Politics

Battle Wise, Heart Driven and weary, brave young men of every nationality and country have fought many wars of what they thought to be liberation and deliverance from abstract tyranny. Were they wrong in their beliefs? As a VFW member, I have met many of those who served in WWII and have discussed with 'some'; their exploits in battle. (mine were mostly confined to Rathskellers, 53/55). These guys just wanted to remember drinking a warm glass of wine in Bordeaux, or discoverig a Wiener Scnitzel in Mannheim, with a cool stein. Some from the Pacific Ops. were a little less open with their thoughts. But most just wanted to forget the hurt, and remember the good stuff. The …

Republicans claim that progressive cuts in spending will result in more jobs and a better economy. What kinds of jobs could be expected to emerge from tax-cuts, though? Is it that businesses and prosperous individuals are going to hire more people to do more things? What kind of things would you expect people to do with additional income if they had less taxes to pay? Also, is there a way for already successful businesses and workers to take on new work and money without having to hire others? As such, is it maybe possible that the gap between employed and unemployed income and spending could actually grow due to tax and spending cuts?

Not looking for any reply unless you feel it necessary. Just listen and give the words some thought. Supplant USA with your own countrys name, image, zip code; and "Listen again".

I am hoping this thread stays close to the thread about oil, because oil has taken the place of gold in world economic systems, and now the power is shifting from the US, the first world supplier of oil, to the mid east. In general we have not been working with a good understanding of the relationship between oil and the economy. We might know the world has traded oil in dollars, but this didn't mean anything to us. Because oil was traded in dollars, all the countries wanted dollars, and this gave the dollar a high value. Mexico is not the only country that enjoyed US dollars, but as far as I know, it is the first one to shed the dollar. If other countries follo…

For how many years has politics been approaching the issue of economic recession, rising fuel prices, etc. in terms of how to raise GDP, create jobs, bring down the price of gas, etc.? But assume for a moment that GDP growth won't increase, that more jobs won't be created, and the price of gas/fuel will keep increasing. If that is the case, what kinds of things would make people happier without costing more money? Are there changes that government and/or private individuals and organizations could make to improve quality of life without running into the brick-wall of the discourse on recession and how to fix it?

This is a game where we try to predict conspiracy theories. Since Osama Bin Laden just died, let's start there. I'll go first. He's actually still alive because: Obama would never allow the assassination of a fellow Muslim. No long form death certificate was shown. Bush couldn't do it, so there's no way Obama could. Obama took too long to do it. They dumped the body too quickly. Obama/Biden sounds too much like Osama Bin Laden. Sarah Palin and/or Michelle Bachmann and/or Donald Trump and/or Glenn Beck told me so.

Is it true that high population density creates poverty? If so, is this true and are there exceptions to this rule? What's the logic behind it (if it is true)?

So, how about we pass a single payer minimum coverage health insurance bill that satisfies all the requirements of the healthcare reform? That way we can have the awesome plan that would have legitimately been able to be called "Obamacare" without repealing the healthcare reform.

Why does the price of oil differ between different countries? What is it that determines the price of oil? Is it more than supply and demand? Is there more to it that that? Who has power over the price of oil?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Osama_bin_Laden Evidently bin Laden was killed by US special forces in Pakistan and his body was dumped in the sea. I don't know. Sounds fishy to me.

Since the political campaign to stop public funding for abortion is strengthening, I wonder if private initiatives will emerge to allow people to insure themselves against unwanted pregnancy. If such abortion-insurance would emerge, how would you expect it to be funded and regulated? E.g. do you think that anyone who wanted to could sign up for unlimited abortions for a fixed fee or would it be like auto insurance where your premiums increase due to accidents and tickets? Also, would you expect men to contribute to such insurance, for example, and if so what would their incentive be? Would women restrict themselves to have sex with men whose abortion-insurance payment…

In another thread, the relative merit for funding different kinds of scientific research was being discussed as if funding is little more than a system for validating some research and de-validating others. In the current economic situation in which unprecedented budget-cutting is going on, one may wonder what the overall economic purpose(s) are of funding science and other human activities that aren't directly resultant in the production of basic necessities. That is to say, if recession were to continue indefinitely, funding for ALL non-essential activities would be continually reduced. Presumably, within the logic of capitalism's invisible hand, such reductions have…

Hello all (non-truthers and truthers), the recent development on the al Qaida front (i.e. bin Laden killed) reminded me about the so-called 9/11 truth movement. Is trutherism expanding in the US and Europe? I guess it's big in the arab world (where everything is a conspiracy), but what about for example much talked-about "Architects and engineers for 9/11 truth", are they gaining ground? Is the truth movement much covered by media in the US nowadays?

The latest meme doing the rounds is that the raid on Usama Bin Ladin's compound in Pakistan leading to his death was brought forward because of the leak of a document by Wikileaks that 'might' have been enough to spook UBL to change location. Seems a bit far-fetched - but I suppose someone who had till a few days ago remained at large with a 27mill bounty on his head does not take chances. Here is a link to the released document https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/87933-interrogation-file-of-abu-faraj-al-libi.html#document/p5/a17091 I wouldnt have wanted to be Assange's shoes if UBL had done a runner last week!

