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What Would You Do As President?
With the elections continually in the news there is constant discourse on what each candidate has done or will do. However, rarely do people get the chance to say what they would do. Here is your chance, you have been elected President of the US (god help us all), what items go to the head of the class and how would you handle them?
call up Ron Paul and ask him what he'd do, and probably do that :P. I imagine starting with getting all our military home, would be one of the first few things.
And let someone who knows what they're doing operate.
God spoke to me.
1) Straighten out the economy. Oil prices, housing slump, and the mess that is the Federal Banking Commission. 2) Scale back the size of the Federal Government and lower taxes accordingly. 3) Get a kick-ass foreign relations team into the embassies and capitals to repair our good name.
ASCII tastes bad dude.
Binary it is then.
And there's a quote from Office Space rattling around my head as to what I'd do. I'm going to take the high road and not post it but that's what coming to mind.
... any time I was in doubt as to what to do, President McBang would post the question to Slashdot and use the top-moderated answer for guidance.
Oh, and I'd ask Cmdr Taco what he thought as well.
To put a witty saying into 120 characters, jst rmv ll th vwls.
If I was president,
I'd get elected on Friday, assassinated on Saturday,
and buried on Sunday.
If I was president...
If I was president
An old man told me, instead of spending billions on the war,
we can use some of that money, in the ghetto.
I know some so poor, they use the spring as the shower,
when screaming "fight the power".
That's when the vulture devoured
[chorus]
If I was president,
I'd get elected on Friday, assasinated on Saturday,
and buried on Sunday.
If I was president...
If I was president...
If I was president...
If I was president
But the radio won't play this.
They call this rebel music.
How can you refuse it, children of moses?
[chorus]
If I was president,
I'd get elected on Friday, assassinated on Saturday,
and buried on Sunday.
If I was president...
If i was president
Tell the children the truth, the truth.
Christopher Columbus didn't discover America.
Tell them the truth.
The truth
YEAH! Tell them about Marcus Garvey.
The truth YEAH! The truth.
Tell them about Martin Luther King.
Tell them the truth.
The Truth.
Tell them about JFK
If I was President
[chorus]
If I was president,
I'd get elected on Friday, assassinated on Saturday,
and buried on Sunday.
If I was president...
If I was president
Veto everything. With exceptions for bills that repeal earlier laws.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
First: Honestly, I would do my best to remove our military presence from Iraq (and yes, I know this would probably lead to civil war, but I think its going to happen anyway, just delayed while we're there). Second: I would see if I could get the ball rolling on government insurance (socialist medicine), our privatized insurance system has become the bane of the under and uninsured people in the country, particularly children in those 2 categories.
First thing I would do would be to understand that most people are unhappy with the powers given to the president during these last eight years. I would immediately begin to ask congress for a new checks and balances constitutional amendment.
1. Record all my private discussions.
2. ???
3. Profit!
Virginia is for lovers. EVE is for griefers.
Quit doing things that make other people want to knock our buildings down.
Understandably this will make a number of very large corporations unhappy. But knocking a couple zero's off a few dozen people's income doesn't bother me much.
There's lots of other things I'd do, but this is the big one we've been refusing to make eye contact with for about 70 years.
If the economy takes a dive, I'll maybe push for a large domestic project rather than invent a war. Maybe an interstate highway syste... aww damn... I'll come up with something good.
Promise.
Platform advocacy is like choosing a favorite severely developmentally disabled child.
No More Dupes!
And all editors proven incompetent shall be ground into a fine product: Torgo's Executive Powder
overturn 2001-2008
Let's watch and find out!
- Have Ron Paul be my VP
- Get legislation introduced eliminating the DMCA, Patriot Act
- Get legislation introduced mandating consumer copyright bill of rights and resetting copyright terms to the term when the work was created
- Resign, enjoy my retirement, pension & SS protection
- Watch as Ron Paul fixes the economy, foreign & domestic policy
I'd try to get the first four items done within the first 24 hours. I don't think I could handle being president any longer than that.Karma: SELECT `karma` FROM `users` WHERE `userid`=138474;
FYI Lyrics by Wyclef Jean, "If I Was President"
I'd get elected on Friday.
Assassinated on Saturday.
Buried on Sunday.
He painted a unicorn in outer space. I'm askin' ya, what's it breathin'?
As a capitalist myself, I disagree with a lot of the redistribution of wealth ideals we have going on. I'd probably abolish (or at least tone down) social security to start with.
Also, I'd commercialize a lot of the government functions. I'd attempt to start having the government MAKE money rather than take it via taxes. In sectors where the government was failing to make money, I'd attempt to privatize it. Take the US mail for instance - it used to be a government ran cooperation, but went under private ownership and saved a ton of money by working for profits. Many of the other government functions could also be reassigned in this manor.
I'd also abolish unions. There was a time and a place for them, but not today. The only thing they do is interrupt the flow of commerce. If you want a higher wage, don't cry to your union, go work somewhere else.
Obviously things such as country wide internet access would be beautiful, however I think the government would need to have more money to take on a task such as that.
I would remove "In God We Trust" as the national motto, as well as removing the "Under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. After that, I'd put limits on advertising and marketing which are constantly being shoved in our faces. Then I'd make Network Neutrality a reality. I'd pull out troops out of Iraq. Gay marriage would be legalized at the federal level. Basically I'd pretty much change everything. :)
-Bill
I would legalize hemp for industrial uses and decriminalize marijuana. There are so many great industrial uses for hemp that it is absolutely stupid not to be using it. Marijuana is also far safer than alcohol. Other than that big one I'd probably try to come up with some sort of Peace Corp like serious public works project to take care of the infrastructure in this country. I'd also like to see a similar program setup overseas in countries that would have us. Instead of sending in troops with guns and tanks, we could send in Americans with seeds and tractors. Maybe I'm a bit too idealistic, but I have a hard time believing that we wouldn't be well received around the world if we spent as much on actually improving infrastructure and agriculture and water supplies as we spend on bombs and guns and bullets and other military expenses.
1. Kick off investigations of the crimes of the Bush administration.
2. Scale down our forgein military presence (not quite to the extent Paul wants to, but significantly).
3. Do everything in my power to get all of the unconstitutional legislation that has been passed in the last few years repealed (Patriot Act, MCA, etc).
4. Balance the budget. I would lay down absolute ultimatums that government programs justify their existence and their tax cost to the American people, and cut anything that's not convincing. Maybe I'd even call for a vote on what programs get to stay. We would have to leave taxes at close to current for a few years and pay off our debt, though, I'm afraid.
5. Not overstep the bounds of my office with signing statements, etc.
The first thing I would do is eliminate the Private Federal Reserve and start a government owned and operated Central Bank. The idiocy that is our current system, does not support sustainability and virtually guarantees a boom bust cycle, a debt bound working middle class and a large percentage of people in poverty.
This is all because of the international Banking Cartel and this can all be fixed with a Government controlled central bank.
I would remove all frontiers (incoming of course) between Mexico and Canada. All immigration would be legal and people from all the world would be able to work.
I would increase punishments for non native americans who commit crimes. If they commit a crime, everything they got in the USA will be confiscated, they will be added to a criminals database and they would be deported to their countries (I do not want to make taxpayers fund their prison terms).
I would also bring all of the USA troops back home, all and everyone of them. And I will spend a lot of research and development funding on investigating ways to defend USA soil.
---
Of course, given that I am not an american, I do not think my views are shared by most people here. but hey, not that it really matters what any of us think
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
Interns.
I like basketball!!1!
I would wonder how I got a few million people to vote for me, despite the fact that I refused to be controlled by special interest groups.
Oh nevermind, I'd never get elected.
See how he likes being on the receiving end. Bastard.
If you haven't made a developer cry, you've wasted a day.
Your mom
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
Absolute number one thing, first day on the job: get a blowjob from a cuter intern than Monica, then post pics of it on MySpace. You know, just to get that out of the way.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
I would get the EXPERTS on topics (Economy, Warfare, Science...) to tell me what the best course of action is (multiple, independent experts for sample size (exact size from stats experts)) and then act along those lines.
Two chicks at the same time.
Nothing essentially. Actually better yet, I'd surround myself with people who actually knew what they were doing - not friends - not political appointments, just people who actually had a fundemental understanding of the problems facing this country.
In no particular order:
1. Legalize ALL drugs (this includes regulation and taxation. Want to end the illegal drug trade? This is the fastest way.)
2. Require all able-bodied citizens between ages 18 and 35 (male and female) to undergo military bootcamp. This is NOT a draft however; after going through bootcamp, you are not required to serve in the military.
3. Abolish the two-party system
4. Erase all censorship from all media...This includes: Internet, Television, print, video games, music, etc.
5. Build a border-spanning fence. Every 75 miles, have a reinforced entry way in which people are allowed through.
6. Require that any immigrants that enter the US to be able to speak English prior to being granted citizenship.
7. Allow high school students to pick all of their classes throughout their 4-year High School education.
8. Allow all fifty states to have their say in gun ownership laws (I personally am for personal gun ownership.)
9. Require application for parental certificates (the program would be known as "If you can't feed em, don't breed em". It would be based on the financial situation of the parents, as well as their mental well being and relationship status...i.e. do they constantly fight, or are they constantly in love, etc.)
10. Legalize (and actively regulate) vigalante justice. (if everyone knows they can get their ass kicked by their gun toting neighbor, they are more likely to behave themselves)
Living With a Nerd
3 year plan to institute a nation-wide algae based bio fuel farming and processing industry modeled after the rural farming unions and co-ops that drive our dairy industry. That is, anyone with the open land could create an algae farm with free seed algae from the gubermint, and cheap loans to build the infrastructure. Every so many days a truck from your local co-op fuel depot would pull up, siphon off your fuel and bring it to the distribution center, where the locals could then buy the fuel for their cars/trucks. Figure 250,000 fuel growing tanks, 1 acre each providing all the fuel the nation needs.
3 year plan to create thousands of small community owned pebble bed reactors situated in every army, marine, national guard and air-force armory in the nation. The reactors are small, the armories are (should be anyway) well guarded, so they do double-duty as power stations.
write huge incentive cheques to small inventors for producing commercially viable diesel electric hybrid cars running on the above two fuel sources.
Once those are in place, remove the IRS and current tax law, replace with a 3% flat tax. The huge increase in GDP caused by the above two will more than offset the taxes lost through the current corrupt system.
Jail many lawyers, politicians. Use them to feed the algae from #1 above.
The checks and balances are already there, they just need to be enforced.
1. Befriend a whole bunch of rich folks
2. Do the whole "small Government" thing
3. Move out of the country and resign (in that order, to make sure I'd be able to escape)
4. Watch and laugh as the whole country (well, not quite the whole country, just the poor and middle class people) slowly plummets into chaos
5. Call a few of those rick folks I made friends with
6. Profit!!
In Soviet Russia, I ruled you
To promote better healthcare I would start a new insurance company run either by the government or by a non-profit organization under charter from the government. This insurance agency would provide Health Insurance AT COST to anybody in all 50 states who wanted to pay for it. This would force real competition within the health insurance industry.
Put SCIENCE back in the classroom.
Tax religions like any other business.
Put people before corporations. (I love Capitalism but we've denigrated to Corporatism)
Move the US to metric. :)
As president, I'd require every state to teach a second language through all of school and at state-funded universities. That language would be the same for every person in each state. The second language would be something that would unite the people of the state, give a local identity, and help global interaction.
First, we would try to be good neighbors. California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas would teach Spanish, because of the proximity to Mexico. Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania would teach French because of Quebec, and Louisiana would teach French because of history.
Then, we would try to keep some of our native heritage. Hawaii would teach Hawaiian. North and South Dakota would teach Dakota. Oklahoma would teach, say, Cherokee. Alaska would teach some Inuit language.
Some state would pick up American Sign Language. And then the rest of the states would choose some language off the top 20.
The president is not god or a dictator or an emperor. He has power but much of his power it seems comes from connections, friends and the job holder's well trained skills at politics. I have no desire to gain such skills (that'd require me to cut out any remaining ethics and morals) and I have no illusions I am even capable of gaining them (much less doing so while in the fire). Hell I suck at dealing with people especially when I'm on the spot so it'd be worse than even for the average person.
More than likely I'd start abusing any power I actually had, due to my lack of having such powers, so things would go downhill even faster. The end result would be that my subordinates would try to bypass me, my advisers would try to hoard power and lei to me, no one would do what I wanted to them (beyond direct orders) and congress would hate me. I'd of course hate the job as well so I'd have almost no desire to dedicate myself to it especially since I'd likely see it as pointless.
I guess my only hope for salvaging something from such a debacle is that I'd have some nice looking interns. Actually that brings up the whole abusing power things so, yeah, things would go badly.
End male circumcision.
Make the streets flow with the blood of the non-believers!
1. fund the creation of MagLev wind turbines (google it) and solar cells based on what Konerka (again, google it) is doing in that arena.
2. There has got to be a better battery technology than what is in use today. If we could get the wind and solar to the point of creating 250% of what we use, then we can store the extra for night-time use (and when the wind isn't blowing). Under current wind and solar technology this is just technically impossible. Thus see number 1.
3. Once you have the battery question solved (along w/ the wind and solar in place); switch all non-heavy-duty vehicles over to electric w/ the new battery and smaller versions of the MagLev turbine. So they charge when they're being driven.
enough about energy.
4. abolish the Federal Reserve. It was setup illegally; it's a private bank. Did you know, for every dollar that the Federal Reserve prints, it charges the US gov't $1 + interest? over 90% of the US govt debt is owed to this private bank. And why? Because the US doesn't regulate it's own currency. Countries in the world w/ no debt, like say Russia, print and maintain their own currency. I'm just saying.
5. Then w/ all that in place; bring home every last soldier. They don't need to be anywhere but here, guarding OUR borders, not someone else's.
Screw the IRS! They're just the "heavy" for the private bank. 'No taxation w/out representation' my @$$.
I don't have the skills to be president. Now, if you changed the question to "What would you do as King?", well, then we could talk.
And the worms ate into his brain.
being president is the hardest job you can have, it takes lots of responsibility but it also a job which give you more happiness if you serve honestly and humility because of the many people you can help and serve as well...
http://tvlands.blogspot.com
1) I will repeal corporate personhood.
2) I will tax the top 5% and distribute the wealth through increased funding for basic academic research, reimburse college loans for students carrying 3.2GPA or higher, national daycare programs, and national health care programs.
3) Prosecute the supreme court justices who appointed Bush, and every person in the federal governemnt who continued to aid and abet the terrorist regime.
4) Establish a department of peace, reduce military funding, and give anyone a seat a a negotiating table so we do not have to fight them "over there" or "over here".
5) Reparations for the victims of hurrican katrina who were failed by their governments.
First, I'd work with congress on ending the practice of gerrymandering and on ending discriminatory ballot access laws, which I think are the biggest threat the republic.
Second, I'd withdraw from the Berne Convention and ask congress to pass sane copyright laws.
Third, I'd remove all our troops from the following countries:
Kenya, Egypt, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, all European countries, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Cuba, Columbia, and Iraq.
I'd look for Magrathea.
...I'd plan on having a four-year term.
How much time in every first-term presidency is spent trying to get a second term? How much time is wasted on the campaign trail that could be put to use in other, more constructive manners?
As for my actual agenda... while keeping in mind that politics is a two level game and international concerns must continue to receive support, I would do my best to support domestic initiatives, particularly education. I'd also make darn sure I had some good advisors, because I know I don't have all the answers.
1) I would implement an ad campaign entitled "The World is my Country, it's people my Countrymen," pushing my press secretary to repeat it every day.
2) I would create a department of peace.
3) I would truly invest in alternative energy by pushing congress to spend $40Billion on a new energy infrastructure, giving grants to businesses who create wind and solar farms, and businesses who are near the completion of high capacity batteries and capacitors.
4) I would cut back on military spending, investing in education, research, the department of peace and alternative energy progress.
First: Two chicks @ the same time... and if I were elected president, I think I could hook that up.
Second: Nuke the middle east. All of it. even our friends
Third: Attempt to legalize every illegal drug. Declare the war on drugs over.
Fourth: End the Patriot Act, DMCA, etc.
Fifth: Disband the DHS & IRS.
Sixth: Declare Martial Law and let the hilarity ensue.
A good government is a boring government. A good government gets the basics rights and makes decisions on the basis of impartial analysis of factual observation (not gut feelings and radical ideology).
The basics:
The details:
The bottom line is that, if I was president, it wouldn't be about what I wanted - it would be about what the people wanted. It wouldn't be about what I (and my "gut") thought would work to achieve - it would be about what an impartial analysis of factual observations thought would work.
Initiate a 15 year plan to move the U.S. from a gasoline based transportation infrastructure to a hydrogen fuel cell based infrastructure. This would require building a number of nuclear plants to generate the hydrogen as well as supply the power for new factories to support the new infrastructure. Oil companies would be mandated to assist with the conversion as well as automobile manufacturers to create vehicles in all classes trucks, buses, SUV, sedans, etc that run on fuel cells.
This would generate jobs as well as get the economy moving again.
I would also start the process of pulling all U.S. troops from overseas assignments. The only way U.S. troops would remain overseas is if the host country paid us for the protection. The extraction of troops from Iraq would be prefaced on getting the Iraqi military up to speed to handle their own internal issues.
There would be a brief foray into Pakistan to finally capture/confirm dead Bin Laden. After that they would be on their own.
A set of security measures would be implemented to protect against ballistic missiles as well as scanning all cargo vessels interring out waters for nuclear or biological weapons.
A very simple tax plan would be implemented, 10% no deductions. This would put more money in the hands of the people that earned it which would stimulate the economy.
Well, steal a starship ofcourse!
Jesus Christ, Slashdot has really jumped the shark with the introduction of the politics section.
It's more like a fifth grade civics class than ever before with this lame ask slashdot question.
Crush the lesser races, conquer the world, unimaginable power, unlimited rice pudding, et cetera, et cetera.
Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others!
Consider this a platform, since I'll be 35 fairly soon.
1. Use our armed forces for national defense, not the world's police
2. Divert savings from needless wars into balancing the budget and paying down the debt
3. Reverse laws that punish victimless crimes and legislate personal morality
4. Pardon and release non-violent drug offenders to help with prison overcrowding
5. Revise the tax code to bring fairness and relief to the working/middle classes
Since it doesn't look like Dr. Paul will get the nomination, vote me in 2016... if we're still here.
Vanya's Law: "In any culture without irony, fart jokes will be the highest form of humor."
2. Abolish Transportation Security Agency.
3. Deport illegal aliens.
4. Enforce border.
5. Develop trustworthy voting.
Encourage voting & public involvement in civic affairs.
The only thing new in this world is the history that you don't know.[Harry Truman]
Every election is the same thing. Candidates with speech writers talk the talk of "at home" issues. They can almost never do anything about it because "at home" issues are mostly local issues. Outside of coming up with a way to tax more more, and going to war, Washington doesn't do much for me. When the fed cuts rates or raises them, that impacts me at home. Most of the at home issues they don't belong in anyways.
But what ever happened to thinking big. Last time we thought big was the 60's I guess and the space race. We're a large country, I want a large project. One that inspires us (try putting a price on inspiration), and that becomes a legacy for an entire generation. One whose impact will last for decades.
I would love to see some grand project. Lunar colony (not in 20 years, but like, let's start doing it now). New space vehicle. Particle accelerator bigger then anything on the drawing board today. Something. Anything that inspires us and improves the planet.
1) Create a balanced budget over next four years.
2) Insist China float its currency, or stop trade.
3) Withdrawal of troops over four years. The immediate pullout is insane, even through we truly have no business being in Iraq in the first place.
4) National Health Insurance. Having companies in charge of your benefits makes no sense.
5) Seriously fund head start.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
That smokin' hot deaf chick on West Wing.
Oh, I thought you asked "who."
Let's see, what would I do as president? I think the speech would go a little something like this.
"Hey, folks, you know how they say there's nothing that gets an economy moving like a war? Let's consider that for a moment. We're talking about uniting the entire nation behind one goal. We're talking about reordering the economy to meet this goal, every working man and woman either directly engaging in the mission or serving in a supporting role. We train the flower of our youth, equip them with our treasure and send them thousands and thousands of miles away to foreign lands, all this effort just to drop a bomb in someone's lap. Could you imagine going to this sort of effort to give that same guy a helping hand, rebuild a house, provide a hot meal or maybe just a cold beer? It's laughable! And what a sad joke we are as a species that we feel this way.
"So, what's on the agenda for the next four years? We're going to go to war. Not any of this silly war on drugs and terror nonsense, much more effective than the war on poverty. No, we're going to war on business as usual, the way we've always been doing things. We spend $500 billion on the military and what we have to show for it is worth maybe a tenth of that number. Our nation has lost its leading role in science and industry. The solution to these problems is not just throwing money at 'em, the solution is to use that money intelligently.
"It's a simple truth that centralized organizations are among the most efficient forms of human effort we've ever seen. The Soviet Union's economy fell apart because bureaucrats in Moscow tried to make decisions on how business on the other side of the empire should be conducted. The former genius of the capitalist system was the decentralization of authority to the periphery of the economy, let the businesses make decisions on what they need to produce and how to do it. Efficient organizations succeed, inefficient ones are allowed to fail, their capital and employees and resources free to be used by more efficient enterprises. Folks, the consolidation we're seeing with today's megacorporations is simply a repeat of the Soviet folly. And the growing wasteful bureaucracy in Washington is no better.
"Government needs to concentrate on what government does best in a 21st century nation-state. Such duties include providing for the common defense, making treaties with foreign powers, providing regulation and inspection of private enterprise to ensure those organizations operate in the public interest, national health care and retirement funds, and conducting basic research in the sciences.
"Government is not to be a piggy bank for special interests to raid. It is not a cash cow to be tapped by connected contractors who have made big donations to politicians. To that end, all political campaigns will be publicly funded. Anyone money recieved from outside the election funding system will be seen as a bribe and the criminal penalties will follow from that."
That's just a few thoughts I had off the cuff. I would assume if I ever were president and tried to say something like that, I'd be taken aside into a smoke-filled room and shown that film of the Kennedy assassination, but shot from a view I've never seen before, a view that looks like it's from the Grassy Knoll. "Any questions?"*
*With apologies to Bill Hicks.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
I think a fence is unrealistic. I think the way to do it is stiff sanctions on companies hiring illegals. And check, check often and check more often. If illegals are found, fine the company and arrest the illegals. Send them packing. When the companies are no longer offering them jobs, then they'll stop coming.
And to further that, I'd nix this universal healthcare crap. Do they realize that it is going to compound the immigration problem immensely! Sounds good to be nice to everyone, but it's about as practical as that damn fence. Not to mention, I'm not working my ass off so someone who doesn't work can go to the emergency room to get a painkiller every time they have a hangnail.
Then I'd get rid of the thing that says if you have a baby here, you get to stay.
Once we stop the flow, then we work on sending back that ones that aren't here legally. THEN if we still have a problem, I'd think about a fence.
Internationally I'd be pushing to get out of Iraq soon, but that means, 'get 'er done' as soon as possible, not 'Get out at all costs'
I know this isn't going to make me popular around here, but it's my honest answer to the question.
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
My first act after being sworn in would be to bring all US troops home from Iraq.
My second act would be to issue a presidential pardon for all non-violent drug offenders.
My legislative priorities, assuming like-minded people have been also been elected to the House and Senate, would be:
1) The end of the War on Some Drugs. The money currently spent on that would go toward drug treatment, see item 3 below.
2) Repeal of the DMCA, and systematic reform of the copyright, trademark and patent laws. Copyright would be an initial term of five years, renewable for one additional term of five years, with an open format preservation requirement for the renewal. The scope of what is protected by trademark law would be substantially narrowed. Software patents would be kaput.
3) A single payer comprehensive national health care plan. Neither employers, nor university presidents would be permitted access to people's medical records.
4) The current tax code would be scrapped, and replaced by a simple progressive income tax with no loopholes. I am also open to using a national sales tax with a progressive, income sensitive prebate program.
5) Immigrants who want to come to the US for a better life would be welcome, without quotas or limits, even if they have darker skin than me or speak a different language.
6) New education standards, with a heavy emphasis on math and science. Schools receiving federal funds would be prohibited from having ID as part of the science curriculum, and would be required to have as much resources put into arts, music and such as are put into sports.
"Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
...when I'm eligible in 2012:
1. Have a camera and public feed of me at all times, as a true servant of the people.
2. Remove all surveillance cameras and traffic cameras.
3. Fiber to every home and free national internet.
4. No more war unless we are directly under attack.
5. Solar Power.
6. Break up the corporate monopolies.
7. Free the radio and television spectrums for public use.
8. Give the public the truth about JFK and Roswell and 9/11 (I'm not saying I know what it is, but as president, I would, right?).
9. Completely restore the constitution.
10. Go back to the Gold standard.
11. Eliminate the current credit card system.
12. National Health Care
13. Make copyright last no longer than 5 years, for any design or art.
14. Fix our defunct education system (something along the lines of OLPC/wikipedia).
15. Invest more in NASA.
16. Move from airplanes to a slower, cheaper, safer, more environmentally friendly zeppelin system.
17. Expand the peace corp.
18. Give every American a free cellular video phone.
19. Lock up all the criminals currently in power.
20. Repair our international relations with every country not actively involved in a genocide.
21. Give incentives for electric vehicles, like the Tesla Motor Car.
I have a few other goals, and I think they are actually realistic. Some will be harder than others, obviously. A lot of money will be saved over the current system as we are eliminating much of the corporate profiteering (health insurance, cellular companies, internet providers, cable companies), and by implementing a superior video phone infrastructure, there will be less need to travel or commute. Plus, once the solar infrastructure is all in place, it will be much cheaper to maintain than our current oil based infrastructure. After all the ground work is done I'd like to focus on safer and healthier food, quality of life, and mental health issues, as well as an improved food pyramid that reflects more of the true benefits of eating higher quantities of hormone free meat, and chemical free vegetables and fruit. There is plenty of evidence showing that the current food pyramid is dead wrong.
I'd also like it if as an aptitude test for graduating high school, kids could build a simple radio, fix a car, perform CPR, write a basic software application, and read music on at least one instrument. I also think reading, writing, and arithmetic are important, but we should be farther along by now.
Another area of research we should invest more in is automated vehicles. The traffic and mortality rates here in southern California are pretty atrocious. My carbon-fiber solar powered zeppelin designs could go a long way to assisting in this endeavor as well.
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
President is head of the EXECUTIVE branch. Aside from appoint people to positions and try to influence legislation they do nothing more than sign paperwork, ensure that laws are being enforced and try to keep us out of military trouble.
People make all these broad claims about what they'll do as president. What about "surround myself with people who know what to do in the role in which they are placed and make sure my pencil is sharp"? The Congress makes laws, the courts make sure they don't go against the law of the land. All I would be doing is make sure things are running smoothly.
Much like a Senor SysAdmin?
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country did to you
1. Eliminate the RIAA
2. Create a new governmental agency called the Federal Lawsuit Agency, whose job would be to go through all the pending lawsuits, and make sure stupid and pointless ones don't get to court.
3. Actually _listen_ to what Americans wants
4. Eliminate the Federal Income Tax
5. Limit the power of capitalist companies with way too much power (eg. Microsoft, Comcast).
6. End the war in Iraq
7. Write network neutrality into the United States Constitution.
8. Ban warrantless wiretapping, and make providing wiretaps a $1 million per person fine towards ISPs.
9. Lower health care costs, insurance costs, and other costs for the less wealthy people.
10. If in the event a major event were to occur during my term in office, I would _not_ overreact and go to war
11. Make it a federal crime, punishable with a minimum of a $1 million dollar fine and 1 year in federal prison, for any public organization, company, school, collage, or anyone to deny and/or punish innocent people for expressing their Constitutional rights, or doing nothing at all.
Just, "wow". Note to (almost) everyone who answered: America is losing two wars right now, and spending $200B for the privilege. I'm seeing maglevs and french language classes and...wow. All sorts of Star Trek engineering solutions, and (almost) no one mentions the loosing two wars thing. My expectation for the next election just dropped even lower.
1) Hire young female interns
2) Buy box of cigars
3) You know the rest...
- Bill Clinton
The question shouldn't be what, but who
Phase One
Real campaign finance reform
Clean up children's television requirements/advertising to children
Mandate debates of candidates
Revoke broadcast rights of violators, pending hearing, making not following the law so frightening that broadcasters will follow with a big smile.
Investigate last administration
Pour money into the NSF, alternative fuels
Mandate military to fund research on manufacturing processes for everything they buy
Cleaner air for cities (increase coal restrictions) to lower asthma/health costs.
Socialized medicine.
Increase Social security payments -- 2% for all income above current cap.
Phase Two
Push prosecution of executive officers for wrongdoing by corporations
Veto any law longer than 15 pages -- budget the only exception. "Just send me as many short laws as necessary."
Establish a pork fund to eliminate waste of pork projects -- just send them the money.
Eliminate all corn ethanol subsidies. Send large subsidies to independent farmers -- loss of ethanol revenue should not lower the yearly income of the independent farmer. No more money to ADM/Conagra.
Phrase Three
Eliminate executive orders. Rescind and publish all previous ones.
More stringently define "State of War" to include congressional declaration thereof.
Push for constitutional amendment to make treaties less powerful than the constitution.
Set up truth and reconciliation commission on torture. Prosecute all who do not confess and attempt reconciliation.
Increase penalties for bribery to life imprisonment.
Set up branch of IRS to audit all elected officials every year.
Phase Four
Clean up electoral college. No declaration of candidates by college members until after election. No term limits for electors.
Fix health care and stop CEO's form makeing big money for job cuts and pay cuts.
Dump the out outsourced EDS systems in the navy and marines.
Fix the chicago area roads and other areas that need it.
Push for high speed rail in the us.
Dump the DMCA
give president pardons to our soldier in jail for doing there job in iraq.
Have bush put on trail for the laws that he broke starting with his fixing of the vote.
If I were president, I would overhaul the electoral system so that it was more fair. There has been plenty of research showing that plurality voting is the least fair method, http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/06/0649217. The root problem of all of the USA's woes is an ineffective, corrupt government and without addressing the system by which the representatives are elected, there will be no lasting change. Once the electoral system allows moderates to take part in US government again, other problems will be solvable rather than "trench warfare".
Mexico has OIL, we can keep all of our tourist dollars, and the illegal immigration problem ceases immediately - stay where you are, we'll bring the U.S. to you!
-shane
- End any form of government mandated censorship.
:D
- Codify network neutrality into law.
- Legalize prostitution and most narcotics with some extra taxes imposed on both.
- Limited copyright to a 10 year non-renewable term.
- Mandate use of OSS and open document formats in all Government agencies.
- Lower drinking age to 18.
- Nationally increase age of consent to 18.
- Build a number of state-owned hospitals that would provide medical care to all citizens for no charge (beyond the tax increases needed to pay for this)
- Seriously review criteria for bringing civil suits to eliminate frivolous lawsuits
- Codify the right of all citizens to own and carry small arms (anything firing a standard projectile that's not fully automatic. Fully automatics to be regulated by means of the Federal stamp as they are currently, but without the 1984 manufacture date cutoff).
- Outlaw abortion (sorry, I know it's not popular around here, but that's one of my beliefs, and it's not religiously motivated).
- Enact Federal laws to remove ID teaching from public schools.
- Scale back military operations around the world. Reduce overall military budget by 15%. 1/3 of the recouped budget would be diverted to NASA. 1/3 to fund the aforementioned health plan coverage, and the other 1/3 to be directed towards funding independent scientific research.
- Marriage replaced with legal entity civil partnership which is identical and open to any couple regardless of orientation. Marriage ceremonies are made legally unofficial and can be handled as each individual and their clergy sees fit.
- Given that the President cannot do all of these things, I will rename my position "Supreme High Ruler".
That's my idea of perfection. The sad truth is though that there is no perfect solution or perfect ruler, because many people want different things for this country. There are some issues that flat out are going to conflict between people. While we could all make "The world as it should be." (TM) if we were ruler of the world, we have to accept the fact that it would only be perfect from our own vantage point, and would still be just as flawed as it is now to many others.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
First, I would order the military leaders to devise an exit strategy for Iraq that would minimize military and civilian strategies. I don't know how to do it, they do so I'd leave the micromanaging up to them.
I would also defund the great wall of Mexico and use that money along with a portion of the Iraq war money to improve our nations name over seas by offering a system of grants, assistance, and loans to developing nations and nations that have a stron anti-american sentiment. If the offer is refused it will be renewed every 6 months.
At home, I would boost spending to education and sciences, especially "pure science" projects such as high energy physics. Legalize marijauna and tax the hell out of it, use this money and other vice taxes to implement a national insurance plan.
Of course in order for that to happen I'd have to thrown the insurance lobby out of Washington so while we're at it we'll just get rid of all the lobbies at once.
Finally, I would raise taxes for oil companies and on gasoline itself and use those revenues to do real developement on wind/solar/nuclear projects.
Of course, that isn't so much an "If if were president" as it is an "If I were dictator". The chances of any of this happening are slim to none, even if the president wants it and works for it. Many things are decided by congress and congress is heavily influenced by the lobbies. If I had to choose between getting Republicans out of the white house or getting rid of lobbiests; well, how much more damage can the republicans really do?
Kill all the lawyers.
Direct NASA to create fully automated, self-sustaining habitable outpost on Mars.
Move friends and family there.
Nuke Earth.
Starting with - build a bi-partisan administration. Goal #1: Get rid of the bickering in Washington. The administration would work internally to create a framework for solving problems. When it succeeds, a proposal is presented to Congress. When it fails, the matter is put on the back-burner to spend time on something that *can* be resolved.
Goal #2: Push for congressional term limits and constitutionally-required balanced budgets.
BTW - to those who would have our government do more than it already does - why in the *world* would you want the federal government to take on responsibilities like that? Hasn't the recent grab for power demonstrated how we should be getting government *out* of our life and not further into it?
Here is what I can think of right now. I must say... this would never, ever, make it through congress.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Geez people, the question is what would you do if you were president, not what would you do if given 3 wishes. Even then, 9 out of 10 answers are so poorly thought out it makes me glad almost none of you will ever hold any elected office.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
1. Find a way to end the RIAA and MPAA
2. Get the US out of the Berne Convention
3. Find a way to get rid of the DMCA
4. Find the happy medium in the whole IRAQ war, we need to pull back when its possible, but we can't leave yet, figure out when its safe to bring most home, while still ensuring the stability of the region, and the safety of our allies and interests.
5. Find a way to impliment sane network neutrality for the internet.
6. Get the FCC to revise the rules around Broadband deployment, re-define what broadband means, grant a nationwide license on the provision that the telco's must make broadband available to 100% of the country under the provisions of what my administration has defined broadband to be within my term of office.
7. Force the opening of the Cell Networks under the provisions of true openness. The phones my not be locked in anyway, if the vendor of the phone offers a feature the Telco must make the faeture available and allow it to work. Ie. If the phone is capable of having a USB plugged into it to upload/download ring tones, pictures, text, etc without having to go over the telco's data network then it must be capable of doing that.
8. Force Microsoft to play nice in the market place (this applies to all other vendors as well) no more secrets. All protocols must be open, all hardware must be supportable by any OS.
9. Find some way to force Apple to open the iPod, and the MAC Hardware/Software.
10. Give the Space Program the shot in the arm it needs.
11. $1,000,000,000 bounty on Osama bin Laden's head.
12. Raise Emmisson Standards to where they oughta be, the Auto industry needs a serious kick in the ass, Neccessity is the mother of invention, make the standards immpossibly high and force the companies to get there.
13. Overhaul patent and trademark system, key point you must have a product (or have the aptent licensed to a company that has a product)
14. ICANN, I think it needs to stay in US hands, but it needs more international support and inclusion.
15. Sign the Kyoto Protocol, but only if Japan Bans Whaling.
16. Outsourcing/Off Shoring/Global Sourcing, whatever you call it some control needs to be had in all sectors, IT, AUTO, etc over the number of US jobs going over seas.
17. Recognize that the Illegal Immigration problem is not going to get solved, find a rational way to handle the issue and allow those who need to come to America to come here and join society without having to do it illegally.
Thats a quick list I could probably think of more that were less technology oriented given time.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
Well, I think I'd start by trying to get to some sort of workable solution in Iraq. Just pulling up and leaving isn't feasible, but definitive goals with actual progress need to be put in and if people don't meet them, then other people who will would be put in and those that failed better have some good reasons or they'll be cashiered out of government service. Not going to be unreasonable about it, but if there are signs that best effort wasn't given...
;P
Dove-tailing with that would be an attempt to get the US to realize that it's not the world and merely a part of it. Try to extend the olive branch on a few arguments that have gone on for decades with no end in sight (Cuba, Iran, etc.) and even if they swat it away and stomp on it, at least we attempted to broker a fair end to the acrimony between nations. Not to say that other countries can boss the US around, but just an attempt to play nice with the neighbors rather than blasting the music louder.
On the home front, I'd take a long, hard look at ending entitlement programs. Welfare would see a fairly major curtailing in all likelihood, and employment would see a revamp. While I would want to leave as much in to assist people displaced by a market shift who are honest workers and trying to get into a new field (which could require school and the like), people who sit around for years doing nothing would find themselves out of luck. Hopefully, that will save a few bucks to go towards things like healthcare and such as healthcare is one of the few "entitlements" I'd probably leave alone. The goal would be that nobody starves or has to suffer a disease untreated...but you don't get money for existing. Nor do you get money to buy food...you want government assistance on food, you take what you get. Don't like it? Get the hell off the support program and get a job!
Educationally, wow...so much work to be done. First off, No Child Left Behind gets the axe under the "no more entitlement" clause above. A new program, Every Child Left Behind would be put in wherein teachers are encouraged to only pass deserving students. Set the bar high, make them rise to it...basically. If they can't, they don't earn their diploma or what have you...give some actual worth to these pieces of paper again. While there's limits to what the federal government can dictate here, I'd call for states to bring back actual education where the students learn to absorb and process information logically rather than recite facts to pass a test. A hard road to hoe there, but one that I think would pay long-term dividends to have a population of thinking citizens.
Another goal would be to revive American industry, though that is something I'm still a bit vague on the particulars. Surely though, the world still has demand for products that don't poison you or explode or fall apart after three weeks even if they cost a few dollars more.
On the liberties side, the Nanny State would see a bloody end, and Security Theater would probably give its last showing. Congress would be handed a mandate to fix broken, stupid laws rather than creating more broken, stupid laws and while they'd likely ignore it, the people at that point can vote in representatives that will fix laws if that's what they feel should be done. If they don't, well...the people said they don't care about that so I'd just have to move on. Morality would not be legislated, but would be a personal choice. So long as your choices do not infringe on the rights of others then the law won't interfere. There will be particular issues that will need to be handled in less of a "carte blanche" fashion (such as addictive and/or mind-altering drugs), but on the whole the money being hemorrhaged trying to keep people from being stupid will stop being spent and hopefully natural selection will take over and remove the stupid people.
Eh...think that's enough pointless scheming out of me...being that I'll never in a million years be the President...
Let's face it, you would need king like authority to do any serious changing of the US or the world in a single term. Having said that, Here is what I'd like to see changed:
1 - Undeclare all the wars; war on terror, war on drugs, war on want/poverty, NCLB, etc... In other words, stop fighting wars on moralistic/neoconservative crap that furthers the neocon agenda.
2 - set up a academic type trust or board (5 members from each state not including educational institution members) to go back to the constitution and re-evalute EVERY fucking law that has been made since. Hope that states would follow suit. The goal being to slim it down, get rid of stupid laws.
3 - Do similar to scrap and replace the current tax system (taxes pay for some good stuff, but we don't need that much taxation if we don't pay for bad stuff) -- simplified explaination.
4 - delete Fox News from the US, and from History... ok, that's wrong, but it might be fun to try
5 - Enforce open government from the top down
6 - Try to stay alive long enough to run in the next election
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
I'd start a search for Osama Bin Laden. I think he's dangerous.
1. Leave Iraq
2. Provide universal healthcare
3. ????
4. Profit.
The first thing I'd do is sponsor a bill that would repeal all legislation enacted since 2000. No Child Left Behind, PATRIOT Act... All of it.
The last administration has spent their time in power eroding civil liberties (by expanding surveilance on citizens, while reducing oversight and burden of proof). They've spent their time making the rich richer while keeping the poor down. They've been encouraging the buddy-system and extremely partisan politics at the expense of at least half the country which disagrees. They are most likely the most corrupt administration in the history of the nation, using Executive Privilege and presidential pardon powers to prevent any investigation and keep their friends out of trouble.
The last administration has cut funding to NASA and other scientific research, and to education. They've set a precedent for "pre-emptive strike." They've ruined our economy and devalued our currency.
The next president is likely to be a 'lame duck' president in the best case scenario, because it will probably take more than 8 years to undo the damage that's been done by this previous administration. The next president will also have to take the brunt of the political, economic, and popular fallout from the poor policies of the previous administration. That worries me more because there is at least one candidate which I believe could actually be a great progressive president who could do some real good for the future of the nation, but even if he gets elected he'll likely be average at best because of the mess he'll be handed coming in.
In no particular order:
- Get rid of social security (or scale it down drastically); it's already bankrupt, so no big change other than admitting that
- Fix medical insurance by legislating severe penalties for insurance companies discouraging treatment (without socializing healthcare and destroying our lead in medical research)
- Investigate establishing an independent court in the government responsible for investigating cases of breach of constitutionality in actions of anyone in any branch. There would be very strict standards for bringing actions and finding guilty (ie: gross breach and 3/4 majority to find guilty), but guilt would result in immediate impeachment.
- Change the tax code to a flat tax (fixed % for everyone); different %'s possible for investment and work income.
- Establish independent, private, non-partisan commission to develop an index for real inflation. Allow inflation amount of investment income tax free each year (ie: allow people to keep up with inflation before counting "real" income on investments).
- Force a balanced budget
- Work on protecting privacy, civil liberties, freedom
Clearly I'll never be elected, lol.
Seriously, don't agree with all points in the song, but it's got a powerful message.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
Rich people are EXPERT at staying rich. They tax the poor all the time, and because economic education in America sucks, few realize it.
Next, I would bring back the F-14 Tomcat, just because of the cool-factor, but also because the Hornet cant carry enough gas to do anything bad-ass.
FORCE every child in America to pass Logic 101, thus ending all public protests, unions, strikes, and Geraldo Rivera.
To halt Drunk driving, I would remove parking lots from all bars and liquor stores. Walk it off, bitches.
I would last, institute the "Apple Act" where if a corporation cannot prove what it claims in its advertisements, an F-14 drops a JDAM on their headquarters building.
Steal a space shuttle.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Don't like it? Then don't run for office. Why should we even bother to consider you say that we can't trust you?
Caught doing something bad or that the people didn't like? Shouldn't have been doing that. You are a representative, you represent us.
Doing something "Top Secret"? That's fine, just let us know who you are hanging out with that way if you ARE doing something we think we don't like we know who else should be brought to the trial latter.
Worried about being attacked be terrorists? You do have the secret service to protect you. But not all locations of what you are up to need be known, just your political plans.
Gonna lie about any of this? That my friend is high treason and will be treated as such.
First, take the Revolution-Counter Revolution Idea to keep stability after declaring war on different government types. 2nd, I would start minting ducats at a low inflation rate to help pay for the Grand Army that is going to take over the Western Hemisphere. I would need some good diplomat advisors to lower my badboy for all the annexations. Finally, I would move my slider towards free subjects to lower revolt risk. Oh, life isnt Europa Universalis III after all....
Presidents can veto bills, make speeches ("Lead"), and a few other things.
I would make "does this law increase or decrease individual liberty?" the litmus test whether I'd sign a given bill. Now some things like invading Afghanistan probably are a net increase to individual liberty: they actively sheltered people who had already attacked us, and being under decreases one's liberty more than the resulting increase in taxes decreases it.
Nation building in Afghanistan, in my estimation, decreases individual liberty more than the gain realized by having a stable Afghanistan.
If there was a reasonable uncertainty whether a law would increase or decrease liberty, I'd err on the side of caution by having the government do as little as possible.
The Iraq war, the patriot act, and nearly everything done in the name of fighting terrorism are huge infringements on liberty, both directly and via taxes.
As for speeches, I would try to show the American people how the system of entitlements that now pervades our society has twisted our culture. I don't care that "every industrialized nation does X": Since when did we become followers?
I'd try to get one state to accept this deal: "If you are willing to forgo all federal entitlement programs for your people, then the federal tax rate in your state is $1000 per person - collect it any way you'd like." And when a hurricane hit the state, I'd get on TV and say to the rest of the country: "Your fellow Americans are hurting - please be a patriot and do what you can to help."
And then I'd try to get a second state to take that deal.
I'd never get elected.
18. Codify Fair Use in to law!
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
Assuming that I had the political clout to do whatever I wanted, one of the first things that I would do would be to push through major copyright reform. Specifically, the length of a copyright term would be reduced to 14 years with one optional 14 year extension. I wouldn't be completely cold-hearted to those folks whose large stores of Intellectual Property were suddenly Public Domain, though. I would phase in the new copyright terms for existing works. Starting with 1923, I would have 10 years of works fall into the public domain every year. So, assuming that we begin in 2009 - when the next President takes office - copyrighted materials from 1923-1932 would fall into public domain in 2010. 2011 would see works from 1933-1942 enter public domain and so forth until we were all caught up. I would also assume that any works created 10 years or more ago were renewed.
;-)
The other major change I would make is also copyright related. I would split the fines for copyright infringement into two categories. The first would be "For Profit Infringement." These would be the places that buy one CD, run off a thousand copies, and sell them on the streets for a buck each. The fines for this group would be the same as are currently set ($750-$150,000 per infringement). The other category would be "Not For Profit/Home Infringement." This would be for Ma Doe whose 14 year old daughter installed Kazaa and wound up on the wrong end of a RIAA lawsuit. This class of infringement would only be liable for 10x fair market value of the items infringed. For example, suppose the RIAA investigators found 300 songs shared on Ma Doe's system. Fair market value per song is $0.99. So each infringement would be $9.90 and the total fine would be $2,970. Still high, yes, but not so high that an unintended civil offense leads to Ma Doe's bankruptcy. The RIAA would still be able to engage in their lawsuits, but demanding "settle or face a fine of about $3,000" doesn't have the same terrifying ring as "settle of face a fine of 45 MILLION DOLLARS!"
Of course, there's more I would do, but those are the two that spring to mind.
Oh yeah. Also I'd push through a Slashdot Poster Tax Credit.
Vote Levine 2009!
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Step #1 - Get the resumes of each of the people who have the opportunity to directly influence my decisions. Get rid of the people whose resumes are not up to my standards. Well, maybe not, "get rid". Possibly just bench them.
Step #2 - Neuter the Department of Homeland Security. Start finding different places for their employees to go because I would shut them down before my term is over.
Step #3 - Address the country and read to them the Bill of Rights and first bit of the Declaration of Independence... then apologize for the lies of many of my predecessors while thanking them for creating such a stable staging ground for the next era of development of the nation.
Step #4 - Befriend the ACLU and the NRA
Step #5 - Slowly, begin to trim the fat from various auxiliary military budgets and reinvest that money in raising the quality of Intermediate, Elementary, Pre-K education/childcare. (New Teacher Initiatives, Federal bonuses for X many years as a teacher, etc.)
Step #6 - Add debt forgiveness incentives against higher education loans if the student enters industries of high need and/or learns Arabic, Chinese (either), Korean, Spanish, Japanese.
