Solitair

Reply to Ceding responsibility to the government in Politics JoeUser Forums

Brad, is everything just about cash to you? How about someone who pays $50 dollars into the pot, get $100 dollars in return, but has spent the past year doing charity work in Iraq? How about some who puts $20 dollars into the pot, gets $100 dollars back, but runs a soup kitchen in New York for the homeless? How about someone who puts $95 into the pot, gets $100 back and spends most of her time raising her kids? There is far more to l

Reply to The myths of a living wage in Current Events JoeUser Forums

That was a retorical question ;) but I agree with your answer. Minimum (to protect the workforce from unscupulous employer abuse) I agree with, 'living' (to set an accepted standard) I don't. Paul.

Reply to Ceding responsibility to the government in Politics JoeUser Forums

Brad, I have no problem with someone who paid the required amount into social security getting a full pension. Furthermore I would not classify it as welfare. There are too many variables to simplify it to a 'paid X, gets Y' situation. They may have paid a higher tax rate, they may have had conscription, they may have actually raised their kids well. There are plenty of other ways the state may have got more benefit out of them. In my opinion a state pension is a responsibility wh

Reply to John Kerry: A Navy Dove Runs for Congress in Politics JoeUser Forums

Interesting article. Your comment Here we learn Kerry supports handing over control of our military to the UN is not correct though. Kerry supported the idea of only being involved in UN led operations (nearly 40 years ago). Very big distinction. paul.

Reply to Britain talks tough to Bush on Kyoto in Current Events JoeUser Forums

It's a topic that has been hotly debated within the past few months here. It's about time that Britian joins the rest of the EU in trying to make the US see the serious anture of this issue. I personally don't believe the US will budge under the current president. It may yet come to a WTO appeal against unfair trade advantages due to lenient environmental laws. That would make it a trade issue leading to a trade war and that's the only thing

Reply to The Military records of George Walker Bush in Politics JoeUser Forums

Thanks for the reply. I can certainly understand people being very annoyed if the president refuses to admit the truth about his war record. I still don't agree that they should be an issue for the now though. His last few years, the decisions he has made, the people he associates with, are all valid reasons though. I can see how many thousands of Americans who did fight in wars would be very very upset to see the current president po

Reply to Brief Notes from the Left in Blogging JoeUser Forums

I agree with many of your comments. As mentioned above it is a multi point article and harder to reply to, but I believe that much of your responses are linked together in forming a choherent society. On midnight basketball, I totally agree. I do believe there needs to be the use of the word supervised here. If you don't then the drug dealers will just move to the baskerball courts. Society is showing that many parents are unable to provide a stimulating and encouraging environment for

Reply to The myths of a living wage in Current Events JoeUser Forums

I don't agree with a living wage but I do agree with a minimum rate. What's the difference? Well a living wage is a localised arbitary setting designed to ensure that someone can live where they want to live. As mentioned above, this creates all sorts of market skewing problems and doesn't actually fix any problems. It automatically makes that location less competitive compared to the rest of the country and will results in loss of jobs, jobs given to outsides (who don't mnee

Reply to Ceding responsibility to the government in Politics JoeUser Forums

Brad, I don't agree that pensions should be considered as a welfare payment. Most workers have worked long and hard for that pension. You could (and I believe you have previously) argued that people should nto pay this and invest for their own pensions, but that still doesn't make this a hand out. More like a bank returning money to investors. Jeb, as for everyone paying tax. If somneone earns 500 dollars in a year they should be paying 50 dollars tax. They'll most likely then

Reply to Guantanamo Bay in Politics JoeUser Forums

Saddam should have been doomed in 1991. Pity it took so long for the world to realise the threat and act. As for G, I agree that the world should be putting political pressure on the US to solve the issue. The problem, with that approach is that it just generates anger among people. As for the 'who's going to pay for elaborate trials', that's an easy one. Whoever the US wants to. Itself, the original country where the war took place (Afganistan) ot the international community

Reply to People versus parties in Politics JoeUser Forums

It's interesting to conpare the American system with some of the European systems. I live in the UK and for national elections there is a 'first past the post' system. This means that only 1 candidate gets elected in a single constituency. Therefore the voters who vbote for the otehr candidate are unrepresented. In Some Eu countries there is proportional representation. Here a constituenty consists of multiple seats. Votes are counted. Any candidate with enough votes is elected

Reply to The Military records of George Walker Bush in Politics JoeUser Forums

Sorry, but I have to ask. Why should the military records of Bush from 30 years ago really matter? Is he the same person now he was then? No. Does it really matter if he didn't have an active role in a conflict most Americans disagreed with? No. Does it really matter if his family may have exerted influence to protect him? No. Why are American's so focussed on the past? Worst case scenario is that a young scared and spoilt person fou

