American Election 2012
- Thread starter ChargerWA
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Rob42
John Solomon (38)
From what I understand, one of the main hurdles to getting any sort of bipartisan compromise out of Washington is that the main threat to most Republican congress members is being rejected at pre-selection in favour of someone who is even more extreme right-wing. They are in less danger of being rejected by the wider electorate because of their inability to get anything done. So there is no motivation to compromise - the wider electorate may criticise the logjam, but the Republican members know that to compromise is death.
USARugger
John Thornett (49)
The GOP has been eating it's own young for close to a decade now. But that concept is just what I was referring to. Most of these politicians aren't actually that far-right at all (evidenced by them getting arrested with pot, fondling other men in public bathrooms, etc) but tow the party line out of fear because politics is a very lucrative way to make a career here. By posturing so extremely far to the right they force the Democrats to come well over the center when they want to compromise on anything.
The root of the problem is the bipartisan system itself but it's so deeply entrenched here I don't see it ever going away.
The root of the problem is the bipartisan system itself but it's so deeply entrenched here I don't see it ever going away.
boyo
Mark Ella (57)
Same here.
USARugger
John Thornett (49)
Dunno if any of you follow or bother with American politics at all but this little beauty had me in my chair not sure whether I wanted to laugh or cry: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/...ills-declare-numbers-science-enemy-combatants
It shocks me how nonchalantly some of these politicians approach legislation on STEM-related issues..which they clearly are not qualified to even talk about, much less legislate upon. Seriously how debased do you have to be from the science and research community or the reality of scientific research to think that this bill reads like anything other than the ramblings of a soccer mom who believe that reading Harry Potter will turn their child into a warlock?
Can't say I'm sweating this one too heavily though. I'm sure there are plenty of other governments looking for Public Health Administrators/Epidemiologists trained and educated on the dime of another nation!
It shocks me how nonchalantly some of these politicians approach legislation on STEM-related issues..which they clearly are not qualified to even talk about, much less legislate upon. Seriously how debased do you have to be from the science and research community or the reality of scientific research to think that this bill reads like anything other than the ramblings of a soccer mom who believe that reading Harry Potter will turn their child into a warlock?
Can't say I'm sweating this one too heavily though. I'm sure there are plenty of other governments looking for Public Health Administrators/Epidemiologists trained and educated on the dime of another nation!
Bruwheresmycar
Nicholas Shehadie (39)
Yeah I heard about that story. The words "scientifically illiterate" don't seem to cut it for supporters of that movement. How do you determine scientific research/experiments as "groundbreaking" before you have even performed them? Experiments can be full of surprises no matter how large or small.
Science isn't all about finding new diseases or planets all the time. It's just as much about ruling out potential causes of phenomena to narrow down the search further. And replicating experiments is also a hugely important part of scientific research.
That's not to say there isn't much science denial in Australia, it's somewhat of a national sport here. They just don't get much of a platform in parliament.
Science isn't all about finding new diseases or planets all the time. It's just as much about ruling out potential causes of phenomena to narrow down the search further. And replicating experiments is also a hugely important part of scientific research.
That's not to say there isn't much science denial in Australia, it's somewhat of a national sport here. They just don't get much of a platform in parliament.
USARugger
John Thornett (49)
What's the climate like in Oz in regards to science and unavoidably, religion? I'd love to hear a native extrapolate on that.
All of what you already mentioned aside it takes little more than common sense to realize that 'groundbreaking' experiments are only made possible by the dozens/hundreds/thousands of experiments that made them possible or have them a foundation to be based upon.
To make it even more idiotic I'm sure the majority of the politicians who would sign off on that bill were actually fucking alive during the Manhattan Project..
Unrelated but does Fox News constantly shovel anti-Obama stuff down your throats all day or something? I've been following Ben Perkins on twitter and am kind of disappointed to find out he's seemingly lapping this shit up on a minute-to-minute basis. For fucks sake he just tweeted at Glenn Beck, seriously? Why would you ever want to talk to a wildly bigoted snake oil salesman? He's been retweeting lots of Fox anchors and journalists and I generally see 2-5 things every day just scrolling through my twitter page that he's retweeted or tweeted himself that are either huge misrepresentations of the truth or outright lies.
IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH OR ARE EASILY UPSET DO NOT READ THE ARTICLE WHICH I AM ABOUT TO LINK (IT'S WORK SAFE)
One of his posts that really caught my eye was how he somehow thinks that this (http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/n...st-Philly-Abortion-Victims-Was-By-Design.html) was the result of abortion being legal in the United States. When in fact if you spend the 15 minutes it takes to you know..read an article about what you're preaching..it becomes very obvious that a lack of preventative and post-coital birth control options available to these girls were the exact reason Gosnell was able to continue running his butcher shop unnoticed.
All of what you already mentioned aside it takes little more than common sense to realize that 'groundbreaking' experiments are only made possible by the dozens/hundreds/thousands of experiments that made them possible or have them a foundation to be based upon.
To make it even more idiotic I'm sure the majority of the politicians who would sign off on that bill were actually fucking alive during the Manhattan Project..
Unrelated but does Fox News constantly shovel anti-Obama stuff down your throats all day or something? I've been following Ben Perkins on twitter and am kind of disappointed to find out he's seemingly lapping this shit up on a minute-to-minute basis. For fucks sake he just tweeted at Glenn Beck, seriously? Why would you ever want to talk to a wildly bigoted snake oil salesman? He's been retweeting lots of Fox anchors and journalists and I generally see 2-5 things every day just scrolling through my twitter page that he's retweeted or tweeted himself that are either huge misrepresentations of the truth or outright lies.
IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH OR ARE EASILY UPSET DO NOT READ THE ARTICLE WHICH I AM ABOUT TO LINK (IT'S WORK SAFE)
One of his posts that really caught my eye was how he somehow thinks that this (http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/n...st-Philly-Abortion-Victims-Was-By-Design.html) was the result of abortion being legal in the United States. When in fact if you spend the 15 minutes it takes to you know..read an article about what you're preaching..it becomes very obvious that a lack of preventative and post-coital birth control options available to these girls were the exact reason Gosnell was able to continue running his butcher shop unnoticed.
Bruwheresmycar
Nicholas Shehadie (39)
While politicians keep their personal beliefs out of important policy discussion such as economic policy, foreign policy and for the most part - healthcare. For some reason we are quite a conservative bunch and that creeps into politics at all some levels particularly in social policy.
Policy debates on discrimination, euthanasia, marriage equality, stem cell research, birth control and the like are all affected by religious influence. It doesn't matter how much public support their is for a policy, or how much evidence stacks up against the governments stance on a policy - the catholic church has enough pawns in parliament to get their way regardless. Just watch them at the moment lobbying for the right to sack people for things like relationship status or sexuality.
You will also be extremely lucky to get through the public education sector in Australia without being confronted with religious proselytizing (99% of which is of the christian brand). The government likes to win votes by granting a small minority of wacko's access to those 'lost souls' in non-christian public schools. It's not a major problem, we can all deal with it - but it is a matter of principle.
In summary, our last 2 Prime Ministers range from a deeply religious man to a non-believing women. The overall policy differences between the two are so tiny, which shows religiosity doesn't weigh in too heavily on Australian federal policy. However at the local level people do feel the effect of religious influence on these "minor" issues - which I listed above.
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