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Bay12 Presidential Focus Polling 2016

Ted Cruz
- 7 (6.5%)
Rick Santorum
- 16 (14.8%)
Michelle Bachmann
- 13 (12%)
Chris Christie
- 23 (21.3%)
Rand Paul
- 49 (45.4%)

Total Members Voted: 107


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Author Topic: Bay12 Election Night Watch Party  (Read 832447 times)

10ebbor10

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Re: FearfulJesuit's American Politics Megathread Two: Election Boogaloo
« Reply #570 on: March 09, 2013, 04:55:26 am »

The military played a large part in it, just not always a direct one.  Today, though, I'd agree with you, if for no other reason than I don't really care about the U.S. maintaining dominance.  It bothers me to no end that a fraction of the effort put into creating tools of death could easily make the world a much, much better place to live in, which would have the side effect of drastically reducing the necessity for those tools of death.
Not that US has dominance anyway. The time of unilateral world politics is long past.
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Scoops Novel

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Reading a thinner book

Arcjolt (useful) Chilly The Endoplasm Jiggles

Hums with potential    a flying minotaur

Reelya

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Re: FearfulJesuit's American Politics Megathread Two: Election Boogaloo
« Reply #572 on: March 10, 2013, 09:32:17 am »

Because it is a well-known, historical fact that Beijing's McDonalds were airdropped from the US 7th fleet. It's not the 19th century anymore when British gunboats could force the Chinese to buy opium. Your army has little to do with commercial benefits.

That's disputable.

Reports from Iraq right after the invasion did actually cover American corporations given exclusive contracts to do business in a number of areas, like oil drilling and running the cell phone system, so I'd say that the tactic of using military is alive and well. And in the 1950's, you had the US invading Guatemala over the United Fruit Company dispute, and you could extend that to modern-day Latin American interventions, too.

There's also the modus operandi of the IMF forcing countries to privatize everything and sell it off to foreign corporations, but i think that tactic may be close to being phased out since the Chinese (and possibly Indian corporations down the track) right now have all the spare cash, so it's not so guaranteed that the American corporations are going to get the lion's share of carving up the country.

Askot Bokbondeler

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Re: FearfulJesuit's American Politics Megathread Two: Election Boogaloo
« Reply #573 on: March 11, 2013, 11:40:30 pm »

ptw

tryrar

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Re: FearfulJesuit's American Politics Megathread Two: Election Boogaloo
« Reply #574 on: March 12, 2013, 04:00:41 am »

I WAS gonna say this has been a slow week for political news, but then I found this: It appears Paul Ryan is tilting at windmills again.

For those who can't be bothered to read the article, Paul Ryan has laid out a plan that'll supposedly balance the budget in a decade. Naturally of course, said plan also includes the repeal of the Affordable Care Act(surprise surprise!). The lolworthy thing about that article is that he said all this on Fox news Sunday, and host Chris Wallace flat out told him "Well, that's not going to happen." Given the GOP has already tried 30 times to get it repealed, you can see why even he said that :P
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This fort really does sit on the event horizon of madness and catastrophe
No. I suppose there are similarities, but I'm fairly certain angry birds doesn't let me charge into a battalion of knights with a car made of circular saws.

Culise

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Re: FearfulJesuit's American Politics Megathread Two: Election Boogaloo
« Reply #575 on: March 12, 2013, 12:54:06 pm »

Actually my nuke comment was in response to that guy that said the Navy protected the continental US from invasion.

Now, the US don't need to be an Empire. Much less a global one. Look at China: they're faring pretty well without owning every single seas out there. That's the sad part: the US got the costs of an Empire (Huge armies, everyone hates you) with almost none of the benefits (no colonies bringing in cash). Even when you invade a country, you don't get the spoils (look at China building mines in Afghanistan).
To be fair, the only "measured response" you get with a strategic nuclear deterrent is whether you want to blow up one city or a hundred, and in the case of an invasion, there is significant benefit in being able to repel a hostile invasion without setting off global thermonuclear war.  For situations in which you don't want to blow up a city, some conventional force capability is quite helpful.  The ability to park a carrier force in the Persian Gulf and threaten a blockade whenever Iran and Saudi Arabia and/or Israel start getting persnickety at each other is far more invaluable than threatening them with the destruction of Teheran, since it permits a more reasoned, rational reaction to military circumstances that serve American interests but do not necessitate a nuclear response.  Whether one needs a fleet larger than the second to fourteenth-largest fleets combined to do that is a whole 'nother story, but conventional forces do have their place in the modern defense of any nation. 

