"Cigarettes and alcohol are taxed in special ways (sin taxes, essentially). Legalized marijuana can also be taxed, heavily if you want. Make it have a 100% tax if you wish. Or more. You can have the price of marijuana stay the same, except that former profits are now going to the government. And anyone selling untaxed goods can be charged with tax evasion (dealers *and* buyers)."
Kinda hard to tax something you can pretty much easily grow for your own consumption.
As I'd mentioned before in another post, sure you can argue you can make your own beer...but takes a lot more time, effort and equipment. But you can get some pots, put some dirt in them and grow little plants all you want. Sure it won't be the super high thc levels of the super stuff today, but, you can still grow stuff as powerful as it was in the 60's-early 80's without much effort at all...and people were quite happy with that back then!!
"A lot of for-profit jails and prisons will lobby legalization out of existence."
I've been hearing this thrown around a lot lately...where exactly are these 'for-profit prisons' and jails? The only ones I've ever come across are run by the state and local governments...??
"I agree that it should be legalized (pursuit of happiness and all that) but I'm not so sure that I buy the "you can keep much better control over it" line. When I was a kid I had no problems getting my hands on booze or tobacco and both of those products are legal. We always knew which store we could go to that wouldn't card us, which 21+ sibling of a friend would make a straw purchase and whose parents were too lazy to lock up the liquor cabinet.
So no, I don't buy that legalizing pot would make it harder for the kiddies to get their hands on it."
Not to mention, you can grow this stuff on your own...they do call it 'weed' for a reason you know?
Sure, you can brew your own beer legally, and you can even distill it (not legal)...but that takes WAY more equipment and resources.
"I have this weird feeling that had they gone with American services for building these websites at 10x the cost of using IdeaScale, the Slashdot summary would have read about the absurdly high spending that the Department of Labor is wasting our tax dollars on and would have something about a cursory glance finding tons of companies willing to fullfill the work order for 1/10 what they spent. Damned if you do, damned if you don't."
I would damn them less...if they actually put the tax dollars spent BACK into the US economy and paid US workers, rather than overseas workers. Granted, they do need to learn to negotiate prices better with US companies for work on US soil, but, still...
"I'm curious as exactly how piracy on the iPhone/iTouch works."
I too wonder about this..how do you get something from the app store w/o paying for it...and get it on your phone? I'm guessing it has to be jailbroken first?
"You survived with Bush as long as you legally could. I'm sure these guys will be much easier to live with. If not for you, then at least the rest of us. Obama hasn't advocated invading any more nations yet."
While I'm grateful too, that we're not going into any other conflicts right now, and with all due respect to you, I'm not really concerned with how my leaders make life easier for any other country in the world but mine own....and right now, he's fucking bankrupting us over here. Yes, other administrations started it, but, he's piled on top of it two-fold...that reason alone (among many others) gives me worry about surviving his 'reign' for the next 3 years.
"Complete transparency is great for financial workings, policy making, and driving."
I agree with you...it would be great if the administration kept its promises on this type of governmental transparency, yet we've not even seen an inkling of it yet.
The most recent example...all the behind closed doors dealing over the so call health care reform bills they're about to ram down our throats...
"also male are currently under pressure from changing clothing habits and background radiation levels, which are lovering the fertility of males, so those more resilient to this factors are propagating their genes faster pushing faster y chromosome changes."
I was reading the other day in Men's Health magazine (great for reading on the can) about how so many of the chemicals/pesticides in our foods, stuff leaching out from plastic containers, and even changes in food stuff like more soy products...are having the effects almost as analogs of estrogen on today's males. It turns out the 'pussification' of the modern male is no longer just a saying, but, maybe a chemically/hormonally real life occurrence. One effect of this is the lowering of male birthrates....so, maybe nature is selecting for greater sperm counts, to try to counteract this?
I'm looking next to the SysRq key.....looking at the Pause/Break key and wondering what function it does?
I never use that one either.
On the other hand, until recently, I'd never pressed the button with the windows symbol on it...didn't know what it did, till about a year ago when someone was on my box 'driving'...I'd really never noticed it was there since it wasn't a key I learned in typing class, and that I don't use windows that often.
"How about these problems are real, and it is due to environmental pollution (endocrine disruptors, pesticides, etc). Discuss."
While I would concede that these problems CAN be real, and caused by the situations/ailments that you mentioned....I'd venture to make a wild ass guess that the vast majority of kids diagnosed today, are free from any REAL disease...and are, in fact, just being what in my day was known as 'being a kid'.
"I would have agreed with you when I was an adolescent because I was hit when I was a child and I thought I was fine for the longest time. As it turns out childhood abuse and neglect can rear its head much later in life."
