Maybe he'll do an intern.Or get in a fight with a rabbitI didn't even have to link to that to know what you're talking about.
I actually feel bad for him; what could he do, hit it in the head? He's the president.
Yeah thats one of those weird things that really just comes out of left field and b*tchsmacks you across the face. That poor peanut farmer had the worst luck. GHWB had the throwup incident when the sushi made him ill in Japan. That always made me feel bad for him.
Glue anyone?
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I and many others don't feel that the government should be involved in so many aspects of lives of citizens. Simply put, there is no reason that the government should be responsible for taking care of people beyond a bare minimum.Why is the government so frightening to you? Maybe you could benefit from visiting countries where this "big evil, scary government" actually works better than your perceived view of the U.S. government.
I'm not saying that any other system out there is perfect, but I'd wager that a lot of "big (socialist inspired)" governments run a lot of things more effectively than the U.S. one.
Which is also why I don't quite understand this resentment towards e.g. universal healthcare.
I'd rather see the government put the money into something more useful than wars we shouldn't be involved in. Way i see it, both parties are big spenders. Republicans just spend on things I'd rather we didn't at least the Dems are doing something useful with the money.
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This may shock some of you, but I have a big problem with government provided healthcare...
Where do you think the government will get the money to pay for this?
Let's say you have a neighbor a few houses down. You hardly ever see him, but those few times that you do, you never talk to him...
One day, he comes knocking on your door...
He says he's having this operation next week, and he demands that you help pay the bill...
Do I think that insurance companies are charging to much for personal health care? You bet...
But I think the government should stay out of our business!
A few years back, people were talking bad about Wal Mart, and the fact that they don't take care of their employees as well as some people thought they should...
It was said that the government should step in and force them to pay benefits..
Again, I turn this around and make it personal to you...
YOU have this business, and you are doing well...
Then this guy steps in and says you're making too much money, and that guy over there isn't doing so good. So you must start giving him a percentage of your profits or you can no longer run your business...
It is my opinion that if you want to help somebody out, it should be your choice, not the government's...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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A twelve foot tall piano player? Where do you find those?I've got a 12" pianist who can accompany you.hold on, I gotta go get my violin.Want to borrow mine? It's well used and broken in.You get really greedy when making a wish...
(Also, I know you Canadians believe in that hippy metric system crap, what with its logic and orderliness, but here, in America, we still use the arbitrary and counter-intuitive English system, and in that system, the abbreviation for inches is ")
Sheesh. Canucks.
;-)
The early editions really confused me.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16
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This may shock some of you, but I have a big problem with government provided healthcare...
Where do you think the government will get the money to pay for this?
Let's say you have a neighbor a few houses down. You hardly ever see him, but those few times that you do, you never talk to him...
One day, he comes knocking on your door...
He says he's having this operation next week, and he demands that you help pay the bill...
Do I think that insurance companies are charging to much for personal health care? You bet...
But I think the government should stay out of our business!
A few years back, people were talking bad about Wal Mart, and the fact that they don't take care of their employees as well as some people thought they should...
It was said that the government should step in and force them to pay benefits..
Again, I turn this around and make it personal to you...
YOU have this business, and you are doing well...
Then this guy steps in and says you're making too much money, and that guy over there isn't doing so good. So you must start giving him a percentage of your profits or you can no longer run your business...
It is my opinion that if you want to help somebody out, it should be your choice, not the government's...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
Um, just an FYI the government has been providing Health Insurance plans for years. Congress, the Armed Forces, the Post Office and Homeland security are all just examples of government agencies that have fantastic health care.
If I had the option of paying for government run plans or getting the crappy insurance my employer provides free of charge, I'd take the government plan TYVM.
The money for the plans are payed by you, as it's not a one payer system that's being offered. However because the Government is such a large customer they negotiate the price down to choice levels, similar to how large corporations do for their employees.
--Electro-Vrock Treatment
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Why is the government so frightening to you? Maybe you could benefit from visiting countries where this "big evil, scary government" actually works better than your perceived view of the U.S. government.
I'm not saying that any other system out there is perfect, but I'd wager that a lot of "big (socialist inspired)" governments run a lot of things more effectively than the U.S. one.
