Quote: zooo @ March 14 2010, 12:39 PM GMTYou can't join the Ku Klux Klan just because they're giving out free cakes.
I didn't join, but I used to eat the free food that the Hare Krishnas gave away on the campus of the University of Florida.
General Election 2010 Page 5
Ha, what sort of food was it?
There were some Hare Krishnas bouncing about en masse at my uni the other day. But there was no food! 
I've never seen those crazies on Oxford Street giving anything except a headache!
Quote: zooo @ March 14 2010, 1:15 PM GMTHa, what sort of food was it?
There were some Hare Krishnas bouncing about en masse at my uni the other day. But there was no food!
It was some sort of vegan rice & vegetable thing. The campus kids turned out every day so that they could save money on lunch and spend it on beer.
Whoa, they have a website! It says they've been serving lunch on campus since 1971.
Quote: DaButt @ March 14 2010, 2:54 AM GMTI guess I'm spoiled by our every-4-years schedule.
But you've got midterm congressional elections this year, haven't you? And doesn't America have a crazy amount of elections, where you even have to vote for sherriffs and ratcatchers?
Quote: chipolata @ March 14 2010, 1:32 PM GMTBut you've got midterm congressional elections this year, haven't you? And doesn't America have a crazy amount of elections, where you even have to vote for sherriffs and ratcatchers?
I was mainly referring to the fact that our elections are held on specific dates in specific years. An elected president leads the nation for 4 years and that's that. They don't leave unless they die or, in the case of Nixon, resign.
Speaking of U.S. elections, it would appear that Europeans' love of Barack Obama is of the unrequited variety:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7061077.ece
He's got a potential 8 years in office. I'm sure at some point he'll need Europe and come to court us. And to be honest, we're just greatful not to have an idiot in charge hellbent on "spreading democracy" across the world.
Quote: chipolata @ March 14 2010, 2:22 PM GMTHe's got a potential 8 years in office. I'm sure at some point he'll need Europe and come to court us. And to be honest, we're just greatful not to have an idiot in charge hellbent on "spreading democracy" across the world.
Unless the Republicans nominate a baked potato in 2012, Obama's presidency will end January 20th, 2013. After one year as president his approval rating is pathetically low: it took 6 years (the worst part of the Iraq war) for Bush's rating to sink that low. Obama is seen as an ineffective leader and if he follows through with his plan to ram the increasingly unpopular health care legislation down the taxpayers' throats he'll cost his party a lot of seats in November's election.
P.S. President Obama has continued most of President Bush's controversial policies and is still a proponent of spreading democracy.
He'll win. Who are the Republicans going to go with? Palin?
Quote: chipolata @ March 14 2010, 2:45 PM GMTHe'll win.
Wishful thinking. He's hit the trifecta of unpopularity: hardcore liberals, Republicans and, most importantly, independents are disgusted with his actions so far. Sadly, the only group that still holds him in high regard is the African-American community. He still holds a 90%+ approval rating with that group, about twice what it is among the rest of the population.
It's still too early to tell, but right now I'd put money on Scott Brown winning the GOP nomination.
Quote: DaButt @ March 14 2010, 1:52 PM GMTAn elected president leads the nation for 4 years and that's that. They don't leave unless they die or, in the case of Nixon, resign.
Aside from the terminology, that's the same with our Prime Ministers, except the term is 5 years. They're just more likely to "resign".
I would also be surprised to see the Messiah take a second term. The hyperbole has died down and the novelty has worn off.
Quote: DaButt @ March 14 2010, 2:39 PM GMThis plan to ram the increasingly unpopular health care legislation down the taxpayers' throats
I thought it was quite funny when this all blew up that a lot of the detractors tried to paint the UK as having some dreadful health care system, where everyone is left to die in a ditch.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ March 14 2010, 4:57 PM GMTI thought it was quite funny when this all blew up that a lot of the detractors tried to paint the UK as having some dreadful health care system, where everyone is left to die in a ditch.
Similar to Europeans' distorted view of health care in the United States. 
Governments sometimes have to make unpopular decisions, but they shouldn't ignore public opinion when it comes to spending trillions of taxpayer dollars.
Polls show that 96% of Americans would like to see changes to the health care system, but any bill that requires billions of dollars in "bribes" to win the votes of elected officials is fatally flawed. Everyone with half a brain realizes that it's a bad bill that will add to the deficit, line the pockets of insurance companies and result in care that is more expensive and of lesser quality for most Americans.
Is that not your political system rather than the bill itself, that is flawed (in necessitating bribery)?
Quote: Aaron @ March 14 2010, 5:30 PM GMTIs that not your political system rather than the bill itself, that is flawed (in necessitating bribery)?
Is there a political system that isn't flawed?