Presenting one rich Swedish businessman's tax bill one year after a complicated tax code revision as the entire tax rate of Sweden is a good way to get called stupid.
Sweden has two tax brackets. If you live in Stockholm and make less than 10% above the median wage, your tax rate is 0%. For all income above 10% over the median, the rate is 57%. The cost of living is low, in terms of housing, food, education (free college), healthcare (universal coverage), automobiles, durable and nondurable goods. The life expectancy is 4 years longer than in the U.S. Unemployment and inflation are lower than in the U.S. Infant mortality is much lower than in the U.S. There is virtually no poverty compared to the U.S. (Most people have to pay the E.U. VAT regressive sales tax, though there is an exemption for people on what we would call food stamps.)
Productivity is high, too. Sweden has thriving large international conglomerate industry (e.g., Volvo, Saab, Ericsson, Ikea...), as well as thriving medium-sized businesses and many more small mom-and-pop outfits compared to the U.S. where WalMart has taken it's sweatshop-labor toll.)
I've been to Sweden, and Beijing, Okinawa, Berlin, Munich, Venice, Mexico and Canada, and I live in California. If I could speak Swedish I would move to Sweden in a minute.
"DO EVERYTHING MY WAY, OR YOU ARE EVIL" is also not Chomsky.
Look Chomsky thinks Sweden is on the right track, but he also has good things to say about the Netherlands, Germany, and to some extent France.
Is there a particular example you want to discuss, or are you like most Chomsky detractors, talking in absolute terms about inaccurate generalizations?
Blix believes the negatives outweigh the positives but.... You seem to habitually state something that supports your opponent's position and ostensibly proves you wrong, only to act like it proved you correct.
How exactly are you defining "ostensibly" in that sentence?
I understand you prefer other selections from Hillary Clinton's speech than the line that NewsMax and I quoted verbatim.
Show me any laws introduced by the Governing Council that restricted women's mobility.
I'll show you a lot more than Decision 137:
While the center of the country has seen much freedom for women in the past,
since the American led war, the deteriorating security situation has confined many
women to their homes. There has been a great push for greater attention to be paid to
women's issues from the International NGOs, the CPA, and some Iraqi elites. However,
they are working against fierce resistance, wherein the threat of violence and general
lawlessness seriously hampers any possible progress. Women working with NGOs, as
well as individual female members of the general population, have been the targets of
both random and targeted violence. For example, Yanar Mohammed, the outspoken
leader of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, has received numerous death
threats. In April 2004 a leading women's advocate was also killed in a roadside ambush
on her way back from a meeting celebrating the March 9th signing of the Interim
Constitution. Average women in Baghdad and many other areas also fear rape or kidnap
if they leave their homes. ["Climate of Fear: Sexual Violence and Abduction of Women and Girls in Baghdad", Human Rights
Watch, Vol. 15, No. 7(E) - July 2003.] The increasing influence of Islamic groups in Iraq has also
further restricted the movements and participation of women in the new society. Hence,
the huge numbers of qualified women who are invaluable tools for societal advancement
in general and women's advancement in particular, have been largely sequestered to their
homes by lack of security in the south and especially the center of the country.
The main problem facing women
in the south since 2003 has been the strong influence of very patriarchal interpretations
and practice of Islam. Many Shiite women have also internalized and accepted such
interpretations of Islam. In any case, whether due to conviction or practicality, extremely
rarely will one see a women out of the Hijab in these regions, and those who dare
uncover their heads are shunned or even have rocks thrown at them. Even Christian
women have begun to cover their heads in southern Iraq. ["Iraq: Female Harassment From Religious Conservatives," April 14, 2004, IRIN] There are plenty of educated
women in Shiite areas - lawyers, engineers, teachers - however, it is expected that once a
woman marries (which every respectable Shiite woman must do), household work will
claim priority and usually, the second job will be dropped.
In the Southern and Shiite areas, far fewer NGOs are present than in the North
and center of the country but the situation is just as, if not more, dire. The few writings
on the Southern areas of Iraq show that violence against women is very widespread and
accepted. According to a Boston-based Physicians for Human Rights report, of 2000
families surveyed in Basra, 50 percent reported abuse in their household either in the
form of beatings, torture or murder ["Iraq: Women Afraid to Seek Healthcare in south", 5 April, 2004, IRIN]. There have been very few initiatives put in place to
provide shelter to these threatened women and to educate these women of their human
rights ["Iraq: Focus on Increasing Viole
Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to be arguing with someone who knows nothing and certainly doesn't know they're humiliating themselves with a startling amount of stupidity?
