Politics & Government - 24 February 2007

2007-02-24 05:28:38 · 22 answers · asked by Anonymous in Law Enforcement & Police

2007-02-24 05:28:04 · 9 answers · asked by Chi Guy 5 in Politics

Guardianship was given up due to imprisonment which is over in a few days. Thanks for your help !

2007-02-24 05:28:00 · 3 answers · asked by ambay 3 in Law & Ethics

I have a pretty large collection of 'sample' adult materials from the web from the past few years - all top quality stuff (i've weeded out the lame / extreme / fake stuff). I'm wondering, can I LEGALLY sell a compilation of this stuff on Ebay or somewhere else? The host site's address is always featured in the clip (usually in the lower corner), so I'm not pretending these are MY mateirals... just seems like the collecting and weeding out of this material should be worth something. Is this possible and legal?

2007-02-24 05:27:29 · 7 answers · asked by colin_21 2 in Law & Ethics

Could it be, an issue that the liberals like me could legitamately use, can be a 'it is none of my business now, just like it is none of my business then' category?

2007-02-24 05:25:22 · 18 answers · asked by ProLife Liberal 5 in Politics

2007-02-24 05:24:48 · 11 answers · asked by Rob L 1 in Law & Ethics

2007-02-24 05:24:26 · 6 answers · asked by panthrchic 4 in Elections

What causes inflation?



Inflation seems to be a subject few people understand. The cause of inflation is likely purposely clouded by the people you send to Washington. To understand inflation, we must first review some history.

The USA started printing script, paper money, around the time of the Civil War. The script became promissory notes for an exchange of gold to foreign countries. All U.S. citizens were required to surrender their gold for dollars. All the gold in the USA became the property of the government. An exchange rate of $35 per ounce of gold was established. In international trading, the U.S. dollar became as good as gold.

Even though the U.S. dollar was backed by gold, the British pound sterling was the major currency used in the international commodities market up to World War II. As a result of England's destruction during the war and the decline in value of its currency, the U.S. dollars took hegemony in international trade.

Everything went along smoothly for a few decades in the world. Trading between nations was conducted in U.S. dollars. After all, the dollar was as good as gold. Then came the 1960s.

For the first time in its history, the USA could not switch back to a butter economy after World War II. After every prior conflict the country was involved in, its military industrial machine was dismantled. The cold war prevented that. The country had to adopt a guns and butter economy, a combination never tried before by a non-imperialistic country.

A strain on the U.S. treasury started when the country engage in another war, began an expense space program, and started a costly entitlement program for the poor all at the same time. The cost of maintaining a military to block Soviet expansionism, fight a war in Vietnam, send men to the moon, and pay welfare checks caused the USA to spend much more money than it collected in taxes. The solution was simply to print more money. By the end of the decade, the USA had printed far more money than the gold supply could cover.

Foreign countries were well aware of the fact that the U.S. had print money that wasn't covered by gold. In 1971, France demanded gold in exchange for the U.S. dollars it held in its reserves. This move by France started a run on Fort Knox. President Nixon countered this run by taking the dollar off the gold standard.

Without gold, something had to support the value of the dollar. Thus, the International Currency Exchange was established, where banks began trading currency just like investors traded stock on the stock market. It was the demand for the currency on this market that set the value of the dollar.

Although this solved the problem of the country's gold reserve being depleted, it didn't correct the fact that the USA had printed far more money than its economy and the world's economy needed. Inflation, or devaluation of the dollar, followed this move by Nixon. It took well into the 1980s until the U.S. economy earned the excess money spent by the government during the 1960s.



So. How does the International Currency Market determine the value of the dollar?



When Nixon dropped the gold standard, the USA was the largest producer of goods on the world market. When a foreign country needed to buy U.S. goods it needed U.S. dollars to do so. The need for dollars created a demand for the script. As the USA produced more, more script was needed by foreign countries to buy products. This need of dollars supported the dollar's value.

