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O yes.Quote:
Originally Posted by 0livia
The most disturbing thing for me is how quickly and how dramatically people are looking at the BNP and thinking they are the answer
I am not joking when I say if this country doesn't wake up and smell the coffee, the nazis will have occupied Britain after all. And I will be dead, behind bars, or on the other side of the world.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregs656
I don't understand why you think that Elliette is complaining about income disparity. It was clearly NOT her point. The president's and first Lady's flight to NY and associated motorcade were all paid with by money lifted from the pockets of working people in taxes. I have no issue with the presidents salary and how he chooses to spend it, or where. It wouldn't have bothered me if he'd been in NY for some other reason and decided to take in a show while he was there. The special trip, though, that's where the frivolity really shows. I (and Elliette, I suspect) take issue with the fact that Obama chooses to have a night out on the backs of the taxpayers of this country, who are already busting their asses trying to pay for two wars, pay the benefits for veterans returning from those wars with shattered bodies, pay the unemployment benefits for the thousands and thousands of laid off workers, and take care of our crumbling infrastructure.
And just look at his carbon footprint. Couldn't they have just walked down the block to a movie theater, and saved the broadway show for when they were in NY anyway?
Nazis will be sorry, LOL
Its the kids! The little crack smoking monsters with no horizon!
Oh and I'll be behind bars then, too.
EU voting is traditionally low, but participation in general is pretty decent for the individual government elections. My government (originally from Holland) apparently makes it quite an administrative issue if you want to vote from abroad. We'll see when there are new elections there. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Elliette
Elliette before we joined we did not vote for a EU-parliament at all.
It only exists since 1979
Sorry, I should have been more clear in my question - was election participation in general greater before you joined? Greater turnout for more local/national votes? And, come to that, are the numbers for local elections better than for the EU ones now?Quote:
Originally Posted by 0livia
No, they couldn't just 'have walked a block'Quote:
Originally Posted by joesixpack
He is the freakin' US president. It would be an absolute security nightmare.
The secret service would not be able to protect him without evacuating that entire block to make sure noone could take a potshot at him. I'm sure some people would have complained.
Obama cannot just 'walk a block' anymore than any president could without generating even more hindrance. That's why he drives around in what is essentially a bunker with wheels.
Have you ever been within a block of the White House? It's already pretty secure, let me tell you. A great deal of it is open to the public*, however, there are snipers on roofs in the area, and it is designed to be easily shut down. Were there a movie theatre within a block, they could get to it on foot with no problem.
They walk in public a fair bit, though, yes, security is tight, of course. There are also live theatres in the area to which they could have gone at much less expense (Kennedy Center, very near by. They could have walked to it, though it is rather more than a block). There are live theatres within about three blocks of the White house which are much much closer. I don't know if Mama Mia is still playing (one hopes not, really), but there are other Broadway Musicals at hand in DC.
*Much less than had been before, of course.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
Actually, jogging a few blocks is something Bush, Clinton, and Bush II did every morning, and with an entourage of secret service men as body guards. Security-wise, it was a walk in the park compared to leaving the city. Flying to another city is VERY expensive. I had a friend who used to be a part of the White house communications staff. I got to visit him at work one day while the president was visiting LA (I lived in Southern California at the time). The communications group took up two hotel rooms with just the equipment (and they TOOK THEM OVER totally, they drilled holes in the walls to run cabling through, rewired parts of it, and generally made a giant mess keeping it secure from electronic survelance), never mind the number of rooms they needed to sleep in (there were four of them), and that was just the guys and equipment needed to keep him connected to the so-called "Red Phone". There is a really large whitehouse staff that has to be available wherever the president is. Traveling outside of DC is where things get expensive.
Not really. I am far from naive. Probably I am missing something I am not an American.Quote:
Originally Posted by gratewhitehuntr
So far, your words have me thinking about militia / survivalism, but I fail to see something that is inherently bad. Even if you have militia friends (I don't know if this was hypothetical or not) who were up to no good, that would not mean you should be tarred with the same brush.
So...
:thinking: