Party affiliations

[|MP|Buccaneer]

Since when did I say it was immoral to live in the US?  

Who said you did?  But since you have made it clear that you are planning on becoming expatriotreated, and you seem only to be waiting for your meal ticket to run out, we are saying that you have already sold out your convictions.  If you did go to one of the best schools in the nation with a 3.7 GPA, we would assume that you also tested well.  You should be able to get a full ride to many schools, many schools out of the country.  Why do you instead chose to live in your parents basement in this country that you seem to hate so much?

I had a 3.7 GPA and was in the top 20% of one of the most competitive high schools in the nation.  I'm sure I could have gotten scholarships of some sort, but I didn't apply for them.  

Now, there's a sure sign of intelligence.  Sure you could have gotten them, but didn't apply.  Actually, it's just a sign of poor judgement.  It doesn't surprise me.  If you could get these, why was it "prohibitively expensive"?  Was filling out an application too expensive?  How?

But only the top 20% with a 3.7.  Either your school had one hell of an easy grading system for 20% to have an A- average, or they weren't on the 4.0 scale.  In the high school I attended, 70% was the lowest passing grade, 93% was a B (or 3.0).  So, if you went to a public school, I fear that they did an injustice.  BTW, where did you see that you went to one of the "most competitive high schools in the nation"?  I mean, I went to a private school, where we had numbers like 98% graduation rate and 92% going on to college with around 70% getting into their college of first choice.  They used to publish the rate for graduating from college too, but I can't remember that.  But I have no way of knowing how we would stack up nationally.  Where do they rate these things?

As for my "community college" if it is a community college then so is UCLA and USC and CU Boulder and U of M.  The only reason it is cheap is because it is in state, and in city (thus I live at home rather than in dorms/apartment).

Actually, I think the term you were looking for was "commuter college", not community.  And it wouldn't apply to UofM or WMU (I can't speak for USC, UCLA or CU).  For UofM and WMU, freshmen are required to live on campus, even if their parents live in the area.  The only exception was "non-traditional students" aka Night School only.  Also, the question Deadeye asked about it was what programs is it ranked as having the best in the nation.  WMU has two programs considered the best in the nation.  It has many other accreditations to go with it too, a great teaching school, chemistry, business (but everyone has that).  They are free to look up Bondo.  We live in the information age.

Oh, and I voted in every Presidential election I've been elgible for and plan to continue.

So the law makers seem to mean nothing to you.  You plan on voting in the election that probably has the least effect on you personally.  States pass more laws then Federal.  Your local government is even more important.  Ofcourse you know all this.  It's kinda revolting that you take your civic duty so lightly.  


Now, to more important things.

Loudnotes and Ace,

One thing about the Reformist Party, a few people, like the most successful Reformist so far, only joined the part for the war chest and more debate time that it afforded him.  He never really followed anyone's platform but his own.  

[PsYcO aSsAsSiN]

Ben, mail-in ballots. There is no excuse for no fufilling your obligation to your country by not voting. My Grandfather was a B-17 pilot risking his life in helping to bomb Nazi Germany. He put country before self in order to fight for the right for our freedom and I think we owe a debt of gratitude to our soldiers past and present for allowing us to live the lifestyles we choose, say anything we want, and to ELECT whomever we want to lead us into the future.

If voting is too hard for you, move to Communist China, Communist North Korea, or even Iraq. I'm sure they don't care if you vote or not, because it doesn't matter in those places.

[Bondo]

Since when did I say it was immoral to live in the US?  

Who said you did?  But since you have made it clear that you are planning on becoming expatriotreated, and you seem only to be waiting for your meal ticket to run out, we are saying that you have already sold out your convictions.  If you did go to one of the best schools in the nation with a 3.7 GPA, we would assume that you also tested well.  You should be able to get a full ride to many schools, many schools out of the country.  Why do you instead chose to live in your parents basement in this country that you seem to hate so much?

Now, there's a sure sign of intelligence.  Sure you could have gotten them, but didn't apply.  Actually, it's just a sign of poor judgement.  It doesn't surprise me.  If you could get these, why was it "prohibitively expensive"?  Was filling out an application too expensive?  How?

