So, what can we expect from Four More Years?

[dannubis]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Stem cell research is not banned.

Iraq will improve, and will have proper elections.

Propaganda?

Diplomacy will certainly improve, now that stallers will have nothing to stall for.

Terrorists will continue to pour into the nice little terrorist trap we've created in the mideast, and leave us alone.

Israel can take care of itself.

1) stemcell research is not banned. you only can't use stemcells to do research on... brilliant

2) great. do you even watch the news ? the place is going up in flames.

3) so, it's the worlds fault that your idiotic choice of a president has pissed off just about everyone with whom he would in the future have to make deals

4) and obviously this strategy works !!! for instance the nice little communist trap in vietnam sure was a compolete success.

5) yep. we agree on that one. when next time a resolution against israel is proposed in the UN are you still going to veto it ?

[The Mad Monk]

Oerdin, is Iraq going up in flames?

[Dinner]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Stem cell research is not banned.

Iraq will improve, and will have proper elections.

It is effectively banned because the federal government doesn't fund this research. $25 million is a drop in the bucket and it comes with huge strings attached.

Iraq will have elections but it is up in the air if they will be proper or not. There is currently a major problem where 4-6 large cities are controlled by various rebel groups none of which are to egar to have elections they are likely to lose. It's more likely they'll block the elections in those areas (which have a total population of 2-3 million) and then publically challenge the validity of the elections.

That sort of propaganda will play well in the Arab world.

[Q Classic]

i'm never going to renounce my citizenship in this country.

but i can see the appeal to many why they want to be expatriates.

[Sprayber]

Headaches. Lots and lots of headaches.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Oerdin, is Iraq going up in flames?

No but insurgent activity is picking up and more of it's funds are coming from various "charity" groups throughout the muslim world. Most of the insurgents are Iraqis not foreigners but foreigners are paying an increasing share.

The Coalition will have no choice but to launch a real ground offensive in places like Fallujah, Ramadi, Najaf, Samarra, and others if they want the vote to be held in January as planned. That will mean lots of dead bodies and lots of blown up buildings during real urban warfare. Bush put this off until after the US election and either he finishes it before the Iraqi general elections in January or it is likely the elections won't be held in rebel controlled areas.

Not holding elections in every part of Iraq would cast doubt upon the legitamacy of the new government. The only way to really end the rebellion is for everyone to see the newly elected Iraqi government as legitimate and independent. Of course there is the added complication that any government elected will have to ask the US forces to leave or the Iraqi people won't see it as independent.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Well, Powell's going to leave the State Dept., and probably be replaced with Rice -- which means that we're going to replace a real-world diplomat/realist with and academic hawk/idealist. It's hard to see how that will improve diplomacy.

(Rice, incidently, will be replaced by Wolfowitz -- who would rather be headiong up State or Defense, but who is too toxic from Iraq to survive a confirmation hearing.)

The GOP nomination will go to Jeb if he wants it, Bill Frist if Jeb says no.

Hilary's main opponent in 2008 will be Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa. Whichever one of them gets nominated will get stomped on in the general election.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by dannubis

1) stemcell research is not banned. you only can't use stemcells to do research on... brilliant

You're wrong. He just said the Federal government will only fund research conducted on five pre-existing steam cell lines. The problem is any living cell only reproduces a certain number of times and then it dies. We need a constent supply of new stem cells to replace the nearly extinct lines Bush authorized.

Also since the Feds pay for nearly all basic scientific research the ban on new funds basically killed research in this country. Luckily, a few forward thinking states are cough up hard cash to pay for more research.

[Harovan]

I think Spiffor nicely summed it up. Other than that, not much will change. There's really no substantial difference between Bush and Kerry, both are right wing lunatics, so big deal who takes the lead. I will continue to shrug, when I hear the news, and America will be as far and as important as Kenya.

[WotanAnubis]

The Middle East stays a mess, but Bush's continued help will turn it into an even bigger disaster area!

The sheer anarchistic chaos in Afghanistan will spread to it's neighbouring countries!

Islamic terrorists groups will rejoice that Bush stays in power, because it'll mean that recruiting becomes lots easier!

The deficit will soar even higher, jobs lost to outsourcing will increase and tax breaks for the rich will not help a great deal! The American economy will collapse!

With the collapse of the American economy, the American military gets into severe budgetting problems and needs to be downsized considerably, which might be a problem what with all the wars going on all over the place.


All this leads to one simple conclusion:
Canada will become the world's dominant power!

[Starchild]

Originally posted by Oerdin


You're wrong. He just said the Federal government will only fund research conducted on five pre-existing steam cell lines. The problem is any living cell only reproduces a certain number of times and then it dies. We need a constent supply of new stem cells to replace the nearly extinct lines Bush authorized.

It also doesn't help that there's evidence your 22 approved stem cell lines appear to be contaminated by the mouse cell scaffolding their grew on or that 5 of them are display such weak growth their value is, at best, debatable:

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996604

[Dinner]

As for predictions:

1) Since Republicans now control all facites of government they will move to completely eliminate the Alternative Minimium Tax (AMT), the Capital Gains Tax, and the Estate Tax. They will instead in act a new national sales tax.

2) 1-2 Supreme Court Justices will die or retire thus giving Bush a chance to put in anti-choice judges.

3) With Daschle gone and the Republican seat count in Congress up (BTW redistricting played a key part in that) all of Bush's appointees will sail through no matter how extemist.

4) I'm not seeing a major terrorist attack in the US but I do see 2-3 more Bali style bombings taking place around the world. These will most likely take place places where muslim terrorists can easily get to like muslim countries or other countries with light border and immigration controls.

5) The budget deficit will double. This will cause interest rates to rise as the Federal government sucks up the available capital.

6) The economy will continue to improve but we will see the continued erosion of the manufactering sector. The quality of new jobs will not be as good as the old jobs.

7) I'm hoping Bush pushes for the creation of the Free Trade Zone of the Americas. This would sale through a Republican Congress and it would be good for business.

8) Without proper funding of reconstruction Iraq will remain a dangerous place as will Afghanistan. If Bush is smart he'll throw serious money at the New Iraqi Army (currently only about 25k troops which is a disgrace) and build it up to at least 200,000. That way the US & UK can start pulling out.

9) No major changes in Afghanistan meaning the government still won't control the country side, the economy will suck (but will more and more be based upon the drug trade), there will be period terrorist attacks and assassinations, and warlords will have the power of life or death over everyone.

10) With luck by 2008 the Republicans will have screwed things up so bad that Democrates will be swept into office. Jeb Bush will run against the Democratic candidate who will be from the deep south.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Starchild
It also doesn't help that there's evidence your 22 approved stem cell lines appear to be contaminated by the mouse cell scaffolding their grew on or that 5 of them are display such weak growth their value is, at best, debatable:

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996604

I agree and that's why I voted for the creation of the California Stem Cell Research Center. It will be a major research center who's sole purpose is to work on stem cells with a $3 billion budget.

[Bosh]

Originally posted by Stefu


The 08 dem primaries will probably be Hillary vs. Stop-Hillary, and New Hampshire and Iowa will be all about who gets to be Stop-Hillary. Beats me who the candidates for that prodigious post will be, though.

Frightening thought: Hillary vs. Al Gore

I don't know why so many people think that Hillary will run for President. She's not studid, she knows she doesn't have the slightest chance of winning. And the Democrats do too so they'd never nominate her *knocks on wood.* Hopefully we'll get some governor candidates this time, the Dem senators have gotten knocked around enough.

It's possible Bush will moderate in his second term

Stem-cell research will continue being banned.

Its not banned.

The "war on terror" propaganda will continue unabated.

Yeah but Republicans wouldn't be able to yelp about 9/11 continuously anymore, that will hurt them.

[Drake Tungsten]

I predict that the morale in the military will remain high. We gave the troops the president that they wanted.