Re: [Official!] Project Horizons Comment Crew Chat thread.

[cb5]

Could be either.

It could also be appujacku's parents as well.

[cb5]

Are you fucking kidding me?!

A bit of a update on the shutdown. The republican strategy going into the shutdown was that the party thought that both parties were going to get the blame and that as a result they could get defunding the affordable care act. Basically, "hey both our approval ratings are in the shitter, just defund it and we'll allow a budget to pass". HOWEVER the latest polling from cnn has the republican party's approval taking a massive shit instead. Republican approval rating is down 57 points, I think obama's is down like 30 points, democrats approval rating is down like 20 points(you'll have to look it up I don't remember the exact number).

The reason why this is a problem is that the party has realized they're NOT going to get re-elected in 2014 cause of how much their approval ratings as a whole are going down. To make a extremely long political science explanation short that everyone here would just gloss over, short version they shot themselves in the foot and just realized they shot themselves in the foot. That's not the problem, I'll to that in a couple sentences. To make it short if the budget is passed today then no matter what they do next year it will be a repeat of 2006 and how the democrats took control of congress. That is not the problem either. What is the problem is that they just realized they just accidentally killed their party and are going into kamikaze mode, as in their "strategy" is now let the government default and try to take down the democrats and obama with them.

Tl:dr; republican party right now

[Scienza]

Well, the NRC is shut down, now. They will respond in the case of an emergency,  but all of their other duties are at their end, from licenses to inspections and oversight.
The government, officially, is no longer in a position to monitor and regulate the use of nuclear material within the US.
Wow, government. Wow.

And I'm probably going to lose police and firefighters.

[cb5]

Well, the NRC is shut down, now. They will respond in the case of an emergency,  but all of their other duties are at their end, from licenses to inspections and oversight.
The government, officially, is no longer in a position to monitor and regulate the use of nuclear material within the US.
Wow, government. Wow.

And I'm probably going to lose police and firefighters.

All because a couple hundred people are upset that they're probably not going to get re-elected.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Well, the NRC is shut down, now. They will respond in the case of an emergency,  but all of their other duties are at their end, from licenses to inspections and oversight.
The government, officially, is no longer in a position to monitor and regulate the use of nuclear material within the US.
Wow, government. Wow.

*laugh loudly for a whole minute*

what the heck

at least tell me it's just for the duration of the government shutdown ?

[cb5]

Well, the NRC is shut down, now. They will respond in the case of an emergency,  but all of their other duties are at their end, from licenses to inspections and oversight.
The government, officially, is no longer in a position to monitor and regulate the use of nuclear material within the US.
Wow, government. Wow.

*laugh loudly for a whole minute*

what the heck

at least tell me it's just for the duration of the government shutdown ?

The government is going to default and go into bankruptcy soon. That means it's going to last for a lot longer than you are thinking.

[Scienza]

Well, the NRC is shut down, now. They will respond in the case of an emergency,  but all of their other duties are at their end, from licenses to inspections and oversight.
The government, officially, is no longer in a position to monitor and regulate the use of nuclear material within the US.
Wow, government. Wow.

*laugh loudly for a whole minute*

what the heck

at least tell me it's just for the duration of the government shutdown ?

The government is going to default and go into bankruptcy soon.  That means it's going to last for a lot longer than you are thinking.

Now, look at what got deemed essential: the private Congressional gym.

And if we our police force shuts down... it's going to get really scary here in DC. Fucking shit.

[Harmony Ltd.]

You know what

several times I joked that the US was doomed to fizzle and implode like the USSR did in the late 80's, early 90's.

The prospects are fascinating...

[Ketchup]

We've been looking at it a little in my political science class, as we're currently comparing American and Canadian governments.
It's not good for anyone that the government is shut down. It's over something that doesn't really matter, from what I can tell.

Unrelated: Behold, our glorious House of Commons.

We talked about the lack of decorum in the HoC today in class, and it came up.

[O. Hinds]

You know what

several times I joked that the US was doomed to fizzle and implode like the USSR did in the late 80's, early 90's.

The prospects are fascinating...

I'd be more fascinated if I didn't live in the American South.

[O. Hinds]

We've been looking at it a little in my political science class, as we're currently comparing American and Canadian governments.
It's not good for anyone that the government is shut down. It's over something that doesn't really matter, from what I can tell.

Unrelated: Behold, our glorious House of Commons.

We talked about the lack of decorum in the HoC today in class, and it came up.

Hey, at least your government is doing something.
Canada: Putting in place zombie apocalypse emergency plans.
America: Can no longer regulate nuclear technology.

[cb5]

The government is going to default and go into bankruptcy soon.  That means it's going to last for a lot longer than you are thinking.

Now, look at what got deemed essential: the private Congressional gym.

And if we our police force shuts down... it's going to get really scary here in DC. Fucking shit.[/quote]On the plus side since the republican party's approval rating is plummeting, and that if the default happens it's going to plummet even further that means the republican party in a couple years is going to be completely extinct like the whig party.  In a single month the republican party's approval rating dropped 10 percent.  What that means is that if/when the default happens the party's approval rating will be close to 0%, as in "no fucking way are they getting re-elected".

http://www.gallup.com/poll/165317/republican-party-favorability-sinks-record-low.aspx

You know what

several times I joked that the US was doomed to fizzle and implode like the USSR did in the late 80's, early 90's.

The prospects are fascinating...

More than likely the majority of the military will get the axe since there is literally jack shit congress can do to stop it. What I mean by that is once the default hits obama's going to be yucking it up cause it's no longer a congressional manner. As in no amount of tauntrum throwing can stop the military from getting defunded. If the military is majority defunded then we will be able to make it.

[Frost]

For those more acquainted with the political sciences: do I, you think, have cause to be concerned for my employment, or does my already being officially enlisted (and days from shipping) lend me a bit more security in that regard?

[cb5]

For those more acquainted with the political sciences: do I, you think, have cause to be concerned for my employment, or does my already being officially enlisted (and days from shipping) lend me a bit more security in that regard?

You're going to get discharged.  The vast majority of people in the military aren't even going to get a warning either, just wake up one morning and with a discharge letter.  Also it depends on how close you are to being shipped.  If you're due to be shipped after the default then you're going to get discharged.  If you're due to be shipped before the default chances are you're going to be shipped for duty then immediately returned and then discharged.

Tl:dr; 90% chance of you just getting let go either way cause you're a new guy.

Ps. if you don't get discharged then they're probably going to have you on duty to safely store military equipment or put them in storage and then discharge you.

[Harmony Ltd.]

You know what

several times I joked that the US was doomed to fizzle and implode like the USSR did in the late 80's, early 90's.

The prospects are fascinating...

I'd be more fascinated if I didn't live in the American South.

I live in Europe. Without the US casting over us the looming shadow of its overwhelming military might, you can be certain that Putin & Co will feel emboldened to at the very least fuck with us more than he already does on gas price and other matters. Most likely, there'd be a few unfortunate "incidents" in eastern europe... you know, a president or two being accidentally deposited by completely independent putchists totally not linked to the Russian leadership...


As much as I hate to say this, Europe needs the US to be healthy enough to send fresh meat our way if needs be for our continent to stay peaceful.

[cb5]

You know what

several times I joked that the US was doomed to fizzle and implode like the USSR did in the late 80's, early 90's.

The prospects are fascinating...

I'd be more fascinated if I didn't live in the American South.

I live in Europe. Without the US casting over us the looming shadow of its overwhelming military might, you can be certain that Putin & Co will feel emboldened to at the very least fuck with us more than he already does on gas price and other matters. Most likely, there'd be a few unfortunate "incidents" in eastern europe... you know, a president or two being accidentally deposited by completely independent putchists totally not linked to the Russian leadership...


As much as I hate to say this, Europe needs the US to be healthy enough to send fresh meat our way if needs be for our continent to stay peaceful.

I hate to say this, but it's tragically ironic that you need the US so that Russia doesn't fuck you guys over. . . Is red a okay color for your flag?


I actually really do feel sorry for you cause of what putin is going to do to you.

The least worst way this could end for you is that we hold our midterm elections before they make a move.

[Scyto Harmony]

Think about us up north. We have a VERY co-dependent relationship with the US. If they default I can guarantee the Canadian economy will take a huge hit as well.