Step #7 - Begin swapping US troops for UN Peacekeepers (2:1) in Iraq and sponsor a system of reconstruction that will allow for schools and infrastructure over profit-focused industry. (They can do that on their own)
Step #8 - Address the UN. State that the US has been wrong on many occasions and we will often continue to be wrong. However, today, we begin to acknowledge our shortcomings and will begin the long trek to become the nation we always wanted to be.
Step #9 - Re-regulate energy companies around the nation (If you want guaranteed profit, don't expect it to be a lot).
Step #10 - Sit down with the automotive industry and tell them that I will not be covering any of their butts for any reason until they allow their engineers low-fuel-consumption automobiles to hit the production line WITH attractive exteriors.
Take all the scientists Congress just put out of work and get them working on solar fuels (biofuels are nice, but don't actually remove fossil fuel dependence). No extra grants until we get that. Making the US a main fuel supplier for the world, in a clean way, would do a lot for our economy, reputation, and international influence.
-Peter
I'd sit back and do nothing. I'd force Congress to take the heat for their own actions, and spend most of my presidency vetoing everything. The country seems to do a lot better when the President and Congress are opposed and neither can really get anything done. It's almost like the way it was likely intended to go when the whole concept of checks and balances was floated.
Having a Congress that votes for anything based on polls and knee-jerk reactions could be stopped by a President that vetoes their shenanigans. Having a Congress willing to stand up for what's right and not vote for whatever the President recommends because of polls or knee-jerk reactions prevents a President from running amok. And having a judicial branch ready to stop whatever happens to make it through helps out.
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
Our government is broken. The people aren't represented and our votes don't count. Special interests control public policy and this is the core of almost all problems we face today.
As your next president, I promise to do everything I can to change this. I plan to enact substantive campaign finance reforms. Namely, political campaigns will be funded by the government. No donations of any size will be allowed. The amount of money given each candidate will depend on the office being run for, but will be equal for all candidates no matter the party nor the incumbent status.
And I plan to propose a constitutional amendment to change how congress is elected. This amendment will end the winner-take-all system that has resulted in the tweedle-dum and tweedle-dummer parties holding all elected offices. In its stead, we will have a system of proportional representation, a system that has proven far superior in other democratic countries around the world.
It is my sincere belief that when mechanism for government has been reformed, those who follow me in holding this office and the offices in congress can affect real change. They will be able to represent the people who elect them and hold real principles that will guide their policy decisions.
To paraphrase from a certain masked man who's words ring true for me...The truth is that there is something seriously wrong with this government. And if you don't see this, I suggest you let the 4th of November pass unnoticed. Vote for whatever Republicrat you feel will actually make some difference. But if you see what I see and if you feel what I feel, then join me at the polls to reclaim our government for the people and together we'll give them a 4th of November to remember.
"Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"
My main agenda would be to promote personal responsibility. I would also promote states rights, I think alot of bureaucracy could be avoided by having more local control of things. One example for states being healthcare and on an even more local level education. A good policy in one part of the country is often not a good policy on the other side of the country. I'd work to remove federal control of most things, not unlike Ron Paul, I'm not a supporter of his, though I think he has the right philosophy. I'd then work on accomplishing goals to restore people's pride in America by promoting cutting edge science research, aiding developing countries and space exploration. I'd try to take a pragmatic approach to climate issues, trying to find more innovative solutions to climate issues than things like a carbon tax, for example spending money to reforest parts of America. Also, I'd try to simplify the tax code by either having a simpler graduated income tax, with less exemptions and lower percentages, or institute a consumption tax that is somehow graduated. In terms of Iraq and terrorism, I would try to accomplish specific goals and start to reduce US troop levels as soon as it was reasonable to do so, but certainly make sure that the country was stable first. For other threats to security, I'd follow Asimov "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent", and try to use our might in more precise ways to achieve a desired goal, one scenario I could imagine is if things go bad in Iran, to simply use our air power to stop anything from entering the country, after a few weeks the country would run out of food and water, so the government would be overthrown, or change itself entirely to stop the blockade. But to sum it all up, basically promote responsibility and fairness,restore American pride, and focus on how to solve our problems without resorting to full-scale invasions.
But first I think that the current government needs a scrutiny. It seems that there are a few persons there that has to take responsibility for unnecessary violence.
An adjustment to the Second Amendment seems to be overdue. There should at least be some limitation on the right to bear arms. Verify that the person is competent enough by verifying weapon handling and safety first to avoid unnecessary accidents. And also have a mandatory health check at regular intervals. Followed by a weapon storage safety regulation that notes that when not in use a weapon shall be locked-up and disabled to avoid accidents with children and limit weapons theft.
The voting system may have been good once - but in today's world it may be improved upon. Mostly since the technology of today may offer a different way to do an election. Another thing is to require that any voting calculation method must be available for scrutiny by the public.
Every citizen shall be able to get a health insurance - at a reasonable cost. For individuals below the age of 18 the state shall provide reasonable health care. (not free, but at a cost that isn't prohibitive). Don't forget that people with bad health isn't as able to pay income taxes as healthy people.
Education is important - and this means that if a person is competent enough that person shall be able to study at a higher level without prohibitive costs. However the competence requirement will have to be re-evaluated at regular intervals.
Requirement for schools to not dismiss the theory of evolution - and especially not to push any religious beliefs upon the children. If they want to know - fine - but that's what Freedom of Religion is about. Forcing a certain religion in a public school is a different thing.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Quick priorities:
- Carbon tax that feeds R&D and subsidies to clean tech;
- NASA reforms including purchases of commodity products as-delivered-to-orbit with no spec on how to get them there;
- Foreign aid money governed by transparency index (Transparency International at transparency.org);
- Emissions taxes that self-finance the EPA (tax all emissions and fines go to further enforcement);
- Net neutrality and passenger bill-of-rights acts;
- Repeal of monopoly power over broadband re: cable modems, etc.
- College subsidies for U.S. citizens or foreigners that intend to locate here;
- Strict enforcement of current INS laws requiring workers to show proof of employability before being allowed to work here coupled with green card lottery (worldwide, not just to Mexico);
- Repeal of Patriot act provisions for search without warrents;
- Redeployment of almost all U.S. troops from South Korea;
- Change from a Class A to a Class B drug (legalization, under inpatient Doctor's supervision), of the Heroin addiction cure Ibogaine ahref=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibogaine/rel=url2html-972http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibogaine/ >;
- No Child Left Behind act changes to ease regulatory burden and channel money where its needed;
- Expansion of the Peace Corps.;
- Possible construction of a Trans-Alaska highway / railway that can lead to a cross-Bearing straights bridge;
- Possible approval of a nuclear pebble bed reactor design and reprocessing facilities;
- A balanced budget.
Just some ideas.
Unitarian Church: Freethinkers Congregate!
Why are people talking about enacting laws? The president doesn't enact laws, that's what Congress does.
I agree with number 2, number 3 will take more than just a team of PR types, number 1 is the problem though... You can't "fix" oil prices. Oil prices are high because globally we're running out of oil and demand is increasing. Prices are going to go up. period. Nothing you can do. (You know, except stop using oil). No, I'm not an environmentalist, but betting on fixing oil is just bad business. America needs to proactively switch to something else if we don't want to be slaves to a foreign, oil holding, power.
Anyway, back to the housing stuff. The housing slump is largely the result of (borderline) criminal activity. It hasn't been very well publicized but basically shady mortgage brokers forged lending documents and got people into homes they never should have had with mortgages that would screw them in a few short years. They got their commission regardless of whether the home was ultimately foreclosed on. Given the changes in the lending market, many people's credit, and the financial institutions' ability and willingness to give credit, I'd say time is the main factor here. People need time to rebuild their credit and dig themselves back out of their holes - the same is true for the lenders. No magic wands necessary! The only changes that I see as being necessary are improvements in the way brokers are held accountable. Obviously this situation benefited neither the lender nor the debtor; surely there's a way we can at least prevent this from happening again.
You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.
This modded 'insightful'! Slashthink at it finest.
(2) Abolish the concept of private property
(3) Seize the means of production held as corporate assets
(4) Gift the means of production to the democratically-chosen heads of workers' and industry' unions and trade associations
(5) Strengthen the 14th Amendment to provide that no political subdivision may abridge the rights and freedoms secured by the United States Constitution
(6) End the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and provide for return of all servicemen and women to the citizenry
(7) Provide for universalized healthcare and education through state run institutions, though I would permit private institutions to continue to offer these services to those that want them
IAALS.
While that may sound very insensitive and harsh, consider this:
When (and I did say "when", not "if") Islam takes root in the U.S., the prospect of Islamic law trumping U.S. Constitutional law becomes very real. At that point persecution of non-Muslims will become a deadly reality that cannot be stopped.
And this will happen much sooner than you think....
"Ask Slashdot"
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
Ron Paul is a racist, bigot, and homophobe. Have you seen this?
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=e2f15397-a3c7-4720-ac15-4532a7da84ca
All is Number -Pythagoras.
Ship former president G. W. Bush to a North Korean prison
Put engineers and scientists in control of the FCC, FDA, USDA, OSHA and the CSPC. And cuss a lot on live tv in hopes of fighting censorship.
I'd do whatever Ron Paul would do!!!
640YB ought to be enough for anybody.
Job Description - President of USA, 2009-2012
:-)
Step 1: Kick off the long range projects first (let everybody know changes are in order)
1. Streamline Nuclear Plant Process and get more new technology plants in the pipeline
2. Provide tax rebates for people to get energy audits and rebates for performing the 1-3 top priority item(s)
Restore tax rebates for energy saving devices.
3. Cut back / eliminate on agricultural subsidies payable to corporations whose total assets > $10 or 20 million* to preserve small farms and cut corporate welfare. *The breakpoint between "big small farms" and "small corporate monsters" should be clear or reasonably subject to arbitrary definition.
4. Attack the healthcare problem by requiring all employers to provide health insurance at the rate of $2 per hour to go toward health coverage for the person employed or family of same. Employer can either provide insurance or pay the $2 per hour into the fund. Part time / full time makes no difference. Money goes to fund, person free to select approved coverage from private insurers to be acquired with that fund. Equivalent to raising minimum wage by $2 but inflation will result in that anyway sooner than anyone can imagine. Result will be that hospitals will be able to reduce rates because everybody is covered and they won't have to recover costs for charity cases that they now cover from the goodness of their hearts and the money of the insured. Number of uninsured will decrease, costs will go down for all, and governement out of pocket will decrease substantially. US products will be more competitive on the world market and less work will go offshore. Result will be that everybody has coverage, employers can provide better coverage if they choose, and the taxpayers would probably spend the minimum they would under any alternative.
Then tackle the rats nest of other problems:
1. Get Out of Iraq and restore the reputation of the USA
2. Balance the Budget. Period. Restore the dollar to credibility and then figure out how to ultimately deal with social security. There is still time if people decide to solve the problem and are willing to use a bit of discipline.
3. Start very widely and publicly discussing and defining what a carbon tax would look like and where it would be effective to spend it - put the world on notice that we are serious. Bring all the petro-coal-energy lobbyists out of the woodwork. Introduce legislation to implement the best ideas coming out of the open public discussion. Start pricing oil pumped from federal lands / coastal areas at a % of the price per barrel for all oil/gas pumped. Our oil is a limited resource and our country should benefit from what is left of it. Restore the strategic reserve and this time, don't sell it off a few years later in preparation for the next energy crisis. Rest assured, price volatility will require a significant reserve just to maintain order in the post-peak oil market.
4. Require all political / issue advertising to identify who paid for it and require the main (>$1000) contributors of the organization be published for all groups.
5. Require all government employees who leave their posts for work in the private sector (revolving door) to register as lobbyists and report all meetings with congress/senate. Require all lobbyists to register and report their meetings also. Period. Remember, our employers get to say who visits us at work and even makes them sign in, maybe it should be the same for people we hire in Washington to represent us.
6. Convene a biparitsan group to very publicly and widely discuss how to restore our freedoms that were taken away in the last 8 years. Introduce legislation to correct the excesses and, if necessary, constitutional amendments to prevent it ever happening again.
6. Other duties as assigned and required
I would grant every land or home owner the right to remove himself from the United States jurisdiction. Meaning one could, merely by asking, chose to ignore and be ignored by the US government on his property.
This has far far reaching implications.
\u262D = \u5350
I would build a high speed train that serviced the largest cities in America
with 10 minute stops every hour along each route. I would make it the most
technologically advanced that I could putting scientists and engineers to work
for years. I would run it on the most advanced fuels and make it as green as
possible. I would put people to work on the environmental aspects right away and
would put the the train into design over multiple years during which the land
would be bought. This would spur speculation on land and locations for new
businesses. Services would grow just from the building of the train and its route.
Make it as easy as riding the elevated train in Chicago. A few years ago we asked
ourselves "What if electronic communication was almost free?" now lets ask ourselves
"What if transportation was almost free?" Maybe wind farms would be the proper way
to energize this train who knows. But, it would be a great way to get people to work.
Eisenhower built the expressway. Lets do the same thing and get people thinking working
and growing by building a high speed train.
EML.
Ron Paul published the racist newsletter in his name for over a decade. It is a hate rag, pure and simple. It is not only racist and homophobic, it is anti-semitic.
I expect politicians to take a stand against racisim and bigotry. Pandering to racism such as appearing at CCC meetings and pretending its not a euphemism for the KKK or making coded references to seggregation such as 'states rights' or kicking your campaign off at Bob Jones U. or Racism county fair, its all functional racism.
How would you think about a candidate who is 'against terrorism' but gives money to terrorist causes?
The newsletter was a southern strategy attempt to mine the racist vote. Ron Paul put it out in his name. That makes him a racist.
Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
Well the first thing that I would do would be to promote myself to President of the World, and rule with an iron fist--literally. I'd don an iron glove, and push buttons on my rule-the-world-omatic.
Then, I'd do two girls at the same time...from Soviet Russia, and then wrestle Natalie Portman in a tub of hot grits.
Easy. I'd crush those puny earthling senators and representatives beneath my mighty iron fist! GWARHARHARHAR!
That green slime had it coming.
I'd organize real debates about the issues, inviting multiple participants from various backgrounds to try and completely understand the issues. Then and only then would I do anything. I'd also teleconference with the 50 governors to get their input on the challenges each state faces, and what if any role the federal government should have. So its not so much what I would do but how I would do it.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
1) End Fedral Income Tax on earned income
...
2) End double taxation
3) Remind that a single branch of government sits above all three. The People.
4) Reduce all spending on the fedral level to a minimum.
5) Reduce the army to only defending US soil
6) Make it extremely easy to fire government employees.
7) Take no pay.
8) Create mobile HQ and work from each of the 50 states for 90 days each.
9) Return money and power to states, but still help them remind as united as ever
10) Return to the gold standard, making our currency golden again.
11) Put lenders of any kind on notice that people are more important than their bottom lines, and will be treated that way.
12) Most likely, I'd be shoot, if so skip 13.
13) Resign. Leave them wanting more.
14)
-- Prepared at the direction of, or to be sent to Legal Counsel, in anticipation of litigation. Attorney Client Pri
1. Everyone who ever picked on me as a kid would receive all expense paid accommodations in Gitmo.
2. A Manhatten Project level of effort to develop realistic sexbots.
3. Presidential Security: Bye-bye Secret Service. Hello Mord'Sith.
4. New Marine units composed of the Islamic extremists worst nightmare: superbutch lesbians locked into eternal PMS synchronization. Name? The Crimson Tide.
5. The immediate carpet bombing of Hollywood.
6. Churches? Tax 'em, and require every claim they make about their deities be backed up by documented proof.
7. Abortions would be free for all at sidewalk kiosks and in malls. No age limit. No question asked.
8. Power? Breeder reactors (and other advanced types) that double as desalination plants. More power? Gentetically bred giant superhampsters.
9. Lawyers who lose frivolous lawsuit would be able to keep their license to practice, but they'd have to fight a lion using nothing but a spork.
10. Everytime I get something like "Slow down, Cowboy. It has been X minutes since you last posted!" where X is anything greater than 2, a Slashdot editor is waterboarded.
Metric System
Get assassinated after requesting Kennedy's assassination secrets published.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
Pass the Fair Tax amendment. Ammend the 16th amendment to say this is the only way the Federal Goverment can collect taxes, and set a hard limit of 15%.
Ammend the interstate commerce clause so that it is spelled out that the federal government only has the authority to make regular instead of regulate interstate commerce.
Phase out over time all programs that the federal government is involved in that do not fit under it's enumerated powers. Which is most of them. This would also mean an end to the war on drugs, since drug legalization is a state level issue. Ditto for abortion and a number of other things the Federal government has decided is in it's pervue.
Change our voting system to use range voting. Bring back the ammendment that only allowed land owners to vote for Senators.
Pass an amendment that all states must have easy to meet and uniform guidelines for different parties and peoples to be on their ballots. No more allowing the Dems and Reps to raise the bar for competition.
Get rid of the McCain-Feingold act (spelling?). Ditto for Sarnes-Boxley.
Require that any entity with more than 100x the assets of a target it is sueing pay that target's court costs. Target is only liable to pay these back if the target loses. This would prevent large corporations from destroying freedom of individuals by simply threatening to sue them. If the case is bogus or weak, the individual is much more likely to fight it.
If an individual or entity engages in 3+ frivolous lawsuits in a 10 year period, they lose the right to sue anybody for any reason for five years.
Require that Jury Nullification be brought back as something that the jury is instructed on and allowed to do as per the Constitution. Prosecutors are allowed right now to plea bargain - that needs to stop since it is also unconstitutional. Finally, the jury would not be allowed to be questioned by the defense and prosecution. You get what you get.
Formalize the right of the states to secede from the union.
Extricate ourselves from the vast number of overseas military entanglements. Basically pull out of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Go back to a Monroe doctrine approach.
Close the borders with Mexico, but I would make it easy for Mexicans and their families to emmigrate and become citizens. I would require that one or two in the family learn some English, and they would need to learn a little bit about the Constitution and their rights. An Ellis Island approach basically.
Get rid of the 'qualified investor' laws. Those are unconstitutional and bad for our economy anyway.
Scale copyright law back to a sane level term and usage wise. Require that patents come with a working prototype like they used to. Get rid of software patents and business process patents. Disallow gene and other 'discovery' patents.
Come up with a more formalized approach to dealing with large scale negative externalities. That is one thing government should be involved in. This would require a constitutional amendment as it would be an expansion of powers, and it would have to be limited to dealing with large scale externalities that had significant impact out of the individual states. (Large scale pollution of the air, water, etc.)
Well, I gotta get back to work, but that is a partial list. I'm sure lots of people will think I'm nuts, but basically I just want a return to a more Federalist nation with fewer foreign entanglements and a limited government.
Hey I'm the freakin President! Why the hell not?
with my list of candidates for Cabinet positions, thanked the Secret Service driver, saluted the Navy guy, entered the building and walked towards the Oval Office.
Then Bill Clinton appeared out of nowhere! He pointed his finger at me and started saying things like "Who said you could come in here, and why are you getting a free ride? What have you accomplished for this country? What about that sexist joke you emailed that reached 30 people in March 1998? Isn't it a fact that you used recreational drugs 15 years ago?" as the TV cameras were rolling.
So much for that.
It would be mandatory for all companies that could support it to allow their employees to work from home or do 4 day work weeks so that fuel consumption is reduced!
Another quality poast, now how about some cake?
By allowing merit-based pay for teachers and by giving principals the discretion to hand out funds to the best-performing individuals at a school.
Caution: Do not stare into laser with remaining eye.
As I read the comments, the quote-of-the-day at the bottom of the page now reads "Now I am depressed.."
--- The American Way of Life is not a birthright. Hell, it's not even sustainable.
1. Declare emergency martial law, and call the military into all major cities.
2. Disband the Legislative and the Judicial branches.
3. Make all media state-controlled.
4. ????
5. Dictate!
I'd appoint Ron Paul as Vice President, then resign.
http://www.coderoshi.com/
Put all adulterers - past present and future - in the stocks for 24 hours. Have a bit of fun. Then having got *that* outta my system LEGALLY I'd resign and go back to my day job as a better adjusted member of society.
Shoot the lawyers! More skin on HBO! L.H. Puttgrass signing off and heading for the tub!"
1. Invade Iran 2. Remove business regulation that has a stranglehold on our economy 3. Cut government spending 4. Cut taxes, focusing on unfair taxes, such as capital gains and the Death Tax, that focus on stealing citizen's wealth. 5. Keep America safe from Terrorism. 6. Stop the government subversion of our family values, and strengthen traditional families in the eyes our our society. 7. Ensure that Freedom of Religion continues to have a role in our lives.
This has plenty of military applications, as well. Space is the ultimate "high ground" and a dominant U.S. presence in space should have obvious strategic benefits.
Of course, at the same time we can work on more efficient techniques for utilizing the oil we do need. Cars with better mileage (improving our overall fuel efficiency by less than 3mpg would eliminate our need to import oil from the Persian Gulf), more efficient means of generating and using fertilizers, a bit of thought about how we use plastics, etc. Even better, we can sell the technology we develop to other parts of the world - further reducing world demand for oil, driving the price down. The lower the price of oil, the less funds the Islamist fanatics have to work with, and the less of a threat they pose. (Reducing oil prices also impacts people like Hugo Chavez, as a bonus.)
(Not that, realistically, Islamist fanatics pose an existential threat to the United States. They can harm us, certainly, and even cause a relatively large amount of damage, sometimes. That's not the same thing as posing a threat to the existence of the United States. For perspective, more than 30 times as many American citizens have died in traffic accidents since 9/11 than have died in 9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq combined. Obviously I'd focus a lot more on preparedness for terrorist attacks rather than just going insane and throwing out civil liberties to try to prevent them. That'd help against natural disasters like Katrina, too.)
PHEM - party like it's 1997-2003!
I'd bring the troops home and give NASA half the annual war budget a year, point to a rock in the sky, and say, "Fetch!" If we're going to spend gobs of money on something, lets spend it on something that'll put loads of people to work and technologically advance this country.
I'd work to pass a bill allowing for the "None of the Above" item on all ballots. I'd work toward term limits, and limit the retirement benefits of politicians who have served. Of course, no senator would want to vote himself/herself out of cushy retirement and a cushy job, so I suppose I would have to release the flying monkeys as enforcers. More likely, though, is the notion of nobody voting me in.
Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
I'd give Americans a goal: Energy independence within ten years.
Even a failure would go a long way in stabilizing and/or jump-starting the economy, curbing global warming, and keeping our citizens from funding terror indirectly.
--- The American Way of Life is not a birthright. Hell, it's not even sustainable.
Iraq: Work with Congress and the Joint Chiefs to establish a realistic goal-oriented roadmap (NOT a timeline) for withdrawal. The idea would be to tell the Iraqis--both our friends and enemies--exactly what we plan to do and we has to be accomplished for us to do it. Start with some easy goals so that they can see that we follow through with it and will do what we promise.
I'm opposed to a mindless, hasty pullout of troops. I don't think we should have gone there in the first place, but we did,we made the mess, and leaving at a specific time regardless of what is going on there won't help anyone.
Environment: I certainly don't want to trample all over businesses and the economy, but we need to take the lead on working toward a clean, sustainable environment. Fuel efficiency, CO2 output reductions, and general air/water quality would be my main concerns. I would stay away from lobby groups from either side in the pursuit of the best answers and bring in real experts on the field--both scientists and economists--to find reasonable solutions.
Education: No Child Left Behind would go away IMMEDIATELY. The idea of paying teachers according to the performance of the students just allows the students to maliciously fail tests. They do it already, thinking it will hurt the teacher somehow. Instead, I'd push for higher salaries for teachers and more successful disciplinary actions. Administrators often fail to support teachers, leaving them unable to keep problem kids under control and disrupting the entire classroom. It also needs to be said that a LOT of problems in schools exist because they are brought there from home. And of course ineffective teachers need to be drummed out as quickly as possible.
Social programs: Trim the fat. There are a lot of social programs that are redundant, inefficient, or completely ineffective. Get rid of those that don't work, increase those that do. The goal should be to lift up citizens so that they can stand on their own two feet, not lean on the government for most of their lives.
Taxes: A consumption (sales) tax seems like the best idea to me. Flat rate, taxed according to spending rather than income, and can be set up to exclude those things which are necessities of life so that the poor who barely make ends meet don't pay much, if any.
Immigration: It's unrealistic to think we can round up and eject 11,000,000 illegals, or however many there are today. The best compromise I see here is to give them a 12-18 month window to register as "undocumented" and get the process started to be here legally. Anyone not registered after that window is summarily ejected from the country. On top of that, I would seek to make it easier for people to come and go between here and Mexico via a new treaty with Mexico so that people there don't feel the need to be smuggled across packed into trucks in the middle of the desert. The idea is to be able to document and track as many people as we can; that's going to require compromise to make it work.
Gun ownership: I would be okay with requiring a license to purchase a handgun. The purpose would be to ensure that handguns can be easily traced, making them harder to use in the commission of a crime without being caught. I would consider that as falling under "well regulated" in the second amendment. Beyond that, I don't see a need to so tightly control rifles and shotguns; their role in crime is far smaller. Don't register them, don't license them. This disarms the "they're going to take away our guns using that list" argument some of the gun nuts use.
Just to flesh out the idea, it would go something like this: you'd take a basic gun safety class, spend some time on a range, and pass a written test to get a license. Just like you have to do before we let you drive on the road legally. Every time you buy a gun, you present your license, it's scanned, and the gun is tied to your license number by its serial number. Private party transfers can be done free of charge at any gun shop or police department. A stolen gun must be registered as stolen.
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
I think it's a bad plan to get assassinated right after being elected, since you don't take office for a while yet. Also, people usually don't get buried for three days after dying. Oh, and you can't get elected on a Friday; people vote on a Tuesday and the electors cast electoral votes on a Monday. If you win the 2016 election, however, you can get inaugurated on a Friday, which will have to do.
I'd work on some executive orders (no congressional interaction required) to force executive branch decision-making to occur in plain view of the public by publishing minutes of meetings, reports, etc. Naturally this would have to exclude, for example, most information about our intelligence agencies, but at least would provide us more transparency with departments such as DHS immigration policies, environmental policy-making, and the Federal Elections Commission (think electronic voting systems). All of this government information is ours, so I simply don't understand the fact that we can't see it. I'd say that's a set of objectives very in-keeping with the slashdot crowd's biases.
Wonder how I became President of the US as a Canadian Citizen.
:)
Annex the USA into Canada, creating the new province of "South Canada".
Wake up and realize that wasn't such a good idea.
Sell South Canada... to say... the Russians!
Profit!!!
I would push for the removal of any law that violates our constitutional rights. Along with requirements for government agencies to be audited by the UN for violations of human rights, and US Constitutional rights. Any agency found in violation would be given a short time to provide justifiable reasons for the violations. If none can be found, they would lose funding.
I would demand all US troops be brought back to the US. I would then request a meeting with the leaders of China and Russia. I would try to work out a treaty that would have all three countries working together to keep the peace in the world, cause we really can't do it alone, if at all. If I thought we needed to go to war, it would be to places like Darfur, where people are being slaughtered in genocide.
I would try to work with the leaders of Native American nations, to bring them representation in our government, help bring them recognition and respect of their heritages, and build treaties that help protect their heritage, without trying to take their land, or their freedom.
I would try to get the other nations of the American continents, North and South, to form a sort of commonwealth. Working together to setup a universal system with all the countries on both continents to provide a means where the people of them can travel between them with little worry.
I would work to make it cheaper for companies to operate here in the US, well setting a standard minimum wage that people can actually live on. Well also creating certain restrictions on the hiring of foreign workers. Like limits on what percentage of your work force can be foreign workers. Provide incentives to hire US workers only.
I would work hard at developing a health care system similar to Britains. One where you don't have to worry if you can afford medical help when you need it. Everyone deserves access to medical care, without special requirements and restrictions. They deserve to not have life saving care denied because the insurance company thinks they don't need it. I would work to eliminate the extortion raquet of the insurance companies.
Sometimes when I'm working on projects things disappear, I suspect gremlins.
Implement Friedman's negative income tax - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_income_tax
Supposing I immersed myself for decades in learning foreign affairs, government, economics, history, and executive management, and mastered issues of race, culture, and religion, the environment, and pretty much everything else, I would walk the earth like Kane. Seriously tho, I would invest $50B to $100B over 5 years for energy independence research. I would also put $10B per year into high efficiency solar panels that feed into power grids. I would make our kids' education 16 years instead of 12. I would also make private schools more profitable based on college entrance results - schools sending more kids to better schools get a bigger subsidy. National security? Bah, I'd hand that over to Google to fix.
If i were president
I'd make sure all the money spent
Onnnnnnnn, good things
I wouldn't have no lint in my pocket
I'd rock it rock it i'd shock it
I would not jock the fact that there are
Rich people in the world because yo i got a girl
And she needs new clothes and i need new sneakers
And that's all i know
If i were president, if i were president
If i were president, if i were president!
If i was president (what would you do?)
I would not carry, oh no spare change
I would just rearrange, the whole government structure
Cause there seems to be something that's
Messing with the flucture of the money (what?)
It's not coming to me
So now it's time for me to tell my homey jarod d
So i'm, looking at my wallet and i do not have a buck
Damn i'm out of luck, damn i'm feeling stuck
...will be to kill the whole lot of ya, and burn yer country to cinders!
1) Bring half our troops home from overseas. Win the War on Terrorism from 15000 ft. (isn't the A-10 warthog one of the coolest planes ever?)
2) Eliminate the income tax by repealing the 16th amendment. Implement the Fair Tax (http://www.fairtax.org) to fund the government.
3) Fortify the United States border against illegal immigration by deploying the national guard that is being pulled out of other countries.
4) Propose 2 new laws:
A) every bill proposed by either the house or senate must be accompanied by the constitutional citation for authority. (if commerce clause is cited, I will have a standing policy to veto)
B) Except for cases of national defense, federal money collected in one state cannot be used in another
5) Begin the process of deregulating the health care industry, specifically removing mandatory insurance coverages that artificially inflate the price
6) Legalize ALL controlled substances & defund & decommission the DEA.
7) Privatize social security so it actually grows with time like a real retirement plan.
8) Get assassinated!!! (I have other ideas but I think I would be lucky to make it this far)
I realize that the president, by himself, does not have the power to do all these things, but if I were running this would be my platform.
I'd pay lip service to all the "consensus" goals required to get elected, like universal healthcare and tax cuts. But I would secretly look to instigate a conflict that I know will escalate and engulf the entire world. Maybe over oil, or fresh water, or declining fish stocks. Doesn't matter what. The goal will be to ultimately reduce the human population. I want 7/8 of the human population gone.
For some this would be the fulfillment of some sort of Biblical prophecy. For me it would be returning humans to nature's control. Making them subject to natural selection once again. They'll have to struggle to survive on what's left of the planet, but in a few generations humans as a whole will be much better off than they are now. It's time to wipe the slate clean and begin again, and only drastic action will make that possible
And yes, I'm (mostly) serious.
1) I would decriminalize most victimless crimes.
2) I would bring back impaling for anything that is still a crime. Worked for Vlad. I'd be Greyfox the Impaler.
3) Mandatory reversible sterilization at puberty and a license required to breed. Right now you barely have to demonstrate that you're capable of respiration in order to drive a car in this country, and the requirements are LESS to actually have and raise a child?! Not on MY watch!
4) Mandatory $1000 worth of training prior to getting a Driver's license.
5) I would ban all organized religion except for the state sponsored one, which would involved Smurfs. Non-smurfy activities would be punishable by impaling (See point 2).
6) Mandatory Samurai honor code for public officials and corporate upper management. Get caught with your fingers in the piggy bank? Seppuku for you!
Naturally some of these would require additional modification to the Constitution and would be more long-term goals.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
First thing I'd do is give the press conference format a bit of a kick in the pants. I'd make sure all my press conferences and addresses were on a seven-second delay, and use the "F" word liberally in them. For example: talk to Congress like they're a bunch of spoiled children and ponder aloud about what the "F" could possibly be wrong with them.
Next thing I'd do is encourage the legislature to take away the governmental power that political parties have enjoyed. I would threaten to veto every bill that came across my desk until the two-party power cartel was effectively castrated. There's no reason a majority party should mean anything in the House or Senate, except that they are fairly like-minded individuals holding office. You have a much more honest legislature when you're pitting individuals against each other instead of parties.
I think by doing these things the rest would naturally take care of itself. While it's easy to think I'd do this or that with regards to a specific policy, it's really not that simple. Every day politicians make decisions based on volumes of information and advice from advisers -- data to which none of us is privy. We are quick to criticize every move of the people we don't like with our 20-20 hindsight, but in reality we can't say we wouldn't reach the same conclusions at the time.
All the obvious stuff has been said so far, so I'll add this:
I would want to know all the hidden secrets and answers to the conspiracies of our nation's history. I'm not sure if the President actually has access to this knowledge but he must have the power to get some answers. Maybe all the conspiracies of the last 100 years have been sensationalized and the public really was given the straight truth, but I'd at least like to know one way or the other.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
1. Lower Drinking Age
2. Lower age of consent (not for personal reasons, I swear!)
3. Legalize marijuana
4. Revoke Jack Thompson's ability to practice law in any state (not sure if this is a presidential power, but I will still try to get in done.)
5. Increase funding for public transportation
6. Increase funding for schools
7. Decrease funding for stupid wars that create more problems then they solve
8. Maximum age for maintaining driver's license
9. Increase economic/environmental regulations on corporations.
10. Other stuff
Obviously, the above list is also probably a good list of reasons why I will never, ever become President of the US.
Abaddon: An Xbox 360 Indie game
Sure. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
I do not believe that simplistic libertarian theories work in this day and age. Regardless of what the founding fathers might have intended, they lived in a reality that is worlds away from our own - one they could never imagine in their wildest dreams. Our world is a much bigger and much smaller place that what they were familiar with, and I don't think that their principles scale to our reality.
It is not possible to live in splendid isolation from the rest of the world. Even if you place self-interest above all else, integration is the way to go. The simplest analogy I can offer is this: if everybody is holding hands, nobody can make a fist and punch you in the nose.
*** Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?
1. Immigration
*Deport the Criminals - Step up ICE enforcement to deport the remaining illegal element, and enforce current laws govern illegal aliens.*Secure the borders - lets face it, having a country where anyone can get in illegally, is not safe or fun for the masses. We need to build a triple or double fence and arm our border patrol with the tools they need to secure the border, while putting pressure on mexico to take back their citizens and cut off the flow. *Legalize the Worthy - there are by some estimates over 12 million illegals in this country, we cant get them all out, there is no way. It does no one any good, save for a few dirty businessmen, to have a sub-class of people. The mostly law abiding elements of the illegal population must be integrated into American society.
2. Economy
*taxes - Simplify the tax code, much like Rudy Giuliani has recently stated, a simple teared tax 10% on first 40k, 15% on upto 160k or so, and 30% after that. Science and Advancement - We must continue to be on the forefront of technology, i would invest extra funding in the advancement of Nano Technology, Bio Fuels, Cell research, and Space Exploration. Information and Copyrights - Every few years we must re-examine ourselves to see if we can improve, this is more important as technology changes drastically. I believe we are in this case with the Internet and the wide availability of any information and Must Adapt. While i believe in net neutrality, I would urge congress to form a bi-partisan, independent commission of our greatest minds to figure out what policy would serve our country and our people the best. This is not the place for unilateral judgment, too much is at stake.*Jobs - There are huge segments of the population being left behind, mainly the industrial works, the men and women that built this country in the 20th century.
3. Foreign Policy *Strength and Reliability - We must complete what we started and we cannot back down. Its that simple, the rest of the world will take anything else as weakness, courage, or impotence. Though we should also make sure that those ventures are economically viable, we bled for the oil fields of Iraq, and we should not be paying $100 dollars a barrel. The extra troops from the Immigration plan should help bolster our Armed Forces so we don't over-extend our military by doubling our presence in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Once our mission is complete there, we can talk about a draw down, and a stabalization of relations with Iran and Pakistan, though both of those countries should be on our "watch list".
4. Healthcare *Protecting The People - I would urge congress to create an independent committee to evaluate current regulations for the insurance companies and to make a recommendation on any legislation that would balance the profitability of these companies with the need of the American people. While i am not in favor of socialist policies, there must be a middle ground that can ensure that all people in this great nation have access to health care.
Now, if only i can get that constitution slightly altered so i could indeed run for president.Assuming that I can magically shove these through Congress, here's what I'd like to see:
1) Committing the US to solving the world's energy crisis. This means:
1a) Banning the construction of any and all fossil fuel plants. ("Clean" coal doesn't cut it.)
1b) Enacting legislation to convert the US fleet of vehicles to purely electric (plug-in) drive by 2025 (with, say, $100B (or other large number) bonus to Detroit if they can pull it off by 2015 and a sliding scale of reward on the way)
1c) Construct new nuclear plants to supply baseload power.
1d) Build as many renewable power plants as possible. Geothermal, hydro, wind, solar? We need 'em all!
1e) Invest heavily in funding for nuclear fusion.
2) Create a new Cabinet-level Secretary of Science, responsible for managing all Federally-supported research (with budget to match!). Charge the new Secretary to work with the Secretary of Education to ensure America's children become competent in science, math, and technology.
3) Provide universal health care.
4) Provide additional support to schools such that the average starting teacher's salary is >= $100,000. Pay them what they're worth.
5) Eliminate the legality of campaign contributions in an attempt to eliminate their corrupting influences on elected officials. Instead, publicly finance all federal elections, with the maximum amount of support capped at, say, $50M for big races like the presidency and at lesser amounts for Congressional seats, etc.
There are many more, but these should start a good discussion!
Cut Defense Department budget to a quarter of what it is now
Shunt the rest of this money into Socialized Medicine (works for the rest of the civilized world)
Find attractive secretary.
First I would send every single House Rep and Senator to Dave Ramsey's FPU and then I'd give the entire nation a Total Money Makeover.
:) I figure that's enough work to last me 8 years...trying to get this nation to control spending and get out of debt.
We could certainly use some good fiscal discipline.
That's about it
Id do the right thing in areas i was 100% on but for other stuff id get a team that had
1) academics
2) specialists
3) everyday people (literally picked of the street if possible)
who were both liberal & conservatives
then have them advise me, and i mean really advise me theyres no point in getting reports if your just going to ignore them
stuff id be 100% on,
evolution=good,
drugs=peoples own problem (id need advise on hard drugs but if someone wants to pop some pills or smoke some weed their only harming themselves)
gay union=good but let states call it whatever they want
thats about all id be 100% on everything else although i have an opinion id need an unbiased team of advisers to pick whats best for the nation
For my 2nd day I'd probably try to sart some sort of energy initiative thingy with a catchy slogan.
I would end the war in Iraq and then tell the American Automakers that they had to share half the amount we would have spent on the war over the next 4 years to come up with a highly fuel efficient car (150+ mpg). The car would have to be affordable ($15,000) of course they could make luxury models but they would need affordable ones. I would give them a 1 term deadline and tell them any discoveries and inventions they made using the money had to be shared with the other companies. If they only spend part of their money they get to evenly split the rest. The other half of the money would go to solving the infrastructure problem created by the new cars. For example if they come up with electric cars the money would go to apartments, homeowners and electric companies to pay for upgrades so everyone could charge their cars.
Health care costs can reduced by about 50% by:
First, data mine insurance forms to obtain cost and performance data for health care providers, then make that data available on the Internet so consumers can shop wisely for health care.
Second, require a high deductible on any insurance that a consumer has.
Third, if a consumer can't afford health care at the time needed, the government provides a loan.
With this approach, a consumer has both the incentive to shop wisely for health care and the information needed to do so. Then, competition will drive down costs. This is the heart of the approach. More details would be needed to make it viable.
Taxes are so high that many mothers work. Many kids come home to an empty house, then find some comfort food to fill their emotional emptiness. Then sometime later, look in the mirror, see that they are gaining weight, and then eat some more comfort food. And that's why a lot of kids are fat. It's a good reason to put the government on a diet.
Enclaves with their own local government, laws and regulations would provide places where new ideas and approaches could be tried without significant risk to the rest of the nation. And then once shown to work, can be adopted nationwide. This is an end run around decades of liberal expansion of government, including regulations.
How one feels about the country, the government and one's prospects for the future influences how productive one is. If one feels powerless, trapped in a boring job, a cog in a bureaucratic machine, etc., one is likely to tune out and go thru the motions daily until one retires. On the other hand, if one feels good about things, one is likely to be engaged, productive and perhaps innovative.
There's more information and more ideas at:
http://showcase.netins.net/web/stanlass/theway.html
There is only one thing a President needs to do, and not a single candidate will do it. They need to outlaw the sale of consumer vehciles that burn gasoline. It would be a many-birds-with-one-stone proposition.
1) It will force the automotive industry to research alternate fuel sources. The research will go a lot further when it has the financial backing of Ford and GM.
2) It will eliminate the US's dependance on foregin oil.
3) It will give us the excuse we need to pull US troops out of the Middle East, because when you get down to brass tacks, the war is all about oil.
4) This will reduse the US's greenhouse gas emmissions down to almost nothing, and will prompt other countries to follow suit.
Two chicks at once.
...Get impeached.
To the tune of "If I Only Had A Brain"...
I could get myself a blowjob
Deny it with a snowjob
Or some story I invent
F*** the interns that they send me
then have my wife defend me
If I was the president...
Oh they cant do nothing to me
unless she says she blew me
and knows my cock is bent
I would orally debrief her
Sit back and smoke some reefer
If I was the president...
-- stream of did I lock the front door consciousness
There is no reason the USA should be voluntarily giving up its spot as an international power house, but that's precisely what its choosing to do. These are the ways I'd fix it:
And that's just the short list...
My manifesto: ;)
Domestic:
1. Rename my title from 'President' to 'Evil Overlord'. Honesty in advertising.
2. Legalize Guns, drugs, and prostitution.
3. Regulate & tax guns, drugs, and prostitution.
3a. The tax would be $1 per barrel, joint, or deposit
3b. Regulations would be that the guns don't explode, the drugs are cut with safe materials at consistant potency, and the hookers are clean. And partakers must be at least 18.
3c. Resultant taxes would go to fund gun safety courses, drug treatment centers, and hooker education and medical treatment.
4. $1B per year goes towards building new nuclear plants, one each of the new types approved.
4a. Each plant will be dedicated towards eliminating the dirtiest plant currently in operation.
4b. Some funding will go towards ensuring the necessary fuel is available.
4c. Once the plants are built, the funding will go towards reprocessing technologies and plants
4d. Heck with it, $1B to 'renewable electric power', with an additional $1B going towards whoever managed to produce the most kwh the previous year, relative to funding. So if solar/wind wins(probably will the first year), they get $2B the next year. The fourth year nuclear wins when their plants finally come online.
4e. The first project to be started on the renewable side will be the off-shore windfarm Kennedy killed.
5. ANWAR and the gulf are getting drilled; however I'll also dedicate $200M or so each towards developing cellulostic ethanol, biodiesel, and plankton fuel production.
6. $1B towards developing/deploying a functional PRT system in the cities, including cross-links. Gotta have something to put the new power towards.
7. Draw down corporate and personal welfare. I want results for the citizen's money.
8. Get rid of income taxes in favor of a sales tax such as fairtax. If people still need welfare to keep from starving, that should be provided directly with an eye towards getting them to be self sufficient.
9. Lock down the borders to prevent criminals from crossing.
10. Reform legal immigration to make it much easier.
11. Add gun safety to school courses along with driver and sex ed.
Foreign Policy:
1. I'm afraid that we're stuck in Afghanistan and Iraq for a while. I'd turn up pressure until incidents are low enough that I can start drawing down the troops. I figure we're stuck there for at least the next 2 decades, unless we want them to collapse like Afghanistan did and cause problems a couple decades down the road again.
2. Point out to foreign leaders that I'm in control of the nation's weapons, and that I LIKE big explosions. By the way, it's not 'President Firethorn', it's 'Evil Overlord Firethorn'. Hint Hint.
3. On the other hand, follow a strict policy of mutual benefit and keeping of promises/policies.
4. End world aid in favor of picking a country/area and improving it to at least 2nd world status before moving on to the next one. Pick the worst area we can reasonable help.
I don't read AC A human right
1) Tell Israel to pull out of the West Bank or lose all US support. If they agreed, I would then sign a NATO-like agreement with them that would assure total war with anyone that bothered them from that point forward. 2) Get serious about our overseas oil dependence. I would introduce an 0.5-1 mpg/year increase in fleet mileage requirements, tax on low mileage vehicles and a phased-in tax on gasoline (say 0.25 gal/year). I would champion Nuclear energy and implement a long-term storage solution for waste (Yucca Mountain or similiar). I would create a Manhattan-project for alternative energy (of course this might not pay off, but I think it is needed). 3) Phase in a total elimination of farm subsidies over the next 5 years. 4) I would quit supporting directorships, whether they be anti- or pro-USA, and support fairly elected governments, whether they be anti- or pro-USA. 5) I would stop illegal immigration if it took building a 100 foot high wall with land mines and automatic machine gun towers. I would then greatly increase visas (perhaps to 200-500k/year), and distribute them so that immigrants were representative of the world. 6) I would stop the war on drug users and war on terror. I would then return anti-terrorism duties to law enforcement. 7) I would ensure a balanced budget with whatever across-the-boards budget cut was required. 8) I would institute a progressive income tax with no deductions of any type. 9) I would eliminate tax abatements for businesses. 10) I would make prisons self supporting, and not allow anyone out who has not demonstrated an ability to support themselves and interact with society. OK, I would have to actually be king to get this stuff done, but it is what I would push.
----- There are two kinds of people in this world, my friend; those with loaded guns, and those who dig.
1) Apologize to the American people for putting me in office. 2) Fire 1/2 the federal employees and turn the savings into real free health care, and real social security. 3) Make all the laws of the last 15 years null, and future bills would require a one paragraph summary, need a 2/3 vote from the American public, and need teeth defined before any energy/money exerted. 4) Ask the troops in all other countries if they wanted to come home today, or tomorrow, and do it. 5) Disband the entire silliness of the Dept. of Homeland Security. 6) High speed rail, every freaking where, either side of interstates, one side frieght, other side non. (there oughtta be some money left over from all those fed jobs being void still for this) 7) No more bullshit electronic voting. Ever. Paper ballots, consecutively numbered, and indexed. 8) No more handouts to corporate america, no more billions in aid to other countries. (ours is still pretty fucked up and we could use the cash ourselves) 9) No more 'secured' public speaking events for elected officials. If they want to get up and talk, they better be ready for some heckling, and get it. 10) Bang some hawt interns, look the public right in the eye, and tell them I LIKED IT, AND IT WAS GOOOOOD !
Print off a copy of the Constitution and the Federal Budget and work with Congress to create a budget the holds taxes as they are, reduces U.S.A. debt, and best conforms to the Constitution.
Do a similar exercise with the Constitution and current Federal law, asking Congress to repeal laws that weaken or infringe upon Constitutional rights. Work to repeal laws that are antiquated and simplify those that are overly cumbersome.
Begin to accomplish this by reminding each and every person that the prime directive of every public servant is defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States of America. Personal gain beyond the designated salary has no place in public service. If personal gain is desired, go to the private sector. On that note, work to eliminate lobbyists and cap election spending so that representation of the people rather than large corporations can take place.
I would do the EXACT OPPOSITE of what the previous administration did.
"Those people" wont stop until every continent on Earth has become a Caliphate: Muslim country ruled by Muslim law. Funny, switch a few words (Christian and Democracy) , and sounds like some speeches coming out of Washington.
There are many things but this would most help us compete with the rest of the world and improve our quality of life.