It's not as frustrating as arguing with someone who knows what they're talking about.
Where in that link does Hans Blix say anything about Iraqis not experiencing freedoms and opportunities?
"Blix said the war had contributed to a destabilization of the Middle East and a move away from democracy in the region, adding that even though Iraqis had been spared life under a dictator, it was at too high a cost.
'... instead of limiting the effects of terror, the war has laid the foundation for even more terror,' Blix said."
Senator Clinton is talking about Iraqi women's concern about what might happen in the future
On the contrary, she specifically refered to the Governing Council's "pullbacks in the rights [women] were given under Saddam Hussein." That's not talking about hypotheticals, it's talking about what they did in January to women's mobility.
under 200,000 U.S. troops were involved with Iraq this time around.
"Beginning in late December 2003, the United States began implementing the OIF 2 troop rotation that would begin to bring roughly 130,000 Army personnel out of Iraq and deploy roughly 110,000 troops into Iraq as replacements."
Believe me, I'm not holding my breath for you to admit that you're wrong or that I'm right even though I provided the links and numbers to prove it. The problem in dealing with people like you is that you're totally unaware of your own stupidity, and therefore without any shame whatsoever at making a total ass of yourself.
What you just said is actually 100% false. Nearly every poll I've seen that bothered to ask the question has confirmed that Iraqis do not want the United States to pull its troops out of Iraq immediately precisely because they believe that without U.S. troops the security situation would be that much worse.
Unsuprising. Since you are counting percentages, you get a 0 out of 1 for contradicting yourself.
Seriously, no one can say with any legitimacy whatsoever that they can't see any increase in freedoms and opportunities.
Hans Blix, Hillary Clinton, The Queen of England, a number of international courts of law, several insurance agencies, and what were you saying about credibility?
Did you even know that in the oft-mentioned coalition in 1991 U.S. troops made up an even higher percentage of the total forces than they have in this conflict?
Uranium burns in air. Burning, for those of you who haven't had the most basic chemistry, means forming oxides. The atomic weight is high enough that the individual fragments burn for much longer than most metals that burn in air. It is easy to inhale fragments still burning. Then the compound is you.
The chemical toxicities of natural uranium and depleted uranium are identical and are dependent on dose, chemical form and route of exposure. On impact with a hard target, a fraction of the depleted uranium in munitions undergoes spontaneous ignition and small, relatively insoluble particles of mainly uranium oxides, as well as fragments of metallic depleted uranium are formed.
Pathways for exposure to depleted uranium that has been used in military operations are the same as those for natural uranium and are:
1. Inhalation in smoke and dust;
2. Hand to mouth contamination and ingestion of dusts;
3. Contamination of wounds;
4. Skin contact;
5. Agricultural pathways through uptake by crops or grazing animals; and
6. Accumulation in drinking water.
All of those require compounds to result in toxicity, as pure finely seperated uranium metal precipitates and sinks rapidly.
Once any form enters the liver, though, various enzimes are exposed to the compound and the number of compounds increases superexponentialy (combinatorically).
the enormous increase in freedoms and opportunities for self-determination provided to the Iraqi people
The British told the Raj to say the same things to his people, and when he didn't, they killed him.
They are living under occupation; the administration frequently calls it an occupation. The vast majority of Iraqis want the U.S. to leave right away because hey belive that if we leave they will be safer.
I see no increase in freedoms and opportunities. It's just more of the same to them and it will be until we can build an international coalition to deal with it. Bush can do that about as well as he can hold a rally without screening by use of loyalty oaths.
tax breaks have helped not only middle income but low income families
No, they haven't. Unless by "helping out" you mean lowering real median household income by 1.5 grand and pushing 4.3 million into poverty, according to the Census.
Your link is an opinion column, not a peer-reviewed medical publication. It is obviously based on only a few minutes of research, as are your opinions.
The following excerpts are from "Medical Effects of Internal Contamination with Uranium," in the March 1999 (Volume 40, Number 1) Croation Medical Journal, by Asaf Durakoviæ, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington D.C., USA:
Uranium heavy metal toxicity has been extensively studied for two centuries. The main parameter in the assessment of its
toxic effect were mortality studies and LD50 at different quantities in a single dose or as a function of time. Other parameters
extensively studied include survival time, the effects on the life span, growth and development, excretion of uranium in the
urine, deposition in tissues and organs and general and local health effects. During the Manhattan Project, acute toxicity
studies were conducted at different National Centers in the United States, with the most intensive investigation done at the
University of Rochester with a rat model, mainly with uranyl nitrate, uranyl fluoride, and uranyl tetrachloride given parenterally.
Further preparation of UF6 by oxidation or fluoridation provides the basis of combination between UF6 and the metal
fluorides. Uranyl fluoride was found to be more toxic than uranyl nitrate or uranium tetrachloride, with a lethal dose of uranyl
nitrate being 2 mg/kg by subcutaneous or 0.4 mg/kg by intravenous injection. Oral toxicity of insoluble UO2, U3O8, and UF4
was found to be non-toxic in rats, while six other soluble components were of a considerable toxicity. Uranyl nitrate had a
more dramatic effect on the mature than on the newborn rats. The main chemical toxicity was observed in the proximal
convoluted tubule of the kidney. Experiments on dogs with oral administration of 0.2 mg/kg of soluble UO2F2 to 10 mg/g of
insoluble UO2, as well as uranyl nitrate at 0.2 g/kg and 0.05 g/kg of uranium tetrachloride, demonstrated renal cortical tubular
changes with very little evidence of necrosis.
Renal pathology was a common finding with several chemical compounds of
uranium tested parenterally.
Percutaneous application of uranium was studied with soluble compounds including uranyl nitrate fluoride, pentachloride,
trioxide, sodium, and americium diuranate. All of the tested components were absorbed through the skin into the blood
stream and in excessive amounts were able to produce severe poisoning and death. In contrast, insoluble uranium
compounds, such as oxides and tetra fluoride, did not cause significant poisoning when applied to the skin. There is a
considerable species difference in susceptibility to dermal toxicity of uranium compounds. Rabbits are the most sensitive
followed by rats, guinea pigs and mice. There is up to one hundred-fold difference of LD50 between rabbits and mice. The
main poisoning site was the kidney, with similar changes seen in other types of parenteral toxicity.
Uranium application to the eye has been studied as a possible port of uranium entry in the internal environment of the living
organism because of the hazards of ophthalmic exposure to uranium workers. Application of uranium compounds in the
conjunctival sac in rabbits, guinea pigs, and rats included uranium peroxide, dioxide, tetra fluoride, nitrate, fluoride, and
sodium and ammonium diuranate. Local damage occurred in animals, ranging from conjunctivitis to corneal ulceration. Of
all tested compounds, the most severe reactions were encountered with dry uranium penta- chloride. Necrosis of periorbital
tissue occurred followed by death in 50% of animals. Uranyl nitrate, fluoride, and Na-diuranate were absorbed from the
conjunctiva and caused systemic poisoning. Uranium tetrafluoride and diuranate caused systemic poisoning with very little
local irritation.
Chemical poisoning with uranium compounds after respiratory exposure has been studied extensively in order to establish
safety standards for the control
Slashdot Mirror
Sweden has two tax brackets. If you live in Stockholm and make less than 10% above the median wage, your tax rate is 0%. For all income above 10% over the median, the rate is 57%. The cost of living is low, in terms of housing, food, education (free college), healthcare (universal coverage), automobiles, durable and nondurable goods. The life expectancy is 4 years longer than in the U.S. Unemployment and inflation are lower than in the U.S. Infant mortality is much lower than in the U.S. There is virtually no poverty compared to the U.S. (Most people have to pay the E.U. VAT regressive sales tax, though there is an exemption for people on what we would call food stamps.)
Productivity is high, too. Sweden has thriving large international conglomerate industry (e.g., Volvo, Saab, Ericsson, Ikea...), as well as thriving medium-sized businesses and many more small mom-and-pop outfits compared to the U.S. where WalMart has taken it's sweatshop-labor toll.)
I've been to Sweden, and Beijing, Okinawa, Berlin, Munich, Venice, Mexico and Canada, and I live in California. If I could speak Swedish I would move to Sweden in a minute.
