVERYone was SO on board with it because our country was FINALLY doing well and they took down that nat'l debt counter in Times Square. NAFTA was an economic theory that did not work out and should be discontinued. I dont care what u say about Bill and his under the desk activities, but that man was a genius for America and if we had not had him in office betwn the two Bushes, we would ALL be on welfare with the Chinese, Mexicans and Indians. Bill left that absolute moron an America out of debt and what does Bush do but hand out chump change in the form of tax checks and voila' he is a hero because even a buck will make some people happy. I hope whomever is elected drops NAFTA. "

" Weedsport has an eye Doctor that accepts Medicaid, in fact its a Dr. that also worked at Sterling. Of course Weedsport is not in the city but is closer than Syracuse! "

" Just checking out the archives.
horseradish...Ever drive on NY Route 81 FREE THRUWAY? I will agree that some of 81 that runs through PA is rough in spots, but when you pay a toll, as in NY THRUWAY, you expect the roads to be a bit smoother. I95, I85 and I75, FREE THRUWAYS, are good roads to travel and like I said, FREE! "

" cm,
In England, they have had socialized medicine for many years. The only problem is that if you need an elective surgery, you have to wait, or else pay for it out of pocket. You have to be deathly sick in order to get prompt care and then you may be on some waiting list. Quite a few of the physicians in England are from other countries (India, Pakistan) and from the views of my relatives in England, they feel that since they are English, they should be treated by British doctors. The health system in England is as bad as in Canada, but then, Canada is/was part of the monarchy. "

" BTW, the NAFTA agreement was originally written by the first Bush administration, but signed into law by Clinton, after adding the NAAEC and the NAALC provisions. Clinton made no changes to the original Bush supported document. "

" People MUST write to their congressman to DEMAND the repeal of NAFTA. This worthless (to the average American citizen, anyway)piece of legislation has totally ruined the U.S., by allowing corporations to send over 3.1 million American jobs overseas to countries that allow child slave labor, opened our borders to illeagls, and compromised our sovernity. Our forefathers fought to release us from foreign entanglements, and now the presidents of the late 20th & 21st centuries have let down our guard, and allowed corporate greed to take over our government, and have gotten us involved with the affairs of other countries, by giving out way too much of our money while our own citizens suffer, and dragging us into pointless wars, based on lies. Any politician that says they support NAFTA, or the North American Union should be JAILED!! We can no longer allow corporate greed to dictate our way of life in this country. "

" I always believe in the saying 'what goes around, comes around"

these corporations that leave the USA to save money on cheap labor--have lately been getting hit hard, especially on the lead paint.
So where they may have saved monies by paying 1.00 an hour for labor, they have to take a loss on recalls and payout thousands on lawsuits. "

" thanks movedsouth, but sometimes I admit I have to call karl an idiot! lol...

CVN: I have been watching the news on Obama's "costs" which again is spending money we dont have, it makes no sense for him to complain we wasted money on the war and hes talking about alot of wastes about to come! Most think the 'war' money would have gone to something else but I dont believe so--if it did it wouldnt be in needed areas, most likely the bridge to nowhere in Alaska would have been built!

I am totally against Gov. healthcare unless I can choose my own doctors. Again most think Canada has the best policies-but I have seen many Canadians on camera speaking the truth behind their care-long waits, and below-standard doctors.
My sis has a few friends in Canada she visits yearly and not ONE has a good comment about their healthcare system.

nothing is free and one way or another it will cost us all. "

" Does anyone remember VP Al Gore,while explaining his theroy An Incovient Truth,saying that our government ought to invent a way to RAISE the COST of OIL so that GLOBAL WARMING might be avoided?? "

" Someone raised a point about 4 day weeks in the schools and post office. FG and QT made good arguments for why that theory was not a good idea. Anonymoose as usual made a sarcastic remark about 4 day weeks for hospitals and the police dept. I get tired of his only replying to ideas with sarcastic remarks and not making a different theory. Create a valid point then maybe throw in a little sarcasim. Excuse my rudeness as I didn't make a point with my remark either. And I have no connections at the Citizen. I am asking for Anonymoose to upgrade his form of posting and I dropped to his level. I am sorry for that. "

