American 2008 Election

[Taylor1 0]

I'm supportin Mitt Romney now that Giuliani's out. Also I'm a PROUD member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

[Voar Tok 4]

Originally posted by: Boggy1 On the topic of alcoholism, I heard that the USA has hardly any bars or pubs. Is this true? My small town (8,000 people) has 23 licensed bars. Everysingle one is in easy walking distance..the nearest to me is less than five minutes away. We have a 1834 map, when the town was considerably smaller, showing all of the inns and taverns. There were 43 back then. This is much the same for everysingle village and hamlet all over the United Kingdom.quote>

Depends on where you're looking.  Where I'm at right now, there are over 400 bars in the phone book.  In my home town of 10,000 people, there's maybe five bars at most.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: Boggy1 On the topic of alcoholism, I heard that the USA has hardly any bars or pubs. Is this true? My small town (8,000 people) has 23 licensed bars. Everysingle one is in easy walking distance..the nearest to me is less than five minutes away. We have a 1834 map, when the town was considerably smaller, showing all of the inns and taverns. There were 43 back then. This is much the same for everysingle village and hamlet all over the United Kingdom.quote>

23 bars in a town of 8,000 is a lot by American standards. But see, we don't do as much of our drinking at pubs/bars. We're far more likely to buy a case of beer from the local gas station, Wal Mart, or whatever and take it home to knock 'em back with our buddies. High school and college aged people also tend to throw a lot of parties for no occasion- just to have a good time and get drunk.

The key thing to remember here is that unless you're in an urban area, most people don't live within walking distance of a bar- and thus if they want to go to one, they're going to need to have a designated driver or find some way of getting home other than driving. If you take your alcohol home with you before you start drinking, that's not an issue.

Besides- bars are often quite a NIMBY thing since people don't want drunk guys walking past their house at 3 AM every night. So going at getting drunk in your own home as opposed to a public establishment has the appeal that it has a lot less potential to bother the neighbors, too.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

I saw the phrase, 'no more wars to fight', and was amused. Eventually, any group of people will find something to war about, even in a Europe overflowing with the milk of 'harmonization' (sorry, I will still use the American spelling). What Jeff Goldblum said about life in 'Jurassic Park" also applies to war, it will find a way. Was it Marx that said 'You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.'?

This will only increase, IMHO.

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: Taylor1

I'm supportin Mitt Romney now that Giuliani's out. Also I'm a PROUD member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.quote>

but you didn't learn the rules when you joined.  The first rule is, you aren't supposed to admit that it exists.   

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: SkiGeek

Originally posted by: Taylor1

I'm supportin Mitt Romney now that Giuliani's out. Also I'm a PROUD member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.quote>

but you didn't learn the rules when you joined.  The first rule is, you aren't supposed to admit that it exists.    quote>

So it's like Fight Club?

More on topic, I'm try to remain realistic while considering all of this stuff.  Ideals can be good, but if you vote for a candidate that has a lot of ideals that can't be accomplished, one could make the argument that you're voting to get nothing done.

[BurroDiablo 222]

Originally posted by: manticorefan I saw the phrase, 'no more wars to fight', and was amused. Eventually, any group of people will find something to war about, even in a Europe overflowing with the milk of 'harmonization' (sorry, I will still use the American spelling). What Jeff Goldblum said about life in 'Jurassic Park" also applies to war, it will find a way. Was it Marx that said 'You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.'?

This will only increase, IMHO.quote>

I think what Krbe meant was that theres no more 'European' wars to fight... although, even that just seems to mean no more wars between the big 4 (UK, France, Germany, Italy)... I don't think we'll see another major European war in, well, certainly not our lifetime, maybe not even your childrens lifetime... but somewhere along the line some crazy mofo will come to power somewhere at some point and just repeat history again. The only thing thats stopped us tearing out each others throats for the past 60 years has been the ultimate peacekeeper; Nuclear weapons.

[krbe 193]

Originally posted by: Duke87

The key thing to remember here is that unless you're in an urban area, most people don't live within walking distance of a bar- and thus if they want to go to one, they're going to need to have a designated driver or find some way of getting home other than driving. If you take your alcohol home with you before you start drinking, that's not an issue.quote>

"Designated driver"? If you're going out, you use the train or bus to come home.

Originally posted by: manticorefan I saw the phrase, 'no more wars to fight', and was amused. Eventually, any group of people will find something to war about, even in a Europe overflowing with the milk of 'harmonization' (sorry, I will still use the American spelling). What Jeff Goldblum said about life in 'Jurassic Park" also applies to war, it will find a way. Was it Marx that said 'You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.'?

This will only increase, IMHO.quote>

It's against this spelling we've got to wage war

As Burro says, this applies only to Europe; there are of course also problems within Europe, such as the ETA and other terroristic movements, but there is no longer the battle of ideologies in Europe that we used to have. Germany and France no longer have a reason to battle each other, and the United Kingdom are not going to threaten Spain with nuclear weapons over Gibraltar. Even Poland seems to be getting along these days.

