Another pompous, hypocritical ass makes news.

[cosmik debris]

http://theweek.com/article/index/214613/irony-alert-anti-marijuana-lawmaker-busted-for-marijuana

This is precisely why we should bring back the Guillotine, specifically for public figures. Maybe the sight of their jizz-puddle brethren having their heads loosened, will convince them that the risk-reward paradigm is shifting for real...and I'm not talkin' about that hope and change bullshit. That's turned out to just be Bush ver. 3.0 with a crack habit.

Assholes like this should be lain down on the plank so they can watch the blade as it comes down. Lock the collar on'em and leave their hands free so they can flail about hopelessly as it descends, and then make it a prime time reality show. That's the kind of extreme thinking that it takes to stop and reverse this massive of a status quo motion toward the cliff.

Just watch. This puss hole will be standing next to his wife and kids behind a lectern, shed a tear, say he's only human...found Jesus...with the love and support of my family...goin' to rehab...whatever the fuck - and the idiots will re-elect the talking turd.

Time for our rulers to start givin' us a little head!

 

[mrcreosote]

Oh dear...Shocking.

A politician who is a hypocrite. Such a rare human failing to find itself in the halls of legislature.

The best part was the comment below the article:

"It's not his fault, he got hooked on it by his Guatemalan boyfriend! Curse you Sancho, curse you!"

Snorked coffee on the keyboard on that one.

 

[cosmik debris]

It would also be sweet if some enterprising local journalist were to back track where Mr. Pomposity had obtained the bowl and how, especially if R.I. is one of those peculiar places where anything of an MJ paraphernalia variety is also illegal. The cops should be leanin' on this clown..."who's your supplier?" "Giv'em up and we'll see that the D.A. goes easy on ya..."

Sweeter still if this would lead to the uncovering of a State Legislature weed ring where the "Honorable" douche bags have been bringin' their smoke in on the return flight from one of their tax payer paid for "fact finding missions" abroad, (as if there's ever any reason for such blatant bullshit except another free suck of the tit for them and their families...pieces of shit one and all).

 

[NOTB]

you gotta hate those pompuos dudes.

 

[RetroGrow]

Our last three Presidents all smoked weed.
Don't know if the Obamacrite used cocaine, but I know for a fact that Bill Clinton did, and word is that GW did also.
These guys are the scum of the earth.
It's a sad fact that people who seek election are the worst choices for public office.
Hypocrites all, and I despise them all for it.
They are above the law, but want to lock you up.

 

[bentom187]

hes probabley the first person on earth to take a breathalized after drinking and blow less than a .08 ,

the real storyprobabley goes a little more like- he got pulled over for swerving,they searched the car,ran his ID then the blow hard in blue appoligized and said sir i had no idea it was you we'll just say you took the test and passed,and the pipe had nothing in it.good day.

 

[Captain Ginyu]

Since the guillotine is out, do any of you also know about this so-called super congress bullshit, that appeared out of thin air to pass this debt ceiling? WTF! Our constitution is barely breathing, and these fuktards won't stop until they have absolute power.

 

[budlover123]

Since the guillotine is out, do any of you also know about this so-called super congress bullshit, that appeared out of thin air to pass this debt ceiling? WTF! Our constitution is barely breathing, and these fuktards won't stop until they have absolute power.

These are our elected officials doing this, can we please start holding these people accountable for the horrible decisions they make, I hate how the media is so happy about the fact that the debt ceiling got raised it missed the fact that the Democrats did nothing but spinelessly bend their will to give the Republicans, this time it looks like literally 98% of what they wanted, With Health Care reform, etc, they only got about 90% of what they wanted.

Huge victory for modern Republican party imo, the Democrats basically said "Oh, you know what? We were wrong and you were right so we'll do it your way" No ending the extraneous tax breaks for Americans that earn more than $250,000, no closing of corporate tax loopholes that cost our country...I don't know, untold billions of dollars that would certainly create more jobs than we're seeing right now.

 

[bentom187]

its notavictory for anyone,this is simply intrest that the govt owes itself,and can be written off without a hitch,the winners are the geeks on the hill,and the losers are the people.

so this dumb illeagle super majority,is the problem 6-12 people cannot reprisent the whole nation,and the media makes it look like thats how things aresupposed to get done WRONG!.

 

[bentom187]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRmrejwXdhg

 

[Lollipops]

If youve read the hitchikers guide to the galaxy series than you understand why our polictitions are the way they are

it says that any person who seeks power is not fit to have it

 

[budlover123]

its notavictory for anyone...

yeah well I don't see rich people giving money back or creating jobs or American corporations with their headquarters in Bermuda paying taxes, if not the Republicans, than their masters had a huge victory.

It seems like all this holding the government hostage is doing crazy damage in the economy, I don't know how, but I'm sure it's the result of some sort back room deals that will make a few people a bunch of money, practically the same causes of the great depression

This is what talking shit bags like John Bohner and Mitch McConnel fought for, this is a victory for shit bags everywhere.

 

[bentom187]

all i can say is the constitution was written to protect us not them,when they cross the lines and no one does anything they will continue to wipe their ass with it,and this is the cause of ALL of your distress.

 

[mrcreosote]

This is what talking shit bags like John Bohner and Mitch McConnel fought for, this is a victory for shit bags everywhere.

In signature:

practice civility

Two coffee snorks in a one page thread...A personal best.

 

[cosmik debris]

Hey...how many poor guys are hirin' this week?
Yeah...I kind'a thought so. Them fuckin' rich guys and their tax payin'.

Just out'a curiosity... how much is fair to ask every body else to pay? Sumthin', nuthin'... do like Greece maybe?

How about this one? Who do we let decide who pays and who doesn't? The guys that do the payin' or the people that live off of what they pay? Given the model of the latter, I would suggest that there will never be enough extorted from the payers to satisfy those that don't contribute shit, but all of that aside...why the fuck would anyone want to give anything to begging fuckwads that never appreciate shit and just keep whining "I want more!"? The whole idea is absurd.

