I believe you are confusing wealth and income. I would be all for a flat rate income tax or even a graduated income tax with 4 or 5 brackets but without all the deduction and special classification of certain income streams like for capital gains.
The "cut spending" folks aren't actually all that serious either. They're talking about 10 year projections, which anyone who has watched a little c-span knows damn good and well only last until the next election cycle.
You have far too much faith in our congress critters. My bet would be it will last as long as the next news cycle.
Not $1.2 trillion in cuts but $1.2 trillion less of an increase in the debt, it is not like in 10 year we were going to go from the current $15 trillion in debt we currently have to $13.8 trillion but it was more like we are going from the current $15 trillion to $23.8 trillion in 10 years instead of being at $25 trillion.
From what I can tell no one has actually proposed a budget, not the Rs, the Ds, or the White House in years. Granted the Rs would block any thing from any D and vice versa but they aren't even trying to do their job but seem to be doing lots of cock waiving.
There was only a short period where the Dems had the super majority to get legislation through. I will give you a hint it was between when Al Franken was finally seated in the senate, after the MN recount was finally finished with the various court challenges, but before Ted Kennedy died. I believe that this was about a 6 month window.
It is entirely possible for the debt to cease to increase without increasing taxes. We would however need to increase them to have it start going down without cutting into things most people care about like social security, medicare, and medicaid.
Um, I remember Obamacare taking a year to get through, with the dems extending compromise after compromise and getting nothing in return from across the aisle, before finally passing a watered-down mostly-unworkable proposal in exasperation.
Which was the standard Washington dog and pony show. If they had shit together they would have said fuck you to the republicans got the bill written and through committee as it was pretty apparent that Franken was going to be the 60th Dem in the senate and then voted in the senate once Franken was seated. But they still had to compromise within their own party.
This is what separates a statesman from a politician. A statesman is willing to do what is right even if it costs them the next election. I was hoping that the tea party members would fall into this category and do what was right, specifically be willing to cut the military and close foreign bases, but so far it has been a giant let down. Add to the fact that a cut in Washington is not really a cut but means a decrease in the year to year projected increase and nothing is ever actually cut.
We could have cut a lot of things to reach the pittance sum of $1.2 trillion over 10 years. Granted this would have pissed off both sides as it would have taken away their talking points. Also the $1.2 trillion over 10 years isn't a cut as you or I would understand it but is a cut in the projected growth of the federal debt. So instead of being some really ridiculous number like $25 trillion in debt we would only be $23.8 trillion in debt (numbers pulled out of my ass but sadly probably not too far from the truth). We could even leave the sacred cow programs like social security, medicare, and medicaid alone. To put it into perspective given the current base line budgeting that happens all that would be needed is to reduce the current base line by less than $120 billion dollars. Over 10 years they would reach the $1.2 trillion also if you could raise taxes $120 billion a year and reach the same value. I wrote to the members of the super committee offering my suggestions of programs to cut but since none of them were my congress critters I got no response and I doubt they even opened the letters. For the record I offered up the following:
1. End corn subsidies
2. End cotton subsidies for US and Brazilian farmers
3. End the Ethanol production subsidies
4. End the Ethanol blenders credit
5. Close foreign military bases
6. Getting rid of the TSA airport screeners
7. Cancellation of unneeded and unwanted military projects F35 JSF
There were a few other subsidies but I don't remember what they were off the top of my head
As much as I would have liked to beat up on the Ds they seemed to be more willing to compromise than the Rs. Both parties offered some sort of compromise but it seemed that the Ds were more sincere but it may have all been a facade. Also the Rs basically were in a great starting position since they didn't have to do anything and it would be 100% cuts*. Basically it gave both parties some talking points for the election.
* Remember in Washington a cut is just slower growth. The purpose of the super committee was to cut the projected debt 10 years out by 1.2 or so trillion dollars which could be accomplished if the next base line budget is about $120 billion less than it is currently projected to be. To put this in perspective so far this year the US Federal government has spent $3.6 trillion so $120 billion would be about 3% of our current budget, probably less
Of course, ending factory farming would mean more expensive meat (i.e. big government nanny-state), but more importantly would cut into the profits of a few certain companies.