In a sense, unionism is based on a radically different principle than democratic discourse. Unionism assumes that business will always do everything in its power to exploit labor/workers and, therefore, that labor must organize to garner collective power to pursue worker interests despite resistance. This assumes that democracy can't and/or won't work to achieve fair economic practices by means of reasonable political discourse. So what do you think: can democracy do with reason and government what unions do by threat of strikes, etc.? Or are people so far beyond reason when it comes to pursuing economic interests that the only possibility for fairness comes from col…

Karl Marx wrote that capitalism needed to maintain a "reserve army of unemployed workers" as part of the means of business to maintain a cheap supply of labor. Since labor-oriented political-theorists surely know of this logic, why do they always call for more jobs? Is it that they expect to dissuade capitalism from pursuing the interest of cheap labor or does it maybe have the function of increasing restlessness among workers, thus promoting even greater willingness to accept lower wages and given working conditions, etc.? If media sources suddenly started reporting job-surplusses instead of calling for job-creation, would that have the effect of promoting greater fee…

Pedestrian nomadism, including hiking and bicycling, would be a nice way for people with little economic means to travel around on a budget. There is lots of open land where people could pitch camp for the night, but the problem is liability for the property owner for anything that occurs on their land and risks to lone campers in relatively unpopulated areas. Could governments allow special liability-free free-camping areas to be set up along roads so that pedestrian nomads could pitch camp for free or very low cost? If this was allowed by governments and land owners, would campers clean up after themselves to a standards that would keep land owners and governments fr…

Barring the Zombie Apocalypse, I think our threat from Osama is over. While the threat from Al Qaeda is not over, the loss of Osama does present us with strategic opportunity. There is now a power vacuum that could result in anything from destabilization to a somewhat of a civil war within the group. It seems that the end of this mission is near and we can soon bring our troops home and have one less war to pay for. Politically, it probably resulted in an increase in Obama's approval rating and provides him with a campaign point Aside from the power vacuum, what else has changed?.

I was thinking, since there are benefits in having filibusters, but also a lot of draw backs, an alternative would be to normally disallow Filibusters, but allow them via a specific mechanism: If the minority party feels they are consistently blocked out and railroaded due to party-line votes by the majority, a call to vote on "Declaring Discord" can be made where a unanimous party-line vote of only the minority would allow Filibusters until the next election cycle, but would also cut pay by 10% for all representatives, across both parties for the same duration. The vote would require 33% to pass based on total numbers, so essentially the minority party would have t…

Wikileaks is at it again, releasing the complete assessments of all prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, including many which have been released. The assessments cover how the prisoners were captured, what information incriminated them, and all sorts of routine information like their medical notes and behavior problems. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/25/guantanamo-files-lift-lid-prison http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/wikileaks-discloses-new-details-on-whereabouts-of-al-qaeda-leaders-on-911/2011/04/24/AFvvzIeE_story.html?hpid=z1 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/world/guantanamo-files-lives-in-an-american-limbo.html?hp Some unpleasant details: …

The debate of whether Mr. Obamas birth certificate is real or bogus has been ongoing for more than two years now. A computer geek working for Adobe Reader has made a pretty good case of explaining why he thinks it is a fake. Since I always "wade in over my head" in most cases, and know little about computers or politics, maybe one of you guys can explain the situation to me?

I've heard so many derogatory remarks slandering Israelis, (Jews), I could just vomit. Take a look at the link below and tell me how a group of nations; all much larger than this little guy, could be so "bellicose" toward them? NO! not Bellicose, that is a war like term. What the majority of these surrounding nations want, is that Israel be disembowled and left out in the sun to rot. Men, women and children! "Question" is, How can such a small nation comprized of supposed misfits, degenerates, halfwits and idiots pose such a threat to them? Could it be that Israel is the only DEMOCRACY in a region that even God has given up on? I ask this as a Hill Billy, not a religious…

Now Syria, then what? A surge for each and every one of them? Then what? Its really getting old being counted on to be NATO's lynchpin. As I have always said, the bully pulpit only gets you so far. A lot of people in Iraq and Afghanistan still hate us. What will be the magical solution? I understand how justification could be taught and rationalized upon the minorities in Iraq, but is it really going to sink in amongst fundamentalist Islamists elsewhere who are quite likely to just be tired of their corrupt leaders and will probably just return to the status quo eventually? Is the rest of NATO ready to start increasing their defense budgets to take up the slack? …

Will government ever take its foot off the gas pedal of spending? We're up to our necks people and the engine is revving even faster than ever. So, can this "insane" attitude of borrowing to spend more be curbed before we destroy America? Is there a ceiling to it? The link below may be absolute truth, or a fantasy of one party kicking at the other. Let's face it, there is no innocence of either party. Both are at fault. Whatever, the whole sad mess must come to an end soon or we will all say goodbye to our freedoms. The wolf, (us) is at our own door. "HELP"! http://www.youtube.com/embed/VtVbUmcQSuk

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Pentagon_military/Incr_Milit_Spend_table.html This link gives arguments for increasing military spending, and arguments against increasing military spending. What are your arguments? Also, I read Obama wants to cut military spending and then that the recent increase is his increase in military spending. Does anyone know how this flip would happen? How does Obama come to agree on domestic budgets he opposed and agree to increasing military spending?