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Comment Re:Yet another great argument... (Score 1, Flamebait) 402

Awesome false dichotomy you got there.

I don't think you are in any position to accuse anyone of creating a false dichotomy. Your whole point is that there are only very rich and very poor in America and yet the vast majority in America are neither. The fact that you are using a computer to spread your crap tells me that you are neither extremely rich nor extremely poor. Your existence proves that you are full of crap.

Comment Re:Yet another great argument... (Score 0, Flamebait) 402

That's really odd. I can afford a home and I'm not rich. As a matter of fact, everyone in my neighborhood is in the same situation I am in. No one in my entire city is what I'd call "rich" and yet very few of them live in squalor. The few that are "living in squalor" are illegals passing through anyway.

I don't know what country you live in, but in this country, the average salary is over $50,000/yr. That's ample to buy a house in most communities.

To put it another way, you are full of shit.

Comment Re:Surpassing Vista (Score 4, Interesting) 285

I've got lots of perfectly good hardware (scanners, printers...etc) that never received a Windows 7 driver. I have to keep at least one XP machine around just for that reason.

My nephew is staying at my place for the summer and brought an old Vista machine. Rather than run a network cable to his room, I gave him a USB wireless-N adapter. He tried for a couple of weeks to make it work while a cat-5 cable ran across my office floor into his room. The other day, he decided to install Linux on the system after using my machine every time his crashed. We downloaded Mint and installed it. Once it was up and running, I plugged in the USB adapter, unplugged the network cable, punched in my wifi password and BAM! He was on the network and reading reddit. (I guess reddit is what kids do these days).

Anyway, the point is that all the drivers you may need are probably included in some of the latest Linux distro's out there. You might want to try booting off a live CD and try it out. If you're not a gamer, I see no reason to be stuck running XP or any other Windows based system.

Comment Re:Awesome (Score 4, Funny) 271

No I meant running my freezer. Hence the reason I typed:

"I always wanted to have a computer running my freezer"

instead of

"I always wanted to have a computer running IN my freezer"

Oh. Then I don't get it.

As a side note, I've always wanted to take an old mini fridge and turn it into a computer case.

Comment Re:Bull Shit! (Score 2) 584

However, it would be too radical (not to mention ironic) to disqualify sections of the electorate on the basis of stupidity or lack of values.

No Joke! I would love to see voters required to pass a basic test before being allowed to vote. And I mean something very basic like "Name one right protected by the Bill of Rights", or "True or False, The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed""

Comment Re:Bull Shit! (Score 3, Informative) 584

Poll results are notoriously sensitive to exactly how the questions are phrased. The other problem is that those polled might not understand the entire scope of the program, or have considered how it can be misused and how little protection against misuse there might be (or might not be - that's the charming thing about a secret court)

I wonder if the polls would have the same result if they were asked if their information were used in a presidential campaign?

“Earlier this year, in an interview with TV One, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) praised President Barack Obama for putting together a campaign database that "will have information about everything on every individual."

“And that database will have information about everything on every individual in ways that it’s never been done before,” Waters told “Washington Watch” host Roland, referring to Obama’s “Organizing for America,” which was changed from a campaign organization to a 501(c)(4) called Organizing for Action. ...
Martin asked if Waters if she was referring to “Organizing for America.”

“That’s right, that’s right,” Waters said. “And that database will have information about everything on every individual in ways that it’s never been done before.”

Waters said the database would also serve future Democratic candidates seeking the presidency.

“He’s been very smart,” Waters said of Obama. “I mean it’s very powerful what he’s leaving in place.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/waters-obama-campaign-database-has-information-about-everything-every-individual

Remember, winning means everything. It's not about getting more voters. It's about getting more of YOUR voters to vote (or at least make it appear that way). The first step in getting your own voters out is to know who they are, where they live, what they are doing, etc. The other half of this is what is going to happen to use who do not vote for the (D) candidate?

Comment Re:Bend over and submit citizen (Score 1) 341

So if you see all of these problems with the country, why would you tell someone that may want to fix some of them "We don't need your 'improvement'"? Is it your believe that any attempt to rein in the problems (like, for example, having more sane drug laws) will only make things worse?

No, if I see that all these problems have only gotten worse, I'm going to say, "Let me take care of it. You tried. You failed!" When your solution doesn't work, you don't double down on the "solution" that didn't work the first time. Maybe you should try something different.

Yes! SANE drug laws. As in, don't sell to minors and don't drive stupid. I don't see much need for anything else. Compare that to the "solutions" of the past 50 years where we just spend more and more money and make laws harsher and harsher. I don't recall drug cartels killing people when I was growing up. Now, it's rather common. You want to put the drug cartels out of business in about an hour? Legalize their product so we can grow it here and sell it with sensible regulations like we do alcohol, completely cutting them out of the equation.

The point is more government doesn't work. All we need is for the government to protect us from foreign invaders and from screwing each other over. Beyond that, it really doesn't serve much purpose other than to turn minor problems into major ones.

Comment Re:Bend over and submit citizen (Score 5, Insightful) 341

I think you just answered that - because it's the place I live... my family, my friends, my home, my job, etc are all here in the USA so why would I want to pack up and leave? And if I really feel that what I'm advocating is an improvement, why wouldn't I want to share it with everyone?