Nixon realize, however, that it would take several decades for the U.S. economy to earn back the huge government deficits of the 60s. To help shorten that period of time, a deal was struck with OPEC. OPEC agreed to demand U.S. dollars on the international market as payment for its oil. In return, the USA agreed to provide military protection to OPEC nations against any Soviet threat. This trade in oil for dollars became known as petrodollars.

From the mid 1980s through the 1990s, the world went along smoothly once again. The U.S. money supply balanced out with the world's trade, and everything was hunkydory. But then came an event that upset the balance of nature: the start of the European Union.

The establishment of the European Union, and the issuance of its currency, could not have come at a worse time for the USA.

The industrialization of Asian nations, like China, had created a cheap source of consumer goods for the American public. So much so, that it created a trade deficit between the USA and those countries. As a result, the USA had to buy more foreign currency with its dollars to pay for those imports. This lessened the demand for dollars on the exchange.

Meanwhile, the new European Union became a big exporter of goods to the world, which increased the demand for Euors on the exchange and further lessened the demand for dollars. With less countries buying dollars, the value of the dollar declined on the currency exchange, and Americans had to pay more dollars for the goods it import, which meant inflation.

This isn't the end of the story, however. Our government is still in the habit of spending money it doesn't yet have. Government spending is based on projected tax revenue. And, tax revenue is based on personal income. The old formula for calculating projected tax revenue doesn't fit the inflation cycle the country is facing today.

In the inflationary times of the 1970s the USA was able to produce more products to sell in the international market place. This increased production created more jobs and more personal income.

This is not the case today. Although America's big business is selling more on the international market, the labor for that production is coming from outside the USA. Because of foreign labor, personal income is not increasing as it did in the 1970s. This is creating shortfalls in tax revenue, which again has the government spending more money than it is taking in, and has it printing money with no value to cover its expenses, as it did in the 1960s. This adds to inflation pressure.

Many foreign countries are viewing this as the same problem that prompted France to demand gold for its dollar reserves, which puts value of the $27 trillion US dollars in the currency exchange at even further risk.

Unless the trade deficit is brought under control we are going to continue in this cycle of inflation, which will lead to further deficits in government spending and more inflation yet again.

2007-02-24 05:24:22 · 6 answers · asked by .... . .-.. .-.. --- 4 in Politics

When Bush was not able to catch Osama (person responsible for 9/11) for 6 years still.

http://www.buzzflash.com/perspectives/Clinton_and_Terrorism.html

2007-02-24 05:24:10 · 10 answers · asked by Sean 4 in Politics

In other words, would it automatically determine if you voted for him?

2007-02-24 05:20:47 · 12 answers · asked by ProLife Liberal 5 in Elections

Who is the best fameous celebrity or artist that champions conservative causes or ideas?

2007-02-24 05:19:42 · 17 answers · asked by Laughing Man Copycat 5 in Politics

a 25 megaton hydrogen bomb was to be dropped in the middle of North East US by an aliance of Southwest Asia an Korea, what would the next president of the US do, assuming its a male?

2007-02-24 05:19:36 · 8 answers · asked by h-townguy 3 in Military

The "insurgents" in Iraq are freedom fighters. They are fighting the invaders and won't stop until we leave.
If the US was invaded, and the invaders were killing hundreds of thousands of us, wouldn't you do your best to kill as many of them as possible?

2007-02-24 05:18:57 · 10 answers · asked by AlphaMale 2 in Politics

2007-02-24 05:16:50 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous in Other - Politics & Government

2007-02-24 05:14:59 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics

Only the power of the people has changed the world for the good: The abolition of slavery, The end of Apartheid in South Africa and the Southern U.S.A., Women getting the vote, The collapse of communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe, The right to religious freedom, the right to abortion, rights for gays and lesbians, The Civil Rights Movement, (the list goes on). Have any of these basic rights been handed on a plate by the powers that be? NO. People: Don't let conservatives take our freedoms away!!!!!!

2007-02-24 05:14:22 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/16772540.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_americas

"Hours after the troops arrived in Nuevo Laredo, Horacio Garza, a federal congressman and two-time mayor of the city, was shot as he and his driver headed toward the airport Monday evening. The driver was killed. Garza received bullet wounds to the neck, shoulder and leg.

