The UN has no experience in running a city.  Most of the municipal responsibilities are mundane things like repairing potholes, maintaining a sanitary sewage system, 4th grade reading requirements, etc.  And 99% percent of the time, those are the things that matter most to residents.

So the UN should start small.  Pick a hamlet in, say, Kansas, and turn that over to UN control.  See if they can run the post office and fire department and zoning laws better than representatives elected by the people.

If so, give them a major US city, Tampa or Detroit, to see how they do there.

If the UN can successfully manage these US cities, then I would agree that they should get a crack at Jerusalem.

Until the UN has demonstrated competence in running a city, Israel should maintain control of Jerusalem.

I think too many commenters are treating the opinion of a 16-year-old as if it came from the mouth of a tenured professor or senator.  She needs education, not bile.

I agree with the commenters who counsel an adult to engage this feisty, intelligent young woman who cares about politics.  My suggestion:

... you try being president in a country already in debt.

Yes, you're right, being a president of a country already in debt is difficult.  Which other presidents had to deal with this problem? [Answer: Washington - Obama].

You try being a president when other countries are making nuclear bombs.

I certainly wouldn't want to be president when other countries are building nuclear bombs.  Which other presidents dealt with this issue? [Answer: Truman - Obama].

What is your opinion of these other presidents, and how they handled these two difficult issues?

Some might call this a passive-aggressive way of a) respecting her opinion, while b) pointing out she needs to think about it more.  Think of it as the Socratic Method, and then talk to her about Socrates (i.e. plant the seed and then change the subject)!

How precisely is first-time sex like voting for Obama?  Losing one's virginity is usually an awkward, painful, somewhat embarrassing act performed by people who are pretty much ignorant of the subject matter.

Oh, wait...

Jacob, I understand where you're coming from, but disagree for two reasons.

1) The President's Constitutional mandate is to see that the laws are executed faithfully.  Whether it's good policy or bad, whether you like it or not, Obamacare is the law of the land.  Rather than granting more waivers, President Romney should eliminate the 1000+ waivers already granted.

2) Eliminating the existing waivers will make the bill more unpopular, and thus increase pressure on Congress to repeal it.  The President can encourage and negotiate, but has no power to repeal a law.

Basically, I'm uncomfortable allowing the President to have the authority deciding who does and does not have to obey Congressionally passed laws.  Even if I like and trust him and his waiver benefits me.

The penultimate panel is in error.  The alliterative ticket of Stevenson/Sparkman lost to Eisenhower/Nixon in 1952.

Hey, it's only a comic.  And a darned clever one.

Scene: Uncle Sam kneeling on a Koran in church. 

"Unless you are absolutely convinced that all of America is against you as a Muslim, you should only see it as me treating the Koran reverently."

How many people would buy that?

Low priority but fun change:  Right now, if the VP - President of the Senate - is impeached, he is required to preside over his own Senate trial. 

That should probably be changed.

Going science fiction on you!

David Brin's "Earth" (1990).  There's a coming of age chapter where a young, immature man is working in a baboon enclosure when he notices the baboons are threatening a small baboon mother and her baby.  She elicits his help, which he doesn't want to give.  The 9 male baboons to give him a chance to run away while they do their baboon execution.  This is when he becomes a man.  He sticks by her side and declares "We humans almost wrecked this planet; we may yet save it.  You don't mess with guys who can do [stuff] like that.  OK, it's 9 against 2.  That sounds about right." Here, search for 'baboons' and scroll to page 93.

Kim Stanley Robinson's "Red Mars" (1993).  The First Man on Mars has just died.  The settlers sit around and recall his life, good and bad.   Then the narrative changes to the mythology of Mars, showing how humans love to create a weird and wondrous past.  Includes a dual between the Martian Big Man and Paul Bunyan.  (Not available in preview.)

Weird, yes, but I keep rereading both these set-pieces.

So this guy advertises for someone to repaint his porch.  The only one who shows up is a woman who really looks like a dumb blond.  Not wanting to be a chauvinistic pig, he shows her the sandpaper, paint, brushes, etc., gives her the job and says he'll pay her when he gets back from work.  About an hour later, she calls him and says she's finished!  Delighted that he didn't misjudge her, the guy says, "If you're willing to wait a few hours for the paint to dry and put on a second coat, I'll double your pay when I get home."  She agrees and later in the day calls to tell him that the job is done.  He complements her on her industry and hard work and will recommend her to his friends.  She thanks him and says, "By the way, it's a Lamborghini, not a Porsche."

Apologies if the previous and next blonde jokes offend the Richochet CoC.  I'm kinda new here, but like to believe that conservatives are healthy enough to enjoy non-PC humor.

Either way, I don't know any others, so I promise it won't happen again.

... also, you don't know my gender or hair color :-)

(...continued)
'No, really, I must compensate you for the cost of that exquisite blue suit!' she says.

'Honestly, ma'am,' the blonde says, 'it cost nothing. You see, a deceased gentleman of about your husband's size was brought in shortly after you left yesterday, and he was wearing an attractive blue suit.

I asked his wife if she minded him going to his grave wearing a black suit instead, and she said it made no difference as long as he looked nice.'

'So I just switched the heads.'

A man who'd just died is delivered to a local mortuary wearing an expensive, expertly tailored black suit.

The female blonde mortician asks the deceased's wife how she would like the body dressed. She points out that the man does look good in the black suit he is already wearing.

The widow, however, says that she always thought her husband looked his best in blue, and that she wants him in a blue suit. She gives the blonde mortician a blank check and says, 'I don't care what it costs, but please have my husband in a blue suit for the viewing.'

The woman returns the next day for the wake. To her delight, she finds her husband dressed in a gorgeous blue suit with a subtle chalk stripe; the suit fits him perfectly...

She says to the mortician, 'Whatever this cost, I'm very satisfied... You did an excellent job and I'm very grateful. How much did you spend?'

To her astonishment, the blonde mortician presents her with the blank check.

'There's no charge,' she says.

(continued...)

1988: Senator Lloyd Bentsen to Senator Dan Quayle in the VP debate: "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy".

<devil's advocate>

It's been reported that US intelligence services knew, within 24 hours, the embassy attacks were a planned terrorist attack.  Therefore they planned a disinformation campaign.

• Top officials (Clinton, Rice) repeatedly claiming it wasn't a planned attack.  That it was a response to a video.
• A well publicized midnight voluntary visit to the filmmaker by an unusually large number of police for a parole violator. 
• Who took the iconic photo of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula being led into a police car?  I'm seriously asking, as I can't find attribution for the photo.  It was probably pre-planned as part of the disinformation.
• Al-Queda now lets down their guard, thinking the US bought their disinformation that the attacks were in response to the film.
• Cleverly, US intelligence services now have several days to collect information as to who was responsible for the attacks.
• To show that the US is serious about the offense Muslims felt, they arrest Nakoula Basseley Nakoula and deny him bail. 
• But they are doing this by his request and with his thanks.  The arrest keeps him, and those around him, safe from violent retribution. 

</devil's advocate>

When did this podcast become Member's Only?  I was just asked for my password on iTunes.

What are the top two pros and top two cons of privatizing the US Postal Service?