Posted on 03/18/2008 4:56:09 PM PDT by calcowgirl
Americans and Europeans share a common goal – to build an enduring peace based on freedom. Our democracies today are strong and vibrant. Together we can tackle the diverse challenges we face, whether radical religious fanatics who use terror as their weapon of choice, the disturbing turn towards autocracy in Russia or the looming threats of climate change and the degradation of our planet.
But the key word is “together”. We need to renew and revitalise our democratic solidarity. We need to strengthen our transatlantic alliance as the core of a new global compact – a League of Democracies – that can harness the great power of the more than 100 democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests.
At the heart of this new compact must be mutual respect and trust. We Americans recall the words of our founders in the Declaration of Independence, that we must pay “decent respect to the opinions of mankind”. Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed.
We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies. When we believe that international action is necessary, whether military, economic or diplomatic, we will try to persuade our friends that we are right. But we, in return, must also be willing to be persuaded by them.
The nations of the Nato alliance and the European Union, meanwhile, must have the ability and the will to act in defence of freedom and economic prosperity. They must spend the money necessary to build effective military and civilian capabilities that can be deployed around the world, from the Balkans to Afghanistan, from Chad to East Timor.
We welcome European leadership to make the world a better and safer place. We look forward to France’s full reintegration into Nato. And we strongly support the EU’s efforts to build an effective European Security and Defence Policy. A strong EU, a strong Nato and a true strategic partnership between them is profoundly in our interest.
We all have to live up to our own high standards of morality and international responsibility. We will fight the terrorists and at the same time defend the rights that are the foundations of our societies. We cannot torture or treat inhumanely the suspected terrorists that we have captured. We must close the detention facility at Guantánamo and come to a common international understanding on the disposition of dangerous detainees under our control.
International responsibility also means preserving our common home. The risks of global warming have no borders. Americans and Europeans need to get serious about substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years or we will hand over a much-diminished world to our grandchildren. We need to reinvigorate the US-European partnership on climate change where we have so many common interests at stake. The US and Europe must lead together to encourage the participation of the rest of the world, including most importantly, the developing economic powerhouses of China and India.
I have introduced legislation that would require a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, but that is just a start. We need a successor to Kyoto, a cap-and-trade system that delivers the necessary environmental impact in an economically responsible manner. New technologies hold great promise. We need to unleash the power and innovation of the marketplace in order to meet our environmental challenges. Right now safe, climate-friendly nuclear energy is a critical way both to improve the quality of our air and to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources.
That dependence, I am afraid, has become a vulnerability for both the US and Europe and a source of leverage for the oil and gas exporting autocracies. The US needs to wean itself off oil faster. Europe needs a comprehensive energy policy so that Russia’s oil and gas monopolies cannot behave as agents of political influence.
The bottom line is that none of us can act as if our only concerns are within our own borders. We cannot define our national interests so narrowly that we fail to see how intimately our fate is bound up with that of the rest of humanity. There is such a thing as good international citizenship. If we wish to be models for others, we must be model citizens ourselves.
Certainly the US must be that model country. Leadership today means something different than it did in the years after the second world war, when Europe and the other democracies were recovering from the devastation of war and the US was the only democratic superpower. Today, there is the powerful collective voice of the EU, India, Japan, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, South Africa, Turkey and Israel, to name just a few of the leading democracies. And there are the struggling young democracies, such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, that need and deserve help – more, in fact, than we have been giving. In Russia, democracy has been temporarily suppressed, but we all have an interest in seeing this great nation return to the democratic path soon.
This is not idealism. It is the truest form of realism. It is the democracies of the world that will provide the pillars upon which we can and must build an enduring peace.
The writer is senator for Arizona and is the Republican nominee for the 2008 US presidential elections
Thank you!
Building more nukes is a good thing. Even if mcqueeg has been duped by the global-warming kooks.
She must be on another attack McCain witch hunt and new thread equating Sen McCain with Chavez or Osama Bin Laden. I stand by my posts that almost all threads posted by Calcowgirl are anti McCain and awhile back one thread was posted that she stated she had not read before posting. Amazing
The fact is McCain differs with Hillary on numerous issues. One is on social security reform; another is abortion; he has differences with her on taxes and has been endorsed by the National Taxpayers Union.
He has supported nuclear power for a long time and he is for giving breaks to industry to create alternative energy.
MY point to you cow is that you have constantly singled out McCain for your hatemongering. Makes me believe you are for the two fascists...Obama or Hillary or both.
Some sites of interest on McCain are; Hillary vs McCains voting record and rating by the ACU http://www.acuratings.org/
McCain on the issues; http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/0B8E4DB8-5B0C-459F-97EA-D7B542A78235.htm
Time to Unite and some clear differences between Hillary and McCain;
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/LindaChavez/2008/02/08/time_to_unite?page=2
“(...) When Sen. Hillary Clinton said last year that Social Security wasn’t a priority, Evan Dent, the group’s 24-year-old grass-roots and public-relations director, walked into the New York senator’s New Hampshire headquarters in an ostrich suit to deliver an ‘ostrich award,’ a citation given to candidates who avoid the issue. In recent months, the group has adopted a new tactic: dropping in on campaign events in neon-green T-shirts that say, ‘New Hampshire Cares About Social Security.’ The goal is twofold, explains Ms. Dent. ‘We want the voters to be educated on the issue, and we want the candidates to know that it’s a very important issue that they need to fix,’ she says.”
I am critical of liberalism, no matter the source. But when liberals invade my house (as a Republican), I am even more protective as they threaten the ability to fight back. You will find that I am strongly opposed to of all of the global socialists pushing the global warming regulation, whether via taxation or cap-and-trade. That would be Hillary, Obama, McCain, Gore, Schwarzenegger, and a long list of others who do not hold sovereignty dear.
Now, you can go on about me, name calling and alleging that I have said things I did not, but all that does is shed light on your character and doesn’t do much to advance the conversation. This thread was about important issues and all you have done is troll around here and change the subject, stating unsupported falsehoods about me. If you want to talk about Hillary—there are plenty of threads. If you want to attack other freepers—ban yourself.
Have a nice day.
It is no secret that I don't like McCain's liberalism. But that was not what you asserted. You said I was a Hillary lover, and a host of other BS lies. I gave you a chance to either support your allegations with links, or to apologize. Instead, you choose to change your assertion. Your liberal tactics are really getting tiresome.
As to posting a thread before reading--No. I have never done that. Sorry sweetums.
calcowgirl, your assertion that I am a troll is false. I have been posting on free republic for years. However, your post that I added to the topic is because I was making a point in regards to your threads/posts. I did include McCains energy policy in my post to you. I did send you a statement by Hillary where she professes to be “nuclear power agnostic. I did state the voting records according to ACU...which I am sure you know is very conservative??? Hillary has a 9% rating and McCain has 83%..can you subtract? McCains rating is way higher among conservative votes...check it out when you are not busy doing your anti McCain blogs. Ollie North is a conservative, GGordon Liddy, Sean Hannity are all for McCain..you find them to be liberal?
You have insulted me in my posts over and over...I am moving on and will fight hard to defeat Obama and Hillary. I believe I was posting in free republic before you came along and our views are extremely different. BTW I voted for Reagan, Ford against Carter, Bush 43 and 41 and never regretted my votes. I worked for Ollie North when he ran for the senate in Va and he carried my precinct. I worked for George Allen and he was my first choice among the gop candidates..his Maccaw comments were played up by the liberal media. I was for Thompson and he ran a poor campaign and you better believe when the likes of Allen, Thompson, Romney, Ollie North endorse McCain...its a NO brainer.
OH yes you did...go back and check your numerous threads and I remarked back to you on posting something you did not even read.
Wonder what you will do when McCain wins...I will be in here celebrating
I did not insult you--look back on this thread (to post #46, to be exact. It is YOU who started this discussion, posting to dane about me suggesting that I worked for Hillary--and not even having the decency to ping me. Typical liberal lowlife behavior. As such, I called you a troll--which is certainly indicative of your behavior since then. (You think you're real cute calling me "cow", huh?) If you can't discuss an issue without getting personal and making up lies about freepers, get lost!
As to how many years you've been posting, I could care less. It is the quality and sincerity of the poster that can earn my respect--not the length of time since sign up. Needless to say, I have not seen either in your posts. (by the way--your screenname went active in 2004. Since you say you've been posting her longere than I have--2001--can you share with us what other screennames you use here at FR?)
As to the rest of your off topic comments, I really don't care who the heck you've worked for, who you voted for 30 years ago, or yesterday, or if you have been hired to clean-out Cindy McCain's dog kennel. Go shill somewhere else.
I have used ONE name and I notice you embrace those that agree with you? and are on the defense when someone doesnt? I excuse that since you are a “California Cowgirl” and I allow a little slack from people living or from the left coast.
No topic was changed..you cant deal with facts and that is typical leftwing behavior. You are upset because I gave you the hillary quote “ I am a nuclear power agnostic” and I gave you the sources, etc.
I have been visiting this site for quite sometime so that shows your post that I am a “troll” as another erroneous Calcowgirl quote.
You strike me as the leftwinger from California that despite the many good conservatives that have endorsed McCain and despite the McCain vs Hillary ratings among the ACU...you insist on bashing him? we have 3 candidates..Hillary, Obama and McCain. I am with the GOP and the conservatives and will do all I can to see the fascists are not elected.
Dont mean to hold you up..timewise..I know you must be chomping at the bits to go on another “hate McCain” witch hunt.
