The U.S. Armed Forces: progressives, iconoclasts just don't get it

Q: "Okay, but why should I respect them, either? They signed up to do a job. They get paid, and nothing they do has any effect on my day-to-day life, nor my "freedom". They're mostly young kids who got hoodwinked into killing people and risked getting killed themselves. Why are we expected to treat vets like they're "heroes"? Why not teachers, social workers, volunteers or the millions of other people who do a shiatty job, but actually do something for America and Americans?"

---

   A: Nationalism, simply put. If you care about our nation being able to kick the crap out of other nations, then this matters to you. If you don't care about our ability to kick the crap out of other nations, then this likely doesn't matter to you.
   HOWEVER;
   If you are an American Citizen (which I assume you are), then whether you like it or not, you have benefited indirectly from the use of the U.S. military as a means of international policy enforcement. We benefit from cheaper goods, cheaper labor, supportive (albeit corrupt) allies... etc etc etc. These people who are returning, like it or not, helped enforce that policy that you now enjoy the fringe benefits of. You don't owe them anything, but you should see that their role in conflicts contributed to your way of life, however minutely. Putting aside for a few minutes the larger political picture and saying "thank you" to them for their efforts is something important.
   Just try to have a measure of sympathy and pity for these returning soldiers, but the last thing they need is more scorn and animosity tossed their way. Casual indifference is what allowed them, as individuals, to sign up for a job that forces them to kill people. Casual indifference towards them is now what you seem to display. Casual indifference is a cancer in our society. I think you can do better then that, and I think EVERY human being deserves more then that. Don't celebrate what they did; celebrate that they don't have to do it anymore. Show them loving kindness, and hope that it helps them to see that not everyone in the world is an asshole who will as soon spit on you as shake your hand.
/Pro-Peace
// My sympathy goes out to those who served

~ fark.com (LINK)

Article: Allen West on the Marines Incident: 'Shut Your Mouth, War Is Hell'

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), a former Army lieutenant colonel, told THE WEEKLY STANDARD in an widely republished e-mail exactly where liberal pundits could stick their opinions regarding the Marines allegedly urinating on a few corpses.  While the incident was wrong, it is amazing - the speed of information - and the speed to self-righteous indignation of the American media, and how quickly we seem to go after our own with the greatest zeal.  Is it any surprise that we now have sketchy "allies" like Russia jumping to get in a few hooks and jabs at the American human rights record whenever they can?  Yet they do, and it is absurd and sad. 

Excerpted from the Weekly Standard, January 13, 2012

“I have sat back and assessed the incident with the video of our Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. I do not recall any self-righteous indignation when our Delta snipers Shugart and Gordon had their bodies dragged through Mogadishu. Neither do I recall media outrage and condemnation of our Blackwater security contractors being killed, their bodies burned, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.

“All these over-emotional pundits and armchair quarterbacks need to chill. Does anyone remember the two Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who were beheaded and gutted in Iraq?

“The Marines were wrong. Give them a maximum punishment under field grade level Article 15 (non-judicial punishment), place a General Officer level letter of reprimand in their personnel file, and have them in full dress uniform stand before their Battalion, each personally apologize to God, Country, and Corps videotaped and conclude by singing the full US Marine Corps Hymn without a teleprompter.

“As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell.”

Rand Paul, the next Rosa Parks?

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/01/rand-paul-in-pat-down-standoff-with-tsa-in-nashville/

Sen. Rand Paul, known for espousing libertarian values like his father, presidential candidate Ron Paul, was detained by TSA at the Nashville, Tennessee Airport today after a sensor presumably alerted on his leg.  When ordered to prepare for a pat-down, Paul refused and requested to return through the machine, to the ire of dronelike TSA security enforcers who called police.  When Paul asked to use his cell phone to call his lawyer,  he was told that he would be forced to endure a pat-down.  The entire debacle lasted over two hours, caused Paul to miss his flight and a speech before 200,000 U.S. citizens.  TSA and its leader, the failed Arizona governor Napolitano do not apply prudence when enforcing inspections, instead opting to make the process as difficult as possible and focusing their attention on scrutinizing the elderly, minors under ten years of age, and Medal of Honor recipients.

