Politics: Presidential elections 2008

Miscellaneous Topics
#1

Anyone been looking at these candidates?

Although I can’t vote (I live in Iceland) I’m still very interested in the next elections :slight_smile:

I was originally interested in Hillary, then Obama, but then I figured all the candidates are all the same… Until I heard about Ron Paul! (Google him, and there are tons of videos on YouTube.) He seems to be shun by all the mass media, for whatever reasons. He does extremely well in SMS voting and internet polling, always at top, and far above Giuliani or McCain. He even currently has more money in the bank than John McCain.

There is a strong wave of support for Ron Paul on the internet. I’m just spreading the word :slight_smile:

Congressman Ron Paul at the First GOP Presidential Debate

Foxnews poll results after debates

http://www.youtube.com/user/RonPaul2008dotcom
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

#2

Ron Paul is very candid, which is refreshing. However, he’s a classic libertarian (AKA “neo-liberal”) who wants to eliminate the Department of Education, Medicare, Social Security, FEMA, and likely wouldn’t support universal health care. I’d prefer a candidate that would support those social programs and make them work as best as possible.

#3

Just to play devil’s advocate for a moment… Just because Ron Paul wants to eliminate the Department of Education doesn’t mean that he wants to eliminate education. He just wants to get rid of the federal government’s centralized control over all states’ education programs. Individual states, counties, cities, etc. would pick up most or all of the services you mention, but they will do it according to local needs and constraints.

Also, you forgot to mention that he wants to get rid of the IRS and keep the USA out of wars. :slight_smile:

Personally, I like Ron Paul since he’s the only chance we have to shrink the federal government at all, or at least to stop federal bloat. I don’t agree with all of his goals, but he’s the only one with momentum in the “right” direction.

#4

Yeah, arguably getting rid of say, the Department of Education won’t make much difference in terms of control since states and local governments have most control over public education anyway. They’re more about providing funding. Medicare and Social Security, though, I think we’d be better off if we kept them, and made them work as best as possible.

It would be nice if he got the nomination because the public debate would be so much better than the stuff we usually hear, like “the terrorists are coming to get you, my opponent is a traitor, and by the way, stem cell research kills babies”.

#5

To all who read this thread ::::(());(o):::::

“the terrorists are coming to get you”
well…duh!
http://www.emergency.com/bladen98.htm

This ideology/religiosity has been destroying people’s lives around the world for many years, for example: nation/states surrounding India, many countries in Africa, middle east, etc.
They want Islamic Law to rule all lands. They claim it all of the time. LISTEN TO THEM!!!

“my opponent is a traitor”
…my question is, If there are valid reasons for this suspicion, then it might be true. To think of it, we’ve had lots of traitors in our history. Remember Alger Hiss, Benedict Arnold, Aldrich Ames, Sandy “socks” Berger?

“stem cell research kills babies”

GET THE FACTS PLEASE! I know someone who does research in this area at John Hopkins.

Understand this:
Embryonic stem cell research has taught us that it is NOT a good idea. If you insert into your body an unborn child’s (or whatever you want to call it) stem cells, and that little girl or boy was to grow up and have cancer at any point in life, BINGO!! YOU GET IT TOO!
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU’VE WON DEATH!
Secondly, that is a life that had all the necessary biological configuration for being a person. Hey, if you condone this butchery, then you should not have shed a tear when you heard about the VA Tech kid going nutz with a pistol, he just performed some (um…) late-late-termed abortions.
Thirdly, adult stem cell research has yielded WONDERFUL results (without the overwhelming risk of cancer for the recipient). It has great promise.

“Social Security”
FOR those of you who know nothing about finances and investments, learn that it would be a
great opportunity if your social security portion of paycheck could be in an individual account. This isn’t “playing the stock market”. A highly diversified investment has proven to beat anything out there. Remember, IT’s YOUR MONEY!! YOU EARNED IT!!

“I’d prefer a candidate that would support those social programs”

Let’s be clear about this, this ought to say the following:
“I’d prefer a candidate that would make some people pay other people’s bills.” WHY, THIS IS STEALING!
And about this universal $h*%, all i hear about from guys from the UK who i play against on XBox live is how their medical system SUCKS!. Can’t see a doctor when your sick. FORGET THAT!! Why not let the free market place fix the problems, it has worked every time it’s tried. You screw with freedom and liberty and everyone gets screwed. Remember when the flu shots were in scarce supply a few years back??? Want to know why? Some 4 out of 5 US pharm businesses shut down operations after Bill Clinton fixed the price of vaccines. Why? It’s because they couldn’t turn a profit.

“Department of Education”

The problem with ejumacation is in the larger establishments who are players on all levels. I spoke to a principle of a high school and asked what her biggest problem was. Answer: can’t fire bad teachers. WHY are schools supposed to be exempt from performance reviews. I mean heck, we elect a new president every 4 years, reps every 2, companies can can a ceo before dawn, etc. The teacher lectures from a podium, not a thrown. Who stops things from getting better? NEA (I saw their leader on cspan and boy did he not like the idea of performance reviews for teachers) Unions are good in theory, but bad in practice.

A dose of reality can taste like robitussin. It will make you better, but, yeah, it tastes bad.

#6

@humorme: Sorry but I think it’s a bit out of line to register here just to vent your political beliefs, especially when it comes to sensitive matters that involve religions.
If you don’t have something to add to anything related to java game development, you have no business here. :-\

#7

Yeah, this is completely out of line. It’s partly my fault, since I obviously ruffled some feathers. My apologies.