Yeah, well you were being pathetic. Trying to twist the debate around.
shmokes: The queen gets $80 million and the PM gets only $400K
patrickl: You're comparing overall cost including maintenance on government property and travel expenses to a single salary
shmokes: Well it's not a fair compariosn anyway since the queen is stripped of all authority
Seriously WTF? You make the comparison, then I point out it's ridiculous and then you try to weazel your way out of it by saying it's an unfair comparison anyway. That's ... well uhm ... pathetic.
patrick, please tell me you're doing that from faulty memory rather than just being dishonest. Our conversation went nothing like that. Try something a bit more like this (God, this is retarded):
patrickl: I don't think having the role a monarch plays filled with an unelected person to be worse than having the position filled through an election.
shmokes: I think it's far worse. Doesn't matter how much of a --cream-filled twinkie-- he is, he gets the job. And the extravagant lifestyles they lead are an absurd burden on taxpayers.
patrickl: You underestimate how hard the Royals' jobs are. And much of their costs goes toward maintaining their lavish estates (which are technically owned by the government, though can only be used by royalty). How much does Obama's lifestyle cost you?
shmokes: Comparing the cost of Obama with the cost of the Royals is not really a fair comparison because of the enormous difference in their respective levels of responsibility, and the fact that Obama is chosen by the people who have to pay for him, rather than having the lifelong right to those benefits at the moment of his birth. With that said, here are some of his benefits and costs to our taxpayers . . . blah blah blah.
patrickl: Don't be pathetic. What can Obama do without the approval of Congress? Does that make him useless?
pinballjim: Actually the president is incredibly powerful, for these two reasons.
patrickl: Those are two outlandish constructions, pindouche.
[note: FWIW, I have absolutely no idea what you mean by this]shmokes: Um . . . Obama is also extraordinarily powerful for a whole bunch of other obvious reasons such as blah blah blah blah.
patrickl: Look, I'm just saying that having a Royal family is awesome, though I will admit that old-lady-Royal needs to step aside so boy-Royal can become King.
shmokes: Why. What's so great about him? Why should he be king?
patrickl: I'm saying that he should do what Royals do.
shmokes: Okay . . . what are royals?
patrickl: [crickets]I think you'll admit that's a pretty fair assessment of our conversation. It's utterly incompatible with the one you presented above.