   

   Legal note: Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution provides general immunity for congressmen from being detained. A Republican, Sen. Paul did not show his credentials or demand special treatment given his political position, but stood his ground until he could be released. 

On grad school

Soon I will be able to proudly say, "Without those two bottles of Bailey's next to my coffee maker, I would've never survived grad school."

Here's Rage Guy on the grading scale:

Cagey's listening to

The Church, 'Feel', Priest = Aura (1991)

New genre: "Dream Pop" (...Dream Pop?)

...Somehow in that test, I always come up preferring 'feeling' to 'thinking'.

Media attempts to sabotage Gingrich in primaries

“I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office.”

The crowd erupted in applause.

“I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that!”

“Every person in here knows personal pain, Gingrich elaborated. “To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question in a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine.”

“I am frankly astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate.”

When King attempted to explain that it was not his network that aired the report, Gingrich would not let him off that easy. Incensed, he roared, “Don’t try to blame anybody else. You and your staff chose to start your debate with it. Let me be clear, the story is false.”

Excerpted from The Blaze, http://www.theblaze.com/stories/fiery-gingrich-avoids-answering-ex-wife-question-blasts-cnns-king-and-vicious-negative-press/

~~~

How many ex-wives of Democrats has ABC sought out? They just don't do it. So they know what they're doing. They know they've got a president who can't win on his record. Now, that's another thing. This always gets me. Are journalists monogamous? Are journalists faithful? Are they clean and pure as the wind-driven snow?

This is what's always fascinated me. These people, the sports writer guys, the news media guys, they all get to sit in judgment as though they live perfect lives -- and then when you try to turn the focus on them, "Oh, no, no, no! I'm just the reporter. What -- what -- what I do doesn't matter." It certainly does because you are not reporting. You're passing judgment. But there's never been an investigation of, say, Brian Ross and who he is. You know, how did he get his grades? Where did he go to school? How did he get out of school? How did he get the job at ABC? Who does he know? How did he whatever? We never get that about journalists, and when you try? Ooh, they have a conniption fit! I know what some of you leftists think: "You're really going a long way here to avoid talking about Newt."

No, I don't need to talk about him. What needs to be said about Newt? It's out there. It's out there. I don't know. Fifty percent of the country has been divorced.

Excerpted from Rush Limbaugh.com, http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/01/19/drudge_screwed_up_abc_s_plans_for_the_marianne_gingrich_interview

Everything I ever wanted

Butter dish: check
Blue pisser water: check
Automatic garage door opener: check
Co-ed tennis partner: hopefully

Some favorite scenes from my pick for the best film of 2011, The King's Speech. 10/10.

"I'm a naval officer!  I'm not a king."
~~
"I have a voice!" 

"Yes, you do."

On haphazard modern journalism

Elements that would complete an otherwise good article are far too often missing.  I read a story today about an iPad having been stolen, and the owner using his techno-geek-wizardry to try and turn the tables on the culprit through publicizing some photos.  I've seen these 'crime with a twist' stories quite a few times by now:  the bad guy snaps some mugs and posts them, and the owner sees it all happening in near real-time, and uses the 'power of social media' to identify the criminal and solve the crime ahead of the police. 

So, give us the pictures! 

This story lays down the basics, but provides no photos, to which a reader states the blindingly obvious:
Where are the pictures? What is the purpose of this story? Are we supposed to help? If so, how? Is this article intended to be a warning to consumers? Is it to highlight the capabilities of cloud-based storage? Is it to continue saturating the market with everything 'Apple' regardless of the content-less story? Where is a link to the original Yahoo article attributed?
 
LINK: http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/887347-owner-of-stolen-ipad-using-icloud-to-provide-weird-clues-to-whereabouts#ixzz1jlS6pJrR
 
Of course, it's nice not being subject to the same rules; but yah, where were the frakking pics?!  Should I post one?

Back later