1. Use the military to assist the border patrol. Anyone crossing the border illegally would be given 10 lashes with a cane and deported. Same with people found to be in the country illegally after a 90 grace period.
2. Prosecute all employers who are hiring illegals. Arizona's law sounds good.
3. Give all recipients of welfare a physical. If they are physically capable of working, take them out of the welfare system after 6 months and require a 2 year delay before they can be re-enrolled.
4. Stop all the nanny state financial giveaways that make it more lucrative to be getting a government handout than it is to work.
5. Use the suddenly available labor pool to take over the jobs vacated by all the illegals self-deporting after #1 goes into effect.
6. Make all prison sentences "at hard labor". Chain gangs and work parties to do most of the public works jobs.
7. Cut the number of people on government pay role by at least 50% by using prisoners to do most manual labor jobs currently being done by unionized civil servants.
8. Revisit all the laws currently on the books and eliminate any that have no basis in common sense and the constitution. Re-write remaining laws in plain language that do not require an education in Latin to understand.
9. Implement term limits that limit politicians to 6 years max and then forbid that person from receiving a government pay check for at least 6 years before being able to run for office again.
10. Eliminate the IRS. Institute a 3% sales tax on all sales and services. This should be more than enough income to support the remaining government functions.
11. Implement a law that requires all bills in Congress and the Senate to be single subject. No more Omnibus bills with thousands of set asides. All amendments must be read and debated on the floor. A filibuster would only last as long as the politician could continue talking ABOUT THAT SUBJECT.
12. Implement a 5 year limit on appeals for the death penalty. Using hanging or firing squad as the method. Televise on all stations in the region where the person is being executed.
13. Limit frivolous lawsuits by making the person filing pay the court costs and lawyer fees if they loose.
The real racists and sexists in this election are the Clintons. Just sayin'.
And that's the least of their shortcomings.
I would:
a) Use my new-found international connections to get a Canadian Passport.
or
b) Spend the next 8 years doing everything possible to drive up the value of my oil investments.
Redeploy forces in Iraq, close permanent bases we've built, fire Blackwater and other government contractors. Direct the EPA to begin strictly enforcing air pollution laws, get snowmobiles out of national parks, sign the stem cell bill that Bush vetoed twice. Lobby congress to increase taxes on the rich so that we can get out of debt. Lobby for single-payer health care (much like the French plan), the Equal Rights Amendment, a new FISA bill that requires warrants before eavesdropping, a new energy policy that lessens demand for oil and increases demand for renewable energy, lobby for incentives for pebble bed nuclear reactors as long as companies that accept governemnt money will release their patents and allow for greater competition, lobby for a du jure right for gay people to serve in the military (Don't Ask Don't Tell is not being enforced currently and things aren't falling apart any more than they would be if it were). I'd close Guantanamo and return those prisoners I couldn't legitimately charge to either their home nation or a nation willing to accept them. I'd even likely pay some reparations. I'd pardon the Grenada prisoners, repair our relations with Venezuela, and end the Cuban embargo. And I'd fight fight fight fight fight because the other side would fight me at every turn. I'd talk on TV as long as they'd let me, I'd implore the American people to give this whole experiment a try because we've given right-wing neoconservativism a try for the last 8 years and gotten nowhere. I'd debate just about any wingnuts on TV publically in order to further push and lobby the nation for what we should do. I'd use the bully pulpit every damn day in language average people understand rather than getting all Wonky like many Democrats have.
2) Eliminate the USPS, the FCC, the DEA, the Departments of Education, Labor, Homeland Security, and probably several others.
3) Lower personal income taxes across the board.
4) Increase funding for NASA, NIH, CDC, and the NSF
5) Double the amount of pre-tax contributions that can be made to private investment accounts.
6) Fund research into the development of alternative energy resources (FU OPEC!).
7) Establish a program similar to private investment accounts with tax exempt status for first-time home buyers.
8) Repeal all 3-strikes legislation and roll back privatization of the federal prison system.
That's my gameplan.
If you never make mistakes, it's probably because you're not doing anything.
I. Firstly, I promise to fail in some things...but I also promise to honestly do my best. And to endeavor to do my best honestly.
II. In response to when am I going to bring our troops home from Iraq?
As soon as I finish bringing our troops home from Germany, Japan, Korea...and Vietnam. Those wars happened last century. Don't you think our soldiers have been there long enough?
I don't believe in starting or provoking fights. And while I think pacifism is a beautiful concept, the playground in 5th grade taught me - it does not work. Some will tell you fighting never solves anything. But many of us know that the right fight, fought rightly, can solve a great many things. If you have the strength, standing up to a bully...or even standing against the bully to protect others can make the playground a better palce. That said....you better not be the bully.
III. What am I going to do about social security? retirement? etc?
Two things:
1) Not spend our children's future! Balance our budget and work towards a treasury surplus. Right now America has elected itself. We complain that the government is bloated, in debt, uncaring. Meanwhile, the same is said of the average American. We need to change both....we need a healthier government and a healthier us.
2) Second, protect the savings of citizens. Currently, the government overspends. Then prints more money to compensate. Deflating the value of our currency. What many people do not realize is that the government is stealing their savings and retirements. Perhaps this is why so few Americans save...because they know that even with interest their money is worth less down the road - so they might as well spend it now. Returning to the gold standard will ensure that American's savings are secure.
IV. What about the issue of marriage?
Right now, our nation is in contention over the issue of marriage, and the rights associated with marriage. I view this largely as a false issue, one created by the erroneously created by the government. We often talk about the concept of the seperation of church and state, or more accurately the non-establishment and non-interference claus. And I believe this issue is a product of a failing to adhere to that understanding.
Let me ask you this question....why do I need a license from the government to be married? That's just ridiculous...
Some argue that the government is preventing people from loving one another. First off, if you need a piece of paper from the government to love someone...you're in a world of hurt. And just cause two people are married, does not mean they are loving each other - though it should. But millions of children of divorced parents will tell you it often doesn't.
Personally, I believe that marriage is a spiritual sacrament, before me, my wife and our God. Others believe much differently. Our beliefs should neither infringe nor be infringed upon. It is unfair for us to restrict other's in their concept of unions, but it is equally wrong to force others to accept your view of such unions.
That said, we've tied a lot of civil, economic, and goverment factors to marriage. This should not be the case. I apply the axiom "render unto Caesar what is Caesar and to God what is God's." As such, I believe the government should allow the incorporation of common households. Just as business' incorporate as a legal entity. An incorporation of common households would allow for the addressing of such legal issues as taxation, insurance, inheritance, etc. Be it a man and woman, two same sex inhabitants, multiple living partners, or even two elderly sisters living out the remainder of their lives together.
As for marriage, marriage would take place within the understandings of your personal beliefs and would only be recognized by those of like faith and understanding. Marriage would come with no civil benefits, only those spiritual and emotional benefits found within the confines of your spiritual faith or beliefs. If a couple marrie
1. Repair Democracy - Utilize a better voting system such as range voting or ranked pairs which does not lead to a two-party system. Change voting laws to reduce the influence of corporations and big money.
2. Return Culture to the People - Reduce copyright terms to short, reasonable time periods, only as necessary to encourage new works. Launch a major federal operation to archive as many movies, songs, books, and other forms of expression as is feasible. Make these freely downloadable once their copyrights expire.
3. Optimize the Legal System - Make it more difficult to sue, and make those who sue irresponsibly pay for the time they wasted. Get people smarter than me together to figure out how to work more common sense into the legal system. Make it harder to prove malpractice, to help control medical costs. Remove the complex jury selection process, using the simpler, more expedient, and fairer British system.
4. Use the Internet to Involve People in Government - Try developing a system in which people can make suggestions, discuss current legislation, etc, and have their leaders listening and involved in the discussion.
5. Protect Basic Rights - Privacy, etc.
These are what I would bring to the job personally. For the other big issues, I would have to lean on the wisdom of others.
None of the things I'd want to do would ever get done as President. Now, on the other hand, if I were Dictator of the US, I'd:
- Withdraw the vast majority of our troops from Iraq within a few months. Rapid transition to a trained Iraqi army.
- Send more troops to Afghanistan. We really neglected that one, and the lack of muscle there is one of the reasons that Pakistan is spiraling the drain right now as well.
- Pull most of our troops back from around the globe. Even Korea.
- Implement basic health insurance as a universal program, government-run. Allow people to buy supplemental insurance as they like from private carriers.
- Remove the income caps on Social Security and Medicaid taxes to help pay for it all.
- Don't let the estate tax go away.
- Increase the top rate on income over $250k by a couple of percent.
- Increase the standard deductions, and eliminate most itemized deductions. Simplification is good.
- Make states unify their sales taxes to both help revenues and simplify collection. Keep the rate low. (a few would go up, some would go down)
- Increase the gas tax to both pay for infrastructure improvements and to encourage alternative energy source development. Use tax credits to also stimulate alternative energy.
- Impose term limits on the judiciary. Long terms, but guaranteed turnover (maybe 20 years or so, enough to keep them independent, but also make sure that they aren't standing in the way for many decades to come). Pack as many of my judges as I can into the system to help keep the country from changing things back too fast.
- Streamline copyright law. Shorten terms, and make copyright clearance easier. Expand the fair use exemptions.
- Fix the patent system, put more resources into examination, and shorten patent periods in most areas to 5-10 years.
- Eliminate all farm and product subsidies, but phase them out over a 4-year period. Try and develop free trade with anyone who is willing to do the same and also drop tariffs and implement both copyright regulations and patent laws like the ones I create.
- Get the government out of bedrooms, science, and doctor-patient decisions. End the drug war by legalizing most of them, regulating them, and taxing the heck out of 'em. Take the money saved and put it into basic policing and treatment.
Then, after 4-8 years as dictator, get the heck out and let elected officials screw it all up again.
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
1) Require all businesses to report chemical composition of all gaseous / liquid / solid waste created in any manufacturing operation, along with similar estimates for wastes created by use of said products (ie carbon in gasoline). Require them to pay cleanup costs for each one (obviously this will increase consumer cost for dirty products). Impose fines for people who underestimate how much they're polluting, put people who evade this tax in jail for income tax fraud.
2) Ban imports of products not conforming to 1 as verified by an appropriate UN inspections body.
3) Greatly reduce military expenditures for anything not related to missiles and remote controlled aerial bombardment. There is no need with our level of technology to use our military for anything other than destroying economic and productive infrastructure of expansionary military powers (of which we are currently one).
4) Prosecute previous administration for war crimes.
5) Work with less developed economies to help coordinate and fund sanitation and transportation infrastructure, paying particular attention to developing ways to combat goverment and corporate corruption.
6) Large investments in basic energy, space travel research, asteroid detection / guidance.
7) Develop controls for biotechnology, keeping all equipment that can be used for creating or engineering viruses firmly under surveillance.
8) Go investigate about that supervolcano under Yellowstone that buries the northwest section of the country in ash every 600,000 years and last did this about... 600,000 years ago.
9) Socialized healthcare for everyone under 80, and everyone over 80 up to some reasonable limit. It will eventually be possible to keep people alive indefinitely given sufficient money, and the government has to stop picking up the tab somewhere.
After reading everyone's posts, I'm worried that policies to fight climate change aren't on most (not even many!) of the lists! And this on a site that caters to the theoretically better educated portion of the population.
I can think of no issue that is larger today than global warming. At least to me, everything else seems petty and moot, especially if climate change is just going to undo in a really big way the strides made in the areas the other posters seem to care about.
I'm consistently more concerned and depressed by our lemming-like walk to the climate catastrophe cliff, but I had hoped that at least our part of the general population was aware and worried and, given the opportunity, would act in anyway they could to prevent it. If I were president, I would scale down on all the wastes of money this government currently has enacted, devote much of the money currently spent on petty projects into research and infrastructure so we can leave something behind for our kids. I would fight tooth and nail to get the corn and coal lobbies off the government's back so progress can finally be made in constructive action.
Bush has wasted so much of our time to act, why aren't we feeling the sense of urgency more widely by now?
Given that education is one of the few things we can do to advance our country, and that teachers get paid too little - I would eliminate income tax for all teachers in the public school system.
Yes, there would be details to sort out (give a full exemption to all? sliding scale based on performance? what about private / charter schools?) - but I'd take this step in order to help those who are in the best position to help the economic future of our country.
I have neither the slightest desire or any ability to perform the duties required. Not that those who have held the office in the past do either, but I have the integrity to admit it.
I'd start by abolishing our for-profit health care system and implementing a single-payer system resembling any of the other G8 countries. I've been arguing for this since I was in middle school (the first time I got screwed by an HMO).
Frankly, I believe that this switch would also have the downstream effect of making our own domestic-made products more competitive against imported goods on a price basis. Before you label me as commie nutjob, take a look at what employers pay per employee for healthcare in this country. Then remove that cost from your (car/boat/television/trinket) that you buy that could be made domestically but isn't always price-competitive. If we could get US-made goods back into a reasonable price point in this country, then people might start to realize again that our factories are indeed turning out high-quality goods.
Then, I'd get our troops the hell out of the meat-grinder known as Iraq.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Out of curiosity - which points?
Tesla was a genius. Edison however was a overrated hack who liked to torture puppies.
"To establish Post Offices and post Roads;"
Actually, the Post Offices is not one the things that need to go. Regardless, the Post Office has been self supporting since 1971. Not a dime of tax dollars go toward supporting it.
However, if you wanted to end the statutory monopoly that the USPS currently enjoys, I wouldn't see that as a bad thing as long as you require others that enter the first class postal business to also serve every single resident (as the USPS is required to do).
Also, people usually don't get buried for three days after dying
You can, if it fits on the rhyme.
Am I eval()? - http://www.monst3r.com.br
1) Declare the last Friday in January to be National Guacamole Appreciation Day. We all need a winter holiday. 2) To combat concealed weapons in schools, declare all schools nudist. "Where will you hide the shiv NOW, punk?" ^_^ 3) "Lose Weight with the President" virtual reality show. That will help the national obesity epidemic, mostly by people laughing so hard they're burning calories at a prodigious rate. 4) Declare Professor Pat Paulson as Vice-President. OK, he's been dead for a few years, but the Vice President isn't expected to do much anyway.
you can't spam the Internet forever without somebody catching your shitty bastard ass in person eventually. When we do catch you in person, we'll make the Nuremberg trials look like traffic court!
What would Jesus do?
BTW, doesn't the answer to that question qualify as fan fiction?
My first actions as president would be (In no particular order): 1. Reestablish the office of science and technology that Newt Gingrich threw out. Staff it with respected professors serving for a term of one year. Ask them to produce a yearly report on all things related to science and technology. 2. Establish a universal health care option for everyone under the age of 16. 3. Do a Kennedy-style throwing down of the gauntlet regarding alternative fuels and hybrid vehicles. This is it. No more screwing around. Let's get serious about getting off of oil. 4. Sign Kyoto. Let's get serious about the environment while we're at it. 5. Disband fox news. Let's restore some semblance of journalistic integrity to this country. 6. Ban all mention of God in the public arena. No exceptions. Religion has no place in government. 7. Convene a congressional study for the immigration problem. 8. Permanently pass the assault weapons ban that Bill Clinton pushed through congress (and W allowed to expire). We do not need teens with Kalashnikov's running around our malls any more. 9. Bar anyone associated with K-street from approaching the White House grounds. Marine guards ordered to shoot on sight. 10. Ask the UN to invade and occupy the "holy land". Throw everyone out, disband the state of Israel and make religious "amusement parks" and historical markers that the faithful may visit.. but no one settles there. 11. Begin a phased withdrawal of all American Military forces from Iraq to bases in Kuwait, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Let the chips fall where they may. Maintain a strong force in the area and strike at any targets deemed a threat to national security.
How about letting the network TV people do a live broadcast tour of Area 51.
Domestic policy.
Energy.
Foreign policy.
I'd make it a priority to develop nanobots, which once made, would free every person on the planet from working or getting sick or aging. I know I left out a lot of details (like how nanobots what I said I wanted), but this stuff is commonly found around the net and in books such as "the singularity is near" and "age of spiritual machines". It's really just a computational problem, we don't have the computational power to simulate and design a robot with a billion parts, but it shouldn't require much more power than what's in the human brain, since a human could in principal work all this out the long way, a computer with the power of a human brain should be able to do it in timescales that are acceptable. The first such computer is scheduled to go on-line in spring 2009, though I doubt it will be immediately put on this most vital task, each year as computers double in power (due to Moore's law), it will be easier and more likely that nanobots will be developed. My guess is 2012/2013, but I'm sure it could be accerelated. There are many sick and dying people that need this technology now.
I'd rule with an iron fist from my throne of skulls, and ensure that the streets ran red with the blood of my enemies.
Same platform I ran on for student body president in high school.
The only surefire protection against Microsoft infections is abstinence. - The Onion
Seriously. Government should be completely useless. It should do -nothing- on its own. It must provide an environment in which things can be done efficiently, but it should not do anything for its own sake.
Part of that environment would be: free public transportation, free medical care, etc. No more laws for the sake of laws (such as war on drugs). Make it very easy to cancel laws and very difficult to pass new ones (ie: 3/4th of house to pass a law, but 1/4th to repel it).
"If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy
First i would appoint all the left leaning policy wonks to a commission looking into Right things. Then i would appoint all the right leaning policy wonks to a commission looking into Left things. I would then set the commissions to meet and report at a mud wrestling competition on a sinking ship. Their bi-partisan report would be due the day before the next inauguration. I would refer all political questions to this commission. Meanwhile I would assemble a top of the line administrative team to run the government. That might be a bit easer now that all the knuckleheads are off wrestling in the mud on a sinking ship over their latest and greatest far idea.
I would have a mandatory national service policy. Every able-bodied young person upon graduating high school would either have to do a one year hitch in a branch of the military and two in the reserves, or two years of civilian service. Your choice. It's paid employment with free room and board.
Many of America's current cultural problems are, in my opinion, due to a lack of national identity. There are very few unifying experiences anymore and the USA has become very fragmented and provincial as a result.
We used to have a military service obligation and a peacetime draft and from what I can gather from talking to people of those generations, it helped all Americans feel connected, and gave those who served something to be proud of.
Elvis Presley got drafted, at the height of his popularity. It gave the impression that our country is so fair that even Elvis had to serve his time in the military.
This of course presupposes sane leadership w/r/t going to war. It wasn't the draft that made Vietnam such a tragedy, it was being there in the first place.
First, I'd institute a legislative review process. Each new piece of legislation that is created has an automatic sunset of 2 years. It *must* be reviewed, and re-voted upon, after two years. After its second pass, it must be reviewed after four years. After the third pass, it must be voted upon after eight years. And so on.
Also, the government will institute a website on which all legislation is published as it passes through the house, senate, and executive branches. Attached to the legislation will be all records (including video and audio of the debates concerning the legislation, and records of modifications and who proposed and executed them, and how each member voted).
This website will also contain discussion areas, where non-anonymous comments may be posted by citizens of the United States. Registration would occur automatically with your voter registration card. This is to (hopefully!) keep the level of discussion slightly above Digg. Also, this would allow petitions, so citizens could force a review of unpopular legislation. (Any good ideas on anonymizing this while keeping individual responsibility is welcome.)
This does three things: first, it makes sure we *want* the legislation, and that it works as intended. Secondly, it slows down the amount of legislation that can happen, which is *good*. Thirdly, it'll increase transparency of the legislative process, and provide direct feedback from citizens.
--
Next, I'd repeal the concept of corporate personhood. Corporations would have charters under which they operate. Their charter could be city, county, state, national, or international in scope. They would no longer be allowed to hold patents or copyrights. Only the individuals responsible for the patent or copyright may hold them. Citizens could not, however, hold trademarks. That right would be reserved for corporations.
If the executive body of the corporation is found in any way to operate against the public good, a review process similar to a criminal trial will decide if the corporation may continue, or if the charter will be revoked. If the charter is revoked, the shareholders may re-apply for a new charter. However, any executive personally found guilty of criminal activity will forfeit their shares, which will be liquidated.
The corporate laws that determine whether a company operates against the public good will be similar to criminal laws. Certain kinds of contracts will be prohibited, including exclusive contracts and variants thereof (the "per-processor" fee for MS-DOS, for instance), intentional interference of competition, and whatnot.
Of course, should this legislation pass, it would be up for review in two years.
--
I will reform the education system, such that all schools are funded equally, with respect to student count. This will end one of the barriers to upward mobility for poor citizens. This will not preclude private schools, which may operate as they do currently, but no federal funding will be applied to private schools. That's why they're called "private."
"No Child Left Behind" will be left behind, or reformed and funded properly. (The concept isn't necessarily bad, but the execution was horrible.)
--
I'll steal a lot of the ideas already mentioned here: election reform to make the two-party system obsolete, begin an infrastructure-reconstruction plan in Iraq ("You broke it, you bought it"), legalize pot, reform tax laws along a progressive scale, phase out DHS, reverse the trend of privatizing government, etc.
--
I will strengthen the Monroe doctrine, which originally applied to European conflicts in the Americas, but is now used as an excuse to meddle in the affairs of many countries to the south. I would preclude US military action (including the funding of militant parties) in foreign countries with which we are not at war.
I wouldn't dissolve our overseas bases. In fact, I believe I'd try to make many more, smaller bases in countries that will have us, and work to inc
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
I would turn the US into Denmark with even more money:
- No guns. They kill people, mostly by accident.
- Raise taxes and pay:
- Free healthcare for your fellow americans who are a bit unlucky to get an illness or accident
- Free Education for your fellow americans who are born in a family with somewhat less money than you
- Free Pension schemes for your fellow americans for people who did find that superpaying palo alto job, but worked just as hard collecting your garbage
- Free social security for your fellow americans who got fired because their kid was born with a disability and they have to stay up all night to take care of it, leaving them too tired to work 100%. (or gotten hit by a train and survived in a wheelchair)
It works. Danes are more happy than you are.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5224306.stm
1. Start war to get oil and please friends
2. Hire attractive female interns
3. Shag beforementioned interns
4. Enrich myself to the fullest
5. Ensure good paying job at the iron triangle afterwards
6. ?????
7. Profit
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
- Revoke special corporate rights, i.e. those that give corporations essentially more rights than individuals. This includes large parts of the Copyright Extension act and chunks of the DMCA
- Veto every damn special interest and earmarked bill out of Congress until the damn Senators and House of Reps get it right.
- Define contributions to political campaigns from corporate, and governmental / quasi-governmental unions from as being a conflict of interest and therefore illegal for any legislator receiving that kind of campaign funds. It's illegal for judges, why not for the representative branch of government?
Finally, if I'm allowed one more, it would be to do a combined health care/social security fix that also incorporates an effective way of allowing more workers, not less, into the American economy as tax payers, not tax consumers and therefore at some point puts many more people on the path to become US Citizens. It worked for our forefathers in making America stronger, why wouldn't it work for us now?...Open Source isn't the only answer -- but it's almost always a better value than the alternatives...
You have my vote. I trust that we will see Natalie Portman's wetlands opened for public drilling.
Ironically, there are 2 themes co-existing in comments in this thread...
1) Support for Ron Paul
2) Proposing that the president do a bunch of stuff that he has no power to do (stepping on Congress' toes)
stay frosty and alert
Most of the responses are well beyond the actual abilities of just the president, but what the hell, that's more fun.
1. Make judicial review explicit in the constitution, and give the judicial branch the right to strike down laws simply for being stupid.
2. Single tax filing: States and cities just tell the feds their rates for a small selection of tax types.
3. Single-payer health care: Businesses should not have to worry about health care for their employees; it's the government's responsibility. I'm still not sure if this is a right or left-wing position.
4. Eliminate seniority pay for teachers, at least secondary. After the first year, young teachers are usually better than older ones.
5. Government should pay student loans for teachers for the standard ten year period (yes, this means teachers are paid less after that time).
6. Retroactive consent for statutory rape. Once the victim reaches the age of consent, he or she has the option to pardon the offender.
7. No one may be convicted of a crime they could not reasonably have been expected to know was illegal.
8. Instant runoff voting.
1 - Provide for and support Vet's when they come home.
No more homeless Vetrans.
2 - Terminate all politicians that have been in office for more that 2 terms
** firing squad comes to mind
3 - Replace the IRS with something less confusing
I like the idea of flat tax on all companies and persons 11.25% works
4 - Force auto makers and big oil to come up with a plan to see 40 MPG in
in 5 years on auto's with a GVWR less 10k and 30 on light trucks and SUV's
5 - Create a federal welfare program and outlaw state welfare. Max time
anybody can collect is 18 months per 5 years. (this does not replace disability)
-- I am the NRA, enough said...
Repeal the DMCA
Reform Patent law
Institute National Health care, no citizen left behind
Reform teaching to use modern techniques, known superior to that currently used
Fund science: alternative energy, medicine, etc.
Apply some military funding to defend against asteroids and comets, including demonstrator
Push to adopt Kyoto, fund alternative energy
Fix the Farm bill to encourage health
Probably more. There's plenty to do.
-- Stephen.
The President has the unlimited constitutional power to pardon and commute sentences. It is underused in my opinion.
I would commute the sentences of all non-violent drug offenders to time served. Actually, I would give the states and federal persecutors 10 days identify any non-violent drug offenders who's sentences should _not_ be commuted and commute the sentences of the rest. To convince me the sentences should not be commuted, I will require a ten page hand written essay explaining why in each case. That will limit the exceptions to the ones persecutors really care about.
I would publicly pledge amnesty to all individuals who decline to pay federal income tax while I am president. I expect total federal revenue to drop by 1/3 to 1/2.
I would submit a budget to congress that only spends 1/3 to 1/2 of the 2007 budget.
I would declare blanket amnesty for all illegal aliens who have not committed any crime other than being illegal aliens. I would promise similar amnesty to all immigrants who enter the country while I am president. I would direct boarder guards to allow such immigrants to enter unimpeded.
Labor obeys the laws of supply and demand just like every other economic transaction. When there are no more jobs for immigrants, they will stop coming on their own. Attempts to limit the work force are like any other supply or price controls. They distort the system and are inefficient by definition. I would declare amnesty for any employer who pays less than minimum wage. The minimum wage is a price control and therefore bad by definition. The financial agreement between an employer and an employee is private: the government has no role in the transaction.
However, I would encourage labor unions and collective barganing. Labor needs the power to oppose heavy handed management. I think unions can do a better job of protecting member interests than the government can.
I would do all I could to repeal as much bad law as I could, starting with the U SAP AT RIOT act. There's any number of worthy chunks of crap encoded as law; DMCA, for example; every act extending Copyright...
Next I would go back and clean up messes left by crap like Powell running the FCC. That means I'd work to force media conglomerates to divest themselves of holdings which are illegal under current law.
Finally, I would campaign against the electoral college, an institution which should never have existed in the first place, and which is the enemy of democracy. I would also seek to end the disenfranchisement of felons; taking the vote away from criminals only means that we can create a larger and larger criminal class which will have no nonviolent means of redress.
Lots of people want to do things as president. Not me. I want to un-do things.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Probably got something to do with Zeitgeist: The Movie.
But Wikipedia agrees it is "quasi-public (part private, part government)". The detail about it's relationship to the government describes it in more detail, including a quote from an 9th circuit appeals court that "the Reserve Banks are not federal instrumentalities for purposes of the FTCA [the Federal Tort Claims Act], but are independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations". It ends with "The member banks are privately owned corporations."
As I understand it the Federal Reserve is not a body it's a system. The Board of Directors is a government agency, the Federal Reserve Banks are not.
As to where the power lies? Who knows.
P.S. I'm not even from the USA, feel free to ignore if it's balls.
Python coder | PyQt Applications | Writer
I can't say that I'd make a good president, I hope I would though. Here's my list:
:p (I probably wouldn't be that harsh, but we do need a damn official language)
1. FairTax and repeal the 16th Amendment
In no particular order:
2. Get rid of the Patriot Act and the DMCA
3. Either get rid of or heavily reform the No Child Left Behind
4. Gold Standard
5. Find out WTF all the damn tax money is going, especially finding out where goods and services are being overcharged.
6. Work on appropriately getting out of this damn war
7. Get Congress to follow the wills of the people than the lobbyists, companies, or anyone else with a fat bank account
8. Reduce this police state nonsense
9. Get back on better terms with foreign policy
10. Reduce our reliance on imports and be able to be more self sufficient
11. Reduce
12. Push for alternative forms power like solar, but not encourage ethanol production to the point that food production makes a negative impact.
13. Make English the official language. Anyone that can't speak it needs to STUF and GTFO.
14. Take a tour of Area 51, then take a tour of where they moved all of Area 51's secret operations too.
I would put a ban on the use of the phrase "God bless America" at the end of any speech I give. In my opinion, it's just a bunch of hypocritical pandering to a superstitious nation. Believe whatever the hell you want. I'll defend that. I just wouldn't pretend that I do.
Presidential wish list (not in order of importance):
1. Flat Tax - Individual - everyone pays 15% of their income in tax - no exemptions, no deductions.
2. Flat Tax - Corporate - for profit companies pay 20% of their profits in tax - no exemptions, no deductions.
(If we can't run the Federal Government on that amount of money, then Government spending needs to shrink.)
3. Re-architect our military to DEFEND our homeland - not to fix/police the world. Take significant savings to fund the next item:
4. Universal Health Care for all - doctors dictate treatment - no one is denied treatment or coverage.
5. Universal Higher Education - all that want to attend college may - at no cost.
6. National Energy Policy - develop all reasonable options for meeting our countries energy needs (nuclear, solar, wind, nat gas, oil and coal) via RFPs filled by private industry. Create National Energy Policy commission (comprised of independent scientists) to evaluate options based on cost/benefit/need.
7. Abolish FCC, or re-architect FCC to provide for open access to public owned resources. The FCC would "grant for a limited time" the ability of companies to operate public resources like radio/TV/fiber optic lines laid on public ground. Periodically, companies would need to compete to "renew" their operational agreements of these resources. The FCC would have the authority and budget to roll out telecom infrastructure nationwide (or hire a company to do that).
8. Create REAL barriers between Church and State. Prevent public funding of religious activities or groups. Remove government from the "marriage business". No restrictions on who can marry or why - that is a religious decision. Everyone is paying 15% taxes anyway so Marriage/Family deductions are irrelevant. Abortion would remain legal.
9. End farm subsidies.
That's my wish list - I can dream right?
-ted
If I were president, I'd accomplish what they all accomplish... very little. Presidents don't make laws, they are supposed to administer the enforcement of them... Of course, all of my ideas could be implemented with the right blend of congress-critters, too.
... man, I could go on all day.
If I were KING, well, I'd make a few adjustments (in no particular order)...
1. Disrupt the power-base. I'd get rid of the inherent advantages that D's and R's have in elections.
2. Reform campaigning. All campaign funding needs to be equalized-- all campaign donations should be made to the US gov and doled out to the top 5 candidates in equal portions. All travel for campaigning will be handled by the National Guard. Each candidate will spend one day in each venue (at least 1 per state) and will host a 'town hall meeting.' After the candidates have had a chance to visit, then the elections would be held in each state-- all voting confidential until all 50 states have results.
3. Make life fair to *people.* I'd Remove many of the rights/protections of US corporations
4. Reduce the costs of health care. I'd fund infrastructure for health care-- make more medical schools and create publicly funded hospitals (equipment only) as infrastructure and rent space to Dr's
5. Stimulate the economy. I'd pump a ton of money into the middle class (quite a bit into law enforcement-- I'm sick of corruption)
6. Clean the environment and re-vitalize our engineering sector. I'd jack emissions standards to near unbearable levels and FORCE the adoption of cleaner technologies.
7. I'd repeal veto power (it violates separation of powers, IMO)
8. I'd prosecute the entire lot of current *and recent* senators and representatives for failing to uphold their oaths (same for the current crop of executive branch idiots).
9. I'd create trade barriers to keep money in the country and reduce trade deficits.
10. I'd change the way that laws are drafted-- one law per bill AND IT CAN'T BE RESUBMITTED FOR 3 YEARS, IF IT DOESN'T PASS!
11. Figure out a way to fix the credit-crazed economy of the past 16 years. I don't really know how, but it'd be a priority. We are selling ourselves into slavery.
12. I'd re-write IP/copyright laws. Enough said.
"What would I do? I'd shut down the country and give the money back to the taxpayers," Michael Dell said before a crowd of several thousand voters.
I Would suggest instead to reimburse tuition (for anybody) progressively, such that the better grade-point average you get, the more tuition you get back. That way students have incentive to do better no matter where they are at grade-wise. With a hard 3.2 limit, students with 3.2+ have no incentive to do better, and students so far below 3.2 that they have no chance of reaching that goal won't bother neither.
Note: I'm a happy Canuck, so s/President/Prime Minister/ ...
Due to technical limitations, in the 18th and 19th centuries Representative Democracies were the closest we could come to having the will of the people expressed by government. In the 21st century, even as more democratic structures become possible, we see governments moving away from true representation to selling a product: Coke vs Pepsi, Republican/Conservative kings vs Democrat/Liberal kings. It's been totally forgotten that we aren't crowning kings, we're choosing representatives, and we collectively have the power to decide what they do.
Collecting the opinions, desires, and most importantly, expertise of millions of people is difficult. No one knows how to do it just yet, mostly because not enough people are really trying. Transferring control from a "representative" elite to The People will take decades, centuries - but the process must begin. Now.
Sadly, I haven't seen any politicians who truly grok this. Up in Canada, former Prime Minister Paul Martin made great noises about renewing democracy, then did little to actually effect meaningful change. Obama has spoken about the power of the people in similar terms; I expect a similar result.
The opinons expressed are those of the voices in the author's head and are not necessarily those of the author.
01: I would sign law to force big oil to stop hiding the h20 car
02: I would sign law to force Area 51 to show off their alien collection
03: I would sign law to force the RIAA and MPAA to stop acting like retards
04: I would sign law to tax the rich on scaling percentages (bigger money, bigger percent)
05: I would sign law to keep credit card companies from forcing cards on stupid people
06: I would sign law to keep us from borrowing over and over
07: I would sign the lawsuit against my employer for carpal tunnel from signing so much law
08: ???
09: Profit!!
The USA have currently more than 2 million people in prison and also by far the highest count of prisoners per capita in the world. I know the argument is that it reduces crime and works and so even more people should be put in prison, but as the numbers are still increasing every year, this is probably just another debt on the future.
There are other things I'd like to change, but that would be the most important for me. But as non-american I am not eligible anyway.
I'm amused that virtually everyone who is answering this question is putting together a laundry list of things that aren't actually in the power of someone holding the office of president.
The cake is a pie
I would immediately ban torture and everything that seems like it, I'd rather not have the valuable information.
and
I would trash the miserable education system and start anew.
1) Every president needs a unique, historic program.
2) It lays down the marker that nothing is out-of-bounds. If we can bomb England, we bomb any fucking body on the planet. Seems fair.
3) Brown people could quit complaining that we pick on them. No longer true.
4) All films have taught us the real villains have British accents. It is reasonable assume they're the real threat.
5) Liberation of Scotland can only lead to hilarious results.
I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
1) end the nanny state. no welfare, no social security, no mecidare/caid, no federal health insurance, etc. if people can't take care of themselves, so be it.
2) the current war is completely unprofitable. the juice just ain't worth the squeeze. we've better things to spend our money on.
3) the DHS is the worst thing to happen to personal liberty in a while. they're out.
4) get out of the UN. they do nothing but hold us back.
5) repeal any legislation counter to the bill of rights in particular and personal liberty in general.
for more info, check out The Libertarian Party
In Soviet Russia jokes are formulaic and decidedly non-humorous.
people usually don't get buried for three days after dying.
Under Jewish custom people are buried as quickly as possible, ideally the same day.
I'm non-observant, but this practice has always struck me as a lot more sane than pumping the dead full of preservatives and putting them on display.
1) Judicial reform.
The Justice department has been unable to ensure that the law is applied equally to all citizens.
One law for all men is arguably the single most important pillar of a free society.
2) War crimes trials for the Bush administration.
These trials should also lead to the creation of a new judicial oversight committee with the highest possible security clearance to ensure that the executive branch complies with the law at all times.
3) Secret agencies and military reform.
4) Free trade AND free movement of labour.
One without the other is a recipe for mass subjugation and you know it.
Now man-up and compete using your skills, not your birthright.
5) Copyright and intellectual property reform.
All these laws will be scrapped and a public debate will be started to determine in what way (if at all) they can be re-created.
6) Campaign reform.
All campaign advertising will be banned.
A government agency will purchase airtime on radio and TV and this time will be provided to all candidates evenly.
Government funded airtime will also be provided for genuine policy debates.
(also, I would encourage the public to sue the tv networks for false advertising after labelling those things they do 'presidential debates')
If I were the next president, I'd launch an all-out, full-scale investigation into the scandal of a presidency that was Bush's 8 years in the White House. Oh and Bush, Cheney and company would be hanging out down in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba until I was ready to charge them with crime(s). That's where we hold terrorists right? ;)
I don't understand this Slashdot and in general, IT personnel, infatuation with Ron Paul. He is really just the Republican version of Dennis Kucinich in the sense that both are kooky extremists who bring up good points, but in the end are too far too the left and right to be suitable to lead this country. And as for Ron Paul sticking to his guns... why is so much value attached to that? It can be looked at as a foible as well as a virtue. All in all, I think that Ron Paul more poorly represents geeks than many of them realize.
I digress. My plans as president. Hmmm. So many things... well first off, I believe in nationalizing education. We are falling behind other countries very quickly, and without a strong lead in technology, our economy is doomed to fail. I've seen numerous state boards of education fuck up their states' curricula, especially with regards to science, so I think state control, and even more importantly, local community control causes way more harm than good. Plus, as an Ohioan, I can see that funding schools via property taxes is an abject failure, and encourages poor, ignorant people to stay poor and ignorant. Nationalizing education gets us off the property tax crack, or whatever other funding schemes various states/municipalities have in place. We need to all be on the same page, learning the same material. Is science really different in Texas and Kansas than it is in New York or Oregon? Last time I checked, no, but it is taught differently (see evolution), which is crap. We also need to have national standards for teachers. Basically, there is an overabundance of shitfucks in our public schools, who partied hardy and got shitty grades in college, so they became teachers. That's not always true, and there are many good, if not great teachers out there, but they tend to congregate in the better school systems (see funding issues above) because they don't want to deal with the problems associated with poor, ignorant people's kids, as well as the shittier pay. We need to set higher standards and requirements for K-12 teachers, and provide economic incentives to encourage qualified people to enter the teaching profession and meet those goals.
Secondly, I would nationalize health care. It makes little sense to have a private industry provide something that EVERYBODY needs. It takes away the maximum advantages of economy of scale. I am not saying that there is not room for private health care, there still would be. But doctors should be forced to work at set prices, determined by local cost of living, that is paid out by the federal government. If they don't like those set prices, they are free to go out on their own and charge what they will to whomever is willing to pay for it. But otherwise, they get paid by the feds. And there definitely needs to be more accountability on the part of doctors- they should not be financially rewarded for screwing up by getting paid for a second operation or procedure. Financial incentives should be provided for more GPs, and for more doctors period in rural areas, or those working in high-traffic urban hospitals. Will this lower pay for doctors? Probably, but that is not necessarily a bad thing, unless you're a doctor. And to be honest, doctors are overrated, and have an overly large sense of importance. They are basically mechanics for the human body, with good memories, and good hands if they are a surgeon. In my opinion, that should not be worth more than being an innovative scientist or engineer. And don't give me this bullshit about the time doctors spend in med school and residency, etc. Try getting a PhD in science, followed by a post doc, maybe a government lab position, then trying to climb up the tenure track ladder, all to be rewarded by a salary that may not even clear six figures when you are in your early 50's. There is no reason for medical doctors and science/engineering doctorates to have such a large difference in their pay. It is economically wasteful to be paying bio-mechanics that much.
In no particular order:
1) Recall U.S. troops from Iraq and probably Afghanistan, and any secret troops in Iran
2) Reinstitute Habeas Corpus
3) Initiate investigation into war crimes on the part of previous administration officials, as well as charges of treason (The Bush administration has gone WAY beyond 'impeachable offenses')
4) Release political prisoners in U.S. (of course this also includes Gitmo/Abuwhatever type places, but let's not forget people like Leonard Peltier, etc.)
5) Honor existing treaties with Native American tribes.
6) Appoint N.M. Governor Bill Richardson as Secretary of State, and send his ass out on a very long trip to start repairing U.S. relations abroad. I doubt this dude will be back by the end of my administration.
7) Find lackeys in Congress to start legislation I suggest, such as: no Congressional payraises unless a proportional increase in the minimum wage is approved at the same time.
8) Enforcement of the Constitution: try to get laws in place that forbid the kind of things W has been up to. Immediate legal penalties on politicians (including the President) if these laws are broken.
9) Fix the voting machine mess; mandate a auditable paper trail.
10) Fix the gerrymandering of voting districts - by either side.
11) Fix the EPA, and allow states to implement stricter pollution standards (but disallow looser standards)
12) Legalize, regulate, and tax the holy hell out of Marijuana.
13) Fully legalize hemp, and provide incentives to switch as much cotton production as is feasible over to hemp. (better for the environment, and actually more profitable for agribusiness.)
14) Legalize, regulate, and tax the holy hell out of prostitution.
15) Make lobbying a felony
16) Change the law so that corporations are not legal entities on a par with an actual human
17) Make animal abuse a felony, and make people convicted of it tracked; they often have serial killer tendencies.
18) No more subsidies to corn agribusiness
19) No more subsidies to oil producers
20) Much higher energy efficiency standards
And that's all I have time for now. I got a million of these, though.
I'd reform the current Trademark, Copyright, and Patent laws.
I would do my best to end Government Corruption. Kickbacks get you kicked out!
I would also get rid of this whole Mexican Border Wall thing. I would instead put that money into reliable sources to build warehouses and roads in Mexico to give them immediate jobs on the building projects and sustainability in their economy for better jobs later. This would alleviate the main problem, which is immigrants wanting to come here for better jobs.
I would not remove all troops from Iraq, but would definitely downsize and do our best to get the majority of our troops out within 5 years.
Freedom is fragile and must be protected. To sacrifice it, even as a temporary measure, is to betray it.
Friends make the most unreliable judges of character. If the NAACP president was making an impartial judgement on the basis of the record that might be convincing.
Oswald Mosley had quite a few Jewish friends who were taken completely by surprise when he suddenly turned into a fascist. Some of them even denied that he was an anti-semite after he became a fascist. There was apparently a notorious dinner party at which Mosley stated that he thought it necessary for his party to have a 'hate plank'. He was a racist by opportunity, not conviction.
Nobody disputes the racism of the newsletters published in Ron Paul's name for so many years. Either the newsletters represent Paul's views in which case he is a racist or they do not in which case he is an opportunist which is considerably worse.
Most NAZIs were not anti-semites by conviction, they just found it convienient to join the party and adopt its ideology.
Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
1. Prohibit the use of party names or affiliations in all documents, correspondence, and other uses in the executive department. I want good people and good ideas, and I don't want political baggage attached to them.
2. Designate corruption in an elected or appointed government officeholder to be treason and a capital offense.
3. Dissolve the Department of Education and return education to the states.
4. Prohibit DOJ from invoking "states secret" privilege to avoid lawsuits against the government and appoint a special court to hear those cases properly.
5. Announce a new US foreign policy doctrine.
- abandon the doctrine of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"
- abandon the doctrine of converting non-democracies to democracies
- abandon the doctrine of being the world's policeman, teacher, or conscience
- respect sovereignty of all nations' borders with regards to things we don't like, but that are not a cognizable threat to the US. Absent a threat to the US or a treaty nation with the US, a sovereign country has the right to do whatever the hell they want inside their borders. If they want to execute an ethnic group or religion, then so be it. They want a theocracy? Fine. If they are bad rulers, the US response is limited to a) our own economic activity (such as boycot) and b) persuading other countries to do the same.
- adopt a "right to preemptive response" doctrine, that we will act against a sovereign nation inside its own border if that sovereign is a direct threat to the US or a US treaty nation.
6. Build a damn fence and shoot people that climb it -- and let anyone (noncriminal) in who wants to come here to work (for up to 10 years) that DOESN'T climb the fence. If you are here illegally, then go back home and come back in legally and get papers.... but you can't become a citizen if you have ever entered illegally.
7. Push for the Fair Tax.
I would also campaign for 8 Constitutional Amendments:
1. Term limits on Congress.
2. Single subject matter requirement for congressional bills.
3. Line item veto for president on spending/budget bills.
4. Except for a declaration of war, all bills before Congress must be published publically in final form no less than 48 hours before a vote on the bill.
5. Modify the 16th Amendment to allow for imposition of a federal income tax (both apportioned and unapportioned) only if a state of war is has been declared by Congress, and all monies collected by income tax are under direct and exclusive control of the commander in chief and shall be dedicated to the prosecution of the war. Any income tax imposed shall expire 2 year after enactment. (Federal revenue should come principally from a national sales tax or VAT with exemptions for low income households).
6. Corruption by an elected or appointed public officeholder or government employee shall constitute treason and be subject to death penalty and forfeiture of all worldly possessions.
7. Repeal the 17th Amendment so that the state legislatures appoint their state's senators.
8. Provide that the states, by resolution of a majority of states, may call a constitutional convention for the limited purpose of proposing one or more single subject-matter constitutional amendments which would then be submitted to the states after the convention for ratification by 3/4 of the states. Amendments enacted by this process will be limited to no more than 10 years of operation, and amendments made by this process shall not alter the amendment process itself.
The one thing that no politician can actually accomplish, since any politicial elected has to use the system and thus becomes part of the system.
The Electorial college and delegate voting are anachronisims from teh days when someoen had to collect a tally and ride on a horse for 3 weeks to the capital to vote. Do away with middle tier voting crutches for a time losg past and and institute a popular vote system.
The problem isn't the politicians we elect. It's the system that puts us in the position that our choices are poor to begin with. Reform starts with how we conduct our elections, and removing power from the small herd of individuals and parties that dictate how things will happen.
I would charge the attorney general with prosecuting the members of the current administration with War Crimes under title 18 of the US Code.
I would announce a plan to withdraw all US forces to within US borders or international waters except in cases of the use of facilities for forward placement under terms of mutual agreement with a legitimately elected government, and introduce legislation to make all other deployments of military forces without a declaration of war, except in cases where congress is unable to convene and then only for a limited period, a capital crime.
I would introduce legislation to provide tuition credit vouchers to all residents of the US who pass standardized entrance examinations for their level of education, with preferrential allocation for study in specializations of greater need.
I would introduce a program to study the control of insolation by the placement of mylar mirrors in orbit.
I would introduce a program to study the control of atmospheric carbon by ocean seeding.
I would introduce a program to coordinate humanitarian efforts of volunteers and NGOs for purposes of nutrition and medical care in under-served areas of the earth.
I would introduce tax incentives for small business creation.
I would introduce legislation to balance the federal budget immediately, and to dissolve the IRS, and the department of education.
I would announce an amnesty for all persons convicted of non-violent drug offenses.
I would withdraw all illegal clandestine agents to US borders, and release all state secrets to the public, to save democracy.
I would introduce an amendment to the constitution allowing any state to secede from the union on a 2/3 vote of a plebescite.
I would introduce an amendment to the constitution protecting the right of personal medical self-determination.
I would introduce an amendment to the constitution limiting copyrights and patents to 17 years.
I would introduce legislation to issue currency backed by a rolling basket of futures, to perpetually keep inflation at 0%.
I would introduce an amendment to the constitution prohibiting the issuance of currency without commensurate commodity exchange value, or the passage of a budget which did not produce a surplus during peacetime.