Yes the government is shit and crooked and foul, but all of this take from one to give to some fuck up or sack-o-shit layin' up in their Section 8 watchin' Okra all day.... fuck that!

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Hey...how many poor guys are hirin' this week?

How about the ones depending on a job?

Yeah...I kind'a thought so. Them fuckin' rich guys and their tax payin'.

You apparently don't think long enough for the statistics you could google. 68% of those guys don't pay any taxes as corporations. As individuals, untold amounts hide their untaxed corporate gains in offshore tax havens.

Just out'a curiosity... how much is fair to ask every body else to pay? Sumthin', nuthin'... do like Greece maybe?

You could close your eyes and imagine taking nothing from you at all. You wouldn't have roads and bridges, schools, police, fire, rescue, nor the huge sponge to absorb all the things you take for granted and couldn't afford otherwise. Who knows, you might imagine yourself painting antelope and wildebeest on a cave wall.

Or, you could take basic civics and economics at the local community college and realize why your modern day existence costs money. Without non-profit services and subsidies, you couldn't afford free market solutions for as little as groceries, let alone healthcare and higher education.

How about this one? Who do we let decide who pays and who doesn't? The guys that do the payin' or the people that live off of what they pay? Given the model of the latter, I would suggest that there will never be enough extorted from the payers to satisfy those that don't contribute shit, but all of that aside...why the fuck would anyone want to give anything to begging fuckwads that never appreciate shit and just keep whining "I want more!"? The whole idea is absurd.

Google will tell you how much welfare roles were reduced in the 90s. That same google will tell you how many working poor have amassed since 2001. The 1990s alone blows away your entire narrative. We're talking 4% on the top rate. We're talking making cap gains the same rate as one's respective income rate.

Now there's a better offer. Won't touch the first million but anything after the first is hit with a millionaire's tax. So would you say, "I'll turn down busting another cool million so I don't have to pay an additional $56k"? No, you wouldn't say that. Nobody in their right mind would say that.

Yes the government is shit and crooked and foul, but all of this take from one to give to some fuck up or sack-o-shit layin' up in their Section 8 watchin' Okra all day.... fuck that!

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

A few folks claim The Wizzard of Oz is a tale of gold. Closer to the point, stealing gold.

A mid-western farm girl loses her home and teams up with an industrial worker and a farmer to protest their respective injustices. They follow the money trail and it strangely takes the same path of a gold colored road. Even the the great Land and leader of 'Oz' is symbolically depicted by trading increment.

So the hieroglyph (government) tells the trio to, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." The "man" is business or more importantly, it's corrupting influence.

How's that? The man behind the curtain is a fraud? Well, he had to get out of dodge awful fast and he didn't even give that nice girl a lift home.

The story's a little short on the perp walk for the man that rides off in the balloon. In those days rich folks got away with fraud just like they do today. But he'll be back because his division of lawyers will discover new ways to rip us off.

But the story suggests that pulling back the curtain is where the answer lies and that's obviously the part you missed.

 

[cosmik debris]

Actually one of my favorite stories, except that my take on the gold angle is more Fed/international banking/industrialist cabal than just business in general. The government backed monopolies that have been the biggest thieves are all free game from my perspective. The part that pisses me off is that so many calling for the heavy tax levy miss several important points. The greatest recipients of the thefts in the political arena, are Obama, Bush and the Clintons. This doesn't seem to sit well with the "progressives" and socialists who wanna throw everything at the feet of those evil Republicans. I despise both, but that bit is complete crap and I'm sick of people latching on to it as if it were fact. Another point is that you can't tax the tens of trillions away that the Fed has fucked us out of. We need to have a giant money burnin' party just to get our money supply back down to something sane and reasonable before we start to look like the Weimar Republic.

WTF do the 90's prove? Sorry for seeming so obtuse but I just don't see it. How are you able to compare Google stats about "poor" and "working poor", and use that as justification for stealing peoples shit? The Constitution allows for an "equally apportioned" income tax, not this regressive shit. It's still socialism and it doesn't solve the fucking problem. There aren't enough millionaires to go around my friend.

Your jump from local and State responsibilities to try and provide cover for Federal larges is disingenuous at best. Firemen, police, teachers, water and waste water, all of the really important day to day shit is and should be handled at the local level. The redistribution of wealth from the Federal level is just an excuse for expanding the waste and sloth that they have mastered, to no advantage of the folks payin ' the freight. Your cost of modern day life comment is also bullshit, and I would hopefully suggest beneath you.

Our Federal government has a very finite list of responsibilities, and yet while constantly attempting to expand their power and influence, they continue to fuck up EVERYTHING that they touch, including their core responsibilities.

We need to have our borders protected... yeah right. Fast & Furious, Dream Act end around, suing our own States, yup they're doin' a bang up fuckin' job while millions take root.

We need to be protected from foreign invaders. That means we need to be prepared DEFENSIVELY, not pre-emptively! Hegemony and a world wide application of this sanctimonious Manifest Destiny bullshit is so completely out of line it's insane. We do not have the right, the authority, nor the means to support this incredible empire building bullshit. Stealing peoples money to force payment for it is wrong, wrong, wrong, any fuckin' way you slice it! The threats that we assume are principally self inflicted maladies that I have witnessed first hand and have no need of a 13th grade to enlighten me to. What's your excuse?

Interstate trade and the maintenance of our highway system is an important economic and strategic resource that gets plenty of lip service from the turd, but ooops...sorry, I guess they weren't as shovel ready as I implied. Here's a little imagineering exercise for ya. Imagine we spent a tenth of the money that our world domination tour consumes on building roads and bridges. We'd be the envy of the universe. That is one of the things that it is supposed to be spent on, so the very fact that they are all fucked up is absolute defacto proof that these assholes can't be trusted to do what they are supposed to do with ANY money, much less more!

Health care I'll warrant is even more fucked up than the rest, but I consider neither approach attempted to date to be appropriate. We have no interstate competition...why!? Why did ALL of the insurance companies get so giddy over Obama care? Why isn't anyfuckinsocialistassholebody "occupying" Humana, or Blue Cross and Blue Shield? Take a look at their profits - thanks to their having purchased a great number of pre-paid whores in Congress. Again...there is nothing that these fucktards do that we can't get better done locally. They are to foster interstate trade...not just write fucked up regulations that impede it to assist their selected monopolies and cronies. We have the equipment and doctors to offer world class healthcare to everyone at an affordable rate. But first we need to extricate the Tort Lawyers, the insurance company monopolies and anything that smells of Federal finger stink.

Your tax and tax strategy is just nuts. The reason that so many people and corporations take advantage of the current code is because they can. It has been crafted to favor a select few, and now that there is an entire industry that has grown up around it, there is an inevitable flattening of the learning curve. Where once only the uber rich could figure it out or pay someone to do it for them, now even Joe the Plumber can set up an off-shore entity and learn to stay in the grey come tax time. Why the fuck would you want to keep piling shit on top of shit expecting it to suddenly begin to smell like roses. Nothing will ever grow there!

Dump the IRS, the entire tax code and let's get to something manageable and "FAIR"! Let's put thousands of lawyers and government thugs out'a work tomorrow!
A national sales tax encourages savings, which we suck at and need to do more of, not be bigger consumers. Our Constitution allows for Corporate income taxes, excise taxes (those that we can presumably avoid by not spending on affected goods) and tariffs. These were meant to be co-supportive. Tariffs were not meant to be a tool for favoring unions or special interests, and corporate taxes were not meant to be tweaked and fucked with. The tariffs were meant to provide a means of leveling the playing field where other governments might work to gain some unfair advantage over our domestic interests... and that's about it. Corporate taxes can be simplified just by dumping the whole fucking tax code in the crapper and adopting a flat rate there as well. I'm not gonna quibble over the rate right now, but even though I don't like or support Caine, he's on the right track with the flat rates. Too bad he was part of the Fed system and still likes the whole empire thing.

Things like food and clothing could be exempted. I might also add that where gasoline is concerned, you also see government upfucking at its worst. Even the States fuck this one up now. Where most of the fuel excise taxes are supposed to be dedicated to transportation issues (the mass transit projects, bridges and roads that you try to pretend are Federal rights/responsibilities), most States now dump it all into their general fund so that it's easier to spirit away for their union pay-offs and social engineering experiments. Fuck the roads and bridges... they'l last til my term is up!

Then we add the horseshit of the Davis-Bacon wage act and the union ass fucking of the American tax payer. Artificially propping up wages to support their agendas and keep their worthless asses alive is a senseless and irresponsible waste of our fucking money. They can have all of the fucked up little clubs that they want, but fuck leveling the playing field JUST for them. The inflated wages are just that and nothing else. Fuck anybody and their bullshit "living wage" bullshit. There are millions of non-union workers who manage just fine without having to tithe to those socialist pricks. The irony being that the wage act was created as a means of freezing Negroes out of Federal work that the unions had a monopoly on back under FDR... , another racist "progressive' who was perfectly comfortable with American Apartheid. In point of fact, Yobama is probably the biggest "Tom" in politics today when ya get right down to it. He sucks the cock of the unions just as vigorously as he does the pricks on Wall Street.

Your presumptions about what I could afford in a free market without your tax supported subsidies and non-profits is total shit.
First, I grow-repair-build my own, barter and trade with other like minded folk who prefer self reliance to government tit sucking. We have worked long and hard to be able to provide for ourselves in such a manner and have succeeded in spite of our government and thinking like yours. I depend on government to enforce the rule of law, protect property rights of mine and my neighbors (being the country at large), keep the roads passable for trade and stay the fuck away from me and out of my ass.

Edufuckincation and the "higher" forms are NOT a right! They are not God given, they are not implied or expressed anywhere. If local or State municipalities wish to help educate their constituents progeny, then so be it. Let'em pay for it with the resources that they have available to them. If you want better schools for "free" for your kids, you'd better find a way to earn more so you can move to where the better schools are. Part of this pile of socialist shit is the joke about quality having any dependency on cost. Some of the most expensive educatin' in the world is taking place at the hands of "progressives", fully represented by unions, supported wholly by tax payers - and the majority from outside of the worst examples jurisdictions, under socialist "progressive" local government regimes, and they are consummate and abject failures.

When adjusted for inflation we have doubled education spending over the last 30 years, and yet there has been no appreciable difference in the end result. Their own horseshit testing bears this out... but we have to keep raising Federal taxes to pay for what? Most jurisdictions are so busy filling out paperwork to comply, that they haven't stopped to read the reports and studies that show that Federal money has so many hoops and strings attached that by the time you get through them all, you've spent it. Federal and education are two words that should never be uttered in the same sentence.

Where "higher" forms are concerned, you might take note of the corporate names that are funding the new buildings and research grants that provide the opportunities for this learning. This is not a function of government. I would also suggest that some practical learning might prove more appropriate than more of the academic fraud that is perpetuated in today's university system. The tenure system has been turned into a bastardized means of freezing out any real opportunities for personal growth in their system. Opposing views are now scandalized and persecuted, if not outright banned. Call them what they are...mills for inculcating the masses required to keep perpetuating the status quo. Consider the cost of the "institution" that gave us he current idiot in charge. Hardly a value by any measure.

Again, if the "progressive" methodology is so right and true, then why does it continue to produce such abysmal results while only succeeding in growing larger, more expensive, and more intractable? You have had your way for decades now... and it has failed miserably. How ironic that you insist on dragging them up as some kind of model for what we should aspire to do more of.

