Seriously. I sold dew worms to fishermen for a year to buy my first computer (which I had to solder together myself). I taught myself to program, got hired to train other people, worked at solution delivery for a while, moved into architecture, then management, and now I'm the 1% that people complain about.
Everybody wants it all but doesn't want to work for it. Guess what? It doesn't work that way. Bitching and whining about what you don't have and how others have it all and how come you don't blah blah blah won't cut it. You have to work hard. While I was building my first computer my house didn't even have running water.
Ask me if I'm sympathetic.
I bet you had to walk to school in the rain, uphill both ways! I'm not complaining that others have what I don't. I make a comfortable salary and think I'm well compensated. I complain because I see people around me getting the shaft. I understand that when fewer and fewer people have good opportunities, and the profits from increased productivity go more and more to the owners of capital, it negatively affects society. Our system works better when more people can have real opportunity.
What crimes were those? Oh that's right, even though thousands of documents have been circling the internet for years now, not a single one implicates the government of wrongdoing, just business-as-usual borderline "unethical" stuff that they do so we can sleep in warm beds and work in cushy offices. Corruption charges?! Corruption is our protection. Corruption keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around in here instead of fighting over scraps of meat out in the streets. Corruption is why we win.
Actually, corruption is why our economy and governmental systems are going into the toilet. I understand that the American empire and my material excess is made possible by corrupt practices. But really, it's a deal with the Devil.
As we are seeing, the instruments and methods used to enforce American wishes abroad are slowly being brought home for use in the US. The people doing terrible things around the world in order to bring us cheap oil and pliant foreign governments don't actually care about you or me. They care about the large businesses whose interests they advance. They work for the Elite. They only care about us as far as we can be exploited to buy things and vote for the right people.
Personally, I think they can put their "deal" where the sun don't shine. If my prosperity is bought with the blood of the poor and deluded, I don't want it. But I don't make the rules and I have seen what happens to those who push back too hard. But I also know that those who spend too long between a rock and a hard place get crushed.
The board of directors do have a requirement to uphold the company charter. Many charters include wording like "maximise shareholder value" but it is also clear that they intend to do this by providing goods and/or services to people, not by kidnapping college students and selling their kidneys.
The other neat thing that dogs can do is figure out what you mean when you point at something, apes just can't seem to grasp this. NOVA did a documentary that attempted to qualify ape intelligence by showing the diffrences between human children and other animals. It was eye opening, particularly the use of tools and the crafting of weapons to kill prey by chimps. I think animals are a lot smarter then we give them credit for, anyhow here is a link: http://m.video.pbs.org/video/1200128615/
Since becoming a dog owner I have been surprised by what he seems to understand. As you said, he understands what I mean when I point to something. But he has even followed commands the first time I have given them, with no training. The very first time I told him to go to bed, he hopped off my bed and got in his own. Once when I was walking him in the snow he got cold and wanted to go home. He started down the neighbors driveway and resisted me when I tried to get him to come back to the street. Finally I said, "This is not our house" and he promptly came back over and went down our driveway! I can't explain it, but he seems to understand much more than I would have expected.
From my understanding, part of the problem with fracking is that the well casings don't always hold. So the chemicals and methane can leak out farther up the well where the drinking water is. The failure rate is supposedly pretty high, with 5% leaking immediately and 30% leaking over 10 years, or something like that. I don't know exact figures and it's hard to know who to trust these days anyway.
Having just watched Gasland II, I don't necessarily trust the government's pronouncements either. According to that documentary (which is a bit propagandistic to be honest) the EPA did a study in Wyoming and found greatly elevated levels of chemicals in the drinking water. When the press release came out it gave the water a big thumbs up. Like I said, it's hard to know who to trust these days. Seems like everyone has an agenda.
If I had a bomb or other nefarious contraband in my car and wanted to do harm at an airport, why the hell would I valet the car? This is one more example of TSA and other nation security state powers being used for infringing on the rights of people. I mean really...
