Politics

Working as a cashier at a bread-and-eggs Walgreen's near my university, I've often heard from the other cashiers that work there that the government should regulate SNAP (Food Stamps) more than they do. Now that it's been pointed out, I agree with it for the most part. I do not see why being able to buy cases of Red Bull or Monster is necessary nutrition. Or 6 24-packs of Mountain Dew. I'm by no means against a family being able to get some sugary drinks, or being able to give their kids Oreo's or treats, but I think there should be a limit. Something similar to this maybe? I myself can't afford to drink Mountain Dew or Coke regularly anymore. I tend to opt fo…

Things are a bit slow at the moment, so I thought this might be fun. Politico has a piece up about all the long-shots who have already registered with the FEC for the 2012 election. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47936.html Might be fun to track some of the fringies through the cycle.

free trade is damaging the u.s economy and is a failed policy. but why does no one say that?

I have no idea if this guy, Roy Beck; is a real economist or not. I liked his presentation and analysis of world conditions, so I ask; Is he on the level, or just 'eye candy" for us dummies? Some of you take a look. http://numbersusa.org/ Well, you've seen it. What do you think? And do any of you have a soluble solution to this problem?

Taking an informed and objective stance, why is there hatred in the Islamic world towards the US and the West? Also, when it comes to the Israeli/Palistinean conflicts, who exactly are the "bad guys"? I've heard conflicting reports from everywhere and just wanted to know what everyone here thinks. I've also heard from other sources saying that by certain actions taken by the US in past they have in effect supported global terror, but I don't really know what this means exactly or what war crimes (if any) the US and the West has done in order to make this happen. Anyway, I've recently gained a bit of interest in the matter and just wanted to get a better understanding of g…

When national governments maintain or intensify exclusionary policies for migrants lacking national citizenship, people can be deported or leave voluntarily to avoid persecution. The question is whether such people should then participate in economic activities that benefit the economies they have been excluded from. Consider, for example, anti-immigrant campaigns against North and South Americans without US citizenship. Is it reasonable for migrants pushed out of the US to seek work in industries that supplies US consumers with food and other products? If people don't want you in "their country," why would you (want to) serve them from outside it?

i just read a blog about the tsa scanners and says that the public conflict with the tsa is Representative of a larger conflict between the government of the us and its people. which has made me wonder are the people of any modern democracy capable of facing there government in actual conflict? the people have the pen to protect there freedom but don't we need the sword in case that the pen fails as it would if the government just decided to bring in the tanks every time the people gave the government trouble? is the statement " no government has any authority to take any action without the consent of the governed." really effective? i'm not saying that there needs…

have the tables turned to the republicans? and is it Obama's fault?

Note: for questions/comments or anything other than your entry for contest, post in the other thread ("king of the world"). If you do post a question/comment here, I'll ask a mod to move it. The game... Choose one: (in an alternate world much like ours) you're either a political group, corporation, or any leader of a nation today. And the strategy you must lay out is, how do you take over the world? Say also...you've prepared for twenty years. The rules are simple. <> Each contestant's granted the following (your alternate world's self had acquired these during various instances of preparations and villain's networking)..... 5 thin…

should the length of a presidency be longer?

This is one of those mixed-up cases that, it seems to me, will likely be difficult for a jury to sort out. A man is being charged with "hacking" and faces up to five years in prison after he read his wife's email and apparently (it's not real clear) discovered she was cheating on him. She filed for divorce, which according to the link below was finalized, but she still lives with him. She also gave him her password on previous occasions. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/12/michigan-man-faces-felony-charges-5-years-in-prison-for-reading-wifes-e-mail.html In terms of this specific case, to me this crosses the line into that gray zone of marital d…

Says Tea Party whack job Rand Paul: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/rand-paul-gop-military-spending-cuts/ Wow, imagine that. Sensible things can come out of his mouth! The DoD remains the only federal department which is exempt from auditing. There's endless waste that can't be accounted for, massive overlap, and that's not to mention that our military budget is larger than that of every other country on earth combined. Will the GOP do it and actually cut spending in the single most obvious place we could massively do it? Judging from past history, probably not, even while whining that spending is too high. For whatever reason incomprehensibly massive milit…

I've copied the relevant parts of this over from the "A new Pledge" thread ———— That's not quite true. AFAICT, the prediction of a return of the great depression was contingent on doing nothing to safeguard the economy, and that didn't happen. In 1944 congress passed the GI Bill, and many of the soldiers went back to school rather than look for work. It also paid an unemployment benefit for up to a year, and the loan guarantees helped stimulate construction. ———— I did a little checking on this, and the Cato institute is spinning the truth a bit. Real GDP contracted by almost 11% from 1945 to 1946, and contracted further still in 1…

Since reading that Obama is urging congress to help get jobless people to work, I was wondering whether volunteer labor could be sufficient to sustain people until the economy is generating the kind of revenues/incomes they seek. My general impression is that volunteer labor is plentiful but that it's not typically used very efficiently or productively. I have the impression that it's more of a social affair to participate in hobby-, beautification-, or charity- type projects. If you would design a volunteer-labor driven company, what would you produce?