In 3 ½ years of intense cartel violence, more than 600 people reportedly have been killed in Nuevo Laredo.

Hundreds of Mexicans have been kidnapped or have disappeared from the area in recent years. At least 63 Americans have been kidnapped, according to Laredo's Missing, an organization set up by family members to pressure authorities on both sides of the border to find their loved ones. Many of the Americans were later released, but at least 20 remain missing."

Note they say this is due to competition for drug routes into the US. That means they are regularly coming here.

Thoughts?

2007-02-24 05:12:33 · 9 answers · asked by DAR 7 in Immigration

On my way home coming into a relatively sharp corner in a busy street in Sacramento, is a man holding a large poster board with a bloody mauled naked baby with “ABORTION” written underneath it, upside down. Is it legal to do this? its distracting disgusting, and really not true. The baby appeared to have been a third trimester abortion, which don't happen.

What are the religious beliefs behind this kind of a thing? Is it legal to stand on the side of the road with that kind of a sign? Is it some forum of public nudity or something? I am a strong supporter of our 1st amendment, but this might be a step too far. Other ppls feelings plz.

thanx

2007-02-24 05:12:28 · 12 answers · asked by ahavre 1 in Law & Ethics

2007-02-24 05:12:02 · 9 answers · asked by aiminhigh24u2 6 in Politics

The majority of blacks support the Democratic Party. Why, when the democrats were the party of slavery and continue with their programs to blacks and other minorities under their sway?

http://www.indgop.org/BlackFolks.pdf

2007-02-24 05:09:15 · 26 answers · asked by For_Gondor! 5 in Politics

Was it just 9/11?

Cos if it was it seems like a whole lotta fuss over not alot.
Don't get me wrong, terrorists are a threat, they just don't seem to be as big of a threat as the governments seem to portray.
Perhaps there are more important things to spend billions of dollars on.

2007-02-24 05:09:12 · 12 answers · asked by Simon 3 in Military

just been stopped from thumbing down answer which was blatantly nationalistic and demeaning to others.

2007-02-24 05:07:31 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Law & Ethics

This man travels with a regular passport, after contacting the Asian or Central or South American, ladies on line in several dating sites, using a false profile!

In fact he's bald, 61 years old, has little money, makes them sell everything they have in their countries using web letters, always the same promising marriage (!!), a picture taken 20 years ago... then leaves them in a foreign country: no visa, no money, no rent (in his name), no food, takes the cheap engagement ring, he doesn't pay immigration attorneys so they refuse to help the poor ladies, they call their families to send a plane ticket.

After leaving the country without any warning, he always go back to his Ohian wife who support his awful behaviour, they have a sexless (he ca'nt !), a "modern", weird marriage. He has no police records, only lawsuits, he acts quickly using false address..

Any official sites to inform? What are the best international dating sites so we can warn them?.Many thanks to all..

2007-02-24 05:06:35 · 4 answers · asked by samantha 1 in Immigration

2007-02-24 05:05:37 · 23 answers · asked by xshoeboy 1 in Other - Politics & Government

2007-02-24 05:05:19 · 3 answers · asked by sal 2 in Politics

Why do we use Depleted Uranium in our rounds?

2007-02-24 05:04:34 · 4 answers · asked by John Notafakename 2 in Military

for political news?
for international news?
for economic news?

2007-02-24 05:02:45 · 7 answers · asked by Firesidechat 2 in Politics

Expenses to society/government are not valid answers, think about the immigrant & the expenses associated with immigrating.

2007-02-24 05:02:01 · 3 answers · asked by Ryan 1 in Immigration

2007-02-24 04:59:46 · 14 answers · asked by wsxt 1 in Politics

A few weeks ago Rahm Emanuel and other Democrat leaders were holding a press conference when Sheehan and several anti-war protesters started chanting and interrupting. The Dems beat a hasty retreat and scurried away from the microphones rather than face the wrath of Sheehan.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070104-120950-2424r.htm

So how can Democrats protect us from terrorists when they run away from their own citizens?

2007-02-24 04:56:47 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics