Well, this is saddening. I thought we were having a rather pleasant conversation, from two separate ideological niches. I gave my thoughts about these areas to separate my niche from the general right-wing conservative stance I'm often lumped into.
[He] can't force the Republican controlled House to pass bills that he likes.
He can at least submit them, even if rejected. But he doesn't even try.
You're right. I just don't see that as him being right wing. I see it as him not being qualified to sit in the Oval Office.
Not to leech off Chris Mathews to prove my point, but even he pointed out that is seems like Obama doesn't want to actually be 'the President'. He doesn't want to do the hard work expected of the position.
By the way, I'd like to give my views on those four areas.
Single payer health care - left Forced insurance (buy from a state-approved private company or be a criminal) - right
If there could be a single payer system that could work better then our current system (before Obamacare), I would actually support it. I don't believe there can be such a system in the US. We are not like European countries. We are too complex for their systems to work for us.
As an example, Germany has the second highest population of European countries, and is the sixth largest in land area. Germany has a higher population density than all but four of our states. Those four are all among our smallest sized states. Things that work well in densely populated countries may not work so well in our mid-western states, which have much lower population density.
That would mean either it would have to cost far more for us to implement, or people would not be serviced as well in those areas. A national healthcare system can't be a disadvantage to that large a portion of the population, so the cost would have to increase. So, as I said above, plans that work in individual European countries will not work the same here, for the same cost.
"support equality" - neutral/leaning right Introduce legislation affirming gay marriage - left
I would rather the government get out of the marriage business altogether. Why does the government have any say in who a church can marry? All the legal issues a marriage certificate grants could be done by standard government regulations we already have (wills, adoption, medical decisions, etc), by competing the standard forms used now by people who are not couples.
"support" high taxes on the wealthy, but not pass them - right Passing high taxes on the wealthy - left
I would prefer removing the tax burden from the non-wealthy completely. Give every citizen (tax payer) a deductible that is 5 times the poverty level for their area and number of dependents. If your annual income is expected to be below that, you don't even have income taxes withdrawn from your paycheck. Most Americans then would have no big headaches over filing, no worries about exact documentation, no IRS audits. The people who make above that level, which would vary based on cost-of-living rates, would be "the rich" who pay taxes.
Of course, then thousands of H&R Block employees and IRS employees would be out of work. That's a different issue.
You are taking what he says and what he does when it suits your argument. He speaks left and acts right. Where is the reset of capital gains to a general income without extra deductions? Not there? Then he supports tax breaks for the wealthy, even if he doesn't state it that way.
Capital gains issues should be split into two categories. On the one hand, you have rich fat cats like Warren Buffet who figured out he can get paid in company shares and pay less taxes than on the same level of salaried income. The other group is average American workers who have an investment portfolio for their nest egg or children's college fund. If the higher taxes on capital gains could be limited only to the first group, I wouldn't care too much. But raising it blindly is going to hit every hourly pay worker or small business owner who managed to save a little for later.
I would say he is on the left of those issues, but can't force the Republican controlled House to pass bills that he likes.
Where you see him speak left and act right, I see him speak far left and complain the right won't work with him to accomplish his agenda. And then insult them for good measure.
Basically, he acts like a petulant child.
Bill Clinton, as much as I dislike him, knew how to get a good portion of his stuff through Congress. He knew how to work the room. Obama still acts like the community organizer many on the right see him as - just an agitator who is happy to get crumbs for his people, and reaffirm that they need him for more.
I can see we two don't agree on things, but I appreciate your viewpoint.
I'm not clamoring for revolution, but I think a civil war is coming.
Civil war is citizen against citizen. This will not occur.
Actually, this is exactly what I think will start it. Some action or event will cause the delivery of food to the big cities to stop. Cities only have a few days worth of food on store shelves, which is why they always get emptied before/during big storms. Even if half the people in the cities stocked up on canned goods and non-perishables, that leaves millions with half a loaf of bread and a carton of milk the next day. Once that food supply is gone, millions of people are going to be looking for more food.
They are going to riot (because that is the default fall back), demanding "the government do something". When that doesn't help they will trying to take food from each other. People are going to die. But there will still be only so much food available.
So then the crowds of survivors start to stream out of the cities into the surrounding areas, attacking the people there who have food. More people will die. From both groups. And then it devolves into a full-on civil war, between those who have food and those who don't.
I've been drinking diet soda for a couple years now. I lost about 40 pounds.
It still tastes like shit.
I'd give it up, but it has caffeine. Nothing else quite replaces it for me. Drinking a 16.9oz bottle of water makes me have to piss about 16.9oz about 20 minutes later. And I'm still thirsty.