But only the top 20% with a 3.7.  Either your school had one hell of an easy grading system for 20% to have an A- average, or they weren't on the 4.0 scale.  In the high school I attended, 70% was the lowest passing grade, 93% was a B (or 3.0).  So, if you went to a public school, I fear that they did an injustice.  BTW, where did you see that you went to one of the "most competitive high schools in the nation"?  I mean, I went to a private school, where we had numbers like 98% graduation rate and 92% going on to college with around 70% getting into their college of first choice.  They used to publish the rate for graduating from college too, but I can't remember that.  But I have no way of knowing how we would stack up nationally.  Where do they rate these things?

Ace was claiming that my staying here made me morally unsound (or something to that matter).

As for testing well, 1350 on the PSAT and 29 on the ACT is testing well...better than our President did.

As for being a 3.7 just inside the top 20%...GPAs don't go on a bell curve...we just happen to have a ton of good students, especially in my graduating class.  We had one student go to Stanford and one to Dartmoth.  Most of our students go to CU, CSU, or a number of other schools.  As for where this is rated...in a national magazine two years ago it was listed as one of the top 100 high schools in the nation...oh, and 99% graduation rate is pretty good for a public school isn't it?

[|MP|Buccaneer]

Ace was claiming that my staying here made me morally unsound (or something to that matter).

Yes, and I agree.  You are selling out your moral high ground for having your school paid for.  Making it easy on yourself instead of following your morals.  It's not immoral to live in the USA.  It's selling out for you to do it just so you can have your school paid for.  After all, you want to leave and become expatrioted.

As for testing well, 1350 on the PSAT and 29 on the ACT is testing well...better than our President did.

And beating our President is a benchmark?  

If those are really your test scores and your grades (I'll have to take your word) then you are full of shit on academic grants (you are in no way telling the whole story).  Since I did have some academic grants, and didn't have to apply for them (they included them with my admissions, I just had to sign a form that they filled out), and yes, my parents made too much money for me to get anything out of many of the usual grants, these were purely academic in nature.  Oh, except for one which was for being a non-smoker.  

So, your point about it being cost prohibitive to go to schools out of the country seems to be, lacking to say that least.  If you want to leave the contry and go to Europe to live, and the only thing stopping you was filling out an application, you are either butt ass stupid, or not telling us the full story.  At least if you said you were afraid to leave your parents basement, that would be something.  But to say you have all the scores for an academic ride, and chose not to take it, nobody that smart is that stupid.  Not without some major other reasons.

As for being a 3.7 just inside the top 20%...GPAs don't go on a bell curve...we just happen to have a ton of good students, especially in my graduating class.  We had one student go to Stanford and one to Dartmoth.  

Ah, we didn't go on a bell curve either.  But, we also had a very hard grading system.  And if everyone got an A on an exam, the teachers figured they weren't making them hard enough.  As for studenst going to Ivy league, we had more then two.  But that's just a pissing contest, and not important.

As for where this is rated...in a national magazine two years ago it was listed as one of the top 100 high schools in the nation...oh, and 99% graduation rate is pretty good for a public school isn't it?

What national magazine?  I want to see where they stand around here.

And a 99% graduation rate says that they are padding their stats in a public school.  Kids died in my high school.  So there was no way for them to graduate.  We test kids to get into the school I went to.  Don't pass, don't get in.  Some still flunk out and have to go back to public.  

If it's at 99%, then it goes with the grading system.  That school just had to be too easy.  With a national average of 17 on the ACT, I don't care what neighborhood you live in, if it's public, not charter, you have to take all the students.  And there are just too many dumb kids to all graduate.  Private schools have higher numbers because they just don't let in those students in the first place, and parents usually care more about the kid doing homework (usually, not always) when they are shelling out $1500 a year for the kid to go there.

What was the name of this super school Bondo?  I want to look it up.  It has to be in all the Education journals.

[jn.loudnotes]

I think we're restating the intelligence debate now. . .