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: krbe

Originally posted by: Duke87

The key thing to remember here is that unless you're in an urban area, most people don't live within walking distance of a bar- and thus if they want to go to one, they're going to need to have a designated driver or find some way of getting home other than driving. If you take your alcohol home with you before you start drinking, that's not an issue.quote>

"Designated driver"? If you're going out, you use the train or bus to come home.quote>

There are huge areas of the USA with no worthwhile train or bus service.

Only the northern part of the east coast is as densely populated as Europe is.

Most of the rest is pretty spread out.

[krbe 193]

Originally posted by: SkiGeek

There are huge areas of the USA with no worthwhile train or bus service.

Only the northern part of the east coast is as densely populated as Europe is.

Most of the rest is pretty spread out.quote>

Aha. I'm just under the impression that the suburbs planning are based on the axiom "one man, one car", and that this may make pretty much most services outside wlaking distance.

[____----____ 37]

lol there aren't a lot of pubs/bars/clubs in America!! Wonder where all my money has been going then. And just about every major american city (excluding LA) has public transit including rail,bus,subway, not just the northeast. yes huge areas of the US have no rail but a very tiny proportion of the population lives there, even suburbs around chicago are served by rail into downtown which is highly used, lets not overly generalize and America bash.

Back on topic, i'll vote for anyone who isn't a Republican or a Republicrat (hillary).

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: aleking lol there aren't a lot of pubs/bars/clubs in America!! Wonder where all my money has been going then. And just about every major american city (excluding LA) has public transit including rail,bus,subway, not just the northeast. yes huge areas of the US have no rail but a very tiny proportion of the population lives there, even suburbs around chicago are served by rail into downtown which is highly used, lets not overly generalize and America bash.

Back on topic, i'll vote for anyone who isn't a Republican or a Republicrat (hillary).quote>

Actually, several million people live in cities were there is no or effectively no rail-based mass transit.  Houston is a wonderful example of a city who didn't have any form of rail-based mass transit till just a few years ago (doesn't have much even now).  As for subway, most of the South doesn't have it.  I've been in cities with 150,000 people and basically no mass transit.  Not even buses.

[Zelgadis 638]

I found this funny little excerpt from the New York Times. Full article is here: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/

In Iowa, before the caucuses there, Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, tried to make an analogy about the Patriots winning the World Series, before he was quickly corrected by Eric Fehrnstrom, his traveling press secretary.quote>

Whoopsy!

ISF

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

I will agree wholeheartedly with the assertion that America is mass-transit poor outside the large cities, and sometimes in the big cities too. I think that the only thing that is going to change that is the kind of draconian regulations we abhor.

[Barbarossa 51]

.

  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[krbe 193]

The punishement of Shaquanda Cotton was draconian (only seven years for an incident without injuries? And the letting her out after only a year? Why being so soft on crime when you have the death penalty Texas!); it's more a money issue (do you really want people to use trains instead of their own cars?). Buses are of course much cheaper, but for any larger cities  they become quite inefficient (I should know--after moving just three kilomteres from my old place, the thing I miss the most is the metro).

And off-topic? This show that there are much more to a presidential election than healthcare and economy: I'd vote for any candidate that favour new pubs and trains.

[Sim shady 12]

Hey I have a question for you guys, will I be able to vote in the Presidential election? to clarify; I am 17 right now and will turn 18 on August 30, which is before voting, but my understanding is that we have to register to vote and there is a deadline for that that is coming up real soon. Will there be any conflict or anything of that nature if I try and register?

[crazyyaya 4]

Originally posted by: Sim shady Hey I have a question for you guys, will I be able to vote in the Presidential election? to clarify; I am 17 right now and will turn 18 on August 30, which is before voting, but my understanding is that we have to register to vote and there is a deadline for that that is coming up real soon. Will there be any conflict or anything of that nature if I try and register?quote>

 

I'm not sure, you should be able to, I would try to contact your congressman¹ or a close federal building.

1. Congress"person" for the sake of politcal correctness.

And on the subject of the Democratic Primaries. Does anyone else think that John Edwards dropped out just before Super Tuesday to support Obama? Jon Stewart brought it up and his arguement actually made sense. Since the majority of Edwards supporters have said they do not support Hilary Clinton, his drop out is most likely going to boost Obamas numbers. Does anyone else think this?

[wir3d 2]

Hey you know what is so wrong go onto foxnews right now and you will see this topic called big showdown and all canidates are there execpt Ron Paul. That is so wrong. They are so biased.

[Voar Tok 4]

Originally posted by: Sim shady Hey I have a question for you guys, will I be able to vote in the Presidential election? to clarify; I am 17 right now and will turn 18 on August 30, which is before voting, but my understanding is that we have to register to vote and there is a deadline for that that is coming up real soon. Will there be any conflict or anything of that nature if I try and register?quote>

In your case (I know, I went through this too since we both live in Texas) - the state says that you have to be 17 and 10 months old to register to vote (still have to be 18 by voting day, but you're good).  The deadline to register is something like 30 days before the election, so you're fine.

