US Prez Election 2012 Thread - Opinions and Discussions

[MiM]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-j ... paign-fibs
Is there any more commentary needed

[Ian]

That guy had me in tears last night.

[Ian]

One for our British friends...

Romney book: Britain is a tiny island that makes stuff nobody wants
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/201 ... body_wants

and

Ten Questions I Doubt Romney can Answer About Foreign Policy
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/201 ... ign_policy

Note the source: Foreign Policy magazine. Not exactly a bastion of partisan liberal Democrats.

[Warren Dew]

Note the source: Foreign Policy magazine. Not exactly a bastion of partisan liberal Democrats.

They publish a lot more articles from leftist K school graduates than from the religious right, or even from Tea Party conservatives.

For a more balanced view of America's place in the world:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f4837046 ... z21mYM399D

[Graculus]

Cheap World health care is based on them unfairly leeching off of US medical research.

Except for, you know, the research that isn't done in the US.

[Drewish]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-j ... paign-fibs
Is there any more commentary needed

Unfunny partisan hackery. As expected.

[Tyrannical]

Cheap World health care is based on them unfairly leeching off of US medical research.

Except for, you know, the research that isn't done in the US.

How much real effort has sub-Saharan Africa put into AIDS research? Western nations have put almost all the effort into curing it, and after thirty years, common sense alone should have eradicated it.

[Graculus]

Cheap World health care is based on them unfairly leeching off of US medical research.

Except for, you know, the research that isn't done in the US.

How much real effort has sub-Saharan Africa put into AIDS research? Western nations have put almost all the effort into curing it, and after thirty years, common sense alone should have eradicated it.

the US is now the entirety of Western nations?
The West has a monopoly on common sense & has eradicated AIDS?
AIDS is the only medical research being done?

I'd like to know where the new goalposts are.

[Tyrannical]

Graculus, oooooh I like that avatar. Looks like a man with a giant middle finger, quite a funny obscene astronomy pic

The US is not the entirety of Western nations. The US spends money on and produces more useful medical research than other Western nations, and overall non-Western nations with a few exceptions contribute very little to the body of knowledge in comparison.

There are two ways to eradicate a disease, either through a direct cure or by preventing the infected from spreading it. We have long known how it is spread, and it is easily preventable through safe sex practices, not being promiscuous, or avoiding risky physical contact with the infected.

I remember back in the late 80's when there was alarm about HIV testing and how it was legislated as a privacy concern. If we used a testing / quarantine policy it would have been wiped out in the US twenty years ago when the last patient died. Instead, we made the mistake of listening to gay activists who literally caused the death of everyone infected with HIV to come after them by allowing it to continue to spread. I have no sympathy for HIV infected homosexuals today, it is the direct action of those activists who died decades ago who insisted on it being a privacy concern.

[Graculus]

Graculus, oooooh I like that avatar. Looks like a man with a giant middle finger, quite a funny obscene astronomy pic

The US is not the entirety of Western nations. The US spends money on and produces more useful medical research than other Western nations, and overall non-Western nations with a few exceptions contribute very little to the body of knowledge in comparison.

There are two ways to eradicate a disease, either through a direct cure or by preventing the infected from spreading it. We have long known how it is spread, and it is easily preventable through safe sex practices, not being promiscuous, or avoiding risky physical contact with the infected.

I remember back in the late 80's when there was alarm about HIV testing and how it was legislated as a privacy concern. If we used a testing / quarantine policy it would have been wiped out in the US twenty years ago when the last patient died. Instead, we made the mistake of listening to gay activists who literally caused the death of everyone infected with HIV to come after them by allowing it to continue to spread. I have no sympathy for HIV infected homosexuals today, it is the direct action of those activists who died decades ago who insisted on it being a privacy concern.

I have always felt that the Universe was giving me the bird.

I think the only honest way to look at these things is by per capita spending. I haven't been able to find a breakdown specifically for research. I know the US is the big spender in cancer research. But spending doesn't guarantee outcome. My objection was to the idea that the US is the *only* country doing medical research & that there is none in sub-Saharan Africa. Outside of that absolutism, yeah, the US does a lot of research. So does the EU, China, India, etc. I don't know the breakdown, but I'm guessing there's less than absolute dependence on the US.

There's a lot to unpack in your comments on AIDS. We could eliminate a lot of diseases by testing & jailing the infected. TB, Hepatitis, HPV, .... Why only HIV? Is getting HIV the only disease that is a moral failing so severe that it requires incarceration? Or just a scarlet letter? Medical records are private by default, by making one class public how do you justify stopping there? How would this approach encourage testing? Could we have an honest conversation about AIDS, & thereby encourage prevention, if no one would admit to having it? As for the continued spread of AIDS in the US, at least some of the blame has to be laid at the feet of the HIV deniers. Nothing is *that* simple, & quaranting the infected would be immoral in my playbook.

None of this has anything to do with the status of AIDS in Africa or Asia, as an aside.

[Tyrannical]

HIV is a terminal disease, that's a big reason right there. Combine that with the extreme difficulty in finding a cure makes it a major expensive problem. HIV treatments are in some respect counter-productive because even though it lessens the chance of spreading the disease, it still keeps them around to be able to spread the disease.

We've educated people on the prevention of HIV for decades and it still spreads. We give drug treatments to infected prostitutes that still practice their trade. Since treatments have not made it the virtual 100% death threat that it used to be people have gotten lazy with prevention.

AIDS in Africa is far more of a problem, but it is not our problem, it is theirs. They either alter their behavior or they can go extinct. We've explained it to them countless times it's +not caused by witchcraft, and exactly what they should or should not do to contract it.

[amused]

Back to the OP:

I am astonished at the stupidity of our congress and the voters who put them in charge.

I think it is well past time to establish minimal qualifications to serve in public office. Said qualifications should become more demanding as the public office becomes more influential on public policy.

I also think that voters should be required to pass minimal literacy, and possibly, intelligence screens before being allowed to participate in the management of the nation.

[Tyrannical]

Why surprised?
The Congress as a whole has always been unpopular, but people love their local representatives.

I sometimes wonder if direct election of Senators was a mistake, because the Senates job originally was to limit Federal power as they were pointed by State government.

[amused]

The Senate is almost irrelevant if the whole thing was working correctly. Gerrymandering of congressional districts has gutted representative government.

[Tyrannical]

The Senate is almost irrelevant if the whole thing was working correctly. Gerrymandering of congressional districts has gutted representative government.

You can't Gerrymander Senate seats. House seats have often devolved into who can get me the most benefits from the Federal Government. The Senate was meant as a check and balance on Federal power as they were supposed to represent their State's interest.