Look Chomsky thinks Sweden is on the right track, but he also has good things to say about the Netherlands, Germany, and to some extent France.
Is there a particular example you want to discuss, or are you like most Chomsky detractors, talking in absolute terms about inaccurate generalizations?
Did you click the link? Those statistics span 80 years.
If you search Google Groups, his first three posts to Usenet (before he got a web site) will give you an idea of the kind of journalist he is.
Nonsense. He's a Jew, he has never to my knowlege denied the holocaust, and he has only constructive critisism for America.
I don't think it matters whether the documents were cut-and-pasted, or even made up entirely. Kevin Drum explains why here.
Do you care to settle this at the Wayback Machine?
The Daily Kos (Scoop software)
The Washington Monthly (Movable Type)
Chomsky's Turning the Tide (pay to play: ironic? no, he's just to busy to respond to anonymous comments)
The Washington Note (MT; by a good friend of Josh Marshall)
Ed Fitzgerald's Unfutz (MT maybe; has the best poll aggregations)
I want to make my product into some kind of a game. Any suggestions?
...for catching that.
n/t
Fianlly, someone did the right thing. Viva Las Vegas!
Here is the Iowa Electronic Market's prediction graph of Bush vs. Kerry.
Princeton Professor Sam Wang's Electoral College Meta-Analysis
Ed Fitzgerald's Electoral College Survey (updated on his blog)
How exactly are you defining "ostensibly" in that sentence?
I understand you prefer other selections from Hillary Clinton's speech than the line that NewsMax and I quoted verbatim.
I'll show you a lot more than Decision 137:
'... instead of limiting the effects of terror, the war has laid the foundation for even more terror,' Blix said."
On the contrary, she specifically refered to the Governing Council's "pullbacks in the rights [women] were given under Saddam Hussein." That's not talking about hypotheticals, it's talking about what they did in January to women's mobility. "Beginning in late December 2003, the United States began implementing the OIF 2 troop rotation that would begin to bring roughly 130,000 Army personnel out of Iraq and deploy roughly 110,000 troops into Iraq as replacements." You make me smile.You have no idea what you are talking about
Ha ha.
Unsuprising. Since you are counting percentages, you get a 0 out of 1 for contradicting yourself.
Hans Blix, Hillary Clinton, The Queen of England, a number of international courts of law, several insurance agencies, and what were you saying about credibility?No. URL?
If the uranium was ignited with an explosive, then a plethora of nitrogen compounds will result. Not just oxides.
The chemical toxicities of natural uranium and depleted uranium are identical and are dependent on dose, chemical form and route of exposure. On impact with a hard target, a fraction of the depleted uranium in munitions undergoes spontaneous ignition and small, relatively insoluble particles of mainly uranium oxides, as well as fragments of metallic depleted uranium are formed.
Pathways for exposure to depleted uranium that has been used in military operations are the same as those for natural uranium and are: 1. Inhalation in smoke and dust; 2. Hand to mouth contamination and ingestion of dusts; 3. Contamination of wounds; 4. Skin contact; 5. Agricultural pathways through uptake by crops or grazing animals; and 6. Accumulation in drinking water.
All of those require compounds to result in toxicity, as pure finely seperated uranium metal precipitates and sinks rapidly.
Once any form enters the liver, though, various enzimes are exposed to the compound and the number of compounds increases superexponentialy (combinatorically).
No, I boldfaced a truthful statement that has a heavy emotional impact, not an outright falsehood.
False, there are eight other physicians listed as authors of the publications I linked to. Why would you lie about that?
The UMRC is based in Toronto, I think.
The British told the Raj to say the same things to his people, and when he didn't, they killed him.
They are living under occupation; the administration frequently calls it an occupation. The vast majority of Iraqis want the U.S. to leave right away because hey belive that if we leave they will be safer.
I see no increase in freedoms and opportunities. It's just more of the same to them and it will be until we can build an international coalition to deal with it. Bush can do that about as well as he can hold a rally without screening by use of loyalty oaths.
No, they haven't. Unless by "helping out" you mean lowering real median household income by 1.5 grand and pushing 4.3 million into poverty, according to the Census.
The following excerpts are from "Medical Effects of Internal Contamination with Uranium," in the March 1999 (Volume 40, Number 1) Croation Medical Journal, by Asaf Durakoviæ, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington D.C., USA:
Thanks for the link.