I would open the borders to immigration by all persons who are not deemed to be a threat to the public.
I would introduce an amendment to the constitution requiring rank voting, abolishing political parties, limiting campaigns to one month, and supplying public information distribution channels to all candidates meeting minimum petition counts.
I would introduce legislation to reverse the effect of Santa Clara vs. Southern Pacific, denying corporations the fiction of juridical personhood.
I would introduce legislation to require all able persons to participate in local militia training one week annually, from ages 18 to 32, and compelling all able persons to respond to the local sheriff in cases of emergency.
I would introduce an amendment to the constitution to prohibit the use of the death penalty in peacetime except for capital murder witnessed by two eyewitnesses, consistent with material evidence, upon the finding of a jury.
I would institute a special prosecutor to investigate drug smuggling using CIA assets.
I would institute an independent panel with unlimited subpeona power to investigate financial and terrorist crimes by associates of the intelligence community.
I would introduce an amendment to the constitution making the secretaries of the departments elected officials, likewise the members of the supreme court, and restoring the control of the senate to the state legislatures, as well as abolishing the electoral college.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
- Return us to the spirit of the Constitution.
- Legalize marijuana and then regulate it like cigarettes (tax it, prohibit it in public areas, etc.). Assess the viability of this approach for other drugs.
- Aim for a 10% reduction in government (staff and budget) in the first term (federal performance initiative for government agencies).
- Create a realistic plan for socialized health care (a minimum level of care for all in conjunction with the current private sector approach).
- 10% reduction in military presence in foreign nations.
- Education reform; tougher standards with an emphasis on vocational work and in-the-field experience for attaining credentials from elementary skill all the way through University.
- Get us away from coal. Emphasize funding for safe nuclear and efficient solar energy. Create strong incentives for carbon-free transportation.
- Restoration of civil liberties that have been grossly eroded in the name of anti-terrorism (right to privacy chief among them)
- Overhaul the copyright system. It's not what it was originally meant to be and what it was originally was better than what it is now, despite the fact that the world of intellectual property is vastly different today.
- We need stronger federal mandates on protection of natural habitats. Urban sprawl is a significant problem. There should be stronger constraints on population density as well as requirements for pollution, energy efficiency, and so on that a city must meet on an ongoing basis for a given population. (This is to encourage reuse and recycling before discarding and expanding into new areas).
- ...
It's not what you would do that matters. It's whether you can make it happen within the constraints of the current system when so many wealthy people are committed to the very lucrative status quo.This is by no means a complete list.
Phase 1: Fixing the Bush Mess (First 100 Days)
1. Go on a world tour. Meet with world leaders, extend a friendly hand, and basically try to smooth things out. Might hire Obama to tag along, he seems like he'd be good at that sort of thing.
2. Begin a gradual withdrawal from Iraq. A roughly eight-percent reduction every month for twelve months. In the meantime, petition the U.N. to establish a multi-national peacekeeping force, with the consent of the Iraqi government and assistance from the U.S., of course.
3. Place more troops into Afghanistan, where they should have been in the first place.
4. Revitalize our hunt for bin Laden.
5. Other than 1-4, stop screwing with the Middle East, and tell them as such.
6. Work toward making airport security a more pleasant process. Get rid of the liquid rules and shoe checks that are not only annoying, but degrading.
7. Push a bill through Congress, called the AMERICAN Act (I'll hire someone who can make that an acronym), that will steeply scale back provisions of both the DMCA and the PATRIOT Act. We'll tack some anti-torture legislation in there as well.
That doesn't completely fix the mess, but it's a good step forward. It also kills two birds with one stone. If 2-6 succeed, they'll grant me more popular support, so I don't have to spend so damn long campaigning.
Phase 2: Moving America Forward
1. Work to have NCLB repealed.
2. Take some of that defense money we're no longer blowing in Iraq and put it toward an initiative to make fiber-optic internet available in every home. Yes, I know about dark fiber. Basically, it'll be like how FDR spread telephone lines during the depression. It'll build up our infrastructure and create jobs.
3. Give NASA a mandate to return to the Moon and eventually Mars, and actually fund it.
4. Threaten to withhold education funds from any state not teaching evolution or promoting ID in a science class.
5. Roll back faith-based initiatives.
Phase 3: Loose Ends
Here we'll tackle some misc. issues that will also help my re-election chances.
1. Unveil a universal health-care bill. Not sure on the details, but a crucial component would be protecting individual rights. For instance, if you're on govt-ran healthcare, you won't be forced at gunpoint to stop eating bacon and smoking. Personally, I envision a government-owned corporation, sort of like the Post Office.
2. Unveil a new tax code that reduces loopholes and paperwork. No, not a national sales tax or a "flat tax," though it would most likely be flatter than what we have now.
3. Step up illegal immigrant enforcement. No, we won't be wasting resources on border patrols. Instead, we'll focus on employers who hire illegals. Yeah, okay, that'll be tricky to work out.
Phase 4: Second Term
Cover issues that would hurt reelection chances. Pardon all non-violent drug offenders. Open relations with Cuba. Massive DEA cuts.
Introduce a bill that would decriminalize marijuana, thus reducing strain on the prison system. But here's the catch: It'll boost sentences and enforcement for harder drugs, like coke and meth. It'll also fund treatment centers for addicts. If congress doesn't pass it, I'll accuse them of being soft on drugs.
Pour resources into alternative fuels. Give a hard push to nuclear + Electric/diesel hybrids. Cut back ethanol funding, but instead put it toward biodiesel.
Also, we'd work on copyright, patents, and all that good stuff. Smack down the RIAA/MPAA and their lawsuits. Probably push tort reform for that matter.
In my last days, I guess I'd do what every other president does and give that whole Middle East peace thing a shot.
vi ~/.emacs
I'd like to point out that our founders pledged their lives, THEIR FORTUNES, and their sacred honor. We should expect nothing less from our leaders - and if they're true Americans, they'd gladly do it. If not... Patriot act v.2?
1) push a constitutional amendment to define and protect individual privacy
2) define any good, service, or company not based in the U.S. as a foreign country and their goods/services will be taxed as imports
3) move to have student loans eligible for inclusion into a bankruptcy discharge
4) expand the list of capital crimes to include crimes against children, habitual violent offenders, certain drug offenses, and creators of bad movies
5) insure that those convicted of enron type crimes pay back every dime taken from workers even if it means losing their homes and cars
6) create a salary ceiling where the highest paid employee at a company cannot receive more than 100x's higher in salary and benefits than the lowest paid employee.
7) the military will get a hefty pay increase as will key government workers. the number of people with the title of director, asst. director, supervisor, or other quasi-managerial position will be reduced.
8) there will be one national educational curriculum
9) there will be no more than one school district, one superintendent of schools, or one assistant superintendent of schools in any one county/parish.
10) health care reform will include reducing pricing for health services to levels that insurers pay providers (if an insurer gets to pay $1,800 on a $20,000 hospital bill then the average citizen should be able to pay that amount as well)
11) no business nor organization will be able to compile data on any individual without that individual's expressed consent ( i know that it's #1 restated but privacy and the right to be left alone are very important to me)
12) telemarketing and marketing via email or any other medium where the recipient winds up paying for delivery will be outlawed.
i've got more but i don't want to bore you...
Is it 5:30 yet?
> And let someone who knows what they're doing operate.
Perhaps you are a defective and really wouldn't be fit to hold the office, but odds are you haev simply bought into some stupid notions and perhaps suffer from really low self confidence. Me, I know I could be an above average POTUS. It's actually fairly easy.
1. Realize the position wasn't intended to be the near God-King we have turned it into over the last century.
2. Articulate a clear set of guiding principles to the Executive Branch, then pick some solid competent people who are willing to actually implement those principles instead of trying to impose their own. This is the important part that trips up most administrations because it is the root cause of all of the internal backbiting and politicing. The unitary executive is the key ingredient in a successful administration. With it you don't have endless leaks, power struggles, etc.
3. Tell the 'smart people' who will insist you slave away for 16-20 hours per day doing meaningless bullshit because every previous POTUS did it to STFU and go play golf.
4. When an executive decision is required, pull in the dozen or so people most qualified to offer an opinion in, hear them all out and then make a decision. Recognize up front that even with the best advice that a fair number will be judged 'wrong' by history but the most important thing in most affairs is making A decision instead of endless dithering. The problem is that on any tough decision that isn't a simple binary choice everyone who you overrule will all agree that you made the wrong choice and hate you. The key is ignoring em.
Notice nothing in that requires a super genius, a super education or anything beyond average ability.
Personally my guiding principles would be:
1. The Constituition is back. In 99% of cases reading it first will tell you where I'll be so you can save the trouble of asking.
1a. Because the Ronulans and most Dims have trouble with this idea, the Constituition does not forbid war. We are currently at war and there is no such thing as 'ending' a War; you win or lose them and losing them has really undesirable consequences. Vigorious debate before the war is both desirable and Patrotic, anklebiting and lending aid to enemies after the choice to begin a War is not.
2. Less government is better government. State government is better than Federal government. See Amendments 9 & 10 when unclear on this point.
3. Laws are either to be repealed or enforced. This includes Immigration. It also includes the War on Some Drugs, although there I would like to be on the record as favoring the repeal part in most cases.
4. Judges rule on the law and Constituition as written, any attempts to legislate from the bench will be seen as an act of usurpation of the Rightful powers reserved to the other two branches and considered as just cause to commence proceedings for removal on those grounds.
5. In spite of my above support for crushing our enemies on the battlefield I don't like our international entanglements. Out of the UN, NATO, etc. and the only bases which we should have are those which directly serve US interests. Some Naval and Air bases are needed to allow us to project power when needed but I really don't see why we are still in Germany or Korea with large numbers of ground forces.
Democrat delenda est
I'd get to the bottom of this whole Area 51 business!
...I would free the slaves.
The issue is complex and repairations are not my preferred answer to the problem.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
Reform the election process.
Second step: order a new election with the new election rules.
Seriously, I don't want the job. Although taking a cue from Brazil I might consider cutting off welfare to families who's children have failing grades and taking a cue from China offer $1000 cash to anybody who willingly surrenders their rights to reproduce.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
First of all, I'd pass a law that requires life to be completely fair to everybody at all times. Who doesn't want that? Then I'd make sure that nobody had to pay taxes unless they wanted to, but the government would still take care of all the people that didn't really want to work. When we run out of money, I'll just print more - easy! Then all those folks around the world that say they hate us so much - I'd do everything they want PLUS give them all ponies, or maybe puppy dogs. Whichever they want. Prolly just give them ponies AND puppies, and do everything they want, that's got to work. How could they hate us then? Then I'd bring all the troops home - unless they wanted to stay of course, totally up to them, or the people that care about them, or the people that write a letter or march or go on TV. I'd probably just go by whatever the person in front of me at that moment says. Wait, just bring, like 50% of the troops home, and tell half of Iraq to kiss our butts, but then give them an EXTRA pony and puppy dog. Problem solved! After that, I'd fix the hole in the ozone layer, save all the endangered animals, and admit there really are UFO's. Now think about it, when I get done doing all that stuff, Mexico will probably want to become a part of the USA right? They'll be begging us - we wouldn't even have to bomb them or anything. Since we've already got a "New Mexico" we could call them "Old Mexico", or maybe "Mexico Classic". And here's the genius of my plan - once they become a state, immigration wouldn't be so much of a problem then, would it? I tell you, I've been planning this for a long time, and I've got it all worked out. VOTE FOR ME!!
"And now, Frank N. Furter, your time has come. Say 'goodbye' to all of this, and 'hello'... to oblivion!"
I'm not disputing the racism in the letters. I am disputing that Ron wrote them and that he agrees with those sentiments. Just as he said in his statement above.
1) reduce the government size
...
2) create a *small* government group that reviews the budget of other agencies (to ensure they are spending what money they get wisely, how in need they are of extra money and for what purpose or if they are getting too much) where it will be given to congress, the organizations that is reviewed, and the public. The group in question will have a set constant budget that changes with inflation over time (only changable by congress budget review)
3) rework the education system
4) rework copyright
5) rework the patent system
*note on 4 and 5: basically reduce it's lenght but also try to reduce the public's reliance on them for protection (reduce number of people that can get them by tightly increasing restrictions of acceptance), make it a small fee for application to process, but limit how many can be applied for in a lenght of time, add a penalty fee for grossly obvious applications that will fail (things applied for even though it fails to meet many simple requirements)
6) using step 2, try to push for a more organized and efficient government, especially for groups like the irs
7) reduce income tax as the government if smaller but more importantly, (hopefully) spending it's money wiser by this time
8) revoke the dmca, patriot act, and other stupid laws
9) push for a more free market (specifically in the broadband area) and plenty of other places, those markets with natural monopolies, push for specific laws that ensures public rights
10) push for a change of the election system, instead of a winners takes all system, design a new system where % of support = % of power within the governemnt (ensuring no one group will have full control and ensuring small minority groups continue to have a say)
11) reduce milatary presence and reliance (keeping enough for defense, for rapid deployment and expansion in times of need, while getting rid of outdated and useless parts of the military), setup a mandatory system of military reduction after it's need for expansion is over
12) try to improve upon foreign relationship, get out of the role as world police and look for a more cooperative role in managing the world
13) Balance the budget! aim to improve export and reduce reliance on imports (and not through tarrifs but through home incentives as tarrifs hurts the public as much as it helps)
14) promote greater research on a national level
15) promote efforts in reducing the reliance on oil, efforts to build nuclear reactors, recycle nuclear waste, promote "green" energy like that of solar, tax people greater for wasteful usage of energy and provide incentives for those to use less
16) promote greater efforts in recycling resources in general
17) legalize hemp
18) teach the public that the government is not a babysitter and is there to perform only it's primary duties (to protect and to safely ensure the stability of it's citizen's lives), things that can be done at a lower level of the government, should be done at that level
19) fix the whole transportation system in most of the us (improve public transportation on the whole, higher tax on larger cars, more efficient roadway designs and better light timings, etc)
999) create a system where the public has the power to revoke certain laws (as long as they have some % support like 30-59% from congress) in a public voting system
etc....too many to do in one's life time. But it's pretty obvious that such a push for even any of these will probably never come from any candidates, at least from the way the current election system is setup (one main party vs another with a small 3rd party with little ability to gain momentum). Many of these are of varying importance yet many have not yet been addressed.
I have actually thought this out for some time. I plan on running in 2020 when I will finally be old enough to run. I am currently 25. One of my first orders of business would be restoring many of the civil liberties lost in the past decade. Until recently, it was abnormal to be required to show ID to travel between the states. Why should my government care if I am flying to New Mexico from Arizona. My main focus would be Social Security reform. I work hard for my money, and I believe I have started a good plan for retirement. Why should I have to give up my hard earned income to pay the way of someone who doesn't want to work.
I would put a greater reliance on the family. A lot of the problems we are seeing these days come from a breakdown of traditional family values. It used to be if someone needed financial assistance of any sort, they went to their family first. When growing up, my parents never relied on someone else to tell them I could or could not play violent video games. They used their own common sense.
A wise man once said there needs to be more religion in government. Religion, NOT CHURCH! There is a big difference. I don't car what religion you affiliate yourself with, be it Christian, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, or others. Every faith teaches something about morality and how to behave. It is when one blindly follows that problems arise. Look at these people that burn books because their preacher told them it was about witchcraft. Nevermind trying to reason it out for ones self.
I would reform education. I actually am quite pleased with the public education system, at least where I live. I also work for the district where my children would go to school. I do realize there are problems with the system. Privatizing it won't help. What we need to do is work within the system to bring about needed changes. Better science needs to be taught in schools. One thing I think my district does well is we try to teach kids how to think, and how to apply the concepts learned in real life.
One of my final big reforms would be to the current Income Tax laws. The tax code is way too confusing. My current favorite idea is a national retail sales tax.
I would be happy to hear from people about their political views and would be willing to share more of mine. Contact me at Cody.S.WrightSPAM@gmailSPAM.com Just take out the spam.
Cody Wright
Recognizing the limits of government and doing as little as possible is one of the secrets of good government.
I would appoint a cabinet of the best talents I could find, regardless of their political affiliation (if any), and give them maximum leeway to get on with it.
I would require all employers to offer at least 28-days paid holiday a year and I would fire anyone in government who did not take it and also fire anyone who made a habit of working seven-day weeks.
I would ban breakfest meetings which are profoundly uncivilized.
I would go to bed at 11 pm and leave every official engagement by 10 pm regardless of what it was.
I would be nasty to Vladimir Putin, lock up financiers from time to time to remind them of who's boss, require anyone worth more than $2 million to give at least 10 per cent of their income to charity and make public the details, offer Texas to the Iranians in exchange for peace in the Gulf (the sooner the USA is rid of Texas the better we'll all be), and generally see my role as keeping everyone's spirits up.
Las qué passoun
tournoun pas maï
That about covers my wish list.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
And bad ones at that. http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/220455.php This govenor wants to make school free if you get a 3.0 GPA.
Introduce a Constitutional Ammendment:
All laws enacted by Congress shall include a provision for sunset, not to exceed XX years, after which that law will no longer be in effect.
The thought behind this being that any law that is important enough to be on the books, including things as diverse as murder, taxation, and funding Congress, the Executive, and Judiciary are all important enough to be periodically re-passed. Obsolete/unimportant laws will wither away, as they should, rather than get pulled up decades later and used in ways never imagined by their originators. The number XX would need to be strictly specified. 10 years comes to mind, but there might be better values that help insulate the law from election cycles. (Maybe XX - 20 would even be a good number, coincidentally.)
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Abolish NASA and the Department of Education, create a neo-isolationist foreign policy, repeal the 14th Amendment ... yeah, those are great ideas.
And before any Paulites mod me down for saying he wants to repeal the 14th Amendment, listen to his own words. Yes, the man opposes the passage in the Amendment which made blacks citizens of the United States. But he's not a cryptoracist. Oh no.
Les Miserables Volume 1 now up with my reading of
I would solemnly affirm that I would faithfully execute the office of President of the United State, and would, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. You just don't see enough of that happening these days -- it'd be nice to get back to the basics.
I would veto most legislation -- anything with an ear-mark, anything that puts the wants of the few above the needs of the many.
I'd propose budgets that are within the means of the country, withdrawing troops to home until Congress declares war. I would bolster the US state department and bump the US diplomatic corps to cabinet position in its own right, and develop a robust and well-resourced diplomatics service that is the best in the world.
I would remind everyone that the US government should never be regarded as a moral compass. Legislation sought solely on moral grounds or to assuage the wounded sensibilities of the electorate would be vetoed outright. Frankly, it's might right and your to be offensive. I think eating sea urchin is disgusting, but I'm not prepared to proffer a bill to ban sushi.
Would make government as transparent as possible, make it easier to let go of government personnel, and task the GAO to identify inefficiencies in the way government is executed and address them. I would commission a small group to survey other world governments and pilfer the best ideas the world has to offer as far as providing the highest quality of life with the highest degree of personal freedom.
I would ask the congress to propose a law that allows laws to pass only on a 2/3 majority and be repealed by a 1/3 minority so as to limit the how much questionable legislation gets on the books, and to speed problematic legislation off.
I would stop prosecuting wars on whatever. Drugs, terrorism, Britney Spears... doesn't matter. It's ridiculous to think that we can totally stamp out everything that's unseemly or harmful to us. Rather, we'd look at cost-benefit analyses and determine the best possible compromise (I'd even ask the GAO to lend their expertise in this area). If it means releasing petty drug offenders to recoup the costs of incarceration, I'd be in favor. Perhaps we could develop a system of paying back society for petty crime instead of sitting in a dorm watching TV -- you know, something constructive.
I'd develop an energy policy that aims to reduce oil consumption to as close to nothing as is physically possible. This would include investment in alternative energy, contemporary nuclear technologies (like pebble-beds), etc. I might request from congress money or authority to purchase patents whose existence is used to stymie the necessary research and development.
I would provide a review of the "intellectual property" system and ask for modifications to current law to uncomplicate the system and optimize it's public benefit. I'd probably offer terms on copyrights stated in "generations" as indicated in the US census. The original US term was 1/2 to 1 generation and that might be good enough. I would also ask that media with "access controls" be exempted from copyright since the content cannot be accessed after it's term has expired, nor can the access control assure the rights of the user to sufficient degree to satisfy the minimal requirements of the copyright contract. I'd also ask the concept of "works for hire" to be abolished, or make it impossible to transfer right away from a creator.
I would seek to offer a certain minimal level of public healthcare -- perhaps based on the German or Norwegian systems. I would end subsidies for goods and commodities. I would lobby congress to pass one of two laws: one that explicitly states that corporations are not individuals and sets up guidelines for their treatment as separate unequal entities, or a law that permits similar penalties (e.g., a product kills someone, there would be a murder trial and the product or maker could receive a corporate "death penalty").
I would try to get considerably
...red.
No, Vern. They just let him in.
Disease.
Cancer, AIDS, MS, Alzheimer's etc, these are America's true enemy. More lives are lost or devastated by these diseases a month than by terrorism or drugs in the last decade.
These are our common enemy. I don't care if you're republican or democrat, Christian or Muslim, rich or poor, disease is out to get you, your parents, your children, all of us.
It's shameful how much money we spend ensuring we can kill and how little we spend to protect life. It's shameful how we have failed to fight that which kills more Americans than any other force. It's shameful how we bicker over petty differences while a true enemy destroys us from within.
Unlike the wars of greed and ignorance we've been fighting, A War on Disease has no casualties and every battle fought makes us stronger. A War on Disease is a campaign for all Americans and for the world, and against none. A War on Disease, is one we can win.
In no particular order
1. Increase funding for the space program 5-fold (or so). A more useful space station and a permanent moon base would be the first goals, along with robotic missions to the outer solar system.
2. Open immigration, and open travel to Canada and Mexico. Allow anyone to become a citizen after a few years in the country, with a test of US history and basic priniciples (Constitution & Ammendments, Declaration of Independence, etc)
3. Legalize most drugs, within reason (ie all except ones with low lethal doses with little other effects). Then they could be regulated for safety and taxed.
4. Institute a national health insurance system
5. End international deployments of the National Guard. Only use them within the US, preferably within their own state.
6. Recall most troops from Iraq.
7. Repeal Patriot Act, REAL ID, end warrantless wiretapping, and disband the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (secret courts? blech)
8. Repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. Require states to recognize all other states marriages and civil unions, and have the federal government recognize them.
And while the federal government couldn't do it feasibly, they could provide incentives to state school systems / universities that do:
9. Require people to have basic knowledge of a language other than English. It's a big world out there, and a lot of it doesn't speak English.
NICE:
/I could go on all day - but these are the big ones I can think of.
Pardon ALL non-violent prisoners in the entire country.
Make all private and for-profit prisons illegal.
Eliminate the personhood rights of corporations, and make their officers criminally liable for the actions of the corporation.
Require that all US corporations maintain a certain level of all operations within the United States, using American labor.
Tax the rich at a proportion equal to or exceeding that of the middle class.
Make minimum wage an actual living wage, able to completely sustain the needs of one individual.
Legalize and tax all illegal drugs.
Legalize and tax all gambling.
Return police powers to their pre 1900 state (a complaint must be made before any investigative action by police)
Cancel any law enacted for "our safety"
NAUGHTY:
Call "President-sies" for life
Institute a national "Death Lottery" to bring the American population back down to below 100 million.
Round up and execute all anti global-warming propagandists, lobbyist, pro-drug warriors, any police officer that has ever used a taser under questionable circumstances, CEO's, and other vile scum.
Annex the sudetenland.
Well, I'm assuming we're not asking what I could do, because the President cannot create legislation. They can request it, and they can use political maneuvering to get Congress to craft it for them, but unless Congress approves it, the President can't do much but yea or nay.
... Someone should ask them if they know that exponentiation is "just repeated multiplication", show them how to do it, then ask how they use that One True Way to calculate something important to mathematics, like e^(i * pi). How do you multiply 2.71828459045 with itself 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058 * sqrt(-1) times, to get -1, anyhow? (Hint: You don't actually know what ANY of that really means if you don't know math above the American high school level, because you're barking up the wrong tree from the start if you try to calculate something like e^(i*pi) without knowing the math behind it.)
Anyhow, assuming that I can somehow coerce Congress into complying, I would:
* Make education more competitive. You can get too competitive, sure, but the better schools should be for those who are willing to work harder, not just those who have more cash. People aren't actually too stupid, if you know anything about the science of education, you'll see that hard work gets people a lot farther than any innate talent. The really "smart" people have things they devote a lot of time to learning. Our kids learn FAR less than others; this is a huge disadvantage. Global competition means that you can't just do things half-ass and hope that trade barriers will let you keep your job any more. We're terrible at science and math. You can't even teach set theory because it's "new" math and people treat it like it's some new age nonsense (even though it's more in tune with REAL math that idiots never learn). They freak out because there's more than one way to do multiplication than the One True Way they were taught in 10th grade and they make insipid videos about it on YouTube. God help us if they ever start saying that set theory is "just a theory"
* Eliminate almost all imaginary property laws. I would allow a few, weak rights, but they would not be expansive and would not extend even one iota past certain clearly listed rights. If it's not listed, you do NOT have any right to it, period. They would not entitle you to a share of anyone else's profits, even if they somehow had a picture of your trademarked Ford in them somewhere, nor would they entitle you to restrict people via EULAs, nor would they entitle you to spy on people. DRM = no legal protection at all, too. When it gets cracked, it's your own fault for trying to rip off your customers with a scheme that was never going to work in the first place (and non-customers do not get the DRM-encumbered version to begin with).
* Loser pays in court. Punitive damages go to the state. The Courts should NOT be some kind of get-rich-quick scheme, that's insane. If Europe can get it to work, why can't we?
* More court technology. There are too many ridiculous legal fees for providing things that can be provided with much lower costs. Also, ALL laws and precedents need to be made available electronically by the government. You shouldn't have to pay a dime to be able to read the laws, given that we're expected to be able to follow them.
* Personal privacy laws. Don't like it? Don't collect personal data. That said, I would be careful to allow medical study of anonymous records. There are, in fact, means to remove any means of patient identification without distorting the value of the records for study. This also means that our credit reporting agencies need an overhaul; they have too much de facto control over people's lives to be able to screw people over with little or no legal recourse.
* Repeal and clean-up unnecessary laws. Admittedly, most of those are probably state-level, but there's no reason to have 80 new laws just because, for example, the internet is involved. Fraud is fraud is fraud,
I would write and sign an executive order prohibiting me from doing almost anything at all! Then sit back for four years, and enjoy my pension for the rest of my life! Ah, its nice to be king!
I'd say the biggest problems in the US are
1.) Basic Medical Care
2.) Basic Social Wellfare (we're talking 'basic' folks - not German style "luxury" wellfare) - the US lack the most basic social wellfare.
3.) Education
4.) Gun law
5.) Media
6.) Election system.
7.) current ultra-kazillion deficit (Thanks to GWB)
Number 1+2 are obvious, number 3 is a large biggie and number 4 is the prime cause of unnatural death in the US. The US Education system is bad and needs attention. The gun problem I'd try to tackle by making the NRA a gouverment authority and requireing every US citizen who wants to have a gun to be member of the NRA and take a thourough official gun training (+ license) and psychological evaluation.
I'd fund german style 100% gouverment funded independant media (media is independant by constitutional law in Germany - a very good thing that the US desperately needs). It's one of the few things German authorities actually do right. I'd also change the US election system to be more true to reality.
Fixing dept along the way would be hard to do but nice to have - you'd have to reduce military spending or something.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
I would substantially increase energy taxes substantially and use the money to fund a nationalized health care system. The increase in energy taxes would hopefully incent people to move in from the suberbs and live in neighborhoods and walk from place to place. This would likely allow the U.S. to spend substantially less on health care while having quality that was more up to other western countries.
1. No Income Tax. Only 15% sales tax. The sales tax is then divvied up in a seemingly logical fashion like 7% Federal Government, 3% state , 2% city, 1% unemployment, 1% social security, 1% welfare.
2. Social Security gets payed out by total amount taken in last month divided by total number of people that applied for this month
3. No subsidies.
4. Pull out military from all foreign turf.
5. Welfare only paid to people who qualify and perform menial labor -- even if it means picking up trash along road or stuffing envelopes (is that even a job any more?).
6. Counter to #3, subsidies only to companies that reduce pollution, reduce dependency on foreign oil, provide free breast enlargement.
7. gay marriage legal.
8. allowed to have as many marriages as you want as long as wives (or husbands) are fully aware. Alimony eliminated. For every wife you have you must put $50,000 in bank account in her name. You get a divorce, she gets the money.
9. free, super high speed internet access
10. cuddly bunnies for everyone
11. a person's maximum age is strictly legislated: fifty-one years, to the day. When people reach this Lastday they report to a Sleepshop in which they are willingly executed. A person's age is revealed by their palm flower -- a crystal embedded in the palm of their right hand that changes color every seven years, then turns black on Lastday.
Be a very productive, yet invisible president. 1. Make a law that my likeness and personal information couldn't be posted publicly... leading up to... 2. Use a popular web forum or three to try out good ideas and get more good ideas. What are they calling the free work people on the net provide for companies for no pay? 3. Hire lots of smart literate people to read the forums and help me keep on top of things. 4. Go with the best ideas. Post them on the net. ;)
On a more serious and specific note, off the top of my head I'd look at things in this order and try to make things better and more fair. A lot of these overlap:
1. Environmental stuff/Energy (affects everything else)
2. Peace (less war, more alliances, less greed)
3. Our people (well being, rights, etc. People are more important than corporations)
4. Money (economy, we can't function right now without it. Corporations can't be neglected, but they have to come after the other important things)
5. Other people (well being of people everywhere)
6. Small level environment stuff (if we missed it at number 1, we need to look more closely. Quit killing off forests and species for greed, etc.)
--getting a little more creative as we go further down my list--
7. Find a way to reduce the human population of the world gradually, without infringing on people's rights. Tricky. Any ideas?
8. I'm all about freedom of religion and all that, but we've got to find a way to get people to stop hating people of other religions. Seriously. It'd also be nice to get religions to quit encouraging infinite reproduction. Yeah, I guess we need to get the religious leaders to be a little more reasonable given the circumstances of what we see happening around us. Maybe get them all playing tag football together or something. Or at least Team Fortress 2!
9. Deal with criminal stuff better. Especially the corporate and government bad guys who get off WAAAYYY too lightly as it is. As for the bad street criminals with lots of violent crimes... I say give them the axe sooner if we are sure they are in the wrong. Maybe speed up court dates and whatnot.
10. That leads me to something else. Reduce the bullshit factor of people getting into certain professions. For instance, why limit the number of lawyers, doctors, etc. artificially... simply to keep their skills in high demand and give them higher pay. I say let people go to college for 2 years then have more open doors to getting there. Maybe even have some other level of "doctor" that can skip college entirely and go straight into the medical learning pursuits. Not sure how this would work, but it'd be interesting. Personally, I still would have switched majors a million times and stayed in school forever.
11. On another medical note, see about letting people go (pass away) when it's their time instead of pumping them full of drugs and halfway lying to them about their survival rates. I think it's wonderful to extend people's lives if they can function pretty well... but when you see older people you love who are hanging on by a thin thread and ravaged by a disease and nearly poisoned by medication... you realize we just aren't all meant to live to 100.
12. Another specific... less BS censorship. Especially on the internet and with games. But give parents more control over their own household censorship. Speaking of which, give parents more control over ADVERTISING censorship at home. I'm much more worried about my kids getting influenced by stupid commercials that warp you perceptions than most of the shows. TV ads need to have warnings of how much harm they might do to you. Personally I am affected very little by commercials, but I don't typically get affected by peer pressure anway... I digress.
OK, I just need a lucky 13 to round it off.
13. Reduce the punishment on mp3 and movie downloaders. The fines just don't fit the "crime". It's just silly.
Sic the military on Blackwater. They're a greater threat to America, the world and to freedom than all other extremist and terrorist groups combined. Declare Blackwater to be a terrorist group. Hunt them down and destroy them wherever they are. Enlist the aid of Muslim extremist groups (you know, enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that jazz). Add a line to the constitution ensuring the government will never use paid extra-judicial mercenaries ever again.
If this is the least I can say regarding the wrongness of a lot of that:
What electoral college?
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
First I'd come up with a series of reforms allowing for better public health care. Then I'd ban software patents and force all states to accept an open standard for office documents, preferably ODF. Removal of troops from Iraq and other areas would also rank high on my list.
But I'm only Swedish, so what would I know?
Rename Air Force One to Air Force Zero for obvious reasons.
Compare everything that comes to my desk for signature, with Article 1 Section 8, and the 10th Amendment. Ignore ridiculous case law (hey, that's the courts' problem, not mine) that interprets "interstate commerce" so amazingly broadly, in a manner that is utterly contrary to any layman's interpretation. Grab my big VETO stamp, ink it up nice 'n' red, and then... *WHAM!* Stamp it multiple times. And spit on it too.
I suspect some of these views would be wildly unpopular, but here is what I would attempt to achieve while President, keeping in mind what the actual job of the President is.
1) Attempt to increase funding an manpower for Law Enforcement in an effort to decrease serious crime. This isn't turning the Nation into a police state, it's an attempt to ensure that every crime gets solved. The rationale here is that tougher sentences are not a crime deterrant because they simply build up the Prison Industry, but "rational criminals" still commit crimes because they think they can get away with them. Let's lower the possibility of getting away with serious crimes, which I believe will be a better deterrant.
2) Attempt to decriminalize smaller crimes, or crimes that can be argued as victimless. Prostitution and Marijuana posession come to mind. I'm sure there are many others.
3) Attempt to convince Legislators to draft bills, which I would sign, that require High School Students to take classes on Personal Finance, and that require students at three different grade levels (one Elementary level, one Jr. High level, one High School level) to take firearms safety courses, culminating at the highest level with an opt-in to actual hands on usage of firearms in a safe, supervised environment. On the first bill, I figure we need better education about finance and wealth management, and on the second, I figure if the Founding Fathers felt strongly enough to put firearm ownership in the Bill of Rights, we should teach our citizens how to be safe around them in an effort to reduce accidental deaths and increase responsibility.
4) Increase funding for science and technology research, and sign up the Nation for some Big Bets on the technological/scientific front. Maybe it's a better nuclear reactor, or a series of space or deep sea missions. Maybe it's the first "home AI". Something that we can get behind as a Nation and be proud of that will make us flex our intellectual muscle.
5) Pressure Congress to pass laws which tax organized religious groups which use the altar as a political bully pulpit, then send the AG after churches that meddle in politics. I believe in the seperation of Church and State, and this sword should cut both ways.
6) Pressure Congress to draft a budget that gets us back to a Progressive Taxation scheme, where the wealthy pay more and the poor pay less. Couple this with some programs that train the poor with valuable skills and useful money management techniques. The intention here is to create a constant transition stream of poor to wealthy (or at least Middle Class) that pays back the debt it owes to the State for the level of prosperity that they have achieved within the framework of our great Nation and our system of laws.
7) Seriously reevaluate our international financial aid, and come up with some good reasons why certain nations get Billions from the US. What are we getting in return? Build more hospitals and schools overseas and less bombs. Build up internaltional goodwill while undermining the appeal of radical anti-american forces in whatever way possible (and legal under International Law). I want less people to say "The Americans bombed our building!" and more people to say "The Americans built our great Hospital!"
8) Build safe, standardized Nuclear Power Plants all over the country. Reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and reduce the National Carbon Footprint.
9) Close Camp X-Ray. Process the prisoners there through some kind of transparent court system. Stop waterboarding. Comply with the Geneva Convention.
10) Pressure the entertainment business to offer more educational, world-view entertainment via popular media such as television. I want to see less narrow-view "'Merica, Fuck Yeah" crap on TV and more shows that encourage curiousity, acceptance of diversity, a culture of long term planning and dilligent improvment over a "get rich quick mentality", and intellectual honesty. Open people's minds to the notion that how we do things in one little town is
Do this unilaterally, without treaties. Just do it.
(The US will never use a nuclear bomb again, anyway. It is a bluff that nobody believes.)
Remind the world that you still have enough conventional weapons and manpower to wipe out almost any nation on the planet.
Again, this is just an expensive hollow bluff. Save the money and remind N.K. that we have enough remote-controlled fire power in the Sea of Japan to wipe them out if there are any border problems (which there won't be).
Be very vocal about restrictions against torture, murder, and other crimes. Present the cleanest possible image of all US operatives.
(Hint: sweat shops pose a health and safety danger, as does immigration of some criminals.)
Quit talking about how to prepare for it, how to respond to it, how to prevent it.
Start talking and acting in a way that drives fear out with hope.
You can continue to pay accountants to minimize your tax profile under the old tax code if you think that is better for you.
Or, you could just pay n% simplified tax (where n is small enough to lure people). Minimal deductions, no loopholes, no depreciation, very few distinctions, etc.
The n in n% is, of course, adjustable by Congress each year.
We will eventually phase out the old tax code. Starting in 2015, you will pay 5% of your simplified tax, and 95% of your choice of tax codes. Each year after 2015 that balance will shift another 5% until we have transitioned 75% to the simplified tax. The next year (2030) the old tax code will be dumped and we will move 100% to the simplified tax code.
If you are in the military you will complete a minimum of 10 college credits per year towards a chosen college degree.
Anyone who does not maintain a 2.0 average will not receive advancement or pay raises.
The credit requirement drops to 4 credits per year for those with Masters degrees, and the credits do not have to apply to any further college degrees.
The US government will pay for up to 12 credits per year.
In any year where deployment has interfered with college studies, soldiers will receive a four month assignment to a study camp that will provide facilities and at least 10 working hours each day to complete coursework.
This mandate can be suspended during periods of conscription.
1. Abolish Soft Money in politics
2. Repeal Corporate Personhood
3. Repeal Patriot Act
4. Strip telecom immunity in relation to illegal surveillance
5. Drastically reduce military presence overseas
6. Stand behind Palestinians, not Isreali - the modern day aggressors
7. Rectify Kyoto
8. Enforce Net Neutrality
9. Pass the Public Domain Enhancement Act
10. Limit Pharmaceuticl Patents to 10 years and Software Patent to 5 years
11. Rollback Copyright extensions to life of author + 25 years.
12. Expand Stem Cell research fundings
13. Abolish Abstinence-only sex education
14. Remove Intelligent Design from Science classes and put it back to Religion or Philosophy classes
15. Make Political fiddling of scientific findings illegal
16. Tax reform such that Warren Buffet actually will pay more than his secretary.
You get my ideas, just do things that Make Sense (R).
I would go straight to the Oval Office and press the big red button, just to see what it actually does!
Not exactly very big on accountability your chap, is he?
We are expected to beleive that a newsletter went out for over a decade that Ron Paul had absolutely no part in producing, no authority over and did not even read? His denial does not say that at all. He does not deny funding the newsletter or that he read it. Nor does he say who actually did write the articles.
The biggest failures of the Bush administration have been the abject lack of accountability. Bush blames everyone but himself for the mess in Iraq. It is hard to think of a single member of the administration who was sacked for their incompetence rather than the political inconveniences that their incompetence caused.
So now we are to accept the idea that you can publish a political newsletter to promote your thoughts on politics without taking responsibility for the contents? Sorry that simply does not wash. The best spin that can be put on this situation is that your man is a buffoon. That is hardly a recomendation for someone seeking the US Presidency.
Who did he choose to write the newsletter for him? Would they be offered positions in a Ron Paul administration? How can we trust Ron Paul's judgement on other personnel decisions? Failing to make subordinates accountable is as bad as failure to accept personal accountabilty.
It is a somewhat strange set of criteria that is set up by the media as well. Edwards is disqualified for paying too much for a haircut, Hillary because she is a robot. But Ron Paul can have racist drivel put out under his name for over a decade and somehow it does not rate a mention.
The really, really sad thing here is that Ron Paul is in some ways the least crazy of the GOP contenders. He has the least whacked out tax plan (yes really!) and he is the only one to recognize that Iraq is a failure. But when you read the anti-Zionist screeds in his newsletter you pretty soon realize that they go way beyond mere criticism of Israel, they are unambiguously anti-semitic. That does force one to stop and ask if his Iraq policy might be driven by anti-semitism.
Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
Yup you heard me. Some things need to be socialized, some things need to be out of the hands of the federal government.
1. Pull our troops out of the 170 some countries we occupy and reduce the "defense" budget by 10 fold (allow democracy to speak for itself)
2. Go back on the gold standard (no more devaluation of the dollar)
3. Decriminalize drug usage (unconstitutional)
4. Socialized health care (give everyone the same complete coverage)
5. Socialized education up till college
6. Close down all coal power plants, start constructing nuclear plants for a hydrogen based economy
7. Make the left lane a "free-for-all" lane, slow traffic keep right (damn you grannies driving in the left lane!!!)
That's all I can think of for now...
If I were president.
I would hedge my bets on education. It's the only way to keep American productivity up in the 21st Century.
1. Admit to the nation that although there were some who thought at the time we should have gone into Iraq (including me), that events have proven them wrong, and that it was a mistake to put US forces in harm's way.
2. Issue a 90-day deadline to the Iraqi government to resolve the major political issues (distribution of oil revenue, states rights vs. federal, etc). If 90 days pass without resolution, then publish the deadline to the public at large and set a 6 month timeline for the majority of US combat forces to be out of the country. If they do resolve the political issues and seem to be on a path to taking over peacekeeping duties, then negotiate a reasonable timeline for Iraqi takeover of all day-to-day peacekeeping operations, not to exceed 12 months, and have the majority of US forces out within 18 months (although I might not publish the 18 months figure to the public to avoid emboldening anti-US factions).
3. Veto any federal spending increases or expansion of authority, even for popular causes such as K-12 education.
4. For all programs which the federal government shouldn't be involved in, such as K-12 education and welfare, work to gradually reduce federal spending to zero. Reduce taxes by the amount saved but make it clear that taxpayers should expect to see roughly analogous increases in state taxes to make up the difference.
5. Have the Justice department publish reasonable standards of what the US considers to be torture, and make it clear that personal criminal charges will be pressed against any officer of the United States government found to violate the standard. At the same time, grant immunity to all US officers who may have violated the torture standards under the previous administration (don't want to criminally prosecute folks for just doing their jobs). Preferably, after the initial document published by the Justice Department, Congress would take over control of the torture standards by legislation.
6. Make it clear to my cabinet and supporting staff that I will not tolerate violations of US law. Nobody will ever get special treatment or a presidential pardon for violating the law just because they work for me. And if I do, for example, have an aide who lies under oath to avoid implicating the vice president in a scandal and receives a sentence that I think is too harsh, the most I would do would be to work to get the sentencing guidelines reduced for that offense for all convicts, not just the errant aide.
7. Do everything in my power to reverse precedents set in recent presidential terms and diminish the power of the president. Take a page from George Washington and emphasize that I am merely a steward of the democracy.
8. Work to cut military troop levels by 35%, and military spending by 25%, so we have fewer but better trained and equipped soldiers. Apply the savings to a social security lockbox.
9. Never lie to the American public.
10. Never cover up or stonewall to protect officials who play partisan politics within the US government (such as when federal attourneys are dismissed), regardless of whether they're in my party or not.
I'm sure there's a lot more too, but those 10 seem like a good start.
Interns. Lots of them.
After bitch-slapping every dem and repub holding a public office for years of backtracking on freedoms and fuxoring our International Image and reputation, I would make sure to put into place Anti-Corruption legislation, including cameras that follow every senator, congressman, president and vice president around that would be broadcast on the inet so that any joe blow could "watch the watchers".
;-)
If they wanted the cameras removed for "national security" (no Dick Cheney's energy policy minutes are NOT national security) a review would be required before granting this.
Who'd-a-thunk that Dick Nixon could have come up with such a great idea
-JP
I'd do just one thing, and trust that everything else will right itself as a result of that:
Any lobbying of the executive or congress or any senator that is false or misleading (intentionally or not) or fails to include at the very least a mentioning and pointers to the opposite opinion will be punishable by death.
About 200 executions later, the US would be a lot better off.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
"I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal of complete energy independence and sustainability.
Toward that end, it is my goal to make the United States Armed Forces energy independent by 2030, so that we never again have to go to war for oil.
I ask the Congress to fund $50 billion per year toward this goal, to begin building solar power installations covering the Nevada Test Site, to build hydrogen generation and associated oil production facilities, and for research into alternative fuels and methods of improving efficiency."
Actually, I'd like to be a speechwriter for Senator/President Obama, give him that speech, and let him handle the rest.
(T>t && O(n)--) == sqrt(666)
I'd start by initiating a renewable energy Manhattan Project. Dedicate more than the amount of the GDP (say 1.5X) that is currently going to that idiotic, undeclared war in Iraq and use it to make us self sufficient when it comes to energy.
With that amount of money being spent, there would undoubtedly be a lot of serendipitous benefits and we would be likely be energy self sufficient within a decade. Heck, I'd use JFK's speech about Apollo project to kick off mine!
Then I'd implement a "fair tax" of some sort so that we don't need $50 computer programs to figure out our taxes.
I could go on, but you've probably heard it before... You know, all the stuff that everyone agrees should be done, but for some reason the current batch of status quo slimebuckets can't do (mostly because they are paid off to keep it this way)...
"There are laws that enslave men, and laws that set them free. " - Sean Connery as King Arthur
First thing I'd do... ...is put Al Gore in charge. Barack Obama gets to be VP, just to make the Right-Wing's heads explode at the thought of a Black Man so close to the top. Plus, it guarantees that no nutty Michael Savage listener would assassinate President Gore.
..in Guantanamo.
Bush and Cheney get to clear brush..
It all reminds me of the joke about George Bush dying and going to Hell. He gets there and the devil says "Since you were President and all, you get to choose your punishment".
Satan takes Bush to the first room, where Ronald Reagan is being whipped mercilessly by lesser demons. Then he shows Bush the second room, where Nixon is forced to stand up to his chin in human waste. In the last room, he sees Bill Clinton throwing a athletic shot into Monica Lewinski.
"OK," Bush says, "that doesn't look too bad, I'll take the third room."
Satan says "Alright Monica, you can go now."
You are welcome on my lawn.
I'd quit.
1) Power through a law (using the public as support) to have all Federal political officials post their tax returns and bank statements online. Transparency is the first step towards ending corruption. 2) Pull our troops out of military situations that are none of our damn business - military action should be reserved for humantarian efforts, helping those who can't be helped (i.e. genocide), and, of course, war. 3) Have the National Guard come home first. They are the National Guard - why are we sending the home defense out to fight in another country? 4) Post National Guard troops on both borders as a temporary measure. Construct strong, highly-advanced border walls on both borders and make sure they are more than adequately staffed. 5) Create an American Foreign Legion, and run it pretty much like the French Foreign Legion - after passing an intelligence and background check, you can join up and serve in this new branch of the U.S. Military. 4 years of service earns you citizenship. It would largely be used for humantarian and engineering efforts (much like the National Guard), but would be very combat capable. 6) Legalize marijuana as it's completely harmless, and reclassify all drugs in the scheduling system into their scientifically proper places. Posession should just be a misdemeanor - intent to deal would be something more along the lines of operating without a business license and not so much a felony. 7) Eliminate the IRS and use the FairTax system. That's about it... Oh, and if it hasn't been brought up, the National Budget Simulator is hella fun. I usually get the deficit down to a couple hundred billion. http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM306
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
1. Abolish Congress within the first year. Ok, maybe a misnomer, but hear me out. Our Congress was not designed to be a Professional Political System. So we would tell every one in Congress that they have their 1 year notice. We set elections for the following year and we break down their terms of service for the first set of Congress Critters. After the first set, then it is as follows, ALL OFFICES at the FEDERAL Level will be limited to 2 terms. Current people in office that have already served more than 2 terms are forbidden from holding office again.