If our goal was to inculcate in the propaganda of the Left, we have earned high praise. If the goal was practical knowledge and higher critical thinking skills, we have failed massively. One not need to be competent in economics, literate in English, functional in math, or anything less than retarded to earn a degree in social work. I have had numerous encounters with education degree holders that don't know how to teach, or speak proper English for that matter. Thanks to a consistent drive to lower the admissions bar we have succeeded in making the threshold for entry to your "higher" education one that is more focused on skin color and ethnicity than all else. Your premise is not flawed, it is fractured.

What of this rises to a level that makes it worthy of rampant theft of peoples property? What's the pay-off to the "greater good" even if that were an acceptable excuse... which it is not? All that you suggest and support will accomplish nothing but to lessen incentive. Were I starting a business today and I saw myself approaching your punitive tax threshold I would most certainly cool my heels just on principal. Consider it the private sector response to being forced to do shit that doesn't make sense and runs contrary to our Constitution.

Every dollar that we have taken from us in taxes is one less dollar that we all have to make our lives work, and giving it to somebody that doesn't feel like gettin' out'a bed with the rest of us every day just never seemed all that "fair".

I don't need to Google for answers, and I don't see a need to supplement my life experiences with community college to be able to see any more clearly than I already sometimes wish that I didn't.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Actually one of my favorite stories, except that my take on the gold angle is more Fed/international banking/industrialist cabal than just business in general. The government backed monopolies that have been the biggest thieves are all free game from my perspective.

Care to name one?

The part that pisses me off is that so many calling for the heavy tax levy miss several important points.

4% is heavy? No higher than the 90s and we amassed surpluses instead of deficits. Did you ever crunch 4% and see what it means for you? Or did you determine it won't affect you at all since you didn't make a quarter million?

The greatest recipients of the thefts in the political arena, are Obama, Bush and the Clintons. This doesn't seem to sit well with the "progressives" and socialists who wanna throw everything at the feet of those evil Republicans.

Seems you're doing the same thing [you] suggest others are doing. :bigeye

I despise both, but that bit is complete crap and I'm sick of people latching on to it as if it were fact.

I kinda despise typifying ideology itself. But when I see it in action it's a lil' hard to ignore.

Another point is that you can't tax the tens of trillions away that the Fed has fucked us out of. We need to have a giant money burnin' party just to get our money supply back down to something sane and reasonable before we start to look like the Weimar Republic.

That would fuck up our bond sales. You know, part of what backs our dollar. If you're getting that money-printing scenario from the wrong folks, they're preemptively trying to get you to look the other way. Not unlike investment bankers did with their shenanigans after-the-fact.

WTF do the 90's prove? Sorry for seeming so obtuse but I just don't see it.

Surpluses. Projected sustained surpluses. The next guy changed the rules and revenues fell to 1950s levels. $Trillion deficits and tripled national debt. It feell so hard that even business won't twinkle their toes into the unsure waters... and blame it on the lowest revenues in modern history.

How are you able to compare Google stats about "poor" and "working poor",

Without statistics or facts in general, your ideology is only narrative.

and use that as justification for stealing peoples shit?

You haven't been paying attention the last 30 years. If you had a long term, low risk retirement plan, you've been screwed repeatedly in the last 12 years alone. It's all fast growth and we've always known what fast growth does to sustained growth. For the top, fast growth always wins out and sustained growth suffers for everybody.

The Constitution allows for an "equally apportioned" income tax, not this regressive shit. It's still socialism and it doesn't solve the fucking problem. There aren't enough millionaires to go around my friend.

You have a narrative. What you lack is a more comprehensive conception of economic reality.

Your jump from local and State responsibilities to try and provide cover for Federal larges is disingenuous at best. Firemen, police, teachers, water and waste water, all of the really important day to day shit is and should be handled at the local level.

You say I'm disingenuous based on opinion? That would automatically qualify any and all of your opinions as disingenuous.

This is where the civics class would help. Local revenues pale as compared to federal assistance to states. Check you own state. You could very well be receiving more from DC than you're paying. Again, economic history and sustained economies for as much of the nation dictate our strategies, not romantic philosophies. You're certainly welcome to your opinion but it's not shared by the majority of a democratic society.

The redistribution of wealth from the Federal level is just an excuse for expanding the waste and sloth that they have mastered, to no advantage of the folks payin ' the freight. Your cost of modern day life comment is also bullshit, and I would hopefully suggest beneath you.

Yeah, roads, bridges, sewers, utilities... all bullshit and beneath me. I feel so elevated.

Our Federal government has a very finite list of responsibilities, and yet while constantly attempting to expand their power and influence, they continue to fuck up EVERYTHING that they touch, including their core responsibilities.

We need to have our borders protected... yeah right. Fast & Furious, Dream Act end around, suing our own States, yup they're doin' a bang up fuckin' job while millions take root.

We need to be protected from foreign invaders. That means we need to be prepared DEFENSIVELY, not pre-emptively! Hegemony and a world wide application of this sanctimonious Manifest Destiny bullshit is so completely out of line it's insane. We do not have the right, the authority, nor the means to support this incredible empire building bullshit. Stealing peoples money to force payment for it is wrong, wrong, wrong, any fuckin' way you slice it! The threats that we assume are principally self inflicted maladies that I have witnessed first hand and have no need of a 13th grade to enlighten me to.

I don't argue literal, especially static, constitutional interpretations. But that doesn't mean we're dynamically opposed on every issue. Don't get wrapped up so tight in the narrative that you assume what others believe.

What's your excuse?

Didn't you just say you had no need?

Interstate trade and the maintenance of our highway system is an important economic and strategic resource that gets plenty of lip service from the turd, but ooops...sorry, I guess they weren't as shovel ready as I implied.

Yeah, you have to have approved plans before you get the money. That's what shovel ready means, all the precursors are rectified. Come to find out, representatives were going for the money when districts didn't have their ducks in a row.

Yeah, let's blame the guy that has nothing to do with the problem. Doesn't matter when so few pay attention to enough detail to make objective analysis.

