Random thoughts: The funny thing is my electronic banking is surprisingly probably the best I've ever seen anywhere. The only thing I can't do is get bank statements. Don't get me started on how furious it made when I realized that as a civilization we still use signatures and rubber stamps the massive majority of the time. Why do we need stamps? I can forge them in my room. Yes, I realize forging stamps can be a huge crime, but why not make forging documents a bigger crime and get rid of stamps altogether? Anyways, off-topic. That's a great way to describe it, I totally agree. I was thinking about things from a different perspective earlier. On the harmony-disharmony axis, where does competition sit? I can't figure that out. If someone was looking at our world from the outside in, wouldn't they be confused why we seem to be competing so hard when we don't know of any other civilization and we're stuck on the same planet? Are we going to wait till things are in ruins before doing something? Because if what's holding us back is proof, then are we forgetting that the same group heavily influences what qualifies as proof? how proof is defined? What's permissible in court? Is competition really the best way to achieve our overall objective, or is it the best way to motivate someone in a specific situation? Are we even geared to be competitive from 9 to 5, then harmonious in the evening? Should our living habits fit the profit maximization motive or be more aligned with human nature?
It was when we were animals and were all Darwiny. It won't be when we move on from animals to information processors. Free information will make competition less rewarding, the overriding instinct to dominate to reproduce will go away as people have fewer children and live longer. Payoffs will be experiences (probably virtual) and not things. I still like that Mastery Cartoon for motivation.
She is going to feel pretty dumb when this whole protest thing is over and she isn't allowed to drive or go out in public by herself.
You perhaps some day will feel pretty dumb for this statement. Alteratively your kids wouldl be ashamed of it.
You perhaps some day will feel pretty dumb for this statement. Alternatively your kids would be ashamed of it.
It's nice to see some serious, level headed conservatives. Gives me hope. Senator Releases Breathtaking Report On How The Government Showers The Rich With Free Money Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), one of Congress' biggest deficit hawks, released a report on Monday showing that the federal government has paid over $9.5 billion in benefits to millionaires since 2003. The memo is titled "Subsidies of the Rich and Famous" and addressed to taxpayers, and states that millionaires (those with an adjusted gross income greater than $1 million per year) receive benefits worth more than $30 billion from the government each year including tax giveaways and federal grant programs. And almost 1,500 millionaires paid no income tax to the federal government in 2009. From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes, and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Multimillionaires are even receiving government checks for not working. This welfare for the well-off – costing billions of dollars a year – is being paid for with the taxes of the less fortunate, many who are working two jobs just to make ends meet, and IOUs to be paid off by future generations. The populist tenor could hardly be topped by an Occupy Wall Street protester — and this is coming from one of Congress' most conservative members. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/coburn-report-on-subsidies-for-the-reach-2011-11?op=1#ixzz1djnlfISa
You perhaps will some day find a sense of humor. Alternatively, you will continue to take jokes way too seriously and try (unsuccessfully) to make other people feel bad. Your second priority can be learning to avoid double posts.
he gotcha glynch And Leo's getting larger!!!! Oakland Mayor Jean Quan’s Legal Advisor Resigns In Support Of Occupy Oakland In a raid this morning, the city of Oakland used riot gear-clad police to evict the Occupy Oakland tent city. “It feels pretty sad because we built a community here, and now they can just come and destroy it,” said Lisa Bitar, one of the protesters. Outraged by the action taken against Occupy Oakland, Dan Siegel, who had been serving as mayor Jean Quan’s legal advisor, decided to resign today. On Twitter, he wrote that he was resigning to support Occupy Oakland and oppose the 1 percent:
How many of the readers here would take economic or financial advice from these parasites? What they are advocating is socialism -- Elizabeth Warren socialism. It's a shame that people are this ignorant. They should read the newspaper from time to time -- Europe is melting down because of the very policies these occupiers are advocating -- income redistribution, uncompetitive union labor, high tax rates, huge government. It doesn't work -- and you have a spectacular failure right before your eyes, happening in real time in Europe. The timing of this occupy movement couldn't be worse. We live in a competitive global economy. You can not artificially support labor that deserves a lower wage, nor can you grow an economy with a huge government, excessive regulations, and high tax rates. The media's support of these people is stunning and indicative of the fact that the movement has one goal -- to re-energize the liberals and close the enthusiasm gap. Once again, liberal voters are being duped into mindlessly following garbage. Democratic politics is about one thing -- manipulation of very gullible people.
I stopped reading after 'huge government', it is obvious someone has been fed wrong information or hasn't paid any attention.
Doesn't it bother you when an article is willing to throw out context-less blobs of data like that? So what if 1,500 millionaires didn't pay taxes in 2009? Unless it states how many millionaires there are, or how many millionaires paid, or how many did not pay in other years?
Protests are symbolic. They act of protesting is in fact mean to cause disruption and create tension. It is meant to provoke and draw attention. Those are the tenets of Civil Disobedience outlined by Henry Thoreau used by Gandhi, MLK, Tutu, etc. Gandhi was about intentionally breaking laws the he felt were unjust. And part of that was using things like marches KNOWING that they would cause strife and result in beatings of protesters which in turn would generate media reports and generate sympathy. In this case, the protesters can't break the unjust laws since income inequality - while unjust - is not ordained by any one specific law they have access to acting upon. The entire system in broken. So it makes sense to disrupt the system by occupying and refusing to leave until their message is taken seriously by politicians. Right now it is not. They are largely ignored by politicians - in fact they are mostly being condemned. So they should continue. They need to draw more attention and grow as a movement until it reaches a point where it is a threat to disrupt day-to-day life and it forces politicians to make concessions. the key here is for them not to commit any violent act. They've done a decent job of that so far. So long as they do not commit violence or vandalize property - they will continue to grow in both size and influence. So I disagree. They should continue what they are doing and force confrontations with police. And accept getting beaten, arrested, and demonized - all without striking back. That's the only way they can succeed.
Was there ever actually a video of someone plowing through a human street blockade? The only link I found showed a guy in an SUV with his kid in the back stopping at the demonstrators who were telling him to turn around, then later showed police allowing a different car to leave after supposedly hitting different people... No action recorded of either event?
Any more like this? Imagine having that job. Your orders are to tear down their tents, & if they try to stop you, you have to use your baton to poke them in the stomach?!
Yay America, land of the free. Where peaceful protest results in night time raids by the police, who refuse to wear there badges, lie to the press, force the press to stay away, and then beat the protesters at the behest of the ruling elite.