" In fact, listen when you hear candidates talking about NAFTA and ask yourself: To WHOM are they speaking? Any time they say anything less than brutally critical of NAFTA, they are not talking to you, the voter, the constituent, the American citizen -- they are sucking up to their corporate sponsors. "

" Amazing -- dd, for once, and probably only for the once, we are in complete agreement. NAFTA, put through under Clinton, to benefit the corporation by scr*wing the American worker yet again. "

" Hey people-----the American jobs are gone, and everyone HAS to buy cheap foreign crap because of the ...everyone say it with me...NAFTA. Thank you Mr Clinton!!! "

" Thanks, movedsouth. Yes, mark, the problem is not just Americans who buy cheap stuff -- there are plenty of folks who really can't afford much and who don't have much choice but to buy the cheapest they can find. There is also a problem with a government which allows American-owned companies to outsource production to countries where the workers make pennies a day and undercut our economy, putting Americans out of jobs -- a government which also allows cheap goods made in foreign countries by near-slave labor to flood our markets, having the same effect except that even the profits go abroad.

It's all well and good to say that we "shouldn't" buy such products, but sometimes A) one doesn't know that components of a product were made under these conditions or B) one may not have the wherewithal in pocket to be so choosy. "

" Fg & cm, I appreciate your posts. Seems good for an opinion/informative post rather than slander and name calling. I know there are others that post and do not attack, I respect that. "

" iI like the Rev Jesse Jackson's comment on Obama, do you think if it was a white man he would have been so easily forgiven? "

" Hook-sticks and bumpers: Yes it can, because I've seen it happen -- to the rickety old car the single mom with two kids could barely afford and which was the only way she could get to her job to try to keep the family off welfare! "

" Isn't that sad that all the American jobs are gone because foreign stuff is so much cheaper? Well it's pretty pathetic that we as American's (mainly government) could not find any other route to keep the businesses here, make stuff cheap. "

" Obama...taxation you can believe in.

According to the nonpartisan National Taxpayers Union, Ill. Sen. Barack Obama's fiscal agenda will cost $344 billion a year. The Illinois senator's plans include:

A government health care system that would likely cost more than $100 billion a year. A $1.7 billion Community Development Block Grant program featuring a full range of housing, job training, and community development services. An "Affordable Housing Trust Fund" costing $2.7 billion over five years. A "Making Work Pay" tax credit to offset Social Security taxes costing $308 billion over five years. In addition, Obama plans to spend:

Some $2.5 billion over 10 years in trade adjustment assistance for service workers. Some $90 billion over five years for early and K-12 education. Some $29 billion over five years for a new college tax credit program. Some $35 billion to expand Pell grants for poor college students. All this federal "assistance" will be of little aid to those it seeks to help if we have an economy crushed under the weight of hundreds of billions in new taxes, especially taxes on those who invest in the private sector, says Investor's Business Daily. That will mean the have-nots will not have jobs.

Source: "Boom Vs. Gloom," Investor's Business Daily, July 9, 2008. "

" You have further proved my point anonymoose. "

" Hey Anonymous---Your right its because certain people know people "

" brew, do you think anonymous was possibly jesting? Maybe taking a shot at the first comment? I originally gave you more credit. Now you have sunken to the levels of karl and AJ. "Personal attacks, insults, or threats." It doesn't seem to hold water! I find that if one cannot defend their position, they call people idiots, dolts, stupid,change their post name, etc. I thought this site was for people to express their opinions, if this not the case, the site should be discontinued! "

" It sure sounded to me like anonymous was being facetious in his/her first post. Brew was out of line for the unwarranted insult and as usual, The Citizen did not enforce its own rules.

But then anonymous sunk to the same level and worse, which is how things degenerate here.

Disagree all you like, but must we continue to have all the childish and pointless insults? C'mon, fellow grown-ups, can we put that sort of thing aside? "

" Things that could cut back:
trash pick to once a week
mail only Mon-Fri

School NO WAY--kids these days dont learn enough as it is..and I agree they dont have the attention span for longer days.

Even switching to Hybrid/electric vehicles for the county will be a huge tax increase on the initial purchases-maybe replace as they old ones break down, but to buy a fleet all at once will be costly.

many businesses could cut back --even closing at Noon on Fridays would be some saver.

