Yes. It is illogical. But perhaps the opportunity comes again. I think at some point you can also edit some of the information about your country by hand.

Issue 81: dismiss. Simple issue of supply and demand. If someone dislikes clowns, he can just stop hiring them. Problem solved.

We will thus let the problem with clowns solve itself.

==== Overview ====
Civil Rights: Excellent (71) [+1]
Economy: Weak (20)
Political Freedoms: Very Good (74) [+6]

The Free Land of Gogan is a huge, socially progressive nation, renowned for its restrictive gun laws. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 274 million love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, socially-minded government is effectively ruled by the Department of Education, with areas such as Law & Order and Religion & Spirituality receiving almost no funds by comparison. The average income tax rate is 26%, but much higher for the wealthy. A substantial private sector is dominated by the Pizza Delivery industry.

Organised sports are frowned upon as frivolous, scenic mountain valleys are flooded with water as damming projects get underway, the government has adopted a more thrifty attitude to administrating the country's needs, and anti-government political posters adorn every building like wallpaper. Crime is well under control. Gogan's national animal is the Goglodyte, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Gog.

Gogan is ranked 2,146th in The North Pacific and 52,433rd in the world for Most Cultured, scoring 1 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.

==== Issues ====
16 hours ago: Following new legislation in Gogan, anti-government political posters adorn every building like wallpaper.
16 hours ago: Gogan was reclassified from "Democratic Socialists" to "Liberal Democratic Socialists".
The overview has been updated following the last decisions made.

Bug 'em All, Say Police (issue 82)
The Gogan police force have come to you for permission to use phone taps to trace suspected criminals.

1: "This is a great idea," says police officer Howard Longbottom. "We can never have too much evidence in a case, and this will be of enormous help to us at reducing crime and seeing that those who deserve punishment get justice! If we could just get those silly privacy laws repealed and some funding we could find out stuff the government wants to know too."

2: "This is an unacceptable intrusion into the personal lives of the population," says Falala Suzuki while checking under your chair for bugs. "Just imagine all of the sensitive personal information that the police will pick up! Would you like someone listening to your calls to your mother or your lover? I think not! Laws should be passed so that the government and police can't stick their big noses where they're not wanted!"

==== Public announcement ====

82: 2

82: dismiss - while Option 2 is close to what I would like to decide, knowing NationStates, this decision will be taken to the extreme hampering our police. The sensible solution would be to only use taps in case of founded suspicion with a judicial warrant. If the police cannot investigate where they are "not wanted", as stated in Option 2, they cannot investigate at all! (No criminal wants to be investigated, after all)

Apologies for not running an issue yesterday, I was quite sick (at the hospital until noon) and in no condition to sit at the computer. Things are much better today though not altogether perfect yet.

We will dismiss the issue regarding regarding the Police wanting to use phone taps. (Lifthrasil is quite right in his suspicion, by the way.)

==== Overview ====
Civil Rights: Excellent (71)
Economy: Weak (20)
Political Freedoms: Very Good (74)

The Free Land of Gogan is a huge, socially progressive nation, renowned for its national health service. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 288 million love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, socially-minded government is effectively ruled by the Department of Education, with areas such as Law & Order and Religion & Spirituality receiving almost no funds by comparison. The average income tax rate is 26%, but much higher for the wealthy. A substantial private sector is dominated by the Pizza Delivery industry.

Organised sports are frowned upon as frivolous, scenic mountain valleys are flooded with water as damming projects get underway, the government has adopted a more thrifty attitude to administrating the country's needs, and anti-government political posters adorn every building like wallpaper. Crime is well under control. Gogan's national animal is the Goglodyte, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Gog.

Gogan is ranked 1,489th in The North Pacific and 37,248th in the world for Best Weather, with 10 Metres of Sunlight Above Expected.

==== Issues ====
No changes in the overview (except the daily ranking line and inherent randomness of statements), due to dismissing the issue last time.

Relief is Coming... in Four to Six Weeks (issue 83)
A hurricane recently devastated one of Gogan's island chains causing billions of Gogs in damage and displacing millions of citizens. The national emergency services are doing their best to meet the needs of the crisis, but with the recent airplane ban, relief is taking much longer to come to those affected.

1: "My house is gone, my neighborhood flooded, where's my government?" shouts disgruntled evacuee Peter Barry over the phone. "These islands are a thousand miles off the coast. We'll be waiting weeks for what limited resources our emergency services can provide with the few ships they have. I'll be lucky if I get a bottle of water. It's clear to me that the government didn't give a second thought to all the ramifications of banning airplanes, and now we, the citizens, are paying for it! If you have any compassion for the well-being of your people, you'll legalize air travel again and send help toot sweet!"

