Future of Politics

[Gatorman]

Cigars are Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Series, average about $7-$9 each. Good draw, great filler.

Perfect for the celebration!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[oscaraustin]

Nice, but it's a bit too late to order them now. I guess I'll just have to go out, roll up some Kerry voters (who still are flying their annoying ass bumper stickers) and smoke them instead!

Side note: as of the day after inauguration day, if I see any political bumper sticker on a car, I will wage damage onto that said car. Whether it be Bush or Kerry, I'll let Nader slide, because those fans have it hard enough.

 

[cableguy]

please, PLEASE, come to minnesota!!!! because i have something wrong inside my brain, i cant bring myself to utterly destroy someone elses property, but i am SICK of paul wellstone campaign stickers, and at this point, he has been dead over 2 years, the memorial stickers can come off as well... also, there is NO excuse for buying a NEW car and putting one fo those ugly green monstrosities on it...

tex, nice find... i may have to partake!!

 

[oscaraustin]

I'm just sick and tired of the damn division. Granted, i don't like their views ( those of loudmouthed leftists, most friends are leftist, but they don't think they are gods who spit out infallibilities), and they sure has hell don't like mine, but why do we make this matter outside of pure political discussion? There's been far too much of a rise in making every aspect of our lives political, and making judgments on people based on their political affiliation. There is eons more to a person more important than politics, this goes double for life as well. Politics are a small sliver of what the world is. Still, we've made it into our defining factors. Hell, J.F. Kerry said in his concession address, (paraphrasing) 'stop with the political divide! We're Americans first and foremost, let's get back to acting like it.' What makes this country (as well as other free societies) is that we have our different views, even though we may hate the other side, it's options and outside p.o.v. I'm just tired of it, and seeing the goddamn political stickers everywhere. It's over..... it's 2 months over, I understand you voted for John Kerry, but he lost, and told you to go back to being an American not a Kerrian! And I understand you voted for our President, and he won the election! But, you don't need to keep up that bumper sticker any more, the polls are closed! This also encompasses 'not my president' t-shirts worn by Americans.... idiots. The majority of the country voted for the President, and i'm sorry if you don't agree, but most of the people don't agree with you. As such, he is your president if you're American.

In the words of an AF pilot I talk to on occasion: "You need both wings to fly."

 

[Iceberg]

What the heck? It's so close to the Canadian border this time.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/03/21/minnesota050321.html

Come on, US! Please regulate firearms before we have a massacre never seen before (I'm talking Columbine x 10)!

People's lives are on the line. Please put these lives before so-called "Constitutional rights." (Regulation doesn't infringe on these "rights." Regulation helps prevent people who are dangerous getting hold of these firearms.)

 

[Texan]

Canadian firearm regs didnt stop four mounties from being shot.

 

[Iceberg]

And you know why? Because the guy that did it was a firearms nut and a dangerous man who hated the authorities (the police, government, etc.). He was just like those backwoods Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho people who live in seclusion and have countless high-powered firearms. He was one who wouldn't have registered his weapons and if anyone had tried to get him to, he would blow their brains out.

This is not the case to blame the gun registry for. It is one to blame the justice system for having him out of jail even with these tendencies.

 

[cableguy]

a few things... i am a resident of minnesota... the only question remaining is where he got the .22 that he killed his grandpa with... the other guns used in this incident were POLICE ISSUE for his grandfather, who was a cop... the only anti-gun regulation that would have done anything in this case would have been to disarm cops... that, will most definitely NOT happen... guns used in crimes, and the criminals who use them, ignore existing laws in the first place... in what fantasyland are you living if you believe more anti-gun laws will do anything but increase violent crime as the public is disarmed piecemeal...

the UK has this very problem right now, as does Australia... armed criminals are aware that their victims are not armed, as it would violate the law, and therefore, they make easier targets... more on this later, but there are things about this that make it a unique case among all the school shootings i am aware of, as this one can not be blamed in any way on his parents... i am solidly convinced that no anti-gun law would have prevented this in any case...