Here's a little imagineering exercise for ya. Imagine we spent a tenth of the money that our world domination tour consumes on building roads and bridges. We'd be the envy of the universe. That is one of the things that it is supposed to be spent on, so the very fact that they are all fucked up is absolute defacto proof that these assholes can't be trusted to do what they are supposed to do with ANY money, much less more!

Wrong again. The very ideology that spurns 'socialism' has resisted infrastructure appropriations for decades. Here's were google comes in handy. All you have to do is check the bills that fly and die in the wrangle of politicization. It hasn't always been this way, Wasn't too long ago that even conservatives recognized the value of non-profit vs free market services. A Republican championed the interstate highway system. A Republican championed clean air and water. Now this same party shuns federal spending for necessary infrastructure and wants to wax the EPA. In other words, a ginormous shift to the right.

Health care I'll warrant is even more fucked up than the rest, but I consider neither approach attempted to date to be appropriate. We have no interstate competition...why!?

Ask google. States can't arbitrate between themselves. That's why they begged the federal government to revamp the Articles of Confederation and that's why we got the Constitution.

You could buy a crap out-of-state policy and your state AG couldn't mitigate your loss. The fed didn't tell your state AG he couldn't do whatever. Every one of your state AG's knew they couldn't arbitrate inter-state so they probably limited your options as much or more than the federal government did. The sound bites never penetrate what you need to make objective conclusions.

Why did ALL of the insurance companies get so giddy over Obama care? Why isn't anyfuckinsocialistassholebody "occupying" Humana, or Blue Cross and Blue Shield? Take a look at their profits - thanks to their having purchased a great number of pre-paid whores in Congress. Again...there is nothing that these fucktards do that we can't get better done locally. They are to foster interstate trade...not just write fucked up regulations that impede it to assist their selected monopolies and cronies. We have the equipment and doctors to offer world class healthcare to everyone at an affordable rate. But first we need to extricate the Tort Lawyers, the insurance company monopolies and anything that smells of Federal finger stink.

I don't know where you get all that but we've got THE most expensive healthcare in the world. We're 2x the next highest country. We're 37th in performance.

You need to actually research what you think are major problems. Statistically, tort ain't shit compared to administrative costs. Medicare, Medicaid and the VA operate at 4%. The private sector averages 12% and then they add their multiple executive salaries. The top guy in my state just went from $12 million a year to 13. Poor guy, he needs that extra million. Even if he has to deny coverage to get it. sarcasm/off.

Your tax and tax strategy is just nuts. The reason that so many people and corporations take advantage of the current code is because they can. It has been crafted to favor a select few, and now that there is an entire industry that has grown up around it, there is an inevitable flattening of the learning curve. Where once only the uber rich could figure it out or pay someone to do it for them, now even Joe the Plumber can set up an off-shore entity and learn to stay in the grey come tax time. Why the fuck would you want to keep piling shit on top of shit expecting it to suddenly begin to smell like roses. Nothing will ever grow there!

Dump the IRS, the entire tax code and let's get to something manageable and "FAIR"! Let's put thousands of lawyers and government thugs out'a work tomorrow!

Send thug execs with em.

...Tariffs were not meant to be a tool for favoring unions or special interests, and corporate taxes were not meant to be tweaked and fucked with.

Tell that to Carl Rove, Ed Gillespie, the Koch Brothers, ALEC, Americans for Prosperity and the hundreds of groups, think tanks and organizations designed to purcahse conservative policies.

The tariffs were meant to provide a means of leveling the playing field where other governments might work to gain some unfair advantage over our domestic interests... and that's about it. Corporate taxes can be simplified just by dumping the whole fucking tax code in the crapper and adopting a flat rate there as well. I'm not gonna quibble over the rate right now, but even though I don't like or support Caine, he's on the right track with the flat rates. Too bad he was part of the Fed system and still likes the whole empire thing.

One of the reasons we don't get over tangled in literal interpretation is because people see their own ideology between the lines. So we allow this thing called democracy [aka voting] to collectively sort things we can't individually.

Things like food and clothing could be exempted. I might also add that where gasoline is concerned, you also see government upfucking at its worst. Even the States fuck this one up now. Where most of the fuel excise taxes are supposed to be dedicated to transportation issues (the mass transit projects, bridges and roads that you try to pretend are Federal rights/responsibilities), most States now dump it all into their general fund so that it's easier to spirit away for their union pay-offs and social engineering experiments. Fuck the roads and bridges... they'l last til my term is up!

Then we add the horseshit of the Davis-Bacon wage act and the union ass fucking of the American tax payer. Artificially propping up wages to support their agendas and keep their worthless asses alive is a senseless and irresponsible waste of our fucking money. They can have all of the fucked up little clubs that they want, but fuck leveling the playing field JUST for them. The inflated wages are just that and nothing else. Fuck anybody and their bullshit "living wage" bullshit. There are millions of non-union workers who manage just fine without having to tithe to those socialist pricks. The irony being that the wage act was created as a means of freezing Negroes out of Federal work that the unions had a monopoly on back under FDR... , another racist "progressive' who was perfectly comfortable with American Apartheid. In point of fact, Yobama is probably the biggest "Tom" in politics today when ya get right down to it. He sucks the cock of the unions just as vigorously as he does the pricks on Wall Street.

Your presumptions about what I could afford in a free market without your tax supported subsidies and non-profits is total shit.
First, I grow-repair-build my own, barter and trade with other like minded folk who prefer self reliance to government tit sucking. We have worked long and hard to be able to provide for ourselves in such a manner and have succeeded in spite of our government and thinking like yours. I depend on government to enforce the rule of law, protect property rights of mine and my neighbors (being the country at large), keep the roads passable for trade and stay the fuck away from me and out of my ass.

