Politics

The EU and Canada are planning to slap 15% tariff's on US trade goods beginning May 1st. This is the outcome of a ruling by the WTO which allows the tariff as a punitive measure due to the Byrd Amendment. Two things about this entertain me: 1) The WTO continues to ignore enforcement of its own rulings against the EU and Canada. This whole business smacks of anti-Americanism and going-after-the-deep-pockets syndrome. (But in all fairness, for every Airbus subsidy from the French there's a Boeing subsidy by the US, and there's no question the US has got to step up and stop being two-faced about free trade. I blame it on our constitutional requirement of treat…

Why is housing always a problem ? In the socialist/communist societies, everyone was supposed to be given a home, but in all those societies homes were scarce and/or very costly and they had a waiting period of decades. Why on earth would a socialist regime not produce the one most fundamental item of equality HOMES FOR EVERYONE? That is really amazing, at least this is one thing they could have done. If you look at the big three USA, Europe and Japan, only the US has a decent situation. Homelessness in the US is simply an "ideological" choice the americans like because if you are poor you should be punished by not having a home. The US could easily solve its homeless…

Howdy, this is the thread where you post the type of government system you'd like to create, if you could. This is purely for amusement and intellectual stimulation. You can include Utopias, dystopias, new political systems, a tweaked political system, ect... I hope that this will bring some enjoyment to you all.

I have a Venezuelan friend and when he told me all about this guy I couldnt believe it. How could this guy get away with all this withought getting overthrown? how could he change their countries constitution just like that? Why is this happening and nobody doing anything about this? They were a democracy for gods sake. He closed down their school system, he doesent let anybody under the age of 18 leave the country, plus you cant take your money from the bank out of th country ect... I thought we learned from past expiriences so why do w let anoter Cuba be born? If anybody needs to get shot by a DAKOTA T-76 LONGBOW its him and Saddam.

I may have to go to the US for a period of 3 months to 2 years. I want to buy my own health insurance because either I work on my own or not at all or in modest paying jobs that don't offer health insurance. How much would it cost me to buy my own in the US ? I saw a documentary explaining this on a European TV channel. It seemed quite complicated, depending on whether you live in a city or suburbs it seems the price for your private insurance can be between 100 and 700 dollars a month. There also seems to be a struggle between doctors, hospitals etc. for expenses so even if you have an insurance, in many suburbs doctors and hospitals wouldn't cover it. I was supri…

I was wondering what people thought about the idea of starting a party built off of the basis of genetic engineering?

speaking of physics the weapons they got now much more powerful then they had in ww2 the big stuff now is like 30 or 40 times bigger then they use on japan so how long do you thing before they blow up the whole world ww3 its fast real real fast once one of them big one go off anywhere the rest of them start to fly all over the place maybe like 100,000 of them flying everywhere and anywhere it happens fast real real fast just push the button that's fast

Democracy, socialism, dictator, those are not basic political systems. They are secondary systems. There are only two possible basic political systems. Let's overpopulate the world to death, creating wars starvation poverty crime etc killing millions and millions of people and enslaving billions of people in total despair, worldwide, until you blow it up. Or have enough but not too many people in the world where you don't create the wars starvation poverty crime etc worldwide. Which one's yours!

Here is something I dont understand: the Supreme Court's rationale behind two recent rulings, Roper v. Simmons (execution of minors unconstitutional) and Small v. United States (people convicted in any court are prevented from obtaining guns for one year). In Roper, Supreme Court liberal justice Ginsburg was criticized for ruling in part on the basis of relying on international opinion: Now, recently, the Small v. US is almost paradoxial. The case asks whether the statute forbidding a person to obtain guns after being "convicted in any court" includes convictions in foreign courts, after a Japanese man convicted for 5 years was charged for illegally obtaining a …

From BBC News: All I have to say is: bahahahahahaha.

Democracy socialism dictator etc, those are not basic political systems they are secondary systems. There are only two basic political systems. Let's overpopulate the world to death creating wars starvation poverty crime etc worldwide, killing millions and millions of people and enslaving billions of people in total despair. Or have enough but not too many people in the world where you don't create the wars starvation poverty crime etc. Which ones yours!

the biggest passenger jet in the world the Airbus a380, can carry 555 people, is to be unveiled in about 15 mins! they`ve already sold quite a few also! http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13285547,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4174729.stm http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/jetliner/a380/ check this out too: http://www.airbus.com/A380/default1.aspx further update: this plane has Never left the ground yet, not even in a test, apparently it`s too heavy at the moment, and when they DO test it in a few months time, all passengers and crew will be wearing parachutes and Crash helmets! I kid you not!

hey everyone! My question is that nationalism propoganda? To me, nationalism is totally a form of propoganda... when ever you pledge to a flag or do whatever that is realted to nationalism includes a type of song, a poem or whatever... and these all things are examples of propoganda.... so, isn't nationalism propoganda???