There is a difference between corporal punishment, and childhood abuse/neglect!!
They are not the same. I got spanked growing up, most everyone I know did. Everyone of them is well adjusted, and successful in life and in family.
Sure, different kids respond to different things...not everyone needs to be spanked, some not as often, some not at all....some until they get the message that it is wrong to do certain things and that there are consequences for actions.
I got spanked. I was NEVER beat or abused though. I know now even from speaking with my parents...my spankings were sometimes held off for a short time from my infraction till punishment was given. I found out later, it was to give my parents time to cool off, and not be angry when spanking me...so that it was punishment, and not anything more with emotion behind it. There is a difference.
"Everyone knows that corporal punishment permanently scars children for life."
I can't tell if you're joking or not...from some of your other posts...it almost seems you are being serious here??
If so, I gotta disagree, in fact I think many of the discipline problems we see today in kids is because we've "spared the rod" so to speak.
I got a fair number of ass-whuppins' growing up, and deserved most all of them. I honestly believe I am better off as a person today with being raised in that manner, otherwise, I'd have been and likely would still be out of control.
"After I told the other doctor more about my symptoms and about his colleague's diagnoses that I was depressive (which I strongly disagreed with) he chuckled and told me it was most likely that I had a minor issue with my blood circulation system which, if left untreated for a long time, would show the same symptoms I was describing, and prescribed me some medicine against it. I instantly stopped taking my antidepressants in favor of my new medicine."
"I WAS thinking of a Chinese Government Conspiracy, does that count?"
Yeah....between this and the chinese drywall problems, I do think they're trying to kill us.
Hell, they're even after out pets!! Remember the pet food scare about a year ago?
How about we just stop buying shit from China? How about a great marketing campaign for US companies. "Sure it costs a little more, but it won't kill ya"!
"Here's the problem; you've never registered for Facebook, but have your friends? Your family? How many pictures of you are on Facebook regardless of your non-participation? Did one of your friends post a picture taken that night you all got drunk and maybe did something you'd prefer you mother (or a potential employer) didn't hear about?
The problem is that your friends disregard for their privacy translates into their disregard for your privacy, and suddenly a "reasonable person" no longer has an expectation of privacy."
Nope...fortunately my college days when drinking and ending up nekkid on the floor with a skull bong possibly in the back ground (someone elses house) were back in the days before the internet, and with 35mm cameras (no cell phones either). I made sure and got all the copies of the photos back then (hell, I was the one usually taking the pics)...and made sure I had all the negatives too.
Frankly, I'm just waiting for someone in my past to run for senator...then some of those party pics of them might come back out, unless I get a cushy job.
:)
Right now...many of my friends that are privacy conscious, don't have facebook or anything like it...others that do, I've told NOT to put me in there, and they respect that.
I'd not join...especially with any real identifiable information....but so that I can reach others' sites...I thought about setting up an account with an untraceable nym email account....and only access it through TOR...figuring that would circumvent any way for them to trace me at Facebook.
I think our entitlements already take up more of our budget than military spending, if not...it is darned close. They govt. has shown over and over that they cannot manage healthcare...medicare and medicaid is a travesty...and going broke. Let them fix that first.
I'm quite happy with my healthcare situation right now, and the govt is set to fuck that up for me if this current bill passes.
One reason our military is so large...is that so many other countries (expecially in EU) don't really fund their military as much anymore, so it is up to US to take up the slack there for them...
Our education system does suck, but it isn't from lack of funding...we spend a ton of $$ per student, but it doesn't reach them due to red tape and administration...not to mention that the teaching unions and other groups really get in the way of getting quality educators in there, etc....but, it isn't for lack of funding.
"The difference here is that we're giving this information to people by choice -- people we know. Our friends, family, and acquaintances. But the only way to do that is to have a central authority to proxy that exchange."
Wow..I guess people didn't keep up, and interact with people BEFORE social networks, goodness, how did we every survive as a species before the age of the internet?
Oh, that's right...phone calls, snail mail....gasp...seeing people in person.
No, it wasn't instantaneous (well, phone calls are)...and no, people didn't as a rule tell you all about every bit of minutiae they did with their lives every waking minute.
On the other hand.....that was a good thing!!
Don't get me wrong...I'm no luddite, but, I do think staying off the social network thing is a small price to pay for retaining a bit of privacy. I don't do facebook, etc....and I've not missed out on anything with friends and family all across this country in the least bit.
Take a look into becoming a S Corporation...that way is a great way to go, especially as a one person corporation.
You avoid the double taxation or a normal corp.....income falls through to personal tax after all write-offs.
Nice thing too..you can save tax money from SS and medicare. You pay yourself a reasonable salary according to IRS definitions...and you only have to pay SS and medicare on that portion of your income. Example, you bring in $100K billed in. You pay yourself $40K salary....you only pay SS and medicare on that $40K. The remaining $60K...you just pay state and federal taxes on. Of course you write off purchases, mileage, etc...from that $60K before it falls through on your personal taxes...so, it is less than that..etc.
Definitely worth looking into, especially if you are a contractor...hey, it is about the only way to keep your hard earned money from U. Sam these days, and I gotta think that SS and medicare taxation is gonna skyrocket soon if congress has its way.....
What's the deal with all the nut allergies in the past decade or two?
When I was growing up, you never heard of such a thing it was so rare....peanut butter was everywhere in schools when I grew up, it was pretty much the baseline food whereas I understand now, you can't even let a kid bring a PB&J in his own lunch to eat....
"Just a little side note make sure the router is vertical they have overheating problems."
Thank you.
I do happen to have it on its stand in the vertical configuration. I'd not heard about the overheating thing before.
I must say, at this point, I've EXTREMELY happy with the unit. Everything works FAST and reliable so far.....much better than all of the linksys wireless units that I've had just fail on me after a period of time...and required periodic reboots for whatever reason, or would lock up if too much data went through them.
In the new Star Treck movies series, when Kirk wants to start the destruction sequence for the Enterprise, rather than starting out with "Computer, this is Captain James Kirk of the USS Enterprise. Destruct sequence one, code: 1-1-A."
I can set up different access through it...and even click to allow guests, etc.
I have some old computers that just can't get anything stronger than WEP to run on them (an old iBook for instance), so I set up a WEP connection for them, which the router blocks off from direct interaction with any other computer on my system...everything else is WPA2.
There are wireless routers out there that do some neat things, but you gotta be willing to spend more than $20.
Slashdot Mirror
Kinda hard to tax something you can pretty much easily grow for your own consumption.
As I'd mentioned before in another post, sure you can argue you can make your own beer...but takes a lot more time, effort and equipment. But you can get some pots, put some dirt in them and grow little plants all you want. Sure it won't be the super high thc levels of the super stuff today, but, you can still grow stuff as powerful as it was in the 60's-early 80's without much effort at all...and people were quite happy with that back then!!
I've been hearing this thrown around a lot lately...where exactly are these 'for-profit prisons' and jails? The only ones I've ever come across are run by the state and local governments...??
So no, I don't buy that legalizing pot would make it harder for the kiddies to get their hands on it."
Not to mention, you can grow this stuff on your own...they do call it 'weed' for a reason you know?
Sure, you can brew your own beer legally, and you can even distill it (not legal)...but that takes WAY more equipment and resources.
I would damn them less...if they actually put the tax dollars spent BACK into the US economy and paid US workers, rather than overseas workers. Granted, they do need to learn to negotiate prices better with US companies for work on US soil, but, still...
I too wonder about this..how do you get something from the app store w/o paying for it...and get it on your phone? I'm guessing it has to be jailbroken first?
While I'm grateful too, that we're not going into any other conflicts right now, and with all due respect to you, I'm not really concerned with how my leaders make life easier for any other country in the world but mine own....and right now, he's fucking bankrupting us over here. Yes, other administrations started it, but, he's piled on top of it two-fold...that reason alone (among many others) gives me worry about surviving his 'reign' for the next 3 years.
I agree with you...it would be great if the administration kept its promises on this type of governmental transparency, yet we've not even seen an inkling of it yet.
The most recent example...all the behind closed doors dealing over the so call health care reform bills they're about to ram down our throats...
Damn...are we actually going to be able to survive in this country for 3 more years of these bozos?
Hmm...then how do you explain Joe Biden?
I was reading the other day in Men's Health magazine (great for reading on the can) about how so many of the chemicals/pesticides in our foods, stuff leaching out from plastic containers, and even changes in food stuff like more soy products...are having the effects almost as analogs of estrogen on today's males. It turns out the 'pussification' of the modern male is no longer just a saying, but, maybe a chemically/hormonally real life occurrence. One effect of this is the lowering of male birthrates....so, maybe nature is selecting for greater sperm counts, to try to counteract this?
I never use that one either.
On the other hand, until recently, I'd never pressed the button with the windows symbol on it...didn't know what it did, till about a year ago when someone was on my box 'driving'...I'd really never noticed it was there since it wasn't a key I learned in typing class, and that I don't use windows that often.
While I would concede that these problems CAN be real, and caused by the situations/ailments that you mentioned....I'd venture to make a wild ass guess that the vast majority of kids diagnosed today, are free from any REAL disease...and are, in fact, just being what in my day was known as 'being a kid'.
There is a difference between corporal punishment, and childhood abuse/neglect!!