INSIDE INFO: Sterling Optical will be closing soon, the only EYE place that takes medicade in the city..which means those in need will have to travel to Syracuse for their vision woes.
Since mostly children are on the medicade program they will suffer the most!
maybe the Centro bus could do a direct route to an Eye Doctor office in Syracuse. "

" How come Brew and his small mindedness is allowed to attack other posters even though it is against The Citizen's rules. Is it because he has carnal knowledge of the Editor's labrador? "

" It is definitely a good idea for some businesses and organizations to move to a 4 day week, but the postal service is not one of them. Like others have said, it would be a disaster. It would be like working a holiday week, every week. "

" Anonymoose you are an idiot! "

" Why not toss the Republicans that repealed Jimmy Carter's CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) LAWS. Had the Money-mongers left the law alone, all auto manufacturers would have to put out a fleet that averages 37 mpg by this year. Look it up.... "

" I was driving to work Thursday morning and noticed a Contractor Truck “G. Roofing” I sure you can guess the rest of the name went right through a red light. I blew the horn at him to let him know I saw what he did. He slowed down and I thought he was going to get out or something but he continued slowly driving away. I thought to myself why is he mad at me, I did not do anything wrong, he did. I guess people do not like to be reminded that they did something wrong do they? Guess who I am not going to call when I need a roof, if they cannot drive correctly how can they put a roof on correctly?
I guess I am bothered more than the average person when I see constant traffic violations in Auburn from people who have no respect for the laws. I hope you are too because sooner or later someone is going to get seriously hurt or killed, an I hope it’s not somebody related to you. Usually only then somebody gets a ticket because of an accident. I wish the police would see what I see, and if they did, give out tickets, our city taxes then would drop dramatically. "

" Why not cut mail service to four days a week, have 40-hour, four-day work weeks and four-day, 40-hour school weeks. This would cut gas consumption way down!

Whoever wrote this has not even a hint of how the USPS works. Let me enlighten thee...
Mail never takes a day off, period. 4 day work week, compared to 6 day work week. Distribution centers are 24/7. It is hard enough for the USPS to really keep up with the skeleton crew they have. If you can imagine, the day after a holiday is like working 2 days of mail into 1. Mondays are a conglomerate of Sunday and Monday, or should I say Saturday and Sunday. Then their is political crap the floods the system. Catalogs of every demeanor, magazines, JUNK mail, and those quirky little Netflix and AOL flats. 4 days a week???? I would like to see how long that would last. I couldn't imagine carriers being back before sundown during those 4 days. Which they made a rule about getting back before the sun sets. It's for safety. I don't know how much any of you know how strenuous it is to perform duties for the USPS, but it's NO sunday picnic. It does get easier, as you memorize your case. But remember snow, sleet and rain?? Add heat and NO a/c. I do notice people mock the USPS and the infamous, "Going Postal", but remember those people that deliver your mail have a skill that many people cannot understand. I did it for a while. Loved it. But I was just temporary. My term ended. Besides I would not work with my girlfriend for lots of reasons. I am happy doing what I do now. But maybe down the road, if the cards are played right, I will do it again. "

" You can thank our corporation-owned Congress for letting cheap foreign goods produced by near-slave labor steal jobs away from American workers. Isn't it time we did something to curb the obscene amount of power corporations have over our government and our lives?

Cut services to only 4 days a week? As if we didn't have poor quality service in enough industries as it is. No, encourage telecommuting in jobs where it is possible and save a packet without cutting service.

Especial the part about school -- young children have a hard enough time sticking to studies for long hours (and their television-shortened attention-span doesn't help) -- don't even think about giving kids a longer school day 4 days a week just to get a day off -- it's bad physically, psychologically and pedagogically. Kids are not adults.

Just a note on whining -- wine, whine and whinge are all pronounced the same way. Wine is something you drink, whine is a way some Americans complain, and Whinge is what their British counterparts do. You'll sound pretty silly accusing people of wining when you mean whining. "

" We should close the Hospital three days a week to help keep medical costs done too.

Also, lets only patrol the streets four days a week, and only have fire protection four days a week as well. "