China's kind of a funny case.  They may be doing well enough with not owning every single sea out there right now, but that doesn't mean they don't want to play the same game, if for no other reason than to protect their foreign investments in Africa and south Asia.  Just one look at their claims in the South China Sea definitely suggests something in the way of Chinese ambitions, especially given all of the hopes of oil in the region.  They're also not particularly content with the way things are as far as their naval force projection is concerned; they've been attempting to build up a blue-water fleet for some time, including the recommissioning of the Varyag last year and ongoing efforts to produce a domestic aircraft carrier.
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Loud Whispers

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Re: FearfulJesuit's American Politics Megathread Two: Election Boogaloo
« Reply #576 on: March 12, 2013, 02:28:34 pm »

On the topic of America =/= founded as Christian nation:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Very well done imo.


http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/to_serve_but_not_protect_Qr3ume5gEhMhtg8LvHgzAI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZKVSNjlSp0&feature=youtu.be

Ah what the crap.

MetalSlimeHunt

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Re: FearfulJesuit's American Politics Megathread Two: Election Boogaloo
« Reply #577 on: March 12, 2013, 08:59:52 pm »

Is Paul Ryan stupid? Signs point to yes.
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Quote from: Thomas Paine
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
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tryrar

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Re: FearfulJesuit's American Politics Megathread Two: Election Boogaloo
« Reply #578 on: March 12, 2013, 09:11:30 pm »

.........This, combined with the link I posted earlier, make me wonder if he's secretly an alien spy out to soften us up for an invasion or something. This is cartoon-level stupidity here
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This fort really does sit on the event horizon of madness and catastrophe
No. I suppose there are similarities, but I'm fairly certain angry birds doesn't let me charge into a battalion of knights with a car made of circular saws.

misko27

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Re: FearfulJesuit's American Politics Megathread Two: Election Boogaloo
« Reply #579 on: March 12, 2013, 09:20:36 pm »

Is Paul Ryan stupid? Signs point to yes.
No, he is honest. And no one, no one, can deny his logic.
 
Frankly, he is like what my mother says my father does from time to time "The truth, slips out. Like a fart.".
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The Age of Man is over. It is the Fire's turn now

Nadaka

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Re: FearfulJesuit's American Politics Megathread Two: Election Boogaloo
« Reply #580 on: March 14, 2013, 02:38:44 pm »

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-13/florida-lieutenant-governor-carroll-resigns-amid-investigation.html?cmpid=yhoo

Who would have thought? The woman hand picked by Mr Medicaid fraud to be lieutenant governor? Guilty of fraud.
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Take me out to the black, tell them I ain't comin' back...
I don't care cause I'm still free, you can't take the sky from me...

I turned myself into a monster, to fight against the monsters of the world.

tryrar

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Re: FearfulJesuit's American Politics Megathread Two: Election Boogaloo
« Reply #581 on: March 15, 2013, 02:48:40 am »

.....I would ask yet again how the hell we elected him(i know I didn't vote for the guy!), but the answer would be "Florida", and that actually makes perfect sense.(I know that's about his lieutenant gov resigning, but as stated he DID pick her -_-)
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This fort really does sit on the event horizon of madness and catastrophe
No. I suppose there are similarities, but I'm fairly certain angry birds doesn't let me charge into a battalion of knights with a car made of circular saws.

Jervill

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Re: FearfulJesuit's American Politics Megathread Two: Election Boogaloo
« Reply #582 on: March 15, 2013, 09:43:30 am »

Actually the answer is two-fold:
Three way races produce odd results, and it was 2010.  It's the same reason Paul LePage is Governor of Maine right now.
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Reelya

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Re: FearfulJesuit's American Politics Megathread Two: Election Boogaloo
« Reply #583 on: March 17, 2013, 04:10:53 am »

3-way races mainly produce crazy results due to the first-past-the-post voting system. (e.g. having 2 liberal candidates ensures that the conservative gets elected, even if a majority of the population would have preferred either of the liberals).

That's why you need instant run-off voting in the USA. It makes multi-party elections more viable.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2013, 04:12:36 am by Reelya »
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10ebbor10

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Re: FearfulJesuit's American Politics Megathread Two: Election Boogaloo
« Reply #584 on: March 17, 2013, 05:43:51 am »

.........This, combined with the link I posted earlier, make me wonder if he's secretly an alien spy out to soften us up for an invasion or something. This is cartoon-level stupidity here
Surely, the existence of the internet gave that away much earlier. Have you never wondered why the lolcat exists, if not to sabotage human productivity.
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