Kidding?  All we'd have to do is get the Canadians drunk, troll for dancing girls, and offer them significant discounts on firearms and they are ours.  :P

Of course that can cause us to loose our ambasador to the Canadians too.

Okay maybe that is just a wierd midnight humor idea that is just plain wierd but would be a damn good way to bribe just about any straight man into doing what you want.
 
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Kuroishi Wraith VEA
Daishi Raptor VEN
Assistant Writer Why Project Copyright Infringment
Ich bin hessliche amerikaner.
Nehmen mir zu dein frauen von vernunftig preis tugendhafte.
"And the sound of many heads hitting many solid objects was heard throughout the land." me

*cough*liberalsuck*cough*

*cough*conservativessuck*cough*

The best place to have attacked would have been Iran, not Iraq.  Who knows, if Saddam had never invaded Kuwait, he would probably be an ally in the war on terror, since we did support him during the Iran/Iraq war.

And just because China is moving towards capitalism does not mean it still isn't a threat.  Look at the event with the spy plane over China incident that occured not long after Bush took*cough*stole*cough* office.

It is very much believed that in coming years China will become the biggest consumer of oil in the world, and with that it will threaten the US.  Or the Chinese government may wish to take Taiwan for itself. 

Bush has not been observing the threat nations like China, North Korea, and Iran pose...threats that are far worse than Iraq.  Attacking the weaker enemy is a useless strategy.  Sure we lose less lives, but we also use up resources vital to take care of the enemies that are true threats to us and our freedom.
 
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PFC Anubis Benor
Wraith Squad
Vast Empire Army

Actually, we in the United States still hold the title of the world's largest consumer of oil.  China doesn't have many SUVs, or even cars running around their streets compared to us, so it's hard for them to match us on sheer industry alone 

Anyways, I agree that Iran is the largest threat we face at the moment, China and North Korea have each other (North Korea couldn't survive without China, and you can bet China doesn't want a nuclear neighbor), however, we're not likely to be able to deal with that threat through force, least of all now that we're tied up in Iraq.

The best thing we could do is try to get the reformers elected to office.  Not to directly, the clerics would rile up the anti-American vote, but seriously, if the reformers take enough offices, the theocracy will collapse under the weight of the democratic system (the most democratic system in the middle east, I might add), and whamo, problem pretty much solved.

Also, I'm wondering if anyone else has picked up a trend in their squad like I have in mine.  With the entrance of Zadik to the forum (woohoo!  another debater  ), this makes five out of seven Wraiths who are now here, pretty much all of the active ones in fact, since I haven't heard from Mandor or Sindar for ages.

My point is that, with the exception of Zadik, the Wraiths seem to lean relatively left (I can't say all the way left or liberal, because we're all to power-hungry for that  ).  Anyone else noticed any squadron trends?
 
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Argon Viper
Sergeant Major/Senior Writer, VE Today
IW COL Argon Viper{ret}
Fallen Angel and Proud of It!
"History is on the move, those who cannot keep up will watch from a distance, and those who get in our way will not watch at all" - Grand Admiral Thrawn
"Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses" - Carl G Jung

Projew?  Dude, I am a jew    Being liberal doesn't mean being anti-jew, it's more a statement of being more inclined to left-leaning economic and social stances.

As for the voting for Kerry part, Kerry isn't a liberal.  Kerry is a moderate, which is one of the reasons I like him.

Personally, I identify more with liberal causes than conservative (doesn't mean there aren't a few conservative ones I support too), but I realize that this country will never work if we do things that way.  The middle road seems to be best, and it means that you can vote for the guy and still be conservative 
 
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Argon Viper
Sergeant Major/Senior Writer, VE Today
IW COL Argon Viper{ret}
Fallen Angel and Proud of It!
"History is on the move, those who cannot keep up will watch from a distance, and those who get in our way will not watch at all" - Grand Admiral Thrawn
"Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses" - Carl G Jung

No no no no no. If everyone had a gun petty crimes like robbery might go down, but deaths would skyrocket. People get mad at other people really easily these days. So if two people on the street start arguing, instead of yelling at eachother, they will pull guns and start shooting eachother. They would end up killing themselves and surrounding people.

And if this country is invaded,(which is just insane to think that we would be invaded) we have a nice army to defend and im sure a draft would come up. We dont need moron civilian mobs running around with guns shooting whoever they think the enemy is. If everyone has a gun, it takes away some of the power the authorities in this country have. So more guns in stupid peoples hands=chaos.

Now if you have had the training and background check and all that nice stuff, go ahead get yourself a gun. Just not a AK-47. And if you say you will use that for hunting, i say this. Are you planning on taking out the entire herd?
 
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*DarkDragoons*
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
TRP/ASL/SGT Rema/2SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR][OPE] [AM-B][AM-S][AM-P][IH][SoA][CDS]
"Only Trust your Allies as much as you can Predict your Enemies."
"Do you expect me to talk?" "No Mr. Bond, i expect you to die."
"Luke, I am your Fasha."

/me shrugs

The end of the world will come eventually. Why not have it come with a uber war with clones.
 
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*DarkDragoons*
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
TRP/ASL/SGT Rema/2SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR][OPE] [AM-B][AM-S][AM-P][IH][SoA][CDS]
"Only Trust your Allies as much as you can Predict your Enemies."
"Do you expect me to talk?" "No Mr. Bond, i expect you to die."
"Luke, I am your Fasha."

Actually one of the above is somewhat true.  I read somewhere that we've doubled the growth rate in catfish, give some time and govt support and it'll happen in humans too.

Now of course I believe in the whole background check and everything like that, we don't need murderers to get guns, but when it comes to AK-47s and weapons like that we need them.  And what do you think a draft is anyway, it is just a bunch of civilians with guns shooting at whatever they think is an enemy.

A draft will never work, if people are forced to go to war, they won't do it with their heart, but should their homeland be invaded, and should they like their homeland, then they'd reasonably rise up to fight the invaders.

And believe me, the US will be invaded, it is inevitable.  I'm sure the Roman Empire never thought they'd be invaded, but they were.  That's another thing, the US is meant to become an empire.  After 200 years, Rome became an Empire, so the US is right on time for becoming an Empire.
 
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TRP/LCPL Anubis Benor/4SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE
Wraith Squad
Vast Empire Army

No civilian in the United States needs an AK-47. NO one.

The draft is not just saying "here you are have a gun, go here and shoot people". The draft takes people and trains them to be soldiers. Trains them not to be idiots with guns. They are soldiers who follow orders and keep peace, not gun toting mobs.

And the draft does work. It works in two ways. If there is a legitimate reason to go to war and to be fighting then the draft supplies soldiers and it supplies a way for the common person to help his country. This is what happened in WW2. The United States was attacked without notice and that made people mad. People were drafted to fight against an evil that plagued the world. The second way it works if there is NOT a good reason to be going to war the draft can make people angry about being drafted. This is sorta what happened with the Vietnam War.

Finally, the United States will never get invaded. Unless
Mexico starts putting 100% of their effort into making the unstoppable Mexican war machine I highly doubt they will be invaded. The thought of Canada invading the United States is laughable. You must consider that in order to invade a country you need a place to attack it from. Somewhere close by to attack it from to be exact. So unless the armies of the world can secretly move millions of soldiers, tanks, planes, ships and supplies to Mexico or Canada I HIGHLY doubt we will be invaded. Thats one of the reasons why the United States has lasted without trouble from other nations. They cant get to us! Our biggest threats are nuclear weapons and terrorist attacks. The United States will never be invaded. Thats final.

The United States will never become an empire. People like their freedom of speech to much. No one in this country could ever gain enough power to overthrow our government and make it a dictatorship. Even elected officials can never become dictators because we would all revolt. Soldiers are loyal to their commander and chief, but not that damn loyal. The difference between other countries and the US is that the common people voice their opinion more. So if some guy (or gal) tried to take over the country either with a military coup, or changing us to a dictatorship the people would be in an uproar. That simple. The United States will never become an empire. While we flirt with imperial ideas and actions, it will never erupt into a full-blown empire. We are more of a cultural Empire than a bloody military empire.

 
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*DarkDragoons*
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
TRP/ASL/SGT Rema/2SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR][OPE] [AM-B][AM-S][AM-P][IH][SoA][CDS]
"Only Trust your Allies as much as you can Predict your Enemies."
"Do you expect me to talk?" "No Mr. Bond, i expect you to die."
"Luke, I am your Fasha."