Only if you buy meat at the grocery store in meal sized quantities for a family of 4. My dad and I split 1/4 of a cow and 1/4 of a bison each year as one of my dad's friends raises cattle (10 to 12 on 40 acres) and one of my step-mom's friends raises bison (5 on 40 acres). This year the beef cost $3.41 a pound and the bison was $3.74 a pound which I believe is still cheaper than even the worst ground beef (I saw some 75% lean ground beef a while ago that was almost $4 a pound) but that price includes ground meat, all the different steaks and all the different roasts. It is all hormone free, antibiotic free, and feedlot free. I have been out to their farms and the animals aren't knee deep in their own crap and my 3 year old son loved seeing the animals up close. My dad's friend who raises cattle has only lost 2 in 27 years, one was to a harsh winter in the 1980s and the other one was to wolves in 2008, while my step-mom's friend who raises bison has never lost one. Chicken are the same, I buy eggs for $0.99 a dozen from a local farmer who will also sell you a whole live chicken for $7 but you have to butcher it your self, and no I don't live out in the sticks either but in a suburb that has been built up for 40 years.
In the case of the road:
Your right to the road versus someone else's right to be compensated for their labor (transport of stolen goods)
Your right to the road versus some child's right to security... free from being crushed under your SUV.
Your right to the road versus other peoples right to the road(rush hour)
Which is why I wish my local government would grow a pair and actually place mandates on them and do a bit more of the oversight thing. If only they were actually regulated like the power or water company.
Other low friction coatings have already been used in engines but mostly in the racing world where it seems cost is not an option. One of the limiting factors is decomposition into graphite when coating iron at high temperatures. Various diamond like carbon coatings have been used for things like rocker arms, cams, gears, and other sliding surfaces on race engines. Also there have been some people experimenting with various nitride compounds for places where DLCs won't work (that whole higher temperature iron thing) and some look promising. The other thing these compounds offer is that they are tough and don't wear anywhere near as much so it greatly extends the service life of the part.
don't use a dishwasher machine, it will take the layer off
I had a really nicely seasoned cast iron fry pan (a have a whole set but this was the most used one) that one of the wife's friends sent through the dish washer. I am now just starting to get it back to where it was after almost a year of use. The more you season and use a cast iron pan the better the non stick surface gets.
Rub it with cooking oil, and leave it to burn.
Personally I prefer to put a light oil coating on a pan (almost to where it will run) flip it upside down on an old baking sheet and let it bake in the over for a few hours at 400F. This gives you a nice start for getting proper coating on the pan.
I love the Teflon pipe thread tape, stops leaks, and makes the joints go together with ease. Most of its other household uses like on pans it is complete junk. A nice set of cast iron pans with some heavy stainless steel pots is the way to go. Bonus points if you went with the copper bottom ones sauce pans and pots for a more uniform heating. Once the cast iron pans are seasoned they are about as good of a cooking surface as you can find.
This happens with a lot of medical equipment. A large hospital with have one machine mis-calibrated every year (my dad works as a bio medical technician repairing devices, not calibrating them) and sometimes it gets caught before it is used sometimes not. I remember one story where there was some machine for doing some heart surgery where the device was incorrectly calibrated and instead of cutting and cauterizing it vaporized a large chunk of the patient's heart.
I think we would still need expensive training as the current agents doing the screening seem to miss simple things with those technologies like shotgun shells, rifle bullets, and pocket knives, all of which are easily detectable by a metal detector, or carry-on x-ray scanner.
Here in the US there are different attitudes towards firearms. There are those that view it as an extension of their cock which they can wave around and show just how tough they are. There are those who fear them and seem to believe that they will magically grow legs and walk up and shoot you (some of my wife's relatives think like this). There are those who show the proper respect and use them as tools. Finally there are those who view firearms as basically a toy and are reckless with them. The problem groups are the ones who think it is an extension of their cock or that it is a toy. I would say a majority of gun owners fall in to the category of showing proper respect and that it is tool but you never hear about those people as they never make the news unless one of them bags a massive buck and makes the back page of the sports section in the new paper. So the people in the category who fear guns only hear about the idiots that cause problems and thus are terrified of firearms.