Edufuckincation and the "higher" forms are NOT a right! They are not God given, they are not implied or expressed anywhere. If local or State municipalities wish to help educate their constituents progeny, then so be it. Let'em pay for it with the resources that they have available to them. If you want better schools for "free" for your kids, you'd better find a way to earn more so you can move to where the better schools are. Part of this pile of socialist shit is the joke about quality having any dependency on cost. Some of the most expensive educatin' in the world is taking place at the hands of "progressives", fully represented by unions, supported wholly by tax payers - and the majority from outside of the worst examples jurisdictions, under socialist "progressive" local government regimes, and they are consummate and abject failures.

When adjusted for inflation we have doubled education spending over the last 30 years, and yet there has been no appreciable difference in the end result. Their own horseshit testing bears this out... but we have to keep raising Federal taxes to pay for what? Most jurisdictions are so busy filling out paperwork to comply, that they haven't stopped to read the reports and studies that show that Federal money has so many hoops and strings attached that by the time you get through them all, you've spent it. Federal and education are two words that should never be uttered in the same sentence.

Where "higher" forms are concerned, you might take note of the corporate names that are funding the new buildings and research grants that provide the opportunities for this learning. This is not a function of government. I would also suggest that some practical learning might prove more appropriate than more of the academic fraud that is perpetuated in today's university system. The tenure system has been turned into a bastardized means of freezing out any real opportunities for personal growth in their system. Opposing views are now scandalized and persecuted, if not outright banned. Call them what they are...mills for inculcating the masses required to keep perpetuating the status quo. Consider the cost of the "institution" that gave us he current idiot in charge. Hardly a value by any measure.

Again, if the "progressive" methodology is so right and true, then why does it continue to produce such abysmal results while only succeeding in growing larger, more expensive, and more intractable? You have had your way for decades now... and it has failed miserably. How ironic that you insist on dragging them up as some kind of model for what we should aspire to do more of.

If our goal was to inculcate in the propaganda of the Left, we have earned high praise. If the goal was practical knowledge and higher critical thinking skills, we have failed massively. One not need to be competent in economics, literate in English, functional in math, or anything less than retarded to earn a degree in social work. I have had numerous encounters with education degree holders that don't know how to teach, or speak proper English for that matter. Thanks to a consistent drive to lower the admissions bar we have succeeded in making the threshold for entry to your "higher" education one that is more focused on skin color and ethnicity than all else. Your premise is not flawed, it is fractured.

What of this rises to a level that makes it worthy of rampant theft of peoples property? What's the pay-off to the "greater good" even if that were an acceptable excuse... which it is not? All that you suggest and support will accomplish nothing but to lessen incentive. Were I starting a business today and I saw myself approaching your punitive tax threshold I would most certainly cool my heels just on principal. Consider it the private sector response to being forced to do shit that doesn't make sense and runs contrary to our Constitution.

Every dollar that we have taken from us in taxes is one less dollar that we all have to make our lives work, and giving it to somebody that doesn't feel like gettin' out'a bed with the rest of us every day just never seemed all that "fair".

I don't need to Google for answers, and I don't see a need to supplement my life experiences with community college to be able to see any more clearly than I already sometimes wish that I didn't.

Sorry, got lost in the ideological drift but that last part rings with clear resonance.

 

[cosmik debris]

Care to name one?

Sorry for not being more specific on each point. We do not own "our" central bank, and that is the root of all evil in my opinion. Tax law and the associated legislation that is drafted by lobbyists, passed by Congress, and allows groups like Big Pharma to create a closed market for themselves are the types of monopolies that I was thinking of. Taxing them at a higher rate however does nothing for us since they simply tack the increase onto our bill, and the band plays on. So in retrospect, higher tax rates will do nothing to help, the tax code needs to be trashed and government mandates that force business into their web need to be eliminated.

4% is heavy? No higher than the 90s and we amassed surpluses instead of deficits. Did you ever crunch 4% and see what it means for you? Or did you determine it won't affect you at all since you didn't make a quarter million? Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought you were suggesting a 4% increase to the top rate and matching it with the respective capital gains rate(s). If so, yes that's heavy. It's heavy if you cut it in half. The cumulative taxes that we pay are insane. What we pay to the Feds is just the largest insult of so called smart people redistributing our money as they see fit, and that always goes badly for us. Comparisons to the 90's serve no practical purpose. The biggest impact on budgeting, and the resultant surpluses, were more the result of our debt being refinanced at a lower rate, thereby reducing the percentage of tax revenues required for debt service. They weren't the result of any serious spending reductions or equitable taxation policy, which is the core of current problem.

Seems you're doing the same thing [you] suggest others are doing. :bigeye
The comment was intended to point out that the common "progressive" complaints are exclusive in their focus on Republicans as being Wall Street's bed fellows, when in fact, Wall Street is populated principally by Democrats, they support Democrats with huge piles of money, and yet the libs still see only the Republican connection. That myopia doesn't sit well with me. I do not consider it to be an exclusive arrangement that is only the fault of one group or the other. The status quo is made up of significant numbers from both, but the welfare state is vociferously defended by them at every turn, and it is wrong.
I kinda despise typifying ideology itself. But when I see it in action it's a lil' hard to ignore. Are you referencing my diatribe or are you agreeing with the comment?

That would fuck up our bond sales. You know, part of what backs our dollar. If you're getting that money-printing scenario from the wrong folks, they're preemptively trying to get you to look the other way. Not unlike investment bankers did with their shenanigans after-the-fact.

Nixon's leaving the gold standard was a critical blunder, and backing currency with debt is bad mojo. The recent partial audit of the Fed is illustrative of just how bad the money-printing scenario is in reality. Check it out. This isn't paranoia or succumbing to cheap magic tricks. The money that the Fed has created and spread around in the last few years makes our National Debt look like a trifle.

Surpluses. Projected sustained surpluses. The next guy changed the rules and revenues fell to 1950s levels. $Trillion deficits and tripled national debt. It feell so hard that even business won't twinkle their toes into the unsure waters... and blame it on the lowest revenues in modern history.

Review the how and where of the surpluses, and then please explain what they and the 90's have to do with now. Are you trying to suggest that our governance then was superior to now? Agreed. It was still horrible, but certainly better than now, but again, what's your point? That was our last opportunity to right this ship without the kind of pain that we are now confronting, but kick the can they did. Refinancing our debt was hardly a matter of the President or Congress making the hard choices. More like setting the bad example that most of America followed. Refi and spend!

Without statistics or facts in general, your ideology is only narrative.

The breadth of issues that we have touched on covers an awful lot of ground. If you would prefer a more serious debate on select points I'll try to accommodate rather than continue exchanging verbose thread killing posts. The "narrative" of my opinions was meant as just that. Statistics used to support your opinions are fine and add to your narrative's ability to persuade, but they do not make your opinion fact.

You haven't been paying attention the last 30 years. If you had a long term, low risk retirement plan, you've been screwed repeatedly in the last 12 years alone. It's all fast growth and we've always known what fast growth does to sustained growth. For the top, fast growth always wins out and sustained growth suffers for everybody.

I agree with your response, and I have been paying attention for a lot more than just the last 30 years. I still don't see the confiscation of wealth as being anything other than theft.

You have a narrative. What you lack is a more comprehensive conception of economic reality.

And you of course possess just that? Comprehensive conception of economic reality? How comprehensive would you suggest yours is, and just which reality do you speak of? That which you experience or mine. Not tryin' to be a dick (this time) but your word choice is a little sketchy here... "conception"(?) as in creation? Or were you suggesting that I need to create an all encompassing perception of your impression of reality in economic terms? Please rephrase.

You say I'm disingenuous based on opinion? That would automatically qualify any and all of your opinions as disingenuous.

Not sure you understand the definition of the word. That was intended as a back handed compliment, which from one smart ass to another I assumed you would get (attribute idiom here). My point was that I believe that you are smart enough to recognize that you were mixing State and local funding obligations into your narrative to try and make your point regarding Federal spending. I give you credit for knowing more than you were acting as if you knew in making those assertions. If I was wrong, I stand corrected.

This is where the civics class would help. Local revenues pale as compared to federal assistance to states. Check you own state. You could very well be receiving more from DC than you're paying. Again, economic history and sustained economies for as much of the nation dictate our strategies, not romantic philosophies. You're certainly welcome to your opinion but it's not shared by the majority of a democratic society.

My civics foundation is fine thank you, but I would like to offer you my tutoring services in mathematics.

The reallocation and distribution of wealth by the smart guys trying to construct and control a command economy is not a linear exercise. The money is, according to your friend Mr. Statistics, distributed depending upon political patronage above all else. There is an underlying vortex that focuses much attention on our decaying urban centers, but where I live, we see nothing , and yet we pay exorbitant taxes by comparison to those who receive the most benefit. That statement applies to all taxes collected and redistributed at all levels of government here in our State (a very, very blue one it is).

Our local school system has spent 110% of the funding that it received from the Federal government last year, and they were still short of the No Child Left Behind mandate. Uhh, the 10% part... that came out of the State's tax revenues. The State in turn reduced the amount that it typically redistributes back to the local jurisdictions by a slightly higher proportional amount...due to the expenses that government incurs every time they think about or touch something. Our State had matching funds from the Federal government that were dedicated for a waste water project. The EPA dictates that followed after construction had begun consumed all of the Federal monies and created a cost over-run of some several million dollars. Then they encountered asbestos that had been missed by the initial environmental impact survey. Back to the well for mo' money. The Federal money, our money that has now been handled by them no less than 6-8 times
has now shrunk considerably as a result of their bungling and mismanagement. Then we get what is left, and we end up spending more than we would otherwise because it is now labeled Federal money.

Davis Bacon prevailing Federal wages are higher than even our blue State, union loving forced wage, so the work is all more expensive, no matter what it is. Compliance, a huge condition of Federal money handling, is ridiculously laborious, redundant, and ultimately self defeating.eg: a school receiving ANY Federal money must provide a pile of paper not less than 120 pages long of bullshit that is completely redundant to the paperwork already required by our State, for a single student teacher meeting to discuss a later meeting to plan an IEP for a student with disabilities. This entire process will take months and generate no less than 500 pages of combined State and Federal compliance toilet paper. Our local school system employs at least two full time professionals with graduate degrees to do nothing but Federal compliance bullshit for roughly every 1000 students. Then the school board employes three levels of further supervision and oversight just to stay out of trouble and make certain that this "vital" revenue stream is maintained intact. Finally, after years of wasteful bullshit, they are now just beginning to look at the reality of what they are loosing rather than gaining. It seems admittedly counter-intuitive, but that is the truth where I live.

When applied to construction projects it gets even worse.
Safety officers, quality control officers, security officers, compliance officials and a stack of submittals as tall as a man are required, along with security clearances and another pile of shit that you wouldn't believe, before you even set foot on a job. Our money that the Federal government wipes its ass with, is better handled and spent locally, and that is an accepted fact by anyone who understands math. Why do you insist that it must be drug through their hands first?

Yeah, roads, bridges, sewers, utilities... all bullshit and beneath me. I feel so elevated.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that having no way to honestly refute the statement you resort to sarcasm. Were we ever married?

I don't argue literal, especially static, constitutional interpretations. But that doesn't mean we're dynamically opposed on every issue. Don't get wrapped up so tight in the narrative that you assume what others believe.

Ditto that.
Constitution is always capitalized when referring to that piece of paper.
And since when did interpretations of our Constitution become such a dynamic morass that the target is just too quick to nail down? What can we argue about next... Supreme Court rulings?

Didn't you just say you had no need?

Responding to your suggestion.

Yeah, you have to have approved plans before you get the money. That's what shovel ready means, all the precursors are rectified. Come to find out, representatives were going for the money when districts didn't have their ducks in a row.