Why does everyone continue to insist that it is either Mexico or Canada that will invade us.  Russia, while it is no longer a Communist power, could be a threat again because of their sheer size.

Then there's China, if they built a massive fleet, they could easily pose a massive threat because of the size of their army.  And if they were to work with the North Koreans, they would have the largest if not the most powerful army in the world.

Currently, our army measures only half a million if even that.  And the draft would be too late were we to be invaded.  If we were to be invaded by land by Canada or Mexico, then we may likely see it, or at least the military build-up.

We've seen China's military build-up, and they have the nukes to be a threat.  Should Kim Jong Il die, it is very much a possibility that North Korea and its million man army could come under its control.

A navy is very hard to spot, even with satellites because we don't know where to look.  We would need a massive number of satellites to comb throughout the ocean searching for the fleet, but that is almost technically impossible and currently completely technologically impossible.

We are in danger people, you must understand that, less you be caught off guard and we lose much of which we hold dear.

Now on to the empire talk, we are already on our way towards becoming an Empire.  While at the moment, the Patriot Act's uses are only for possible terrorists, but what is to define a terrorist.  Once someone power hungry enough comes into office, they can begin using things like the Patriot Act to slowly arrest those that are threats.

Remember that Germany had a Republic between the period of WWI and Hitler's rise to power.  Once something bad enough happens, we will give dictatoral power to or president, then the president will use it to start the American Empire.
 
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TRP/LCPL Anubis Benor/4SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE
Wraith Squad
Vast Empire Army

1:  Who ever said dictator ship and imperialism ABSOLUTELY MUST GO HAND IN HAD should be shot.

Mind on My Money, consider this for a moment, I do agree that rogue nations do once in a while need to be taught a lesson by force because otherwise they just will not listen.  I disagree with the decision to go after Iraq when Bush Jr did.  We were not finished in Afghanastan, still are not finished in Afghanastan, and will not be finished in Afghanastan for many more years.  Only a fool fights wars on multiple fronts.

The decision to attack Iraq at the time it was attacked stank of political power game to me, not some altruistic 'we must depose the dictator and find the illegal weapons' action like Bush Jr would like us to believe.  Indeed those are worthwhile goals and should have been under taken at the proper time, but it was not the proper time.  Don't get me wrong I'm glad Saddam is gone but I wonder how many people are now just paying lip service to us just to make us scrutinize them less?

Waffling is pretty much the same term with a slightly different conotation to pandering.  So I believe we're on the same page of different dictionaries on that one.

Perhaps that clears up my stance a bit.
 
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Kuroishi Wraith VEA
Daishi Raptor VEN
Assistant Writer Why Project Copyright Infringment
Ich bin hessliche amerikaner.
Nehmen mir zu dein frauen von vernunftig preis tugendhafte.
"And the sound of many heads hitting many solid objects was heard throughout the land." me

look for all we the people know 9/11 could have been a clever scheme bythe buch admisistaration or somebody with vested intrests in passing the patriot act, or moving into iraq or afgananstan, or many of the numerous things that came to pass after that day, we ohnly have the governments word for that and the governement is a lieing pile of shit. anyway, as for guns, people need guns, part of the reason for the 2nd amendment was so that the people could revolt when the governtment strayed from its intended purpose very far, as jefferson said here, i about the second amendment and the owning of guns:

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms..disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed one." - Thomas Jefferson quoting Cesare Beccaria, Criminologist in 1764. That was 230 years ago. -Thomas Jefferson

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.-Thomas Jefferson

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.-Thomas Jefferson

i dont put these up as a fan opf jefferson, but simply he has some good points

Now also i live in the rural northwest, i dont need to hunt i have goddamn bears in my front yard at twelve in the morning, one of those breaks in (its happened before) i want something that wont let it get back up, like a .44 magnum(that happens to be out house hold gun) or an AK-47(im gonna get one as soon as i can scrape up $400) or a 12 gauge, also guns work well to scare off burglars, very well in fact, i know that from personal experiance.

  also part of the idea of everybody owning a gun is that thier all taught to truly fear it properly and how to use one, thats the way it works up here, where most people own atleast one gun, normaly more.

