King of America
 

Ok. You've just been made King (or Queen) of America. You have absolute power. The only restriction placed upon you is that you can only effect one change per month. This change can be anything from a simple law, to an ammendment to the Constitution.

It's January. What will you change this month?





(for you non-Americans, please assume that you now live in america so that we're all talking about the same laws)

It's January. What will you change this month?

No more blue laws -- booze on Sundays!

Speed limit on highways: 120
Local Roads(Anything with a #): 100
Residential: 35

Thats it. Thank you.

All directors of information technology will be allowed to purchase those Scottish tawses from over in the spanking thread and use them to whip people who persist in making unreasonable demands. (unreasonable = you're asking at the last minute, it's something we don't support anyway, and even if it were, there's no money in the budget for it.)

[oh yeah, it's been one of those weeks. Can you tell?]

I remove the one-per-month restriction.

sounds a little kneejerk, steve....maybe you'd like to take more time to consider. If you were King, I doubt you'd have to push your own computer keys anyway. try again.

NO WISHING FOR MORE WISHES!

I would remove one law per month.

Uh......did you read the previous posts?

welcome aboard, btw.

Not sure what previous post you are refer to.

And thanks for the welcome.

I've visited this board a couple of times before, as well as others so far this one seems to be a good one. Others are either too conservative or too librial. And show no tollerance for anyother opinion.

THESE:

I think AC is saying that they would "remove one law per month" - not remove the one change per month rule, which is what I think you think they said.

I wasn't wishing for more wishes. I was saying to remove 1 law each month. At least until we have a set of laws that 99% of the citizens can comply with, without beating their heads against the wall wondering if they are breaking some law somehow.

...well...um.

Which would you start with?


Oh and who said anything about opinions being tolerated here? Not I.

think think think

i think you think i dont think so good. what do you think?

if i thought he thought what you thought he thought, i think you'd be right in thinking what you're thinking about what he was thinking.

i think

in my first month, i'd make all businesses stay open 24-7.

just think of the benefits.

you could always get whatever you need regardless of the time of day or day of the week.

there would be more jobs available

there would be less crowding in malls and grocery stores

less traffic

i could continue

Beestie's new rule: Only registered voters can contribute to campaigns and not more than $1,000 per voter. Corporations and PACS are prohibited from participating in the electoral process. This rule is retroactive which may involve backtracking on some under-the-table deals that Bush and Kerry have already made.

It all starts with the lawmakers.


Next in the crosshairs: Lobbyists.
After that: Trial lawyers.

It is good to be King! :)

Yeah seriously, *a lot* needs to be done to improve the election system.

January: Mandatory, everyone must vote. Everyone has to file taxes every stinking year. Why not mandate that everyone must vote? Turkey (the nation) already has a similar law on the books. When a cantidate is elected, you know (s)he earned it.

Sub-item: Enable online elections. Make it easy to vote.

February: Roll-over election numbers. If there are more than 2 cantidates, voters have the option to "rank" the cantidates... 100% of their vote goes to their #1 pick. If that cantidate isn't one of the top contenders, then 100% of their vote goes to the #2 pick, etc etc.

And yeah, contribution reform and lobbyist reform would be pretty high up on the schedule as well.

I didn't say I'd do it... I said I'd magnanimously delegate the authority to the directors of IT :cool:

Well, as the King, you'd be more or less assured that you wouldn't get stuck working third shift!!

unless i wanted to

the whole reason third shift sucks is that all your friends and fam. are working while you sleep and vice versa.

So people with an IQ of 47 will be required to vote?

How about the folks in one of Wolfs lockups?

Man, I have trouble with that. Any other electronic dohickey that can't be recounted and checked, also. Too easy to defraud the public. :(

Online elections....Not ready for prime time.

Do not tempt these people.

Hey! First off, yes, if you have an IQ of 47, if you're an American citizen then you have the right the vote... and I *want* you to vote. Pull that lever, and be proud. The benefits of having EVERYONE vote far outweigh the downsides of having a president serve in office where less than 50% of the total population voted... and of THOSE, only 45% voted for the "winner".