Besides that, there are special circumstances where you should really hope that the insurance companies do make a decent profit. So they can build up a sizable nest egg for when a disaster strikes. Too many people get shafted when insurance companies don't have the cash reserves to cover expenses after large disasters. But the companies are accused of being selfish and greedy if they have the funds to cover the disasters that are expected.
Only in the US is Obama regarded as "leftist". Elsewhere, he's considered a bit to the right of centre.
Why?
I don't understand this line of thought.
Obama supports abortion, high taxes on the wealthy, government oversight and funding of private business, national healthcare, expanded welfare/benefits, and many other leftist planks.
What does he support that is right of center, other than not closing Gitmo and immediately ending the war in Afghanistan?
Support for Wall Street? He routinely demonizes them as greedy fat cats, and then cons them out of huge sums of money in campaign contributions.
Bush was declared "Commander in Thief" by many in the media before he even got into office. So your example fails utterly.
And thanks for proving my original point in new and ingenious ways.
Disclaimer: Yes, I voted for George W. Bush over Al Gore. Also over the third party candidates I looked into that year. Based on what I saw of each candidate, I agreed with Bush's policies more than with the others'. He was also the last Republican I voted for. See my sig for further details.
Check my previous comments. I voted for a "third party" candidate with morals. One that would make you feel like a kid who was caught stealing a candy bar in comparison.
Also, check my sig. No political party should get a pass on corruption and deceit, yet both of the two main parties manage to do so because of people like you.
I haven't seen any third party candidate with morals, well the Greens may have morals, but their candidate is batshit crazy.
In fact in given my choice between voting for any of the third candidates, I'd vote Republican.
Yes, you have guessed the right party; Jill Stein got my vote. And it isn't just the candidates who are batshit crazy. But I'll generally vote for honest batshit over obviously duplicitous mastermind any day.
Check my previous comments. I voted for a "third party" candidate with morals. One that would make you feel like a kid who was caught stealing a candy bar in comparison.
Also, check my sig. No political party should get a pass on corruption and deceit, yet both of the two main parties manage to do so because of people like you.
Sadly, the guys who idolize President Obama don't care about this story, or the many others. To them, it's just the conservatives/GOP showing their hatred of the first black president, nothing more.
So, I've given up hope that they will see the light of what this administration is like. They'll keep voting for guys like him, who will bring this country down very soon. There is no avoiding that fate. I'm not clamoring for revolution, but I think a civil war is coming.
*Disclaimer: Speed of light in fiber optic cabling is even faster than speed of light in a vacuum, because vacuums have all the dirt swirling around in them, whereas fiber is very clean. So it says in our marketing material, anyway. So come build your data centers in Duluth, we welcome you.
The centipedes are pretty bad, but have you ever been bitten by nicklepedes? And those tiny little dimepedes are ten times worse, for all their small stature. Maybe we have to ask the GM Humfry what is the best solution, he seems to know everything.
I just google imaged it, and from that I can say I won't be buying one. I think they are ugly as hell. Plus they are the size of a large wristwatch, which are already too big for my tastes, but are at least round. These Pebbles are a huge square computer screen on the wrist.
Exactly. I stress to people to have at least two copies of the important data, one of which is kept offsite. Usually they use two USB drives, swap them each day, and bring one home each evening. (Small offices or businesses, not megacorps.)
What happens when you have only one copy, and the building burns down? Or a thief breaks in to the office and steals the server? I've seen both situations, so now I make sure that not only are there multiple backups, but one is not in the office overnight.
Of course, without Microsoft, the rise and commoditization of x86 would have never happened (this started in the XENIX days, when they were the single largest Unix vendor),
I used to work on those systems back in the military in the mid 1990s. But I think SCO (the original SCO, mind you) was the maker of XENIX at the time. Fond memories.
Or, in a much easier and everyday explanation which just happens to be a car analogy - you have to balance the wheels on your car so that they don't bounce down the road at speed causing vibration.
Now, all we need is some planet-sized wheel weights, and we're all set.
Slashdot Mirror
The QOTD at the bottom of the page is currently this:
Q: What do you say to a Puerto Rican in a three-piece suit? A: Will the defendant please rise?
WTF?
Well, this is saddening. I thought we were having a rather pleasant conversation, from two separate ideological niches. I gave my thoughts about these areas to separate my niche from the general right-wing conservative stance I'm often lumped into.
And for that you spit in my face.
[He] can't force the Republican controlled House to pass bills that he likes.
He can at least submit them, even if rejected. But he doesn't even try.
You're right. I just don't see that as him being right wing. I see it as him not being qualified to sit in the Oval Office.
Not to leech off Chris Mathews to prove my point, but even he pointed out that is seems like Obama doesn't want to actually be 'the President'. He doesn't want to do the hard work expected of the position.
By the way, I'd like to give my views on those four areas.
Single payer health care - left
Forced insurance (buy from a state-approved private company or be a criminal) - right
If there could be a single payer system that could work better then our current system (before Obamacare), I would actually support it. I don't believe there can be such a system in the US. We are not like European countries. We are too complex for their systems to work for us.
As an example, Germany has the second highest population of European countries, and is the sixth largest in land area. Germany has a higher population density than all but four of our states. Those four are all among our smallest sized states. Things that work well in densely populated countries may not work so well in our mid-western states, which have much lower population density.
That would mean either it would have to cost far more for us to implement, or people would not be serviced as well in those areas. A national healthcare system can't be a disadvantage to that large a portion of the population, so the cost would have to increase. So, as I said above, plans that work in individual European countries will not work the same here, for the same cost.
"support equality" - neutral/leaning right
Introduce legislation affirming gay marriage - left
I would rather the government get out of the marriage business altogether. Why does the government have any say in who a church can marry? All the legal issues a marriage certificate grants could be done by standard government regulations we already have (wills, adoption, medical decisions, etc), by competing the standard forms used now by people who are not couples.
"support" high taxes on the wealthy, but not pass them - right
Passing high taxes on the wealthy - left
I would prefer removing the tax burden from the non-wealthy completely. Give every citizen (tax payer) a deductible that is 5 times the poverty level for their area and number of dependents. If your annual income is expected to be below that, you don't even have income taxes withdrawn from your paycheck. Most Americans then would have no big headaches over filing, no worries about exact documentation, no IRS audits. The people who make above that level, which would vary based on cost-of-living rates, would be "the rich" who pay taxes.
Of course, then thousands of H&R Block employees and IRS employees would be out of work. That's a different issue.
You are taking what he says and what he does when it suits your argument. He speaks left and acts right. Where is the reset of capital gains to a general income without extra deductions? Not there? Then he supports tax breaks for the wealthy, even if he doesn't state it that way.
Capital gains issues should be split into two categories. On the one hand, you have rich fat cats like Warren Buffet who figured out he can get paid in company shares and pay less taxes than on the same level of salaried income. The other group is average American workers who have an investment portfolio for their nest egg or children's college fund. If the higher taxes on capital gains could be limited only to the first group, I wouldn't care too much. But raising it blindly is going to hit every hourly pay worker or small business owner who managed to save a little for later.
I would say he is on the left of those issues, but can't force the Republican controlled House to pass bills that he likes.
Where you see him speak left and act right, I see him speak far left and complain the right won't work with him to accomplish his agenda. And then insult them for good measure.
Basically, he acts like a petulant child.
Bill Clinton, as much as I dislike him, knew how to get a good portion of his stuff through Congress. He knew how to work the room. Obama still acts like the community organizer many on the right see him as - just an agitator who is happy to get crumbs for his people, and reaffirm that they need him for more.
I can see we two don't agree on things, but I appreciate your viewpoint.
I'm not clamoring for revolution, but I think a civil war is coming.
Civil war is citizen against citizen. This will not occur.
Actually, this is exactly what I think will start it. Some action or event will cause the delivery of food to the big cities to stop. Cities only have a few days worth of food on store shelves, which is why they always get emptied before/during big storms. Even if half the people in the cities stocked up on canned goods and non-perishables, that leaves millions with half a loaf of bread and a carton of milk the next day. Once that food supply is gone, millions of people are going to be looking for more food.
They are going to riot (because that is the default fall back), demanding "the government do something". When that doesn't help they will trying to take food from each other. People are going to die. But there will still be only so much food available.
So then the crowds of survivors start to stream out of the cities into the surrounding areas, attacking the people there who have food. More people will die. From both groups. And then it devolves into a full-on civil war, between those who have food and those who don't.
That's how I see it happening, anyway.
I've been drinking diet soda for a couple years now. I lost about 40 pounds.
It still tastes like shit.
I'd give it up, but it has caffeine. Nothing else quite replaces it for me. Drinking a 16.9oz bottle of water makes me have to piss about 16.9oz about 20 minutes later. And I'm still thirsty.