Going camping.

Unplugged

They just can't comprehend

I made a bunch of heads a$$-plode at the local cable company - they just couldn't comprehend: As of the 9th January, I have liberated myself from cable television, a.k.a. the boob tube, a.k.a. the idiot box. No plans for now to buy the digital receiver, once offered for free by the government. Feels great. I'm not trying to be ironically hip, either.  Do hipster wannabes also do this?  I hope not.  Got myself a new magazine subscription.  Have a backlog of books that demand to be read.  What was the last straw? 

I will admit that t.v. will be can be a luxury.  Firstly, I have never permitted t.v. in my bedroom.  I have a radio in there - a t.v. set would interfere on my concentration on - sleeping.  If you have a t.v. or especially a computer you work on in your sleeping quarters, be wary, somewhere I picked up that it's not that healthy.  Now, when I visit friends or the Mudville Sports Bar of Broken Dreams, t.v. will definitely be something to behold with awe.

They tried to keep me.  A literate-sounding man from D.C. called me, "Customer Relations".  He offered to drop ten dollars off my monthly bill.  Finding him undeterred, I served him up with the unabridged version of my diatribe on the insipid Kardashians slutfest hour, the addition of the Oprah Winfrey Billionaire Self-love Network, the 4/24 of my channels being QVC, 2/24 being public access, and et cetera.  I should have tacked on how much I think 'Animation Domination' is a steaming pile and some added some Idiocracy anecdotes for good measure (The most celebrated t.v. show in the year 2212 is "Ow, My Balls"). Or how about the 3-year-old on ABC's 'Modern Family' who will be using the f-word in defiance of decency standards in broadcasting? (STORY: http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?p=7940) Corrupting babies, yeah, the Godless generation is a fan. Pretty twisted if you think about it. I told the customer loss rep that he sounded like he'd been to college.  (Unlike the rank and file customer service rep, he was one of the elite Praetorian ones.)  He said he went to George Mason.  He must have been young and unspoiled, my intuition told me he was truly interested in keeping me as a customer.  I don't know the motive, unless he was under duress.  Feasible.

In 'Idiocracy', a t.v. viewer of the future watches "Ow, My
Balls" while beset by continuous advertising

Editor's note

Several of the quotes from a recent post (02 JAN 12) had inadvertently been erased.  The corrected post appears here: http://makalakapisei.blogspot.com/2012/01/cagey-quote-compendium.html 
 -Cagey

Cagey's listening to

Screed: "Where have all the fighter pilots gone?"

I got this from a friend of mine! Thought it good enough to pass on................
Beginning with McNamara the powers that be decided to run the Air Force like an 8 to 5 business. Warrior leaders of General LeMay's stature were no longer to be found. The fundamental job of the military, "kill people and break their things", became seriously hampered by "rules of engagement" whose guiding logic is political, not successful combat. I agree with the author. If and when the US military is defeated, it will be running the best Day Care centers in the world. GCB.
We used to go to the Officers Club or NCO Club Stag Bar on Friday afternoons to drink, smoke and swap lies with our comrades. Think about this when you read the rest of the letter below:
What happened to our Air Force/Marines/Army/Navy............. (or Military)?

Drinking then became frowned on. Smoking caused cancer and could "harm you." Stag bars became seen as 'sexist'. Gradually, our men quit patronizing their clubs because what happened in the club became fodder for a performance report. It was the same thing at the Airman's Club and the NCO and/or Top 3 clubs. Now we don't have separate clubs for the ranks.

Instead we have something called All Ranks Clubs or community clubs. They're open to men and women of all ranks....from airman basic to general officer. Still, no one is there. Gee, I wonder why. The latest brilliant thought out of Washington is that the operators ("pilots?") flying remote aircraft in combat areas from their plush desk at duty stations in Nevada or Arizona should draw the same combat pay as those real world pilots actually on board a plane in a hostile environment. More politically correct logic?

They say that remote vehicle operators are subject to the same stress levels as the combat pilot actually flying in combat. ----- REALLY...you're bull-shitting me!!!???

Now that I've primed you a little, read on.