[Frost]

Frost, if you have any contacts regarding your recruitment, be sure to call them and stay informed on this. There are a lot of people and services being affected by this shutdown and you don't want to get stranded anywhere.

I spoke to them yesterday and am meeting them again tomorrow, all the while getting ready for shipping. People love to throw "dishonest recruiter" jokes around, but I like to think they'd have mentioned "Oh, by the way, there's a good chance the military's going to collapse and you're going to be shit outta luck"

[Harmony Ltd.]

@ CB5 : Well, a choice has been made long ago (roughly, in the 50's/60's) :

After two world wars, it had become clear to the proponents of the European idea that, well, Europe had difficulties handling its shit enough to not descend into intestine warfare when the times get rough. So we (sub?)consciously took the collective decision to have the smallest possible militaries to do the job.

Unfortunately it was also the Cold War, and we were also engaged (France at least) in a few de-colonization conflicts, so concessions had to be made and we kept a relatively reasonable military, to keep pace with both our Ally (the US) and our enemies (the Warsaw Pact and the various third-world nations we had decided to piss off).

Then the end of the Cold War happened, and since then, due mostly to budgetary constraints, but encouraged by the public opinion, defense fundings have been getting slashed more and more, to the point where even if technically is, like, the fourth country in the world in term of defense budget spending, we struggled to even sustain what little action we did during the Libyan Campaign, having to rest on the US to do the heavy lifting.


The European Union has been built on Peace, for Peace. We are simply not geared to deal frontally, as a whole, with something like a belligerent Russia.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Think about us up north. We have a VERY co-dependent relationship with the US. If they default I can guarantee the Canadian economy will take a huge hit as well.

let's be clear :

The weight of the US economy alone, and its position on the world markets of pretty much every resources or goods, either as an exporter or importer, make it a central element of the world economy.

Even countries which directly don't have much trade going on with the US will feel the economic impact sooner or later, as their trade partners who are more exposed to US trades will begin to feel the blow.


Remember "too big to fail" ? That's the US and the world economy in a nutshell.

[Guest]

Primordial - As Rome Burns. Reasonably relevant.

@Scyto
I can guess you'll be seeing an influx of immigration, at least.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Is red a okay color for your flag?

Well, any way you look at it, it's still red, white and blue  

[cb5]

@ CB5 : Well, a choice has been made long ago (roughly, in the 50's/60's) :

After two world wars, it had become clear to the proponents of the European idea that, well, Europe had difficulties handling its shit enough to not descend into intestine warfare when the times get rough. So we (sub?)consciously took the collective decision to have the smallest possible militaries to do the job.

Unfortunately it was also the Cold War, and we were also engaged (France at least) in a few de-colonization conflicts, so concessions had to be made and we kept a relatively reasonable military, to keep pace with both our Ally (the US) and our enemies (the Warsaw Pact and the various third-world nations we had decided to piss off).

Then the end of the Cold War happened, and since then, due mostly to budgetary constraints, but encouraged by the public opinion, defense fundings have been getting slashed more and more, to the point where even if technically is, like, the fourth country in the world in term of defense budget spending, we struggled to even sustain what little action we did during the Libyan Campaign, having to rest on the US to do the heavy lifting.


The European Union has been built on Peace, for Peace. We are simply not geared to deal frontally, as a whole, with something like a belligerent Russia.

The only way I can see you guys not becoming forced "buddies" with russia is if you form a united states of europe.  Combining all the military forces of members of the EU under one nation and one flag would cause putin to back the fuck off.  He's picking on you cause you're divided into small nations and knows if it comes down to it he can just take you over one by one until you're under him.

The only real alternative to making a united states of europe so that putin doesn't try to start shit is pray that the usa holds it's midterm elections before he starts something.

[Frost]

Is red a okay color for your flag?

Well, any way you look at it, it's still red, white and blue  

You can always tell it's not the real French flag so long as there's more than white.

[Scienza]

Think about us up north. We have a VERY co-dependent relationship with the US. If they default I can guarantee the Canadian economy will take a huge hit as well.

let's be clear :

The weight of the US economy alone, and its position on the world markets of pretty much every resources or goods, either as an exporter or importer, make it a central element of the world economy.