2: "Take a deep breath, Leader," advises your Minister of the Environment Megan Eliot, "You smell that? That's clean air. And when was the last time you read about a terrorist taking over an airliner? Oh that's right; there hasn't been one since the ban. If anything, we should have stricter environmental standards on cars and ships. Listen, it's unfortunate that these people are having their relief delayed, but maybe that'll motivate them to adequately prepare next time. They decided to live in a hurricane zone after all."

3: "Obviously, we goofed," says your Minister of Transportation Chastity Dimitrov, "These sorts of humanitarian mess-ups shouldn't happen. But we shouldn't be willing to sacrifice all the benefits of the ban either. We should legalize air travel for government use only. That way necessary services won't be delayed, but we won't wreck our environment or endanger our nation. As an added bonus, you'll be able to go to international conferences without having to drive across the border to use Maxtopia's airports first."

Keep The Greenbelt Green, Say Protesters (issue 84)
A group of environmentalists are protesting against plans to expand urban and suburban developments into greenbelts, the designated countryside between settlements.

1: "Do we really have to listen to these nutcases?" asks real estate developer, Jonathon Cogswell. "The fact of the matter is that nature is BORING. Give us permission to build on the greenbelt and you'll have pink hotels, boutiques, and swinging hot spots that'll be the envy of the region and draw tourists from all around! We can always transplant a few trees and put them in a tree museum to keep the tree-huggers happy. Gogan stands to make a lot of money from this! Think about it for a moment!"

2: "I agree with my colleague here, but he doesn't go far enough," says Prudence Ruff, a city planner. "These protestors are standing in the path of progress. It slows the growth of our economy and harms my portfolio - er - the future of our nation, I mean. It's unpatriotic and we should increase police funding to deal with these troublemakers. Then we wouldn't have to worry about greenbelts or any other nonsense about keeping the 'environment' safe. Think about it for a moment!"

3: "I can't believe what I'm hearing!" exclaims environmental activist Billy Trax. "Tree museums? Police funding? Don't it always seem to be the case that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone? We're talking about natural treasures and you're talking about destroying them. Is there anything that you can build that can really be better than nature? We should put a stop to all encroachment into natural areas. Think about it for a moment!"

==== Public announcement ====
Again, I took the liberty of running two issues today as they were piling up due to my absence yesterday.

84:3

83: 3
84: 3

And thus we achieve karmic balance. Ummmmmmmm

83:3 - makes sense to allow emergency air traffic. There are some situations that are only or much more easily solvable via helicopter or plane.

84:3 - let's not bulldoze our nature any more than strictly necessary.

Issue 83: 1. I voted against banning planes in the first place...

Issue 84: 1. Those hotels and hotsprings sure do sound nice! :D

Sorry for being absent yesterday again. I went to bed to rest a while as the computer rebooted, with the intention of getting up to take care of this and get another hour of Skyrim, but I promptly fell asleep and only woke up in the morning.

Anyway, following the votes we'll reinstitute air travel, but solely for government use, and we'll put a halt to city expansion.

==== Overview ====
Civil Rights: Excellent (71)
Economy: Weak (20)
Political Freedoms: Very Good (74)

The Free Land of Gogan is a huge, environmentally stunning nation, notable for its keen interest in outer space. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 299 million love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, socially-minded government is effectively ruled by the Department of Education, with areas such as Law & Order and Religion & Spirituality receiving almost no funds by comparison. The average income tax rate is 26%, but much higher for the wealthy. A substantial private sector is dominated by the Pizza Delivery industry.

Organised sports are frowned upon as frivolous, scenic mountain valleys are flooded with water as damming projects get underway, the government has adopted a more thrifty attitude to administrating the country's needs, and anti-government political posters adorn every building like wallpaper. Crime is well under control. Gogan's national animal is the Goglodyte, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Gog.

Gogan is ranked 4,567th in The North Pacific and 111,779th in the world for Fastest-Growing Economies, scoring 20 on the Krugman-Greenspan Business Outlook Index.

==== Issues ====
No changes in the overview (except the daily ranking line and inherent randomness of statements), due to dismissing the issue last time.

"Give Us Money!" Quoth the Poet (issue 85)
The National Poetry Society of Gogan is demanding government-funded programs to promote the arts, especially poetry.

1: "We need government help to promote culture." says Charles Usman, chairperson of the National Poetry Society of Gogan. "Poetry is the soul of our nation, the very pulse of humanity! We will ultimately be judged according to our contribution to artistic enlightenment. In other words, please provide funding for our humble mission to bring the beauty of poetry to the masses!"

2: "Artists and poets should support themselves, like everyone else," replies Virginia Barnes, spokesperson for the Capitalism Now Party. "The suffering taxpayers should be given a break. In fact, we should abolish all government subsidies for special interest groups."

3: "Poets--who needs them?!" scoffs Alexander McGuffin, Chairperson Emeritus of the Troglodyte Coalition. "These long-haired troublemakers should all be lined up against the wall and shot! That would be far more entertaining than reading some dumb poems!"

==== Public announcement ====

85: 2