If you are Obama on wednesday

lukin2006

fife wrote:

sorry, but i don't see both sides agreeing on this. remember tread is not just about listing what you want to do but what is possible to do given teh current politic climate. Most Democrats would not end the dept of education and most rep. would not bring all the troop homes. as for your other ideas, might be good but not passable.

That just makes me wonder what America would be like if both parties actually genuinely worked together to improve the country. You know, actual bona fide bipartisanship for the good of the nation. As long as I've been following American politics, it seems like the entire system is one big fat waste of potential. With the resources it has, America could sit at or very near the top of a lot of the internationally quantifiable categories (standard of living, heathcare, education, etc) - but instead it languishes in the middle of the pack while Republicans and Democrats falsely claim it's the best and refuse to work with each other to actually improve it. And that certainly isn't going to get better in the next two years, since several Republicans have gone on TV giving interviews saying they will refuse to compromise on anything. Way to set an example for the country, guys.

Compromise is not a dirty word.[/quote]

I agree with every word you just wrote. the issue i see is how your election are based. i don't proclaim to be a political wiz like some here but for me i have never understood have a election for president and then 2 years later have one for the house and the senate. why not have 1 election every 4 years for everything. that way you have time to build a relationship and set goals. its always seems to me from viewing outside American that you are always an election mode. after today people will then begin to talk about the next president election and after that el3ction we go back to talking about the house and senate election.[/quote]

Congress are 2 year terms and the Senate are staggered 6 year terms. Here in Canada we are on constant election watch federally since like 2003 as well, that's what happens with a minority parliament. The problems aren't with the elections, the problems are selfishness, once they get in they no longer work for the people, they only look after themselves and the special interest groups they finance their campaigns.

I am totally opposed to governments running deficits and all governments need to spend within their means. Personally I would love see a law passed that basically says if you and your party runs a deficit, you and your party will get the bill when you leave office, these deficits are totally ridiculous and out of control.

fife

I agree with every word you just wrote. the issue i see is how your election are based. i don't proclaim to be a political wiz like some here but for me i have never understood have a election for president and then 2 years later have one for the house and the senate. why not have 1 election every 4 years for everything. that way you have time to build a relationship and set goals. its always seems to me from viewing outside American that you are always an election mode. after today people will then begin to talk about the next president election and after that el3ction we go back to talking about the house and senate election.[/quote]

Congress are 2 year terms and the Senate are staggered 6 year terms. Here in Canada we are on constant election watch federally since like 2003 as well, that's what happens with a minority parliament. The problems aren't with the elections, the problems are selfishness, once they get in they no longer work for the people, they only look after themselves and the special interest groups they finance their campaigns.

I am totally opposed to governments running deficits and all governments need to spend within their means. Personally I would love see a law passed that basically says if you and your party runs a deficit, you and your party will get the bill when you leave office, these deficits are totally ridiculous and out of control.[/quote]

I don't think you can always not run a deficit. sometimes, you have tp spend more than what you have due to an emergency or something along those lines. but yes i agree that deficits are out of control.

Godfather.

Ummmmm if I were obama on wednesday..I would go back to school and train for a new career starting 2012 outside of politics

Godfather.

fife

Godfather. wrote:

Ummmmm if I were obama on wednesday..I would go back to school and train for a new career starting 2012 outside of politics

Godfather.

maybe that O'Donnell women can teach him how to be a witch.

Godfather.

fife wrote:

Godfather. wrote:

Ummmmm if I were obama on wednesday..I would go back to school and train for a new career starting 2012 outside of politics

Godfather.

maybe that O'Donnell women can teach him how to be a witch.

ha ha ha ! that's too funny !! :thumbup:

Godfather.

gimmesometruth27

Godfather. wrote:

fife wrote:

Godfather. wrote:

Ummmmm if I were obama on wednesday..I would go back to school and train for a new career starting 2012 outside of politics

Godfather.

maybe that O'Donnell women can teach him how to be a witch.

ha ha ha ! that's too funny !! :thumbup:

Godfather.

actually, the fact that that woman has been seriously considered for a senate seat, and that people will actually vote for her is not funny at all. it is pretty damn sad if you ask me...

Wilds

aerial wrote:

$6 million to upgrade the two-block long Senate subway.
$350,000 to renovate the House Beauty Salon.
$250,000 to study TV lighting in the Senate meeting rooms.
$130,000 for a Congressional video-conferencing project.
Total: $6,730,000 mall example of pork spending
$3.1 million to convert a ferry boat into a crab restaurant in Baltimore.
$6.4 million for a Bavarian ski resort in Kellogg, Idaho.
$13 million to repair a privately owned dam in South Carolina.
$4.3 million for a privately owned museum in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
$11 million for a private pleasure boat harbor in Cleveland.
$6 million to repair tracks owned by the Soo Railroad Line.
$320,000 to purchase President McKinley's mother-in-law's house. Funds to rehabilitate the South Carolina mansion of Charles Pickney, a Framer of the Constitution, even though the house was built after he died.
$2.7 million for a catfish farm in Arkansas.
$3 million for private parking garages in Chicago.
$500,000 to build a replica of the Great Pyramid of Egypt in Indiana.
$850,000 for a bicycle path in Macomb County, Michigan.
$10 million for an access ramp in a privately owned stadium in Milwaukee.
$1.8 million for an engineering study to convert Biscayne Boulevard in Miami into an "Exotic Garden."
$13 million for an industrial theme park in Pennsylvania.
$500,000 for a museum to honor former Secretary of State Cordell Hull.
$33 million to pump sand onto the private beaches of Miami hotels. $107,000 to study the sex life of the Japanese quail.
$1.2 million to study the breeding habits of the woodchuck.
$150,000 to study the Hatfield-McCoy feud.
$84,000 to find out why people fall in love.
$1 million to study why people don't ride bikes to work.
$19 million to examine gas emissions from cow flatulence.
$144,000 to see if pigeons follow human economic laws.
Funds to study the cause of rudeness on tennis courts and examine smiling patterns in bowling alleys.
$219,000 to teach college students how to watch television.
$2 million to construct an ancient Hawaiian canoe.
$20 million for a demonstration project to build wooden bridges.
$160,000 to study if you can hex an opponent by drawing an X on his chest.
$800,000 for a restroom on Mt. McKinley.
$100,000 to study how to avoid falling spacecraft.
$16,000 to study the operation of the komungo, a Korean stringed instrument.
$1 million to preserve a sewer in Trenton, NJ, as a historic monument.
$6,000 for a document on Worcestershire sauce.
$10,000 to study the effect of naval communications on a bull's potency.
$100,000 to research soybean-based ink.
$1 million for a Seafood Consumer Center.
$57,000 spent by the Executive Branch for gold-embossed playing cards on Air Force Two

Godfather.

but she IS pretty....her and Palin might take this country by storm.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politic ... _open.html

Godfather.

fife

maybe that O'Donnell women can teach him how to be a witch. [/quote]

ha ha ha ! that's too funny !! :thumbup:

Godfather.[/quote]
actually, the fact that that woman has been seriously considered for a senate seat, and that people will actually vote for her is not funny at all. it is pretty damn sad if you ask me...[/quote]

what is even sadder is that if she was Muslim with her views she wouldn't be close to winning.

cajunkiwi

fife wrote:

what is even sadder is that if she was Muslim with her views she wouldn't be close to winning.

Could you imagine the shitstorm if a woman running for office wore a burqa while saying, "Masturbation is a sin, I used to dabble in witchcraft, and I don't know what the First Amendment says"???

cajunkiwi

fife wrote:

I agree with every word you just wrote. the issue i see is how your election are based. i don't proclaim to be a political wiz like some here but for me i have never understood have a election for president and then 2 years later have one for the house and the senate. why not have 1 election every 4 years for everything. that way you have time to build a relationship and set goals. its always seems to me from viewing outside American that you are always an election mode. after today people will then begin to talk about the next president election and after that el3ction we go back to talking about the house and senate election.

Don't blame me for a system that sees people voting on a Tuesday every four years... I'm from New Zealand (I just live in the States) lol

For what it's worth, our elections are held every three years in NZ (and always on a Saturday), and everyone gets voted in/out at the same time. We have 120 politicians in our government, and when you vote, you vote for your local representative (the country is divided into 70 equally-populated electorates for elections), and a political party. The 70 people who win their local electorate make up 70 of the 120 seats. The other 50 seats are divided up amongst the political parties so that their ultimate percentage of the 120 seats is the same as the overall percentage of the party vote they received nationwide (i.e. if your party wins 50% of the party vote but you only had 30 individuals win their electorate, you will get 30 of the 50 party seats so you end up with 60 of the 120 seats in parliament). Each party is free to give those seats to whoever it wants, and the head of the party with the most seats becomes the prime minister. It seems to work fairly well - since 1996 when we adopted the new system between 1 and 2 in every 5 people has been from a "third party" and since 1978 the voter turnout has been between 77% and 93.7%.