ParanoiA

McCain has run out of Palin's to get new voters...

Obama will win. ACORN will see to it.

Cool, thanks for the link. I actually love the idea of separating healthcare from my employer. So I like that part of his plan, and the $5000 dollar tax credit makes more sense, but it requires a rosey picture to work. The $5,000 credit is supposed to pay for the new taxes on the benefits. That's the part that has been confused, I think, since I've read people complaining that it won't cover their premiums - it's not supposed to, it's supposed to cover the taxes. And that's where the rosey dependence comes in...that employers are going to back out of health benefits and compensate with the equivalent cash difference. I don't see that happening. If your employer is paying $9,000 to your healthcare, I could see them eliminating it and giving you half that, if not less. I don't buy the competitive labor market argument made in the article. That would be cool, but I'm not holding my breath. Interesting, nonetheless.

I don't know much about it, honestly, and I haven't done much digging. From what little I've read, it amounts to more socialist nickle and dime antics. Worse, it doesn't sound like it would even be effective in its ends. At least Obama's ideas would actually work. Again though, I haven't read too much on it.

That's too funny, I was just saying something to that effect to my oldest. Like you say, it would certainly appear that intelligence isn't really an advantage. I mean, for the group, it can be, but for the individual nature would seem to care less. I don't know how correct this is, but I told him I would think dumb people would procreate more, careless to control pregnancy and number of children, even in the face of hardship. Whereas more intelligent folk may be more thoughtful, try to protect against pregnancy, and take more care thinking ahead and limiting their number of children. My point at the time being that dumb people may be preferred by nature.(He's developing my attitude and I was trying to keep him centered...he mustn't invest in cynicism so early in life). Also, if we're going to be all serious and super for real here...one's smarts isn't anymore their fault than one's stupidity. So, while we get pissy about stupid people, it's not like our smarts were "earned". That's not to be confused with intellectual laziness, which is what I think most americans are actually guilty of. And Pangloss had the coolest augment to this with the reality that we old farts always bitch about the youth. But for the purposes of my rant...they are stupid. All of them.

Well, I did spend a bit of time poking on people and intelligence, but it's more about being frustrated with their priorities. It's not that I can't stand them because they wear stupid clothes, it's that I can't stand them because they are obsessed about their overpriced stupid clothes in a vacuum of ingratitude and total lack of appreciation for REAL LIFE. I don't want to go off again, I don't have the energy for it, but it's the same old argument we've had for years - we're spoiled. Americans are spoiled babies and they bug me.

Well all Alaskans get that check don't they? Not just the poor ones? I readily admit I know nothing in the way of details on this system, so I can only comment on the implied principle of the deal. If they get that check from business paying to use the people's land, then it's a business deal - not wealth redistribution. If they were to tax the business; to coerce property from them, and then spread that property around to the people, then that's spreading wealth. Instead, they're inticing business to give them their property by selling them rights to the people's land, and so the profit should go to the people since they own the land. It's just straight up business as far as I can tell. I wonder why other states don't do this. Well, I guess it would really suck to send out checks to the people when they could have kept the money and spent it on studying the goth culture in Blue Springs, MO. (In case you're wondering, yes, that actually happened; they spent I think 1 million dollars on this, and Blue Springs is a tiny little town and the outcome of the study? They're just going through a fad... http://www.rickross.com/reference/goth/goth4.html).

Sorry, your comment seemed derogatory since she's tried to distance herself from washington and you commented on how much help she received from washington insiders, and playing conservative pundits like a drum, as if she "fooled" them. But hey, if you respect her for it, then that's cool. The piece has a weird kind of feel to it. Right out of the gate they go into the washington insider / outsider bit, but it does level off after that, with soft punches here and there, like with the earmark spending routine. It's probably just been so long since I've read an unbiased piece on a candidate that I'm adding all of this baggage that isn't there. You're right, they don't really trash her, they seem to be biting their tongue. I guess I've read so much negativity from journalism on Palin that I expect it line by line.

Well, my differences are more on general ideas than specifics, so that's consistent. Remember how you all were so taken by Obama's "nuance" approach to issues. Well, I'm not into to his liberal-socialist "nuance" on taxes. I'm not sure on his website where to find it, but they're well known and not disputed by his campaign. 1) The "Make Work Pay" refundable tax credit. 2) The $4,000 refundable tax credit for college tuition 3) A 10% mortgage tax credit - again, refundable 4) A "savings" tax credit - another refundable 5) An expansion of the Earned Income Credit for singles - refundable 6) A child care credit of 50% up to 6,000 bucks - refundable The clean car tax is the only non-refundable credit. A refundable credit is credit you get regardless of your income tax liability. So, if your income taxes for the year are zero, you still get a check for the credit. So if I pay nothing in income taxes, I still walk away with potentially thousands of dollars of PROFIT. I did this for years and years using the earned income credit, which is the nastiest of all of them. I made money off of the american people for...uh, being poor. The middle class and rich didn't qualify for that, just the poor. Profit sharing is what they ought to call it. Now, these credits are certainly thoughtful in their aim (which helps to swindle the people into going along with it) but they are an expansion of a nasty system of transfering wealth. Not solely within the context of services, but just straight up cash profit. That's bullshit. And you'll agree once they decide that your wage is upper class and it's time to take more of what you earn. I repeat, taking more of what you EARN. Not what was handed to you. Not free money. But property that you worked for using skills you busted your ass to learn. What did the poor do to earn it? What were they doing while I was struggling to raise two kids, support my wife, working a full-time job, taking classes after work 4 nights a week for 7 freaking years? Oh, that's right, they were sitting on their asses - I know because we lived right next to them. We were poor, so we lived in their trashy ass neighborhoods. I've had too much experience amongst the losers of our country. Their broken down cars were there almost 24/7 - not doing a damn thing to get ahead in life. I don't take it lightly when my property is taken from me by a brow beating lawyer in washington that thinks he has the authority to decide what I should live on. How much experience does he have with these losers he's giving my money to? This is the problem with coercive entitlement systems, they have no respect nor appreciation to those that give to them, no sense of honor or that they owe us their effort to make good decisions and learn how to hunt and gather. Make them have to ask for help, really ASK for help, and that will change. We apparently disagree. Surprise. I think it's accurate to call more wealth redistribution, wealth redistribution even though we already have wealth redistribution. I also think it's accurate to characterize Obama's tax credits as socialist, even though we already have some socialism. Your argument to invalidate those accusations is akin to me saying there's no such thing as facts since everything humans experience is subjective. We all rely on faith, second by second, so everyone who ever claims anything as fact is misrepresenting reality. That's disingenuous, because we all accept the foundation that everything we experience is through our senses and "facts" exist within that framework. The same is true here with redistribution. Sure, at the end of the day, it's all redistribution of the people's property, but our framework is a capitalist-republic and within that framework it is only wealth redistribution when we actually dole out cash to the poor for being poor. My opinion, anyway. It's the fascinating phenomenon where people think that they can do it, but others can't, or shouldn't. I can do without, sacrifice, but I can't expect him to do that. It just all goes back to clinical governing. You know my spill, so it should be no surprise that McCain and Obama are way out of my tolerance range.

It's ignorant or misrepresentative of existing reality to deny the major majority of our economic structure is still rooted in capitalism, and is grossly capitalist in most of its particulars. So, yes, "experimenting" with socialism is a valid concern. Most of the socialism we have today was incrementally developed rather than just roled out, like the new deal. So it's still very much an experiment to overhaul our retirement, healthcare, and etc entirely centralized. Very much so. You're trying to act as if anyone who cries foul over wealth redistribution is somehow wrong since we already have wealth redistribution in various forms - but that doesn't invalidate their fears. Most of the redistribution is done in the form of services, so it is arguable. And then some of it has been done for years, and will continue, and it's being expanded. THAT's the concern. The refundable stuff. So calling it wealth redistribution is accurate. McCain is right in calling it that way. And I hope they keep it up.

You're wrong. Wealth redistribution is taken to a whole new level here. For one, your candidate is a liar. He labels tax credits as tax cuts. He says 95% will get a tax cut - that's the refundable credits that are being increased, in addition to a lower tax burden. That's why, even though only roughly over 60% even pay income tax, they still get a cut - because of the refundable credits they PROFIT from. With Obama's Thuggery Proposition poor taxpayers are PROFITING off the upper class. Let me repeat - PROFITING by taking even MORE money from the "rich" and giving even MORE money to the "poor". That's not techno-babble economics where the geek in the corner stands up and reminds everyone that all government processes are wealth redistribution - it is wealth redistribution taken wholesale. We no longer see it buried and doled out codified in the services the government gives to the poor - no it's just handed to them as cash, the same way it was taken. REDISTRIBUTION = SOCIALISM. It's up to you if you interpret that as an insult or a compliment.

Columns? For a pair of columns? Can they protect a dying cancer patient? Will those columns save our children from the financial crisis? For that amount of money, Obama could have fed starving children. I guess columns were more important. At least the republicans cared enough to spend it on something that could actually clothe a poor child. All those columns will do is squash a poor child. Obviously this is an example of Obama's priorities. No prop is too expensive to spend campaign donations on to get him elected. I'll bet those folks that donated really appreciate knowing where it went. Is that any indication where our tax dollars will go? Sorry, just thought it would be funny to play partisan hack for awhile. We should start a thread just for this sort of thing. Could be fun. How sad. Someone works from the ground up, outside of washington, that didn't come from big money, or old wealth and no one can even take a breath from bashing them relentlessly. I love these stories where some old friend buried in the past comes out to tell "The Real Story" - you can hear Dracula's laugh too - wahahaha...talk about gullible pundits.

Interesting problem came up this weekend. My garage door openers are designed such that I can't use those new flourescents I like. The base of them is a bit large to fit right, so I had to buy incandescents. I just wanted to say I'm sorry that I helped to contribute to the death of the planet in this way, but I did punish myself by denying myself ANY porn this weekend. That'll teach me.

And wasn't he right.

Well Joe has been doing interviews too, so he's somewhat made himself available for battle.