Reply to Ceding responsibility to the government in Politics JoeUser Forums

What I don't like about government taxation is the concept that some people don't pay taxes. I have no problem with someone not earning much money and therefore getting more back in benefit than they pay. But the concept of someone earning less than x% not paying any tax is wrong. Everyone should pay a fixed rate of tax on every penny they earn. Social welfare can then redistribute it's agreed share of the tax among those who need it. At least

Reply to People versus parties in Politics JoeUser Forums

Interesting approach. I do indeed analyse whoever I vote for. Whether this is in a local election or a national election doesn't matter. I suppose I don't trust parties, I trust individuals. Maybe coming from a multi-party country means taht the differences between parties is not as marked. Sure I know what the party manifestos say, but no one ever sticks to those. So I have to ask, is this person the one who believes in these issues and will

Reply to Guantanamo Bay in Politics JoeUser Forums

xr700, you're right to be sick of people hating American's but as mentioned by others, America needs to stop giving people reasons to hate them. Guantanamo Bay was a mistake and the sooner America deals with that mistake the better. It doesn't help it's cause that countries like Iran (with poor human right records) can point to this case and say 'why should we care for human rights when the US doesn't'. The idea of taking the terrorists away from Afganistan was good. The failing

Reply to Troll Attack! You May Be Next in Blogging JoeUser Forums

Actually Muggaz, I have to admit that I have found the addition of BAM in capital letters after every post quite off putting. I haven't 'trolled' you for it though. I just put it down to cultural differences. Don't take this wrong but, to me (coming from an Irish/English cultural environment) it just comes across as a 'look at me' childlike yell and my mind just blanks it. I've not bothered to read entire articles and posts by you because of this

Reply to Guantanamo Bay in Politics JoeUser Forums

The real question is innocent of what? I would assume that most people detained there were captured in compormising positions or locations. Many of them are no doubt terrorists. Unfortunately the lack of transparency and illegal nature of their incarceration may make it impossible to actually covict them at a later stage. Even worse is that they will then be able to sue the US government in US courts and walk away with large lump sums of US tax payers money. Who then will stand up and t

Reply to Kerry affair with Intern in Democrat JoeUser Forums

Has anyone every watch the movie "The Contender (2000)". Seems fairly revelant to the current election campaign. Paul.

Reply to Guantanamo Bay in Politics JoeUser Forums

Thanks for the response, considering all the debates over the past few months on this topic, and the highjacking of other debates by this issue, it's reached a certain 'not again' status. The issue will eventually be settled by the US supreme court though and no amount of foreign poressure and condemnation will ever change that. Paul.

Guantanamo Bay in Politics JoeUser Forums

I had heard much defense of the US position on Guantanamo Bay and am very surprised at people's belief that it's legal. Based on Brad's suggestion, I've decied to post a new article where this can be discussed. The usual arguement made against it is that it breaks the Geneva convention. In particular Article 4 which reads, As many people point out, this articles does not entitle those held in Guantanamo Bay to POW status as most of them fail to meet all the requiremen

Reply to WMD stockpiles in Iraq were never the core issue in Politics JoeUser Forums

I'll post my reply on the Guantanamo Bay prisoners as a new article. All I'll say here is that article 45 of the 1979 'Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol 1)' is extremely clear on this matter and the US is in breech of it. As for your views on Muggaz I respect them but don't agree. Maybe because I'm not US and it's not such a char

Reply to The Real Two Americas in Politics JoeUser Forums

Nice post. Thanks for the summary of American political ideals. What America really needs is a third party to balance debates between the two. You may not be able to compare 10 with Z, but you can compare ten with 0 and then O with Z. Some third party would then force the other parties to argue on their beliefs not just argue against the other persons. A much tougher thing to do but much fairer. Paul.

Reply to Being a Part of a Community in Internet JoeUser Forums

nice post. Paul.

Reply to The US is now in the hands of a group of extremists in International JoeUser Forums

It is obviously true they invaded doesn't necessarily mean they had the right, just the capability Your question as to how this was in the national interest with no WMD is a good one though. Freedom for Iraq at a cost of $160B and hundreds of US soldiers killed would not seem to be in the national interest. Maybe they plan to recover that money? Maybe this was not done in the national interest at all but for the good of the people in Iraq?

Reply to WMD stockpiles in Iraq were never the core issue in Politics JoeUser Forums

Brad, reply #52 was uncalled for and totally lowered the tone of this debate. I assume you were tired, stressed or upset at the time but you should apologise for it. IF someone had said that to you you wound have been upset. To comment on some of the posts here and try to get the topic back to conversation and defuse the anger, #54 I agree that Guantanemo Bay is an illegal institution and having minors incarcerated there is an unaccep