I'd sympathise with it hugely as I think the amount spent on the military is ludicrous personally, however everyone chooses which society they incorporate within and if you're part of it - you're part of it, subvert it from within through the appropriate methods allowed ... but in the meantime pay your dues or sod off.

Just my personal take on things, if I thought America was a horrible place then I wouldn't live here - there is much to admire in America and its people and I do enjoy living here ... especially now the TV stations have proper soccer channels ;)

That being said no society will ever be the utopia I (or anyone) would totally prefer - that doesn't however mean I won't try and nudge it along in that direction (in the same way I'll never make FM/FMH into a 'perfect' sim, but it won't stop me from trying ;) ).

The country did raise almost a million dollars in a week for a lady who got made fun of on a bus. America has it's own unique personality, but some of the stereotypes are overblown.

Just saw an anti-Obama commercial talk about how we should pursue health reform that is patient-centric. WTF is that supposed to mean? Or just another buzz word to make people feel good that conservatives have come up with something when in fact the only thing they've come up with appears to be a buzz word?

I would write a strongly worded letter to whomever funded that commercial and then tell us what they say.

Haha, I think I'll save my time and effort. It's not just the commercial. Seems like I've been hearing that some form of "patient-centric" health reform being mentioned quite a bit lately, yet I've got no idea what that all entails.

Even a generally diehard conservative like me has a hard time buying this particular point.

There's roughly a billion Chinese that might beg to differ on the point of "choice", just off the top of my head.

At the moment I indicated that I was were discussing the point of a millionaire who was deciding if he wanted to contribute towards the military machine through taxation at the time ...

.... but yes, strictly speaking there will always be people who for economic, medical, legal or whatever restrictions reasons cannot relocate, I wasn't meaning it 'literally' for every case ...

(I had hoped people would realize that)

To answer your point in that case - If you are stuck in a country which supports taxation towards a cause then you make a choice - if its something you abhore enough then stand against it and go to jail (or worse), if you think its wrong but not strongly enough then you pay it but do what you can to persuade for change.

If you want thats what I'm doing here - I like America but there are some aspects I think could be improved .... I'm in a country where I have no legal right to vote* and change things through democratic methods, however I pay my taxes and I do have free speech - as such I'll indicate my support for things which I think would better America and discuss them openly.

*Nothing wrong with this at all, its my choice not to take American citizenship.

More post mortem polling. Interesting poll in last paragraph.

Poll: Americans split on Supreme Court's healthcare decision - latimes.com

I bet it's something "FREEDOM-RIFIC!!!"

Heh.

BBC News - No evidence of mermaids, says US government


So since Obama's government lies to us about everything, we must assume mermaids are real! Romney must reverse this declaration if he is elected!

As long as they look like Daryl Hannah (back in the Splash days), I'm ok with that.

I think the concept of a social contract has become substantially less pervasive in my lifetime. There are quite a few who seem to think they can pick and choose what part of the social contract to obey. "I don't like parks so I shouldn't have to pay for them". To use your example from above, I don't like wars, but I live in this country so I have to pay for them, too. I can't just not pay my taxes because I don't like something they are spent on. You can't just pick and choose the laws you want to obey.

It is interesting when reading literature from earlier eras from other countries and see the perception of Americans- the examples that most comes to mind are Agatha Christie novels and the American as the cavalier, rich, slightly classless but likeable good guy. I wonder what it's like today.

SI

Dunno about the perception of Americans, but hollywood appears to only have three types of English person:

(1) English rose (female)
(2) English villain (male) - educated, arrogant and ultimately defeated by the all-American bad guy.
(3) English sop - posh sounding english person in a romantic film, sometimes a cad sometimes a clueless lead.

Assuming you ignore James Bond ;-)

And #3 is exclusively played by Hugh Grant.

I suppose I should also add in 'wizard kids' to the list though as a nod to Harry Potter :D

Specific to Improve world opinion of the US, this apparently has happended when compared to GWB but the results are "mixed and complicated". Long read, too much for me to summarize properly but thought I would share ...

Global Opinion of Obama Slips, International Policies Faulted | Pew Global Attitudes Project

Yup, way too early to tell. But interesting.

Obama takes lead in Gallup polling - latimes.com

Latest rumor on Romney's potential VP...Bachmann. Wow. Talk about handing it to the Dems two elections in a row, if that becomes reality.

LOL seriously?

As a Democrat - her or Palin would be fantastic, thanks very much :D

I think its too early to panic. WTF is all this public tweeting anyway.

Mitt Romney supporters fight calls for campaign staff shake-up - The Washington Post

I think Rubio would be better than Bachmann but suspect that Romney has already lost the latino vote. So why not tea party.
TRENDING: Bachmann on VP spot: ‘Not for me to make that decision’ – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Gotta make the tea party happy and ignore the people who actually will decide the election. I'll be shocked if it's not Rubio.