There are many who will agree with these sentiments, but they apply to more than just fighter pilots. Unfortunately, the ones with the guts to speak up or push for what they believe in are beaten down by the "system."

"Unfortunately there is a lot of truth in the following text - supposedly, Secretary Gates had a force beating the bushes to learn who wrote this....

Where have all the fighter pilots gone?

Good Question.

Here is a rant from a retired fighter pilot that is worth reading:

It is rumored that our current Secretary of Defense recently asked the question, "Where are all the dynamic leaders of the past?" I can only assume, if that is true, that he was referring to Robin Olds, Jimmy Doolittle, Patton, Ike, Boyington, Nimitz, etc.?

Well, I've got the answer:

They were fired before they made Major! Our nation doesn't want those kinds of leaders anymore. Squadron commanders don't run squadrons and wing commanders don't run wings. They are managed by higher ranking dildos with other esoteric goals in mind.

Can you imagine someone today looking for a LEADER to execute that Doolittle Raid and suggesting that it be given to a dare-devil boozer - his only attributes: he had the respect of his men, an awesome ability to fly, and the organizational skills to put it all together? If someone told me there was a chance in hell of selecting that man today, I would tell them they were either a liar or dumber than shit.

I find it ironic that the Air Force put Brigadier General Robin Olds on the cover of the company rag last month.

While it made me extremely proud to see his face, he wouldn't make it across any base in America (or overseas) without ten enlisted folks telling him to zip up his flight suit, get rid of the cigarette, and shave his mustache off.

I have a feeling that his response would be predictable and for that crime he would probably get a trip home and an Article 15. We have lost the war on rugged individualism and that, unfortunately, is what fighter pilots want to follow; not because they have to but because they respect leaders of that ilk. We've all run across that leader that made us proud to follow him because you wanted to be like him and make a difference. The individual who you would drag your testicles through glass for rather than disappoint him.

We better wake the hell up! We're asking our young men and women to go to really shitty places; some with unbearable climates, never have a drink, have little or no contact with the opposite sex, not look at magazines of a suggestive nature of any type, and adhere to ridiculous regs that require you to tuck your shirt into your PT uniform on the way to the porta-shitter at night, in a blinding dust storm, because it's a uniform.

These people we're sending to combat are some of the brightest I've met but they are looking for a little sanity, which they will only find on the outside if we don't get a friggin' clue. You can't continue asking people to live for months or years at a time acting like nuns and priests. Hell, even they get to have a beer.

Who are we afraid of offending? The guys that already hate us enough to strap C-4 to their own bodies and walk into a crowd of us? Think about it.

I'm extremely proud of our young men and women who continue to serve. I'm also very in tune with what they are considering for the future and I've got news for whoever sits in the White House, Congress, and our so-called military leaders. Much talent has and will continue to hemorrhage from our services, because wanna-be warriors are tired of fighting on two fronts - - one with our enemies, another against our lack of common sense.

Take it or leave it....that's just the way it is, no. if's and's or but's...................

Worthy of passing on ??? OK...........if not shit-can it !

Judge Brown
Veteran

Haiku of Stumbling home around the 1500 block of University Ave.

  
Do you see that girl?

Do you think she might be drunk?

"He" is not a "she".


~by Cagey
Hmm, was that the night after the college radio station party, or the night I met
fmr sweetheart Y.?

QOTD

"What is that, like turbo or somethin'?"

~ The mom of my best friend Mike S., while reacting to my strained kid-like explanation of a capacitor out of my "Jr. Science Lab", and whose son had been my best friend prior to bloodying my head in third grade during a fight when we used big heaps of dirt as pretend hand grenades. Accidentally.  Turbo was one of the best things about the 1980s.  I love this quote.

Cagey on 'xenophobia'

   Despite what liberalism says, I never noticed any problems with any xenophobia the year I lived in Japan. Probably because I chose to wear a belt and chose to have good manners. I also greeted people in their native language instead of our dialects of Mefirst or Yodawg.