Besides that, there are special circumstances where you should really hope that the insurance companies do make a decent profit. So they can build up a sizable nest egg for when a disaster strikes. Too many people get shafted when insurance companies don't have the cash reserves to cover expenses after large disasters. But the companies are accused of being selfish and greedy if they have the funds to cover the disasters that are expected.
Thank you for your response.
What positions do you consider to be "left", if the ones I listed above are center or center-right?
Only in the US is Obama regarded as "leftist". Elsewhere, he's considered a bit to the right of centre.
Why?
I don't understand this line of thought.
Obama supports abortion, high taxes on the wealthy, government oversight and funding of private business, national healthcare, expanded welfare/benefits, and many other leftist planks.
What does he support that is right of center, other than not closing Gitmo and immediately ending the war in Afghanistan?
Support for Wall Street? He routinely demonizes them as greedy fat cats, and then cons them out of huge sums of money in campaign contributions.
What else? Please list his right wing ideologies.
Bush was declared "Commander in Thief" by many in the media before he even got into office. So your example fails utterly.
And thanks for proving my original point in new and ingenious ways.
Disclaimer: Yes, I voted for George W. Bush over Al Gore. Also over the third party candidates I looked into that year. Based on what I saw of each candidate, I agreed with Bush's policies more than with the others'. He was also the last Republican I voted for. See my sig for further details.
Check my previous comments. I voted for a "third party" candidate with morals. One that would make you feel like a kid who was caught stealing a candy bar in comparison.
Also, check my sig. No political party should get a pass on corruption and deceit, yet both of the two main parties manage to do so because of people like you.
I haven't seen any third party candidate with morals, well the Greens may have morals, but their candidate is batshit crazy.
In fact in given my choice between voting for any of the third candidates, I'd vote Republican.
Yes, you have guessed the right party; Jill Stein got my vote. And it isn't just the candidates who are batshit crazy. But I'll generally vote for honest batshit over obviously duplicitous mastermind any day.
Check my previous comments. I voted for a "third party" candidate with morals. One that would make you feel like a kid who was caught stealing a candy bar in comparison.
Also, check my sig. No political party should get a pass on corruption and deceit, yet both of the two main parties manage to do so because of people like you.
Sadly, the guys who idolize President Obama don't care about this story, or the many others. To them, it's just the conservatives/GOP showing their hatred of the first black president, nothing more.
So, I've given up hope that they will see the light of what this administration is like. They'll keep voting for guys like him, who will bring this country down very soon. There is no avoiding that fate. I'm not clamoring for revolution, but I think a civil war is coming.
Yet only six hours at the speed of light*.
*Disclaimer: Speed of light in fiber optic cabling is even faster than speed of light in a vacuum, because vacuums have all the dirt swirling around in them, whereas fiber is very clean. So it says in our marketing material, anyway. So come build your data centers in Duluth, we welcome you.
That cloud is where the joke that went over your head is at. ;^)
The centipedes are pretty bad, but have you ever been bitten by nicklepedes? And those tiny little dimepedes are ten times worse, for all their small stature. Maybe we have to ask the GM Humfry what is the best solution, he seems to know everything.
I am so infuriated by your hypocrisy. Please stop posting, you anonymous coward you.
And why is putting "you" before and after a descriptive phrase the proper thing to do? I bet they don't do that in Latin, do they?
I just google imaged it, and from that I can say I won't be buying one. I think they are ugly as hell. Plus they are the size of a large wristwatch, which are already too big for my tastes, but are at least round. These Pebbles are a huge square computer screen on the wrist.
No thanks, I'll pass.
Exactly. I stress to people to have at least two copies of the important data, one of which is kept offsite. Usually they use two USB drives, swap them each day, and bring one home each evening. (Small offices or businesses, not megacorps.)
What happens when you have only one copy, and the building burns down? Or a thief breaks in to the office and steals the server? I've seen both situations, so now I make sure that not only are there multiple backups, but one is not in the office overnight.
No, that's just silly. It will use dilithium crystals.
Of course, without Microsoft, the rise and commoditization of x86 would have never happened (this started in the XENIX days, when they were the single largest Unix vendor),
I used to work on those systems back in the military in the mid 1990s. But I think SCO (the original SCO, mind you) was the maker of XENIX at the time. Fond memories.
Ever notice how negros (snip rest of stupid post)
Is it possible that stupid shit like this can be modded down to -2 level?
When's the baby due? ;^)
Or, in a much easier and everyday explanation which just happens to be a car analogy - you have to balance the wheels on your car so that they don't bounce down the road at speed causing vibration.
Now, all we need is some planet-sized wheel weights, and we're all set.
I thought that's what Greenland was.