Should Al Franken Resign?

[carpedm9587]

Well, you are responding to the "Tweb mom".

I really need to pay more attention to profiles. I thought Rumtumtugger was a he...

[Mountain Man]

I didn't miss it, MM. I was disagreeing with you.

So you believe that corruption with its nearly infinite complexity and subtlety can be meaningfully represented by a single number? I assume you also believe in literal magic.

[Cow Poke]

My objections to Trump have nothing to do with money, Rogue. And no - I don't "love Trump." I think the man will likely go down in history as one of the worst presidents in the history of our country.

So far, Jimmy Carter pretty well sets that standard.

He is certainly on my list as the worst president in my lifetime.

Meh... Jimmy.

[Cerebrum123]

I really need to pay more attention to profiles. I thought Rumtumtugger was a he...

That might not have been the best thing to admit to.

[Cow Poke]

I really need to pay more attention to profiles. I thought Rumtumtugger was a he...

And, Avatars - yours looks like Sea of Red, so....

Sea of Red.jpg

[carpedm9587]

Why do liberals think that classifying something as "big" somehow makes it more evil?

You'd have to ask a liberal that one. I don't claim to understand them - but I also have not seen this trend in their posts.

Liberals love to talk about the evils of "big oil" and "big business" and "big money" but never seem too bothered by things like "big government" and "big regulations" and "big taxes".

As per your earlier post, MM, money corrupts, and big money corrupts more than little money. That seems fairly clear to me. The "evils" I see in "big oil" and the fossil fuels industry in general is the same "evils" I saw in the lead industry and tobacco industry and today see in the sugar industry: an industry whose product has been shown to do harm, who is throwing up enormous amounts of dust and doubt to preserve their business model as long as possible, blind to the harm it is doing in the meantime. I have no problem with "big business" per se. Frankly, big businesses can be more efficient than smaller businesses, which is good for the consumer.

I do not shudder at "big government" because the numbers suggest our government is not particularly "big." Statistically, it is at par with the world average size of government employees per capita. I AM dissatisfied with the degree to which our government does not operate efficiently, and wastes our taxes. I also think our regulatory agencies are bloated and do not have sufficient oversight. I also think the strategy Trump is employing is ridiculous. A good business person, seeing a business overloaded with internal regulations, is going to task their leadership to provide justification for regulations or overturn them - looking to identify the bloat and eliminate it - and then implement an oversight process to prevent the bloat from returning. Trump's approach is to turn the entire thing over to people with stated intentions to destroy those departments, and to issue a ridiculous "2 out for every new one" - which is about numbers, not about quality and direction. That decision alone identified him to me as a "wanna be" business man - which is when I did some digging into his background and realized this man has never had to deal with a formal management structure. His companies have no boards, and he has never actually managed a business. When he started the apprentice, he was flat broke and on his 4th bankruptcy. He had the vision to see the Apprentice as a tool to enhance his name and his brand - and then proceeded to remake his fortune on the power of that brand.

But anyway, the problem is not "big money" but money of any amount, or more accurately the problem is human nature. Even my local community association which handles a relatively meager few hundred dollars a year has problems with embezzlement and false reporting of financial matters.

Yep - money will always be a problem as well as a solution.

Personally, I'd love to see an end to career politicians. Make it part-time, unpaid work so that anybody serving in public office would have to hold down a real job like the rest of us. It would also compel them to limit the scope of what they do and only focus on the most critical matters related to managing the country. But then I'm enough of a realist to know that this will almost certainly never happen.

Umm... no. First of all, I have no desire to see the governance of a 350 million person country turned over to unpaid part-timers. Every business man knows if you want to attract top talent, you are going to have to pay a reasonable wage for it - and I have no problem with paying a reasonable wage to politicians. I DO have a problem with them collecting that wage and then spending 2/3 of their time fundraising to keep their office. And I DO have a problem with (and agree with you) on career politicians. We desparately need term limits. They need to be long enough to ensure a degree of corporate memory, but short enough to prevent people from entrenching themselves and to ensure that, ever year, some percentage of the politicians will not be looking forward to the next election cycle and can actually do what they were elected to do: represent the best interests of their constituents.

[carpedm9587]

And, Avatars - yours looks like Sea of Red, so....

[ATTACH=CONFIG]25348[/ATTACH]

They are NOTHING alike. His has more stars!

[Cow Poke]

They are NOTHING alike. His has more stars!

Then he obviously outranks you, and you need to salute him!

[carpedm9587]

Then he obviously outranks you, and you need to salute him!

[Starlight]

Or without it being 37 times the size of NZ.

Your federal government expenditure per capita is pretty similar to that of the NZ government. Given your government is spending approximately the same amount of money per person in your country as ours is here, it's interesting to see how that money is being spent differently.

[Bill the Cat]

Your federal government expenditure per capita is pretty similar to that of the NZ government. Given your government is spending approximately the same amount of money per person in your country as ours is here, it's interesting to see how that money is being spent differently.

Didn't you leave?

[Starlight]

Didn't you leave?

And likely will again soon.

I guess people coming and going is too hard for your braincell to cope with?

[carpedm9587]

And likely will again soon.

I guess people coming and going is too hard for your braincell to cope with?

Why are you leaving?

[Starlight]

Why are you leaving?

Because over the years I have developed an extremely low opinion of the vast majority of conservative posters on this forum. I generally do not feel there is anything to be gained from interacting with them. Most of the friends I have had who posted in this forum felt the same way and have long since left, and occasionally ask me what is wrong with me for continuing to engage. The relatively few good faith/intelligent posters in this forum like yourself, Leonhard, Jim, Tass, SoR etc are not enough to salvage a forum that mostly serves as a slime pit for the dregs of humanity.

But I find US politics and the US religious conservative mindset fascinating to follow, because they are sooo much more crazy than in any other developed country I know of.

[Cow Poke]

Because over the years I have developed an extremely low opinion of the vast majority of conservative posters on this forum.

Could have something to do with your extreme left bias and prejudice.