   I know this is not fair to Americans, because wearing belts or practicing genteel behavior is an affront to diversity, and by helping others, we would lose our competitive advantage.
   However, it must be nice to live somewhere that you can safely leave your front door unlocked in any part of the country.
   Psst: You're all XENOPHOBES!

Loyalty

   How does this sound to you? Two months ago, you plan a winter camping/fishing trip that will take place one week from today. You invite your friend who hasn't gone out in over two years because he is occupied with two businesses he runs from his home. You arrange to get a canoe and other gear for him. You and your friend are really excited for the chance to go test your mettle against the elements and do man stuff. Then, your friend's wife suddenly decides ... yesterday, that she wants to take a whirlwind trip that weekend to - let's say - Florida, and buys tickets for that exact weekend. Oh, and that leaves nobody to watch the kids. So... ...

Pizza ethics

  At issue is poor customer service in a pizza restaurant.  I was weaned from pizza; I have always enjoyed it, even through the great sledgehammer incident of the early 1980s when I saw my precious smashed before my very eyes.  I rank my restaurants; I'm active in rating them online, and I duly realize the predilection of folks to opine on the negatives more frequently than dishing out a, "Hey, good job."  I am neither too quick to become defensive nor overcritical, realizing some battles aren't worth the effort.

  On New Year's Day a pal and I feasted on sumptuous hangover pizza. Mine had prosciutto (yes, prosciutto), peppers, and gouda cheese reminiscent of the great Provel of St. Louis. Leftovers packed, we left. The waitress was friendly enough, but when we got home, they had packed us the wrong pizza (the overpowering Greek one with entire cloves of roasted garlic and mounds of feta aboard - yick).

  I have a slightly different opinion on this than she in that as a hybrid Christian-Buddhist, I feel we should be humble and excuse the oversight; she believes we should have made a stink about it. Other peoples' germs, etc. etc.  The compelling argument of hers was that, "It should be a core competency of servicepeople to not screw that up, it is not too much to ask."  Something clicked inside me that set my pizza-rage aflame:  I was reminded of the expectant hamburger gourmand Wimpy, set to feast on a delicious burger of lettuce, onion, pickle, kumquat, and not getting his prized slider that fateful day, he entered "Hamburger Heaven." Due to his habitual nonpayment ("I shall gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!"), he was ultimately denied by the irascible burger chef and fell apopleptic.  I was in Pizza Heaven.

  Demanding satisfaction in this instance was not my style, but I at least wanted to call this to the attention of management because it *was* disappointing and I want to test the Buddhist way.  I have about 30% confidence that we will be treated to a replacement.

 
The moral of this story:  Pie-p up when you don't get your hot-za, or forever hold your piece.

QOTD

"Fear is conquered by perfect love."

1 John 4:12, 16-19

Flotsam and jetsam: Cagey quote compendium

Let's ring in the new year with some good quotes.

From an article about leftists in Hollywood criticizing the Obama White House:
LINK: http://www.gossipcop.com/matt-damon-obama-elle-magazine-one-term-president-balls/

The leftists in Hollywood believe - as SERFS do - that, once "It is accomplished" (their socialist agenda), things will just be BETTER. What they fail to understand is that THEY are the very vehicles for the opiate delivery system of slavery. Once successful, the movement won't need them, and, thus - will simply eliminate them. Once the government has control of everything, there will not only be no NEED for their services - freedom of expression will no longer even be TOLERATED. They are ushering in their own (and our) slavery. The "court jesters" will only be given influence for so long before their king settles all matters, for once-and for all.

From the comments of an article regarding the Girl Scouts' admission of a so-called transgender 7 year old boy:

“He is a 7 year old boy, so he can not be a girl scout!! He is not a girl and doesn't know what transgende­r means. I have a 5 year old who wants to be a ninja, but I cannot raise him like a ninja because that would be absurd. When this child grows up he will have options to explore but he is a boy and theres nothing any of us can do about that now.”

LINK: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/dsmnandy/girl-scout-troops-transgender-child-disband_n_1163971_124690688.html