Because we don't want your "improvement" and we don't have the option of moving as there is no place else in the world that has the economic opportunity and freedom that the US has.

Hmm...isn't that what people said about racial segregation? We don't want "those" people on "our" bus or drinking from "our" fountains? Or about gay rights "If we let the gays marry, then everyone will want to marry their dogs and once heterosexual people see homosexual people in committed marriages, it will tear heterosexual marriages apart!".

I didn't even say what "improvement" I wanted, so how can you say that you don't want it? Don't you value my freedom of speech? You're trying to shut down my opinion before I even voiced it.

I'm not talking about civil rights. I'm a conservative libertarian. I'm talking about economic and personal freedom. Some of us just want to be left the hell alone while others demand that someone oversee what I do in my personal and financial life. It is how things used to be and the system worked quite well. For example, there are more people in poverty today than there was when Johnson declared a "War on Poverty". There are more people smoking marijuana today than there was before marijuana was made to be illegal. More people have a cocaine problem today than when cocaine was legal and could be purchased in a bottle of Coca Cola. the federal deficit was smaller before there was an income tax. The list goes on and on.

There are those of us who see that when government makes up a problem and declares war on it, that problem always gets worse. You would think that people would realize this and just stop it, but that hasn't happened. It has actually gotten worse. It seems that the more government fails, the more people demand that the government needs to grow to fix those problems. It's an endless cycle and the only end I see is absolute failure before we are allowed to restore what works.

Comment Re:Bend over and submit citizen (Score 1, Insightful) 341

I think you just answered that - because it's the place I live... my family, my friends, my home, my job, etc are all here in the USA so why would I want to pack up and leave? And if I really feel that what I'm advocating is an improvement, why wouldn't I want to share it with everyone?

Because we don't want your "improvement" and we don't have the option of moving as there is no place else in the world that has the economic opportunity and freedom that the US has.

Comment Re:Apologists Be Damned (Score 1) 341

Not well, but I can't imagine it would have been any better with the other choices.

I know! States rights must suck. I'd hate having to deal with the responsibility of knowing that my vote counts more towards the way my government works. Double that because of the effort I'd have to put into voting in state elections.

The horror!

Comment Re:Bend over and submit citizen (Score 4, Interesting) 341

Don't like it? Move to China.

That's a great comeback -- don't like something about your country? Well pack up, get out, and move someplace worse because america is perfect the way it is so you either need to accept that or get out - we don't need your changes!

A couple of points here. First, Snowden ironically fled to Hong Kong, which is China. I think the GP was making a joke. Here's your whoosh!

But in response to your post, there is some logic behind the "Love it or Leave it" argument. For example, there are many in America who want to make America like Europe, and work hard to transform it to that. It makes sense to ask these people, "Why don't you just move to Europe?" Here is why the logic works: If they were to move to Europe, they could line under a government that is exactly what they want. They'll be happy there. As a bonus, those of us who like things in America the way they are get to stay and live in under a government that is exactly what we want. It's a win-win! We all get what we want. On the other hand, when they stay and fight to transform America, they make themselves miserable living in a country they don't like and make the rest of us miserable fighting to keep them from changing America into a country we won't want.

Why try to change the place you live into someplace else when you could simply move to that someplace else?

Please forgive the off-topicness

Comment Re:Someone start a defense fund (Score 1) 955

Again, what crime has the TEA Party espoused? The TEA Party is for lower taxes, not tax fraud. What crime has pro-life groups or traditional marriage groups committed? The only "crime" these groups have committed is having an opinion and wanting to use their First Amendment rights. Remember, the First Amendment not only protects speech you disagree with, but it also protects speech that the government disagrees with specifically. Read the text itself:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

Isn't that part in bold exactly what the TEA Party groups were trying to do? Opposing groups are allowed to take money and not pay taxes on them. Why can't the TEA Party. If anything, groups that call for higher taxes and then apply for tax exempt status for themselves are the ones who should be viewed with suspicion. There is nothing suspicious about the TEA Party trying to be tax exempt. That is exactly what you would expect them to do. But Organizing for America wants people taxed more. Why would they think that they should be exempt?

Also, this is not just about taxes and money. It is about protecting your donors from those who disagree with your group. For example, if a list of donors to an anti-gay-marriage group were leaked, the donors, their families, and their businesses could be targeted by groups that support gay marriage. It could happen and it did. The law was created to protect donors to civil rights groups in Alabama during the Civil Rights movement and is just as necessary today.

And if you don't think that these groups should be tax exempt, that's great. I agree. But that's not the point. The point is that as of right now, these groups are allowed to be tax exempt under the law. If you like, petition for the law to be changed, but until it is, it must be applied fairly. The IRS can not apply the law to one group and not another, especially when the deciding distinction is a groups political beliefs or support of or opposition to policy. Also, the IRS should not be able to give you extra scrutiny because you oppose the tax exempt status of 501c groups, just as they should not be allowed to scrutinize the TEA Party because they want the 10th Amendment followed.

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