Thanks for agreeing Ace, and Bucc I see your point.  My problem is that I don't like any of the Reformist candidates, so while their anti-partisan ideal is nice, they don't really present a viable alternative.  Personally I'd like to see a system like that in Europe, with dozens of parties, only without the coalitions and constant reorganization.

[|MP|Buccaneer]

The sad truth of it is that you need the money to play the game.  And the party's have the money.  

I don't particularly like anyone in the Reformist Party either right now.  But I like that they want to reform the two party system.  And that they'll add money to some indies that join up, without forcing any platform down their throats.

[Bondo]

Bucc, if you wish to look it up it is Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs.

Oh and another point of interest, were were listed as the second snobbiest school in the country on The Tonight Show, that was probably helped by the local paper as the humor colomnist would always write about us having valet parking and other such nonsense.

As for being scared to leave my parents' basement...that isn't directly true but isn't completely false either...I would say that at this point my mental state would not be conducive to living on my own.  I'm pretty sure the lack of any appetite, insomnia, and a very rapid mind are a good recipe to not be capable of all that.  I have been held back by these problems...if I was "normal" in that regard I probably would have had above a 4.0 GPA (by means of AP and Honors classes) and been at least in the top 10% of my class.  This is why I make a point of saying intelligence can't be marked by grades.

[|MP|Buccaneer]

Who said intelligence is marked by grades?  Intelligence is the ability to learn and apply knowledge.  Sometimes it can be measured by grades, sometimes it can't.  Too many variables.

Grades measure many things though.

And if you are too mentally unstable to live on your own right now, that explains much about you.  

But you have still sold out your moral high ground for the comfort of your parents house.

Everyone I know has lack of sleep btw.  i don't think anyone sleeps more then 5 hours a night except for Danielle, nope, not even her since her baby came.  If you haven't noticed my computer hours from posts here, I usually sleep 3-4 hours a day.  Same way with Deadeye, and Grifter was that way too.  

[Bondo]

Really fucking class of you to make fun of other's afflictions Bucc.

Sure, I understand not everyone gets 8 hours...but do you get little sleep because you can't  due to activities or don't need to, or is it because you can't get to sleep even if you want to fall asleep.

Also, do you know many people who haven't been hungry ever for nearly two years and eat about 1000 calories a day just because it would be unhealthy not to.  If I don't eat (take today for example, I ate my one and only meal at 5 pm and didn't eat a great deal) I don't feel hungry, the only sign I get is I sometimes will get dizzy, usually that doesn't happen as I eat proactively to prevent it.

Sorry but you really shouldn't be making light of my problems.  That is like if I had made light of Grifter dying, something I would never do.

[|MP|Buccaneer]

I didn't make light of your problems.  Find where I made light of them.  Go ahead, find it.  I said it explains much about you.  How is that fucking making light of it dickhead?  Go cry in your pillow you wee girl if you are that overly sensative.

None of us sleep because we are wound up too tight.  We'd all love to sleep 8 hours.  It doesn't happen.  Even when I sleep, I'm dreaming about things I need to do, solving problems, that sort of shit.  I long for the dreams I had back in puberty (where's Kathy Ireland when I need her??)

As for not eating, who has time for that either?  One meal a day is about all I ever do.  You act like this is unusual or something.  Eating disorders are nothing new.  If it's a problem, get help.

And not showing sympathy is not the same as making light.  I dont' feel sympathy for you Bondo, and I'm not the kind of person to fake it.  That's worse in my book.

None of that changes the fact that you lose that moral high ground by selling out.  Your actions speak louder then your words.

[jn.loudnotes]

Maybe you both need help. . .
 

[cookie]

  i hate you all!

oh oh and good questions, who do you think will win the midterms? What would be the effect of a republican/democrat senate majority on the country.

[Bondo]

I didn't make light of your problems.  Find where I made light of them.  Go ahead, find it.  I said it explains much about you.  How is that fucking making light of it dickhead?  Go cry in your pillow you wee girl if you are that overly sensative.

You made light of it by trivializing it...acting like it is no big deal.  You wouldn't know the half of it.

Cookie, don't hate me    Hate Bucc for being such an utter asshole.