Have a lovely evening and I hope you find time to read my response and sources to your posts:))
PS..my daughter has a dog named Cowgirl..she is an austrailian shepherd and since she herds cattle..they named her cowgirl. She is a very smart dog and she is for McCain...lol
You're the one, a couple weeks ago, that was trying to convince people how great the DeMint bill (or the DeMint/McCain bill) for earmarks was! You posted the thread "Tell Your Senators to Support the DeMint-McCain Amendment!" and were chastising anyone that had any questions about the legislation screaming that they "hadn't read it." ("it’s a good piece of legislation..and your quick criticism shows you have not read it.") When I asked for a link to the text, you got completely defensive and obstinant. When I asked again, you ran around in circles sending me links to unrelated stuff that was a year old! You never could support your "good legislation" -- you couldn't even tell folks what it actually said!
You are aware, that DeMint NEVER even introduced the language, aren't you? There was no legislation for anyone to read--but that never bothered ya or stopped you from attacking freepers that dared to ask a question! DeMint's planned bill got assigned a bill # (S.AMDT.4347) one week after your little shenanigans but when the Senate blocked a vote, DeMint never did even put the text of the bill in the Congressional Record! I guess me exposing your lies on that thread has put me on your hit list, or something? That would explain the venom in your posts.
The campaigns really need to hire some better folks if they want to have any credibility. Of course, trying to push through a piece of legislation and build a whole last minute PR blitz around McCain was a bumbling maneuver, anyway. Not sure the campaign would no good help if it was standin' in front of them.
What universe do you live in?
You’re shilling for McCain and calling me a leftwinger because I oppose many of his liberal positions and his past record?
• McCain-Feingold
• McCain-Lieberman
• McCain-Kerry
• McCain-Kennedy
• McCain-Renzi
Get a clue!
Hey you folks in California—this person thinks I’m oa leftwing Californians that needs a “little slack” because we’re so whacked out here in California. LOL.
Katie—for the record: opposing McCain’s liberal policies is NOT “bashing.”
The problem some folks have when they frequent FR too much , they get a bit on the ornery side and then they try to gussy the place up a bit and seek to remodel its credo to suit their purposes.. iow, they go partisan to a fault and end up being pains in folks keesters.
All too oft we see folk here all too willing to kick conservative principles to the curb and that kind of stuff and latch on to any Tom, Dick or Harry that gives them a warm feeeling. It’s a real shame as most are well-intentioned, but just misguided and stuck in a rut.
Of course, there will be those who will claim that because you don’t toe party line, you are then a heel. The problem is when the party itself has hung itself out to dry and done it all by its lonesome, they still somehow manage to come here and blame those who know better and aren’t the average slouch when it comes to researching and using honed cognitive skills to call a spade a spade and a moderate as nothing kore than a waste of a vote.
Calcowgirl, arent you worried about our recruiters in California? and how our military is being treated? shouldnt that be a major concern? yes, its no secret that California is a state of confussion and also, arent you concerned about the homeschoolers? and I remember the attempts to stop the Navy from using sonar.
FACT ...you just changed your own topic...Ollie North, 100 top brass military admirals and generals, George Allen, Romney, Hannity, Thompson are all for McCain....do you know how to grasp what I posted?
OK ta ta...go on your witch hunt and maybe IF you are lucky Obama or Hellary will win...but I wouldnt count on it.
PS...I am laughing at your addition of Calcowgirl groupies ..it bores me
After years on California threads, it probably doesn’t suprise ya if I say that I’m not much on toin’ the line for anything, lol. My toes and heels are pretty much stuck in conservate boots. When the partisan machine moves off the reservation, me and my horse remain. We’ll be gettin’ ready for when that machine breaks and they come crawlin’ back, perhaps a little more humble. ;-)
Katie—If you have something to say to me, post it publicly.
Your hatefilled, namecalling rant via freepmail was not appreciated.
If I receive any more, I will post them for all to see.
(redacted)
‘Til then, what can I send your horse,, carrots or sugar cubes? (or Tecate?) ;-)
Is this relevant to something I posted? Concerned? I'm concerned about a lot of things--global warming regulation and illegal immigration are on the top of my list. I have great faith in our military--I worked in this environment for a couple decades. As to the Navy sonar, I see whacked out environmental law being the biggest threat to that--and the LOST being even more damaging to the country's military flexibility.
FACT ...you just changed your own topic...Ollie North, 100 top brass military admirals and generals, George Allen, Romney, Hannity, Thompson are all for McCain....do you know how to grasp what I posted?
Huh? I know what I posted--but I have no idea what you are tallking about. If Geraldo says something, I should be impressed? Or Ollie North? How about Tony Blair? Or maybe Vicente Fox? I don't need anyone else to tell me how to think--I do quite fine on my own, thank you very much!
OK ta ta...go on your witch hunt and maybe IF you are lucky Obama or Hellary will win...but I wouldnt count on it. PS...I am laughing at your addition of Calcowgirl groupies ..it bores me
Insult Californians and now ya take a hike. Now why am I not surprised?
Tecate works—LOL.
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