Name one, seriously name one that has our landmass and population that does it better than us? The governments of smaller countries can lean more towards socialism because they aren't dealing with the numbers or demographic spreads that our country does.
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So I watched both speaches last night, I thought both were remarkable oratories. However one thing bugged me...I thought they were both great speeches too, however the one thing that really bugged me was the reaction from the conservative crowd every time McCain said something nice about Obama (booing and the, by now, typical "USA, USA"-chant that I've heard used as a "weapon" to drown out dissenting voices at a lot of McCain/Palin rallies - as if to say Democrats aren't pro-american). That, to me, was rather tasteless.
Okay considering that I've said how much that pissed me off three times today (although I would bet 100 dollars the same thing would have happened had situations been reversed and it was the democrats) but I meant the one thing that bugged me with the speaches.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Whenever I head people chant "USA, USA, USA!" I always think of WWF favorite "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, wielder of an all-American 2 x 4, to whom said chant was an arena anthem.
I think all of us, left and right, can agree to support Hacksaw in his endless battles with the Iron Sheik.
--Erik
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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I think all of us, left and right, can agree to support Hacksaw in his endless battles with the Iron Sheik.
--Erik
Nicolai Volkov & the Iron Sheik. Now those truly were the hey days of Wrasslin'
George "The Animal" Steele
Junkyard Dog
Hulk Hogan (before he went all Hollywood)
Andre the Giant.
I can't even watch WWE anymore.
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Whenever I head people chant "USA, USA, USA!" I always think of WWF favorite "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, wielder of an all-American 2 x 4, to whom said chant was an arena anthem.
I think all of us, left and right, can agree to support Hacksaw in his endless battles with the Iron Sheik.
--Erik
Not me, I loved the Iron Sheik
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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*psst* hey, who's the iron sheik?
Some bizzarely obscure reference to an iron golem from a little known Greyhawk product, which itself is a riff on a pulp novel from 1902.
Fact: Every proper noun contained in a post by Erik Mona is an obscure reference to fantasy gaming and pulp fiction's hidden past.
He was a WWF star from the 80's Iron Sheik
This may shock some of you, but I have a big problem with government provided healthcare...
Where do you think the government will get the money to pay for this?
Let's say you have a neighbor a few houses down. You hardly ever see him, but those few times that you do, you never talk to him...
One day, he comes knocking on your door...
He says he's having this operation next week, and he demands that you help pay the bill...
Do I think that insurance companies are charging to much for personal health care? You bet...
But I think the government should stay out of our business!
A few years back, people were talking bad about Wal Mart, and the fact that they don't take care of their employees as well as some people thought they should...
It was said that the government should step in and force them to pay benefits..
Again, I turn this around and make it personal to you...
YOU have this business, and you are doing well...
Then this guy steps in and says you're making too much money, and that guy over there isn't doing so good. So you must start giving him a percentage of your profits or you can no longer run your business...
It is my opinion that if you want to help somebody out, it should be your choice, not the government's...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
This is in no way meant to be snippy or sarcastic.
You think that health insurance companies charge too much, but you don't want the government managing the health insurance as a measure to prevent the abuse that health insurance companies are getting away with.
Perhaps there is a middle ground?
This is in no way meant to be snippy or sarcastic.
You think that health insurance companies charge too much, but you don't want the government managing the health insurance as a measure to prevent the abuse that health insurance companies are getting away with.
Perhaps there is a middle ground?
One of the major insurance companies in my area was originally started by farmers that couldn't get crop insurance from other companies. They banded together and started their own company. Unfortunately it has gotten so big and diversified that it has forgotten its roots (dropped a bunch of farmers for having crop damage a few years back). But something similar could be started for health insurance if people really were serious about it. The problem is convincing healthy people to buy into a system where they end up spending their money caring for sick people, especially where one person can suck up the payments of thousands of others.
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Whenever I head people chant "USA, USA, USA!" I always think of WWF favorite "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, wielder of an all-American 2 x 4, to whom said chant was an arena anthem.
I think all of us, left and right, can agree to support Hacksaw in his endless battles with the Iron Sheik.
--Erik
Hacksaw was a man's man.