Oh... you mean like if I was bundling contributions for the Prez, and I had an idea for a solar company that would sell $5 cost to build widgets for $3, and I wanted a half a billion buck right away? You'd be amazed how fast they all move at the end of the fiscal period when they have money that they HAVE to spend, or it'll be deducted from their next period budget. Guess the statistic on how many times they forget to spend every fucking dime?

Resurfacing a road takes nothing to plan, and approvals for Federal projects depend almost exclusively on other Federal agencies' approvals. You're not suggesting that they can't get out of their own way are you? Or that they are total fuckups who can't do anything right perhaps. Yeah...we need to fund more of this... at any cost and damage to everyone and everything. You're also mixing the chicken and egg up again. Why would asshole call a project intending to fund work that couldn't start for years "shovel ready"? Or was he just referring to the shit that we needed to prepare to shovel through?

Yeah, let's blame the guy that has nothing to do with the problem. Doesn't matter when so few pay attention to enough detail to make objective analysis.

You being the yard stick by which all that is objective shall be measured I suppose?

Let's see... the problem is high unemployment... and he has nothing to do with the problem, right? The details that I missed were what?

Wrong again. The very ideology that spurns 'socialism' has resisted infrastructure appropriations for decades. Here's were google comes in handy. All you have to do is check the bills that fly and die in the wrangle of politicization. It hasn't always been this way, Wasn't too long ago that even conservatives recognized the value of non-profit vs free market services. A Republican championed the interstate highway system. A Republican championed clean air and water. Now this same party shuns federal spending for necessary infrastructure and wants to wax the EPA. In other words, a ginormous shift to the right.

And we're now back to just nuts. What the fuck do you want, another ginormous shift to the left? A ginormous right just might get us back to something near the middle.

Congressional Watch is a lot of fun I'll admit, and I am not going to defend any of the pork specialists that populate that shit hole. Agreed that things used to actually work, even in a rather crooked and croniest fashion, but work they did. We managed to build and reasonably maintain for a while, a huge interstate system. The current resistance that you refer to is grounded in their fear of reprisal from Tea Party voters who insist that spending be cut. They haven't the balls to actually cut anything so they just punt to the Dems, who won't hesitate to spend, but now the Replitards are terrified to continue enabling (when they aren't doing the spending themselves).

The specific problems with Obama's Job Act don't lend themselves to such a simplistic analysis, so lacking in attention to detail and objectivity. Read it if you dare. It is full of rather distasteful shit that taints everything else. Were it a simpler bill, it would stand a chance, but again, only if the Dems were willing to allow off-setting cuts to fund it...and that ain't happenin' so stalemate. But why can't you see that there are two fuck ups at this dance? It ain't just the Republitards.

Ask google. States can't arbitrate between themselves. That's why they begged the federal government to revamp the Articles of Confederation and that's why we got the Constitution.

Well they did, but it didn't go too well. Especially when they started gettin' carried away with the tariffs that they were layin' on each other. O.K., so we got this here Constitution, and it allows for the Federal government to facilitate interstate commerce. How does that morph into mandates to buy Zippy's Health Care?

You could buy a crap out-of-state policy and your state AG couldn't mitigate your loss. The fed didn't tell your state AG he couldn't do whatever. Every one of your state AG's knew they couldn't arbitrate inter-state so they probably limited your options as much or more than the federal government did. The sound bites never penetrate what you need to make objective conclusions.

Funny you mention that. Ever try to address an insurance problem through the State agencies? Most have these quasi bullshit organizations of insurance pricks that run them and decide what if any complaints are forwarded to the A.G. in the firt place. Once forwarded, if ever, then the A.G. looks at the governor's list of contributors to make sure that they aren't there, but they always are. You can count the number of ridiculously egregious cases that actually get handled on one hand here in any given decade.

I don't know where you get all that but we've got THE most expensive healthcare in the world. We're 2x the next highest country. We're 37th in performance.

Never said otherwise. I was addressing potential. We have the doctors, the beds and the equipment to do the job. Now we just need to look at getting the patient back into touch with their doctor. Look, if the U.S. could get free of all of the graft I'd get behind a Canadian style plan all of the way. But that is all but impossible, so they keep playing all of these dumb fuck moves that just piss away money. Medicare reimbursements to doctors are a joke. The Bush drug scam is insane. Preventative medicine needs to replace this bullshit legal driven crap of test, test, indemnify, test, write script and release. Sit in front of the toob one night and count the ads for "if you had this, we can sue for that". I wasn't attempting to hit every nail there, there are just too many.

You need to actually research what you think are major problems. Statistically, tort ain't shit compared to administrative costs. Medicare, Medicaid and the VA operate at 4%. The private sector averages 12% and then they add their multiple executive salaries. The top guy in my state just went from $12 million a year to 13. Poor guy, he needs that extra million. Even if he has to deny coverage to get it. sarcasm/off.

This is likely a subjet that we can find plenty of agreement on, so let's save it for a rainy day.

Send thug execs with em.

See above.

Tell that to Carl Rove, Ed Gillespie, the Koch Brothers, ALEC, Americans for Prosperity and the hundreds of groups, think tanks and organizations designed to purcahse conservative policies.

So who gives a fuck who else is doing it? The point was not meant to exclude them, it was to INCLUDE the sanctimonious leftists that act as if its all the other side. Jeeze... talk about your defensive reflex...

One of the reasons we don't get over tangled in literal interpretation is because people see their own ideology between the lines. So we allow this thing called democracy [aka voting] to collectively sort things we can't individually.

Still think I'd rather be tangled in a literal interpretation of our Constitution than whacked by a drone.

Sorry, got lost in the ideological drift but that last part rings with clear resonance.

You so funny! Sarcasm smart ass. Recognize it by any chance?

 

[snoopytime]

gonna be a menil toss flycoon!

On a side note, Cozmik, if your an audiophile, I have a DTS from Quad Overnight Sensation , the guitar solo in Zombie Woof is other-worldly