Currently there has been a lot of glamorization of guns within the hip hop culture thus only encouraging those who view a firearm as something to show how tough they are. Contrast that with some rural areas where hunting is a way of life almost everyone owns a rifle and or a shotgun. They don't have the gun crime that you seen in the inner cities as people there view them as a tool.
You really believe this. I grew up around firearms, learned how to handle them safely (started shooting when I was 8 using my grandfathers 12 gauge) and own a few myself. I don't believe in accidental shootings in >99.9% of cases it really is negligence. There are some that are truly accidental but those are exceedingly rare, as in you are hunting pheasants going through a field with grass up to your waist with the safety on and step into a gopher hole fall on your gun and set it off. My 3 firearms (2 rifles and a shotgun) are safely stored in one of those nice fireproof gun safes that you blot into floor. Do I ever worry about my firearms shooting another person. Hell no. I practice safe storage, handling, and transporting. They are only loaded when I plan on using them (hunting, or target shooting) and are only pointed at things I intend to shoot (targets or tasty animals) I am also aware of what is around me and what I am shooting at since most rifle bullets will go through the target and continue on their path so you need to know what is behind what you are shooting. I don't shoot at noise, I identify my target before pointing my firearm at it. My chain saw, ax, crosscut saw, or splitting maul are more likely to cause harm to someone than my firearms. Too many people view firearms as an extension of their cock instead of a tool. Personally I think that people who commit crimes with guns should have the book thrown at them as responsible owners get a bad rap.
No they don't. There has been some recent discussions of them unionizing but the Rs make a big deal out of it and piss and moan. This is one case where it might do some good as a union would probably force them to get rid of the scanners for health concerns. I doubt it would raise the quality of the screeners though.
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I believe you are confusing wealth and income. I would be all for a flat rate income tax or even a graduated income tax with 4 or 5 brackets but without all the deduction and special classification of certain income streams like for capital gains.
The "cut spending" folks aren't actually all that serious either. They're talking about 10 year projections, which anyone who has watched a little c-span knows damn good and well only last until the next election cycle.
You have far too much faith in our congress critters. My bet would be it will last as long as the next news cycle.
Not $1.2 trillion in cuts but $1.2 trillion less of an increase in the debt, it is not like in 10 year we were going to go from the current $15 trillion in debt we currently have to $13.8 trillion but it was more like we are going from the current $15 trillion to $23.8 trillion in 10 years instead of being at $25 trillion.
From what I can tell no one has actually proposed a budget, not the Rs, the Ds, or the White House in years. Granted the Rs would block any thing from any D and vice versa but they aren't even trying to do their job but seem to be doing lots of cock waiving.
There was only a short period where the Dems had the super majority to get legislation through. I will give you a hint it was between when Al Franken was finally seated in the senate, after the MN recount was finally finished with the various court challenges, but before Ted Kennedy died. I believe that this was about a 6 month window.
It is entirely possible for the debt to cease to increase without increasing taxes. We would however need to increase them to have it start going down without cutting into things most people care about like social security, medicare, and medicaid.
Um, I remember Obamacare taking a year to get through, with the dems extending compromise after compromise and getting nothing in return from across the aisle, before finally passing a watered-down mostly-unworkable proposal in exasperation.
Which was the standard Washington dog and pony show. If they had shit together they would have said fuck you to the republicans got the bill written and through committee as it was pretty apparent that Franken was going to be the 60th Dem in the senate and then voted in the senate once Franken was seated. But they still had to compromise within their own party.
This is what separates a statesman from a politician. A statesman is willing to do what is right even if it costs them the next election. I was hoping that the tea party members would fall into this category and do what was right, specifically be willing to cut the military and close foreign bases, but so far it has been a giant let down. Add to the fact that a cut in Washington is not really a cut but means a decrease in the year to year projected increase and nothing is ever actually cut.