Hell Yeah, I love it. Just watched their bit on the Nanny State, hilarious.

Ah, but see one can even twist that and say that it says something about their ability to choose their help responsibly, or if they can't keep control of campaign spending, how can they keep control of the federal budget? Or...choose your favorite poetic dig. People aren't allowed to make mistakes so politicians, naturally then, are people who have learned how to hide their mistakes. I question the need for that skill in our statesmen.

Wait though...that's all true, but that goes for most of the money spent on a campaign. I mean, if we're going to pick this up and do some brow beatin' then let's talk about the 390 million bucks Obama has spent on this campaign and McCain's 85 million dollar purse he's gone halfway through. All of this money for a $400,000 / year job? I'm sure there's a laundry list of crap we'd all shake our heads about, that the two of them have spent their millions on. It's good to get pissy about it too, but once again, folks are only looking at cheap shots. Give it a day or so and I'll bet some idiot will have some smack on Obama purchasing a $20,000 necklace for his wife to wear at some white tie function.

A co-worker questioned me, and my cube neighbor, about our rants and bitching about this and that and we had to educate her on the joy of disparaging others.

^ Hell Yeah!

Yes. Apparently so. About as much as Obama's campaign runs directly counter to their argument of "change". About as much as Obama's broken promise for public campaign financing speaks counter to his attacks on Bush's integrity. I have refrained from using silly examples like the ones I used above to vilify Obama because they're just as childish and elementary as "Clothes-gate".

Damn, I hate people. Or, maybe I’m just getting old and cranky. I’ve always been a proud capitalist and strong advocate for profiteering and blah blah blah, but I just cannot stand our materialist, selfish youthful culture. Went to the mall the other day with my family so my youngest could shop and overpay for stuff he could find in Wal-mart. It’s been a while since I’ve been to the mall, and for precisely this reason: I want to shoot them all. Every one of them under the age of, well, 30. Any female in her teens couldn’t say anything without enunciating it like a question and prefixed with “like” or “oh-my-god”. They cover up perfectly youthful, smooth skinned faces with gobs of makeup, porn lipstick, errant sparkles and with what looks like glow-in-the-dark eye shadow. They show off their twig legs and boney asses wearing mini skirts or tight shorts with butt slogans – perfectly appropriate for a 12 year old trying to get laid I suppose. And the males, oh what a treat for those that missed the zoo. These idiots “kind of” wear clothes twice their actual size. They can actually buy their pants pre-stitched with boxers to sport the “sag” look, without actually sagging…and if that doesn’t miss the point enough, hoodies are now common equipment regardless of the time of year. Add the returning crooked-baseball-hat fad and the continuous, pretentious “is anyone paying attention to me” crowd scanning twitch, and they look just like cartoon characters. Oh, and you should hear them rattle on about “individuality, yo” while they compete to look just like each other. Most of the black kids have mastered the smug, supercool, tried-and-true pissed off attitude thing, while sycophantic suburbanite white kids follow them like servile puppies; their impression of Chester the terrier fawning Spike the bulldog – ‘you’re so effin cool, Spike. See, I got clothes just like you. See my hat? My pants? I can even do your dialect and talk “gangsta” to my bitches, yo. You wanna’ screw my girlfriend? Anything Spike, you’re so effin bad ass’. Obsequious fools. Most over the age of twenty at least started to diversify a little, but still enslaved to their electronic gadgets and equally pathetically obsessed with their clothes and hair, at least now for a decent reason since their most of their asses have exploded and need good “siding” to cover them up and freaky hair to redirect our eyes. And they all have more important things to do than paying attention, like talking on their cell phone or ingesting more grease and fat while lounging in the middle of the aisle with a line behind them. The stores, the products and services, are all the reflection of the ignorant sheeple they serve. Asian stores that sell nothing but Budda’s and swords, “Mexican” food with all american ingredients and music stores promoting the latest fast food single that has morphed metal and “feelings” into a wussified feminized testosterone punch – much like they did in the 80’s with glam rock...ick. Oh my, I just hate people anymore. I used to think I was just using that excuse as a crutch for my social phobia – “disliking” people is a controlled choice, whereas “fear” is a seemingly helpless reaction. So loathing them is easier than being afraid of them – pride to mask the shame. But, now, I don’t think so. I think they’re both just complimenting each other, however unhealthy it may be. I genuinely do not like much of the human race. Maybe it’s just Americans that bug me. But the mall just brings it all up to the front. The overabundance, the materialism, the narcissism, the glorification of ignorance…all of it. I can really only write a fraction of the imagery that disgusted me, and I won’t even go off on the shameful pet shop that keeps dogs in a cramped display case so they’ll go ape shit “happy” when a human comes along…. Am I just a cranky old fart at 37, or are people really worth loathing? Go ahead, rant and share your stories, observations – I’d love to feed off of your negativity.

Ok, I guess I'll copy and paste the obvious, which is conveniently located at the END of the article. Gee, you'd think that the accused's rebuttal would be right up front, but then you wouldn't be able to promote the damaging effect of rambling on about CREW and the dirty republicans before you read her response at the end.

Thanks for putting Ron Paul on the ballot.