From an article by Selwyn Duke on the flawed nature of atheism:

LINK: http://thenewamerican.com/opinion/selwyn-duke/10238-christopher-hitchens-godlessness-is-not-great-how-atheism-poisons-everything

That is to say, Hitchens claimed that religion was the cause of all sorts of bad things, such as “sexism,” murder, and oppression. Yet can you scientifically prove that anything is bad? If there is no God, it follows that what we label “morality” is just an invention of man. But then what is it but consensus opinion, but perspective? Sure, we may take it as axiomatic that murder is wrong, but an axiom is a self-evident truth that requires no evidence. And what was Hitchens’ famous saying?

“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

Quotes from the comments on an article about "gay" coffee:

Being gay is something to tolerate, not "celebrate".

Associating things with homosexuality in order to be trendy and gain favor with the morally and socially misguided is just another of a long line of examples of the decay of our society and "defining deviancy down".

LINK:http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/12/24/williamsburg_roaster_debuts_gay_coffee/?comments=all#readerComm

From the comments of an article about a lady who donated a kidney to a complete stranger:

Being a christian is irrelevant - Andy, Portsmouth, 29/12/2011 7:45
----------------------Andy, no one is trying to take away the credit from this wonderful lady, but we should not take away her faith either, the very faith that drove her to believe 'God said it was right'. The problem with Atheism is: when a person commits an inhuman crime against another in the name of religion, then 'religion is the root of all evil', yet when someone is driven by their faith in God to do something they themselves believe they will not do if not for their faith, atheists don't want to acknowledge the fact that the idea of God isn't bad after all. (spelling corrected) 

From an article about Girl Scouts of America misdirecting and misleading Girl Scouts to trust left-wing propaganda machine Media Matters:

Hey Encinom, I’m not religious, nor do I give a rat’s behind about religious issues in politics, but this goes way beyond religion. The liberal philosophy is NOT something I want to indoctrinate my children with. The last thing I want to see is my children grow up becoming your typical whiny, spoiled, petty, entitled, crybaby, “victim,” liberals. I actually want them to be independent, strong, and open-minded, not some self-serving, self-righteous, 2-faced pseudointellectual preaching open-mindedness and tolerance, while stereotyping and generalizing against anyone who disagrees with them. You leftists are absolutely pathetic, and are no different than any religioius fanatic, or brainwashed collective-think sheep in N.Korea et al. In many ways, you are no different than the little hormonal girls you are trying to brainwash in the Girl Scouts. So go back to Media Matters, and stroke your insecure ego. After all, you bear no responsibility for anything you do, huh? It’s all the fault of someone else. Dingbat.

LINK: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/girl-scouts-book-refers-young-readers-to-liberal-media-matters-to-clear-up-media-misinformation/


From the comments in a forum discussing the poor treatment of a video gamer by a customer sales rep:

You nerds are sublimating all of your pent-up anger and shame from all of the childhood bullying you ever suffered on Mr. Christoforo. Give it up. Continuing to beat up on him will never compensate for your prior and current athletic and social inadequacies. You have become the bullies you revile -- except with no varsity letter and no cheerleader poontang. So go back to your geek lairs in your parents' basements and resume posting pictures of your cats and toothy homeschooled wives. The winners will be collecting our year-end bonuses shortly, and snorting cocaine off of the asses of hotties you can only dream about. /dons asbestos suit

Russ1642: buckler: Nihilist's Guide to Reticent Entropy: So basically, in order for me to succeed in this world, I have to be willing to take advantage of the kindness of a teacher or "save the world" type of person, and in order to get their attention, I have to seem defective in the first place.


~~
P1: Seeming non-defective works against me because nobody like this wants to come to my rescue and fix me. And here I am, thinking I shouldn't beg or look for charity, when the real way to succeed is to find someone charitable and milk them dry. Well, apparently being a type-A Alpha male who's little more than a bully who's willing to connive and step on anyone you have to in order to advance works well, too. Nice, huh?


