Forum Oscars

That's an incredible compliment, Straggler. Thanks!

lol...well, as with last year, thanks for the high praise

Ha! I'm just blunt and not afraid to make people feel uncomfortable. Works against me pretty often, actually, as it drives debates into off-topic discussionsof what made my opponent uncomfortable rather than the topc. I actually feel rather the same about you - your posts are often what a calmer, more focused me wishes I had said. And your patience in the RAZD debates has been nothing short of superhuman, while still holding to a logically consistent and well-written chain of responses. Ditto

I'm often considered to be one, though I don't necessarily see myself as one. Comes from being in America, where the right/left spectrum is significantly shifted rightwards compared to our neighbor to the North and Europe.I favor lots of "socialist" policies like socialized police, socialized fire protection, socialized education, and socialized healthcare. I support welfare and unemployment protection such that, combined with the other socialist programs, every citizen is guaranteed at least a minimal standard of living and, while they would lose a fancy house or a nice car, unemployment would not mean life on teh streets and getting sick would never result in choosing between bankruptcy or death.I favor government regulation but not control of industry, as I believe that Capitalism works best when given boundaries, because corporations and indeed regular folks are basically greedy little children looking for ways to cheat the rules to get more for themselves, and damn the consequences later. I think the government should have nationalized the worst offending banks, and divided up everything that was considered "too big to fail." Control of the nationalized banks could be transitioned back to private ownership after the economy stabilized.I don't mind high taxes...so long as I believe the money is being spent wisely and efficiently.These things tend to get me labeled as anything from a socialist to an outright communist or fascist, which amuses me to no end for the inherent contradiction in those terms.The reason I don't see myself as so terribly "left-wing" is because I'm a realist - I favor those programs that work, and don't favor that which does not work. My goal is basically an increased standard of living for everyone, which is most effectively obtained by helping those who are in the most trouble. I support things that are very unpopular with many segments of the left, like nuclear power, which I see as the best and most effective solution to our environmental and energy concerns, if it's done correctly (the US currently doesn't allow "breeder" reactors, which means we don't reprocess our spent fuel. It's a gigantic waste of energy, and results in large amounts of unnecessary waste. We could also use Thorium rather than Uranium for the nuclear cycle as well - Thorium is much easier to acquire than Uranium, there's more of it, and it can't be directly weaponized, and it still supports fuel reprocessing).

What Crash said. Being name-dropped in that company is an amazing compliment, and you and they are all on my must-read-posters list as well.For funniest though... I have to disagree, only because I think Modulus won the prize for this year in the Republican primary thread, regarding Santorum's primary campaign: