US Presidential Election 2012

But surely if you are in a civil partenrship and grow old with somoene over say 60 or 70 years shouldnt you get all the same rights as someone who has married had children grow up and leave and are still together?

Nah, as soon as they leave you're back to the civil union. But your certificate gets a nice shiny star on it.

So you only stay married for so long as the kids are in the family home? What about rich parents that send their kids away to boarding school?

Ally wrote:My point is that that's not how people view marriage anymore. People living happily together as a union for years IS what people want from marriage. Then, possibly kids.

I got married in 1986. At the time it was something I knew would please my Missus (me being a strappin' young man back then, mind ). But it was only ever the 'idea' of celebrating our love. The certificate has not - and never will - mean anything to me. We could easily have made up our own ceremony to celebrate our love. The certificate has never made me feel the least bit more committed to the relationship. Official legal marriage as we know it now is only a fairly new phenomena anyhow. It's meaningless. Committment to your partner is the only thing that counts. Folk make too much of a fuss about this marriage crap. We'd do better to spend our energy on working out how we can free women from slavery. (I wonder how that heroic Afghani girl is going? Anyone heard anything?)

Petty: They are still dependents in that case.

Hey, once the kids are safely launched, parents can shake hands on a job well done and split if they are so inclined. The marriage pact is an extra obligation to stick it out for the kids. Call the marriage officially done once the last kid has passed the age of 18. I'd expect the idea of a divorce in a marriage would become more scandalous, while in a civil union people would just shrug their shoulders. And that's the way it should be.

Orwell - I'm more concerned with the legalities right now.

As far as the pledge to each other, when I was in Africa an old missionary proved to me what it really means to be christian. You'd think she'd be all about church marriages, but she said "if two people have chosen to live together and commit themselves to each other, and their friends and family know about their commitment, then in the eyes of god they are married."

If it's an argument over who gets what, take it to court and let the court decide. Marriage is meaningless.


Halfy: "Orwell - I'm more concerned with the legalities right now." [Then] "As far as the pledge to each other, when I was in Africa an old missionary proved to me what it really means to be christian. You'd think she'd be all about church marriages, but she said "if two people have chosen to live together and commit themselves to each other, and their friends and family know about their commitment, then in the eyes of god they are married." What's goin' on here, Halfy?

In the legal sphere I think there should be a difference between marriage with and without kids. Hence I'm pushing for the two tier system.

but for two people, all that matters is what's between them.

Why not just get your Lawyers organized immediately when you want to separate, go to court, and let a Judge work out what's a fair and reasonable dispenation (carve up) of goods (including children) after a hearing? A simpler system where Lawyers don't stand to make such a killing and the process is performed quickly (lessening the emotional cost of the break up to all, especially the children).

Some interesting poll results posted by CNN. The polls are of non-Americans living in other countries.
When he was up agains Bush Obama had huge approval ratings outside the US- but similarly to in the US they fell away as his term wore on.
Before this elections Obama was polled at '46% wanted him re-elected, according to Gallup's March poll. His approval rating collapsed, particularly in Arab countries, scraping the bottom in Egypt at just 19%.'

However the two most recent polls found that; 'The Gallup Global Poll found Obama ahead by 81% to 19%. Another poll commissioned by the BBC and conducted in 21 countries showed Obama ahead 50% to 21%.'

So what changed? The world was introduced to Mitt Romney!

Binders full of transexual Mitt Romney clones

I'm still not clear what the original context for "binders full of women" was. Am I better off that way?

He told a story of how he wanted to appoint women when he was governor, so he asked for references from women's groups and they sent him "binders full of women". He was attempting to sound feminist, but it came off creepy.

I gotta be honest, that's a bit of a let down after all the references and photoshops about the phrase. Thanks, though.

I imagine Obama doesn't need to ask for binders filled with capable women though.

This has been very interesting reading for me,living in the UK. I personally think that a "certificate of marriage" is unnecessary,it defines who is entitled to what if one or the other spouse dies 1st IMO, then,obviously Government want to place taxes on married or unmarried couples,higher breaks if married,lesser if not. It seems to me marriage boils down to how much financially you can screw people for. I believe if you love someone honestly enough,thats the main thing. Any children that come along should be wanted totally. Having a certificate does not guarantee wonderful,caring parents. Having a tax idea,here,in the Uk,that gives you "perks"if you stay married while the kids are still at home sounds like disaster to me. People that are utter shits when it comes to caring for their children would keep going just to claim the tax deals. So that now begs another organisation to check parents are doing their best & not doing it for the money. And then THAT begs the question,are kids being abused,mentally or physically ? Its not an easy "problem/solution" idea to tackle. I believe its better for kids if mum & dad divorced if the family was breaking down,for whatever reason,than to continue it "for the kids sake". I think a certificate of marriage wont make people behave more lovingly, that comes from the two people in the relationship. Im maybe wrong,but thats my idea of it.

An old country preacher had a teenage son and it was getting time the boy should give some thought to choosing a profession. Like many young men his age, the boy didn't really know what he wanted to do and he didn't seem too concerned about it.

One day, while the boy was away at school, his father decided to try an experiment. He went into the boy's room and placed on his study table four objects: A Bible A silver dollar A bottle of whiskey A Playboy magazine

"I'll just hide behind the Door," the old preacher said to himself. "When he comes home from school today, I'll see which object he picks up."

"If it's the Bible, he's going to be a preacher like me, and what a blessing that would be! If he picks up the dollar, he's going to be a business man, and that would be okay, too. But if he picks up the bottle, he's going to be a no-good drunken bum, and Lord, what a shame that would be. And worst of all if he picks up that magazine he's going to be a skirt-chasing womanizer."

The old man waited anxiously, and soon heard his son's foot-steps as he entered the house whistling and headed for his room. The boy tossed his books on the bed, and as he turned to leave the room he spotted the objects on the table. With curiosity in his eye, he walked over to inspect them. Finally, he picked up the Bible and placed it under his arm. He picked up the silver dollar and dropped into his pocket. He uncorked the bottle and took a big drink, while he admired this month's centerfold.

"Lord have mercy," the old Preacher disgustedly whispered. "He's gonna run for Congress."

That might be my favorite of your jokes so far, Azriel!

Thankyou Eldorion ! very kind.

I just realized... because of the storm... the election might be affected!

I mean since pre-voting is been cancelled in some states and most of the people who pre-vote are people with two or three jobs and most likely votes for Obama!

People have been discussing the possible impact of the storm on the election for a few days here. Maryland cancelled early voting today but the potentially bigger problem is long-lasting power outages. If power it still out next Tuesday it could prevent some polling places from being open. Hopefully that won't be the case, though. I think we learned a lot of lessons from Hurricane Irene last year so the utilities, at least in Maryland, have been preparing extensively for the clean-up.

yeah, but still.. Obama has to be president now, but Romney can continue to campaign and maybe he'll catch up

Both candidates have cancelled their campaign events for the time being, it doesn't look good to be out on the stump when people have just died. Also, Romney is backtracking on his prior comments about wanting to privatize FEMA (the federal agency in charge of disaster relief).

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/opinion/a-big-storm-requires-big-government.html