Is there a way we can make this happen? Boy, that would make an entertaining campaign.

So basically Bachmann is indicating that she won't be VP then? ;)

Rubio would make a lot of sense, he'd appeal to a weak area of the constituents and is young and dynamic which will play well with younger people - especially now Obama isn't looking quite so spritely.

It is going to be Rob Portman or Tim Pawlenty. Romney is not going to want to be upstaged by a charismatic or firebrand running mate. No way he risks another Palin situation.

Rubio is not well vetted (and has had some red flags come up that aren't getting a lot of attention just yet -- campaign finance misdeeds and a lot of personal and business financial problems) and is too young/inexperienced to be a "heartbeat away."

The other problem that people overlook with Rubio is that he isn't Hispanic people. He's Cuban-American. And there's a lot of animosity between the Hispanic (immigrant) and Cuban-American communities due to the preferential treatment (in particular regarding IMMIGRATION) and the outsized influence that the Cuban-American community wields. So Rubio would help with the Cuban-American population (who IIRC are pretty solidly Republican already), but he isn't really going to deliver the "massive waves of Hispanic voters nationwide" that the media-narrative tries to credit him with.

Cleary you have never seen Reign of Fire. :)

No one saw Reign of Fire ;)

SI

I'm sure there is a reason but I'm not sure why he is waffling on this.

Romney: Health care mandate is a tax - First Read

He got knocked back in line by the GOP establishment.

Initially, he obviously didn't want to call it a tax because he signed very similar legislation into law as governor. Everyone else in the GOP pounced on it as a tax, so he was sailing alone.

I think the GOP brass recognizes that Romney is going to have a tough time winning because Obama just has way too many paths to victory. It is better for them to focus on controlling the House and taking the Senate. If Romney wins, it isn't going to be for anything he does, it will be whether the economy gets bad enough that swing voters want to change course.

I think Santorum was the one who said that Romney was the single worst person in the entire Republican party to battle Obama on healthcare reform and I don't see any reason to disagree with him at this point.

Just my two cents...

Here is the thing about the tax. If that's how they feel, then they agree with Justice Roberts. You can't run around saying you disagree with the Supreme Court decision of Roberts but then say it's a tax which was basically the heart of his decision.

I don't know... She has a great poker face.

I thought that was Lady Gaga.

There is no universe where Romney is dumb enough to select Michelle Bachmann as his VP nominee. None. I will bet a substantial amount on that one with anyone here who believes otherwise. :D

Intrade tends to agree with you. Bachmann is at 0.1%:
Intrade - Michele Bachmann to be Republican VP nominee in 2012

Some names that there is more money on than Bachmann:
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (2.9%)
Kelly Atotte (2.7%)
Condoleezza Rice (3.5%)
Susana Martinez (1.2%)
Brian Sandoval (0.5%)
Luis Fortuno (0.3%)
John Kasich (0.5%)
John Kyl (0.5%)
Meg Whitman (0.2%)
David Petraeus (0.5%)
Rudy Giuliana (0.2%)

And, my favorite: Mitt Romney is even with her at 0.1%. Intrade thinks Mitt is as likely to choose himself* than to pick Bachmann.

SI

*I know that's not the exact wager but roll with me here for humor's sake

Of all of those on that list, Rice is the best choice in my opinion.

Kelly Ayotte is on that list? She's nuts.

She'd never do it.

Disagree. Too soon to bring on someone who was a member of the Bush administration and inextricably linked to the Iraq war.

The end.

Not saying she would. Just saying she's the best choice in my opinion.



I don't necessarily disagree with you, she would have that stigma, but, it would be a smart choice. I'm guessing though, that the people that would vote for Romney, aren't going to care that she was associated with the Bush administration. She's definitely more viable than someone like a Palin or a Bachmann, that would completely turn off a lot of the independent voters.

Of all the people in Bush's cabinet, she seemed to be one of the more credible people to me.

I just picked those off the list that there's a snowball's chance in hell for or those who I had never heard of

SI

I have also noticed at least two typos in quickly making that list and at least one makes it funnier for me (Rudy Giuliana)

SI

I just got an email saying Joe Biden wants to buy me a cup of coffee. Felt like a threat.

The man is a beast.

Biden To Honor Fallen Soldiers By Jumping Motorcycle Over Vietnam Memorial | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Sure, she's better than Palin or Bachmann, but that's not saying much. Part of the problem with her as a VP pick is that both independents and conservatives will have a problem with her. Conservatives won't like her moderate social views, whereas independents won't like her record with the Bush administration.

As an independent myself (not to be confused with the Independent Party), I really don't have much of a problem with her. Granted that's just me though. There's no way in hell Romney is going to pick her, but, if he was restricted to the choices that were listed (not the link), she'd be the smart choice.

Rice is at least smart, unlike Palin and Bachmann. I don't know the full spectrum of her political views but I think you have to be smart to hold a position that high.