As a president? Meh. As a person? Horrible. The way his '88 campaign tore down Dole and then Dukakis was incredibly ugly. To an even greater extent than most American presidents, this man was a slave to his ambition - and willing to do nearly anything that it demanded of him.

Oldiesfreak: Tralfamadorian. So it goes.

[A BILL]

A BILL

To improve, sustain, and transform the Atlasian Postal Service.

Title: The Duke-Marokai Postal Service Act of 2013

Section I

Recognizing that many individuals are employed by and depend on the Atlasian postal service, and that the vast majority of the public desires its continued operation, the Senate has decided upon the following:

1. Saturday letter and package delivery services from the Atlasian Postal Service shall end, staggered by location as deemed necessary by the Postmaster General, by July 1st, 2013.

2. Labor and pension costs shall not exceed a maximum of 70% of all Atlasian Postal Service expenses.

3. All labor and pension contracts as previously negotiated are hereby null and void, and shall require renegotiation to comply with the aforementioned labor and pension cost cap.

4. $8 billion shall be granted as a loan to the Atlasian Postal Service, to be repaid by the end of calender year 2016, for the purposes of repaying their existing financial deficit.

Section II

In order to put the postal service on a firm financial footing in the future:

1. The Atlasian Postal Service shall close and consolidate post offices if (a) substantial economic savings to the Postal Service would result from such closing or consolidation and (b) such closure or consolidation does not prevent the Atlasian Postal Service from meeting its obligation to maintain effective and regular postal services to rural communities where post offices are not self-sustaining.

2. The Postmaster General shall appoint a Chief Innovation Officer. The Chief Innovation Officer shall have proven expertise and a record of accomplishment in areas such as (1) the postal and shipping industry, (2) innovative product research and development, or (3) new and emerging communication technology. The Chief Innovation Officer shall lead the development and implementation of (1) innovative postal products and services, particularly products and services that use new and emerging technology to improve the net financial position of the Postal Service; and (2) non-postal products and services that have the potential to improve the net financial position of the Postal Service.

I declare for the GOR Committee.

Aye

President Napoleon's nomination of SJoyce is an encouraging sign, but he'll need to be a lot more proactive about managing the Cabinet before I can say that I don't strongly disapprove of his performance.

Unsure? I'm not even sure that I'm not sure.

Somewhat disapprove of one for activity-related reasons. Approve of the rest.

Strongly approve of Governor Scott.

I really can't in good conscience approve of anyone here except Nathan, Homely, and Gustaf.

Do you disapprove of Speed of Sound, or just his office?

If you're in Auburn, you'll receive a few questions about prison policy. Any thoughts on that? Plans for reform?

I'm satisfied with this nominee.  I hope he will be confirmed quickly.

Very interesting analysis of the Mideast poll, PPP. I enjoyed reading it. Any chance of a similar take on the slightly more boring Pacific poll?

Yes, good stuff. Maybe we'll also see your take on the other Northeast poll?

He had the guns illegally.  So it's not like the NRA would be defending his owning the guns anyway.  What law would've stopped this from happening?

Closing the gun show loophole would have helped, as that's how he acquired his weapons.

I'm baffled by the near-uniform insistence among those on the left that increasing tax rates for the top bracket of income should be the president's top priority. Shouldn't protecting important programs from severe spending cuts be more important? It's hardly as if raising taxes on millionaires, 500kers, or even 200kers is a meaningful concession to fiscal reality - we'll need to raise taxes on a far larger chunk of Americans if that's our goal. Making tax hikes on the most affluent the linchpin of any deal is an unfortunate bit of politicking that has made negotiations more difficult than they would have been otherwise. More importantly, it's likely that other left-wing policy priorities will be cast aside in any eventual compromise.

Current DUI/DWI penalties are fine. It's how we punish vehicular manslaughter that ought to be re-evaluated.

Lean 'horrible entertainment.' Most performers seem to enjoy their jobs, but knowing that a substantial minority enter the sex industry because of a troubled past or because they have nowhere else to go has ruined pornography for me.

I can't watch a ten-minute video without spending far more time researching the background of everyone who appears onscreen. Even in the rare cases when I find enough information to remove the discomfort involved, the process tends to ruin the experience.

Scott

Aye

Aye

Aye

Am I the only one who has a problem with section 6? I won't formally object, but... meh.

I could certainly stomach a weaker penalty, but after the cloture vote we're at Franzl's mercy.

Who says so?

Senators Julio, Marokai, and Simfan

Am I the only one who has a problem with section 6? I won't formally object, but... meh.

I could certainly stomach a weaker penalty, but after the cloture vote we're at Franzl's mercy.

Hagrid, if you look at the rest of the bill you'll see this, which might address your concern:

3. The Game Moderator shall have the final authority to modify all stories reported by the Secretary of Internal Affairs and the Secretary of External Affairs.

Effectively we would maintain the status quo, while clarifying a power that the law (arguably) already leaves the SoEA and SoIA with the authority to exercise. I'm afraid requiring pre-clearance from the GM would involve asking too much of a single person while also making the SoEA and SoIA far less relevant positions.

Re-posting chiefly on account of the inexplicable use of Twitter syntax:

#God of the #Jews and #Christians 1 #Mayans #NewAgers 0. That's why my guide for the prophetic is #TheBible