also in the event of an invasion a draft would be nearly impossible and impracticale, most of our attacke4d area in chaos, whoever says america will never be attacked is not only an idiot but a downright fool, all empires fell in thier time, places that seemed undefeateable, i've been using that rome analogy for along time, and i think its a pretty comenly accepted one, they where undefeatable, they pushed everyone around and basicaly believed they ruled the world, untill they died out, albeit they never truly where defeated, they just kind of whithered away.
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The Comnet Hermit
-Raider Squad-
TRP/SGT Sniping101/CrazyRAIDERS/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR][IH][BoA]
"A spanking new Athlon reduced to a Gameboy Emulator"- Gabe from Penny Arcade.
"As long as their is Space, Im going to stare off into it"-Garfield
I'm a little teapot, short and stout. Here is my handle, here is my spout. When I see an ARC all short and stout, BOOM!  He flies through the hall and out. -anonymous

While you've seen me support firearms many times, I truly would never buy one unless I found it absolutely necessary.  I find firearms to be a dishonorable weapon, I'd much rather use a sword, mace, or my own fists.

If you kill someone who has a gun with your bare hands, then it is a show of your great strength.  But in today's society, that becomes more unlikely, so I'm probably sure once I become older, I may get a gun.

And looking at the people today, I find that their lack of understanding for the government as well as some other factors of ignorance will make it all the more likely for a dictatoral empire to rise up in place of our democratic republic.  Some people I've spoken to have talked about liking a dictatorship because they wouldn't have to vote, seriously.

There is no doubt that we are an empire in terms of size and power, and it is very likely to become one government wise in the next one-hundred years.
 
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TRP/LCPL Anubis Benor/4SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE
Wraith Squad
Vast Empire Army

Wow, lots of stuff got covered since last time I was on, it's freakin' awesome! 

Let's see, where to start...  Ah, the draft.

Personally, I think an invasion of the US is possible, but unlikely.  However, if it were to happen by an enemy of sufficient strength, our military would still stop them at a certain point at which we would start drafting people and sending them to the front.

I predict that we could hold all the major port cities (on both coasts), but not the whole city.  Battle lines would probably be drawn in the middle of San Francisco and such, the invader would probably take the port, and I'm pretty sure we could hold the bay.

The countryside we'd certainly lose, our precision weapons are only good to the point where there are a limited amount of enemies, and anyone daring to invade us probably isn't that limited.

Personally, I'd put bets on massive casualties on both sides (in excess of 50 million total), but I think the United States would eventually prevail, if for no other reason than the intensely nationalist feelings we have with regards to our own soil 

Let's see...  Ah yes, presidential powers during times of war.

Rema, here's what Anubis was talking about:  During the Civil War, Lincoln revoked the right of Habeus Corpus (innocent until proven guilty, right to a fair trial, etc.) and imprisoned hundreds of journalists who disagreed with him.  During WWII, FDR rounded up millions of Japanese-Americans on the west coast and had them shoved into concentration camps only rivalled throughout history by the Nazi concetration camps.

As for the US becoming an Empire, "empire" is defined as "A political unit having an extensive territory or comprising a number of territories or nations and ruled by a single supreme authority".  By that standard, we're already an empire 

However, I do believe that, while we're not trending toward the imperialist part of empire (the rest of the world would nuke us first...), we are trending toward the other behaviors of such.

The Patriot Act, I believe, parallels the "emergency powers" given to Palpatine.  It's a thin parallel, being that the Patriot Act is a good deal weaker, but I think it's accurate one.  Basically it falls along the line of giving the government more power over us because we are scared of an outside force.

The only main difference is that Bush didn't actively manufacture his outside force (as far as we can tell).

Anyways, that's my stuff so far, let me know if I missed anything.
 
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Argon Viper
Sergeant Major/Senior Writer, VE Today
IW COL Argon Viper{ret}
Fallen Angel and Proud of It!
"History is on the move, those who cannot keep up will watch from a distance, and those who get in our way will not watch at all" - Grand Admiral Thrawn
"Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses" - Carl G Jung

It only took you guys a page to revert back to WW2?  Good lord.  I thought you'd be talking about designer clothes by now...
 
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*Flash Was Here...*
My Real Bebop: (=A=)