Syskeyia
14-02-2005, 19:11
Sykeyian Parliament, Syskeyiapolis
National Assembly hall
Being the "lower house" of the national legislature, the Syskeyian Assembly always had to stand in the shadow of the indirectly elected Senate. Perhaps it was because of the Senate's pretige, or the fact that the Senators had those snazzy swords and robes, or perhaps both. None of that was relevant on this day, however, as the hall as abuzz with chaotic debate.
"...three thousand tons! Yes, you heard that right, three thousand tons!" shouted Elijah Puarborn, Syskeyian Assemblyman from St. Peter Claver Island as he waved a picture of a Stalin tank in his hand. "And did you honestly think that our measly Hellfires and Abrams could penetrate. God know what caliber those guns.
"And speaking of caliber - did you ever see what kind of firepower their ships have? Guns of up to five thousand millimeter caliber - yes, five thousand. For those with naval experience, let me tell you that five thousand millimeters is roughly one hundred and ninety-seven inches - more than ten times the size of our largest shipborne guns.
"I could go on about their firepower, to recall the airship which sunk our noble flagship - a veteran of Amerigo and the Shadow War - or a vast number of other cases where their equipment clearly outclasses ours, but I shall not. Instead, let us recall the numbers of their ships- six hundred in the Eurusean fleet alone! Six hundred plus of Eurusea and the Reich against one hundred and fifty vessels. Why, I must ask, could we only field one, hundred, and fifty?
"I say the blame lays with this government. A government that somehow views an upgrade of tank ammunition from 120 to 135 millimeters, or even a possible changing of pistol ammo from .45 ACP to the .45+Super® (http://www.texas-ammo.com/45super.htm), a major improvement.
"In order to defend ourselves, we must radically change our military. Banished from our minds must be the mindset that the Abrams is a lethal tank killer and the Iowa a decent battleship. No, we must be able to compete with the Doujins, the Mammoths and the Doramaschers if we are to truly defend ourselves in this world from defeat."
Puarborn sat down, and another man, Thomas Sianchow, stood up.
"The Chair recognized the Assemblyman from Xhangong."
"Thank you. For the last half-hour my colleage here has ranted on and on about the alleged superiority of our enemies' military systems to our own. Well, I must ask, Elijah, how did they pay for such a massive military? The latest UN statistics show that Eurusea merely has a Powerhouse economy, and their equipment has a history of unreliability at best.
"Not to mention the fact that Eurusea is a Communist nation, with an average income tax of 99%. Now, as you very well know, the majority of Syskeyian believe that our current tax rate of 65% is too high already, even for a wartime situation. Do you really want to rob the Syskeyian citizen of house and home?
"You also neglected to mention the weaknesses of our enemy's military. Take, for example, the Eurusean infantry. From what we've managed to find out, the Eurusean infantry splits a rifle between two soldiers.
"That's right - one rifle for every two soldiers!" he repeated again, to widespread laughter, chuckling and guffaws.
"You also neglect to address the logistical issues faced with such massive uber-armies. Do you know how much it takes to build one of those monstrosities that our enemies field? For the price of one Doujin-size dreadnought you could build a whole fleet of Joannas.
"And then comes the issue of mobility. All these land-battleships of ludicrous caliber have a notorious lack of mobility, and as any infantryman can tell you, when you find a Death Star, there's always bound to be a shaft port, right below the main port.
"I think I have said enough." He sat down as another man began to speak.
"The Chair recognizes the Assemblyman from Junaklion."
"Thank you. I do not have a major speech prepared, nor do I wish to give one. I simply must point out that both my colleague from St. Peter Claver as well as my colleague from Xhangong have good points. The enemy indeed has caliber and guns superior to ours, but the matters of economics, logicistics and taxation must be addressed. It may be impratical to build the overweight grandson of the Maus, true, but when one such monster is headed toward your path, how do you defeat it? More precisely, how do you defeat it without ruining your country in the process?"
[OOC: Well, this addresses an issue which I've been thinking about for a while - just how do you deal with enemies who want kill you, and think of today MBTs as paper targets. Instead of posting an OOC rant, I decided to write an IC post, which I thought would be more entertaining. Both IC and OOC comments are welcome.]
