Politics

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?

Is the U S shirking it’s duty to democracy ? If the U S does not exercise Police action in the East, is it shirking it’s duty to Democracy? Like it or not, the Western forces, through the U N’s use of U S military might, along with it’s allies, and the World Bank, Police the world. A speedy resolve to many of the relatively small wars around the globe could be ours, if we all just told the U S to just do it’s Job and go do the will of the revolutionary forces and take over. With environmental change moving along at a brisk pace, we as peoples must impose peace more quickly in order to divert resources to life instead of death. Clearly the people of th…

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2011/04/14/20110414arizona-lawmakers-approve-proof-of-citizenship-to-run-for-president.html It seems to me that if they require anything beyond what the issuing state requires, this can't pass constitutional muster. "Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State." So if Hawaii is satisfied that Obama was born there (to pick a random example), Arizona can't demand more evidence. Am I missing something?

Is there a word or short way of refering to having more things public and shared, appart from Recource Based Ecconomy or Venus Project like. It seems so ineficent to me for everyone to sepratly own everything, your computer only uses a small proportion of it's capability at one time, the rest goes to waste. Stuff is hard to upgrade and maintain sepratly etc... The problem ofc being uniformity, but technoligy brings with it customizability, even if there was a city wide central processor it dosn't mean everyone using it needs to be running the same operating system. Some examples of this are the BBC's big screens, bikes for hire in London and hotels, although none of theas…

A question for the age's, Should the world be nuke free or not?

I'll make it short and sweet since there's little of the issue making "ANY" sense at all. Are we as a nation, so damned obstinate and stupid to let this happen? http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/75548.html

While I have no idea how much unemployment fraud actually occurs, it is rather easy in many states to get away with it. They just ask you where you applied and that's it. You are given a warning that lying on the form is punishable to x extent by the law. I don't know what percentage of these are actually checked. Drivers licenses have numbers and barcodes. Why not have a computerized system that's harder to defraud? Instead of asking where they applied, have their drivers license(or state ID) linked into the system such that it can be scanned upon application? Many applications already ask for the number for background check purposes. This would be easy to implement …

I have developed a system which could be used in the future. This system would see a world in which the words poverty, recession and tax dissapear forever! With futuristic technology on the horizon, I see coming soon the rise of robot workers. I have a theory that if robot workers did every job and I mean every single last job including running the companies and did it all for completely free working practically 24/7 and with these jobs manufacturing even more robots to increase their population hence increase the amount of products they create we'd eventually reach a point in which the amount of products in the world would be virtually endless. If this happened t…

Jon Kyl's staff's spin for his "well over 90% of what Planned Parenthood does" statement — how does it rank on the lame scale for damage control? And why do we tolerate blatant lying from politicians? I suspect that this will not affect his popularity with his base one bit. Though I would not be bothered in the least if he is asked, in perpetuity, if his statement is meant to be factual every time he says something in public.

Some months back on this forum I was accused of being an Islamophobic. While I am not one, the following link and the continuing escalation of wars between Muslims in the middle east is evidence that Americans should be more cautious and concerned than they seem to be. Choose any religion you wish, but only the religion, not its mandates. "This is America" and laws enacted by a duly elected congress are all that is needed to protect each of us, and our liberties. http://www.youtube.com/embed/A3YQANdvvbY

Do you think FOX will actually fire Beck?

1 in 5 U.S. moms have babies with multiple dads, study says I don't think this is an April Fools joke, I just think it's stupid. The word "kids" is plural, and the define of plural is "two or more". Am I demographically/statistically/linguistically challenged, or what? Can one kid have two or more birth fathers and, if so, is it really this common?

What worries me is that from this side of the ocean (Europe) I don't particularly care whether the USA gets a democrat or a republican. The most important thing to me as an outsider is that the most powerful country with the largest economy has fair elections. A democracy should have an electorate that is well-informed, and the elections should be based on facts. Instead, American elections are a very emotional affair where very minor issues can play a huge role. And slander is the preferred and tested method to gain votes. If you base your campaign on slander, rather than facts, then democracy is dead. How can the American democracy be cured from the worthl…

In a number of countries, some sections of the society are backward, both socially and economically. The government of such countries, for ex. India, has granted reservation of certain percentage in the governmental services. This percentage is 27% for India. This means that people who belong to reserved class will get 27 seats out of every 100 in department, if they apply for the respective jobs. The advantage of this system is that people who are socially and economically poor can get benefit and raise themselves as active citizens. The disadvantage is that those who have better qualities and belongs to general or unreserved section of society get no job and those wh…

What would happen if either a few hours before voting began in a U.S. Presidential election or shortly into the voting the candidates for President and Vice-President of a major political party were assassinated? No doubt the response of the country would be absolute chaos, since some votes would be cast by people who did not yet know the candidates were dead; other people would change their votes in unpredictable ways because they did not know how properly to vote in such a situation; and still others might stay at home and not vote, thinking the election could not be held. The electoral result obtained would no doubt be absurd, since it would be more a reflection of p…