Even countries which directly don't have much trade going on with the US will feel the economic impact sooner or later, as their trade partners who are more exposed to US trades will begin to feel the blow.


Remember "too big to fail" ? That's the US and the world economy in a nutshell.

It will never cease to depress me that the very worst aspects of our society, the oligarchs and the ignorant, continue to dominate our political environment and make decisions that affect not only us but the world at large.

And to top it all off, my vote doesn't mean shit since I don't have a voting representative.

[Scyto Harmony]

@ CB5 : Well, a choice has been made long ago (roughly, in the 50's/60's) :

After two world wars, it had become clear to the proponents of the European idea that, well, Europe had difficulties handling its shit enough to not descend into intestine warfare when the times get rough. So we (sub?)consciously took the collective decision to have the smallest possible militaries to do the job.

Unfortunately it was also the Cold War, and we were also engaged (France at least) in a few de-colonization conflicts, so concessions had to be made and we kept a relatively reasonable military, to keep pace with both our Ally (the US) and our enemies (the Warsaw Pact and the various third-world nations we had decided to piss off).

Then the end of the Cold War happened, and since then, due mostly to budgetary constraints, but encouraged by the public opinion, defense fundings have been getting slashed more and more, to the point where even if technically is, like, the fourth country in the world in term of defense budget spending, we struggled to even sustain what little action we did during the Libyan Campaign, having to rest on the US to do the heavy lifting.


The European Union has been built on Peace, for Peace. We are simply not geared to deal frontally, as a whole, with something like a belligerent Russia.

The only way I can see you guys not becoming forced "buddies" with russia is if you form a united states of europe.  Combining all the military forces of members of the EU under one nation and one flag would cause putin to back the fuck off.  He's picking on you cause you're divided into small nations and knows if it comes down to it he can just take you over one by one until you're under him.

The only real alternative to making a united states of europe so that putin doesn't try to start shit is pray that the usa holds it's midterm elections before he starts something.

As long as they don't call themselves 'The United ____ of Europe.'. Because then we'd have 2 major countries in the world without a real fucking name. United States of America is not a name, it's a description.

[Ketchup]

Think about us up north. We have a VERY co-dependent relationship with the US. If they default I can guarantee the Canadian economy will take a huge hit as well.

let's be clear :

The weight of the US economy alone, and its position on the world markets of pretty much every resources or goods, either as an exporter or importer, make it a central element of the world economy.

Even countries which directly don't have much trade going on with the US will feel the economic impact sooner or later, as their trade partners who are more exposed to US trades will begin to feel the blow.


Remember "too big to fail" ? That's the US and the world economy in a nutshell.

It'd be a blow to the worldwide economy. It may be better to break away from the US to some degree in the long run, but until that happens many countries are vulnerable to an American economic disaster.

I don't think military action will happen in eastern Europe. Why would it? Even with the United States(they aren't the world's "valiant protector of everyone" or whatever) out of the picture, the EU has plans for defence of member nations and is not helpless militarily.
War is overrated.
As for Russia taking over Europe bit-by-bit, I think that's a tad unrealistic. Someone would do something about it if it were to happen. Tickling/prodding it economically is another matter entirely.

[Frost]

 I think that's a tad unrealistic.

What I think is a tad unrealistic is the government actually defaulting. What's going on right now is just a slightly more severe case of what's been going on for the past five years--we've not actually passed a budget since Obama's been elected; just passed continuances. This cock-fight between Boehner and Obama is just that--a political game of chicken that'll last a few days more, at most, before one side or another caves.

[Ketchup]

 I think that's a tad unrealistic.

What I think is a tad unrealistic is the government actually defaulting. What's going on right now is just a slightly more severe case of what's been going on for the past five years--we've not actually passed a budget since Obama's been elected; just past continuances. This cock-fight between Boehner and Obama is just that--a political game of chicken that'll last a few days more, at most, before one side or another caves.

It probably won't, they'll come to some sort of agreement before it results in a default. Unless the collective head-up-assness is higher than I see.
The United States has an economy in which the military is very important as well. Part of the reason, AFAIK, that the military hasn't downsized very significantly in a while.

[Guest]

Ironic that the closest we've come (probably) to an anarchist revolution since the Paris Commune is because big government is just really, really bad at existing. =P

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