As President of the United States of America, it is my duty to be actively involved in all the different contributing factors of this great country. As part of this responsibility I will make it a matter of personal pride to be as much involved in this site as time provides me. Science is the contributing backbone of all major discoveries on this planet. I wish to be part of those discoveries. I would also like to thank the site moderators for their wonderful control and upkeep of this forum. Their time has made this site a well known database for conversation and information accross the country. Well done. If you do try to email me, chances are that I wont read i…

I have a funny feeling that House GOP leadership is about to make some very serious and costly political mistakes. I could be wrong, and I'm no expert, but here is my reasoning: 1) They don't seem to know quite what to do about Tom Delay. Some of them seem to be aware that he's nothing but baggage at this point, with rapidly eroding support amongst the base. But he's very well entrenched, and more importantly, they THINK he's well entrenched (which is all that really matters). Lack of decision will begin over the coming week to have exactly the same impact as standing behind him. 2) The anti-filibuster proposal does not enjoy popular support. Today they st…

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6448213/did/7593620/ Is this Congress controling our industry too much, or is it just the government trying to imporve our lives?? They want to get rid of Anolog TV to make the digital market bigger so they can compete with other markets? So the government owns the channels if thtis law is passed? Who should be invoved with this "deal"?

well well, There is a massive debate over the Alaskan Oil fields, and what affect our drilling would have there. I just wanted to open a discussion about it, and state my opinion, and more than that, my suggestions. I am all for the environment. Without it, we wouldnt be here...yea that came out right I have seen the area where we would commense drilling, and it's not that pretty of an area. That, however, is not to justify our drilling. The fact is that the area is primarily permafrost, and that the damage we would cause there would not be aweful, but it would stay in whatever condition we leave it in for a long ass time. But one of the major concerns is…

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has just become Pope Benedict XVI. After days of deliberation the 115 Cardinals deliberating in the Sistine Chapel decided on Cardinal Ratzinger to head up the 1.1 Billion Catholics in the world today. The Cardinals, in a ceremony that dates over the 265 successions of Pope since St Peter, final issued the white smoke from the flue this afternoon at 5pm GMT. 'We gather together not to decide the next Pope, but to decide the preordained will of God' one Cardinal commented on exiting the deliberations, 'Once the proceedings got Goring, all we needed was a little Putsch in the right direction' another Cardinal didn't say. The new Pope…

Scientific American has an interesting article from their September 2002 issue on how building a time machine could be made possible. I myself have Doc Brown on my side, and Marty McFly at the wheel. Wouldn't it be interesting though if we really could go Back to the Future?

This is why I love reading the WSJ's opinion page. As ideological (partisan-right) as they are, they have an impeccable history of inviting intelligent and insightful counterpoint. This is a perfect example. Ted Olsen was solicitor general under the Bush administration until last summer (argued the 2000 election before the Supreme Court, IIRC), and has every reason in the world to hate "activist judges". But look at what he has to say. http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006597 It's a registration deal, so I've taken the liberty of quoting a couple of the more potent passages.

I think it would help our civilization if dead beat dads were castrated. I don't have a dead beat dad, but I have known alot of people who have had dead beat dads, and if we just castrated them all, it would solve alot of problems. If someone can't take care of one child, then someone probably can't take care of two. It would also be nice if this were done to rapist, however, I think that since girls can call rape when they actually haven't, a more reversible treatment should be imposed. They should still be made incapable of reproduction, don't get me wrong, just, they should be able to, if they are proven innocent, to keep their genitalia. What do yall …

Ion Wind research: Click Here. I found this after doing some research, and I think it shows some potential. We could use Ion Wind to make space craft move up to 300,000 ft. and then the space craft could switch to the normal solid fuel rocket engines. It would be sort of like a "hybrid" space craft....and that would leave a lot more energy to reach higher speeds in space... Tell me what you think.

I know it's a little early for this type of thing, but Im just wondering about your thoughts on the (US) Election in a few years. Who do you think the front runners will be? What sort of issues do you think will be deciding? This will be the first election in which I'm allowed to vote, so you can imagine my interest.

If you get a chance to catch this, be sure and do so. It's an interesting new documentary movie that takes a look at the Enron disaster and what brought it about. My one complaint about it would have to be the way they bookended it by tirading against the Bush administration, which obviously had nothing to do with the Enron collapse. It also vastly oversimplifies the California energy crisis, and makes Gray Davis (of all people!) out to be some kind of saint. Enron's and Andersen's shenanigans took place on Clinton's watch, and yet there's no mention of billy-boy in the whole program, or credit given to the Bush/Ashcroft justice department for the 15 pleas and 6 …

The first shots in the global entertainment war? http://www.variety.com/VR1117921406.html At the very least it seems to push back the current boundaries in the ongoing dilemma of news entities trying to report stories about the corporate giants that own them.