Salary/Compensations for Congressmen will be fair and even across the board. They will receive no more than the AVERAGE AMERICAN CITIZEN, which is currently something like $44,000 a year.
Transportation, Healthcare, and Housing will be provided while they are "working" in Washington, only. There are no Retirement Benefits from Public Service. There are no other Special Benefits in Public Service. You don't "retire" from public service, you "finish your term of service"...at which time you go back to your old job, or go out and find a new one.
These rules apply to the House and to the Senate. They also apply to the President, with a slight modification...since the President is NOT "on duty" only when Congress is in Session, the President will receive a little more Compensation, and housing, transportation, and healthcare will be provided throughout the "term of service".
2. Modify the Electoral System. Currently, the Electors are Bound or Unbound. But there is little if any difference between them. The new system will FORCE the Electors to VOTE with the Percentage of their states. So if Utah votes 3/5ths Republican and 2/5ths Democrat, then 3 of the 5 Electors would vote Republican and 2 Electors would vote Democrat. There would be a group put in place to figure the percentages with reasonable accuracy to allow the "fractions of percentages" to be counted and applied in the correct way.
This system would be completely open and publicly auditable.
The use of Electronic Voting and Internet Voting would be explored, and open to public scrutiny.
3. The IRS would be abolished. A "Fair Tax" system would take its place, using a "consumption" tax. Tariffs would be reinstated on ALL imported goods.
4. Federal Laws would be evaluated and those that are not in harmony with the Constitution would be repealed.
5. The War on Terror would be canceled. The American Troops that are currently deployed to countries that are not either a) paying the USA for the services of the US Military or b) bound to the USA in some kind of treaty.
6. The War on Drugs would be canceled. It isn't doing any good. Drugs should be evaluated for addictiveness and potential damage and classified. Those that are classed in one area would be available commercially OTC. Others might take a doctor's prescription.
7. Decriminalization of Victimless Crimes. Purging of the Prisons of non-violent criminals. Using technology and science to track low-level criminals. Institution of rehabilitation programs to prevent further offending for certain types of criminals.
8. Instituting National programs and awards for academician excellence. Forget the No Child Left Behind. Funnel money into education and set a standard for TEACHERS not STUDENTS and put up awards available for students who do the work and achieve the education. SOmething like; for students who finish a Master's degree, (in something other than "under water marble stacking") we could "forgive" their student loans, or a large percentage of those loans. That way, regardeless of race, economic status, or sex, ANYONE can receive a "forgiveness" of their student loans for achieving a "minimum standard of education"...
9. Institute a national Driver's License. We would no longer need individual state driver's licenses.
10. Institute a national Firearm's Permit. Since State Constitutions must meet the minimum standard as set by the Federal Constitution, the Right to Keep and Bear a Firearm MUST be Recognized by
--E--
1. Pull all of our military out of those countries that have a problem with us
2. Position all of our nuclear carrying ships off the coasts of these countries
3. Deliver an ultimatum "EITHER STOP YOUR CRAP OR YOU'RE GOING TO MEET ALLAH/MOHAMMED PERSONALLY."
4. Non-compliance, press the button and watch the mushroom clouds blossom.
5. Position our military troops on our Northern and Southern borders with orders to shoot any interlopers as spies/terrorists.
6. Have INS perform city wide sweeps for illegal aliens. If any are found, first time deportation, second time execution as terrorist/spy.
7. Make US representatives become members of Social Security and pay their own damn hospital bills.
8. Do away with Political Immunity and Kick members of the UN out that do not follow US laws and customs.
9. Go through all cities and execute any hostile gang members and/or drug dealers/kingpins.
Among many things... I would get myself a green-card... :D
End the war, bring troops back home
Reduce trade deficit
Improve the economy
Spend more on 'projects' and make sure the effort is fruitful
Work on a new middle-east policy with Iran at focus
work on African crises
and so on...
fire everyone in the government system that have never worked a hard day in there lives. and replace them with people that have. abolish corp. sponsorship. only political funding from individuals with real incomes not corporate shares. remove the Federal reserve system currency. but then I'd likely get assassinated before they let me uncorrupt everything.
As your president, I solemnly swear to goof off and eat candy!
Steal my band's record! Seriously,
It's a shitty job, I think I'd quit.
Oh, you mean what would I like to push. I'd probably push education reform and environmental reform.
I've never liked our current education system. It currently suffers from some major issues:
1. It's filled with mediocre workers afraid of seeing good workers as competition. This is the same problem most large companies have. But it's harder to fix: They can't go out of business or be taken over.
2. They're focused on academics, and they're failing. Probably 80% of what you get in high school curriculum is retaught in the first year of college curriculum selectively based on your major. It's wasteful, and students know it. They know geometry isn't important to writers (shocking I know). And in a day in age where lemon laws are necessary because we know too much it's time our schools grow up and figure it out: You can't be a jack of all trades or an expert in all fields.
So first I'd fire everyone. Of course, that's impossible because teacher lobbies are too powerful and they know too many voters. But that's what has to happen.
And it's not that they'll all be unemployed. The new organization should rehire a large percentage within a year. For all I care we can pay unemployment for a year to the rest, who cares it's cheaper than 20 child classes (a retarded idea, talk about regressive).
The new organization has to be able to fail and collapse. I'm not sure how to make it do that on a small scale with significant federal control over curriculum.
However, about education reform. Here's what we don't teach and how it's fucked us up:
1. Health: Obesity is epidemic. People smoke. Obviously we've failed to teach our children how to live healthfully; or better stated our parents failed to teach us.
2. Civics: Seriously, Hillary. Fox News. We're retarded. We vote for a woman because she's a woman, allbeit a tough one. We watch Fox because they tell us what we want to hear. All the while ignoring better sources on vastly superior mediums: Newspapers, radio, INTERNET (and I don't mean slashdot)...
Those are the two more important subjects in a public school system. The second you actually have a right to know: How can we be held to laws we don't understand? The first is simply a requirement for a successful society.
As for environmental problems we have a more complex issue. We're shipping out labor and upping shipping. We're buying ridiculous vehicles that weight 1.5 tons to 2 tons and go from respectably aerodynamic with a sensible engine to a big joke about ones lack of manhood.
We commute in these beasts, one car per person. We drive cross country in them (although most of us have higher occupancy then, go us; but we make up for the efficiency with semi trucks).
We're obsessed with cheap products: Which are bad for the environment. Here's the simple equation: I can buy twice as much stuff at half the cost, and to half the cost I make it for nothing in Sri-cuba and ship it meaning wasted energy to make up for high lifestyle workers.
LIVE WITH LESS SHIT. YOU DON'T USE MOST OF IT ANYWAY!
This doesn't even bring up decreased product lifespans from decreased overall quality.
Those are just the easy parts. Nuclear energy, "clean" coal, and ethanol are much more difficult questions. Not to mention hydrogen, everyones favorite unrealistic futuristic fuel source that might accompany cold fusion in its time of arrival.
Seriously. We had a good thing going until 1913, when we got the income tax and the federal reserve. We sold the country out to the bankers. Anything that keeps them in control -- including pulling back from the brink, only keeps them in control. We have to run it into the ground so that people will say never again will we let our incomes be taxed. Never again will we allow money to not be backed by metal. Never again will we let it get _this_ bad. Only then will we value what we once had: true freedom.
We have to kill the country to save it.
My apologies to Duke Leto II.
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
President Bush (current one) shamefully underutilizes his pardon powers... most of those he has pardoned already served sentence for minor crimes. And the number of people he sets free is pitifully small. I don't want Mike Huckabee to become our President, but I admire his use of his power to pardon. There are thousands of people moldering in jail because they committed some victimless crime or ran afoul of a ridiculous law, often because the law itself isn't even that clear. I agree with our President hat the level of "WMD" possessed by other countries should be reduced or eliminated, but we have to take the first step. I would halt the renewed development of new nuclear weapons, then dramatically scale down our nuclear weapon stockpiles... perhaps to a small group of "defense only" warheads - perhaps 25-50 spread among ICBM, subs and long-range bomber delivery. I would also look at shutting down every federal agency that either does nothing substantive, or performs functions that are duplicated at the city, state and/or county level.
well i dont know how about taking care of US first and then help every other nation which doesn't even ask for our help in the first place.
Also democracy is not the solution to every problem
Even the responses of substance seem to be marvelously misinformed about what powers the president actually holds.
Presidents do not make laws.
The president can not abolish your taxes.
The president can not raise expenditures on X.
The president can not reduce expenditures on Y.
The president can not make your pet illegal substance legal.
The president can not reform campaign financing.
At best, the President can advocate such things to happen. This is often done. It is rarely successful.
You slashdotters are smart folks. The fact that you don't know this is inexcusable. I understand if you find politics to be distasteful. However, the only hope for democracy is an informed electorate.
Bring our troops home. Slash the defense budget to 10% of it's current level. Fire all private defense forces (i.e. Blackwater) Take the new funds and 1) Cut taxes 2) Do a complete overhaul of the Medical system and return something akin to Canada's single payer system but with more funding. 3) Split the remainder into funding Education which is decided on at the state level (no more federally mandated no child left behind bull) and NASA because until we get a second place to live, we're all in danger. Change corporate laws so that corporations are no longer treated as a person but as a corporation. Thus the people running the companies are now responsible for the actions of that company. Remove most of the constraints on research and on business. But add one big restraint... Executive pay (including all perks) cannot exceed 20 times the pay rate of the average worker in the company. ala Gravel and Paul - disband the Federal Reserve. Skip the whole Ethanol debacle and go right to mandated solar/wind/methanol power generation. No more hemming and hawing... give em 3 - 5 years to switch.
Nuf said
You guys think the Presidency is a dictatorship. Sure, Bush makes it seem that way.
The only thing the President can dictate is how government works. He can't make new laws... anything else he does is just a suggestion.
The President could, for instance, issue an executive order that federal marijuana laws not be enforced. He could issue an executive order that all government employees will use economy class, and first class travel is off-limits to all government employees. These wouldn't create laws, they just tell government employees how to do business.
Anyway, the President can't do much of anything. Sure, he can invade other countries as long as no war is declared, he doesn't have the power to declare. Everything you all would hope can be done cannot be done without the cooperation of the Senate and House, and will find challenges that bring those things in front of the Supreme Court.
The election is just to put a monkey in the oval office, nothing more.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
How come the strongest attack is coming from The New Republic, a neo-conservative online magazine?
Point of order here. The New Republic is NOT a neo-con site. It is in fact quite liberal. You a probably confusing it with the Free Republic or even the National Review.
The newsletter was published for the best part of a decade and the issues raised in, for example, the TNR article span many, many, issues over that period. What we're expected to believe from Ron Paul's denial is that he allowed people to edit a newsletter under his name whose opinions he didn't vet; that he never read his newsletter over that time; and that he wasn't even aware there was a serious issue with it until it became a campaign issue in the last decade.
It's simply not believable. I don't know if Ron Paul's a racist or if he's an opportunist, but either way it's close to impossible to believe that there's the degree of disconnect between Ron Paul and what was published under his name that he claims. I cannot believe he didn't know, and that he wasn't in a position to stop it from going on. And as such, I cannot believe he isn't an exploiter of racism.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
1. I'd have a real /. handle and not post A.C.
2. Decriminalize marijuana and promote hemp production for paper, clothing and alternative fuel production. Smokable weed would be taxed just like cigarettes and its usage enforced just like alcohol: You Smoke & Drive, You're in Jail. etc.
3. Have my ambassadors and foreign service staff formally apologize to their respective hosts for the past 8 years of diplomatic assitude.
4. Kill all agricultural subsidies. Most American farms are now run by Archer-Daniels-Midland and the like, so the corporate welfare ends now. Import tariffs would be scrutinized based on market conditions. If foreign governments attempt to dump product on the American market to gain market share or in the attempt to kill domestic competition, they will be fined accordingly, but no long-term tariffs will exist. It's an open market in my administration.
5. Immediate repeal of the Patriot Act and the dismantling of the Division of Homeland Security. FBI will handle domestic law enforcement and CIA/NSA will handle overseas operations.
6. Organized religion will be removed from the government. Any religious organization espousing a political party or attempting to influence lawmaking will be subject to federal income tax as a political lobbying corporation.
7. Political contributions will be made into a national pool. This pool will be divided among all potential candidates for the House, Senate or Presidency who garner petition support from no less than 10% of their respective constituents. Direct contributions to any single candidate will be illegal and subject to fine and criminal punishment.
8. Presidential primaries will begin no earlier than 10 months before the national election. States will be entered into a revolving pool to determine the dates of their primaries so that no state will have undue power over any other similar to the Rotating Regional Primary System.
9. I would list more, but it's quitting time.
14. Require every dumbass that thinks he has the answers to political problems spell 'lose' correctly.
I will keep it simple: There is one thing that needs doing: Direct some serious funding to the space program. Not only for the benefit of the USA, but for the sake of all mankind. The future is out there, not here on this small blue marble, and now is the time to take control of our destiny! We will not get a second chance, and time is running out fast!
1. Have funds be appropriated by a percentage of income. For example, the defense department gets 20% of the federal income (instead of a fixed amount of $400 Billion). There would have to be exceptions to this, but that can be worked out.
2. Before any military action require the president to submit a report to congress detailing specific goals, a means of measuring progress, and contingencies if sufficient progress isn't being met.
3. Establish a public community effort for developing and modifying social programs (immigration reform, health insurance over hall, tax reform, etc) in order to get more public involvement in laws that are passed.
4. Work towards a democracy. I would like to keep the senate, but replace the house of representatives with a direct vote of the people.
"Removing the current solutions provided by the government without offering any alternative seems ridiculous from my point of view."
Indeed! I am not from the US and I certainly would not want to be it's president, but fans of RP's extremist views should take a look around the rest of the planet. The nations that have already accomplished those six points are all bannana republics who's citizens do not have ANY income to tax. IIRC the last leader of a major nation to actually implement such a simple-minded revolution was Mao.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
1. Get the US thrown out of Iraq. When the new Iraqi government is perceived as being unfriendly toward the US, it should reduce the desire by some to destroy it.
2. Start a blog. Respond to comments.
3. Eliminate or make opt-in (by state) most/all federal social programs and subsidies, giving enough time/support to the states that want to start their own. (And, by extension, reduce taxes by the amount that these programs cost.)
4. Halt the practice of legislating-by-withholding-funding. Taxes should not be levied against the states with the intent of sending those funds back to the states they were taken from, with unrelated strings attached. No more "must be 21 to buy alcohol, or your state gets less highway funds."
5. Encourage (force?) alternative voting methods, such as ranked voting. (But then, how did I get voted into office in the first place?)
6. Push for a constitutional amendment restricting the nature of the commerce clause to cover things that have a clear and compelling need to be dealt with at the national scale.
7. Go data-driven. Establish an independent scientific advisory panel, perhaps elected from professional organizations, to report (to the public) on the rational basis for new legislation (likely expenses, likely benefits, with error bars, validity of assumptions, etc.)
8. Apply a data-driven philosophy to existing legislation, such as "war on drugs", etc. Abolish as appropriate.
-If free energy exists, it would not remain secret. -Socialize Health care - works great for France and Canada. -Encourage scientific progress in all areas. -If #1 doesn't exist; encourage free/cheap energy research.
You could do things like standing on the balcony while yelling "I'm the president bitch!", and shoot people the bird.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
....start again. And free donuts for all.
Now wash your hands.
You know that little box that you can check on your tax form that lets you assign $3 of your taxes to fund the next presidential campaign? I'd change that a bit, and add a few more options. Here's what Congress wants to spend your money on, I'd say ... do you want to fund it? For example: Congress wants to spend $300 million ($1 of your taxes) on a bridge in Alaska. How much do you want to contribute?
Give the "power of the purse" to the people, I say. Let them decide what's worth their money and what isn't. I would like to think that the American public is a bit harder to bribe than Congress, simply because there are so many more of us.
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
Ron Paul, an Angry White Man.
Meet the real Ron Paul, in his own words. It's not pretty.
WARNING!!!
.;;; so i think we should enforce those laws. if your found working in this country illegally, you will be deported on your own dime, any money you have will be used to send you off, if not enough money then any items you have will be auctioned to pay for the deportation. if you have money left over it will be taxed for what we found you owe and anything after that you may take with you to your home country.
you may disagree with this or be offended by my views and ideas expressed. in that case.. i don't care.. have a nice day.
Illegal immigration - as far as i can tell there are already laws making coming into this country illegal, and on top of that laws against hiring those that are not legal
Hiring illegals - as its already illegal to do so i say we enforce those laws or enhance them. fines for a few hires, and jail time if you hire say 20 or more. harsher punishments if you KNEW they were illegal or paid them more then legal people working at your company.
Illegal subclaus - IF an illegal immigrant has a job of higher standing, doctor, military personal, police officer, teacher, etc... they will be given the paperwork for becoming a legal citation and be fast tracked through the process.
Border Security - walls don't work. we have proven that. other country's have proven that. so, i say we station military personal down there, couple for every so many miles. ROE are. unarmed civs that try to cross will be turned back, those of higher job skill, like stated above, will be given paperwork and assisted in applying for citizenship. anyone armed coming across the border will be warned twice in English and for the southern border Spanish to drop their weapons and leave, if they refuse they will be assumed hostile and shot. anyone crossing illegal drugs into the country will be arrested, if possible followed to their dropoff point, and have those they were bringing the drugs to arrested as well. and if found armed the ROE will apply.
IRAQ - ah a fun one. seems everything is going well for now, as long as that doesn't change keep going with the plan, send more troops if it will get it over with faster. bring back the troops, let them get their rest and what not then off to Afghanistan to clean up the resurgence there. and don't let politicians run wars! let generals. as we have proven many times in even the last 100 years alone, politicians don't know how to run wars, Iraq and Vietnam both being good examples of such.
IRAN - buncha nutz it seems. they want to attack Israel? go for it. as has been shown, even in a full blown war with the use of N.B.C. weapons Israel would loose around i think it was 600,000 people and Iran around 20 million. thus i really don't think the world has to worry, aside that it seems that with each day they are slowly pissing off their own people and like has happened before, we might be lucky enough to have them just revolt on their own time.
Military Doctrine - i do not believe that any US soldier should have to die in another country for any reason. thus i look forward to spending money on cleaning up nuclear weapons to make them less radioactive so they may be used more readily on our enemy's.
Alternate fuel/power sources - any fuel derived from food shall not be given any sort of subsidy. it has been shown that corn and sugar based ethanol production is pretty much a failure due to how inefficient it is. but other starch based methods have been found that are many times more productive. though ethanol produces more greenhouse gases then petroleum based fuel so it still seems counter productive as a main fuel source unless in emergency's or if oil were to run out. due to the profits gained, petroleum company's shall have their subsidies slowly lowered until they are removed completely and those subsidies placed into solar, nuclear, and other clean power and fuel sources. we shall also research further into sodium based nuclear reactors so they can get better use of the nuclear fuel they have and into th
Interns. Lots and lots of nubile interns. That's who^Hat I'd do...
That is all.
The executive can set law enforcement priorities. It can also pardon or commute the sentences of convicts. Ron Paul can tell the nation: “stop paying your income tax and I will pardon you.” He could also do the same for organizations like Liberty Dollar. Not saying this is the intent (or maybe it is—some call this a revolution after all), but these are two tactics that could be used to enact large-scale change.
Why bother.
1. End the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but keep humanitarian services. 2. Cut defense budgets. 3. Start following international environment agreements (like the Kyoto-agreement). 4. Prioritize public transport (bus, underground, etc.). 5. Become a member of the international community (and stop being "the fat, stupid and wierd Americans). 6. Give money to the poor in third-world countries.
If I were elected President I would:
- Seriously address global warming by throwing on a carbon tax and using it
to:
-build super high speed commuter train and interurban train network.
-start a "manhattan project" or "moon project" kind of endeavour to
-do seriously major r&d on solar, geothermal, wave-power, ocean-current power,
and nuclear fusion power solutions, placing the guys who started Tesla Motors
in charge.
- Begin global negotiations on bringing a directly elected United Nations Parliamentary
Assembly, or Assemblage du Citoyen Mondial, into being with jurisdiction, initially,
over human rights enforcement, a standing peacekeeping military force,
and regulation of global-scale environmental issues.
- Give every American the right to free health care.
Aren't you glad I was born in Scotland so don't qualify?
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Sign or veto bills, command the military, enforce the laws, present the State of the Union every year, negotiate with sovereign powers, and pardon turkeys and felons alike.
It's what I wouldn't do that you'd be impressed with.
I wouldn't change the world just to benefit me or my family.
I wouldn't start a war just because my political allies want one and we have a malleable excuse at hand.
I wouldn't sinecure traitors.
I wouldn't dismantle the government, which does far more good than the loudmouth at the back of the auditorium seems to think.
I wouldn't pass the buck.
I wouldn't allow gigantic deficits to hide massive mismanagement, profit cronies, and enable ideological manipulation of local politics.
I wouldn't get caught. Don't ask "at what?" That's part of not getting caught. It wouldn't be any of your business in the first place, or I'd let you in on it in the first place.
Then I'd run for a second term, and maybe a third, if things go my way.
..I'd tell people to pay more attention to the platforms (and voting records) of the people they're about to vote into Congress, since a president can't do much, without Congress going along with it. About all I'd be able to do, is veto stuff.
Congress' power is heavily under-rated, and the media doesn't pay nearly enough attention to them. I've heard a lot about the presidential race lately, but where's the rest?!?
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Compulsory public masturbation!
Is fly airforce one around myself :)
After that, piss off everyone in congress by going back to the basics, the constitution and 10 amendments and then cutting taxes.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
- Refuse to sign any bill that was not read aloud in at least one chamber of Congress prior to being voted upon
- Refuse to sign any treaty that a team of the nations best lawyers can't convince me does no harm to the law embodied in the Constitution
- Work to get a constitutional amendment passed to make the Constitution the supreme law of the land, above treaties
- Put an end to executive agreements with foreign powers; call them "unratified treaties" as they are and apologize to my foreign counterparts that I am morally compelled not to enter into agreements with them absent the advice and consent of the Senate
- Work to undo the erosion of the powers of the states to govern themselves
- Appoint judicially conservative judges, preferably those with even less political loyalty than I have
- Focus economic efforts on having as small a federal budget as possible, balanced or otherwise, and on applying the minimum level of financial support to the states to make sure that they don't slack on the things that they have too little incentive to do on their own
- Appoint a Cabinet consisting mostly of people who respect me but dislike me or at least disagree with me on something relevant to the positions I appoint them to
- Throw out ineffective security measures; this may sound callous, but I'd rather lose a planeful of people once in a blue moon than flush money and constitutional rights down the toilet and lose the same number of planefuls of people; additionally, I would institute more effective security measures, such as discretionary searches instead of the random kind
There are others. That's just the first 100 days.In addition to the budget nightmare this causes in Washington, because the states MUST balance their budgets, they look to the Feds to fund things they don't want to tax for. In the end, all the pols get a free ride, and the country goes broke.
The reason I see this as the top priority is that we can't solve the critical problems of the nation (Social Security, Medicare, Defense, etc), until we have our fiscal house in order. Decades of borrowing are tying up more and more tax revenue just to pay the interest. The longer we overspend, the less ability the Government has to leverage it's financial muscle to solve problems, and the poorer we all become.
I am not a US resident or citizen, I live in Canada, so for me this is a very very theoretical excercise, still...
I would setup a special operation to bring a nuclear bomb from Ukraine or Kazakhstan to the US and set it up somewhere and then the information about this would 'leak' to the 'free' press. I would then declare national emergency and would make sure that everyone in Congress votes to give me the special executive powers. That's where I would start all the fun.
You can't handle the truth.
Push Congress to immediately...
- repeal the Capital Gains & Estate Tax holidays.
- adjust the AMT income level upward, and commensurate across the board cuts to all Federal departments (spread the pain evenly).
Instruct the DoD to...
- immediately submit plans to draw down Iraq theatre forces within a year to a) nothing, and b) 30k QRP garrison.
- immediately submit plans to shift (X) forces pulled from Iraq to Afghanistan.
Push Congress to consider...
- Expand Medicare to cover entire population, in stages.
- Tweak SS contributions/payments in yearly stages to keep 50 forecast in the black.
Luke, help me take this mask off
I promise a petrified Natalie Portman in every home and hot grits down all pants!
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
1. Show EVERYONE that Ron Paul only got around 4% of the vote, and still expect the Nintendo errr I mean Paul fanboys to say it was some sort of conspiracy that kept him out of the office.
2. Implement a flat national tax. Along with this make tax day one week before elections. This tax would be what EVERYONE would pay and be a national sales tax. Only home purchases would be excluded.
3. Set ALL government programs at a 1% across the board reduction and then have that program "grow" at a -1% inflation for the next 10 years. Explain to the American people what services will now be cut and why.
4. Set mandates on the size of local and state governments. In now way should the size of government ever exceed 1% of the U.S.A working population. (Excludes military)
5. Start the process of eliminating Social Security. If someone who is 20ish doesn't want in then they don't have to be. Those who are 50 and older and continue and be given a portion of what they would have gotten. Those 60 and older will be given what they current would get.
6. End the war when Iraq and Afghanistan if they are able to defend themselves from a radical Islamic takeover. Defeat would not be an option and anything or anyone (Iran) that impedes the success will be treated as an enemy of the U.S.A.
7. Kill the "free trade" agreement that was made during the Clinton years and continued through the Bush years.
8. Impose a "tax" on any service done outside the U.S. and used by a U.S. company. It doesn't really make sense that a car imported in to the U.S.A. gets taxed but code or support done outside the U.S.A. gets nothing.
9. Define when an unborn child is a citizen of the U.S.A.
10. Build a wall and make it very difficult for Mexican people to become illegal citizens. Create very stiff laws on any company hiring these illegal people. However, greatly increase the number of people allowed to come here and work legally. Those that are here illegally can stay here but must pay a penalty (extra tax) for the remainder of their lives.
11. Mandate open source software for all government systems.
12. Reduce the barriers for Nuclear energy in the U.S.A.
13. Look at completely replacing our education system. At this I would look at outside people, but it is obvious that we can do better.
14. Make PBS earn it's money. No more government funding for it or NPR. They are both just sounding boards for the democratic party.
15. Move cigarettes under the control of the FDA. Along with this either lower the drinking age down to 18 OR lower the minimum age for people in the military up to 21.
The more I learn about science, the more my faith in God increases.
i'd have all fags thrown into a furnace. fucking dick smoking queers. linux usage would hit zero and we'd be done with all this faggot dick sucking of linux.
I take exception to that. Alcohol causes plenty of problems, but lung cancer isn't one of them. Any time you inhale something that is burning incompletely, you inhale all kinds of things that don't belong in your lungs, and risk developing lung cancer as your living tissue tries to deal with the solid (and gaseous) waste that doesn't belong there.
Calling it "far safer" than alcohol is like saying that bungee jumping is far safer than sky diving, or that a vegetarian diet is much more healthy than a mixed diet that includes meat. Each choice has its own risks.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
3. Abolish the two-party system
Remember the FIRST AMMENDMENT to the Constitution? Here's a refresher: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Notice that bit about "assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"?
4. Erase all censorship from all media...This includes: Internet, Television, print, video games, music, etc.
This fits nicely with the aforementioned 1st ammendment.
9. Require application for parental certificates (the program would be known as "If you can't feed em, don't breed em". It would be based on the financial situation of the parents, as well as their mental well being and relationship status...i.e. do they constantly fight, or are they constantly in love, etc.)
Whoah! Whoah! WHOAH THERE! WHOAH! Here's the FOURTH ammendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. The idea that you would license the right to parent - well, guess what?!? You'd be assassinated for this one! Too bad other people don't have your standards in parenting. But that doesn't give you the right to dictate THEIR standards...
10. Legalize (and actively regulate) vigalante justice. (if everyone knows they can get their ass kicked by their gun toting neighbor, they are more likely to behave themselves)
I see. So might makes right!?!? Sorry. You have a bat's chance in hell to get this one through. The United States is a nation of laws. Our laws are as effective as they are sensible and uniformly applied.
Besides, looking at that beautiful document, the US Constitution, we have the Sixth ammendment: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. But "vigilante justice" denies the victim his right to a speedy and public trial by jury!
You are a political whack-job. Your policies would return us to medieval culture, and reflect an astonishing lack of education. I am intensely thankful that we have a process that mostly prevents people like you from ever getting to office.
I strongly encourage you to read a bit of history - those who suffer in ignorance of history are bound to repeat it. I don't want a repeat of 1500 AD!
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
I'd do Ron Paul!
I would literally go down the list of every decision George Bush has made in office, and then do the opposite.
i thought, therefore i was...
I would declare myself Supreme Dictator for the next 8 years (assumes I would be re-elected to a second term). Declaring Martial Law, I'd use my newly gained power to (among many other things):
- eliminate Welfare and similar Social Services. Let the bums who refuse to work starve. On the flip side, if a citizen really wants to 'do something' for the poor, they are free to donate to a church or charity.
- change the 'criminal justice system'. You commit murder? Death penalty. Period. Steal? You go to prison to work off a penalty of 3X what you stole. While in prison, your paycheck is first docked for rent on your cell, an administrative fee to pay utilities and the guards salaries, and only then for the food you get. Similarly, for injuries, you go to jail and work off 3X the medical bill. Of course, with severe penalties like this, the System must not make (too many) mistakes, so Cops/judges/lawyers/etc are all held accountable, too. A cop frames someone? They get 3X the penalty the person they framed got/would have gotten.
- push alternative energy
- Re-arrange and cut the defense budget. I'm sure we can drop bombs just as well with a 'b22' instead of a 'b23' or 'b24', so why are we wasting money building Billion-dollar planes? The money saved in cutting the construction parts of the budget can go to research. AI, remote control, etc. Then, the last few years of my term, I'd put the money back to construction.
- Back on the moon with a permanant colony before I leave office.
- Lower taxes on the middle class.
- And, of course, I'd Stea... er, 'appropriate' a good supply of funds for retirement.
I think the most important thing would be to cultivate that indispensable part of leadership which exists outside of political formalism: discourse. I would use the position to speak to the American people. I'd reduce the dependence on speech writers, teleprompters, and statements incapable of offending anyone. I would declare war on sound bytes.
Another focus would be to make policy more scientific. I would surround myself, and fill the administration with, PhDs. Run the White House like Larry & Sergey run a business.
As far as issues go, my first would probably be to institute approval voting in as many elections as possible (and yes, this really is the best voting method). I would also fund pilot 'Logo' schools after Seymour Papert. And try to lift the drug prohibitions.
-Carlthese four things would be the beginning of real, substantiative change. in no particular order... 1. sunset ALL laws. change the function of the legal system to putting good laws BACK on the books rather than trying to find arcane loopholes in legacy justice code. 2. term limits on ALL elected offices. 3. NO PAC money, EVER, none, no, gone. 4. NO exit polling during elections. mah two cents
Regarding corporations, changes I'd make are:
1. When a corporation goes into bankruptcy, the shareholders and managers cannot simply walk away. Share values of corporations should go negative in bankruptcy and funds owed to creditors should be recovered in proportion to ownership from shareholders. Managers who hold stock or options are on the hook for their share too. Recent bonuses and income are taken back. The current situtation encourages corporations to act irresponsibly since everyone involved can walk away and keep their bonuses and dividends.
2. Criminal acts of any kind committed by or for the corporation should be prosecuted and every manager up the chain of command for the crime should be sent to prison. You can't just say my boss ordered it, or an underling was acting w/o authority. They all are responsible.
3. Corporations are responsible for paying for depletion of resources. You cut down lumber from a forest, you have to pay to plant and feed a replacement tree. You pull coal or oil out of the ground, you pay down the mineral rights you have used. You contribute to global warming, you have to buy (real) carbon offsets or contribute to a remediation fund. No more using up natural resources w/o realistic funding of their replacement.
4. All flow of capital in/out of mutual funds, hedge funds, 401(k)'s, large private funds, corporate loans, tranches, equity instruments, derivatives should be publicly tracked. These are the instruments of financial disasters, from the LTCM fiasco to Enron to the current subprime mortgage problems. All financial shenanigans need to be in the light so they can be analyzed and identified before they destroy an economic sector.
It's the only way, as much as it pains me to say it most people who vote are just looking out for numero uno and so don't always vote for the people and policies that are better for the majority. Democracy doesn't work, when will people learn??
..... correction ban ALL guns, to hell with the constitution this is a dictatorship.
America needs to overhaul Social Security, it's complete crap. Welfare and pensions need to be separate, if you give people incentive to save ie 401k most will.
Destroy the health insurance industry and rebuild it. Bring in public health insurance for everyone, but if you earn over lets say $50,000 then you pay a penalty tax if you don't take out private health care, if you do get private health insurance you get a tax break.
More funding for education included lowering college fees.
Cut federal and state income tax and replace with a universal sales tax on all non essential goods.
Ban all automatic guns
Legalize gay marriage, if you don't like it don't go to the wedding.
Dissolve House of Representatives and Senate, what do these guys do anyway other then take "donations" and waffle?
Bring the troops home and wait for the rest of the world to ASK for our help.
Ban ALL versions of Windows.
Tell everyone to chillax and that things will be ok, Iran will not destroy your way of life.
Build giant moon laser to take over the wor... oops sorry that ones a secret.
Supreme Leader
Dave
(1) Close Gitmo and the CIA's secret prisons. Ensure that everyone who committed or organized crimes, such as abduction, torture, and illegal listening operations, under the previous administration(s) is duly prosecuted. Don't give ANY pardons, not even to Dubyah himself. The good reputation of the US needs to be restored.
(2) Scale down the presence in Iraq, as there is no other option, but stay there as long as the Iraqis want it. The USA messed up the country badly, it now has a duty to see it through. Listen to commanders on the ground. Respect the sovereignty of the Iraqi government.
(3) Slash military budgets by 20% or so -- there is no need to outspend the rest of the world combined, and there is sufficient pork and useless prestige projects in the budget to make that cut without endangering the safety of the USA. Spend the rest of the money on useful things, such as body armour, suitable vehicles and decent care for wounded soldiers.
(4) Seriously reform the legal system, to make it run faster and fairer, and restrict unethical behaviour of prosecutors and defense lawyers. Everybody deserves an actual fair trial, and currently most cases are ended by plea-bargaining because the US legal system can't handle the case load.
(5) Start a serious program to reduce global warming and the dependence of the USA on (imported) expensive oil.
(6) Reform the health care system on the principle that people are free to choose their insurer, but must all have one. Cut out excessive profits, huge advertising budgets, and ambulance-chasing lawyers. Invest in prevention.
1) Push for a massive renewable energy subsidy program- bring down the cost of solar and wind power, and work to phase out old plants in the order of coal, then natural gas, ending with nuclear. Pay for by removing tax subsidies for coal & oil companies; promote occupational training to move these workers over to green technology sector.
2) Sign a new international agreement on climate change, pushing not just for a reduction of CO2 emissions, but specific goals, such as 20% renewable energy by a certain year, co-op research programs for renewable energy, and international green standards on biofuel production and carbon offset programs. Further increase fuel-efficiency standards, and promote cellulosic ethanol production. Push for higher ethanol % in all gasoline supplies.
3) Pull the military out of Iraq as soon as realistically possible, leaving only the minimum number of troops necessary to guard the embassy and engage in anti-al qaeda operations if necessary.
4) Shift international focus back to Afghanistan and Pakistan; push for full U.N. cooperation in these matters; continue to pressure Pakistan for democratic reforms, and to aid in tracking down Al-Qaeda, but avoid direct military intervention at all costs. Increase humanitarian aid to Pakistan and further attempt to restore America's image in the world.
5) Attempt to scale back military programs that are deemed unnecessary for anti-terrorism operations, such as missile defense, F/A-18 Hornet, and F-22 Raptor. Redirect these funds to #4. Return to a focus on covert ops and intelligence gathering to combat Al-Qaeda, rather than military intervention. Foster more cooperation between international intel agencies to bolster credibility.
6) Reform criminal code for drug-related crimes; push for eliminating jail time for posession offenses, redirect some funding towards rehab programs. Develop new prison work programs such as telecommuting to stimulate economy and pay for prison funding.
7) Repeal tax breaks for high-income brackets. Institute bracket system on gapital gains tax similar to federal income tax. Re-institute the estate tax. Use this funding to normalize the budget.
8) Push for universal health care plans, giving every citizen option between employer-based health care, private health care, or several government plans. Work to increase taxes on profits for health insurance companies.
9) Redirect focus of space program to a long-term jointly funded Mars mission between all ISS nations. Restore short-term funding for robotic exploration missions. Skip Moon landing mission and secure more funding for technological achievement prizes.
10) Direct more funding towards public transportation usage. Create tax incentives for public transit useage and carpooling; more federal dollars for bus and rail expansion. Coerce auto insurance companies to significantly reduce premiums for those who drive less, encouraging more carpooling and public transit. Promote municipal wi-fi to increase productivity in a public transit environment.
I just found the box to change my sig. Um.... [timeless witticism].
1. Decriminalize simple possession of marijuana.
2. Refocus budget away from fighter jets to education, establish state boards of education instead of municipal ones. Making school boards municipal has lead to redundant positions chewing up huge amounts of budgetary allowances, and public schools need to be more efficient at turning money into education.
3. Larger teacher salaries for teachers who perform well.
4. Establish prizes for much needed advancements in clean energy and materials science.
5. Recognize the people's rights to not be randomly placed under surveillance or monitoring while in public places or in their homes or online. The Fourth Amendment is there for a reason, and it must have teeth. Establish criminal penalties for law enforcers or municipal administrators who deliberately violate the civil liberties of those under their charge.
6. Repeal the Patriot Act as enacted, enact new legislation allowing similar powers but with even more specificity regarding the scope of such surveillance, and establishing criminal and civil penalties for law enforcement agencies who misuse what is intended as a National Security matter for petty crimes or drug interdiction.
7. Close the southern border, but enact a guest worker program such that migrant workers are not impeded and still the southern border should not pose a grave risk to national security from OTMs (Other than Mexican).
8. Establish the welfare system to only that level which encourages risk taking in business by supplying a safety net, but limit individuals to two years' uninterrupted time on the rolls, require a career plan and schooling for those who take it. Supply childcare for those in secondary school. An educated people is a prosperous one.
9. Establish presidential awards for small to medium sized businesses whose actions are a benefit to society as a whole, or whose business practices are especially beneficial to their communities.
10. Allow software patents for truly innovative methods, but overhaul the entire USPTO to remove the possibility for obvious or common methods. Recognize which tasks are mundane and should not be patented. A shopping cart is mundane, a fast MPEG4 motion algorithm is not mundane if its method is novel.
11. Push software vendors whose tools have become dominant to over 80 percent market share to make those tools cross-platform, or release pertinant information regarding those tools so that compatibility can be achieved. Direct3D would be one such candidate. It has become a standard and yet is inherently tied to only one operating system, which I see as bundling, and a violation of fair trade practices. One cannot purchase the DirectX and Direct3D tools without also purchasing the Windows operating system.
12. Suggest and support an Amendment to the Constitution recognizing the people's rights to self-protection against threats and harm, and that this right allows Americans to take such steps as they feel is necessary to ensure their safety and survival. This Amendment would also recognize that some individuals behave passive-aggressively, and that current laws do little to thwart harmful yet lawful behavior by those crafty enough to stay within the law. Establish a parallel to "self-defense" legal justification in the form of "excessive antagonism" which recognizes that for some behaviors, the only normal responses may include violence, and this should be taken into consideration in sentencing.
13. Pardon all people currently imprisoned for marijuana possession alone, institute harsher minimum sentences for rape, child abuse, and murder.
14. Codify in an Executive Order that the government respects the right of people to keep their property, and that forfeiture and seizure of real estate, vehicles or cash from individuals not charged with a crime is a criminal act of the State, and must cease. Because of the tangible value of such things, there can be no expectation or assurance that agencies and municipalities would not abuse such priveleges.
15. Establi
Hello, These are my ideas. http://www.ifiwererunningforpresident.com/ Regards, Jonathan Doe
the one child policy in china gets alot of bad press, and i admit i dont know everything about it. i believe after a child women might be given those slow release subcutaneous contraceptive devices, not sure.
but i also believe that if a woman does have more than one child, that child is not taken and killed, the parents are simply fined.
even if this is not how it is done in china, i believe that after x children that the parents should have to pay a periodic fee on a sliding scale. i realise it gets complex when you consider welfare, and that this fee would in many cases be coming out of any welfare the parent is receiving, which penalises the child not the parent.
ok. its a complex issue, but perhaps there is a way to use a financial disincentive.
With the obstacle of gangs and street thugs out of the way, it will be much easier to fund success programs at schools. Take the billions saved, and put that into the country's education. Teachers get paid properly, free tuition to anyone who wants it.
For a start
UTF-8: There and Back Again
If I were the President, I would do the following:
1) Judicial
1.1) If you are convicted of homicide with irrefutable proof against you, you will be put down. You have no rights if you remove others' rights to live.
1.2) Remove the pleasures of life from prisons. Ex- TV's, weight benches, PC's, etc. This isn't a vacation to the Bahamas- it's punishment.
1.3) All court cases that charge someone else for allowing you to be a buffoon will be dismissed and you will foot the bills for all legals fees. Ex- you got burned when you spilled coffee on your lap and it's their fault you got hot coffee, you continued to smoke although there's a warning you'll get cancer and you did, etc.
2) Production
2.1) All software products will go through stringent testing to verify that they contain less holes than fishnet stockings (I'm looking at you Microsoft).
2.2) All vehicles must have get a minimum of 25MPG and must receive in excess of 60MPG by 2015. All automobiles sold in the US must comply with no exceptions.
3) Taxes
3.1) Fuel Taxes will be abolished for those who create or manufacture their own fuels. If someone can change his 1980 Diesel Rabbit to run on used French fry oil, good for him. At least someone is trying to relieve the US' dependency on fossil fuels.
3.2) Higher income families would not receive any breaks on income taxes. I'm truly sorry you are unfortunate enough to be rich.
4) Rights
4.1) Driver's License examinations will be more difficult to pass. Each driver must show exceptional ability to handle many various situations and vehicles. The ability to operate a motor vehicle is not a right, it's a privilege. Side note- Insurance companies will follow suit by lowering costs for insurance especially for those with long-standing clean records.
4.2) SUVs, large trucks and vans will be regulated more strictly. There will be a special license for those who desire to drive these to ensure that the motorist can capably handle them. Families are only allowed to own vans and SUVs if they have more than 3 children under the age of 18 in the household. (I blame you for fossil fuel hikes and not being able to park because you can't maneuver into one parking space.)
Honestly, I'd never do any of these. The system of checks and balances would ensure that my views and ideas would be voted down by those of more humble intelligence. The only true job I could do would be to give America an icon to equate with the country's leadership, make speeches and look good.
My first act as President of the United States of America would be to dissolve the United States of America. Let the states deal with everything.
1. Announce that I will not seek a second term and that neither I nor anyone working on my behalf will raise funds or otherwise take part in any future political campaigns until after I have left the Presidency.
2. Fire and replace all U.S. government employees and contractors who serve at the pleasure of the President (including of course, all U.S. Attorneys). This would not effect civil servants.
3. Countermand all existing Executive Orders.
4. Order, through the new department heads I appoint, the cancellation of all government contracts which are not in a state of 100 percent compliance to the performance and budget requirements set when the contracts were approved.
5. Publicly direct Congress to draft and approve legislation within one year specifically repudiating the 'zero basis presumption' which income taxes against wage earners are based on, and to create a new tax system recognizing that when labor is exchanged for money or goods, there is no tax event because it is an exchange of equal values.
6. Release Executive Orders which will stifle, cripple, and prevent the functioning of the IRS after one year.
7. Direct, through the new department heads I appoint, that illegal entry to the United States will be prevented to the utmost ability of the U.S. Border Patrol, Justice Department, and such other government departments as may be useful. All department heads will be put on notice that this, and the detection and removal of illegal aliens already here, are their top priorities and that they will be removed and prosecuted if they fail to pursue them in earnest, while they will be rewarded with desirable appointments upon their success.
If 'the people' in Amendment 2 are 'the state' then Amendments 1, 2, 4, 9, and 10 benefit the state, not you.
release all top-secret info about area 51!
Actions speak louder than words. Regardless of what Ron Paul may have *said* (a quit skim reveals no smoking gun, anyway), he wants to end insanely racist policies like the "War on Drugs".
Who would you rather have: somebody like Al Gore who *claims* to be for racial equality but wants to solve the drug problem with "more police on the streets" and even "use the military to support our drug law enforcement efforts", or somebody like Ron Paul who talks a little crazy but would actually end the "War on Drugs" and actually bring about positive change for racial equality?
I also find the "homophobe" claim strange. Ron Paul has been quite explicit that the government should not be in the business of marriage, and that he would let anybody (gays included) get married, because the Constitution guarantees freedom of association. How many other candidates have spoken in favor of gay marriage?
People seem to have trouble with candidates who say "I personally believe in XYZ, but I believe in the Constitution more than XYZ, so I won't use the office to regulate XYZ". And yet, Ron Paul's voting record shows that he does exactly this.
Anyway, your strategy is not new. When somebody counter to the mainstream starts to get popular, you can't officially keep him out of the public discourse, so instead you try to destroy his credibility. They've done this since long before you or I was born.
Ron Paul is against the federal government being involved in so many things, and I agree with that, and I believe that he'll use the office of the President in agreement with that, so what he says or believes or has sex with in his bedroom is of no matter to me.
I'm sorry to tell you, but yes you can smoke yourself to death. You can certainly die of asphyxiation, unless for some reason marijuana makes one so fantastically uber-special that breathing is no longer required.
I will concede that it would likely be difficult to smoke oneself to death (and die by only the smoke and not its long-term effects), but anyone who discards entirely the possibility of smoking oneself to death is just plain wrong. But simple physics tells us that yes you can smoke yourself to death. The combustion of smoking anything will compete with you for oxygen. Likewise, the gases and solids of combustion that you are voluntarily inhaling are competing in your own lungs with oxygen. You are exposing living tissue to foreign substances, which is dangerous any way you look at it.
heat the plant to the point where the THC is released and you don't inhale any particles
So THC is not a particle? What is it then, if it is somehow non-particulate matter? Is THC the dark matter of the universe that we have been looking for? I very strongly doubt that any manner of combustion for recreational use of marijuana is so complete as to provide you with THC and only THC in a complete, pure, and unadulterated form.
no one has died from marijuana poisoning
That all comes down to how one defines "marijuana poisoning". There are plenty of ways to die that come about due to use (and misuse) of marijuana. And as I described earlier, you can certainly die from the overuse of it if you really want to.
Now before you go after me as some anti-pot uber-conservative, let me clarify where I stand on the use of marijuana. Frankly, I could care less what recreational drugs you want to use in your own home. However, when pro-pot lobbyists go about promoting marijuana as being as healthy as milk, I take exception to the lack of factual information behind the argument. The way I see it, if you want to get wasted on your own dollar, in your own home, and can do it without impeding on the public at large, then go for it. But if people want to wander around the streets (on foot or in a vehicle) while under the influence, then they deserve to be thrown in jail and treated like criminals. Keep the drugs and their effects out of the public sight, and I could care less.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Well the first thing besides bringing all our troops home would be to also dismantle/get rid of all our military bases in foreign countries. I don't believe it's America's duty to police the world so we'd have a very hands off policy when it came to other countries and what they do within their own borders. They can't dictate what we do so why should we dictate what they do. Along with this the supplies and charity that the government gives to other countries such as Africa and supporting Israel would stop - no I'm not a bigot or racist I just feel that those things should be handled by private organizations not our government and our citizens tax dollars.