And next, just because there are some problems with the current online voting system doesn't mean we should shun it! Fix the problems, fix accountability, fix auditing of the system, and just do it!

What was it, Wisconsin? Montana? (can't remember) that had Dem primary voting enabled online. It is possible, it can be done, but it takes a whole heck of a lot of planning to implement it properly. I don't care if you have to route it through 3 dozen clearinghouses to make it official, there *is* a way. If I can log on and transfer money to netflix for a couple DVDs, then dogonit, I should be securely able to vote for the next governor of Durham, NC.

*spits tobakee off his porch*

Now git yer yankee arse off er me propertee!

I consider any law system for which high school students could not memorize and understand all of the law* in one semester to be flawed.

Contrary to what I just said, I would impose taxes (or tax scalars) for corporations based upon polluting. The first target would be PCBs.

[Edit: I had said: for corporations, but that would be too easy to dodge. Craft the law to target things dumped by corporations, and don't say 'corporations' specifically.]

*Maybe 'all applicable law', but that might be getting into dangerous territory.

I hereby decree
 

that the Second Amendment to the Constitution shall be reworded to read:

"In order that the people shall be secure in their person and effects, The Right of the people to keep and carry small arms and such ammunition as may be necessary, shall not be infringed, save for that such a Right be reserved to adults who have shown competency in such a firearm to a qualified instructor."

There, I think that covers it. No more permits, no more gun bans, no more ammunition restrictions. Just a simple demonstration to any qualified instructor that one is competent in the firearm they choose to carry; be that a revolver or a submachine gun. Dammit, if I feel that an MP-5A is the right tool to defend me and mine from the forces of evil out there, then who is the government to say I cannot? And I want more law to be written to more clearly define "competency", "adult", "infringed" (since they can't seem to figure it out NOW), "small arms" (must be able to be carried and used by a single person, no crew-served weapons, no howitzers, no nuclear bombs), and something needs to be written to require that a person be responsible for his use or misuse of that firearm. If one chooses to carry a sawed-off shotgun and uses it to kill six gangbangers and one innocent bystander, then one is responsible for that innocent bystander. I'll leave it to the lawyers to iron out the details.

Brian

In February, I shall Decree
 

that all laws must have a "sunset Provision" written into them (Amendments to the Constitution are exempt), which shall be no longer than five years.

Now that the Legislature must vote to renew all laws every five years or so, they will reach a critical mass of law where they cannot find the time to pass more because they are reexamining the old ones. This can also save us from having outdated laws sitting around.

For example, in Ambler, Penna, it is technically illegal to kiss in public.
This is silly and should be repealed, but it still sits there. Not enforced or anything, but IMO, if a law is not enforced, then it is useless and either needs to be repealed or, if it is still useful to society, then the law enforcement authorities need to have their butts kicked.

I hate it when I see silly laws from two hundred years ago still on the books for no discernable reason. Legal journals run stories now and then listing the silly laws they have found that are still on the books. Examples such as laws that regulate how an automobile and a horse may meet and pass one another, Victorian "decency" laws and others that are quaint, out-of-date and no longer useful to society. We look upon these as merely humorous but why for Pete's sake do we not then remove these laws? This would decrease the overall burden on citizens and reduce the need for lawyers.

Brian

You'd make every place like Los Angeles?

My first amendment will be, Congress shall make no law.

How's about reinstating the constitution.

For real.

No bullshit this time.

Oh, and about people in the nuthouse voting? They can. We have, in fact, transported patients to their polling place on election day.

It's one of the rights that they don't use.

Requests for this are infrequent, but we do it.

King of America
 

As an outsider looking in maybe I can offer a different prospective.
I have 3 suggestions which should take us nicely up to March

1.Pass a law that states that the very ambition to run for office to be any kind of politician automatically bars you from taking any office.(how wonderful the world would be without politicians).

2.This might cause a stir?..That the right to bear arms be changed to the right to bear soft fruit.
I have never heard of anyone being killed or maimed by a ripe banana.

3.Close down Macdonalds and defrock Ronald Macdonald as a US icon he used to scare my kids (too creepy).
Their food is tasteless,falls to bits.and the coffee is awful.
What the US people decide to change them to, I bow to your better judgement. :D

Re: King of America
 

been watching python?

wha' aboot a pointed stick?

no no , come at me with the banana

right

**5000lbs falls from above***

see? that's how you defend yourslef when someone attacks you with fruit

Ah, but in Python, it was fresh fruit, which is much sharper than soft fruit.

frivolous law suits

I've been away from the throne. sorry. here's June's law:

If you sue someone and lose, and the judge determines that the suit was unfounded and frivolous, you and your attorney must pay the amount that you were suing for. this amount will be divided between the state and the defendant. the state will use the money for public benefit only...ie..parks projects, tax credits, etc... If the defendant is a corporation with more than 50 employees, the money must be spent on improving work environment and safety in their place of business.


May's law:

Doctors found guilty of negligence or malpractice that results in the death of a patient, and said deaths can be proven to be so, wil be criminally prosecuted without exception. If doctors want to reap the rewards of their power, they should also be subject to the penalties of misuse of that power.

regarding frivolous lawsuits...

I think the way to fix the problem is to not give the punative damages to the plaintiff. The punative damages should go into some type of charatible fund. Out of the punative damages, the attorneys should only be paid the rate they charge their non-lawsuit clients for only the hours they worked + reasonable expenses.

Punative damages are the gasoline that feeds the fire of lawsuits. If your brakes fail and the auto company knew that they would, how does that make you the recipient of a punative damage award sufficient to discourage and penalize the company for the mistake? I agree that the company owes the money - that's justice. But I violently disagree that the company owes the money to the plaintiff.

The plaintiff is only entitled to just compensation for his/her loss. The attorneys are only entitled to compensation for the work that they did. Anything over and above that should go to a charity or a charitable fund for uncompensated victims.

But, I'm not the king so lawyers can continue to drive up health care costs and drive good doctors into retirement while the politicians continue to blame the health insurance companies for it.

I had a similar idea, but more general. Loser pays attorney's fees in a civil suit. But, so a massive corporation can't just throw money at a case to scare away lawsuits, the loser pays an amount equal to their own legal fees to the winner, in addition to whatever judgement there was, if any.

All laws restricting or prohibiting any consensual activity are hereby abolished. This includes but is not limited to prostitution, gay marriage, any kind of consensual sex, suicide, gambling, any kind of gun ownership, any kind of drug manufacture..sales...and use, traveling anonymously, etc. And all non-violent criminals being held in jails for these charges are to be released immediately.

Two years mandatory (and paid) military service starting at 18 years of age.
Those not physically capable may opt for some type of social service work.

There may need to be some flexibility to the age bracket. Imagine if every 18 year old today was instantly in gov't service.

I'm a little late, so here's my catch-up

January - flat tax of 20% on every person, every corporation. No loopholes. No exemptions. No more social engineering by means of the tax code.

February - Institute a new $2 per gallon tax on non-commercial gasoline. Taxes to go into a fund that is split between mass transit funding and grants for new transportation technology development. I know this is pretty contrary to most of my political leanings, but I earnestly believe that we need to move our economy off of an oil basis in order to remain competitive. The thought that a cartel of countries that hate us can fundamentally alter our economic strength keeps me awake at night.

March - School vouchers. Education is now a public obligation fulfilled through private innovation. Vouchers extend all the way up through 2 years of community college.

April - accidentally "forget" to renew the UN's lease in NYC. I don't mind if the petty despots and tyrants of the world gather to foment their tirades against the US. I mind that they do it on our soil.

May – Institue a new term limits policy. You may serve in an elected public office for one term. That’s not one term per office, that’s one term period. If you spend a term as mayor, you’re done. You have to go back to the private sector and make a real living after that. You may not run for state Senate, for Governor, President. You’re done. Go get a real job.

June – That all the children of the world would join together, holding hands, and sing for peace. Also, I want a million dollars.

psst, dr evilmoniker.....it's 2004...you might want to up the anty.

Smooth, consider yourself retroactively assassinated on 2/2.

$2 a fucking gallon?

i like the gas tax. he's right. we'd be burning methynol in short order. and maybe we wouldnt throw away most of our corn. and fuck saudi arabia, btw

Not to mention global warming.

Wait. I just mentioned it. Damn.

Drill in ANWAR.

I figure the sooner we use up our finite resources, the sooner some corporation will develop some proprietary (or patented) power source that they can gouge us with.

How many people are on the fence right now about getting hybrid vehicles? Now imagine that gas is $4.50 a gallon. Now how many people are going to jump at getting that new 45 mpg Ford Explorer vs. the 18 mpg version?

How quickly would the infastructure catch up to the technology for fuel cells? In the 20th Century we sold our automobiles to the world and built an economic sphere of influence unrivaled in history. What if in the 21st Century we did the same thing with clean energy technologies?

How much better would we make decisions about foreign policy if there were no oil incentive to protect despotic stability over uncertain democracies in certain areas (Africa, Saudi Arabia)?

There are only two create change - with a carrot or a stick. Why not use both? Make an oil economy painful to sustain, and use the proceeds to fund the carrot.

-sm

I agree in essence, but do you really think that Americans are going to take it in the ass like that to get the ball rolling?

Why not just leave things alone? What is it about the current system that isn't working? As the price of gas increases, alternates become more feasible and more people start choosing them.

When the price of oil climbs to the point that the developers of alternate enegy sources feel enough people will pay for it then they will invest the money to develop it.

Of course, the day we run out of oil may not come as soon as we thought.

[edit - everything below is new - nothing above changed]

Besides, artificially hiking the price of gas will not ease the transition. Here's why: If the government added a $2.00/gal tax to gas making it $4.50/gal then an alternate energy costing $3.95/gal is all the sudden feasible right? Well, to develop (not produce but figure out how to make it then set up shop to make some) costs $20Billion dollars. What company is going to ivest $20B to develop a product that takes 3 years to develop when the only assurance they have that the product will even sell is an artificial gas tax (remember - if the tax is repealed then gas is back to $2.50/gal and the product won't sell)?

This sort of meddling with the economy is not good. The price of oil will determine what we do and when we do it.

this plan would never work in a democracy. fortunately, I'm the king of america. One of the advantages of being a benevolent dictator is that you get to make unpopular choices that favor future benefit over present comfort.

-sm

Media Outlets...
 

Get their own day of the week......so that we don't have to hear liberals and Conservatives cry at each other all day...

Except for sports.....I would open more radio & TV air space for them....

I would have the all curling channel....

Just like HBO I would have football channels to cover each decade...


I would have a channel to cover each NHL star, past & present...

Oh plus porn would be deregulated and Fox would now be a legal hardcore Porn channel.....as Marge Simpson said "Fox became a hardcore porn channel so gradually, nobody noticed"


basically I would make the media fit, they way I want it to fit....I would replace Stern as King of all Media!!!


Later!!!! :rattat:

going on a new push in favor of legal pedophilia, are we??? "i swear your honor little bobby really did say he wanted it - just wake him up from his nap, and he'll tell you"

no thanks, we don't want anyone who didn't get off their ass to go in and volunteer of their own free will.

September: No more credit cards will be issued, no new charges will be accrued, and as credit cards are paid off the accounts will be closed. At no time will interest on remaining accounts be accrued in excess of 5%. Once a credit card company has no open accounts, it will be disbanded.

Christ, what do you want, everyone mailing checks for their internet shopping? That's not feasible. Can we at least keep Paypal as a viable internet bank for these transactions, Queen Onyx?

June: Under no circumstances will any athlete be paid over $50,000 a year + medical benefits.

The reason these athletes can demand so much money is because MORE than what they demand is being made off of their performance by the television networks. Same with high-dollar actors. If you're going to cap their salaries, then at least make the networks give the money they would have paid the athletes to a charity or something--letting the networks keep more profit doesn't solve the problem.

it's so cute when the girls talk about sports.

*ducks*

Originally posted by lookout123 Minors are not legally capable of consent. :rolleyes: