maudlin27

Reply to My Thoughts on the VP Choice in Politics JoeUser Forums

Moving onto the issue of abortion (since that's being discussed here along with VP picks), [quote] I wish the issue of abortion was not involved in the presidential process. Regardless of one's views, I feel that it's an issue that should be deciced by "the people" and not the president or the supreme court. It shouldn't matter what the President believes about abortion. It should matter if the President will abide by the will of the people on what *they* believe abo

Reply to Monthly Fee for MMOs in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Honestly I don't see why Blizzard can't just offer WoW for free. I mean their staff ought to be working as volunteers, they should have loads of free servers handed to them from companies because companies exist to lose money, and of course graphics should be amazing and updated every few years that the bar is raised for free, because it's really as simple as just changing a setting on your game to improve them, and so can be done for free by those volunteers.

Reply to My Thoughts on the VP Choice in Politics JoeUser Forums

How is picking a VP candidate who is in favour of abortion betraying McCains beliefs? To impose the straightjacket that his VP candidate must agree with him outright on every single conceivable moral issue means that he may not really have anyone left that qualifies to pick! Since McCain would be the president, it would be his views on abortion that matter, not his VP's. The VP's would matter more if McCain was to die from a cold winter leaving the VP to take charge. It also seems rather biza

Reply to Barak Hussein Obama, Empty Head in Politics JoeUser Forums

Why insist on calling Obama by his middle name, yet not then extend the same treatment to McCain, Bush, and anyone else you mention? If you don't like obama, at least give present reasoned arguments as to why not, instead of trying to stoke up irrational fears such as 'his names hussain - that means he's a muslim - that means he's a terrorist'.

Reply to Not So Fast in Politics JoeUser Forums

Both sides overreacted/are in the wrong in my opinion. The attempts by the US to criticise Russia for what it has done though are fairly laughable given their own actions concerning Iraq. The georgians started the final escalation with their military action, which itself was an overreaction. In response to this, the russians responded with their very own overreaction, which resulted in the invasion of Georgia. Attempts to place the blame for the conflict fully on one of the sides are IMO flaw

Reply to Oil: Risky Investment in Politics JoeUser Forums

Well the answer is quite simple really. Give companies the option to undertake such drilling, and see if they do. If they think they will make a return on it, they will look to drill there. Hence the argument not to allow drilling because a return might not be possible is moot - if that's the case, you don't need to ban it, and if it isn't the case, then the argument falls flat by definition! As for investing that money in alternatives, the companies will do that IF they feel the retu

Reply to You don't know me in Politics JoeUser Forums

Whether someone is a democrat or a republican makes it much more/less likely that they will believe in certain policies, and be against others. For example a republican is more likely to be in favour of the death penalty than a democrat, and a democrat more likely to be in favour of increasing (access to) abortions than a republican. You shouldn't assume that likelihood is near-certainty, but it can be used as a preliminary guide, and in particular to support other information that might suggest

Reply to I would be afraid too in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]It's sad that so many claim to love their country yet hate our governance.[/quote] Why/how is it sad? Governments are inefficient, and while I don't hate them (that's far too strong a word), I do think they could do with being trimmed down in size, and empowering individuals with decisions instead of having governments make them, because that makes the country better off. So ironically if you really do love your country and want what's best for it, often that means looking at red

Reply to We Have Gone Too Far in Current Events JoeUser Forums

[quote] maudlin27 I'm am 99% convinced that you are mistaken. Both parties can be arrested and put on the sex offenders register [/quote] Maybe it's just that only the boys are chosen to be prosecuted by the police (most likely), or alternatively that the media only tends to report on those cases, if the law applies equally to male and female. Regardless IMO neither should be if it was consensual, and if it wasn't consensual then it would be rape not paedophilia anyway. You also then move o

Reply to Puritanical Republicans: Why they suck! in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]yes, it does in the sub-title. Republicans would never vote for or even dream about implementing these for 1, the maxims are there for one to "do the right thing" and 2. the Republicans never do the right thing because it doesn't interest their wallet.[/quote] Well to put rough 'right wing(/conservative)-left wing(/liberal)' brands on each of your proposals: 1) Far right wing, anathema to any liberal out there 2+3) Far left wing (although could be debated to be far

Reply to Gah!! in Politics JoeUser Forums

I don't really care about the olympics (at least, not as much as some other sporting events), while some of China's actions are pretty laughable - designated protest areas, where if you apply to protest in them you get arrested! Judges who are so blatently biased in favour of the chinese it turns matches into comedy shows. Oh, and the fact that they try to shut down almost their entire economy just to make out that the air pollution isn't that bad, really! I'm not looking forward to the

Reply to We Have Gone Too Far in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Bizarrely in the UK if a 15 year old boy sleeps with a 15 year old girl, the boy can be arrested and put on the sex offenders register, meaning they can never work with children for the rest of their lives+in other positions, I think. Oh, the girl can't be put on the sex offenders list I think, only the boy. It's crazy - who in their right minds would call a 15 year old having consensual sex with another 15 year old a paedophile?! Ironically only a few headlines away you then hear of some group

Reply to Cheap Labor: The Rule of Men in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]the law of supply and demand. The reason CEOs get big bucks is because so few can do that job. Just like Movie Stars and Musicians. If everyone could, why pay $100 for a ticket to see Johne Doe???[/quote] There are other possibilities to the standard market for CEO's approach though. For example one theory is: depending on your organisational structure you could have say 20 managers and 1 chief executive. The chief executive gets a lot of money and a nice cushy job where they don

