Random Political comments...

The POTUS is being so petty. $Trillions used to run the Federal Govt. A need to cut back mere $billions.

So what does he do in retaliation because he's mad his Chicken Little sequestration doom didn't occur?

Orders the Shut down of all tours of the White House. :smt105 "Until further notice" :smt018

This is the Nation's home. It belongs to the People -

Fine, take your ball and run home you big baby, but America sees you.

 

The most perfect political community is one in which the middle class is in control, and outnumbers both of the other classes. -Aristotle

 

This is would never happen in a true democracy...which is not what the United States is. It's a republic, and the people have no power or say so. This is the same old song that's been going on since the Republic of Rome, that gets masked as a democracy. True democracy = one person/one vote....republic = you "elect" officials to vote for you

 

It is indeed a Republic. Not many realize this. Great point.

 

It's in the Pledge of Allegiance...don't know how people miss it, when we've been reciting it since we were kids:

"I pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."

 

Nice. I never consciously picked up on that word in that line.

Once in a while I listen to 'the recovering Congressman" J. D. Hayworth (six terms) and he is always drumming in that we are a Republic, not a Democracy.
He also reminds listeners that life is NOT fair, and the sooner we accept it the better we can plan for it.

 

Another thing on closing the White House tours?....Yet....we have plenty of money ($250+ million to be exact) to send to Egypt and to arm Jihadists in Syria immediately after the doomsday sequester.

Please.

 

I never thought of it that way. I've been enlightened.

And yeah, I feel a little stupid after repeating the Pledge of Allegiance countless times and not really digesting that impact of that word. :smt095

 

That, my dear, is because we are the richest nation on the planet, and make no mistakes about it. We are the WORLD'S reserve for oil/natural gas. Don't believe the hype. Just mainland U.S. has over 4 times the oil than the entire middle east. Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah by themselves, contains an estimated 2,000–3,000 billion barrels of oil. Not to mention our offshore drilling, Alaska, and other US territories. We could erase our national debt in a nanosecond 1,000 times over.

 

THis is all theoretical. If it were true, we'd be the #1 exporter of oil, not the world's #1 IMPORTER.

Until this alleged oil is extracted and refined, Saudi Arabia and the ME have the majority of the world's oil reserves.

And the extraction and sale of oil couldn't erase our national debt because we don't have a federalized oil company.

Any oil extracted is immediately sold on the world market by international oil companies, so our costs per gallon don't go down until the global cost of a barrel of oil and its refinement drops.

 

No, this is FACT! I learned this in 5th grade and never forgot. We are the world's financial and oil reserve. Facts that are easily proven if you do your due diligence. I'd never offer conjecture or hyperbole under the guise of fact. I KNOW these things to be true. Confirmed by both Nelson and David Rockefeller...they would know...they own most of this untapped, shale oil.

 

I'm not saying you made it up, I still think you're mistaken however.

You can't have the world's number 1 oil reserves based on projection and not include present yields or actual barrels produced.

Until that oil is drilled and sold, it can't be counted against the actual oil sold on the world market.

People have been hyping the potential of shale oil for decades, except there's really no easy way to extract it.

Long term we need to move away from burning fossil fuels anyway.

 

Yeah you can. It's call forecasting. There's no way you'd be able to gauge it without forecasting. Not enough resources to drill, pump, refine...just for "accounting" purposes? I'll leave it to the experts. What I do know is the US is both the world's financial and oil reserve. And it's for a reason. Despite the propaganda they spread about our national debt, or how much we owe "insert country here"

 

I think we're more of a Plutocracy:

also known as plutonomy or plutarchy, is rule by the wealthy.

But we're also a Democracy:

Democracy is a form of government in which all eligible citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Democracy allows eligible citizens to participate equally—either directly or through elected representatives—in the proposal, development, and creation of laws. It encompasses social, economic and cultural conditions that enable the free and equal practice of political self-determination.

But we're also a Republic:

A republic is a form of government in which the country is considered a "public matter" (Latin: res publica), not the private concern or property of the rulers, and where offices of state are subsequently directly or indirectly elected or appointed rather than inherited. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of state is not a monarch.

I guess we're a hybrid of all three.

 

I think we're more of a fascist state. Corporations run the show period the end. The world is Monsonto the Buildaberg Group Proctor and Gamble and Apple. Thats it. Indovidual people no longer have a say its all one big machine at this point.

 

"A claim for equality of material position can be met only by a government with totalitarian powers."

 

So glad there's finally a thread for this topic. Hopefully now every other random thread on the forum won't have the tendency to turn into a political debate.:smt023

 

Seems so. America...the great melting pot a.k.a cluster f*ck:smt101

 

Not sure you can totally Blame the Prez on this one Bliss, looks like the Secret Service is the one pushing no more tours per below. I don't like to see school kids (and any tourist) miss out on a trip to the White House, I still remember my trip there as a kid. That being said there probably is some degree of political gamesmanship from President Obama on this issue, but given the immensely disproportionate disrespect and gridlock thrown his way over his first term, I would argue that he is due to throw back a little gamesmanship painting the opposition in a bad light.


"the decision was made by the Secret Service, which estimated that ending the tours for roughly 11,000 people a week would save $74,000 in weekly overtime costs. That adds up to about $2 million in savings through the end of the fiscal year in September, it said. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said another 37 officers are needed to secure the White House grounds during public tours. The agency is looking for ways to trim a mandatory $84 million from its budget without resorting to layoffs, he said".


“The White House has a unique place as both the seat of government, the residence of the leader of the country, but also a museum,” deputy White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday. “And it is a shame that, because of the sequester, those tours will no longer take place.”

 

What part of sequester didn't the Republicans get??
It means automatic indiscriminate cuts across all federal agencies, including Secret Service.

White House tours require Secret Service protection, that costs money.
Would you rather Secret Service agents be laid off because of the sequester, or cut back on WH tours??