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Odd, at times you seem to resemble that remark.The passive aggressive attacks here thinly veiled behind "I was just telling it like it is and being honest" excuse making is borish and tastes like vomit.
Yeah I guess I do. Thats something I have to overcome.
All antagonistic innuendo aside, I am sorry for attacking you or conservatives or whoever else. I don't want to continue being part of a pointless escalating argument. I genuinely am sorry that Obama's election is as miserable to you as it appears from your posts. I don't mean that in a sarcastic way. Truely I don't. I honestly do hope that it works out that the Obama administration is as positive as I think it can and will be, and if it is that it will alleve your frustration with his election. I know what it is like to have an administration in office that you despise and can't wait to end. I endured it with Bush. So I really can empathize with your frustration. I personally feel that you will be pleasantly suprised with what our government can accomplish with Obama as president and with a cooperative congress.
Anyway, again you have my apologies.
The problem is convincing healthy people to buy into a system where they end up spending their money caring for sick people, especially where one person can suck up the payments of thousands of others.
I'll buy health care even if I don't need it, provided the insurer can't back out on it's promise to assist me when I am in need. And I'm serious about that. Health insurance companies go to great expense to create loopholes and provide themselves with outs when people really do need help.
WTF?
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I actually am eager to see if Obama's health care plan can come to fruition without the rest of the democratic party in congress twisting it into something barely recognizable to it original draft (which is what happens 90% of the time). I said in another thread that comparing the plans of the two candidates that Obama's seemed better thought out and more likely to actually make a change. I wish oh I wish we can sell him on the fair tax while he's in office. The problem is a lot of people see the fair tax as a "republican" idea, but I'm hoping we can change that to people just seeing it as a "good" idea. And I was overjoyed to see Obama elected even if I don't agree with his policies because with a black wife and what will be mulato (sp?) children, having grown up in the deep south (and I mean deep, I used to find my school bus home just by looking for the one with the most kids wearing camoflage on it) I honestly didn't think that America had moved on enough to elect a mixed race person (hell the office manager told me about two customers today making offensive racial jokes about Obama). Seeing my wife tear up because of the possibilities, and knowing I'm not just saying it when I tell my children that they can be anything they want to be in this country is a wonderful feeling.
Racism will always exist.
And as long as there are idiots it will continue to thrive.
See an idiot --> Generalize --> Label.
So easy.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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Racism will always exist.
And as long as there are idiots it will continue to thrive.
See an idiot --> Generalize --> Label.
So easy.
Yes, but why does the generalization have to be around their skin colour?
See a pretentious idiot in a turtleneck --> Generalize to all people who wear turtlenecks ---> label turtleneck wearer's pretentious.
Racism requires the pseudoscientific concept of race and relative ignorance of the real diversity of racialized others. Ignorance will always exist. Racism can be reduced.
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I don't want to continue being part of a pointless escalating argument.
I have to agree...
I can point-by-point with you guys about how and why I feel the way do, and how I am certain the policies the liberal democrats have are bad for our country, but I am not going to change or sway anyone that feels differently than I do any more than you will change or sway me...
I've had enough politics...
I'm going back to talk about gaming :-)
See you all over there...
*EDIT*
I don't think anyone has been snarky or rude to me, it's just I've had my fill of politics...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
Whenever I head people chant "USA, USA, USA!" I always think of WWF favorite "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, wielder of an all-American 2 x 4, to whom said chant was an arena anthem.
I think all of us, left and right, can agree to support Hacksaw in his endless battles with the Iron Sheik.
--Erik
Funny enough he still comes on WWE shows now and then. Same 2x4, same chants, same long shout of HOOOOO (more lumberjack style and not of a lady of the night mind ya, srry if it reads wrong). Didn't think you'd drop WWE onto a board Erik lol.
Anyway, I'm glad this election is done. Didn't really care for either but someone had to win i guess
Name one, seriously name one that has our landmass and population that does it better than us?
Still looking for a another country with America's landmass and population.
Damn. I guess we just can't criticize the US government for inefficiency until we find another country just like America that does it better....
LOL
Racism will always exist.
And as long as there are idiots it will continue to thrive.
See an idiot --> Generalize --> Label.
So easy.
Yes, but why does the generalization have to be around their skin colour?