P2: Find a book on sociopathy or psychopathy. You'll see that Christoforo fits the model very well. These are the kinds of people who can do pretty much any act, up to and including murder, and then justify it afterwards. They think they're the victim, that they've done nothing wrong. Pretty much the last people on the planet you want to emulate.                                                                                                                                  
P1: This wraps it up nicely. I really wonder what it would be like to be a complete sociopath for a day, completely uncaring about the consequences of any act I did even if I get caught doing it.

 LINK: http://www.fark.com/comments/6850135/Article-comes-with-built-in-headline-I-cant-worry-about-fact-that-there-isnt-a-bus-big-enough-for-me-to-throw-Paul-Christoforo-under-The-internet-did-that-for-me-I-think-they-set-him-on-fire-too?viewmode=1&startid=73959355


From a Washington Times article quoting outspoken Rep. Michelle Bachman on the problems of government regulation and business formation:

Our tax code has 3.8 million words and is too complicated for the average American to understand, and it has a corporate tax rate of almost 40 percent that makes America hopelessly uncompetitive. It advantages companies large enough to hire an army of lawyers to exploit it. I’ll end the practice of crony capitalism and special-interest influence in Washington because, as a federal tax lawyer, I’ll abolish the tax code, the place where most of Washington’s influence peddling occurs. I’ll replace it with one that is simpler, fairer and flatter, in which every American pays something, even if it is $10 a year, because every American has a stake in America.

 Reforming our tax code and ending crony capitalism will send a signal to small businesses, the true job-creation engine of our economy, that they’ll be treated the same as large corporations. Lowering corporate tax rates will make American businesses more competitive and keep them from shipping jobs overseas. That overhaul will include repatriating the more than $1 trillion held overseas by U.S. corporations that could have an immediate private-sector stimulative effect on our economy. These economic policies will send a signal that we will enact permanent free-market solutions for our economy and end the temporary gimmicks that have had such devastating effects.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/29/little-time-to-save-america/


From the comments in a forum discussing whether hipsters find Kindles or old books trendier:

What makes you a hipster online changes so fast that you can go from being a boring asshole to a hipster and back again several times a day.

What makes you a hipster in real life is those stupid hipster glasses.

sigdiamond2000: So wait...am I or am I not a hipster for reading books

I want to make sure I'm not offending the sensibilities of the fat, sexless loser who keeps submitting these "hipster" headlines.

Butthurt much?

The cute thing about hipsters is they appear to represent themselves as intellectuals, yet appear to accept/reject others on superficialities.

Anyway, I like physical books because I can get them for as little as FREE and I can give them to people when I'm done with them.

LINK: http://www.fark.com/comments/6851830/-2000-Hey-look-at-me-I-read-books-in-my-trendy-bookstore-2010-Hipster-Hey-look-at-me-Ive-got-a-Kindle-before-anyone-else-2012-Hipster-Hey-look-at-me-I-still-read-physical-books-in-my-trendy-bookstore?cpp=1

That is to say, Hitchens claimed that religion was the cause of all sorts of bad things, such as “sexism,” murder, and oppression. Yet can you scientifically prove that anything is bad? If there is no God, it follows that what we label “morality” is just an invention of man. But then what is it but consensus opinion, but perspective? Sure, we may take it as axiomatic that murder is wrong, but an axiom is a self-evident truth that requires no evidence. And what was Hitchens’ famous saying?
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.” -Christopher Hitchens: Godlessness Is Not Great — How Atheism Poisons Everything

“He is a 7 year old boy, so he can not be a girl scout!! He is not a girl and doesn't know what transgende­r means. I have a 5 year old who wants to be a ninja, but I cannot raise him like a ninja because that would be absurd. When this child grows up he will have options to explore but he is a boy and theres nothing any of us can do about that now.”

-Christopher Hitchens: Godlessness Is Not Great — How Atheism Poisons Everything