*********EDIT*********

iceberg, any gun registry is merely the first step toward confiscation... hree in the US, the second amendment to the Constitution guarrantees individuals the right to keep and bear arms... the justice department recently did an exhaustive research of said amendment, and found that it is indeed an INDIVIDUAL right, not any sort of collective right, and that membership in the national guard or militia is NOT any sort of prerequisite for it to apply...

in new york and maryland, a "ballistic fingerprinting" system has been in place for 3-4 years... when a gun is purchased legally, it is fired, and the cartridge casing is placed on file for law enforcement to use in matching casings found at crime scenes to the gun owner... not surprisingly, these programs have cost a lot of money and not solved or helped solve a SINGLE crime... bottom line--people who buy guns legally generally dont use them for criminal purposes... those who obtain guns illegally may not be so responsible with the use of the ill gotten guns...

in states that encourage citizens to carry firearms, predatory crime has fallen in EVERY instance... to my knowledge, there has yet to be a showdown or pitched gun battle as a result of law abiding citizens being allowed to carry guns, concealed or otherwise... the fact you are going to have to face is that more guns result in less crime... this model may not work in other nations, but it certainly does here in the USA...

criminals are the problem, NOT guns, and not law abiding citizens... i love guns and have a healthy distrust of my government, and would fight any effort to create any gun registry... this doesnt make me a whacko, a psycho, insane, or a nut... i know what the law is, i know what my rights are, and i am willing to defend them, along with my life, the lives of my family, and my property...

back to the school shooting... the boy who did this shot his grandfather and his grandfathers girlfriend with a .22... he then took his grandfathers bulletproof vest, gunbelt, police issue .40 handgun, police issue 12 ga shotgun, and police issue cruiser... he drove to his high shcool, killed an unarmed guard, went to a classroom and killed a teacher and several students, went outside and exchanged gunfire with police, then went back in and shot himself in the head... a total of 10 people are dead, and another 14 injured... as of last night, two of the wounded were in critical condition still... this information comes from a news conference held by the fbi yesterday... anything beyond this that does not come from the fbi, including the supposed nazi connection, should be treated as speculative and rumor unless confirmed by the fbi...

the boys father had killed himself some years ago, and his mother was in a car wreck and has been in a nursing home since... this also happened some years ago... the boy did not want to go to the reservation, but as a minor, had no say in the matter... none of this is being offered by me as any sort of excuse, but as background factual information...

blame the criminal, not the tool he used...

 

[Texan]

Guess the anti-gun folks soapbox is falling apart now.

I believe in my gun control to place rounds in the 10 zone

 

[cableguy]

amen to that, tex...

 

[Iceberg]

There was an interesting segment on CBC's "The Hour" tonight which dealt with the issue of bankruptcy declaration.

The host, George Stroumboulopoulos, made a great argument against what Bush is trying to do. The Bush Administration is trying to make it more difficult for people to declare bankruptcy, saying they should pay their debts to those they owe, or else the debts are taken over by taxpayers, giving them a burden they should not have to face.

However, GS said that the Bush Administration should be forced to pay the trillions of dollars of debt themselves if they are to be taken seriously. This debt that is accumulating by the US Treasury will otherwise be transferred to taxpayers for them to pay, giving them a far greater burden than if some guy with a $10,000 student loan were to declare bankruptcy.

Yet one more example of Bush Administration hypocrisy! :angryrazz

 

[mindido]

Hey Iceberg,

Interesting idea but it will never happen. It's far too responsible. The bankers wrote this legislation, they're the only ones that benefit.

One quibble. Here in the States you can not get out of a student loan through bankruptcy. If you go bankrupt, your student loan remains to be paid.

 

[Iceberg]

One quibble. Here in the States you can not get out of a student loan through bankruptcy. If you go bankrupt, your student loan remains to be paid.

Yikes! Then you're really screwed, and not only by such high tuition.

It makes you think whether the US system really values people, rather than just corporations, banks, and the ultra-rich.

 

[Duke E. Pyle]

So if you run a red light you should go to jail but if you borrow money you shouldn't have to worry about paying it back? Someone's playing Jedi mind tricks!

 

[Iceberg]

So if you run a red light you should go to jail but if you borrow money you shouldn't have to worry about paying it back? Someone's playing Jedi mind tricks!

That isn't what I am saying.

What I am saying is that, say someone is out of work and has been trying his/her darndest to get a job, any job, and cannot get one in the city in which they reside. They have a debt on a loan from the bank they used for a past expense and get monthly social assistance cheques so they can actually live.

Anyway, this loan accumulates interest to the point where it is impossible to pay back with a $1000/month assistance cheque, of which $400 is for housing, $300 is for food, $200 is for other expenses (clothing, utilities, etc.), and $100 is for other necessities, leaving nothing for which the individual can pay back their debt. Plus, if this person is a parent, the burden on them is essentially impossible to deal with.

Bankruptcy is declared only when a person is unable to pay back their debts. I agree that if one is to take out a loan and is able to pay the debt, they should. However, if one is unable, they should be given a break, since they likely have had no luck whatsoever.

In a just society, such a case would be a sure-fire bankruptcy case. Not in Dubya's world, though, where only the rich survive and thrive while everyone else starves.

 

[Duke E. Pyle]

In a just society people wouldn't rely so much on a government you can't trust in the first place. But then who could you put the blame on? :crazy: you=anyone

 

[Supafly]

If you can't pay back a student loan you can file for economic hardship which will defer payments for up to 3 years. So what was the problem again?

 

[Duke E. Pyle]

You live in a land who's government slings grants at people who have the ability to tie a shoestring or hit an A chord on an instrument. Forget the fact that your lucky enough to be able to even get a loan cause its not enough, cause we're just unfortunate. We are just so unlucky. Gimme Gimme Gimme!!! Reminds me of this one girl...

 

[cableguy]

if you bought it, you need to pay for it... if you cannot afford it, DO NOT BUY IT!!! there is no debt that should be erased without the consent of the party that is owed whatever agreed upon amount.. i got into trouble with debt once... only once... i learned my lesson, and repaid each and every CENT i owed... i see no reason for anyone to do any differently... some people have made a sport of declaring bankruptcy every seven years, and keeping all the neat stuff they could not afford to buy...

bottom line, companies that offer credit should be able to see if an applicant has EVER declared bankruptcy, and be well within leagal reason to deny any applicant on those grounds... there is some responsibility to be passed out to creditors for issuing credit lines that are iffy, but the final responsibility has to be put a the feet of the individual that bought more than he/she could pay for... there should be no incentive or forgiveness for doing this, and the debt should be paid in full before issuance of ANY credit of any type... if that means mac and cheese 15 times a week, there is a lesson to be learned there...

iceberg and others, please research the national debt and tell me how many DECADES the same argument you are trying to use has been offered... i can say factually that i first heard it during the Presidency of Ronaldus Magnus, and it has continued under each and every administration since... further review has shown this to be something that dates back to well before i was born, much less able to remember whatever snippets i picked up in my childhood... find a new argument, the sky is not falling...

there is a sad lack of personal responsibility these days... perhaps the idea of debtors prisons wasnt such a bad thing after all... you owe, you work it off, you go back home... maybe then people would be more responsible... this is long overdue.... hopefully tort reform will soon follow, along with tax reform, privatized social security, a supermajority requirement for any tax increase or addition... more jails, fewer restrictions on personal and property rights, more lawful citizens carrying guns, and more death penalties for criminals (the recidivism rate of those punished by death is holding steady at 0%)... what a lovely thought... one thing at a time...

back to the here and now, some points were made about the national debt that i agree with, though not in the way one might think... this nation has a serious spending problem, and the regulatory agencies have been hijacked by special interest groups... we need less spending, less regulation, and more oil harvesting and production capability... reliance on foreign oil is bad for national security, bad for the free market, and bad for the American consumer.. it does provide an artificially high wholesale price to opec and provide libs with one more thing to whine about, though--even though they prevent us from extracting and processing our own oil... hypocrites...

 

[Iceberg]

George W. Bush: Invigorating America's Youth:

http://grab.orsm.net/php/movies.php?file=update20050428/boredkid.wmv