See a pretentious idiot in a turtleneck --> Generalize to all people who wear turtlenecks ---> label turtleneck wearer's pretentious.
Racism requires the pseudoscientific concept of race and relative ignorance of the real diversity of racialized others. Ignorance will always exist. Racism can be reduced.
1) Skin Color? What about people who hate Americans?
2) I'm 100% sure that people continue to be racist despite understanding the real diversity of racialized others. Try being a US soldier in Iraq and not generalizing about those trying to kill you. Try being a police officer on the mean streets of a poor, crime-ridden single race dominant community. For these people there is nothing pseudoscientic about race -- fighting their racist sentiments is a very real struggle.
And may I add that it is easy to not be racist when you are sitting in the comfort of a life among educated people in a racially diverse culture (I'm saying so knowing that you already understand this). It is even easier when you are married to someone of another race. But not everyone lives like us, do they, Tarren? It's so easy to forget what it was like to be a white boy among white boys, isn't it?
So how long has Canada been struggling against racism? How long since Trudeau announced that we must nurture a system of polyethnic pluralism? How much multiculuralism and anti-racist propaganda have we pitched? How many skinhead punkers did I beat to a pulp?
A lot.
Yet we still have racists in Canada.
I'm not saying that fighting racism is wrong, nor am I saying that you are entirely wrong, but saying "ignorance will always exist" but "racism can be reduced" is really selling the whole problem short. I posed my glib breakdown of racism because the whole thing depresses me, because when I look at cognitive theories of stereotyping it seems to me that we are fighting human nature itself when we try to keep people from hating each other.
So now that you've upped the model, in my opinion both ignorance and racism can be reduced, and continuing to limit them requires constant vigilance.
Both will always exist.
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I really don't see what the difference, is economic terms, is between the state hiring a man to build roads in national forests using shovels, tractors and trucks paid for by the government, and the [state] hiring a man ...to kill enemy soldiers with rifles, tanks and bombers paid for by the government.*raises a hand*
I know the difference.
...
Factories and other infrastructure on the other hand remain and can be converted to long term civilian purposes. A tank factory can become a tractor factory, and a bomber factory can become an airliner factory.
I showed this response to my players at tonight's game, and we all had a really great long laugh. Maybe we're all wrong (though we're all college graduates and pretty smart people), but I'm pretty sure you just implied that while a tank factory can become a tractor factory, a tractor factory can't become a tractor factory.
Which is really amazing to me. I mean I am truly blown away that you didn't seem to notice how you danced right around that little assumption.
Of course, I'm sure you know that when America began the war effort, we actually converted the tractor factories (built to supply tractors for all the massive public works projects going on all around the country, and bought with farm subsidies by farmers) into tank factories.
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I showed this response to my players at tonight's game, and we all had a really great long laugh. Maybe we're all wrong (though we're all college graduates and pretty smart people), but I'm pretty sure you just implied that while a tank factory can become a tractor factory, a tractor factory can't become a tractor factory.
If you think I implied that then you are not all as smart as you think you are.
You asked what the difference between public works and infrastructure building was and I explained it.If you are unable to understand the difference between having people make a nature trail and paying companies to build factories to make ordnance, then no one can help you with the flawed analyses such as the ones you made.
Which is really amazing to me. I mean I am truly blown away that you didn't seem to notice how you danced right around that little assumption.
I danced around nothing. My reply was very simple and direct, using your questions as a base.
If you do not like me using your definitions and correcting your error in what war effort payments are used for then you should not make such errors.The only one dancing here is you, attempting to redact your own statements now that the flaws in them have been exposed.
Of course, I'm sure you know that when America began the war effort, we actually converted the tractor factories (built to supply tractors for all the massive public works projects going on all around the country, and bought with farm subsidies by farmers) into tank factories.
Of course I am sure you know that the number of new factories built far outnumbered the number of existing factories converted.
And you said they gave people shovels to build roads, not tractors. (While a number of industrial projects did exist, there was a substantial unskilled labor employed during the New Deal as well.) Farm subsidies were to soil bank or plant nitrogen fixing crops, not to upgrade to tractors to tear up the ground even more. More redacted pirouettes?Or did they not cover any of that in your college education?