Is this "new" Republican pledge based on ventage ideas, or a ventage pledge based on new ideas? For the sake of this nation, it had beter be neither, but a pledge of ideas compatable to an exponentially changing enviroment. Few of us rationalize it, but the world is changing so rapidly it's literally a daily occurance. And whether Democrats or Republicans decree the mandates running this country, hopefully; the average Americans views will shortly be heard again in the rule making. If not, the fun may have gone out of the game forever. So!, get it together Republicans! "With his help", You've made an ass of Obama these past 2 years. You are in the drivers seat now, and be…

What was the reason given for the arrest of the guy who was self publishing the pedophile book on Amazon? Is there any evidence that he actually molested any children or attempted to? From the product description of the book: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/amazon-removes-pedophilia-book-store/story?id=12119035&tqkw=&tqshow=

I'm sure most of you have heard the phrase that the only people who support marijuana legalization are people who smoke it. While that is in fact true, atleast for the most part, I still don't understand the potheads. Sure, they want it to be legal so they can get their fix, and continue using harmful and illegal substances (which wouldn't be illegal if they had their way). Most people are opposed to legalization of illegal drugs, but I just don't get why some people think it's a good idea to make it legal? People who say "it puts innocent people behind bars" are idiots. Innocent people don't use illegal substances. There is no reason for marijuana, or any other illegal d…

The "lame duck" Congress passed a lot of legislation right at the end, and all the media outlets were talking about it last week. The extending of the Bush tax cuts lead directly to agreement on the repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell", ratification of the latest START treaty with Russia, and funding for 9/11 first responders. (Some background here.) I think this is a very positive sign of what we can hope to see in 2011. I believe there will likely be more hurdles, but both sides came out ahead here and important legislation was passed. What do you all think?

Economic recession. Fear of losing jobs and income. Fear of being uninsured. Fear of inconsistent work history. Etc. All of these are fears that push people to do jobs they don't necessarily like or believe in. Social science has noted that such pressures are necessary to ensure a steady supply of labor. Another result is "labor alienation" where workers don't care about or even understand their work and lead meaningless lives as a result. A related question is whether doing things against one's will or better judgment simply makes employees grumpy and causes general unpleasantness in the workplace. What happens when people make the choice to do things agai…

I don't understand all this fuss about the alleged offence. For a start, it has no relevance but, more importantly, I can't see how it will ever come to trial. Here's the basis of the trial Miss X says " I told you to stop when the condom split" Mr A says " No you didn't." End of case. No proof of guilt so he gets found not guilty. Unless they chose to video their activities or something, there is no way that she can win the case. I know that, so do you and so do all the lawyers. Why waste the court's time with it?

Thank god school uniforms don't exist in most schools in America. I realize a couple Catholic/private schools have them. But if they ever hit public schools, there will be an open rebellion against the federal government of United States. A rebellion that will result in massive loss of life. Taking away the right to dress freely in American high schools and junior high schools is the line that we the people of the United States of America draw. Our Founding Fathers gave us the right to bear arms to prevent totalitarianism and rebel against our government if need be. I hope it doesn't come to a rebellion, but we will rebel if necessary. Hopefully things will never come to …

So the results of the 2010 census are in, and the US has officially grown to over 308 million peeps. This has interesting political ramifications. That article goes on at some length about redistricting, and is an interesting read. The big wins by Republicans in the mid-terms have significant ramifications in that arena, but some of the modifiers on that power are interesting as well -- minority populations in certain states, for example, have an influence. Another aspect of this that I thought was interesting was the reduction impact on the northeastern states. A good example of this may be found in the impact on Massachusetts, which was analyzed…

The FCC will take up a key vote on Net Neutrality on Tuesday, considering a proposal that will set regulations aimed at protecting users from corporations bent on raising fees for high-volume sites (or as opponents worry, sites that aren't part of their corporate structures). Currently the Democrats on the panel plan to vote for it, and the Republicans plan to vote against it. The plan also has the support of the Obama administration. CNN has a story covering the basics here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/12/21/fcc.net.neutrality/ But apparently there's an outcry over the lack of enforcement capability in the plan. Timothy Karr (also of HuffPo) …

I am not an American, but like a lot of people outside of America, it is the country besides my own whose politics I am most exposed to in the media. The thing I have noticed, that does not seem to be the case in Australia is the extreme passion with which people devote themselves to a particular party. The 'us and them' thing in American politics seems very strong. Democrats are 'socialist criminals' and Republicans are either corrupt fat cats or brainless hicks. Why is it that in America, people seem so much more willing to pick a political tribe and devote themselves to it and its media advocates SO absolutely on both sides. I mean, I know this happens in other cou…

Okay... Ideas maybe: 1. People with an IQ below 110 shouldn't be allowed to be in politics...I know there are smart people with IQs lower than that but IQ does seem to correlate with intelligence...we don't want idiots in power do we? Power to the people...Are you insane? Last time I checked most of the people don't know anything about politics apart from the obvious. New 1. Stop war. Every country should get rid of it's army. They crazy amounts of money on it. [No point discussing this. It will never happen.] 2. Government should have several 'bank accounts' to store money in for later. They tell us to save up money for when we need it...they should take their own…