[|MP|Buccaneer]

Ok you little pansy, where did I "trivialize" it?

Because your problems aren't a big deal to me?  They aren't.  Boo fucking hoo.  Are my problems a big deal to you?  Are my problems a big deal to anyone here?  Nope.  And I don't share them or use them as an excuse for being a flaming idiot either, jackass.  

Everyone has problems.  I didn't make fun of yours, but I'm not going to throw a pity party for you either.  Life sucks sometimes, get over it.

Cookie, I think there is going to be a swing towards democrat, and more friction between Congress and the Pres.  This administration has been doing much of what the older Bush did (and Clinton to).  Whenever this is a serious question that the administration doesn't like, a new battle springs up into the news.  I think that the law makers and people are starting to see through it (not just the smart ones, but even the majority sheep).  I think that the old smoke and mirrors has been used too often and congress is going to be more agressive with him.

Just my thoughts.

Oh yeah, and boo hoo, hate me.  I was mean to Bondo, so hate me.  boo-fucking-hoo.  Can you get anymore childish Bondo?

[Cossack]

I hope the Congress goes democrat. Just to kinda have a balance of power. Republican Administration, Democrat Congress.  Democrat Administartion, Republican Congress. I also wish people would represent their state more than their party.

[tasty]

We need a democratic majority in the senate? I think the direction that this country's government is moving in is very dangerous. The Patriot Act essentially made the US a police state??I for one, do not like the feeling that my every move is being monitored. I don't believe that this is actually true, but if it was true it wouldn't be legal. I just want a return of civil liberties in America and although the Democrats can often be just as treacherous as the Republicans, at least beneath this treachery is a liberal base that they rarely alienate. The country is outrageously conservative right now, and I blame the current administration, who I see as almost completely unconsciable in their foreign and domestic actions. Keep in mind, over 50 percent of the country voted Democrat in the 2000 election, therefore the direction that a Republican congress and administration would take our nation would NOT be representative of the country as a whole. This is where democracy is failing??but that is a seperate subject entirely! So get out the Democratic vote.

[|MP|Buccaneer]

We need a democratic majority in the senate? I think the direction that this country's government is moving in is very dangerous. The Patriot Act essentially made the US a police state? I for one, do not like the feeling that my every move is being monitored. I don't believe that this is actually true, but if it was true it wouldn't be legal.

Tasty, that seems like a bit of an exageration to me.  Why would you feel that anything you do is being monitored?  You are right, it wouldn't be constitutional.

I just want a return of civil liberties in America and although the Democrats can often be just as treacherous as the Republicans, at least beneath this treachery is a liberal base that they rarely alienate.

Tasty, on a side note, why don't you consider the right to bear arms a civil liberty?  I do consider it one, I'm curious why you don't.

Also, I don't see a big difference between the career Republican and the career Democrat.  Both are usually just looking to line thier own pocket, get re-elected, and cover their own ass.  Party politics drives me nuts.  Many Democrats will oppose the Republican President because of the Party.  And Vice Versa.  That is such bullshit to me.  Represent the people you are supposed to represent, not any Party.  Most of them just don't see this anymore.

The country is outrageously conservative right now, and I blame the current administration, who I see as almost completely unconsciable in their foreign and domestic actions. Keep in mind, over 50 percent of the country voted Democrat in the 2000 election, therefore the direction that a Republican congress and administration would take our nation would NOT be representative of the country as a whole. This is where democracy is failing? but that is a seperate subject entirely! So get out the Democratic vote.

You bring up a good point here Tasty, but I think you draw the wrong conclusion.  

First, this isn't a failure with democracy.  It is a known flaw in a Republic.  We are governed by a Republic, not a true Democracy.  There were a few reasons that our forefathers chose a Republic, one of the biggest being it would take forever to have all the people vote on everything.  Communication sucked back then.  And it would be too easy to tamper with things along the way.  I say that we have enough technology now, and that the standards are high enough now, that we should move away from a Republic and more towards a true Democracy.  

There are many villages and townships across the country that are.  The next step is for a large city or small state to make the move.

