2008 Presidential Candidates

[Entropy]

Next time, please post everything in a single post.

[anima]

Well, good job America!

I think it is relatively safe to say that McCain won the Republican nomination, and Hilda won the Democrat nomination. I am looking forward to people from Europe buying 50 rostos for 1 euro.

 

It's really hard to pick up sarcasm in writing but as an exporter surely a weak currency is a good thing? america needs a weak dollar to regain its power(i personally would rather this didn't happen btw, not that i trust the chinese either), america needs chinese imports to be more expensive so people stop buying them and a weak dollar will stop this, allowing america to start repaying its huge debt to china.

 

While its too late now i think america should have had a trade embargo against china until they unpegged their currency from the dollar.

[Entropy]

Well, the sarcasm was only partial, as an exporter (I think at least 10% of what we sell goes abroad), I am sure glad the dollar goes down. The feds are expected to cut the interest rates again this month, bringing the USD even lower.

That sucks for me because last year I used to get 5.20% interest on my money market account, now I only get 3.3% and soon probably 2.5% or so (at which point I am losing my money in the bank because of the inflation (you still have to pay tax for the itnerest anyway).

 

But the good thing is, more and more people from abroad will afford our stuff

[anima]

hmm, if you wanted you cold check the price elasticity of demand on rostos, just plot value of dollar against say euro or GBP against number of rostos bought from that country/area, it wont be very accurate but the gradient of that graph should be PED for rostos. that could be interesting...

 

or am i just being a bit too much of an economics nerd?

[Entropy]

I am too lazy busy to do that, and sometimes I can't determine exactly where a person is from, or how much did they pay in their own currency (PayPal converts stuff in USD for me, and I usually get the USD).

Plus, the rostos market varies with ingame events and causes, so it's hard to determine if more sales from a region are due to ingame or rl economy.

[Scratch]

, and maybe in 2012 things will change.

 

LMAO!

2012 is the year that the world ends as predicted by the Mayans & the I Ching. (plus some others I can't recall off the top of my head)

 

This is the year to stick it to the Demopublican party and vote against them. Everyone vote for an independant. Vote for Nader for smegs sake.

 

Stop voting for the 2 party system. The Republicans & Democrats are two sides of the same coin. They were once a single party. Check your history books. They figured it would be easier to get one of their guys elected if they had two parties. DERP!

 

Edit: changed Aztecs to Mayans (surprised no one pointed out this error)

Edited April 13, 2008 by Scratch

[Arnieman]

Edit: changed Aztecs to Mayans (surprised no one pointed out this error)

I wasn't logged on, or I woulda, and not too many people know that, I don't think.

 

I'm all for voting for indies - if a solid one would take a stand. Unfortunately, too many of the independents are (or are too closely portrayable as) "nut-jobs", and you have so much infighting in their own ranks... but, I think I said it before, but there is enough of a "de facto disenfranchised" (IOW, "I don't think my vote counts") electorate (IOW, "people who vote") that could really shift the tide to one of the minor parties - if they'd just realize how much power they really have.

[Drue]

From a political platform standpoint.. the candidate I hate the least is Mike Gravel... (is he still running even?)

 

Probably followed up by Dennis Kucinich... except I think he quit..

 

Of course, please take note that I said "hate the least", and that was with regard to their stated political platform.. I'm not even getting into the notions of them as "people" or "leaders".

 

But to be frank, In the 32 years I've been alive, I've not seen one single, solitary candidate for President, from *any* party, independents included, that I could have, in good conscience, endorsed to be the leader of the United States.

 

I mean, when you get down to it, Presidential Elections in this country are a lot like going to a fancy dress party where you have to choose your favorite turd out of dozens that happen to be floating in the punchbowl. No matter which one is best liked, they're all of similar composition, and at this party, everyone present is going to have to choke the favorite down for at least 4 years.

 

Which is a rather dismal picture, to say the least. Unfortunately, it is also quite reflective of the realities of the situation.

 

I consider myself to be one of the "disenfranchised". It's a deliberate choice on my part, I suppose, because frankly, I don't think "the system" exists for any purpose other than keeping the "richest 1%" as the "richest 1%." I can't see how sanctioning it by my participation is appropriate when it embodies every idea to which I am opposed.

 

We have had the same basic troubles facing this nation for the last 50+ years. Poverty, Crime, Homelessness, Energy Production, Education, Economic vitality.. Workable solutions to each of these issues are pretty well known and understood. Yet we see none of them implemented, despite 50 years of electing "leaders" who have access to trillions of dollars per year, the best experts that can be obtained, and nearly unlimited manpower to put them into effect. The only cause that I can see is that "They're simply not *trying*."

 

And now that we have a President who's entire Administration has committed perjury multiple times, has an excellent chance of being brought up on charges of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, and is probably guilty of a technical charge of Treason... and what has our Legislative branch been doing?

 

Investigating steroid use in Baseball.

 

If that isn't powerful and compelling evidence to take the election seriously, I haven't the foggiest notion what is.

 

(Please to note the dripping sarcasm of the above statement. Thank you.)

[Mugwump]

Interesting to look at the poll results and compare them to the field of candidates seven months later!

 

So it appears to be O'Bama vs McCain... two Irishmen.

Wait... I didn't say that....

 

I won't speculate other than to state my usual tirade at this time on election years:

 

"Too much filthy lucre has been wasted on meaningless nonesense throughout this campaign that should have been used for assisting the needy!"

