Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Mike]

I'm in favor of that.

[Ghengis Jon]

I also like the Swiss model for legislative approval. Public referendum approval is required for anything the legislature passes. Sure, they have more elections than anyone in the world, but its a true check and balance. The legislature keeps the public's emotional passion in check and the public keeps the legislature's idiocy in check.

Either that or we go back to a part time legislature, where there is only enough time to work on/pass the truely important stuff.

[Da Geezer]

I'm totally in favor of a part time legislature. Maybe Jan 1 to March 31. On the 1st of April "Congress is adjourned, our liberties are secure", to quote George Will.

Switzerland is a small country with a homogenous population. I mistrust direct democracy. But I'll take that over the Executive Branch dictatorship we have now.

[Da Geezer]

Now the controlled media is toasting Trump for allegedly saying that all Muslims should be on a database. Here is the link.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-says-he-would-certainly-implement-muslim-database-n466716

He is going to win this election because the east coast elites are now considering silence as "yes', even when the question is stupid. CNN, the Clinton News Network, actually edited the video to make it look even worse.

7 of the 9 Supreme Court Justices come from locations North and East of DC.

6 of them are Catholic, 3 are Jewish.

[hack]

"Allegedly"?

[Dr. Strangelove]

Yeah, there is no "allegedly" part about it

And he will not win the general election.

[Da Geezer]

allegedly:

That is why I posted the NBC link. CNN has an edited link which will bring you back further in the conversation. Are you going to believe your own lying eyes and ears or the NY Times?

Hack, you are always after me to post links, and back up my statements. The dust-up involved NBC, so I went to NBC. For crying out loud watch the cotton picking video. Trump was talking about shutting off illegal immigration

http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/11/21/cancel-the-debate-cnn-caught-selectively-editing-trumps-muslim-comments/

Now, that is the Republican view, which I didn't post. I'm trying my level best to get a decent take on this before I post and you don't even look at the NBC post!



Strange: If it is Trump or Hillary, at this point, I'd hold my nose and vote for Trump. But I agree with you. It looks like Cruz, also a proven outsider, may take Trump in Iowa.

[Mike]

The list of past candidates who were leading at this point in previous election cycles is pretty funny. Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain were leading at this point last go around. This is all just show.

[Da Geezer]

Yes, Mike, but if Hillary didn't have a pussy, she wouldn't be in the conversation. When you consider Bernie, Hillary and O'Malley (who lost an election in Maryland for gosh sakes), there is not much to choose from.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Armed protesters picket outside a mosque near Dallas. Can you imagine the reaction if Muslims tried to do the same outside a Church?

http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2015/11/armed-protesters-set-up-outside-islamic-center-of-irving.html/

[hodgkal]

Interesting stuff. When my wife and I were much younger we had a large circle of friends who spanned the political spectrum and yet we enjoyed a thriving and varied social life. Now we associate almost exclusively with folks of similar persuasion (ie, liberals in our case). I don't know how this happened but the USA was never this polarized as we were growing up.

I grew up a knee jerk Republican. Had a Goldwater bumper sticker in 1964, eg. Was strong for Nixon over JFK in 1960 and was broken-hearted when he lost. Things changed for me with the Reagan administration and the Star Wars stuff in the 1980s. It so happened that when I served in the USAF (1950s) we took a required course in the effects of a nuclear explosion and nuclear radiation. And then when the Reagan administration started talking about how to "win" a nuclear war (remember the book "With Enough Shovels"), and all that Star Wars stuff that was being promoted I joined the anti-nuclear movement and became a de facto Democrat but would prefer to identified as an Independent) Then after 9/11 I became alarmed at the war mongering posture of the GWB administration and now after hundred of thousands of Iraqi deaths, trillions in war expenses of money we didn't have, and now the disaster that is the current Middle East as a result, that alarm has been abundantly legitimized.

So now we have 2 political parties who seem to be trying to out-do each other in their
warlike rhetoric. As said above, I guess I'll hold my nose and vote for Hillary but she is a closet Republican anyway, and of course a Zionist. And saying that does not make me anti-Semitic but we all know who pushed the hardest for the Iraq invasion and now is pushing to start a war with Iran. And of course the war party really has Russia in their sights on Russia. Seems like the lust for power has no limits.

And I haven't touched on domestic issues and the corrupting power of money in politics as has been well expounded here. Look at the House of Representatives and its Republican majority and then look at the demographics of political orientation in this country where Democrats outnumber Republicans by something like 2 million citizens, all thanks to the power of money and the corruption of gerrymandering. Who was it who said (paraphrasing) the Democracy is a great system if you can keep it?

Anyway, I've been following this thread for the past several days and we do have a lot of smart well-informed folks here. I do worry that the geniality that has defined this forum for the past 20 years could be at risk, and Liney is well tuned in to this, but discussing politics is something I have always enjoyed.

[Dr. Strangelove]

[ame]https://twitter.com/MaxBoot/status/668445739379355648[/ame]

[ame]https://twitter.com/MaxBoot/status/668447756512456705[/ame]

[ame]https://twitter.com/MaxBoot/status/668456315946070017[/ame]

[lineygoblue]

I do worry that the geniality that has defined this forum for the past 20 years could be at risk, and Liney is well tuned in to this, but discussing politics is something I have always enjoyed.

Jeff and Ghengis Jon are keeping a close eye on the conversation. I trust them to moderate the conversation appropriately. I've pretty much taken a hands-off approach to the topic.

[entropy]

I just can't vote for Hillary... I'd seriously pull the lever for Trump first. There are very few people I'd distrust more than Hillary. I see her as a person who feels like she's owed the presidency. She stands for whichever way the wind blows and I also feel she'd skirt the rules and bend them as needed. In other words, I flat out don't trust her and I think she's all about getting the position over leading the country. I think she's really the worst of the top 4 choices right now.

Sanders is least like me in opinions, but I think he's the most genuine and honest of the top 4.. which makes it interesting for me. And that's on the Dem side.. which seems to be satisfied with the status quo and politics as usual.

The Pubs clearly are signaling they are tired of that and have put Trump and Carson in the lead... as of today. I do like the fact that Trump isn't bought by special interests, but he's really poor at choosing his words. Carson is too. Maybe that has more to do with not being a politician than anything, but man.. both career risks. I really liked Carson's story and initially thought he'd be the guy. But he doesn't come across as well informed on global issues. I'm also questioning if he could separate his religious feelings from his state obligations... Back to trump.. it is interesting to see how moderate he is on the economy and much closer to the dems than many think. I do find that curious as well. In fact, a great article I read talked about a liberal reporter going to the Midwest to promote his book and wanting to know what republicans really think. They are also tired of wall street and money buying policy. They feel DC is corrupted. They also want to reduce tax loop holes. The conclusion was the voters seem to be closer on the economy than either party portrays.

[Ghengis Jon]

...When my wife and I were much younger we had a large circle of friends who spanned the political spectrum... I don't know how this happened but the USA was never this polarized as we were growing up.

...It so happened that when I served in the USAF (1950s)...

...Hillary but she is a closet Republican anyway...

Thats kind of interesting. I find my circle of friends is more politically diverse in my later years. Two of my best friends are hard core conservatives (one refers to the Republican Party as Dems Lite) and two are way left liberals. My work wife (pal of 25 years) is an anarchist who wants gov't dissolved except for schools, roads, and hospitals. I've gone from uber liberal to more of a Liberaltarian... libertarian with a social conscience. I'm still searching for that elusive third party - both fiscally and socially responsible without the heated rhetoric or moralizing.

I've known you how many years? I didn't know you were an AF guy! Another vet in our forum/tailgate group. Mike (Army), Jeff (USMC), Liney (Coast Guard), you and me (USAF) - all we lack is a squid to complete the set.

I've noticed a lot of left leaners, and not the extreme ones either, consider Hillary a Repub. (Count me as one.) Her support of the Patriot Act, support of massive NSA data collection on US soil, a military hawk, and cuddle puppy of big business, make her untenable imo. If she didn't bear the name Clinton, we'd see her with the other 259 GOP presidential candidates.

For the first time in my life, I'll randomly select a 3rd party candidate for prez as my "None Of The Above" vote. I'm not very proud of myself or my nation for that. Perhaps we should select our elected representatives like we do jury duty.


"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have selected the President from the pool of registered voters...please welcome President Richard Hodgeman!!!"