You said you did not know the difference between the effects of the two types of spending.
You should stick with that confession and not try to argue something you admit not to understanding.
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The problem is convincing healthy people to buy into a system where they end up spending their money caring for sick people, especially where one person can suck up the payments of thousands of others.I'll buy health care even if I don't need it, provided the insurer can't back out on it's promise to assist me when I am in need. And I'm serious about that. Health insurance companies go to great expense to create loopholes and provide themselves with outs when people really do need help.
WTF?
My younger brother was telling me last night about the sister of his good friend. The friend is originally from Canada, which is where the sister still lives.
The sister made a doctor's appointment about some abdominal pain. When the appointment rolled around 2 months later, the pain had increased. She was told she had a cyst about the size of a softball on her ovaries, and that she needed to see a specialist.
It is now 4 months later - she was just about to see the specialist, but he was busy and her appointment has been delayed for 2 more months. The cyst is apparently now about the size of a football.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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And may I add that it is easy to not be racist when you are sitting in the comfort of a life among educated people in a racially diverse culture (I'm saying so knowing that you already understand this). It is even easier when you are married to someone of another race. But not everyone lives like us, do they, Tarren? It's so easy to forget what it was like to be a white boy among white boys, isn't it?
You've got me here, in more ways than one. I grew up in a multi-racial household with adopted 'black' siblings and over 40 foster brothers and sisters (not all 40 at the same time) from many different 'races'. I didn't live in a house that was entirely white until university.
And, yes, like you I lived overseas in an Asian country for a good chunk of my life (8 years). I had to struggle with my own racism for some of those years, trust me. Now, I have to get dressed and go into work where I will be paid good cash to teach English to a group of warm-hearted if somewhat arrogant Saudis. Meanwhile, my lovely Korean wife is sleeping. So, yes, I do get to encounter people of 'different races' on a daily basis and have for years.
Racism can be reduced though. I didn't say it would be easy. As far as cognitive theories of racial prejudice, psychologists say that around the age of eight, with meaningful encounters to people who look different than you, racial prejudice starts to diminish.
Still, most people do think in racializing terms. They think of people as 'black', 'white', 'asian', etc. I think it is important to get the word out that most scientists see these 'races' as not a biologic concept but a social one.
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My younger brother was telling me last night about the sister of his good friend. The friend is originally from Canada, which is where the sister still lives.
The sister made a doctor's appointment about some abdominal pain. When the appointment rolled around 2 months later, the pain had increased. She was told she had a cyst about the size of a softball on her ovaries, and that she needed to see a specialist.
It is now 4 months later - she was just about to see the specialist, but he was busy and her appointment has been delayed for 2 more months. The cyst is apparently now about the size of a football.
And last week, my son's pediatrist sent us to a specialist to let him decide if our son needed an operation. We were there on Tuesday, and the operation is tomorrow.
Health Care in Germany :)
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Name one, seriously name one that has our landmass and population that does it better than us?Still looking for a another country with America's landmass and population.
Damn. I guess we just can't criticize the US government for inefficiency until we find another country just like America that does it better....
LOL
I'm not saying that at all, I think our government is terribly inneficient. It's the statement, "other countries that have more socialist agenda's that do it better" They do it better because they have to spend less spread out over a smaller demographic. You can't compare a country like USA to a country like Norway, or Brittain. the closest is Canada, but even then they have a smaller population.
I don't want to continue being part of a pointless escalating argument.I have to agree...
The thing is what alot of "Reps" and "Dems" argue about is just subjective preferences.
For example, this thread was talking about voting. Well one of the concerns for Reps is that only those who are legal able to, should vote (i.e. voter fraud is a concern). While for the Dems one of the concerns is that everyone who legal has a right to vote gets a chance to (i.e. disenfranchisement is a concern). The fact is, both of these are legitimate issues and both are things that every single voting citizen should care about. Dismissing one aspect or the other is doing a disservice to everyone. Everyone who is legally qualified to vote should get the opportunity and those people that are not legally qualified should not. Of course with all things, we have to make decisions as to which goal is more important, but we shouldn't lose sight that both goals are important. We don't have to totally sacrifice one goal to achieve the other.