The second thing (granted I think the first thing has a lot of steps but I'm summarizing them) would be to redo corporate policy on hiring forms and questionnaires. I'd make it impossible to ask a person's ethnicity, instead we would do what the rest of the world does and ask country of origin. If you're born in America, you're American, I don't care if you have Hispanic parents or Polish Grandparents, you're American.
Third, I'd dump a lot of tax dollars into supporting Community and State colleges. Ya the ivory leagues are nice and all, but the average american can't afford them and since I believe everyone is entitled to a good education, I believe we really need to support community colleges and state colleges, especially because of the fact that their students test scores and general knowledge don't always rank as high as some universities. A lot of tax dollars would also go into public high schools for similar reasons.
Last is jobs, with a lot more people within our borders and unemployment the way it is right now we'd need to create jobs. I'd have a lot of government jobs open where people would be hired to clean up their local communities, and I do not mean more trash men. Rather I'd create a government run entity that exists for the sole purpose of having people pick up the trash in parks, on streets (not just street cleaners that blow shit around) repaint faded walls, redo the tiling in cracked areas, fix the god damn pot holes in the streets that get ignored because a new freeway supposedly needs to be built first. Cut and trim trees and mow the lawns of every citizen's house with grass.
Ave Molech Setting
I love your sig.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Why should I be forced to pay, at gunpoint, for some poor guy's health care? What are those taxes doing for me? The original purpose of taxes were not to redistribute wealth, but to provide basic community services such as police protection and national defense. Taxes are not supposed to be taken entirely from one group to support another.
Barbara and Jenna to Gitmo. The wonderful part is that it would be 100% legal, and I wouldn't ever have to justify it. "They're terrorists" is all it takes!
A few things.
1) we're not fighting two wars. we're not fighting any wars currently. if you want to call what's going on in iraq and afghanistan wars then you haven't studied what real wars look like in the modern era.
2) afghanistan is mostly a stalemate. the 'bad guys' aren't really doing anything. neither are the 'good guys'. over the border in pakistan they've essentially moved in to enjoy the protection of what has always been a 'lawless'/tribal controlled area. afghanistan has been denied to AQ as an open air bazarre for recruiting, training, etc. that makes it a win in my book. maybe you're in the crowd that thinks we should have done a soviet style 10 year long massive boots on the ground big time loss in afghanistan. that worked really well for them.
3) read anything about iraq in the last 8 months? im not sure what your idea of losing or winning looks like but when areas that were once big time hang outs for the other side are now quiet and ready to be turned over to the local government while many of the local tribal leaders have publicly joined sides with the US against AQ in their areas (and this trend continues) doesn't sound like losing to me. but i'm obviously a brainwashed pnac neo-con who doesn't think dailykos and DU are news sources so ymmv.
im not sure why i chose to respond to your post since you're just doing the standard uninformed drivel rant but there it is.
the star trek engineering solutions show the positive nature of people. without people thinking big about the impossible all we'd ever do is spend our time moping about this or that very temporary problem as if it was the most important thing going on. fortuntely the country still has enough positive thinkers to more than counter the mindless negativity shipped out in bulk from a certain loud but minority segment of the population.
1. Building up the sea wall around New Orleans. There is no greater crime than to leave a city in ruins. 2. Start a program to rebuild smaller businesses and homes in N.O. 3. Arrest Bush, Cheney and cronies for war crimes, profiteering, and high crimes and misdemeanors. 4. Govt. Seizure of Haliburton and KBR 5. Govt. Seizure of Bush and Cheney properties. 6. Set up a Withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan with a multinational Islamic force to replace us to stablize the region. 7. Apologize to the world and start anew. No being the world's Policeman. Try to be a better neighbor with advice and medical aid. 8. Restructure FEMA as a supply resource for the National Guard. 9. Remove the IRS and move to a luxury tax. The more useless crap you buy the more tax you pay. 10. Allow gays in the military. It worked for Greeks, Spartans and Jannassaries. If someone is willing to fight for their county, they should be able to sleep with whoever they want. 11. Start charging networks for use of the airwaves as long as they program the news to bring in revenue. Until the news stops being entertainment, they should pay the people for not reporting what is important. 12. Put 10% of our current military budget into NASA. 13. Put 10% of our current Military budget into renewable energy. What better way to fight the Middle East than to bring renewable energy to the world and devalue oil? 14. Balance our budget and set up a guildline to reduce spending each year. 15. Rebuild the EPA with a mandate to get to a national zero carbon footprint and to offer advice/technology to other countries to do the same. 16. Have the SEC review corporate accounting practices to minimize Enron scandals. 17. Learn at least 5 more languages so I can deal with other countries as an equal and relay less on translators.
Send an invite to all Bush family and current and past corrupt congresscritters to a big party on the Bikini Atoll in the pacific ocean, reprogram 7 ICBM's to target that location, when they arrive nuke them to fucking hell, televise it worldwide after and say, " this is what you get for destroying America, Any of you hostile groups out there even think of doing anything to the USA and we will nuke your country off the planet. any bordering countries wanting to avoid collateral destruction need to get your asshole neighbors in check.
The usa is the only superpower left, let's fucking act like one.
I could write forever on this topic. Here's one item: With citizens as the customer, I would try to apply agile (a software development methodology) tenets to government. For example, I would have a poll to determine the priority of requirements to be fulfilled by congress each month. I would hold congress accountable for fulfilling the requirements and reporting back to the citizens the status of each requirement each week. Bipartisan teams would be assigned to each requirement. Any conflict that can't be resolved by a team would come to me for the final decision (no appeals to my decisions - to pressure the teams to get the job done). Penalties would be incurred by teams failing to complete their tasks (e.g., cuts in privileges/pay). I could go on, but you get the idea.
This is my idea for a simple US Energy Policy that could really take the spikes out and equalize the fuel prices across the USA.
1) Create a US standard blend of regular gas that is legal to use across the USA. Allow for other blends, but the US standard blend should have a minimum of oxygenator and should be a 87 octane blend.
2) Let states opt out, but withhold there federal highway funds
Thats it, it doesn't get any simpler than that. So next time a refinery gets shut down in your area and the next state over has a surplus, go ahead and import it into your state and use it. No more of this 20 blends of fuel for the country.
Thank you for giving up your shot at the presidency to moderate this discussion. ;^)
--
Toro
Recognizing my own lack of real leadership, I would do exactly what I think Bush should do. Turn over the presidency to Barak Obama, who would do a much better job than I would.
Of course in the case of Bush, he could turn it over to an actual leafy green bush and there would be improvement.
(Which is worse, no leadership, or bad leadership?)
changes in small things that are repeated bring a big long term gain.
here is a set of small definite low-cost policies which could offer significant
value for the improvement of the quality of life for citizens:
- car-free tax break for those who use a bike or transit
instead of car as their primary mode of transit.
- gardening tax break for those who don't use lawn mowers.
more, if they cultivate their own gardens instead of having a lawn.
credits for those who break-up parking lots with trees clumps;
hands off around rivers and watersheds.
- free government requires free software; and public data storage
requires open-formats. no proprietary formats in government period.
- congress may only approve a budget if money spent for
education exceeds amount spent for military.
- voucher system for schools -- more integration of alternative
systems such as waldorf and montessori into publicly funded schools.
- no tax on the difference between square and top-round windows.
self-performed home improvement is tax-deductable.
- free-up use of wood pulp with renewable hemp production.
- no more clear cutting; tree removed requires planting replacement.
- free the music -- public funding of artists -- the ones who receive
the money to be determined through peer-review of artistic merrit.
- recognitions of merrit -- tax break may be given when
a group in the community volunteers it in recognition
of someone's outstanding service to a local community.
- bike access corridors; setting up 'bike villages'
in depleted old downtown areas, and 'road' dollars
going to covered bike-lanes for winter along useful corridors;
require accomodation for bikes in planning malls and suburbs.
- chess taught as a standard subject in schools.
- more funding for the arts -- patronage mediated by
peer-review of funding. funded artists can be called upon
at times to be used in public classrooms for education of
the young by the best in the field.
- insofar as architects and artists get publiclly funded, they
may at times be called in for consultation to determine the
direction of how to improve basic builders habits, and help
in schools.
- encouragement for more apprenticeships in construction and
building-craft.
- sun tzu's 'art of war' to be required reading for every soldier.
a copy of steiner's 'philosphy of freedom' donated to every library.
I guess you're free to believe what you want. I'm not convinced that the comments took place over a decade. TNR article itself only quoted a couple of them. I'm not convinced that he is racist, and his many public statements during 10 terms of public service seem to confirm this. Like I said, he did take responsibility for it and publicly repudiated those views. You really think the media isn't mentioning this stuff? You really must not be paying attention. It's one thing to castigate someone over a mistake. It's another to repeatedly drag someone over the coals after they acknowledged their error.
1) Round up all the neo-nazis and put them in concentration camps, just for the sake of irony.
2) Fire three-fourths of the FCC: leave enough people to regulate broadcast frequencies and harmful interference and send the rest of the people packing. Then tell Congress that the FCC doesn't have enough manpower to do everything they want it to, so either repeal content-control laws, or give it form money. If they supply the funding, divert it elsewhere in an "emergency."
3) Veto all pork. *All* of it.
4) Repeal/decline-to-renew No Child Left Behind.
5) Give the Iraqis nice card that says, "A republic if you can keep it" and pull out all our troops.
6) Disband the paramilitary wing of the directorate of operations of the CIA. It only exists to wage war without uniformed military personnel.
7) Work to end subsidies for corn-derived ethanol, and promote subsidies for more efficient sources of renewable energy.
8) Give the EPA some teeth. And maybe shotguns.
9) Research efficient alternatives to the current healthcare, which may involve limiting medical malpractice awards.
10) Appoint a bisexual sorority as First Ladies and throw lots of parties.
The Oregon trail?
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Domestic and Economic areas:
I: Economic:
A: Renew tax credits for alternative energy development.
B: Create new form of tax credit for energy conservation and distributed development (methane digestors at dairy farms and the like)
C: Work with industry on reducing scope of patents in IT-related fields.
D: Push for reform of copyright law.
II: Criminal Justice
A: Create a grading system for prisons based on recitivism rates.
B: Create a task force to study effects of sentensing lengths on recitivism rates.
C: Work with states to lower recitivism rates by adopting optimal sentensing lengths based on above studies.
III: Domestic Security and Civil Liberties
A: Create open public forums on issues relating to domestic security. Open up general discussions on abstract security issues relating to aircraft, airports, infrastructure, and federal buildings to the public.
B: Undertake a complete survey of hydroelectric dams in this country for vulnerabilities to attack. Scenarios would include small and large amounts fo conventional low and high explosives, and also thermobaric attack profiles.
C: Undertake a study of the impact on civil liberties of various post-9/11 measures.
D: Work to create a rationed guest worker program to undermine illegal immigration.
E: Work on a controlled legalization of Marijuana to undermine drug cartels which have been ammassing enough firepower to challenge the Mexican Army.
1) Import/export of Cannibis would be prohibited, except as allowed by treaty.
F: Work towards a streamlined procedure for deporting illegal immigrants with dependant American citizen children. The children would be given US passports in the process of deportation. The passports might be applied for and then distributed through local consulates, or might be distributed prior to deportation.
Foreign Policy:
I: Iraq
A: Make it *clear* that our continued involvement in Iraq requires certain rules enforced by the Iraqi government including no official or unofficial use of any militia units by any government agencies.
B: Revoke all contracts with external security firms in Iraq until further notice.
C: Make it *clear* that our continued involvement in Iraq will not exceed our welcome by the duly elected Iraqi government.
D: Seek help from The Arab League and the European Union for peacekeeping operations in Iraq under EU and AL flags.
II: Afghanistan
A: Undertake a review of Afghanistan's Constitution and its impact on governability of the country. Provide advice on this matter to that government in the form of a declassified report.
B: Request permission from Pakistan's government to pursue insurgants across the border.
III: Israel/Iran/Syria
A: Continue Bush's policy of delaying/obstructing delivery of aid when Israel is not playing well with the Palestinians.
B: Continue pushing for a Palestinian State.
C: Declare that we stand for defending the Green Line in Israel. We have no position on attacks against IDF targets outside the Green Line.
D: State to Iran and Syria that we are prepared to give a security guarantee provided that:
1) all nuclear weapons programs are verifiably halted
2) all enrichment for fissile materials is halted
3) they help a stable Iraqi government emerge
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
First of all, I would try and assemble a team of advisors that stem from the top fields in all areas relating to various issues at hand. Not simply rock stars within the political arena, but respected individuals within their own area of expertise. For instance, for education, call on some of the top individuals from the childhood development field (including early-childhood development field, which is often left out) and give them very direct access into the decision making process. That's one thing I think Bill Clinton did very well, and you hear a lot of praise of him from within many areas of expertise for including them.
Secondly, on the international fronts, do everything to strengthen connections with our allies and make it clear that we're, once again, a team player willing to work in a multi-latteral direction. Europe, East Asia, and South America are making great leaps and strides in ecconomics, technology, education, and civil rights, and we would be silly to continue our current "holier than thow" attitude, even if we're at odds with some of the current trends (such as aspects of Chinese goverance).
Lastly, I want to create a clear set of long-term benchmarks to try and work toward, for what our nation should look like 10 years down the line, 25 years, 50 years, etc. And have this open to public display. This would include various technological advancements, civil rights achievenements, and international relations prosectives. I want to give the country a clear vision of what our future could look like, and work toward that, even if not all the goals are probable.
And ONE very specific goal: campaign finance reform, probably the most important achievement for the long term success of our political body.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
I'd sell the US off and give the money to the shareholders.
- a slow withdrawal from Iraq, with a transition to a fully UN-operated phase, like they did in Bosnia. A quick withdrawal would lead to a blood-bath, with even more animosity toward the US.
- BIG emphasis on education. More spending, more quality control. Every student who finishes high-school has to pass a tough standard test.
- real separation of church and state.
- universal health-care, partially financed by taxing private health-care. If the rich want better health care, fine, but they have to pay through the nose for it and in the process they help improve the state of public health care. Everyone wins!
- end lobbies.
- actually enforce anti-monopoly laws.
- the big project for the decade: the environment. Heavy investment in eco-friendly research and technologies, making the US the world leader. Sign Kyoto and actually go beyond simply reaching the objectives. Tax imports on polluting goods to support this. Tax big polluters.
- a one-year civil service for all who come out of high-school and for new immigrants. The former get some maturity and time to reflect on what they want to become, immersion in the country and improved language skills for the latter. And the society at large benefits. Again, everyone wins!
- for anything else that requires funding: the Entertainment Tax. Subsidize cultural production and preservation while taxing its consumption. This should encourage people to become active participants in the cultural life of the country instead of passive couch-potatoes.
Vote DrEasy!
"In our tactical decisions, we are operating contrary to our strategic interest."
I agree with many of the suggestions here (drug legalization, end the war on terrorism, etc), but one thing that I would *really* like to see is for highly increased liability for corporations. The entire notion of a "corporation" abused existing law to remove liability from the members of the company and instead have the company treated as an individual under the eyes of the law. This isn't happening, IMO. When a pharmaceutical corporation screws up (think Vioxx), what happens? They get a financial slap on the wrist. If I accidentally killed some people, what would happen? I would certainly go to jail for manslaughter, and it's very unlikely I'd be able to buy my way out without serving some time first. How are we, then, in the eyes of the law, considered equivalent as individuals? If companies want to be corporations, treat them as such: if they commit a crime, give them "jail" time and cease their operations to make them incur severe financial loss, just as I would be unable to work in prison. Maybe then we can abolish this absolutely stupid concept by making it entirely unappealing and go back to the way things used to be before this nonsense started.
As president, I promise to put a soda fountain in the school cafeteria!
I would tell Congress that I will veto every bill that comes across my desk until bills covering these issues are passed:
Then I would leave the podium and start making phone calls: to begin the process of letting Iraq settle into a more natural state of 3 separate nations, and how to get our troops home.
I would begin to execute my masterfully not-thought-through plan: The Libertarian Police State.
Happy to hear much of my wish list echoed by others, such as ending corporate personhood, banning lobbying, getting out of Iraq, universal healthcare, etc.
Here are others I haven't seen yet:
1. Comprehensive energy strategy to get off fossil fuels by 2015. Accomplished with mix of solar, wind, tidal, biomass, biodiesel, nuclear. Result: the hundreds of billions of dollars we spend on fossil fuels will be reinvested in this country instead of flowing to suspect regimes who fund our enemies. Also, it will help avert catastrophic climate change.
2. National transportation strategy that builds up high-speed rail (a-la bullet train or TGV) as a way to alleviate air travel congestion and lower our national carbon footprint. Strongly encourage urban areas with sufficient population density to prioritize mass transit, walking, and cycling. (meshes with energy and climate strategy)
3. Start dealing with China. They are our largest strategic challenge in the 21st century, and they're gunning for us with everything they've got. If we don't get that foreign policy question right, it's world-ending.
4. Dissolve the Department of Homeland Security and forever and for all time ban the word "Homeland" in connection with the United States of America. Official description will be the tried-and-true, "Land of the Free, Home of the Brave."
5. Add Constitutional amendment guaranteeing right to privacy.
6. Revise Federal Student Loan program to require all universities work to place 90% or greater of their graduates in jobs, or lose eligibility.
7. Apollo-like program to cure cancer, heart disease, and other perennial ills. Then give the cures to the world, for free. Let's contribute something lasting and positive as a civilization to the world. Also, it would be about the best apology we could make for Bush.
8. Push for universal work elegibility for citizens of all U.N. signatory countries. If global capital is able to move about the world freely, then labor (you, me, and everyone who works) should be able to move about just as freely. Outsourcing, immigration, unemployment, and nationalistic bigotry all are solved or at least dramatically alleviated in one stroke.
9. International effort to colonize Mars and develop space travel sufficient to take us to other stars.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
1. Reduce the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan substantially. I don't see a total pullout, not for awhile. The war ENDED (gosh people are stupid) when Hussein and his army were defeated (that shouldn't need saying, but since slashdot posters seem to not understand... I'll post it). Invade Mexico. Lots of people in the USA might want to go back and visit their families. 2. Revisit the supposed universal outcry of America that we cannot allow another terrorist attack of the magnitude of "911". The reason: people seem to be whining anc complaining about their privacy and freedoms being infringed upon. If you don't like it, you shouldn't have ASKED for it. If people still want to be "safe", mandate that everyone HAS to buy a gun (extra incentives for family purchases or multiple purchases). That'll be interesting... 3. Immigration. No matter how you look at this one, it's a mess. A BIG MESS. It's weird, we could offer every illegal immigrant in the USA $1000 to file to become legal AND THEY WILL NOT TAKE the offer. Laziness? Apathy? Not sure. Cheapest way to get them back to their country? Free tickets to see Hannah Montana Live in Mexico! 4. Taxes. Flat tax makes sense. With regards to the poverty line.... if we don't conquer Mexico.... we could setup an approved foreign exchange program. Mexico takes one of our deadbeats in exchange for one of their (usually) hard working and honest "illegals". 5. Health care... it's not as broken as people say it is. People are pretty blind (maybe free eye exams for folks). Few people means more protection of the onzone.... why are people whining about this one? 6. Push for total reform of the patent system. Patents as they are now will apply only to individuals. Patents issued with the support of a company or patents acquired by a company from individuals will be subject to some kind of scaling formular based on the size and revenue of the company. Patents were designed to protect the little guy, not feed our court system with litigation. Take all of Microsoft's patents away (that's just to punish them for Vista). 7. Eliminate the DMCA, and establish a true Fair Use law. Bring innovation back to the USA that can include cryptography. Emphasize the legalities of pirating and sharing copyrighted information and make the punishments harsh (perhaps sending offenders to Mexico?). Round up the millions and millions of kids in the USA that do not believe that illegally sharing media is a crime and give them all a really, really, REALLY big spanking. And poke their parents in the eye.... do it hard. 8. Push for an ammendment to the Constitution to emphasize what is already there... that people matter and that killing them when unborn is just plain WRONG. However, if the people do want to continue the practice, alter the rules so that you cannot terminate the life until they are 3 years old. That way, if the kid is just a pain... you know what to do. I figure after 3 years, the kid might become viable and survive somehow if left on its own. So 3 years seems to be reasonable. We could come up with creative ways to carry out the abortions. Lots of spare parts, one less carbon footprint etc, etc,... health nuts and environmentalists will love it! 9. End the purchasing of "Carbon Credits". This has to be the stupidest thing ever created. It allows the extremely wealthy to blast people for polluting yet allows them to make their heinous deeds... well... "correct". Hypocrisy at its finest. If America wants to keep the Carbon Credit around (hey, I listen to the people), we should make the credits have value and have currency-like bill made of biodegradeble materials... and oh.. they should have a picture of Al Gore on them. Make Carbon Credits taxable using REAL currency :)
10. Campaign finance reform... well... let's just end the usage of money at all on campaigns. That's right, not even YOUR own money. Candidates need to become homeless during their campaigns. Vote for the one you want to survive. The rest have to spend the next 4 years in Mexico. Hire Simon to judge the election.
1. Reduce the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan substantially. I don't see a total pullout, not for awhile. The war ENDED (gosh people are stupid) when Hussein and his army were defeated (that shouldn't need saying, but since slashdot posters seem to not understand... I'll post it). Invade Mexico. Lots of people in the USA might want to go back and visit their families.
:)
:)
2. Revisit the supposed universal outcry of America that we cannot allow another terrorist attack of the magnitude of "911". The reason: people seem to be whining anc complaining about their privacy and freedoms being infringed upon. If you don't like it, you shouldn't have ASKED for it. If people still want to be "safe", mandate that everyone HAS to buy a gun (extra incentives for family purchases or multiple purchases). That'll be interesting...
3. Immigration. No matter how you look at this one, it's a mess. A BIG MESS. It's weird, we could offer every illegal immigrant in the USA $1000 to file to become legal AND THEY WILL NOT TAKE the offer. Laziness? Apathy? Not sure. Cheapest way to get them back to their country? Free tickets to see Hannah Montana Live in Mexico!
4. Taxes. Flat tax makes sense. With regards to the poverty line.... if we don't conquer Mexico.... we could setup an approved foreign exchange program. Mexico takes one of our deadbeats in exchange for one of their (usually) hard working and honest "illegals".
5. Health care... it's not as broken as people say it is. People are pretty blind (maybe free eye exams for folks). Few people means more protection of the onzone.... why are people whining about this one?
6. Push for total reform of the patent system. Patents as they are now will apply only to individuals. Patents issued with the support of a company or patents acquired by a company from individuals will be subject to some kind of scaling formular based on the size and revenue of the company. Patents were designed to protect the little guy, not feed our court system with litigation. Take all of Microsoft's patents away (that's just to punish them for Vista).
7. Eliminate the DMCA, and establish a true Fair Use law. Bring innovation back to the USA that can include cryptography. Emphasize the legalities of pirating and sharing copyrighted information and make the punishments harsh (perhaps sending offenders to Mexico?). Round up the millions and millions of kids in the USA that do not believe that illegally sharing media is a crime and give them all a really, really, REALLY big spanking. And poke their parents in the eye.... do it hard.
8. Push for an ammendment to the Constitution to emphasize what is already there... that people matter and that killing them when unborn is just plain WRONG. However, if the people do want to continue the practice, alter the rules so that you cannot terminate the life until they are 3 years old. That way, if the kid is just a pain... you know what to do. I figure after 3 years, the kid might become viable and survive somehow if left on its own. So 3 years seems to be reasonable. We could come up with creative ways to carry out the abortions. Lots of spare parts, one less carbon footprint etc, etc,... health nuts and environmentalists will love it!
9. End the purchasing of "Carbon Credits". This has to be the stupidest thing ever created. It allows the extremely wealthy to blast people for polluting yet allows them to make their heinous deeds... well... "correct". Hypocrisy at its finest. If America wants to keep the Carbon Credit around (hey, I listen to the people), we should make the credits have value and have currency-like bill made of biodegradeble materials... and oh.. they should have a picture of Al Gore on them. Make Carbon Credits taxable using REAL currency
10. Campaign finance reform... well... let's just end the usage of money at all on campaigns. That's right, not even YOUR own money. Candidates need to become homeless during their campaigns. Vote for the one you want to survive. The rest have to spend the next 4 years in Mexico. Hire Simon to judge the election.
11. Put an end to HTML postings on Slashdot
Point taken. I wasn't considering the prevalence of irrational behavior among high risk borrowers.
So if black markets will intervene to fill in the gaps, why not capture that segment in a legitimate market? While the result is essentially the personal lending equivalent of junk bonds, it's probably better from a harm reduction standpoint to let speculators fund that market rather than someone who will send the goon squad around to politely discuss payment options.
Fair enough. Teaser rates seem to lead to either the lender taking advantage of an unwary borrower or a smart borrower taking advantage of the lender, neither of which would seem to help stability.
...when you're writing a game...tweak the difficulty of "Easy" to something [your mother] can cope with. -- onion2k
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
1) Grant an amnesty to civilian or military interrogators who prior to January 20, 2009 used "enhanced interrogation techniques" which they reasonably, if falsely, believed to be legal.
2) Order the declassification and publication of the classified portion of the US Army Field Manual on Interrogation.
3) If waterboarding is authorized in the classified portion of the Field Manual, de-authorize it.
4) Announce that if any U.S. military or civilian interrogator uses a harsh interrogation technique not authorized in the Field Manual, that interrogator will be prosecuted. If the prosecution cannot be carried out in American courts for lack of jurisdiction, the U.S. Government will actively cooperate with a foreign government's prosecution of the offense.
5) Select an Attorney General who pledges to pursue such cases aggressively. Order military prosecutors to pursue such cases aggressively.
6) Order the military to stop holding detainees as "unlawful combatants" at Guantanomo or other prisons. Anyone currently held as an "unlawful combatant" must be either designated as a prisoner of war, transferred to civilian custody for prosecution in U.S. or foreign courts, or released.
Ban Mail-in Rebates.
Yes, make them illegal. The price you post is the price you sell.
I know all the reasons behind rebates. Fuck them all, and fuck anyone who is down with them.
Knowing the sort of people who work in this industry, I am damn proud of the fact that I am among the very few who are constitutionally eligible to serve.
Submission as evidence constitutes plaintiff and/or prosecutorial misconduct.
haha, too bad there's no +1 asshole comment, but funny
Sorry, but "they call them fingers, but I've never seen them fing ... oh, wait, there they go" is not my idea of "deep" thought.
The President can only start an undeclared war without congress.
I'd:
That's probably enough for my first 100 days.
Close all military bases outside the USA. Pull all troops out of all countries.
Cut military spending to no more than 200 Billion/year. Do not adjust this figure for inflation.
Stop the war on drugs.
Decriminalise ALL drugs (Plus release the drug USER convicts from jail)
Hike income tax
Increase NASA's Budget to 200 Billion a year. Change their charter to exploration, research and manned missions ONLY. Commission Mars orbiting "Castles", and put 100+ people on Mars permanently. Commission a Europa life seeking mission with Cryobot. Send at least 2 rovers to Titan.
Fund EMC^2 to 500 Million dollars funding to produce Fusion Reactor prototype
Destroy the Ballistic Missile Defense System, and cancel all such future projects.
Commission 2 Billion dollars of research (in Year 1) for Beamed Laser Launching techniques, and look at space-based mirrors to make ultimate strike weapon (add another 10 or 20 missions to this project as it matures. Use it for laser launching of solar sailed craft to Proxima Centauri etc)
Allocate 10 Billion to developing the technologies required to build a space elevator.
Engage Russia and China in Military talks: destroy all but a couple of hundreds nukes.
Cancel all F22 and B2 orders.
Offer Boeing incentives to destroy Airbus.
Reduce to power of the executive branch. Hand that power back to congress.
Reinstate Habeas Corpus. Close Gitmo. Release or try the prisoners there in federal court.
Reinstate all freedoms stolen.
Remove 95% of security checks at airports. Place two armed guards on each flight. Make cockpit doors unbreakable.
Prosecute Bush, Cheney and co. for treason.
Expel all professional Lobby groups and people from D.C. Change some laws.
Ban electronic voting without a paper trail. Open source it all.
Ban black highlighters.
Close the CIA. Comeup with something better.
Cut Israel loose.
Begin extracting Oil shale in Colorado at $30 a barrel.
Finish Yucca Mountain.
Allocate 500 Billion over 10 years for infrastructure maintenance and repairs in the USA.
Mandate high gas mileages on all new cars phased in over 5 years.
Cancel just about every entitlement program there is, to fund nationalised health product.
Destroy the culture of litigation; adopt New Zealand-like process.
Hold referendums of changes to the Constitution; first order of business is to add an amendment which prevents Congress from changing the consitution without a nation-wide referendum.
That'll do for year 1...
How many escape pods are there? "NONE,SIR!" You counted them? "TWICE, SIR!"
I think I would sleep with two woman.... If I were president I think i could make that happen....
i would create an income floor and ceiling. i would find the ideal numbers apply them so that no job would pay less than X and no job would pay more than Y. then allow companies to give incentives via vacations and such. say, for example, no job would pay less than $50,000 and no job would pay more than $100,000. and anyone that would dare say "i can't live on less than $100,000" should be ashamed of themselves.
call it socialism, call it what you want - but it would go further to fix the economy than anything anyone else is offering up.
nature loves variety::society hates it get your variety at http://www.monkeypantz.net
Rather than specify specific budgets for each department, how about we vote on the overall percentage for each department and for larger programs. Then national priorities would fit within the amount of taxes for a given year. Annual changes could not be larger than 5% unless requested from inside the department and for less money. No deficit spending allowed - send anyone that does overspend to jail for 10 years for each $20K over.
This would keep citizens with an idea of the overall national priorities since funding sets priorities.
1) I bet NASA would get much more money 0.5% - more people think NASA is 10%
2) I bet Social Security would get much less 49%
3) I bet DoD would get about the same - 20%
Invest in expanding the human population off of its overcrowded, resource depleated Earth. Create a new tax filing status for marriage to computers. Get rid of illegal immigrants.
January 8, 2008 5:28 am EST
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA - In response to an article published by The New Republic, Ron Paul issued the following statement:
"The quotations in The New Republic article are not mine and do not represent what I believe or have ever believed. I have never uttered such words and denounce such small-minded thoughts.
"In fact, I have always agreed with Martin Luther King, Jr. that we should only be concerned with the content of a person's character, not the color of their skin. As I stated on the floor of the U.S. House on April 20, 1999: 'I rise in great respect for the courage and high ideals of Rosa Parks who stood steadfastly for the rights of individuals against unjust laws and oppressive governmental policies.'
"This story is old news and has been rehashed for over a decade. It's once again being resurrected for obvious political reasons on the day of the New Hampshire primary.
"When I was out of Congress and practicing medicine full-time, a newsletter was published under my name that I did not edit. Several writers contributed to the product. For over a decade, I have publicly taken moral responsibility for not paying closer attention to what went out under my name."
You can't take the sky from me...
Fire everybody. Open up all the buildings and relinquish all technologies. Inform the people that 'civilization' is short for hostage societies and that an alien species genetic manipulation is what inhabits the planet. Tell them that I love them and to take care out there.
The chaos would be short and sweet.
I would put a lot of money into life enlonging research. Gen technology, stem cells, telomerase research, cancer research, nano technology... Everything that helps me live longer.
1. A National health care program which eliminates insurance companies and the positive feedback loop they create with prices. All hospitals and health care workers would be brought into the public sector but all suppliers for medications, medical equipment, and other health care commodities would be kept private through competitive bidding and foreign trade. I would propose a medical bill of rights that establishes complete health care as a right and creates a "Value Towards Rights" scheme for pharmaceutical patents. Essentially, this would say that technologies or intellectual properties that are very important towards maintaining and promoting the rights of the people will have very limited patents. This would cause pharmaceutical patents to default to a 5 year term. NIH and NSF grants will be available to subsidize research by private pharmaceutical firms given approval by committee.
2. A complete end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Troops would be recalled and some would be sent to the border to bolster Border Patrol efforts in a non-military capacity. All other overseas military bases would be sold off to the host nation for whatever we can get for them and evacuated. All military exercises will be limited to areas near the United States. Displays of military power such as sending carrier battle groups to the coasts of foreign nation for the purposes of intimidating foreign governments will be expressly forbidden. This will be established by a proposed new Constitutional amendment which clarifies, in no uncertain terms, appropriate uses for the military. This would result in a radical reduction in military expenditures, eliminating nearly 90% of the Pentagon budget. I would propose legislation that would radically reduce and within 10 years eliminate our nuclear arsenal, conditional upon cooperation from other nuclear powers.
3. The Federal Reserve board will come under direct review of the congress and a panel of economists as appointed by the states in order to establish a transparent monetary policy. All available monetary and economic data will be made public and open use. All shareholder information of the Federal Reserve Bank will be made public.
4. I would propose a radical restructuring of the tax code, eliminating the income tax entirely for the bottom 85% of tax payers while implementing a progressive tax scheme for all tax payers above the 85% bracket. This would be supplemented by a limited federal sales tax of at least 5% which works to create downward pressure on consumption while encouraging savings and investment. This is a hybrid of the current progressive income tax and the proposed fair tax. The size of the IRS can be reduced in accordance with the fewer number of people that will actually need to file a return. Corporate income taxes will also be reduced significantly in order to attract domestic industry back into the country. Import tariffs will be used to help mediate trade imbalances and add to government revenues. A pay-as-you-go scheme will be mandated and a pay-as-you-go-plus-principle will be applied until the national debt falls to within 2-3% of GDP.
5. I would propose a Universal College education program which provides federal assistance (in place of loans) to fund public universities to take on under-privileged students non-gratis and without the need to constantly apply for grants and costly student loans to supplement their living expenses. Students will be required to meet and maintain certain academic standards, but all students who meet these standards will have an opportunity to go to college. Private college loans will be limited to a 5% maximum interest rate which would not be assessed until after completion of an undergraduate degree or termination of student status at an accredited institution.
6. We will turn back all imports from any nation that does not conform to basic tenants of worker rights and fair wages. As the world's largest consumer, we'll be in a good position to create positive change in this re
I'd land on aircraft carriers a LOT.
* Veto every budget that does not include a surplus.
* Veto every budget stealing from social security.
* Adopt a standard answer of "No" to all new spending with detailed justification and review.
* Impound pork spending in budget bills.
* Declassify the most information in history.
* Veto nearly every bill opposed by ACLU.
* Pardon federal consensual crime offenders who have never committed violent crimes.
* Do not enforce laws prohibiting "consensual crimes" at the federal level.
* Bring home as many troops as possible.
* Impound as much military aid as possible.
* Reverse nearly every executive order I have read to date. Obviously the majority would have to stay.
* End the stupid 3oz limit for airplanes.
* Increase number of National parks in city and country on a massive scale.
* End FDA regulation of absinthe.
* D.C. voting rights advocacy.
* End enforcement of laws tying funding to state laws, IE state's rights.
* End C.I.A. intervention overseas.
* Humble foreign policy, trade with all (not nukes, high tech, etc).
* Pursue North American Union with Canada, like E.U.
* Advocate public funding of elections.
* Advocate single payer health care.
* Advocate lower administrative cost tax system, be if fair tax or VAT.
* Vigorous anti-trust investigations.
~~ What's stopping you?
You mean 'reparations' I assume? I didn't see any of that in the posted lyrics. Unless you mean the part about giving money to the ghettos, and I didn't take that to mean reparations but social programs which the poor areas of the US desparately need.
Tesla was a genius. Edison however was a overrated hack who liked to torture puppies.
Alright. Bin Laden is a religious zealot, and unfortunately, also a well-funded, CIA trained terrorist. Now, by himself, he can't do that much damage. If you took him and plopped him in Brooklyn in 1992, he'd have a hell of a time recruiting local Muslims to his cause. Why? Because only angry joes follow zealots, and only if they have little other choice. Most angry joes are content to get a job at a local business, marry, have a few kids, and buy some ugly pants and move to Florida when they retire.
But, take his physical security away, and install a military base near his house you start to have problems. Maybe he doesn't like having a gun pointed at him if he goes the wrong way at a checkpoint. Maybe some local servicemen get drunk and rape one of his neighbors (not because soldiers are evil, but because all people are sometimes evil.) Maybe he sees the limos of his oppressive government ride in and out of the embassy of the USA, where people claim to love freedom, but have put up with the oppressive government for decades because they are "friendly." He sees the money changing hands - oil for weapons - and doesn't have any of his own. Now you really start to have problems - way, way, way before a "smart" bomb misses it's target and kills his entire family.
And what I love is that no one on any news network seems to get that Bin Laden's dream is absolutely coming true. He pulled off an unbelievable (some say impossible) terrorist act, killed thousands of people, and got the reaction he wanted. American flags flying over new American bases in the Middle East. Of course, he'll say he wants us out, but if we did leave, the only thing he could motivate the angry joes with is rhetoric, and they will look around and say, "There aren't any Americans here. Why aren't we complaining about our own government instead of some country across the world?" America is no longer that country across the world. We're the great Satan, and easily pigeonholed there because our military forces kill people all over the world, every hour of every day.
Thus the real reason no country who has remained uninvolved in the middle east has been attacked by whatever buzzword they're using for terrorists these days. Terrorists don't hate freedom, they hate colonial powers, and that has been the case since the dawn of time. We, as Americans, choose to remain a colonial power at our own peril.
You destroy what you cannot build.
The two colossi must once have been a truly awesome sight, visible for miles, with copper masks for faces and copper-covered hands. Vairocana's robes were painted red and Sakyamuni's blue. These towering, transcendental images were key symbols in the rise of Mahayana Buddhist teachings, which emphasized the ability of everyone, not just monks, to achieve enlightenment.
The Buddhas were cut at immeasurable cost probably in the third and fifth centuries A.D. Why the Taliban are destroying Buddhas
The Buddhas marked an oasis on the Silk Road.
They were products of a society that was prosperous in trade, confident in its mastery of the arts and engineering, and whose core beliefs were strong and generous and subtle.
Assume the question implies that Congress won't cripple your decision making and that the global elite don't put a bullet in your brain, these are the top things I'd do.
1) Revoke the rights of Corporations the make them the same as immortal persons.
2) Change the voting system to break the 2 party deadlock. Perhaps proportional representation.
3) Open source paper trail electronic voting.
4) Reduce the salaries of the President, Senate and Congress, to be equal to average wage in their constituency. Expense accounts can be used, but overseen/audited etc...
5) Halt all NEW military spending for a single year. Just one year. Take that 250 Billion and invest it in schools and hospitals.
I'd love to recind the Patriot Act and a bunch of other bad laws too... but I'd settle for those 5 as a most excellent start.
- Each family with someone of military age must enter a conscription lottery.
- The lottery is skewed according to (A) income tax bracket and (B) total assets. The higher the income and assets, the more likely that family's candidate will be selected.
- Run the lottery every year. Minimum service duration is two years, at least half of which must be in a combat-fighting position (i.e. not just an engineer or an administrative assistant for the brass).
If we did this, what would happen to the willingness of the U.S. leadership to go to war? Moreover, would the government continue to put soldiers in crappy hospitals and fail to adequately support veterans with PTSD?Of course this idea is absurdly unrealistic and anti-egalitarian. The broader point here is that those in power should not be insulated from the consequences of their decisions, and that those who arguably derive the greatest material benefits from society should also endure their fair share of sacrifice. If I were president I would try to enact policies that encourage the powerful to accept more accountability not just for their own actions, but for the actions of a government over which they wield disproportionate influence.
Thanks for some comments from a European perspective. We Americans don't listen to others' views of us enough. Your English is good enough, and, as you say, much better than my German (I wish I could speak and read your language).
Nuke the Whales.
1.Bring all troops back from Iraq and let the various Iraqi factions (Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds etc) sort out what goes on. As long as the fighting doesn't shift to a foriegn country or to foriegn assets (e.g. attacks on foriegn embassies), let them sort it out themselves
2.Cease and desist all efforts by any federal agency to censor, monitor, examine, read, carry out surveillance on or otherwise spy on any person except when necessary in the investigation of a legitimate crime. This means border guards cannot look at files on your computer unless they have a warrant.
3.Change the tax and other rules surrounding health insurance so that anyone who wants to can leave the company supplied medical plan and find their own health insurance without loosing tax benefits. Easy solution is to make all health insurance costs up to tax deductible.
Such a move (along with possible reforms to the laws governing health insurance companies) would encourage insurance companies compete for your business.
4.Get rid of subsidies provided to the oil companies, coal miners and gas producers. Remove the loopholes in current tax law that allow SUVs and pickups to be classified as "trucks" for safety, fuel economy and emissions purposes.
5.Encourage the construction of new nuclear reactors built using designs such as pebble bed and breeder that are less likely to meltdown and/or extract more total energy from the nuclear fuel. Further to this, get rid of all restrictions on reprocessing of fuel from nuclear reactors.
6.Completely get rid of the rules that classify model rockets, model rocket engines and model rocket fuel (including black powder and Ammonium Perclorate Composite Propellant) as explosives
7.Remove ALL restrictions on the production, use, import and export of cryptography except those that are in place as part of general export restrictions (i.e. embargoes on North Korea etc).
8.Rework farm subsidies that are linked to specific commodities. Make it possible for farmers to switch to production of anything from corn to catfish to cows to clams without loosing their subsidies.
9.Remove all restrictions on the growing of hemp for use as fiber, bio-fuel or whatever else. Also, make medicinal use of marijuana legal but ONLY if the marijuana is grown commercially and processed by a drug company and prescribed by a doctor for a specific medical condition. (i.e. regulate it in the same way as the growth and use of opium for morphine is regulated)
10.Take money away from the military (since they aren't fighting in so many wars all the time, they dont need as much money) and give it to science organizations like NASA and the various particle physics groups. This includes funding such highly usefull but expensive experiments as the Centrifuge module for the international space station.
Also, remove all funding from tokamak fusion research and devote it to research into other forms of energy production (all the boffins I have seen articles from say that tokamaks are not the answer for nuclear fusion)
11.Invest money in any energy system (bio-fuel, solar power, wind power, water power, geothermal or whatever else) that can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. This includes any alternatives to the gasoline powered internal combustion engine. Encourage car makers to produce more fuel efficient cars and use subsidies to encourage consumers to buy these cars.
12.Increase regulation of the home lending market with new requirements mandating that mortgage lenders can only lend to people if those people can demonstrate the ability to pay back the loan. Further to this, provide assistance to those who are already stuck so that they dont loose their house.
13.Fund fiber to every home where it is practical to get fiber to. Fund something else (e.g. wireless, sattelite) to all those places where fiber cant efficiently reach (running fiber out to a homestead on a 6000 acre cattle ranch doesn't make sense). Allow any ISP to offer services (including voice, data
First I would enact an education bill that reorganizes the system and makes teachers immune to federal income tax. Second comes health, with profiteering insurers being held liable for what happens to those who cannot afford their rates. Third comes immigration; I would open the path to getting work visas and citizenship, but strengthen requirements for command of the English language and knowledge of U.S. laws and customs. Lastly I would change the presidency to a single five-year term, with the vice presidency becoming a separate electoral entity.
I would pick Ron Paul as my vice president, and resign.
Your post is the first one I've seen that appears to come from someone who didn't sleep through his government class.
You actually stated only things that are within the president's constitutional powers or that he can simply "advocate."
I don't agree with all of your points, such as a North American Union, but you at least know what you're talking about.
First I would cut funding to all of the time/money sink-holes like the Mars and Moon missions as well as Iraq. Then I would, of course, leave Iraq because it's obviously a waste of time and I'd have better things to do. Next I would throw a bunch of money into building green power and as a result, making the old dirty plants obsolete. Then I would throw some more money into the CO2 -> fuel technologies, and then build lots of those. As a result I will have removed most of the oil dependencies and the country would now be carbon-neutral. Next I pump a certain percentage of the fuel the country was producing and pump it down the empty oil wells. As a result I will have made the country carbon... negative? Next I would hire all of the brilliant minds and make them come up with solutions for all of the various problems with the country, and then I'd implement the best solutions. Finally at the end of my term I would donate all of the good states (nothern/blue) to Canada, creating the new province of "South Canada". As for the rest of the states, eh screw 'em. This is their punishment for voting Bush.
For ideas and demographic opinions why not look at blogs and places like slashdot for ideas? Wouldn't we be better off if government ran policy ideas or got policy on technology from slashdot? We'd not be wasting money on deadends like microsoft or selling government funded projects (cheaply often as a payoff) to private companies when anything government made should be open source.
Government run private wikis for academics and other groups to help develop policy would be a good idea. Could make a better wiki system for managing a group of contributors with differing views as well as providing some sort of forum tie-in for the public to comment.
Me as president?
* I'd go into a bunker and get work done until they figured out how to kill me because I'd dismantle the most powerful evil organizations; I don't need to travel.
* VP: Ron Paul
* Social Issues: Dennis Kucinich
* Bush Admin -> international war crimes court or treason (see Sibel Edmonds)
* Investigate! Government is guilty until proven otherwise!
* Restore VOTING!
I'd legalize marijuana, and retroactively free (literally) millions of non-violent "criminals" from the justice system.
/Canadian
I'd also push for the draft, so that all you people who supported invading iraq can help clean up the mess you've made. Using the savings from the prison system, and the marijuana tax, I'd send 300,000 more troops over to properly secure the situation.
Jeremy
Steal a prototype spaceship powered by the new improbability drive and take off for parts unknown. Oh wait, you said President of the United States ...
[Insert pithy quote here]
I would like to see some random drug testing on people recieving welfare. You have to take a drugtest for almost any job, why not when your on welfare
Doctors do Massage in Longview WA now, who knew?
Civil unions for any couple that wants one. I'd raise the cost of divorce though -- well, sort of. Instead of dividing the property between the ex-spouses, divide it up between the spouses and any underage children, though not necessarily evenly (let's face it, adult necessities have to be met or the children starve).
On the flip side of the coin, I'd get government out of the marriage business. Civil unions are a matter of contract, and government has every reason to uphold contracts. Marriage is for churches (temples, mosques, whatever) to handle, and it is whatever they say it is. Don't like what they have to say? Ordain yourself and have it your way. If you want to marry your Ford Mustang, go right ahead -- it has no legal standing.
Mal-2
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
It's not just that. Medical malpractice suits are getting to be a hobby in some states, people looking for the lawsuit lottery, jackpot justice. The insurance premiums are thus extremely high, and the costs are passed to the patients. In fact, they can get so high that some types of doctors are fleeing certain states because they can't afford something like $100K a year in malpractice insurance (plus the building, equipment and staff leaves little for the doctor at standard rates).Too bad your $50K guy is has a job that requires him to drive 40,000 miles a year. Let's see, at even 40 mpg that comes out to $1,000 extra in tax every year, on top of the current gas taxes. Since he has a wife and three kids to support he wasn't paying any federal income tax before, but now he's out $83 a month.
First, I'd put a bunch of third party and libertarians in the senate and congress so the 2 party system at least has a common enemy. A nice side effect would be that years down the road, the 2 party system would still be broken.
Second, I'd lower the required amount of potential votes needed to participate in national media political candidate debates (Nader should have been allowed to speak).
Finally, call a national press conference, including interrupting all national broadcasts. Then sit on the desk in the oval office smoke a joint, flip coins on if I was going to sign something or not, and kiss the VP. I figure it's best to be honest about what does on in the white house.
Fantasy time, is it?
1) Replace Congress with look-alike robots who do what I want without arguing. I need this to carry off the rest.
2) Repeal the DMCA, the Patriot Act, and whatever other looney post 9-11 laws were passed.
3) Rework copyright laws. I was thinking a straight 20 year term would be best, but I've heard of a better idea. Sliding scale. The first 10 years copyright costs $10/year. The second decade is $100/year, the third is $1000/year, and so forth. If Disney thinks the Mouse is worth $10 billion a year for years 101 to 110, why shouldn't the government take the cash?
4) Ban software patents. Software is covered under copyright.
5) End corporate personhood, as in corporations may not lobby, or enjoy any rights under the constitution. At the same time, increase Sarbox scrutiny. Make CEOs 100% liable for anything that occurs under their management. Make sure loot and run is no longer legally viable. Also overhaul the laws regulating the Board of Directors. And require the mutual and pension funds to take a more proactive role in management. Did you know most of them are self-prohibited in "interfering" with the business of the companies they hold stock in? No wonder the Boards and CEOs have been getting away with total theft.
6) Rewrite the Third Amendment to prohibit all unfunded mandates from the Federal Government.
7) Begin selling public lands in the West, excluding national parks and wilderness areas. When the Government owns 70 or 80 % of the land, and they will not sell, it really screws up the local economy. The money would be placed in a Swiss bank account, denominated in euros, and made untouchable for 20 years, at which time it can be withdrawn only for paying the Social Security Deficit.
8) Abolish the EPA's authority over State waters; let the States do it. Only the EPA can come up with a requirement to pour battery acid into city water before letting it discharge to an irrigation ditch because the "Local water quality is impaired as the pH is 9.1" All the local water is at 9.1 because that is the normal and natural PH of water here. It also has a silica level of 75 ppm. (Sorry, pet peeve.)
9) Open Season on spotted owls. Release barred owls, which are much less "sensitive", into that habitat.
10) Restart nuclear power. Also start fuel reprocessing. Continue with wind, solar and so forth, with the intent of getting baseline electrical loads off of coal in 20 years. Probably won't make it, but it's a worthy goal.
11) Declare Greenpeace a terrorist organization. Round them up and put them in work camp on the High Plains with only technology that they approve of. So, no metal, wood, animal labor, or quarried stone. Also no windmills, and no solar power other than what falls on their roofs, if they have roofs. See how long they last when forced to live the way they want the rest of us to live.
12) Continue the War on the Dollar. If, as I recently read, the Chinese are very near the theoretical minimum labor cost, then either they revalue their currency or stop trading with anyone but the US (which they can't since we have no oil) or they will end up with the civil war they narrowly averted at Tianamen Square.
13) Stop the War on Drugs. Fully legalize (and tax) anything less dangerous than PCP.
14) Back to corporations. End this Delaware Corporation crap. State-chartered corporations should only be allowed to operate in the state they are registered in, and in contiguous states. So if you want to operate in Washington and Minnesota, then you have to register as a Federal Corporation. This is what the commerce clause was supposed to accomplish.
15) Repeal that idiotic Supreme court decision (in '38?) that made everything everything subject to the commerce clause, even things you grew on your own property for your own use. FDR was more than a little powermad by then, but the Court should have stood up to him on this one.
That's enough for now. It's fun to think about.
I would do my level best to eliminate the legalized bribery system known as lobbying. Everything else is window dressing and would probably be taken care of once bribery was no longer allowed!
Of course, with the vested interest every politician has, this would probably be impossible. But, the way Bush is expanding the scope of so-called executive orders lately...
This is my favorite essay :). In my school days, every alternate exam of language, has a question:
"Write an essay on What will you do, if you were the Prime Minister."
If I was the President, I'd try to return the Executive branch back to its Constitutional roots. #2 involves funding, which originates in the House of Representatives, not the Executive Branch. A strict literal reading of the document limits to you to #1 only, I'm afraid.
Enjoy your term--you're going to have a lot of free time on your hands!
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Well I would fix the following things: http://www.serendipity.li/jsmill/us_corporation.htm http://www.teamlaw.org/control.htm http://www.commonlawvenue.com/Summaries/02-eliminate_taxes.htm http://whatreallyhappened.wikia.com/wiki/Tax_Protection http://whatreallyhappened.wikia.com/wiki/Church_Legal_Protections There's another one I found but I have since lost about how the "law of 1812" that the District of Columbia was founded as the Corporation UNITED STATES OF AMERICA as opposed to the organic entity "united states of America" in the original documents. That this was a corporation owned by the London banks that were lending the "us government" money. And as such, the government in any kind of constitutional means ceased to exist in 1812. It technically only has jurisdiction over Washington DC. When you are asked if you are a U.S. Citizen, after 1812, you are implying that you are a citizen of DC and thus under the rules of the corporation. I will find the source and include it later. Althought IANAL... but if this is true, then I'm glad I'm not, cause they're in on it. I would definitely get to the bottom of this though.
In Soviet Russia, Interns do You!
first of all. for all those wanting to end the war. Ok thats fine and dandy. However, realistically the damage is done. Pulling out quickly would be a disaster. Al Qaeda and the fundamentalists would roll in and tear Iraq apart. I'm sick of the politicians that are running on the basis of pulling out immediately. The first week in office, the new president is going to talk to all the international bigwigs and they are going to come out and say you can't just leave.
We have to get past how badly Bush messed up Iraq. The new President must gain perspective on the situation. I would work with congress and the military leadership. A consensus must be made. It must be collectively implemented. We as a nation need to collectively see this through. The end goal is for Iraq to be stable. The Iraqi security forces must be able to maintain peace by themselves. One idea I'd propose is a withdrawal of US forces from populated cities. We could sit on the outskirts and provide a support role. This would be a good compromise for those that want us completely out. It would also allow the Iraqi forces to scale their need of us as they see fit. Anyway, I could write a book on this.
Enough of that. Other big issues. Flat out, we need to become an energy independent country. The technology already exists to get the job done. US oil should be forced to perform much of the research too. (tax incentives to encourage them) If hydrogen is going to be an integral part of the future, then a date needs to be set for hydrogen at every gas station. Aside from transportation energy, the power grid needs to be overhauled. More solar and more wind. I would look into wave technology as well. I would want to pass an energy bill that requires a certain amount of clean energy by a reasonably aggressive year. I would overturn the latest administration blunder making states follow the national standard instead of allowing the states to do their own thing. I'm also curious about solar on the big buildings of major cities. All that roof top space that serves no purpose. would it be bad to put solar up there or would it create too much of a glare? Anyway, Oil companies free ride is over. No longer would they be allowed to raise their profits so grossly without passing it back to the consumer. Either directly via gas prices or indirectly via research into our future.
Next, the environment. So much needs to be done here. Much can be achieved from the energy issue. There is much more that can be done too. Builders need to stop being cheap when they build houses. New insulation standards need to be set. Houses should not be sold without the best air/heat option available that fits the size house. There are insulation techniques that can greatly improve the retention of cold/hot air as well. Recycling is another big deal. When I lived in Albuquerque, recycling was not easy to do. My first place here in dallas area was no good either. However, when I moved down the road in the same dallas suburb, my house came with a huge recycling container. (40 gallon bin) I now fill it very easily for every pick up. (every other week) A national standard should be set to make recycling as easy as possible. Perhaps implement a discount to folks that fill that can every pick up period. (while in the end, the customers should pay for recycling costs, something needs to be done to get people in the habit) Encourage increasing the pick up from every other week to every week. I would look into other easy to do things that are good for the environment and your monthly energy bills and make sure the people knew about everything already out there.
Education. The education system is horrible. It caters to only a certain style of learning. Teachers are grossly underpaid. In Texas, it was recently reported that the state lottery raised 10 billion dollars over the last 10 years for education. Why aren't teachers seeing this? Most of it goes to college scholarship programs. While thats good, better educatio
When I take over as President, I will :-
1. Invade countries for their oil,
2. Remove all your constitutional rights,
3. Make all my rich friends even richer,
4. Act like a moron, so all the other morons will vote for me.
5. Pander to the religious right so I can action point 1, 2, & 3 in the name of God.
6. And accuse anyone who is not with us...is against us.
But nobody would fall for that !
Signed
A. B'stard
Act first I take, would be State of Mexico and State of Canada created would be, like it not will they.
Act second I take, ban music from the past years 20 and shoot executives of Mass Media, plus $50 bounty for all and any Lawyers but only during season for hunting (Conservationists may insist on leaving a few to survive, numbers therefore must be determined for what constitutes a viable population of the vermin.).
Act third I take, Congressman required to work they would, in unheated poorly ventilated and freebies no, buildings. Punch one in the nose for citizens edification daily. Perhaps Sacrifice a Senator weekly on pay TV to budget solve we would.
Act fourth I take, World I tell, hike to take, them selves to bugger, US.. no more Goodies for Undesirables (Rest of World) we give.
Act fifth I take, Week for work, hours max 30, overtime Offense Capital will be. Salaries Executives for, 95% taxed if 10 times average Workers wages have they.
Matt's addition to Occam's Razor:"The most simple answer is preferred by those that are simple."
I know I'm too many pages down for this to get read, but I'm going to say it anyway. The first and only thing I can think of right now is get rid of this whole enemy combatant thing. Tell the directors of the CIA and any armed forces involved "You have 30 days to reclassify all the enemy combatants in Guantanamo Bay and wherever else they're being held. 30 days from now, they will ALL be either charged with a crime and given legal representation, classified prisoners of war and allowed visits by the Red Cross, or set free. Anybody who can not accept these terms has 7 days to give me their resignation. The timer starts now."
Probably sit around all the time and look at pr0n and let Dick Cheney run the country.
http://yetanotherpoliticalrant.blogspot.com
Annex Mexico. You guys need another star on the flag.
Revert all the spelling back to the Queen's English.
Adopt the Metric system.
Devalue the US$ by about 50%
Tell Conan O'Brien that he's better without his writers.
Dispose of the RIAA and MPAA.
Have a prosecutor on-hand at every Jerry Springer show. Some of the admissions made are criminal.
Rename all 'World Series' games to 'National Series'
Legalize Marijuana, euthanasia.
Remove the death penalty.
Nationalize Microsoft.
Free medical for those on Social Security.
Flat Federal Tax rate with no state taxes.
Remove export prohibitions based on greed.
Find Osama
Only prop planes for internal travel - no jets.
Limit fuel consumption to 10 litre per 100km cars immediately. (Approx 30 mpg US)
The President MUST HAVE a regular supply of interns selected by Hugh Hefner with culinary skills like peeling seedless grapes.
States to fix their own problems as I'm too busy being fed peeled, seedless grapes.
All other matters go to the Vice President.
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
If I were president, the first thing I would do is declare a sort of marshal law because there are major problems with the environment, and with current system of political BS in washington with lobbyist and the old boy network of politics nothing really get done...
By executive order, I'd term limit all elected officials that way there would be no entrenced political BS, for example
the president (1) six year term - that way he does not have to worry about re-election and can concentrate on the job at hand
a state senator would have (1) six year term - that way he does not have to worry about re-election and can concentrate on the job at hand
a state representative in the house would have (1) three year term - ditto
this would get rid of political lifers, and I'd try and lead by example.
To make sure the transition of power goes somewhat smooth, I would mandate all elected officials to serve a 1 year internship with the official they were going to replace, that way they have some kind of institutional insight what the job will require and learn what works and what does not work. Since there are two state senitors, I'd have there terms overlap (so a senator would be a jr the first three years, then a sr senator the last three)
During an elected officials internship, since I think there has not been enough scientific knowledge and too much legal BS in government, so I would require all elected officials to take basic math, physics, chemistry, biology and world history exams (say basic freshman college level exams), and post the score for the public to see that officials have some basic knowledge and understand (a side benefit would be since people are competive who knows they might even be driven to learn, and show how smart they are).
For my own personal term in office, I would be dedicaed to one topic, investing in the environment!
As it stands the global demand for basic resources like oil and water is far out pacing limited global suppies. For example in the southeast united states, the is just a little bit of a demend imbalance with water supplies, as it stands I give the atlanta region just about a year before the shit hits the fan, because water demand is pretty quickly depleating water supplies.
so far elected officials don't have the balls to take a stand or make a plan to deal with a worst case scenario, even FOX news has a report "No Backup Water Plan in Place for Drought-Stricken Atlanta"
Water is not a sexy subject and most people don't realize that 97 percent of all water is in the oceans. ONLY three percent of all Earth's water that is freshwater. The majority of the freshwater, about 69 percent, is locked up in glaciers and icecaps, mainly in Greenland and Antarctica. You might be surprised that of the remaining freshwater, almost all of it is below your feet, as ground water. No matter where on Earth you are standing, chances are that, at some depth, the ground below you is saturated with water. Of all the freshwater on Earth, only about 0.3 percent is contained in rivers and lakes.
To put this into perspective, if 100 liters represented all the water in the world, then only about a shot glass full would be all the fresh water available for our use!
There is a similar problem with oil, BTW did you know it takes about 98 tons of biological matter in 1 gal of oil. As it stands the IEA is reporting that at current depleation rates oil production, peak oil might have occured or will occur within a short time frame, best case estimate is 40 years from now, but I'm not buying that...
now that ya have an idea about the concerns I have as president, I will try and direct the economy and society toward solutions...
as everyone knows, there are lots of bible thu
Legalize female prostitution.
Work to abolish age-of-consent laws, or at least try to make them more reasonable.
Work to eliminate anti-pornography laws.
Work to restore Constitutional rights, especially those relating to the First, Second, and Fourth Amendments, as those have taken the most severe beatings.
The deficit is an insidious beast. It exists for the primary purpose of wealth transfer and is essentially one of the most elaborate and successful Ponzi schemes ever conceived--and, contrary to popular belief, most of the beneficiaries of this welfare program are wealthy Americans, not Chinese bureaucrats.
But as "benevolent dictator":
1. Voter licensing: Some sort of test on government/logic/whatever before you can vote (similar to a driver's test).
2. Jury licensing... some test to weed out lousy jurors.
3. Balanced budget required by law (and a fierce effort at reducing the national debt).
4. Close various overseas bases.
5. Encourage other countries to handle world hotspots (like sell arms to Isreal and help them take over arab countries).
6. Minefield on the southern border in addition to a fence.
7. School vouchers.
8. Free healthcare for anyone under 21.
9. Flat tax (in addition to lowering taxes).
10. Removal of tax haven status for religion.
11. Get rid of most government subsidies.
12. Get rid of social security and welfare.
13. Tax the hell out of gas and auto related crap and use it to build lots of mass transit.
14. Legalize prostitution.
15. English only... though I would prefer any phonetic world language (Esperanto, perhaps?).
16. Adopt metric by force.
17. Slowly convert traffic signage to something more European.
18. Go after scammers like Kevin Trudeau & Sylvia Brown, spammers, domain squatters, lobbyists, racists, thugs... and anyone else I don't like.
Institute Health Care for all
Institute College for every American regardless of finances.
End the War in Iraq.
Remove tax free status of religious institutions.
Repeal federal Drug bans and pardon non-violent offenders
Mandate vacation time ala France
Kill no child left behind and Reinstate Head Start
Seperate DHS in appropriate organizations
Make the title "____" Czar illegal
Change FCC to ensure it actually does it's job
Thats probably all I could hope to get done before I was silenced.
OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
1 - Fiscal responsibility. The interest paid annually on the national debt (~10 trillion dollars) is approaching the size of the entire military budget. This is a big waste of American's money. To achieve that goal:
2 - End senseless wars immediately, keep a strong military at home ready for some sensible wars, wars of self defense.
3 - End foreign aid to uncooperative nations.
4 - Establish a surplus tax revenue to pay off the national debt. In fact, let's keep the coffers in the positive numbers, and let the interest work for us.
5 - Push through an energy bill which taxes wasteful energy use. Use those funds to develop solar, wind, geothermal, etc.
6 - Enforce or change immigration law.
7 - Higher education. Make it more affordable to all Americans.
8 - End the war on drugs. Let the market demand decide. Tax it and let Darwin sort out the rest.
9 - If you're born here, to illegal immigrants, you're not a citizen.
10 - Ensure even handed foreign policy, treat all nations equitably, to ensure national security, and avoid terrorism.
11 - Respect all sovereign nations. Democracy is not mandatory. Except for the USA.
12 - Resume trade with communist Cuba, as we trade with communist China. It will be good for both nations.
13 - Reduce dependence on foreign oil through conservation. Promote fuel efficient vehicles.
14 - End waterboarding, close Guantanamo. America does not torture. We have standards.
15 - Turn in America's policeman of the world badge. The US president is elected by Americans, not the world.
16 - Health care, is there an answer? Or shall we leave it to Darwin? Free universal health care? Who are we as Americans, brothers and sisters, or competing cutthroats? Lets try the former and take care of one another. Free medical school, and you work for the government when you get out.
Obviously my administration would get nothing done, because I would be battled tooth and nail on every step.
"Let's talk for a moment about "fairness". A person doing hot tar roofing earns $9 an hour. Tiger Woods earns $171 a minute for playing golf. Stephen Spielberg earns $632 a minute. Paris Hilton is set for life for doing absolutely nothing of value. Is that a fair rewarding of labor?" ... Okay, I'll take the roof, please. Hold the rest of that shit.
It seems, every US president bond the who finance him. For Bush he do whatever Oil and Weapon cartels.
/. raises money for elections. You may have geekish president.
If the
For us ?
It was very different story...
[My english is better than most other people's Turkish, so please point out mistakes politely. Thank you.]
With Executive Orders you could do most anything for a time.
:-)
1) Repeal all drug laws, disband DEA, free all prisoners in on drug charges;
2) Remove all funds to "faith-based" initiatives;
3) Disband IRS and go temporarily to a flat tax, push for repeal of 16th amendment. End income withholding immediately;
4) Declare fixed bandwidth sales obsolete, null and void;
5) Get the government out of education, health care, housing, charity, etc as quickily as possible without major harm;
6) Get the government out of science;
7) Disband the DHS and salt the ground;
8) End the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the entire bogus "War on Terror";
9) Institute rigorous privacy requirements including financial privacy as the government no longer has de facto rights over all money and money equivalents you touch;
10) Rigorously enforce the Bill of Rights including hard prosecution of any and all government officials who in any way break it.
11) I don't believe in government subsidies but do what can be done to unblock the path to country-wide always available cheap high speed broadband;
12) Mandate IPV6 everywhere by a fixed date;
13) Return all lands outside government facilities held by the government to the free market;
14) Repeal all laws restricting the free market.
And anything else my geeky anarcho-captitalist little head comes up with until my last act:
Disband the office of President as we know it.
OK, you asked me to dream.
First act as President of the United States:
Announce my mustering of the entirety of the Marines, for beck and call.
Second:
Announce that the Marines would be kept at beck and call until the end of my term.
Third:
Urge the Congress to come up with their own plan for the stabilization and withdrawal from Iraq, with my guaranteed approval as long as two pre-requisites were met. One, that there are peacekeeping forces available, whether our own or UN (with provisions to help the UN should it be necessary); and second that a set rate of activity be bested before set withdrawal (when suicide bombings fall under x-amount per month, etc.; with aid from military advisors to set this number).
Fourth:
Given that governmental corruption has been so rampant within the past 8 years, any and all measures proposed by congress would be vetoed after the Iraq agreement until 3 requirements were met:
One: All Senators and Congressmen have to make their financial information regarding campaign finances and personal luxury spending public knowledge.
Two: All Corporate investments (The source of the funds must be made known, no matter how many lobbyists package it) are open to scrutiny by opposing parties, and must be made public in order to run for office.
Three: Absolutely every part of any executive branch member's financial history is up to scrutiny; following the same rules as the legislative branch's. This includes credit, property loans, ownership, who gifted or sold said property, everything. Public knowledge meaning that it must be disclosed in ballot brochures, everything.
If I am not impeached yet:
All political contributions are taxed both ways. (Following the same veto threat)
Abso-fucking-lutely no gifting to public officials. Either it's a campaign contribution (subject to above rules) or it's a sale. Both are public knowledge. Both would still be subject to federal and state laws (which are pretty good for preventing pay-offs, assuming people can legally find out about the "contributions")
With all that in mind, here's the caveat:
Public officials get paid in relation to economic and spending performance. Say the Gov pulls in 4 trillion a year, if the economy grows %5 relative to inflation, it gets split between everyone, on a progressive pay grade. If it goes negative, they take a pay cut. Basically, make it their best interest for the US GDP to grow as much as possible. Dictating that economic growth would be international banking associations, which I would push heavily onto the UN to sniff at VERY intently. Any shady dealings, and shit hits the fan as far as UN funding is concerned (We are their best investor, after all).
My end point is this: this country is, in the end, run like a company. We need to reward the employees for good service, not just give them the money for free like we are now. I would run for office in a heart beat, if I thought I would be properly rewarded for my efforts. I fully and whole-heartedly believe that if our public officials received bonuses for performing well and bringing up our economy and standard of life, we would have some of the brightest people in office that we could ever imagine. If we had the best running the country, this country would be the center of the planet, both educationally and industrially. The fact is, there's not enough money in it.
Let's run this place like a business. The better this economy is doing, the better our standard of living, the better our public officials should be getting paid. People often don't often understand that the best people in any field are going to come at a hefty price. I think that running this country on that basis would improve everything. If you can keep this country's economy on the upswing, and keep our quality of life increasing by enacting what needs to be enacted to get it done, you should be making a fuck-ton of money. You'd be worth it.
Let's try running this country in the spirit of capitalism for a change
Of all the Universal Constants, here's one I know: Nice guys finish last
Make the US a Norwegian county (fylke), and call it United States of Norway.
Switch to the metric system and ban all use of imperial units.
Scrap the US$, and use a real currency like the Norwegian krone.
Send all lawyers and politicians to a secret prison I'll build in Hell http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilde:Hell_norway_sign.jpg
Remove all troops from Iraq and invade Sweden. Just because. You'll understand when you've been norwegianised.
Raise taxes 670% to proper Norwegian levels.
Employ all the unemployed by making some fjords.
Make it illegal to NOT punch anyone in the face who utters 'communist' if you're talking about socialism. Hard. It pisses me off!
Nuke someone. Doesn't matter who. I just want to do it once. It's on my 'List of things to to before I die'.
Nice try asshole. You would be stopped by the time you opened your fly about Health Care for all
along lines of Britain.
I mean stopped literally *by a bullet* in your mouth and fly (each).
Now let's try it once more, shall we:
My Platform:
1. Stop all funding to UNCTAD, UNAID and other UN organisation which do not accept US hegemony
over them. After all if i buy enough stocks in a company i get a seat on board. If i pay enough
to UN, i get booted out??? What logic is this?
So no seat==No payments. Let see how long the UN survives.
2. Provide tax breaks to health care providers: They are struggling enough with lawsuits and such
from single moms and hispanics who sue the HMO for not paying them medical bills because their
stupid sons drove a bicycle on a highway. I mean if you are that stupid, then you don't deserve
to multiply your family anyway.
3. Continue the surge. After all its working as Gen Betrayus *er.. sorry* Petraus proved.
Institute draft. After all the Executive is working under war powers act from 9/11.
Make sure firstborns of congressmen, citibank executives, halliburton, etc are exempted for
*essential duty*
4. Make paying for colleges more expensive by recruiting ex-CEOs like Worldcom ex, who have
served time. After all they could provide useful information to budding CEOs on how NOT to get
caught, next time. Secondly by making it costlier we are weeding out the useless poor who just
suck up resources and draw down social security without contributing anything to society.
5. Extend diplomatic immunity from prosecution for parishes and churches. After all diplomatic
missions from stupid countries like Libya, Ghana get immunity for passing fake notes, traffic
tickets, and espionage etc. The catholic church is a mission from Vatican country, and as such is
each church is a diplomatic compound. Each priest is immune to prosecution from any crime they
commit under passion (after all they are priests and succumb to temptation).
6. Incarcerate ANY and ALL offenders for a minimum of 3 years irrespective of crime. For two
reasons: Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. Secondly, the corporates who construct and
manage prisons pay a lot of taxes. This reduces the defecit.
7. Make sure the FCC allows tax paying corporates to flourish.
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
The question was what would YOU do if you were president.
I would do two things. I would give my citizens back their civil liberties, and I would tone down the whole world police agenda.
Granted, there are a lot of things wrong with that country, but fixing those two things would probably go a long way towards a more peaceful planet, AND could possibly save the american economy, since fewer countries would hate america.
Move sig!
1) Legalize marajuana. Make it illegal to drive while stoned. Grow it, or buy it in the liquor stores. Available to everyone over 18.
2) Lower the drinking age to 18. Promote parental responsibility by teaching children how to handle alcohol BEFORE they turn 18 and go ape shit.
3) Forget the Cuba sanctions. Hasn't worked, and won't.
4) Get out of Iraq... cordon off the area with the oil wells - guard that.... Let the Iraqies sell it to us and whomever doesn't support terrorism... Fuck the rest of the country.
5) Stop sticking our nose in where it's not wanted. Help out with disasters and that kind of humanitarian stuff, but forget the rest of it - just because it doesn't stick with our values. Prime Directive anyone?
6) Back to basics with the civil rights - no more Patriot Act, or any of that bullshit. Yep, we need a good intelligence system, but not at the expense of the People. WE put the Government into power to protect us, they'll just have to do the best they can with what WE'VE given them. If they can't, and WE choose not to give them more power, then we have to live with what we've got.
7) Guns: Every able bodied citizen over 13 who wants one, and who isn't mentally retarded, or a violent felon gets one. They get 3000 rounds of serialized ammo too. They have to shoot off 1000 rounds every year and practice. Kids learn how to shoot when they're 10 years old.
You get to carry your gun out in the open, or concealed - wherever you want to carry it - w/o restrictions.
8) Abortion: If you don't like it - don't get one. If you don't like someone else getting one - then offer to pay ALL of their medical expenses, and contract to ADOPT the child(ren) after birth. No backouts by the mothers either - once you decide, that's it. No bullshit.
9) Rest of the "Drugs": Legalize it. Tax it. No driving while high. If you get addicted - and want to get off it - then we'll pay for that ONCE. After that, it's your fucken problem.
10) Speed limit: 55 isn't working. I don't know anyone except old fools with hats who fuck up traffic who obey it. 80 should be the limit. If you don't want to go 80 stay off the highway (yeah, except during the usual things like bad weather...). If you go slow and fuck up traffic, you lose your license for a month, then 2 months, then 6 months, then a year, then forever... escalate the penalties... Move it or lose it.
11) No driving on the highway after you turn 70. Figure out a different way to get there - your reflexes aren't fast enough for it (even at 55)...
12) Flat tax: 15%. No capital gains taxes - it was taxed once. Sales taxes capped at 5%. No special taxes on phone service or gas or whatever. Everything comes out of the 15%.
13) Amendments to bills proposed in either State/Federal house must be 100% related to the bill they're being attached to. No more burying shit in the military appropriations bills to get it passed...
14) Forget "Real ID" - enough of that bullshit. We don't want it, don't need it, and it's not going to do jack shit anyway.
15) Homeland Security - Hire some people with brains at the airports. No more taking off the shoes. Let us carry on whatever amount of liquid we want... 3oz is bullshit. Issue everyone a knife upon boarding - anyone pulls any shit gets cut by someone. Anyone cutting anyone who didn't deserve it (i.e., endangering the flight, etc) goes to jail for 10 years - no bullshit. Collect the knives upon disembarking.
16) Remove the "extra column" of seats in all planes. Make the aisles wide enough so that 2 people can pass side by side... This will make planes load quicker, and allow for proper use of the overhead baggage compartment. If the plane is late by more than 15 minutes and it's not directly due to weather, the airline pays each affected passenger $500. Lost luggage: $1000 per piece lost/crushed... Misdirected luggage: $1000 per piece misdirected.
17) Farm subsidies: Eliminate them for all but farme
I wouldn't do anything well except for having a team of people from my cabinet. There would be 2 for each area each with different political views on the issue and I would inform them that if they started to truly hate each other one will be fired. So in effect I am only make the decisions and they are giving the choices. I would also listen to the public and see if it would be able to be worked into any of the plans.
I wouldn't want to be a citizen of any nation that would elect me as its leader.
Property is theft.
A laptop for every nerd, RFID tag for every jock, vote Anonymous today!
Note: Promises may not actually be fulfilled and/or may involve no-bid contracts to Anonymous owned laptop manufacturers.
I would ...
Dissolve the union.
Disarm the nation.
Return the land to the original native inhabitants.
Return everyone not native or mixed race (with natives) to Europe.
Ask forgiveness to Africa, Asia, Polynesia, "South America/Latin America" and the other countries we've messed up and stole from.
Return their riches and compensate everyone for the nations mistakes.
Repent, repent and repent.
Call for a global summit to revamp the United Nations in order that it can be reformed and capable of gaining the trust of the world as it distributes necessary global policing work:
1) Enable General Assembly decisions to be binding on nation-states (with certain limits to avoid over-centralization).
2) Add a Peoples' Congress to the General Assembly to make the voting a bit more proportional to population (if you think people in countries like India are satisfied to trust the votes of the G.A. when they have 100,000 times less per capita voting power than the island-state of Tuvalu than I'll sell you bottled water...)
3) Ensure that there are minimum standards for human rights in order for a country to even belong to the U.N. Its ridiculous to allow an unelected dictator (and no doubt an oppressive one at that) to get the vote of a whole nation.
4) Abolish Security Council permanent membership (despite our having a veto, it doesn't do the U.N. which we need any good for credibility). The Articles of Confederation didn't work for us, so it's no wonder they haven't worked well for the world.
5) Allow the International Court to arbitrate regardless of whether both nations agreed to submit their case to it. It'd be pretty silly for our own Supreme Court not to be able to vote unless both parties wanted to bring their case to it. Duh!
and...
agree on a global compact that ensures that:
1) Disarmament is universal and internationally monitored (asking others to disarm is not only ridiculous when you haven't done so, but it doesn't encourage others to support your efforts to disarm others)
2) Borders are fixed by international consensus and violators of a border (or who violate the disarmament agreement) will find their government completely destroyed by the whole international community. Preemptive strikes are quite legitimate and potentially effective when undertaken by an elected higher authority (like a police force raiding a place stockpiling dangerous weapons)--as opposed to depending on nation-state vigilantism.
and
Agree on a universal auxiliary language--make English a universal second (or third) language around the world (if countries like English as much as we think they do, that should be no problem, if they're allowed to vote on it), and if not, have a vote to consider a constructed or some other language (it's better than the current situation of citizenry and immigrants being expected to have the impossible task of learning a multiplicity of languages they weren't taught as children).
and, while this one is probably the biggest long shot,
Introduce a national referendum to consider abolishing political parties, campaigning, etc. (while keeping universal suffrage, secret ballot, etc.) Just as local governments don't need parties and the circus of campaigns or electioneering to function, neither does a national one. There'd be a whole lot more scientists elected if the system didn't depend on requiring a person to engage in that whole circus.
...a post that proposes to demolish everything organized society stands for would be modded '4, interesting'...
Let's get the important things sorted:
1) Anyone who uses a mathematical or geometric term in a marketing campaign needs to get it right, or suffer public flogging. Example: Pyramid tea bags, grrr... they are tetrahedral!
2) Mandatory jail sentences for people who don't use vehicle indicators to let other folks know what they are about to do.
3) Women who wear tights will be banned. Stockings only. With lacy tops on them. And seams!
1 Gather intelligent people with many viewpoints to debate important topics to help me steer the country.
2 Demand open borders, and an offer citizenship to any person anywhere who wants to become a citizen.
3 Push for a more modern penal system that promotes rehabilitation rather than punishment.
4 Guarantee transparency in all other decision making process by making all meetings with advisors public.
No other specific items that I can think of right now, but overall a platform that promotes competition, advancement, and long term thinking so that we can move one step closer to a legal and technological utopia.
-John Fenley
Firstly, no one mentions the tone or spirit of the nation. Perceiving that we are now in a new millennium, and recognizing that Congress works in a museum and the President lives in one, as President I'd push new budgets that attempt to reign in the busy-tech spending of the scientific-industrial-complex (aka a trip to Mars) and spend money on updating the architecture of government to more accurately represent our current position as the most powerful democracy that has ever existed. Respect for our own accomplishments is justified and necessary if we are to have the forward looking thinking necessary to solve today's problems.
We are so superior to the Greeks or Romans that I don't know why we still sit in their buildings. That means you Supreme Court. Come down to the people again. You are not British Lords either. Get off that high bench.
Start building monuments to hope and the spirit of democracy and the people again. We seem to only build monuments and memorials to death and destruction now.
As President, I'd try to bring the American people back to an understanding that we must all die sometime, that we are mortal, and that grubbing for the last minute of life at huge, even unlimited medical expense is not right because it will destroy the financial life of the nation, of generations to come. The 77 million or so baby boomers especially must be made to understand that a lifetime of work and sacrifice must be capped by this last sacrifice for the nation. We can never afford all the retirement and medical care we think we are owed. Politicians must stop promising it.
As President, I'd point out strongly that we cannot allow ourselves to accept the calls to perfect protection from terrorism or criminality. No right, no freedom, no individuality can stand before the need for perfect security. We must understand that the price of freedom is not paid just on the battlefields of our nation's wars, but in our daily lives. Some of us will die for it. Some will be injured. That is the way it has to be. A courageous President would say so. He would not push for every right-destroying law or regulation that comes to mind in panic for a few lives. Save a few lives now, strip billions to come of rights and freedoms. It is not good stewardship.
We need a World Military Council so that the major powers can sit together as military people in order to expose themselves to each other's thinking and thus perhaps head off the next, and perhaps final, war. Isolation of military leaders may be fatal. A kind of Military United Nations.
As President I'd push strongly for the incorporation of technology into our political system. It is a great shame on us that we have not advanced our democratic thinking using technology. I think our political ancestors would be ashamed of us. Advance or stagnate. The last word on the philosophy of democracy was not uttered 200 years ago. The people are not a mob. Nothing we've done has shown that we are.
During the current political struggle for the position of President of the United States we hear each candidate trying to make themselves appear an agent for change. I hear nothing new.
SqreaterE Proelio Veritas.
Direct the Federal Reserve to peg the price of gold, instead of interest rates. If the price of gold goes up, reduce the money supply. If it goes down, increase the money supply.
That would encourage people to save again since inflation would be near zero.
It would prevent politicians from spending money that we do not have.
It would also prevent endless bubbles in real esate, stocks, and commodities.
Let me approach my stances in a different manner.
Economic/Immigration Reform:
There are some serious issues with our economic systems, we have people performing jobs that they are being over-paid for, we have individuals who are unemployable. To complicate the problem is the existence of illegal immigrants who are staying past their Visa expiration date and showing no signs of attempting to integrate into American society. To solve this I would propose a multilateral approach to fix our economy. Mind you any one of these solutions implemented separated is not going to help the problem.
1. Push for the eradication of the minimum wage. As it stands we have individuals who are unemployable at the current minimum wage. High school drop outs are the hardest hit by minimum wage as there is a limit on the number of service and manufacturing jobs that they can fill. Especially considering that less than 10% of legal Americans earning minimum are the sole provider for their family, this makes this a great approach.
2. Push an agenda to reform welfare based on the eradication of the minimum wage. Now that individuals are able to earn an income rather than no income the pressure on the Federal government for tax money to fund welfare programs would be lessened.
3. The lowering of minimum wage reduces the incentive for illegal immigrants to stay in our country, or even cross over. If they aren't going to earn much more than they would in Mexico, they aren't going to cross over.
4. Step-up enforcement of national borders. It isn't fair to those who follow our immigration system to have illegals constantly crossing into our nation. Additionally, the border enforcement will help to catch potential terrorists coming into the country.
5. Step-up enforcement of the deportation of illegals. Committing any crime (except that of being an illegal immigration) should be grounds for immediate deportation back to your home country with no chance of becoming a citizen here. Being caught as an illegal immigrant will require deportation in 1 month to allow you the chance to set whatever you need to straight to leave our country with the opportunity to later come back and apply for regular citizenship.
6. Relax all the red-tape for certifying nuclear power plants. Considering we can convert coal into jet fuel it makes perfect sense to refocus our base-load energy supply from coal to nuclear. Less dependence on oil for jet fuel means less dependence on oil.
7. Consequently provide incentives for oil companies to research low-environmental impact exploration and production drilling techniques. If they can demonstrate that they can do this, then open up the Alaskan oil fields to them. Between 6, 7 and the fact that Canada (who likes us still, I think), our dependency on middle eastern oil would take a huge dent.
8. Provide incentives for companies to research fusion reactors.
9. Start an initiative to reform our legal system. Our nation is one that is quick to litigate over minor stupid things.
10. Find some way to punish restaurants that put a mandatory gratuity on the check. Screw you, I'm not going to pay 20% tip just because you say I should. I'm going to pay a 20% tip because the service was good. A server who fails to keep a drink full, or pretty much ignores a table doesn't deserve a 20% tip.
11. Push Yucca Mountain. Having a secure nuclear waste depository will make certifying and building nuclear power plants less of a hassle.
Terrorism and all things Foreign:
Terrorism is a problem, whether you want to accept it or not. Islamo-facists, Islamic Extremists, or whatever you want to call them do want to see America destroyed. This is due to the personal liberties we afford people, not based on whatever foreign interaction we may have had. Consequently, another multi-lateral approach would help with this.
1. Push for legislation granting immunity to anyone reporting suspicious behavior. The flying Imam incident is a prime example of why people
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
My top 10 list is more of issues to be addressed rather than specific actions to be taken: 1. Global warming and the environment. There are billions of dollars worth of real estate that are going to be underwater on the US coastline in about 50 years. The official estimates still say around 100 years, but every time I turn around, the current state of global warming is that it's happening faster than we expected. We have to stop burning fossil fuels ASAP, and possibly begin funding dikes around metropolitan areas. Mass transit also needs to be a component, once we convince people outside the northeast and Chicago that it isn't a lower-class phenomenon. 2. The poisonous atmosphere in Washington and in the political media. Not much a president can do about this other than lead by example. 3. Iraq - Needs a cold, hard, non-partisan look coupled with a dose of "if you break it, you buy it". I can't endorse the blind following of reprehensible Bush administration policies, nor can I endorse withdrawing from Iraq without restoring some level of order there. If we're lucky, the violence will settle down now that the initial blood-bath is over. But the Middle East is not a region known for letting go of old grudges. 4. The Federal budget - End the exclusion of military spending from the deficit calculations. We NEED some new taxes (or some old ones like the estate tax restored) to pay this off. I'd rather be "tax and spend" rather than "spend and go bankrupt". 5. The "war on terror" - start the process of reconciling ourselves with the international community. The neo-Con philosophy that the US can do whatever the hell it wants is completely discredited now. 6. Insurance of various types - "Insurance" has traditionally been a form of protection against statistically rare events. Health coverage doesn't really qualify as insurance now that so much of it is preventative or long-term. Natural disasters of all types should be covered in a national pool. Every region of the country has one or more types of natural disaster that is more prevalent in that area than in other parts of the country. Pooling the risks for hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, mudslides and earthquakes, sinkholes, floods and other "acts of god" on a national basis in a single program makes sense. 7. Immigration - apart from the question of how to handle the illegals, we need to boost legal immigration for two big reasons: 1) to better balance our labor costs with the global market (although no politician can say that) and avoid cross-border job losses, and 2) to get "all those damn furriners takin' our jobs" to at least be paying U.S. taxes, rather than Indian or Chinese taxes. 8. Social Security and Medicare - We need more workers (another reason to increase immigration), we need to remove the taxation cap, and we need to pay a little bit less out in retirement benefits. We need to roll Medicare into a more universal coverage system where the premiums for the healthier, younger folks help offset the costs for the elderly. 9. Corporate and Securities Law - There are several issues underlying the weirdness in the economy over the past decade. The disconnect between ownership and management of corporations has become too great. In the financial industry is it time to decouple the insurers from the brokerages and both of those from the banks again? The concentration of power in this industry is at least as dangerous to a free society as the concentration of power in the media. These guys have proven (yet again) that they can't control their greed, and it's too easy for them to bring the whole economy down. And yes, we need some new usury laws. 10. Legalize it: curtail the war on drugs to only target those drugs that cause near-term physical harm. Stuff that literally kills you or renders you incapacitated in a year or three. Stuff that's physically addictive on the order of heroin or morphine would probably qualify as illegal, but not marijuana and possibly some forms of cocaine, hallucinogens like LSD and others.
We are the 198 proof..
You could stop illegal immigration. Everybody in the places where it happens know the where the crossing points are, the way it works (I am tired of seeing documentaries following immigrants crossing the border) and the places where the immigrants get employment (look! meat processing factory, 90% are Hispanic, should we check?)
But when President Fox of Mexico offered to have a free movement agreement between citizens of the US and Mexico, then US legislators stall any possibility of progress.
The question is: why? Cheap, free immigration (as in no need to ask permission to relocate) has worked wonders for the countries in the EU where the host country (places like the UK, Germany and France) got workers badly needed in many areas (the skills of polish plumbers are now legendary all around the EU) while poor countries benefited in many ways: young people found a way to a better way of life, the local economy was invigorated by money sent from abroad.
Contrary to what the scaremongers predicted (a flood of immigration from countries like Spain, Portugal and Greece) what happened is that the poor countries became more prosperous (with the help of infrastructure projects financed by the EU) and guess what, we don't have millions of Spanish or Portuguese in the UK, as a matter of fact many go back home (Ireland being the most salient example).
But politicians in the US, supported in great measure by an ignorant, fearful electorate, prefer to legislate exploitation instead of cooperation: cheap labour with no rights that can be kicked out at the drop of a hat. The inhumane deportations of parents that have to leave behind their families after many years of enforced illegality is something that should hurt any decent person.
Most people in the US talk all this nonsense about letting capitalism work its wonders, unless of course you are in a competitive disadvantage, in which case it is OK to exploit people and put walls and fences half heartedly that remind you more of oppressive East European regimes rather than a country blabbing all around the world about freedom.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I'll tell you what I'd do! Two girls at one time, thats what I'd do!
The same thing we do every night, Pinky.
War isn't about who's right. It's about who's left.
At the very least Mexicans yes, we should, for one reason: economics is telling you that doing otherwise is complete nonsense.
As a matter of fact people wanting to keep the US more Anglo Saxon than Hispanic should ponder this: most Mexicans would never change their nationality if we could come and go as we pleased. Mexicans opting to obtain a US passport do so for pragmatic reasons, not because they really want to.
If you believe in human freedom there is no possible argument about curtailing freedom of movement. Soviets did it, communists still do it, fascists did it, why should democracies do it? That does not mean you would lose control of your borders, you could still have enough controls in place to know where people are if you need to know such thing as a country.
That the US is so reluctant to lead the way in this matter is incomprehensible. You have mores space than the EU, you are built from pretty much uncontrolled immigration in the 18th and 19th centuries but still the place leading the way is the EU where bar stubborn countries like the UK, you have pretty much freedom to live whereever you think life is going to be better for you (from Polish plumbers relocating to Germany and the UK to UK pensioners moving to Spain and Greece).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
You have a group of people that do work that otherwise would be not done, that claim no social benefits of any kind and pay taxes without ever getting anything in return and spend big chunks of their earnings in the local economy. What a bloody damage you have got there.
Many agricultural businesses would be out of business if it wasn't for illegal immigration.
Many people argue that they drive salaries down, but that is a self inflicted wound: the moment they were legal they would have to be paid the same as any other worker, and in that moment competence and skill would become the important factors to get a job.
US people are simply scared shitless of competition, even when in reality most of them would never ever have to compete for a job with a lowly educated, unskilled Mexican person.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Yeah, all those tomato pickers, toilet cleaners and burger flippers hailing from Mexico are a threat to the US's national security.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
By their respective employers.
Paranoid politicians (of which a few are later found to use illegal immigrants themselves) have made their business to stop such healthy economic (and dare I say cultural) exchange.
The people in the US are clearly saying they need far more immigrants than what the government is prepared to let in (otherwise they would not be risking breaking the law themselves), but as we all know the US Federal Government is bought by interests not by democratic needs.
Your country could perfectly afford mass immigration. It is fundamentally empty in many places, all opposition is borne from racism pure and simple.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Thank you, I needed that
Well, I'm not female, so that let's me out of being the NEXT president, but assuming I make it eventually:
1. Pull our troops back to the oil fields, send in the tankers, and start pumping it into our ships until there isn't anything left. Once that is done, we leave and let them eat sand.
br> 2. If we are ever attacked again, pick any mideast country at random and nuke it. Once no lifeforms remain, send in the troops and see #1. Repeat as needed.
3. Put teeth in laws protecting freedom of religion by making it a Federal offense to attempt to impose your religious beliefs on another citizen in any way whatsoever. This protects minority believers from the tyranny of the religous establishment. Intelligent Design? Illegal to espouse. Religious ads? Illegal to espouse. Worshipping in church? No problem.
4. Reaffirm the President as Commander in Chief. However, sending our troops anywhere outside the US is an automatic declaration of war and automatically activates the draft - and ALL able-bodied citizens must register and are eligible, including females.
5. Want to vote? Perform some type of Federal Service, including military, peace corps or equivalent. Yes, this is EXACTLY what Heinlein suggested in Starship Troopers.
6. Find a way to nationalize health care. Suggestion: guarantee a job for life for anyone that becomes a physician with a decent salary and the government pays for your entire education.
7. Introduce legislation that makes any substance people care to snort, smoke, inject, or swallow legal to possess and consume with appropriate taxes based on the impact to society, and appropriate FDA warnings on the bad stuff.
8. Heavily fund research into small-scale nuclear reactor development and begin a program of aggressive expansion.
9. Set immigration quotas for countries based on the amount of US goods they purchase. Regardless of quotas, anyone at all may obtain the right to immigrate by purchasing a legal, off-quota visa at a fixed price, which is adjusted monthly based on demand.
10. Celebrate one of our chief assets - our incredible inventiveness. Hold an annual inventor's fair where individuals or teams present their ideas or actual working stuff. The winners not only get a cash prize, but also get free government assistance to promote and develop the invention.
0) Make sure the Bill of Rights is respected (also applies to the ideas below).
/.)
0.5) Re-define 'Patriotism' to mean caring about your country not just 2 but 20 and 200 years into the future.
1) Overhaul the educational system by
a) Increasing K-12 teacher salaries to 90-200K range, then recruiting teachers from top research schools/industries
b) Encourage competition among teachers by firing all those who do not pass regularly administered tests in their area or whose students perform below the 60th percentile (compared to their school district or immediate area)
c) Making it patriotic to care about education
d) Increase funding for science fairs, math contests, etc.
e) Implement meaningful school choice (without funding religious education with state money)
2) Create several (preferarbly secret and independent) Manhattan-project style programs to solve the gravest problems we face. If appropriate, give huge tax breaks to corporations who succeed in these areas instead.
a) Clean power generation (algal biomass, wind, fusion, solar, etc.)
b) Environmental pollution (including greenhouse gases, carcinogenic chemicals, etc)
c) Transportation (including more efficient cars, more efficient civilian air transport, personal air vehicles)
d) Geriatric care
e) Cancer/AIDS/Alzheimers/etc.
3) Renew USA's commitment to the space program. Give NASA renewed direction (colonize the moon and beyond in 10 years), 10x the funding (still small compared to some other things), and get rid of 90% of the projects/bureaucrats who do not add anything to do space program (new document management systems, IT frameworks, etc.)
4) Give our enemies no reason to hate us (i.e., pull out of unwise engagements, enter into wiser engagements when required, etc.).
a) Increase the scope and activities of the Peace Corps
b) Increase closely-monitored foreign aid to unstable nations that need it. Use it as leverage to push democratic ideals.
5) Fight the war on drugs for real while balancing civil liberties
a) Leave "responsible" adult users alone so long as they do not propagate the problem.
b) Make it a capital offense provide drugs to a minor, and prosecute accordingly (i.e., get the dealers off the streets for good. Perhaps offer amnesty for enrolling in the military, etc.).
c) Cut off supply lines by securing borders
d) Provide treatment to anyone who needs it.
6) Investigate and prosecute frivilous government spending. Consistenly and veto any legislation containing "pork" no matter which party it comes from
7) Create a healthcare security net that complements the current system. Get the smartest advisors I can find to tackle this problem
8) Balance the budget. (Increase taxes on super-rich individuals, temper military spending, cut pork)
9) Repeal the DMCA (obligatory for
Even though this'll never be read except by the most bored of /.ers being 4 pages deep, here goes (in no particular order)
- Tax churches
- End subsidies to oil industry
- Cut off support to Israel (Jewish terrorists are better than Islamic how?)
- Get rid of PATRIOT Act, DMCA, any other bullshit designed to curtail freedom or give handouts to corporations
- Outlaw lobbyists
- Restore line-item veto
- Push Congressional term limits
- Fire every previous appointee
- Discontinue tax cuts to wealthy, close tax code loopholes that only the top 1% can get away with
- Redistribute "old" money (you can't take it with you, and your useless bastard kids don't deserve it)
- Restore government accountability and credibility (vague, I know, but it needs to happen)
- Use money wasted in war on drugs to expand treatment and rehab, decriminalize illegal drugs, pardon all nonviolent drug convictions
- Cut military spending by 20% and dump it into education, research, NASA, NSF, etc.
That's probably enough to get voted out after 1 term.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall, re Voltaire
Test the constitional theory that it is possible for a sitting president to grant HIMSELF a presidential pardon.
And if it works, abuse the hell out of the office.
Kyoto wasn't an environmental treaty. It was a wealth distribution scheme. This concept was also at the core of the recent Bali meeting. A quote from there:
"A response to climate change must have at its heart a redistribution of wealth and resources."
To be truly about the environment, any treaty must have at its heart the environment and be devoid of other causes and ideologies.
1) I would help send forth the powers of capitalism with more tax cuts.
It seems every time our taxes are cut within a year the economy gets stronger. This strength remains with the economy for years. There also gets to be fewer and fewer among the unemployed, and the wages of the working class person go up. As a side effect this also lets companies put more into research and development and produce better products and sell them for less money.
2) I would stop payments of federal monies to any educational institution who refused to have our military come and recruit.
The money given is a privilege not a right. The military organizations are responsible for the defence of this country, and throughout our history have done a great job. Without them we would not enjoy the freedoms that we take for granted. To openly deny them the chance to talk to potential volunteers only hurts our country further.
3) I would withdraw any monies that we freely give to any country who's leaders openly hate us.
We are part of the most generous nation and have done more good for others than any in the history of the planet. No nation has ever given away so much to so many other nations that open hate us. This funding should be cut off until suck time that the countries we freely give our money at least hide their hate.
3a) I would withdraw from the United Nations.
This organization has accomplished nothing that is worthwhile in recent times. Since the US won the cold war, and even before that it has done little to no good. Virtually all off the members hate us and actively try to drag us down and limit us.
4) I would invest in education, but not just with money.
Throwing money at the education problem has yet to fix it or even make it better. I would have standards that are required to be maintained. Students of a certain grade level will be expected to know such and such material, and if enough in a class don't the teacher would be held responsible. This is of utmost importance as every citizen of this country should have an equal opportunity at whatever it is they want to do.
5) I would shut down the border to stop the flow of people breaking our laws by entering our country without going through the proper channels.
5a) I would also withhold any federal money to any state or city that openly violates federal law and allows illegal immigrants to stay there.
5b) I would institute stiff federal fines for any company that hires any illegal immigrant.
5c) I would seek an amendment to the constitution that would make the children of illegal immigrants not US citizens.
I am not against immigration, I am against illegal immigration. I am also not a racist (although from the stand that I have taken on this issue many of you will automatically think I am no matter what I say). There have been many problems in regard to these issues, and some say that these people are a necessity in todays world. If it is such a necessity (which I personally don't believe) then come up with a program where we can issue greencards, and do background checks on the people coming in.
6) I would continue taking the war on terror to the enemy.
Terrorism is the biggest external threat to our nation today. I would actively oppose it with the use of intelligence, economic pressure, international pressure via our allies, and even military force if need be. I would maintain a military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan until they can handle their own defence. To leave these two theaters of war before they can defend themselves would be asking for terrorist regimes to attack them and attempt to take control again. The people in both countries are better off now than they were before, and we need to fight to let them be better of under their own governments.
7) I would actively fight to remedy and prevent obvious failures.
7a) Universal Health Care.
This has been tried by many other
--- When you start with the conclusion that you want, then throw out any facts that don't agree, is it true?
Saddam Hussein was smacked down when he attacked his neighbors (well, not quite, Mr Rumsfeld and Co. were quite pleased when he attacked Iran).
He was contained to his borders and was harming nobody but his people (this was regrettable, but was at least contained and by no means the widespread bloodbath we are witnessing. In any case if his actions would have been disgraceful enough internal opposition could have been supported, such people would have enjoyed a degree of legitimacy that the current Iraq leaders just can't ever dream to have, instead the incipient opposition was abandoned and easily crushed by the dictator).
The UN charter is pretty clear about this, and the US (and UK) are signatories, but they chose to ignore it whenever it suits them, no wonder they have made so many real and gratuitous enemies....
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Man, You're brain has been thoroughly washed. Please change the radio station and listen to some music. And believe me when I tell you this: Rush Limbaugh, Bill O, Michael Savage, etc. are idiots.
Fascism. Yep.
Communism. Yep.
Final solution. Yep.
Ethnic cleansing (lets be fair, it was only perfected ). Yep.
WMDs. Yep. Brownie points for using them on civilians first.
Colonialism. Yep.
Apartheid. Yep.
No question about it, Western Civilization is such a wonderful thing.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Balance the budget to help our economy and currency by: -getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan -radically reducing military spending -cutting unnecessary aid to Israel, who just uses the money to subvert the Palestinian population and bully it's neighbors -Eliminating ridiculous corporate tax loopholes -raise taxes on the wealthiest Improve environmental regulation and create better incentives for green energy/transportation.
How do you figure? There's no way nationalized health care is Interstate Commerce. That clause has been abused so badly the only way forward is to repeal it, followed by all the laws that were foisted upon the public using it.
Health care should Definitely not be a national issue, but a state issue. I'm not even sure it should be funded by taxes. Do you really want to get stuck in the position of having really awful health care and not having the money or power to fix the problem?
National health care takes power away from the people. It removes their ability to choose who cares for them.
They ARE out to get you simply because They are in it for themselves and they don't care about you.
Hey, how's that Objective C and Haskell code going?
-Don
Take a look and feel free: http://www.PieMenu.com
After thunderous applause upon my entry, I'd tell Congress to go fuck themselves. Then I'd quickly say the state of the union stinks to fulfill my constitutional obligations and walk out (quickly).
Just remember that if you go with Ron Paul you will also be overturning Roe v Wade and getting rid of the separation of church and state. Add to that the elimination of the Federal Education Board and the south is looking pretty grim.
1. Repeal laws that deal with people's private lives if it doesn't affect anybody else. You can't legislate all morality. Note that this would not affect laws where a person's actions negatively affect those around them.
2. Invest more money in the NSF and DOE emphasizing alternative energy sources and better energy efficiency.
3. Repeal the ethanol corn subsidy and tax it like any other fuel. Encourage better solutions.
4. Encourage more nuclear power. Repeal Carter's executive order banning breeder reactors and fund research and development for them to deal with wastes and provide a long term fuel source.
5. Invest in education to make college more affordable. It's a great investment that pays for itself in the long term.
6. Re-adjust taxes to lower the burden the middle class pays and increase it on the top 5% and especially the top 1%.
7. Increase funding for middle and high schools, especially in subjects like science and math. Use the money to train more teachers in these subjects.
8. Clean up the corporations are people. Make them more responsible for their actions.
9. Clean up copyright law. Cut it back to the original 20 years but allow it to be renewed by paying a fee. The longer it is renewed, the higher the fee.
10. Clean up patent law so obvious patents can no longer be filed and help overturn previous ones.
11. Offer an alternative government not-for-profit government insurance program with rates adjusted based on income. Mandate that everyone must have insurance unless they specifically opt-out.
12. Make it easier for students to get college loans especially if they apply for fields in science and medicine.
13. Clean up immigration. Bring back the old guest worker program where immigrants can come in to pick crops and return home to their native countries after the season. When this was dropped they brought their entire families in and stayed.
14. Make it easier for foreign students to come in to the country to get an education in science and technology.
15. Repeal the every child left behind act.
16. Bring back trade schools.
17. Ease censorship laws on TV across the board.
18. Drop politically popular programs if there is no scientific basis that they work (i.e. abstinence only sex-ed).
19. Start withdrawing from Iraq and re-deploy in Afghanistan.
20. Move support away from outside corporations for the military and do more internally to save money.
21. Increase funding for NASA for research missions and for new technology.
22. Improve transportation and encourage high speed rail.
23. Replace the DHS and a lot of the stupid rules (i.e. TSA). Base policies on scientific research and not feel-good political policies.
24. Appoint qualified experienced people to be in charge of all departments over political friends.
25. No more signing statements. The executive branch is subject to the same laws as everyone else.
26. Make government more open. No more secret meetings on key issues with industry lobbyist.
27. Promote government use of open standards and OSS. Encourage development of OSS software to meet government needs to save taxpayer money.
28. Promote network neutrality.
29. Clean up the FCC to make it more friendly to the public and encourage open use of the spectrum.
30. Increase taxes on corporations who move their headquarters off-shore.
31. Tax outsourced jobs.
32. Use the money from the above taxes to promote training of US citizens for the positions most needed.
33. Work to make the budget balanced. Veto laws that have pork in them.
34. Veto laws that do not make much sense.
35. Repeal the DMCA.
36. Promote fair use.
37. Reduce the war on drugs. Legalize marijuana and other drugs known to not be very harmful or addictive. Tax as needed. Allow hemp to be grown.
38. Promote use of solar, wind and other technologies through tax cuts and subsidies. Tax carbon to help pay for it.
39. Encourage research into new battery technology and infrastructure for electric vehicles.
40. Work to be co
This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
From my views:
# A constitutional amendment to guarantee government transparency. This should include forcing the government to announce suspension of any civil liberties during war time. (more on this below) Violation of this amendment would be a high crime. Acknowledging that some information may be highly classified, a 12 member bipartison committee would be formed by the Congress and given top clearances. This committee would advise Congress on classified matters.
# A constitutional amendment more clearly defining the roles of the members of the executive branch. No more of this crap about the VP claiming to be a member of Congress to avoid executive branch investigations.
# A constitutional amendment requiring that the president provide full access to intelligence and an exit strategy to Congress as part of the request to go to war. This exit strategy can be delayed twice, for 2 weeks each time, but must include plans for control of infrastructure, preservation of services, restoration of order, supplies to population, restoration of government, commencement of diplomatic relations, retraction of military presence, all with milestones and acceptable timeframes. This same amendment should require that Congress draft rules for how to handle the case for war, eg. requiring corroborating evidence from outside intelligence bodies, expedited investigations into budget and preparation concerns, failure of authorization if critical data is found to be fraudulent, etc. Requests for war authorization would cause all other legislation to be put on hold, and Congress would have 30 days to consider the case. This would not prevent the president from
# By constitutional amendment, the president would have to request the authority to suspend the people's civil liberties, even in times of war. The president would have to specifically state how those liberties would be trespassed, and for how long. He could not deviate from that plan. Violation of this amendment would be a high crime.
# The president's power to dissolve Congress shall be moved, by constitutional amendment, to the Supreme Court, and would require a 2/3rds vote of that body, followed by the signature of the president.
# By constitutional amendment, executive orders will require immediate review by the Supreme Court before being put into force. If the EO deals with classified information, the Congressional committee that deals with classified information will review the EO and advise the Supreme Court.
# By constitutional amendment, signing statements may clarify points in the law but may not redefine the law or negate the law or signify a resistance to enforcing the law.
# By constitutional amendment, the Senate shall have the power to subpoena members of the presidential cabinet and advisors, including the president and the vice president. Failure to appear would be a high crime. All appearing persons will be placed under oath. Perjury is already a high crime.
# Terminate the domestic wiretapping program.
# Terminate the "sneak and peek" program.
# Terminate the Iraq war authority.
# By law, limit the number of people reached by the media holdings of any one individual or group.
# By law, keep the Internet free of taxation on communications. The only tax on the Internet should be sales tax, the only limit on bandwidth should be the physical limits of the infrastructure and the contractual agreements with the consumers.
*** *** You're just jealous 'cause the voices talk to me... ***
epic trolling OT!
Love,
#c
(wasn't sure to post this in the original thread, or this new one Don started in the wrong place in his frenzied state)
1. My RL identity is no secret. In fact on IRC my "realname" is (usually) my real name. I never assumed I was anonymous.
2. Only my mother calls me Jonathan.
3. I regret nothing I've said to you on these threads. So being traced back to me is not a problem. (I was not crass about it)
4. I misspoke when I said rewrite in C++, I mean rewrite in ObjC. And when I said I was rewriting it in FORTH, "like you recommended" I meant like you recommend I rewrite it. You couldn't decide if I should do Haskell or ObjC. So I brought up FORTH. (chuck's company is in the same building as me)
5. Posting my personal information in a slashdot post is considered in poor taste. cross posting flames and emails is normally considered stalkerish. but I don't particularly care at this point. (Obviously if you decide to leave me voice mails or visit me in person it would force me in a position that neither of us would relish)
6. by rhetoric I meant I used a device called sarcasm when I said rewrite it. By saying I would rewrite it, I mean not rewrite it (because I think it's a bad idea). Perhaps your constant repetition and demands that I submit a rewrite was some sort of subtle sarcasm, try being a little more obvious because I can't see your eyes roll from here if you don't make it clear. (likely you were just being a nut)
7. You annoy me by rewriting things in C++, then you annoy me again with nutjob ranting. (and maintaining a 2 to 1 ratio in posting). If that's what winning is, I think I'd rather lose.
8. I never claimed to like Haskell.
9. I never was "offended" by your emails. I just thought it was dumb that your desire for a flamewar was so severe it overrode your better judgment. Just because punching my name into google is "easy" doesn't mean it's a recommended course of action.
10. slashdot ate some of the code in my simcity.c, feel free to fill in the blanks to make it compile.
(did I miss any questions?)
11. "get your facts straight" - there were almost no facts in our discussion, especially from me. interferes with the process of me provoking a reaction from you(victim)
12. reading comprehension - I only skim your rants for keywords that I think are funny and don't use Preview much. which is why these numbers are out of order and my sentence structure is chaotic.
I basically trolled you. You flared up like you were made from gasoline. Fanned you a bit. And now I am bored of you. If you think so lowly of me and my opinion, why would you react at all to my comments about your adventures in changing the world with C++ ? I normally just roll my eyes at the trolls and move along. If you found this as entertaining as I did, then I suppose it was mutually beneficial.
Please read the slashdot FAQ. It is good advice.
What do you think of making SimCity into one of those 256-byte assembly demos? I think the trick would be to prune the rules and functionality down to a subset that is the essence of being a sim.
ps - I'm registering with your blog so I can poke holes in your design and see if it stands up to my scrutiny. That way you can delete posts you find embarrassing, unlike slashdot. (I wasn't sure if you were aware of slashdot's policy on deleting posts). It's your blog I don't care if you reject me. I wouldn't even encourage that you let me on it.
to everyone else - I will try to keep my trolling more concise in the future.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
So you trolled me by porting simcity to C++? .. well played, well played. I may never guess how you knew that would provoke my initial flame.
You're a last word sort of guy aren't you?
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
"Feel free to reply with an actual argument"
Why? You haven't, you've just spouted ignorance and stupidity.
But since you asked,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LD50
That's the article for LD50. Read it and learn something.
Then read this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LD50_of_THC
Then realize that your idiot ass was claiming someone could overdose (half the time) on a substance which they would have two ingest more than two pounds of, IN PURE FORM, and you'll realize it's impossible.
Or you'll make a stupid fucking argument like the rest, where you claim something idiotic like "they wouldn't say anything because of shame..." which makes sense if you have extra chromosomes I guess
You're an idiot. Attacking me because I tell you you're an idiot without showing you why doesn't make you right, it makes you a bigger idiot because ALL OF THE PROOF YOU NEEDED is easily available and well known.
You're just too fucking moronic to bother looking for it before you share your lack of wisdom.
Fuck off now, you've got nothing left to say but "you're right" and I don't need to hear it from a douchebag like you.
If I were president, I'd just find out how Bush keeps bending the laws and the constitution with impunity, learn the ropes from him, and use those techniques to soon repeal the remaining laws of the land and somehow promote myself to President for Life. Only then would I begin for real. Muahahahahahaha.
First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. -Gandhi
Isn't this Huckabee's action plan...?
"You still are clinging to your belief that for some reason marijuana is inherently safe."
No, I'm not you fucking retard, I'm telling you ONE THING, that no can overdose on pot. You are clearly too fucking stupid to realize the "inherently safe argument" was made by someone else.
"Let's count the insults that were used against me by the person who seems to feel that marijuana is inherently safe."
Well, since I NEVER said it was inherently safe, you're not only wrong but you're doubly wrong and even more stupid. Look at who you're conversing with cunt.
"But ultimately, you are acting as if I want to take away your weed."
NO you stupid fuck, I'm acting as if you're a fly and I'm swatting you. You're an ignoramus commenting on a subject that you know little about, and I slapped you down for it. "My weed" as you put it, hasn't been an issue since I graduated, as they say, there's a time for shit like that and it's college.
You're wrong in like 9 different ways. Just come back and admit it and get this carnage over with, otherwise I'll continue to point out how stupid you are, which isn't hard as it permeates everything you post.
you fucking retard
Amazing insult number two, before even bothering to say anything at all. A good start, for sure.
no can overdose on pot
Oh, my bad. You must be the person who clings to the strange statement that no one in history has died from overdosing on pot? Yeah, I'd like to know how one could ever defend a statement like that. How could you ever be certain of the cause of death for all 10,000+ years of mankind? And as I referred to in a different post, research has shown death following marijuana usage in individuals with no previously known ailments or explanations for their deaths. But that's OK, you can continue to believe that smoking it is as safe as drinking milk.
even more stupid.
That makes for insult number three. With still frighteningly little material in the post beyond insults.
cunt.
Hey, I think this insult is new. But still number four. I could also point out that insult generally is considered sexist, and doesn't really make much sense directed at a guy. But logic hasn't applied since you hit reply to my original post, so why bother with it now?
you stupid fuck
Hey, there's insult number five. We're moving right along.
ignoramus
Ooooh, insulting with big words, too. Pretty good for insult number six. I'll take it easy on you and assume that the fly analogy is not directly an insult on its own and just you trying to express creativity.
stupid you are
Insult number sever is more your style, really. Back to only six letter words to express your hatred of me...
In summary, you posted a 210 word post, and insulted me 7 times. I guess that's pretty good, it averages out to 30 words per insult. Of course if the fly and slapped were supposed to be insults as well, then that makes 9 insults in the same number of words, for an average of just over 23 words per insult. So that means either you're getting lazy with your writing, or your hatred has caused you to lose your thesaurus.
But that notwithstanding, you still seem to have endless anger to throw at me to somehow convince me that marijuana is somehow "safer" than alcohol. If you actually read my initial post in this thread, you would see that all I was arguing is that marijuana is not inherently "safer" than alcohol, at least due to the fact that they encompass different risks that cannot be fairly compared between the two choices.
But you are free to continue hurling insults at me if that makes you feel better. You can also take comfort in the fact that there is an excellent likelihood that nobody else is reading this thread this far down to see you throw every curse word you know at me.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
What on earth do you think you're saying there? How public safety and anti-semitism could be even remotely related is beyond me. If you think that its such a horrible idea to ban being stoned in public, then you must think it is a horrible injustice that one can be arrested for being drunk in public.
Thats all that I'm arguing for. I just want to see the same enforcement for marijuana use as for alcohol use. Which really is the enforcement that we currently have, even if the books say otherwise.
You spout all sorts of lies about how dangerous it is compared to alcohol
Ummm... Not sure how you could consider what I said to be a lie. I said it is not safer than alcohol. I did not say it was more dangerous, or anything of that sort. I simply said it is not reasonable to consider it to be safer, when the risks are not the same between the two. It really isn't an apples-to-apples comparison from which one could logically call one "safer".
But if you want to try to put words in my mouth, well, you might as well just continue doing so. You've been accusing me of all sorts of garbage that I didn't say because you want to read what I write to say something other than that what it actually says. Its your right to read incorrectly, I suppose.
But really, what the hell are you trying to say with your comment about the Jews? Not once did I propose changing any laws. Not once did I express any hatred for any group of people. Meanwhile, I am getting a constant barrage of hatred from you and the other pro-pot propagandist all day long. And you're trying to suggest what from my writings? You're really stretching it now...
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Man, WHERE were his priorities?! He should have been out there, constantly making sure no one was abusing their free speech, instead of being on-call for medical emergencies! You're right! He shouldn't be trusted with anything important! Not a country, not a person's life, not the air-worthiness of air force pilots, not nothing!
You can't take the sky from me...
Why don't you go ahead and show us where I suggested banning anything. We can wait. Indeed, we'll be waiting a very, very long time. Because I never suggested banning anything at all. But you enjoy trying to stretch my words into things I never said. So go ahead, and after the end of time, you can admit that indeed I didn't propose banning anything.
Since of course you are far too dead certain that your feelings are more important than the truth to such a degree that reality is not important.
You said it was not safer. That means it is either more dangerous or as dangerous. That is a lie.
Maybe you should actually read what I originally said, rather than continuing to subside on purely your own distortion of it. Here's a link to that comment. Good luck ever finding where I said that it was as dangerous or more dangerous. Indeed, what I said was that trying to say that marijuana is safer than alcohol is like saying sky diving is safer than bungee jumping. They each involve different risks.
But again, you are free to distort the reality of my responses into whatever fantasy you want them to mean.
You compared it to alcohol, and so did I. In my comparison, I found all your statements to be lies.
Interesting conclusion coming from someone who can't be bothered to actually read what I write. But OK, moving on...
That you are a Nazi.
I guess I should just be flattered that it took you that long into your reply to insult me for the first time this time around.
You want governmental control over all that offends you.
Again, if you actually read any of my comments, you would find that this statement of yours is nothing short of an outright lie. But I won't try to slow you down with reality, since it clearly has no place here when talking at you.
you are one dim-witted bitter little man
Fascinating assumptions there make up your second insult against me in this post. And being as I am 6'3" in height, I will take the 'little' to be the third insult. Of course I would expect nothing less than at least three insults per post out of you, since you can't actually present defensible, factual data in your arguments.
yet you have the chutzpah to insult my logic
Nice use of Yiddish there. Is that somehow supposed to buttress your absurd assertion of me being a Nazi? Is this supposed to insult me as well somehow? Though frankly, I would say that you're assertion that you are using logic at all is itself an insult to the term.
But it was nice talking at you anyways, even though it was a complete waste of my time. Now we just wait for this thread to eventually grow old enough to be shut down. I guess you should just count yourself lucky that nobody else is reading this to see you throw continuous expletive-laden hissy-fits based on your own faulty assumptions and failure to read the posts that you think you are replying to.
Have a nice day.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
1. Appoint Ron Paul as Vice President
2. Resign
Sad this got modded as funny
And I suspect that if the people who put together this study didn't address these issues, the study may well have been rejected by a peer-reviewed journal. But I do appreciate you taking the time to at least google the subject for some meaningful data rather than just spouting propaganda. Unfortunately, the pathways of tumorigenesis simply don't support the conclusion of this study. And being as it didn't show up in a journal suggests to me that more work needs to be done.
I think it's fair to say that cannabis is safer than alcohol.
I still don't agree with that statement, because as I said, the risks are different. Some of the risks of marijuana are still not clearly understood. I think it is very much premature to call marijuana "safer" just because of the perceived differential of poisoning risk. I suspect that if you looked at ethanol poisoning during US prohibition, you could come to the same conclusion about the "safety" of alcohol.
One final, disconnected note - not many people here reply to anonymous cowards. Why not sign up for a free account? People will pay more attention to what you say, and you'll be able to more easily track conversations you take part in.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Fix the political system - make America an actual democracy and tilt the playing field in favor of third parties. Review the entire national budget and remove all the bits which boil down to chest-beating, pissing other countries off and underwriting bad industry. Used the money saved to pay America's bills, fix the education system, and provide better health care than Canada. Take corporate focus off pure moneymaking. Promote greater social interaction between neighbors.
Make America great again. Support innovation. Get America back into the top ten countries in the world for freedom of the populace and rational thought. Declare all religion to be a form of adult-only entertainment subject to the same taxes and restrictions on exposing minors to it. Drop the national borders completely and work something out with Mexico so people will want to live there just as much as in the US. Get some solid data on whether decriminalizing drugs altogether would cut down on violence and organized crime, and then follow the recommendations. Tell the states that unless they cut their gun death numbers by 90%, Measures Will Be Taken and they will only apply to those states.
Investigate every office-holding politician of the last ten years - it'll give the FBI something to chew on and they can hire the staff the CIA and military won't be able to afford any more. Disallow legal person rights to corporations. Fix the social security system so people aren't starving to death in disease-ridden slums any more.
Beef up public transport. Replace tariffs on high-fuel-efficiency imported cars with a subsidy. Tell local car manufacturers that if they can build something that meets the new standards, they get a subsidy too. As the efficiency of the average car on the road goes up, decrease the subsidies. Have them drop off entirely after ten years anyway. Ideally, make the calculation based on total running/repair costs of a vehicle so you don't end up with cars that run on a teaspoon of fuel but crap their parts out every ten miles.
Give people four years to stew about the changes. If, in the unlikely event that you're not assassinated, impeached on trumped-up charges or drummed out of office by multibilliondollar industries hurting badly, and in the REALLY unlikely event that you're re-elected under the new voting system, start fixing all the other things that need doing but no-one wants to touch politically. Like converting the US to metric.
1. Legalise marijuana
2. Tax it
3. Profit!
But they already are. And you can't be drunk in public, either. So I really didn't propose anything, did I? No I didn't. Therefore your statement is null.
"No less dangerous" means as dangerous.
You're stretching the statement to meet your own beliefs. Too bad they don't reflect the reality of what I said. But I won't let that get in your way, as it certainly hasn't up until now.
I'll just mention, yet again, that if you actually read what I wrote, you'll see that I said that the dangers can't really be compared on a "less dangerous" - "more dangerous" spectrum, because the risks are not the same. But if you want to continue down the same pathway of ill logic that you've been on for days now, who am I to stop you?
You are calling for more governmental regulations.
I challenge you to show where I called for anything new, anywhere in this thread. I never did. I simply stated that I support the current laws in the way that they are currently enforced.
your call to ban pot-heads in public
Please, show where I called for anything different than the current laws. We'll keep waiting for you to show that, and we'll all be dead and buried before you do, because I never did. But again, I won't let reality get in your way, since it clearly has no place in your world.
because they offend you.
I had to split this unique comment of yours in half because it was incorrect twice in one sentence. Not once did I say that people who chose to get high offend me. If I was offended by this, wouldn't I call for an outright ban? But I never did, as much as you seem to want to accuse me of doing so. Its OK, though. You've been spouting propaganda, rhetoric, and outright lies for some time now. Far be it from me to try to stop you from that.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
A question for Hillary,
A lot of people of my parents generation, I'm late-20s, are voting for you because of Bill.
The first women president will be a momentous event. How will I explain to my children that the first female president was elected as a constitutional loop hole to get her husband in office?
Just curious.
I'll start by showing the one time that you actually quoted me correctly (even though you misspelled comparable in the process).
However, the more telling moment is this little nugget from you:
Yet you compared them.
Which is a total fabrication. I never did compare them. In my original post, which I'm guessing you still haven't bothered to read, I said that they really can't be compared because the risks are not the same.
Kindly show where I compared the two. We can wait all eternity I guess, since it will take you that long to find a place where I did. Which was really the point that I was making all along - you can't say that one is safer than the other, since the risks are not the same. After that, you started pushing pro-pot propaganda. It's too bad that you are too entrenched in that ideology to realize that I never said the things you accuse me of saying, nor did I ever propose the types of laws that you want to accuse me of proposing.
There's one other gem in your reply that likely deserves some attention as well:
"no less dangerous" when I think you meant "no less dangerous."
What the hell were you trying to say with this? Aren't those two statements identical? But yet you somehow found a way to make them mean completely different things, by trying to read my words to say something other than what they actually say. But I guess that mirrors pretty much everything you've tried to say thus far.
I find your sales strategy interesting, really - we certainly can't call it a "debate strategy" since you've pretty well ignored any rules of orderly discourse that would be followed in a debate. You start by trying to drive a point in my sheer repetition - ie, the way that you kept trying to declare the safety of marijuana. Then, when the fallacies of your statement are made crystal clear, you just drop them altogether - we've see you do this both with your statement about marijuana as well as with your accusations of me being for some reason an anti-semite.
But that's OK too, I guess. Eventually you'll just stop pushing your hatred because of course nobody is really reading this anyways. You're just doing this because you love to hate me. But that's OK, because really your hatred for me only hurts you in the end. And maybe, just maybe, if we really get lucky, you'll realize that all this time, your hatred has been mis-directed and based on nothing at all. At some point you jumped without looking, when you took my statements and twisted them into fuel for your propaganda. You then used that as a vehicle for your hatred, a reason to launch barrages of curse words at me. But really, what did you accomplish? Just because you keep accusing me of lying doesn't make it true. If you read back through posts in this thread, you'll find they have been consistent. All that's changed is your reading of them.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
And abolish or at least severely reform the copyright monopoly system. Well, actually "president" should in theory have very limited powers, so it's not like even as president I could just decide that. As a "dictator", maybe.
There are a bunch of issue-specific things I could do, but then someone else could still come along after me with a money-backed agenda and undo all the good work.
So what I would do is fix the system itself. I would ammend the Constitution itself to enact a permanent, irreversible, absolute separation between money and the political process, such that disproportionate representation based on wealth (and corporate control over our government) would never be an issue in this country again. I would change the system such that anyone ethical and smart, from any background, can run for any office (including President) effectively without having to already be rich or famous and without having to take bribes from big companies and special interest groups.
Once that was done, I would use the media to regularly expose the unethical behavior and bigotry of other elected officials still in office, until I was confident that the public was truly aware of what rotten people they were and that those people would get voted out in the next election.
Then I could easily spend the rest of my term undoing all the damage that has been done by rich special interests (religious groups, corporations, industry conglomerates) over the last few decades. I would require health insurance companies to provide the same coverage at the same price to everyone, and prohibit them from rejecting anyone. I would get us out of Iraq and instead send small squads of trained assasins on secret missions to find and take out any known terrorists. I would abolish all forms of race-based or gender-based affirmative action and instead institute programs that helped people based on merit and financial circumstances. I would throw out the income tax system and switch to a flat federal sales tax. I would abolish the DMCA, restore fair-use rights, and outlaw any future technological implementation that infringes upon them. I would shrink copyright and patent terms to more reasonable short periods that serve the public good. I would enact new laws governing businesses, the first of which would be that the highest-paid employee could not make more than 20x as much (including all forms of compensation, such as bonuses and stock options) as the lowest-paid employee in the same business.
Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
Oh, Ron Paul opposes free trade? Do you have any references for this?
FalconShould there be a Law?
What right to Mexicans have to cross into our territory and undermine our values and freedoms
I'm going to reply as if you meant "what right do Mexicans". Fact is is many, maybe not all, Mexicans are of Native American Indian Tribe descent and their ancestors have been here a lot longer than any conquering Europeans. Some Indian tribes even have the right to cross the US Mexican border whenever they want. Such as the Tohono O'odham Nation and other Indian tribes. Actually the Tohono O'odham Nation straddles the US Mexican order with part in the US and part in Mexico. Though the tribes have the right to cross the border many are still being harassed.
FalconShould there be a Law?
As the child of legal immigrants and naturalized citizens who bothered to obey the laws, learn English, and not expect a handout, I find it wholly offensive that anyone should propose that we do not deal with stopping people from sneaking across the borders and illegally taking up residence here.
Being part Native American Indian I find it offensive that those, or their descendants, who invaded the Americas and massacred those already here now seek to stop others from also immigrating.
First things first, however... it has to stop with sealing the borders... stop the influx before dealing with who's here.
The first question that needs to be asked is why people would risk their lives to "illegally" immigrate. For many, if they can earn a living where they are from they will stay there. And yes, the US is partially to blame. Because of the billions of dollars large agribusinesses like ADM and Cargill get in subsidies, corporate welfare, and NAFTA these businesses can export corn to Mexico and sell it there for cheaper than Mexican farmers can grow corn.
And Cargill is the poster child of corporate welfare.
FalconShould there be a Law?
That anyone can freely move to any country, and no one can say differently?
So long as they don't harm an other, that's what I think.
And if that's the case, that someone can come to America without any permission from the government, then why is it that they can use services that my tax dollars help fund? Shouldn't I get a say in what people can use the services my tax dollars fund?
That's the problem with welfare which has nothing to do with immigrants. Get rid of most if not all welfare programs, including the billions of dollars corporations collect. Instead allow people to keep the money they earn and let them spend it as they see fit, so long as they don't harm others. When people have more money they have more to invest and or more to spend thus boosting the economy. Or they can donate it. Civil society is usually more effective than government. Because of the size of government it's not responsive to those who pay whereas because civil societies are funded by people who donate willingly they are more responsive to those who pay.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Are you really against Ron Paul or are you against borders in general?
In general I support Ron Paul but oppose borders.
FalconShould there be a Law?
The executive can set law enforcement priorities. It can also pardon or commute the sentences of convicts. Ron Paul can tell the nation: "stop paying your income tax and I will pardon you."
Ron Paul has already said he'd pardon all drug offenders.
FalconShould there be a Law?
While I agree with the general sentiments of Dubya, and didn't like Bush Sr as pres, Bush Sr was shot down in the Pacific during WWII when the plane he was flying was hit by Japanese anti-aircraft fire. If you have any info contradicting this I'd like to see it.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Oh, that's easy. Legalize marijuana, and reduce the criminalization of other drugs, and also make this retroactive to all current inmates. Suddenly, many/most of the people in jail will be released.
One of the things Ron Paul said, which should go a good way to showing people Ron Paul isn't racist, is that he would pardon all of the people in prison for nonviolent drug offenses. Since as a percentage of the various skin colours more Blacks are serving tyme for drug charges many would set free.
FalconShould there be a Law?
My last ambulance ride only took 10 minutes to get to the hospital from where I was and cost $700 more than insurance would pay.
Heath care tends to be overpriced due to billing issues.
If you think health care cost is expensive wait until it's free.
Should there be a Law?
1) Given the extreme volatility of the Middle East--especially if Iran is edging closer to building "gunbarrel" style U235-based nuclear weapons, in spite of a number of claims to the contrary--that might not be a good idea.
I'm still waiting to see those WMDs Saddam had.
4) Removing the income limit on SS/Medicare taxes would be a BAD idea, because that would encourage high-income Americans to move their income offshore--legal or not!
I would do my best to abolish individuals' income tax. The only income tax payers would be corporations, hey if you want limited liability you pay for it. Individuals would pay user fees (taxes). For instance if you drive you will pay tax on the fuel which the income will then be used to pay for building and maintaining those roads you drive on. With the rest of your money you could then buy health insurance, and with competition in insurance the premiums will come down.
5) I'd offer major tax incentives to build and develop next-generation solar power arrays based on nanotechnology.
With lower taxes more money would be available to develop and build new generation PV and wind generator plants. Then with lower costs more entities, whether businesses, coops, or individuals could then buy and install PVs, wind farms, and other energy sources.
6) I'd fund primarily trolley systems and light rail, systems that are relatively easy to implement.
Fact is is many who own cars won't give them up in the US, even if a good commuter transit system exists. The only way to get more people to use them is by driving up the cost of personal transportation. I was a bike riding fanatic, I used to ride my bike more than 200 miles a week, but even then I knew most people in the US would hate to give up their cars. Heck, I knew homeless people who wouldn't give up their cars for a roof over their head.
7) I'd create a commission to look into the issues of various universal health care plans, and make sure we have one that addresses the problem of health care rationing.
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until it's free.
8) I'd be real careful about any increased regulation of any financial market
Let me get this right, you don't like regulating, any more than it is now, the financial market but you'd increase regulations in health care?
FalconShould there be a Law?
How would you immediately reduce military spending? It would put lots of people out of jobs. (Not that I think it shouldn't be done--I agree with you. But you can't really do it immediately.)
By pulling many military units out of other countries that alone would reduce military expenditures. My plan would temporarily increase spending in one area, for every year someone served in the military they'd have 1 year of college education paid for. However this would increase individuals' earning potentials so more would be paid in taxes. Then with a citizens' army like Switzerland the nation could be protected.
FalconShould there be a Law?
http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/jean_wyclef/7152926/lyrics.jhtml
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
I have to disagree on that!! Look at Chicago's METRA and Philadelphia's SEPTA systems--ridership is good because the commuter rail lines reach places most desired by commuters.
But how many of those riders would still ride if they could easily drive? I bet it's easier to travel mass transit in Chicago that it is to drive. Though I haven't used it's mass transit, though I do like the Chicago Transit Authority, I have driven through Chicago and the only city I drove through that was worst was Detroit.
FalconShould there be a Law?
I would include this (http://divinelotus.pbwiki.com/Protect+Your+Rights) in my State of the Union address and promptly be shot. All the TV stations would pull the feed. And the next day, my VP would be inaugerated as President.
Mark Anthony Collins
I'm sure his demands will cause Congress to immediately begin to do exactly as he says in every way. Or perhaps not. He can "demand" anything. What he gets is what they want to give him.
That's even true today. The Democrat controlled congress won't send the Republican president bills he wants. Look at the economic stimulus package Bush proposed. Democrats don't accept it as it is now, with "'significant' ideological differences" between what each on wants.
Noone ever explained Customs and Immigration to you? Ships can't enter the USA without first getting approval from the Customs people, and then the IRS gets to talk to them about tariffs. No Federal Government means no Customs, which means merchant shipping stops just like the airlines.
I already addressed this even if you want to ignore it. The president can ask congress for a bill that addresses ports, with provisions that shippers pay the costs.
On the one single important issue, there is no difference - neither Party has any interest in surrendering any Federal power at all. Which means they'll be united against a President who wants to reduce Federal power to the Constitutionally mandated limits.
Look at the economic stimulus plans each wants. They both agree something needs to be done but they disagree with what course of action to take.
Note the Reagan, who was an immensely popular President didn't manage to shrink the Federal government one iota, even though that was one of his nominal goals
"Nominally" may be right but he actually wanted to, and did, increase the size of government. In late 2005 or early 2006 "Reason magazine" had an article detailing just how Reagan increased the size of government, especially the so called "War on Drugs". And he once said "I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves."
Note, by the way, that I in no way approve of the Federal power grab over the last three-quarter century. But I know enough to know that we can't turn the clock back on it. And believing that we can is a sign of self-delusion.
Saying it can't be done is self defeating. If all those who want it to happen don't work towards that end it won't happen, but if they try it may happen. Not right away but it can. As one of my favorite singers, Billie Holiday, sung "The difficult I'll do right now, the impossible will take a little while."
I'd rather be optimistic than a defeatist. And I know something about that. If I had been a defeatist instead of an optimist I'd be dead now. Over ten years ago I was hit while riding my bike, after classes in college, and while I was in a coma the docs told my family it would be a miracle if I lived. I spent more than a year in therapy and saw around a dozen therapists, some of whom said after looking at my medical records that I must of been stubborn to have survived.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Is whether or not "AK Marc" will come forward and admit that he let his imagination get the better of him in his interpretation of my writings. Even better of course would be if he came forward and then apologized for the hateful things that he said about me as a result of his twisted interpretations.
Yet somehow, I doubt either of these will ever happen. Instead this thread will close quietly and we will here nothing new from him. I suspect this may be ultimately a reflection of what he has learned from this experience - which is of course the true loss in this situation.
Really, the only value to the post of his that I am writing this final reply to is that he only made a single insult or false accusation in it - perhaps I can take that as a possible sign that he is maturing in his strategy. Though likely it would be erroneous of me to expect it a sign that he is willing to accept the fact that his claims were all based on his own biased view of my writings, as opposed to what I actually wrote.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
No, I did not. I stated that I support the existing laws that prohibit people under the influence of drugs or alcohol from being in public.
Which is stating that you support laws that ban druggies from the streets because you don't want them there.
At no time did I actually try to compare them.
You compared them multiple times. You stated that the risks are different, but that you don't agree that it is safer than alcohol. That is a statement that you think marijuana is the same or worse than alcohol. That disagrees with every study ever done on the subject.
"Instead, you are continuing to imply that an eaten brownie causes lung cancer"
I never made that claim, either.
I never claimed you made that claim. I claimed that you implied it. You stated that marijuana contains the lung cancer danger that alcohol does not (by comparing them, as you said you do not do). I stated that smoking is not required for administering THC, and you would never adjust your obviously incorrect generalization. Instead, you dodged the question. Even upon repeated prodding, you never addressed that point. Interestingly, I found studies that indicate that smoking marijuana does not increase the chance of cancer, and I found none that indicated an increased chance of cancer. Since you refuse to answer any yes/no questions I ask of you I'll ask this one and expect the same answer I get for all the others. Does marijuana use, including the possibility that someone administers it solely through oral ingestion, necessarily increase the chance of lung cancer?
I expect that you will reply, as your ego will not let you let it go. Yet, I predict that you will not answer the question with a Yes/No answer, if you even answer it at all. Instead, you will find some perceived slight to complain about, explain how your numerous comparisons between alcohol and marijuana aren't comparisons, and further obfuscate the point that marijuana is safer than alcohol and has fewer deaths attributed to its use than regular strength Tylenol. But I am ever hopeful that you can manage to answer the Yes/No question before your rant on the other points.
Learn to love Alaska
Well, at least you're almost coming close to reality. Of course this still leaves a tremendous act of non sequitur when you tried to use it to call me an anti-semite.
However, you are still not quite there. I said I support laws that treat the act of being in public while under the influence as a crime. That is not the same as "laws that ban druggies from the street". I support laws that are made in the interest of the public good when they keep people who are under the influence out of the public environment.
Considering how evil you have painted alcohol in your previous posts, I would think you could appreciate this, as I said that I support laws that continue to have the same consequences for being in public under the influence of drugs as under the influence of alcohol.
But I'm sure you'll yet find a way that this makes me a horrible person.
You compared them multiple times. You stated that the risks are different, but that you don't agree that it is safer than alcohol. That is a statement that you think marijuana is the same or worse than alcohol.
There you are dead wrong, as you have been from your first reply in this thread. I never compared the two. If you would read back to my initial post, which obviously you still have not done, you would see that I said you cannot call one safer than the other because the risks are not the same.
At no time did I ever say one was actually safer than the other. I have challenged you mutliple times to show where I ever did, and you have yet to meet that challenge.
Obviously, you never will be able to met that challenge, because no amount of reading of my posts will ever find a point where I said that. But you can continue to claim that I did, as obviously you will.
I found studies that indicate that smoking marijuana does not increase the chance of cancer, and I found none that indicated an increased chance of cancer
I'd love to see these studies, if you can find any that actually have been peer reviewed. If you read the AC post that came after one of your curse-laden tirades, you will find a study that was run but never reviewed. I replied to that post by showing why it cannot be taken as completely credible, and if you have any others I'd love to see them.
Does marijuana use, including the possibility that someone administers it solely through oral ingestion, necessarily increase the chance of lung cancer?
Is it absolutely 100% safe under all cirumstances? You cannot claim that it is, no matter how much propaganda you want to repeat.
Frankly, your posts remind me of the same kind of indoctrinated drivel that comes from religious fundamentalists. Your entire strategy seems to revolve around repeating something so many times over that you hope it will eventually be accepted as fact just due to your own repetition.
I hate to tell you this, but nothing becomes fact purely through repetition. You can have your own point of view, but not your own truth. If that was true, then Saddam would have really been in the process of building nukes to attack the US.
But you have, by your own insistence to stay on (your own very strange) message, proven that you are unwilling to read my earlier posts. Had you read my first post in this thread, you would realize that your claims about my alleged comparisons between marijuana and alcohol are nothing more than baseless claims fathered by your own fear and hatred.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Since once again you are basing your argument on repetition rather than any verifiable information, I thought perhaps it would make just as much sense to make my own fun conclusion.
I own a shotgun. I use my shotgun safely. Therefore, shotguns must be absolutely safe, and everyone should own one or more shotguns.
This argument follows just as well as your argument for the inarguable safety of marijuana, or your interesting attempt to classify me as an anti-semite.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
So then you must be in favor of repealing the DUI laws and allowing people to wander the streets drunk?
And I never said anything about having police "come for" anyone. People who end up arrested for being under the influence in public end up arrested because of the nuisance that they cause. It is in the end a public safety concern - the laws are there for the same reason that you can't walk the streets with a machine gun in plain sight.
But thanks for proving my point that you are a liar. You haven't managed a single post after your first that didn't directly contradict one before.
I'm still waiting for you to prove any of this. Again, your entire argument rests on your own faith that if you repeat something enough it will become inarguable truth. I have, and will again, ask you to please show where I contradicted myself. You still have yet to show it, because I didn't.
But of course, far be it from me to allow reality to get in the way of you and whatever you think you're saying.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Please, stop telling us that you've demonstrated this (when you haven't), and just show us.
This all parallels your basic strategy in this entire discussion though - you just keep repeating something in the hopes that it will become true simply by virtue of your own repetition. You have yet to prove any of your allegations against me. Please, I ask you again, show me where I was lying. Don't just keep repeating your allegations in the hopes that they will magically become true just because you're repeating them.
If I am such a horrible liar and worthless individual, then show us why. Don't just keep telling us that it is so without actually backing up your claim.
You have, on multiple occassions, compared the risks of alcohol and marijuana, then claimed you didn't compare them
I am still waiting for you to point to a single occasion where I did such a thing. I have asked you many times to show us where I said that, and you have yet to make good on it.
Again, you seem to expect that your statement will become credible simply because you've repeated it many times over.
Since I have pointed out the directly contradictory statements before
Nonsense. You have done no such thing. I have yet to find a single response of yours where you did such a thing. Feel free to show us where it happened. I have asked you many times to do this, and you conveniently ignore the request every time, instead furthering your own desire to make me look like a Nazi for some odd reason.
Since, as we all know by now, you are a liar.
I guess in this case, we would be you and only you. The likelihood of anybody else reading this at this point is around zero. And the odds of anyone else agreeing with your absurd ramblings ought to be the same. You've been constantly repeating your allegations and propaganda throughout this thread, just hoping that it will become the truth.
And I have asked you many times to provide something to back up what you claim to be true, and every time you ignore the request.
Have a nice day.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Are we in the age of endarkenment?
And if you read the article cited in that post, you will find a quote from the author about "endarkenment":
a society where what I say three times is true and never mind the facts.
Perhaps the author was reading the allegations that you have been throwing at me? More likely a coincidence, since no other sensible person would still be looking at your tirades at this point. But still rather interesting to see that someone recognizes your tactic as being a parallel to the decline of science.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.