I think any rational person sees how wrong all of this . . . but also how hopeless it is. The only option is to give up and accept it. That is exactly what they want, what they are counting on, and what will ultimately happen.
That is most certainly not the only option. It is the easiest option; which is why it is the one most will choose.
If you think this stuff is limited to one man, or party, you don't understand what entrenched bureaucracy means. Or have you forgotten that they were spying on us under Bush as well, or that Carnivore and ECHELON have been around for decades through multiple administrations?
This has already been settled in court. If you can't prove that you were harmed by a secret program, you don't have standing to sue. (Regardless of the fact that you can never prove that you were harmed because, you know, it's a secret)
Precedent has been set, yes. But the ongoing lawsuit Hedges v. Obama may provide a counter precedent. Hedges cannot show he has been harmed by the NDAA of 2012, but he can show that he could be. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. So far he has been successful, but the government is appealing.
my take on this? it's more of a fourth amendment issue than a first amendment issue. i would push both probably, but I understand why one needs to choose a primary target. i guess an open question is, how would you rank order the amendments in terms of importance?
Slashdot Mirror
Plain and simple: the Elite is turning America into a third world nation.
FTFY
Seriously. I sold dew worms to fishermen for a year to buy my first computer (which I had to solder together myself). I taught myself to program, got hired to train other people, worked at solution delivery for a while, moved into architecture, then management, and now I'm the 1% that people complain about.
Everybody wants it all but doesn't want to work for it. Guess what? It doesn't work that way. Bitching and whining about what you don't have and how others have it all and how come you don't blah blah blah won't cut it. You have to work hard. While I was building my first computer my house didn't even have running water.
Ask me if I'm sympathetic.
I bet you had to walk to school in the rain, uphill both ways! I'm not complaining that others have what I don't. I make a comfortable salary and think I'm well compensated. I complain because I see people around me getting the shaft. I understand that when fewer and fewer people have good opportunities, and the profits from increased productivity go more and more to the owners of capital, it negatively affects society. Our system works better when more people can have real opportunity.
There is a skill difference in the work obviously but I don't think anyone should go home after a 40+ hr week with too little money to live.
What are you, some kind of communist?
;-)
Since that's roughly 1/2 household median income, I'd say that pretty squarely qualifies as middle class in most of the country.
Squarely? More like barely.
These are shitty, high stress jobs for people near the end of their ropes.
Ah, so these are the new middle class American jobs!
What crimes were those? Oh that's right, even though thousands of documents have been circling the internet for years now, not a single one implicates the government of wrongdoing, just business-as-usual borderline "unethical" stuff that they do so we can sleep in warm beds and work in cushy offices. Corruption charges?! Corruption is our protection. Corruption keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around in here instead of fighting over scraps of meat out in the streets. Corruption is why we win.
Actually, corruption is why our economy and governmental systems are going into the toilet. I understand that the American empire and my material excess is made possible by corrupt practices. But really, it's a deal with the Devil.
As we are seeing, the instruments and methods used to enforce American wishes abroad are slowly being brought home for use in the US. The people doing terrible things around the world in order to bring us cheap oil and pliant foreign governments don't actually care about you or me. They care about the large businesses whose interests they advance. They work for the Elite. They only care about us as far as we can be exploited to buy things and vote for the right people.
Personally, I think they can put their "deal" where the sun don't shine. If my prosperity is bought with the blood of the poor and deluded, I don't want it. But I don't make the rules and I have seen what happens to those who push back too hard. But I also know that those who spend too long between a rock and a hard place get crushed.
That's fun to say.
True, but the more I say it the more impractical they seem for evening wear...
But they go with everything!
I agree. Physical connections, please.
The board of directors do have a requirement to uphold the company charter. Many charters include wording like "maximise shareholder value" but it is also clear that they intend to do this by providing goods and/or services to people, not by kidnapping college students and selling their kidneys.
That is often true. And then there's Dyncorp. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11119
You speak as if all companies are equally bad. Somehow, I think you're either young or more sheltered than you believe you are.
