Game Of Thrones

[Iggy]

And what can you do better with?

ANYTHING that isn't more dreck about the monarchy.

Thank God the British also gave us the Magna Carta.

Frankly, having a King or a Queen is primitive and demeaning.

Honestly, even though we owe our freedom in the US in part to the same King the French beheaded, I think the frogs had the right idea.

[Iggy]

You obviously don't understand our form of government.
The President only represents one branch of government.
Formulating legislation is primarily the business of Congress.

Our President is hardly in a totalitarian position like Kim Jong Un.

[Iggy]

Where did I say that president led states like the US or France are comparable to a totalitarian regime?

I'm saying that a president like yours or Hollande has more power than the prime minister of, say, The Netherlands and that I'm not sure that is a good thing to have.

Frankly, even with the reduced power a Prime Minister would have, the leader of the United States could still be a dangerous individual.
After all, we are much more likely than the Dutch to ship our military out on global 'adventures'.

[Iggy]

Or do an IRS audit of notables who disagree with policy. Sounds close to totalitarianism to me.

Only if you have something to hide.
I have always found the IRS a breeze to deal with.
Just don't jerk them around and you are fine.

[Iggy]

The US beats out bastions of Democracy Cuba and Russia in incarceration rates!

True, we can afford them.
And our lenient rules involving weapons purchasing don't always promote civility.

Come to think of it, we probably have a higher murder rate than those two countries.
And I would still rather be here (in fact, as of late, Colorado sounds nice).

[Iggy]

True, the US incarceration rate is still lower than Hitler's Germany or Stalin's Soviet Union.  But something is terribly wrong if you have to invoke Hitler and Stalin to make your numbers look good.   Even as a pro-gun control person I don't think the reason America has so many people in prison can be the loose gun laws.  

I've only visited America, it wouldn't be on my top 10 places to live, but I think the incarceration rate is more likely due to unsettled race issues than anything else.

That is OK, more more people want to move here than to Australia where everything that swims, crawls or walks is poisonous.

You don't need an adversarial relationship with your government when nature itself is that dangerous. :uzi:

The only redeeming thing I ran into during my visit was Victoria Bitter (and that can be had in New Zealand).

[Iggy]

Well I certainly don't want to appear to be endorsing our jail happy/execution happy system of justice.
And I wonder how many of the prisoner across the US jailed for marijuana convictions feel about the recent turn of events in Colorado.

[Iggy]

It's sarcasm, what we do and did to Aboriginal peoples here was and is appalling, much of it is hidden by distance.  Few people have been back in the wilds of the Northern Territory to see it.  American has a similar appalling heritage, their prison system is full of Black males.  It 's a way to put a tag on them that allows discrimination.  If they have a criminal record you can refuse to hire them, refuse to rent to them and in many states take away their right to vote.  

Both countries have some bad karma that will come back to them.

Well, we both have British roots.
its not like the concept of second class citizens is something we invented. :sealed: