[Nuke]

its funny ive heard a lot of "im an obama supporter and i pay taxes" bs. well im a romney supporter (by default) and i leach off the government like a mother ****er. the government shouldnt even allow people like me to exist, and yet it does. i find that quite sad. seriously i dont even know why i vote in incumbent elections at all, if only to vote the current president out of office. we need less suckey candidates in the future.

[perihelion]

We need "less sucky candidates" right now.  But considering the trend of the last several elections and the fact that SCOTUS, in its infinite wisdom, made Super PACS legal, that seems rather unlikely.

[Thaeris]

Damnit, people! There IS a less-sucky candidate, RIGHT NOW:

http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/candidate-comparison

[General Battuta]

that guy actually

looks

pretty cool

[Nuke]

he does but he doesnt stand a chance with an incumbent in office.

[Scotty]

he does but he doesnt stand a chance with an incumbent in office.

The last few words of this statement are redundant.

[Dragon]

Every country has a reasonable politician. Even Poland (though ours got a little bit extreme lately, but it's kind of justified). The problem is, nobody wants to elect them, because instead of pandering to anybody, they prefer to do their jobs. And people like being pandered to, especially stupid ones, which make up a majority of the population. And in democracy, the majority decides on who'll rule the country. Democracy gives too much power to stupid masses precisely because of that. Also because of that, elections are more of a manipulation contest than anything else.[/rant]

[redsniper]

that guy actually

looks

pretty cool

Reading that site, I was with him until about...

The marketplace will meet our energy needs in the most economical and efficient manner possible

I mean, I loathe the inefficiencies of government bureaucracy, but I also loathe the short-sightedness and greed of energy companies (who only focus on oil and coal it seems like...). If Shell and Chevron, et al, start scrambling over each other like mad dogs racing to get a fusion reactor first or building LFTRs everywhere I might reconsider.

[Thaeris]

In a fair, free market, ideally new and emergent companies should be able to compete with larger firms. Furthermore, if the products and services they promote are superior to those provided by existing companies, then they should propel the state of the art forward, creating a better solution for everyone. Unfortunately, this requires that the legal system actually work the way it should. Considering that judges seem to simply dismiss many cases of abuse committed by the TSA, yeah, corruption in general is the real problem. But then, there are those who would tell you that corporations are people, too...

The Libertarian viewpoint on environmental issues revolves around the concept of property rights. If a company does something to damage your property, such as by means of pollution, then they must find an alternate solution or compensate you for damages done. Personally, I would advocate creating an agency similar to NASA, but with respect to the science of advancing the state of energy technology. I would like to think such an organization would do everything the EPA ought to do, while cutting out the crap it actually does.

[Flipside]

Sometimes I wonder if Mitt's brain is in the middle of a messy divorce from his mouth...

Surely every presidential candidate realizes they are being watched by both sides throughout the campaign, and that comments such as that are going to hit the papers almost before he walks out the door?

[Aardwolf]

Issues 2012, huh?

I was with my dad shopping at Harris Teeter, and I saw a sign on the customer service desk that said something to the effect of "Due to a national helium shortage, we're not giving away any 'Harry the Dragon' balloons to customers in training anymore"

I want a balloon Dammit, Republicans

No seriously, this is their fault. Energy companies used to be subsidized to extract helium from natural gas deposits, and they're not doing that anymore because some doofus was like "deregulation ftw, leave that to private industry". So now I can't have a dragon balloon. If being 23 didn't already rule that out

[Mikes]

honestly i just wanted to kill things.

Best line to say if you want to avoid ever getting into military service in most countries

[Nuke]

honestly i just wanted to kill things.

Best line to say if you want to avoid ever getting into military service in most countries

yes, i never made a point to say that i just wanted to kill things, but i sure as hell was thinking it.

[Flipside]

Issues 2012, huh?

I was with my dad shopping at Harris Teeter, and I saw a sign on the customer service desk that said something to the effect of "Due to a national helium shortage, we're not giving away any 'Harry the Dragon' balloons to customers in training anymore"

I want a balloon Dammit, Republicans

No seriously, this is their fault. Energy companies used to be subsidized to extract helium from natural gas deposits, and they're not doing that anymore because some doofus was like "deregulation ftw, leave that to private industry". So now I can't have a dragon balloon. If being 23 didn't already rule that out

Dammit, now I want a dragon balloon, and I'm 40 in a week

[FreeSpaceFreak]

I want a balloon Dammit, Republicans

No seriously, this is their fault. Energy companies used to be subsidized to extract helium from natural gas deposits, and they're not doing that anymore because some doofus was like "deregulation ftw, leave that to private industry". So now I can't have a dragon balloon. If being 23 didn't already rule that out

I'd argue that subsidizing them was a bad idea in the first place. If it would've been more expensive, our reserves would have been depleted less and we'd have ways to reuse it. Now all that's happened is we mined a lot of helium and let it fly. And helium is lighter than air, so it's actually *gone*: it floats into space when left free.

Now, if He was used only for balloons, that'd be alright, but there's also lots of medical equipment (MRI scanners and the likes) and other things that require liquid helium for supercooling, and AFAIK there's no decent replacement...

[Unknown Target]

Damnit, people! There IS a less-sucky candidate, RIGHT NOW:

http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/candidate-comparison

Gave him $10. I'll vote for him if he's on the ballot.

[Aardwolf]

Update: my source says it wasn't a subsidy to the energy companies, it was an operation the government conducted on its own. But the part about the Republicans ending it is still right.

Edit: @FSF: I think you misunderstood what I meant (which was apparently a misunderstanding of what I heard anyway)... I didn't mean there were subsidies to make helium cheaper, I meant the government paid companies to extract helium from their natural gas...

Either way, the helium went into a government stockpile.



Maybe I should actually look up the stuff my dad says before I try to repeat it from memory and get it wrong.

[Thaeris]

The Republican Party is a rather horrid thing, more so than ever. I also happen to be a conservative...

I brought up a few articles about voter suppression a while ago, as well as the obvious fraud during the nomination process, but now there's this:

http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/09/libertarians_lose_again_in_fig.html

Who thought up the sore-loser law to begin with? The only reason you implement such a law is to deny the choice of the voter on behalf of the one who benefits from the law. In a similar sense, it is the exact reason third-party candidates now require 15% in the popularity poles to be included in the debates... and this is all because of Ross Perot. Those laws need to be abolished, as they only serve to facilitate existing power structures. And the powers that be aren't doing an acceptable job at all.

[BrotherBryon]

This guy highlights some of the issues I've had with the republican party as of late. I can only add that the party itself has started attacking even it's own moderates, people like myself who used to vote primarily Republican are being swept aside in a vast effort to continue to radicalize even further and I can no longer support them and haven't been able to for some time. This guy has his work cut out for him because our district is so blindly conservative and I do wish him well. Nice to see a democrat with a pair for change too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejL5JDw_GNU

[Thaeris]

ROFLCOPTER Moment of the Day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrIDHNqUTPM&feature=relmfu