National Assembly hall
Being the "lower house" of the national legislature, the Syskeyian Assembly always had to stand in the shadow of the indirectly elected Senate. Perhaps it was because of the Senate's pretige, or the fact that the Senators had those snazzy swords and robes, or perhaps both. None of that was relevant on this day, however, as the hall as abuzz with chaotic debate.
"...three thousand tons! Yes, you heard that right, three thousand tons!" shouted Elijah Puarborn, Syskeyian Assemblyman from St. Peter Claver Island as he waved a picture of a Stalin tank in his hand. "And did you honestly think that our measly Hellfires and Abrams could penetrate. God know what caliber those guns.
"And speaking of caliber - did you ever see what kind of firepower their ships have? Guns of up to five thousand millimeter caliber - yes, five thousand. For those with naval experience, let me tell you that five thousand millimeters is roughly one hundred and ninety-seven inches - more than ten times the size of our largest shipborne guns.
"I could go on about their firepower, to recall the airship which sunk our noble flagship - a veteran of Amerigo and the Shadow War - or a vast number of other cases where their equipment clearly outclasses ours, but I shall not. Instead, let us recall the numbers of their ships- six hundred in the Eurusean fleet alone! Six hundred plus of Eurusea and the Reich against one hundred and fifty vessels. Why, I must ask, could we only field one, hundred, and fifty?
"I say the blame lays with this government. A government that somehow views an upgrade of tank ammunition from 120 to 135 millimeters, or even a possible changing of pistol ammo from .45 ACP to the .45+Super® (http://www.texas-ammo.com/45super.htm), a major improvement.
"In order to defend ourselves, we must radically change our military. Banished from our minds must be the mindset that the Abrams is a lethal tank killer and the Iowa a decent battleship. No, we must be able to compete with the Doujins, the Mammoths and the Doramaschers if we are to truly defend ourselves in this world from defeat."
Puarborn sat down, and another man, Thomas Sianchow, stood up.
"The Chair recognized the Assemblyman from Xhangong."
"Thank you. For the last half-hour my colleage here has ranted on and on about the alleged superiority of our enemies' military systems to our own. Well, I must ask, Elijah, how did they pay for such a massive military? The latest UN statistics show that Eurusea merely has a Powerhouse economy, and their equipment has a history of unreliability at best.
"Not to mention the fact that Eurusea is a Communist nation, with an average income tax of 99%. Now, as you very well know, the majority of Syskeyian believe that our current tax rate of 65% is too high already, even for a wartime situation. Do you really want to rob the Syskeyian citizen of house and home?
"You also neglected to mention the weaknesses of our enemy's military. Take, for example, the Eurusean infantry. From what we've managed to find out, the Eurusean infantry splits a rifle between two soldiers.
"That's right - one rifle for every two soldiers!" he repeated again, to widespread laughter, chuckling and guffaws.
"You also neglect to address the logistical issues faced with such massive uber-armies. Do you know how much it takes to build one of those monstrosities that our enemies field? For the price of one Doujin-size dreadnought you could build a whole fleet of Joannas.
"And then comes the issue of mobility. All these land-battleships of ludicrous caliber have a notorious lack of mobility, and as any infantryman can tell you, when you find a Death Star, there's always bound to be a shaft port, right below the main port.
"I think I have said enough." He sat down as another man began to speak.
"The Chair recognizes the Assemblyman from Junaklion."
"Thank you. I do not have a major speech prepared, nor do I wish to give one. I simply must point out that both my colleague from St. Peter Claver as well as my colleague from Xhangong have good points. The enemy indeed has caliber and guns superior to ours, but the matters of economics, logicistics and taxation must be addressed. It may be impratical to build the overweight grandson of the Maus, true, but when one such monster is headed toward your path, how do you defeat it? More precisely, how do you defeat it without ruining your country in the process?"
[OOC: Well, this addresses an issue which I've been thinking about for a while - just how do you deal with enemies who want kill you, and think of today MBTs as paper targets. Instead of posting an OOC rant, I decided to write an IC post, which I thought would be more entertaining. Both IC and OOC comments are welcome.]