Reply to My experience of Britain... in Blogging JoeUser Forums

[quote] You cannot enter a chemist and ask for paracetamol without being subject to a lecture on its use and misuse [/quote] Just go to a supermarket, you can buy packs of it there and no-one raises an eyebrow, let alone questions you. I've never been questioned at a chemist either, so it sounds like you just picked a very over-protective chemist to shop at! [quote] South Africans are not perfect but, and excuse the language, our dogs dump on the pavement. They dry out quickly and t

Reply to What Would FDR Do? in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] issue an ultimatum to the Taliban and al Qaeda to surrender, including bin Laden, or be obliterated [/quote] Um...how? Seeing as I was under the impression that the US and Nato want them to be obliterated already, this implies you'd be looking at a nuclear option of genocidal proportions, costing the lives of hundreds of thousands to millions of innocents, to be sure you could obliterate them, although the act alone would cause the taliban's ranks to be swelled, meaning you'd need to

Reply to Offshore Drilling Is Bogus in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]let me ask this another way. What alternatives do we have that is available that will reduce our air travel that does not require oil in some form or another?[/quote] That's not too much of an issue atm though (if the goal is to switch from oil to renewables); let's say that the technology for electric airplanes or planes running off some alternative (potentially renewable) energy is still years away. There're still plenty of other areas where oil is used for which renewable ener

Reply to Big Oil Strategy in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]we have made great strides in cutting demand for gasoline by technology and alternatives...However, admittedly, we have no way of controlling India and China's rising demands.[/quote] And that says it all really. As Doc said, it's simple supply and demand. When world demand exceeds world supply, expect the price of oil to shoot up until the two are equal. So for example if a big oil refinery/plant is out of action for a couple of months, or a pipeline is damaged, expect a tempora

Reply to A Bleeding Heart Has a Change of Heart in Politics JoeUser Forums

"A Republicam might look at that homeless person and say, "He should get a job and if he doesn't, his situation is his own fault." Nice and tidy." [quote]Some might, but many would see it as this better: Give a man a fish, feed him for a day, teach this man to fish, feed him for life[/quote] I prefer the (anarchist?) saying a bit better - Light a man a fire, keep him warm him for a night. Set a man on fire, keep him warm for the rest of his life! Edit: Grrr, beaten too

Reply to Obama: Income Redistribution in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]Indeed, because I filled up my old Buick for $4 out of my pay envelope of $35 even when oil was $3 per barrel. I'm appalled that so many of you sound like the dialect of the millionaires' country club. Get real[/quote] So you're saying that oil companies should pay when the price drops (via less money for the oil they sell), and pay when the price rises (via windfall taxes), because you don't like paying more for oil when the price of oil rises? You know the end result of that? Y

Reply to McCain has the education and experience to fulfil the duties of the office of the president of the United States of America. in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] McCain has the education and experience to fulfil the duties of the office of the president of the United States of America. [/quote] Care to elaborate, because after skimming through the 1 1/2 thousand words you wrote on that subject, I couldn't spot one mention of education or experience wrt McCain, only attacks on Obama.

Reply to Barack Obama: A long Days Journey into Night? in Current Events JoeUser Forums

[quote] Yea well tell that to those who have a hard time filling up their tanks to get to work, to the store or to simply go to the park [/quote] Several cheaper alternatives there: Walk, Cycle, Bus/Coach, Train/Tram/other public transport The price of oil in the US is also about half that of the UK, and I don't think UK incomes are twice that of the US's, so it's not like people would be unable to cope. Furthermore, if the government was to increase the price on oil via a tax, that

Reply to Global warming LIES in The Environment JoeUser Forums

[quote]Since the cooling trend started the ice is no longer melting but building. The rest of the quote has also fallen by the wayside. Since we have not changed our use of fuels or cut our emissions and the Earth has stopped warming and started cooling it would suggest that the report was wrong, and the cause for our climate is the Sun rather than man[/quote] Well presumably there are a number of different factors, some of which can lead to an increase in temperatures, others a decreas

Reply to Bail-out: More Debt in Politics JoeUser Forums

The problem with the bail out is it is trying to swap short term pain for long term pain. Yes, a bail out may help to prop up poor firms and save them from bankruptcy, but what about in the future? Other firms (and the ones you've now bailed out) will think that if things go really bad they can always count on the government to get them out of trouble. So the downsides of risky investments are reduced, and you lead to too much risk taking, and acceptance of projects that wouldn't be a good idea

Reply to Global warming LIES in The Environment JoeUser Forums

Maybe I'm reading from a different report, but after a very quick skim through it, the one I got from a quick search says: "Most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations" Meanwhile the unequivocal bit no doubt comes from this: "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average a

Reply to Barack Obama: A long Days Journey into Night? in Current Events JoeUser Forums

[quote] A guy who thinks oil prices are not too high, they just went up too fast [/quote] Just thought I'd pick up on this point you made Charles, since you seem to be implying (given the context of the point) that Obama is wrong to think that. In the US, since taxes are very low on oil (especially compared to other countries), the prices could well be argued to be too low, not too high. The reason is that the price may not fully reflect the damage done to the environment, and hence you will