We could have cut a lot of things to reach the pittance sum of $1.2 trillion over 10 years. Granted this would have pissed off both sides as it would have taken away their talking points. Also the $1.2 trillion over 10 years isn't a cut as you or I would understand it but is a cut in the projected growth of the federal debt. So instead of being some really ridiculous number like $25 trillion in debt we would only be $23.8 trillion in debt (numbers pulled out of my ass but sadly probably not too far from the truth). We could even leave the sacred cow programs like social security, medicare, and medicaid alone. To put it into perspective given the current base line budgeting that happens all that would be needed is to reduce the current base line by less than $120 billion dollars. Over 10 years they would reach the $1.2 trillion also if you could raise taxes $120 billion a year and reach the same value. I wrote to the members of the super committee offering my suggestions of programs to cut but since none of them were my congress critters I got no response and I doubt they even opened the letters. For the record I offered up the following:
1. End corn subsidies
2. End cotton subsidies for US and Brazilian farmers
3. End the Ethanol production subsidies
4. End the Ethanol blenders credit
5. Close foreign military bases
6. Getting rid of the TSA airport screeners
7. Cancellation of unneeded and unwanted military projects F35 JSF
There were a few other subsidies but I don't remember what they were off the top of my head
As much as I would have liked to beat up on the Ds they seemed to be more willing to compromise than the Rs. Both parties offered some sort of compromise but it seemed that the Ds were more sincere but it may have all been a facade. Also the Rs basically were in a great starting position since they didn't have to do anything and it would be 100% cuts*. Basically it gave both parties some talking points for the election.
* Remember in Washington a cut is just slower growth. The purpose of the super committee was to cut the projected debt 10 years out by 1.2 or so trillion dollars which could be accomplished if the next base line budget is about $120 billion less than it is currently projected to be. To put this in perspective so far this year the US Federal government has spent $3.6 trillion so $120 billion would be about 3% of our current budget, probably less
Copper also has antimicrobial properties. And you though the brass was just for show.
Of course, ending factory farming would mean more expensive meat (i.e. big government nanny-state), but more importantly would cut into the profits of a few certain companies.
Only if you buy meat at the grocery store in meal sized quantities for a family of 4. My dad and I split 1/4 of a cow and 1/4 of a bison each year as one of my dad's friends raises cattle (10 to 12 on 40 acres) and one of my step-mom's friends raises bison (5 on 40 acres). This year the beef cost $3.41 a pound and the bison was $3.74 a pound which I believe is still cheaper than even the worst ground beef (I saw some 75% lean ground beef a while ago that was almost $4 a pound) but that price includes ground meat, all the different steaks and all the different roasts. It is all hormone free, antibiotic free, and feedlot free. I have been out to their farms and the animals aren't knee deep in their own crap and my 3 year old son loved seeing the animals up close. My dad's friend who raises cattle has only lost 2 in 27 years, one was to a harsh winter in the 1980s and the other one was to wolves in 2008, while my step-mom's friend who raises bison has never lost one. Chicken are the same, I buy eggs for $0.99 a dozen from a local farmer who will also sell you a whole live chicken for $7 but you have to butcher it your self, and no I don't live out in the sticks either but in a suburb that has been built up for 40 years.
In the case of the road:
Your right to the road versus someone else's right to be compensated for their labor (transport of stolen goods)
Your right to the road versus some child's right to security... free from being crushed under your SUV.
Your right to the road versus other peoples right to the road(rush hour)
Still wondering where that $200 Billion national FTTH fund went.
Hookers, blow, bonuses, and to lobby local governments so that it couldn't be done.
Which is why I wish my local government would grow a pair and actually place mandates on them and do a bit more of the oversight thing. If only they were actually regulated like the power or water company.
Other low friction coatings have already been used in engines but mostly in the racing world where it seems cost is not an option. One of the limiting factors is decomposition into graphite when coating iron at high temperatures. Various diamond like carbon coatings have been used for things like rocker arms, cams, gears, and other sliding surfaces on race engines. Also there have been some people experimenting with various nitride compounds for places where DLCs won't work (that whole higher temperature iron thing) and some look promising. The other thing these compounds offer is that they are tough and don't wear anywhere near as much so it greatly extends the service life of the part.
don't use a dishwasher machine, it will take the layer off
I had a really nicely seasoned cast iron fry pan (a have a whole set but this was the most used one) that one of the wife's friends sent through the dish washer. I am now just starting to get it back to where it was after almost a year of use. The more you season and use a cast iron pan the better the non stick surface gets.
Rub it with cooking oil, and leave it to burn.
Personally I prefer to put a light oil coating on a pan (almost to where it will run) flip it upside down on an old baking sheet and let it bake in the over for a few hours at 400F. This gives you a nice start for getting proper coating on the pan.
I love the Teflon pipe thread tape, stops leaks, and makes the joints go together with ease. Most of its other household uses like on pans it is complete junk. A nice set of cast iron pans with some heavy stainless steel pots is the way to go. Bonus points if you went with the copper bottom ones sauce pans and pots for a more uniform heating. Once the cast iron pans are seasoned they are about as good of a cooking surface as you can find.
Or staph infection.
For help in this department they could have probably gotten away with products like these. No poop in the streets and not terribly expensive.
This happens with a lot of medical equipment. A large hospital with have one machine mis-calibrated every year (my dad works as a bio medical technician repairing devices, not calibrating them) and sometimes it gets caught before it is used sometimes not. I remember one story where there was some machine for doing some heart surgery where the device was incorrectly calibrated and instead of cutting and cauterizing it vaporized a large chunk of the patient's heart.
I think we would still need expensive training as the current agents doing the screening seem to miss simple things with those technologies like shotgun shells, rifle bullets, and pocket knives, all of which are easily detectable by a metal detector, or carry-on x-ray scanner.
Here in the US there are different attitudes towards firearms. There are those that view it as an extension of their cock which they can wave around and show just how tough they are. There are those who fear them and seem to believe that they will magically grow legs and walk up and shoot you (some of my wife's relatives think like this). There are those who show the proper respect and use them as tools. Finally there are those who view firearms as basically a toy and are reckless with them. The problem groups are the ones who think it is an extension of their cock or that it is a toy. I would say a majority of gun owners fall in to the category of showing proper respect and that it is tool but you never hear about those people as they never make the news unless one of them bags a massive buck and makes the back page of the sports section in the new paper. So the people in the category who fear guns only hear about the idiots that cause problems and thus are terrified of firearms.
Currently there has been a lot of glamorization of guns within the hip hop culture thus only encouraging those who view a firearm as something to show how tough they are. Contrast that with some rural areas where hunting is a way of life almost everyone owns a rifle and or a shotgun. They don't have the gun crime that you seen in the inner cities as people there view them as a tool.
Don't have a gun if you're a human being.
You really believe this. I grew up around firearms, learned how to handle them safely (started shooting when I was 8 using my grandfathers 12 gauge) and own a few myself. I don't believe in accidental shootings in >99.9% of cases it really is negligence. There are some that are truly accidental but those are exceedingly rare, as in you are hunting pheasants going through a field with grass up to your waist with the safety on and step into a gopher hole fall on your gun and set it off. My 3 firearms (2 rifles and a shotgun) are safely stored in one of those nice fireproof gun safes that you blot into floor. Do I ever worry about my firearms shooting another person. Hell no. I practice safe storage, handling, and transporting. They are only loaded when I plan on using them (hunting, or target shooting) and are only pointed at things I intend to shoot (targets or tasty animals) I am also aware of what is around me and what I am shooting at since most rifle bullets will go through the target and continue on their path so you need to know what is behind what you are shooting. I don't shoot at noise, I identify my target before pointing my firearm at it. My chain saw, ax, crosscut saw, or splitting maul are more likely to cause harm to someone than my firearms. Too many people view firearms as an extension of their cock instead of a tool. Personally I think that people who commit crimes with guns should have the book thrown at them as responsible owners get a bad rap.
Does the TSA have a union?
No they don't. There has been some recent discussions of them unionizing but the Rs make a big deal out of it and piss and moan. This is one case where it might do some good as a union would probably force them to get rid of the scanners for health concerns. I doubt it would raise the quality of the screeners though.