Second, Even the Democrat that was being voted upon was a conservative.  The reason we have a bunch of conservatives in office is because the country as a whole has been getting more conservative.  It isn't a Republican / Democrat thing, it's just the way the attitudes are swinging.  It's easy to give up some freedom when you see buildings blowing up, and militia's with too many guns lurking in the background.  

I agree things are too conservative.  But I don't see any Democrats that are going to help that situation out greately.

[Cossack]

America is a political pendulem. In the 60's America took a left turn. In the 80s a right. Reagan was a response to Carter. Clinton a Response to Reagan. Bush Jr a response to  Clinton. America is entering a new right turn just like it did during the 80s and eventually it will go left again.

[tasty]

The Patriot Act essentially made the US a police state? I for one, do not like the feeling that my every move is being monitored. I don't believe that this is actually true, but if it was true it wouldn't be legal.

lol that is a typo? i meant illegal instead of legal . Among the things the government can do under the patriot act are searching your house without a warrant or even telling you that they were there, monitoring computer keystrokes for up to 60 days without telling you, and tapping phone lines without a warrant. I don't think that they have used these powers too often. But the fact that they can use them without reporting to a higher authority (this was said to bog down timing and be too bureaucratic) scares me.

Tasty, on a side note, why don't you consider the right to bear arms a civil liberty?  I do consider it one, I'm curious why you don't.

I don't consider the right to bear arms to be a civil liberty because in my mind it conflicts with another, more important civil liberty: the right to life. Although the right to bear arms is a civil liberty guaranteed by the constitution, I can't support it for that reason.

Many Democrats will oppose the Republican President because of the Party.  And Vice Versa.  That is such bullshit to me.  Represent the people you are supposed to represent, not any Party.  Most of them just don't see this anymore.

Although party politics do play a large role in government today, I think that the reason politicians oppose each other is because they have different idealogies. When a candidate wins in an election, their idealogy is winning - therefore wouldn't they be representing the people by opposing legislation that went against that idealogy? It makes sense to me.

We are governed by a Republic, not a true Democracy.

It's true that we are not governed by a true Democracy. We are governed by a representative Democracy. The people we vote on are representing us in a Democracy. I personally think that this system is bullshit and I would be happy to go vote on bills and issues myself every single day. Moving towards a true Democracy would be an excellent step, but most power-hungry politicians would never allow it.

The reason we have a bunch of conservatives in office is because the country as a whole has been getting more conservative.  It isn't a Republican / Democrat thing, it's just the way the attitudes are swinging.  

I agree that generally the country has become more conservative, but I think that if everyone had greater access to truthful news and political information as opposed to the political propaganda they see on television than this rampant conservatism would be less of a problem. And it is a problem, because the way that information is censored by the state is ridiculous. I myself don't always have access to this good information - but at least I know its out there. For example, about 3 weeks ago they had a humongous anti-war protest in London with several hundred thousand participants opposed to the US' war on Iraq. It wasn't reported in any major US newspapers, including the NY Times and the Post. I think that is pretty newsworthy when compared to the fucking stupid shit that qualifies for news these days. But because of the interconnectedness of the media to corporations and the government, we don't hear a word of it. When the reasons for our conservatism are analyzed, it becomes obvious how hard it would be for people to ever get truthful information.

I agree that there aren't many Democrats that will help the situation. I really wish there were more progressive alternatives. But for the present (this year's elections) most Democrats are the best that one can support. At least there is some small chance that maybe they will dissent the majority opinion of "compassionate conservatism"(what bullshit) advocated by our government today.

[PsYcO aSsAsSiN]

I agree that generally the country has become more conservative, but I think that if everyone had greater access to truthful news and political information as opposed to the political propaganda they see on television than this rampant conservatism would be less of a problem.

Please Tasty. It is a widely known fact that the media is liberal and hardly conservative. If this wasn't the case, we wouldn't be praising Bill Clinton for being a good President (he was fucking lousy, and he wasn't the cause of the economic boom) and many of you people wouldn't be bashing G.W. Bush for being an "idiot."

Read any major study on the issue and they all point towards media being liberal.