[nthooze 13]

Ron Paul is founding father material and is the only candidate a true patriot should be voting for.

[Voar Tok 4]

And what if the rest of us think otherwise? Hmm?

All the "Ron Paul!" stuff has led me to this.

I challenge, in the name of good-meaning, well-natured debate, any Ron Paul advocate to show us why Ron Paul is the saving grace so many of his supporters imply that he is.

Anything along the realm of "it's obvious" or "can't you see" or "Ron Paul is the most patriotic" or anything else like that (aka statements without supporting evidence) will be, at least in my book, whole-heartedly and summarily rejected as a reason to vote for the man.

Tons of people say "Ron Paul! Ron Paul!" and never give any reasons why. Surely someone must know why we should vote for him.

Anyone up to my challenge?

[coolotter88 2]

may I point you to the right video about ron paul? linky!

[Mikeaut1 261]

Originally posted by: Voar Tok

Originally posted by: Sim shady Hey I have a question for you guys, will I be able to vote in the Presidential election? to clarify; I am 17 right now and will turn 18 on August 30, which is before voting, but my understanding is that we have to register to vote and there is a deadline for that that is coming up real soon. Will there be any conflict or anything of that nature if I try and register?quote>

In your case (I know, I went through this too since we both live in Texas) - the state says that you have to be 17 and 10 months old to register to vote (still have to be 18 by voting day, but you're good).  The deadline to register is something like 30 days before the election, so you're fine.quote>

 

In New York I registered to vote a few weeks ago, and I'm 17 and 6 months and successfully registered to vote for this upcoming presidential election. Evidentally it varies state by state.

[belfastuniguy 18]

And on the subject of the Democratic Primaries. Does anyone else think that John Edwards dropped out just before Super Tuesday to support Obama? Jon Stewart brought it up and his arguement actually made sense. Since the majority of Edwards supporters have said they do not support Hilary Clinton, his drop out is most likely going to boost Obamas numbers. Does anyone else think this?quote>

That's actually not the case.

The majority of Edward supporters are more likely to switch to Hillary. A large percentage are older voters (which favour Hillary) and within that, what the the media has termed 'angry men' are going to switch to Hillary as they believe she is the best person to represent their anger at what has been happening. Obama supporters tend to be younger, well educated and wealthy.

So Edwards dropping out is a benefit to Hillary, not Obama

[Barbarossa 51]

.

  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[belfastuniguy 18]

I still think Edward supports will go with Hillary.

I'm just taking the American media view of older, which is 40 plus. I am also curious to see who exactly he does support. He may be playing the field with the possibility of gaining a Vice President position. So we may not know for another couple of weeks.

On an additional note, I was watching Channel 4 News tonight (UK) and they were talking to some important black Americans. They were a lot more candid than they would have been on American TV. They were saying how much they loved Obama but believe his support is just skin deep and that America is still subject to deep racism in certain parts and just not yet able to vote a Black American into office as President. I have always believed this, despite his success thus far. Remember these are democrats and not Republicans voting for him. I'm not saying all Republicans are racist but I'm pretty certain the majority would not consider voting for him, regardless of what party he stood for.

Issue was also made again of his untested abilities and especially in a time when America needs a good leader to make changes to solves the housing foreclosure crisis, economic problems and take a lead again in foreign diplomacy.

[Voar Tok 4]

Originally posted by: Mikeaut1

Originally posted by: Voar Tok

Originally posted by: Sim shady Hey I have a question for you guys, will I be able to vote in the Presidential election? to clarify; I am 17 right now and will turn 18 on August 30, which is before voting, but my understanding is that we have to register to vote and there is a deadline for that that is coming up real soon. Will there be any conflict or anything of that nature if I try and register?quote>

In your case (I know, I went through this too since we both live in Texas) - the state says that you have to be 17 and 10 months old to register to vote (still have to be 18 by voting day, but you're good).  The deadline to register is something like 30 days before the election, so you're fine.quote>

 

In New York I registered to vote a few weeks ago, and I'm 17 and 6 months and successfully registered to vote for this upcoming presidential election. Evidentally it varies state by state.quote>

Yeah, the Constitution says that each state gets to set down the requirements for voting eligibility.

EDIT: About Edwards dropping out - this will probably help Obama a lot more than it'll help Hillary.  The older voters are a lot of the people that don't like Hillary, and Hillary is vastly more popular with women than men, so don't expect a lot of the "angry men" to want to back her.

[patriots_1228 51]

Any news on Super Tuesday?

I think romney may be winning Massachusetts, despite all the annoying phone calls.

Earlier today I saw some guy holding a sign for a candidate outside my school get yelled at by a state trooper. halarious stuff.

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: Voar Tok

Yeah, the Constitution says that each state gets to set down the requirements for voting eligibility.

quote>

Except for the part where we amended it to allow 18 year olds to vote.   One of the excellent accomplishments of my generation.  and then those silly Gen Xers went and squandered it.