The car industry has a history of ignoring safety issues until there was such publicity they could no longer ignore them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsafe_at_Any_Speed
I agree that not all companies are equally bad. But the profit motive along with limited liability has a way of making people irresponsible.
Okay, I guess he was kidding with me!
Sorry, I'm not sure if you're kidding with me, or if you don't know the difference between principle and principal.
Either way, here you go.
Positive reinforcement does more than negative, just like dogs.
I wish the world would understand that this is a general principle that applies in most situations.
The other neat thing that dogs can do is figure out what you mean when you point at something, apes just can't seem to grasp this. NOVA did a documentary that attempted to qualify ape intelligence by showing the diffrences between human children and other animals. It was eye opening, particularly the use of tools and the crafting of weapons to kill prey by chimps. I think animals are a lot smarter then we give them credit for, anyhow here is a link: http://m.video.pbs.org/video/1200128615/
Since becoming a dog owner I have been surprised by what he seems to understand. As you said, he understands what I mean when I point to something. But he has even followed commands the first time I have given them, with no training. The very first time I told him to go to bed, he hopped off my bed and got in his own. Once when I was walking him in the snow he got cold and wanted to go home. He started down the neighbors driveway and resisted me when I tried to get him to come back to the street. Finally I said, "This is not our house" and he promptly came back over and went down our driveway! I can't explain it, but he seems to understand much more than I would have expected.
From my understanding, part of the problem with fracking is that the well casings don't always hold. So the chemicals and methane can leak out farther up the well where the drinking water is. The failure rate is supposedly pretty high, with 5% leaking immediately and 30% leaking over 10 years, or something like that. I don't know exact figures and it's hard to know who to trust these days anyway.
Having just watched Gasland II, I don't necessarily trust the government's pronouncements either. According to that documentary (which is a bit propagandistic to be honest) the EPA did a study in Wyoming and found greatly elevated levels of chemicals in the drinking water. When the press release came out it gave the water a big thumbs up. Like I said, it's hard to know who to trust these days. Seems like everyone has an agenda.
If I had a bomb or other nefarious contraband in my car and wanted to do harm at an airport, why the hell would I valet the car? This is one more example of TSA and other nation security state powers being used for infringing on the rights of people. I mean really...
I think any rational person sees how wrong all of this . . . but also how hopeless it is. The only option is to give up and accept it. That is exactly what they want, what they are counting on, and what will ultimately happen.
That is most certainly not the only option. It is the easiest option; which is why it is the one most will choose.
"In Obama's America, your phone listens to you."
Fixed.
If you think this stuff is limited to one man, or party, you don't understand what entrenched bureaucracy means. Or have you forgotten that they were spying on us under Bush as well, or that Carnivore and ECHELON have been around for decades through multiple administrations?
Murder as free speech. America really has something funny in its water supply.
Electrolytes!
This has already been settled in court. If you can't prove that you were harmed by a secret program, you don't have standing to sue. (Regardless of the fact that you can never prove that you were harmed because, you know, it's a secret)
Precedent has been set, yes. But the ongoing lawsuit Hedges v. Obama may provide a counter precedent. Hedges cannot show he has been harmed by the NDAA of 2012, but he can show that he could be. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. So far he has been successful, but the government is appealing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedges_v._Obama
my take on this? it's more of a fourth amendment issue than a first amendment issue. i would push both probably, but I understand why one needs to choose a primary target. i guess an open question is, how would you rank order the amendments in terms of importance?
I'm going for at least a 15-way tie.
So you're saying the entire American business is based on fraud?
No, just Wall Street.
Californians voted for bigger, more intrusive government. They got it. They should accept the consequences.
Right, because all government action is the same. If you vote for tighter pollution controls, you should expect to have your communications recorded.
And WHO, might I asked, tipped off these "Asian governments and businesses"?
If America is losing business, blame your culture of coddling attention-seeking little bitches like Snowden.
Is this real life?
0. This ruling will be appealed.
BTW, your sig is taken from a variation of a narcotics anonymous quote.
Kind of a funny quote for them. When I do drugs I expect the same result as before, not a different one.