The issue is not Obama himself though…he is just one man. The issue is that this election as well as the one in 2008 represents a massive shift in priorities among many of the voters of this country. The Democratic left has become much farther left in recent years than it has ever been. We have become a culture that asks not what we can do for our country, but what our country can do for us. (To reverse President Kennedy’s well-known speech.) People have become very reliant on government handouts. Be it cell phones, welfare, etc., people are abusing these programs in record numbers. These programs are important because they help people get on their feet when they go through hard times. Yet people are simply using them as a way to skirt by without having to do anything. The idea is that “the government will take care of me.” Unfortunately money doesn’t fall from trees…it will run out at some point.

The American spirit that helped to get this nation to where it was at one point is slowly dying out. Successful people are now looked down on. If you have money, you are denigrated and viciously attacked for being an uncaring and otherwise selfish person. (I am by no means rich so I don’t have a vested interest in that statement. I’m just calling it like I see it.)

Personal responsibility is a thing of the past, and I fear that as the years go by and successive generations are raised in this “entitlement culture”, we will continue to head down a dark path.

I’ve bolded a sentence in your post which I don’t hear too often from people with right-wing economic / social sympathies. I’m glad to see such nuances. You seem significantly more informed on this issue than a number of other people arguing against Obama. 🙂

If your post holds enough truth, I’m sad to hear that so many people are giving welfare a bad name over there. I’m having a hard time separating between facts and non-factual right-wing bias on this topic (not referring to your posts), but it seems likely that the issue of welfare has been tarnished by people who don’t understand the basic mechanisms or seek to exploit the system without care for potential consequences.

A welfare state can truly be a good thing for many people when it works.

Now, a good deal of people on the American right like to uphold values such as hard work and personal responsibility.

I would say that the exact same values must apply in order for a welfare state to succeed.

The debate about U.S. domestic politics seems to be generally polarised, at least on the internet. I wish more people would show more interest in the middle road and the possibilities therein.

Sorry for going totally off-topic.

I think it can be done.

Wink wink, right?

Try again, I’m willing to bet those are American girls. Breast implants, strong make-up and big white smiles. It’s no doubt a subjective thing, but those traits aren’t very attractive to me. Too artificial. Norwegian women look better in a natural way, in my opinion.

Perhaps the US voters were smart enough to realize that Obama didn’t create the problems, they were created in the 10 years prior to 2008 and that fixing them wasn’t going to happen quickly.

I think that’s possible. I’m also curious how most voters view Romney’s changes over the last 10 years or so. Apparently he used to be more moderate. Did he try to adapt his image to suit the more conservative voters and evangelical voters better? Did he lose credibility?

#3 Best looking women in Europe

I might say number one, but how can someone really judge that objectively? 🙂

and the balls to thumb their noses to zwiley Russians and hobbish Germans

I don’t know what those adjectives (?) mean, but I’d say that Norway has a reasonable tradition for diplomacy. National interests combined with a limited military capability might mean something in this context.

Sorry for the thread necrophilia.

blackberry1,

Have you taken a look at the British Airways Future Pilot Programme?

With the IR you can use an approved simulator (FNPTII or better) for the majority of your training, so the sim time is not necessarily a restriction.

I’m not familiar with the current rules regarding this in the UK, but in a JAR-FCL compliant environment there are restrictions on time spent in an FNPTII or better, i.e. a total of 55 hours, including 40 hours instrument training and 15 hours MCC in the case of an integrated ATPL(A) course.

Also remember the MPL is predominantly simulator training geared towards airline S.O.Ps. I have seen first hand the by-product of MPL courses and some of it is quite scary.

Again, I’m not familiar with the UK situation, but the MPL(A) students I know did get a good deal of time in SEPs and some MEP before moving onto jets or turboprops with their respective host airlines. I believe some of them are doing quite well today.

We are experiencing a culture change in this country whereupon a large part of the country is now seemingly living in what we refer to as an “entitlement culture.” It is seemingly more and more popular to lean towards far left economic policies (namely redistribution of wealth)

I don’t really know how most Americans today understand the ideas behind some left-leaning economic models and wealth redistribution. I’ll try to describe some of my limited understanding of a few basic principles:

From my experience with current policies in some Western European states with a relatively strong tradition for social democracy, “entitlement” might not be a precise term. In order to work over time and provide for those in need, a welfare system must operate with certain user requirements and incentives. It’s not supposed to “reward” e.g. long-term unemployment for people who are able to work (and able to find work). That would be detrimental to the system and the country.
System abuse does occur and it is of course very important to work against this. A key aim of a functioning welfare state is to provide for people who have real support needs while at the same time giving clear work incentives for those who should have a job. The threat of welfare scams is there, but unlike some welfare state opponents, I don’t see this threat as a deciding argument against the whole idea of welfare.

Then again, different models might suit different countries in different ways at different times. For instance, some experienced Scandinavian politicians have stated that their welfare model can hardly be transferred to any given country at any time. To each his own.

My limited understanding of U.K. and Western European politics leads me to believe that what we consider left-wing here in the USA would in some cases be considered right-wing on that side of the pond.

I think you’re right about that. The left side of the political spectre in Western Europe is predominantly made up by social democrats and socialists. I think a good deal of European moderate right-wing parties (liberal or conservative) have more in common with the Democrats rather than the GOP, but I don’t have the full picture, of course.

If I were a U.S. voter I’d probably go for Obama. I’m generally more sympathetic towards him for various reasons, but at the same time I try not to swallow any attempts at labelling Romney as someone he isn’t without question. Again, it’s a bit hard for me to get a clear picture of everything.

And trim for your current airspeed.

Theroux also interviewed a woman who worked with administration, HR or something like that. I think she was responsible for receiving new girls, among other things. Theroux asked her if she used to inform/warn the girls about potentially negative future consequences of their choice, the low probability of success etc. She replied that the company would probably have run into recruitment problems if she had done so. Or something along those lines, depending on my memory.