 

I also must still bitch about the fact that there are more than two political parties in the US. I am registered Green. If I had ever thought that being a New York State resident and there was any question that my vote might keep the Republicans away from the control panel, I would have voted for Hillary. I was at one time confident that that would never happen. Not yet knowing who the Greens endorse, I don't know what to do.

 

Obama does not have the international chops for the job. He talks bullshit better than most folks, but they don't use poop for credit at the bank. I want Jesse back! I want MLK back!! I even want Sharpton back!!! C. Virginia Fields!!!! Damn! There are real human beings out there!! Crap!

 

So I guess it's me and my old pal Ralphie again... dreamin' and schemin' and wishin' on stars......

[Entropy]

Oh well, it seems we will have Obama-Hillary vs, McCain-some other neocon.

A 3rd party candidate has a very small chance to win, but nevertheless, I hope that people pissed with the current selection will go and vote for a 3rd party, rather than not vote at all. The country will stil get fucked, but it will send a message as well.

[rasberrybeard]

I only read a few posts up but I have some stuff to say. Seeing as how the presedential election directly affects me. (See definition of Commander In Chief) I really have to vote based on one issue; which candidate wants to end the war and bring me and my friends home. So far Obama is the only candidate who has proposed a viable resolution, therfore he gets my vote. Normally I would vote Republican, but McCain is looking to drag out the conflict to try and salvage a U.S. friendly govt out of Iraq. If he spent more than 5 minutes here he would know thats highly unlikely to ever happen.

[Entropy]

Actually, Ron Paul was the only one who said he wants to bring you and your friends home. Correct me if I am wrong, but Obama never specified an exact time frame, and he said he is willing to attack Iran if Israel comes crying to the US.

[PuNa]

Radu 4 pres.

[rasberrybeard]

Actually, Ron Paul was the only one who said he wants to bring you and your friends home. Correct me if I am wrong, but Obama never specified an exact time frame, and he said he is willing to attack Iran if Israel comes crying to the US.

 

Iran is a dead threat. WE know it, THEY know it. It's like a miniature cold war all over again. And see also

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/#bring-home

[Entropy]

"He will keep some troops in Iraq to protect our embassy and diplomats; if al Qaeda attempts to build a base within Iraq, he will keep troops in Iraq or elsewhere in the region to carry out targeted strikes on al Qaeda."

Sounds kind of ambigous to me.

[rasberrybeard]

That means FOB Liberty or FOB Victory will probably be the only remaining base. Which means approx 5-10k troops. So that means only one brigade will have to be deployed at a time. It's no less than what we keep in Korea or Kosovo. Countries that the war ended in years ago, but we keep our presence there just in case. I mean hell, one of our oldest foreign bases is in Italy... how do you explain why we still have troops there? Plus even if we kept a brigade here, we would no longer engage in active combat operations. Which means the insurgency would start turning back to the iraqi govt for military jobs as Al Qaeda would have nothing to pay them for anymore.

[Entropy]

Well, the troops in other countries are at least not engaged in fighting every day But I don't think this will be the case for the troops remaining in Iraq. Many Iraqi people and Al Qaeda are pretty pissed right now (with good reasons), so the remaining troops will always be targeted.

[Shujral]

Actually, Ron Paul was the only one who said he wants to bring you and your friends home. Correct me if I am wrong, but Obama never specified an exact time frame, and he said he is willing to attack Iran if Israel comes crying to the US.

 

which I doubt will happen, Ahmadnejad is all talk.

[Entropy]

Umm, only talk? Did you ever pay attention to what he said? When did he threaten Israel in the first place?

[rasberrybeard]

Many Iraqi people and Al Qaeda are pretty pissed right now (with good reasons), so the remaining troops will always be targeted.

 

Ent... I respect you a lot and I think you are very intelligent and likely well informed. But you get your information from the news, I live it. Yes the Iraqi people do not "LOVE" us, but Al Qaeda doesnt just kill americans, they kill anyone and anything that does not cooperate with them. There are very few Iraqi people who help Al Qaeda that are not actually a part of it or one of its subsidaries. Anyways this is off track now.

 

Even if Obama leaves a brigade here, thats still better than active combat operations that cost billions of dollars a month.

[Entropy]

Yes, I know that. I didn't say that the Iraqi people and Al Quaeda are buddy buddy, I just meant that they both hate and kill Americans (many times independent of eachother).

[Lyrendeile]

Felt the need to say this quickly:

 

One should NEVER make generalizations or statements without FULL knowledge, which we should not be presumptuous enough to do. I know many Iraqi's who do NOT hate Americans (and I'm as American as they come ). These people also do as much as they can to help everyone and are even engaged in environmental issues.

 

Just because someone *thinks* they know some "fact", does not make it true. Research and know a topic first in depth before forming an opinion.

 

Think and reflect:

 

It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows. Epictetus

 

 

 

Heraklietos of Ephesos:

 

Whosoever wishes to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details.

Knowledge is not intelligence.

In searching for the truth be ready for the unexpected.

Change alone is unchanging.

The same road goes both up and down.

The beginning of a circle is also its end.

Not I, but the world says it: all is one.

And yet everything comes in season.

 

 

 

And finally:

 

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) stated this, which is so very true:

 

"If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed."

 

Please be careful of words, in any form.