A Presidential Conspiracy!?!?

[rf`]

Women, what's that?<br><br>The only girls who'll talk to me are in my classes in college or in IRC. God I'm lame.<br><br>C'mon girls, papa's gettin bored.

[Henohenomoheji]

erm... don't you think you guys are getting just a *little* off topic?<br><br>Just a reminder.

[Steve the Pocket]

Yeah, c'mon guys! Get on those soapdishes and start makin' speeches! I wanna know who to put on my write-in ballot.

[norsenerd]

But it went somewhere so prety.

[Septimius Severus]

<!--QuoteBegin--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> I would want to help people try to earn a living... one way to help would be to raise pay, but since that also raises the cost of living, the best solution requires that people <i>earn</i> more. This requires training and education.<br><!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd-->.<br><br>Also, raising minimum wage makes it more difficult for businesses (especially small businesses) to remain solvent.<br><br><!--QuoteBegin--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> A huge paragraph on gay marriage<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br><br>I like the idea in the Libertarian website on this issue. The government should not have anything to do with marriage, and recognize only civil unions. That is, all this business about love and relationships is irrelevant. The government doesn't care about that. All that matters is the financial and domestic situation as it affects income and other legal matters. YOu could have a civil union with your roomate if you both intended to share money and live together for a long time, whether or not you were interested in each other.<br><br><br><br><!--QuoteBegin--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> The Iraq war<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br><br>The problem with "Vietnamization," that is to say, slowly replacing the US troops with natives, is twofold. First, it makes the erroneous assumption that native troops are as effective as US personnel. Second, it fails to recognize that the current conflict is not a normal state of affairs, and no government can fight war indefininitely. <br><br>This is certainly no indictment of the courage or fortitude of the Iraqi fighters. However, it takes more than courage to fight a war. It requires technology, experience, and above all else it requires discipline. Arab armies are notoriously undisciplined. From the many unsuccessful attempts to overrun israel with vastly superior numbers to terribly poor showing of the Republican Guard in the first war, it is clear that the military is lacking. THis can be overcome with training, but it will be a long time before the Iraqis have anything like the ROK Marines.<br><br>The first step in ending any war is to win it. Rebel forces must first be defeated before any thought can be made of pulling out. We started this war, and it is our obligation to finish it. It is impossible to win a war on the defense. Given a long enough timeline, it is impossible not to lose a war on the defense. The only way to stop the fundamentalists is to find them and kill them. Such is the nature of war. If you are squeamish, then we could pull out and stop killing people. However, bear in mind that the people we are killing constitute a tiny minority. Allowing them to gain power would allow them free reign over the majority of perfectly normal Iraqis who just want to get a job, get married, raise kids, and live out their lives in peace. True, it is illogical that a small extremist group should be able to overpower a populous country, but then, what if the German people had stood up to Hitler and his goons in 1936?<br><br>As for the IRS, who audits the auditors? I applaud your desire to run the government more efficiently, but I wonder if bureaucracy is the answer to wasteful bureaucracy? Most of the money the government wastes is the result of stupidity rather than embezzlement.<br><br>Good idea to reduce dependance on oil, though again, I think we'd be better off reducing government interference instead of increasing it. I'd prefer to rely on the invisible hand to increase use of more efficient vehicles as gas prices rise.<br><br>Social Security is a very sticky situation. If I had my druthers, it wouldn't have come into being in the first place. But it has, and people have had their money taken from them by threat of force and put into an inefficient retirement fund which is in fact just more money for the government to spend. So how to get rid of SS withou shafting the taxpayers? I don't know.<br><br><br>

[Miles E Traysandor]

<!--QuoteBegin-Henohenomoheji+Oct 15 2004, 08:05 AM--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> (Henohenomoheji @ Oct 15 2004, 08:05 AM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> erm... don't you think you guys are getting just a *little* off topic? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br> Nah, this stuff happens all the time. Now back to your regularly scheduled random glomping and bouts of random gaylike behavior. <!--emo&:P--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[norsenerd]

*Liks Mills' ear*

[Ozymandias]

1) get the American Airbase the hell offa Chagos Islands<br>2) Make the British government people responsible pay to re-instate them there<br>3) Pour money into saving the planet kinda stuff like recycling<br>4) Remove the laws that make card counting illegal - if you're good enough to beat the house then so be it.<br>5) Pull troops out of everywhere they are. If the general opinion is that they are not wanted there, then they stay out. If they are wanted, <br>6) Do something with north Korea. That Kim Jong II's gotta go. I'm sorry and all but crimes against humanity just don't go any more.<br>7) Announce that the amount of oil being brought into the country will decrease by so much a year. Starting slowly, so that either everyone's paying lots for petrol and so lots in tax to put the world right, or they look seriously at (improved) public transport and electric cars.<br>8) Ban smoking. All together. I wouldn't take it away in private homes except that people smoke around their kids and that's wrong. No excuse.<br><br>These all seem like childish idealisms but if real power can change this then that is what power is for. Many more would be done on public opinion.

[Septimius Severus]

Note: I am only replying to the issues I have any clue about. Only an idiot forms an opinion before he researches.<br><br><!--QuoteBegin--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> 3) Pour money into saving the planet kinda stuff like recycling<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br><br>Recycling steel is a very sound idea, which is why it's done to a great extent. However, some things, paper, for instance, are substantially more expensive to recycle with no apparent benefit. Contrary to popular belief, the wood pulp used in most paper does not come from old-growth forest. The trees used are usually about 5 to 15 years old, depending on the quality of the paper. As such, these trees are a renewable resource. Recycling doesn't make sense in that case.<br><br><!--QuoteBegin--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> 5) Pull troops out of everywhere they are. If the general opinion is that they are not wanted there, then they stay out. If they are wanted,<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br><br>All of the servicemen I've met who have served in Iraq say that most Iraqis are glad that we're there.<br><br><!--QuoteBegin--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> 6) Do something with north Korea. That Kim Jong II's gotta go. I'm sorry and all but crimes against humanity just don't go any more.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br><br>What would you do? Personally, I'd just assassinate him, but for some reason that sort of action is frowned upon. I find it curious that it's acceptable to blow up some 18-year-old kid in a 25-year-old tank in the middle of the desert, but you have to give mass-murderers like Kim or Saddam a fair trial and a painless death.<br><br><!--QuoteBegin--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> 7) Announce that the amount of oil being brought into the country will decrease by so much a year. Starting slowly, so that either everyone's paying lots for petrol and so lots in tax to put the world right, or they look seriously at (improved) public transport and electric cars.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br><br>I can't see how this would help anyone. It would hurt the economy, create a black market in petroleum, and generally be resented. Also, what of the huge amounts of domestic oil? Is that to be banned, as well?<br><br><!--QuoteBegin--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Ban smoking. All together. I wouldn't take it away in private homes except that people smoke around their kids and that's wrong. No excuse.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br><br>I disagree absolutely. I think that's an unwarranted intrusion into people's personal lives. I advocate legalizing all drugs. If you smoke around a babby, that's endangering a child. You can be penalized for not taking care of an infant already, it doesn't need to be an illegal activity. But if you smoke (or drop acid or shoot up heroin) on your own time in the privacy of your own home, that's your business.

[DD_133]

I'd get all troops out of Iraq.<br>Make North Korea give up all it's nuclear weapons.<br>Put more effort into finding Osama-boy.<br>And sit back in the nice big lazy chair and take a look onto the prediential front lawn. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... iggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Septimius Severus]

Are you willing to accept the consequences if an Islamic Fundamentalist regime takes hold in Iraq?<br><br>How would you force North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons?<br><br>What sort of "added effort" would you employ in the persuit of Usama bin Laden?<br><br>How do you stand on military involvement in Afganistan? The Phillipenes? The Balkans? Africa?

[Ozymandias]

just a quick update on the recycling front - every disposable nappy that's ever been made is still around. <br><br>And if America only used domestic oil, Alaska would be dry in a week or a month or something. I can't quite remember.<br><br>I agree with assassinations so long as they are justified<br><br>How would enforce the not smoking around young kids without a total ban?<br><br>Strangely enough, though, I think it's not immoral to buy cigarettes for twelve-year-olds.

[Muninn]

I'm Linus Van Pelt, and i approve this message.

[Maeglin]

Wow, I missed a lot. o.o<br><br>Since everyone seems to be coming out here, I might as well...<br><br>Yep, i'm bisexual. <.<<br><br><br>To stay on topic, I think this election is going to be even closer than the Kennedy/Nixon election year, and probably more important. We're on the verge of something, just you wait and see...

[Tavis]

Actually, the topic was... um.. what was it again?<br><br>Oh yeah.. This was supposed to be a "what-if?" scenario saying what would happen if somehow, through some convoluted process that no one understands, you became president of the United States for this next term.