O

[James Lehman]

I'll let my jack-o-lantern express my current mood.

That's a very insigntful pumpkin!

And a good laugh for me!

James.

[Stuka]

Hmmm - gun show in town this weekend.

Good thing too - better stock up while we can!

[absolom7691]

What's interesting is that, right now in relation to history, we are very close to the point where republics fail. A republic works okay, it has to be kept in check. There are too many poeple to decide what's what, so we have representitives who speak for us. What happens when they have their own agenda? There, starts the corruption. As the government gets bigger and bigger, more and more corruption. The problem now is that our government is too big and fat. Like a lazy fat cat, it is no longer agile and can't do what it used to. Dems come up with an idea, try to pass it and the Reps immediately shoot it down, simply because the Dems thought of it. The Dems do the exact same with the Reps. We are at a stalemate. No, we can't get rid of the parties because they will just reform in a decade or so. What we need to do is put the government on a diet. Not cut government programs, so don't get all crazy with me Dems, but cut the red tape. Flush it out. To be slightly disgusting here, our government is 200+ years old and has not had one single enima. I think it's time.

The result of letting things go the way they are going, letting corruption get worse, the people are going to do the exact same thing they did in Rome when they had a republic. They flushed the government and bam, a true empire was born. One elected leader to speak for everyone. I think that is scary, but it will happen. It has happened before. Rome was the melting pot. Cultures from all over the world joined them (some by force, other elected to) We are almost at the same stage. Took under 500 years for that to happen. We are 200+ years in, we are the melting pot, we have over extended ourselves...... History... does repeat.

I fear for us. I think within the next 50 years, we will have a revolution. What will come from the ashes, who knows, but I would rather not see that happen.

That was my couple of coins on the ground for ya.

[buffo]

Two topics that are sure to cause a fuss: Politics and Religion. Yet here we are, talking politics. Sigh... I hope this doesn't get ugly...

Whatever your feelings about president-elect Obama, please remember that the race is over, he won (by an unusually large margin), and thus he *will* be our president come January 2009. So let's at least respect him for that. A united America is always stronger than a divided one.

Also, all jokes aside, I feel pretty strong about one point: You may disagree with him, but to threaten him - even in jest - is treasonous in my book. He's going to be *our* president. And I say that even though I'm a republican.

As for the concern that this is going to usher in some new era of neo-socialism, consider the fact that our national debt is already over 10 trillion *before* the 700 billion dollar bank bailout package. We just don't have the money for lots of new social programs.

Remember that Clinton tried socialized medicine back in the early 90's when we actually could have afforded it. You all see how well that went over. So fears about it happening now are totally unfounded. There will be some lip service paid to the cause I'm sure, but once the books are opened, everyone will see that we can't afford it.

Hell, we're going to be hard pressed just to keep the things we already have. (My guess is we'll probably see some cuts over the next few years - which, given our debt load, is probably not such a bad idea.)

Saddly, I think some of those cuts are going to be in the military, which I do not agree with. (Remember I've got a son in harm's way now. Dan is aboard the USS Peleliu as of yesterday.) But our country has gained some political favor on the world stage as a result of this election. If we're smart in how we deploy our forces over the next 4 years (and especially if we can avoid stepping on our dick in the middle east again), we'll be fine.

As for loosing your guns - that won't happen in 4 years. Trust me on that. It took the Brits nearly 10 years, and they didn't have the NRA. Besides, it's not one of Obama's pet peeve's. No, guns aren't going anywhere.

As for travel freedom, that was already in the shitter after 9/11, thanks to the strangely named "Patriot Act", which actually removed several travelers rights. We're all going to be showing ID and taking off our shoes to get on airplanes for the foreseeable future. (Personally, I can live with it, though I don't like it.)

One good thing about the economy though - it always rebounds after an election. With any luck, we'll see some investment in alternative energy that will bear fruit (T. Boone Pickens, anyone?) and we can start exporting that around the world. Mean time, nothing has really changed for you, me, or the rest of the nation, so let's keep doing what we're doing (with a wary eye on Washington nonetheless).

Like Steve pointed out, they didn't get a filibuster-proof 60 seats in the senate, so things *can't* get that far out of control. More likely we'll just see a few changes here and there as Washington looks for symbolic victories.

Adam

[mixedgas]

[QUOTE=buffo;68180]Two topics that are sure to cause a fuss: Politics and Religion. Yet here we are, talking politics. Sigh... I hope this doesn't get ugly...

A radical move would be to hurry and get a ABm system up, then tell the Chinese we are not paying them a cent on our debt.

Thats the last I'm saying,

Steve

[platinum]

A radical move would be to hurry and get a ABm system up, then tell the Chinese we are not paying them a cent on our debt.

Thats the last I'm saying,

Steve

That would make for interesting news items.

-Jonathan

[Stuka]

Adam, you're pretty insightful for a laser geek!

I'll have to say that I pretty much agree with you on all points!

And yep, he is OUR President-elect, and the next Commander-in-Chief, so our best bet is to give him the chance to settle in to the job and see what he can make of it! 4 years can go by REALLY quickly if a change is due!!

My "stock up now" comment concerning guns wasn't over the fear of having them taken away - I (and probably countless others!) would be taking the Charleton Heston stance if it came down to that, plus, the Supreme Court's decision this year pretty much took care of any drastic changes to the Second Amendment. However, what I could see happening is the industry being taxed to the point that it will be financially pretty difficult for the typical, legal gun owner to afford the costs of ownership and actively participate in sport shooting, once those costs are passed on from the dealers. Time will tell!

For some strange reason the military aspect of "the new era" hits close to home with me (Hmmm...). My biggest concern is we pull out TOO soon from the hot zones, and leave whoever winds up being the "last ones out" with barely what is needed to finish the job and get out in one piece! Of course, if the military was REALLY able to finish the job, and worry less about "political correctness", we could have been out of the hot zones a long time ago...

OK, I digress, off my soapbox...

Gotta' a 532nm-tuned AOM you want to sell?

PS -

I would NEVER talk about religion here.
Doesn't set well with the Baptists....

[buffo]

Actually, I do have an AOM that I'd be willing to sell. 2 of them, in fact. Now that I've got my PCAOM, I don't need the AOM's anymore. Let's talk after FLEM...

Adam

[Stuka]

Actually, I do have an AOM that I'd be willing to sell. 2 of them, in fact. Now that I've got my PCAOM, I don't need the AOM's anymore. Let's talk after FLEM...

Adam

Cool - definitely interested!

James -

Very good rendering of the new President-elect! Ever given any thoughts to creating a Presidential ILD frame collection featuring all the Presidents? THAT would be tres' cool!!

[James Lehman]

Cool - definitely interested!

James -

Very good rendering of the new President-elect! Ever given any thoughts to creating a Presidential ILD frame collection featuring all the Presidents? THAT would be tres' cool!!

That is a great idea that we could all work on together!

First we need to get some good high-contrast picture of the peeps. The one I used for O was actually a posterized color picture that only had a few solid colors in it. I bet you've seen it. It's very easy to see the lines in that before you even start to trace it.

I'd be (really) glad to start a thread about how to use LaserBoy to do hand traced raster images.

James.