They are not the same. I got spanked growing up, most everyone I know did. Everyone of them is well adjusted, and successful in life and in family.
Sure, different kids respond to different things...not everyone needs to be spanked, some not as often, some not at all....some until they get the message that it is wrong to do certain things and that there are consequences for actions.
I got spanked. I was NEVER beat or abused though. I know now even from speaking with my parents...my spankings were sometimes held off for a short time from my infraction till punishment was given. I found out later, it was to give my parents time to cool off, and not be angry when spanking me...so that it was punishment, and not anything more with emotion behind it. There is a difference.
I can't tell if you're joking or not...from some of your other posts...it almost seems you are being serious here??
If so, I gotta disagree, in fact I think many of the discipline problems we see today in kids is because we've "spared the rod" so to speak.
I got a fair number of ass-whuppins' growing up, and deserved most all of them. I honestly believe I am better off as a person today with being raised in that manner, otherwise, I'd have been and likely would still be out of control.
Would you mind posting what the new meds were?
Your story is very interesting!!
Yeah....between this and the chinese drywall problems, I do think they're trying to kill us.
Hell, they're even after out pets!! Remember the pet food scare about a year ago?
How about we just stop buying shit from China? How about a great marketing campaign for US companies. "Sure it costs a little more, but it won't kill ya"!
The problem is that your friends disregard for their privacy translates into their disregard for your privacy, and suddenly a "reasonable person" no longer has an expectation of privacy."
Nope...fortunately my college days when drinking and ending up nekkid on the floor with a skull bong possibly in the back ground (someone elses house) were back in the days before the internet, and with 35mm cameras (no cell phones either). I made sure and got all the copies of the photos back then (hell, I was the one usually taking the pics)...and made sure I had all the negatives too.
Frankly, I'm just waiting for someone in my past to run for senator...then some of those party pics of them might come back out, unless I get a cushy job.
Right now...many of my friends that are privacy conscious, don't have facebook or anything like it...others that do, I've told NOT to put me in there, and they respect that.
I'd not join...especially with any real identifiable information....but so that I can reach others' sites...I thought about setting up an account with an untraceable nym email account....and only access it through TOR...figuring that would circumvent any way for them to trace me at Facebook.
I'm quite happy with my healthcare situation right now, and the govt is set to fuck that up for me if this current bill passes.
One reason our military is so large...is that so many other countries (expecially in EU) don't really fund their military as much anymore, so it is up to US to take up the slack there for them...
Our education system does suck, but it isn't from lack of funding...we spend a ton of $$ per student, but it doesn't reach them due to red tape and administration...not to mention that the teaching unions and other groups really get in the way of getting quality educators in there, etc....but, it isn't for lack of funding.
Wow..I guess people didn't keep up, and interact with people BEFORE social networks, goodness, how did we every survive as a species before the age of the internet?
Oh, that's right...phone calls, snail mail....gasp...seeing people in person.
No, it wasn't instantaneous (well, phone calls are)...and no, people didn't as a rule tell you all about every bit of minutiae they did with their lives every waking minute.
On the other hand.....that was a good thing!!
Don't get me wrong...I'm no luddite, but, I do think staying off the social network thing is a small price to pay for retaining a bit of privacy. I don't do facebook, etc....and I've not missed out on anything with friends and family all across this country in the least bit.
You avoid the double taxation or a normal corp.....income falls through to personal tax after all write-offs.
Nice thing too..you can save tax money from SS and medicare. You pay yourself a reasonable salary according to IRS definitions...and you only have to pay SS and medicare on that portion of your income. Example, you bring in $100K billed in. You pay yourself $40K salary....you only pay SS and medicare on that $40K. The remaining $60K...you just pay state and federal taxes on. Of course you write off purchases, mileage, etc...from that $60K before it falls through on your personal taxes...so, it is less than that..etc.
Definitely worth looking into, especially if you are a contractor...hey, it is about the only way to keep your hard earned money from U. Sam these days, and I gotta think that SS and medicare taxation is gonna skyrocket soon if congress has its way.....
When I was growing up, you never heard of such a thing it was so rare....peanut butter was everywhere in schools when I grew up, it was pretty much the baseline food whereas I understand now, you can't even let a kid bring a PB&J in his own lunch to eat....
Thank you.
I do happen to have it on its stand in the vertical configuration. I'd not heard about the overheating thing before.
I must say, at this point, I've EXTREMELY happy with the unit. Everything works FAST and reliable so far.....much better than all of the linksys wireless units that I've had just fail on me after a period of time...and required periodic reboots for whatever reason, or would lock up if too much data went through them.
In the new Star Treck movies series, when Kirk wants to start the destruction sequence for the Enterprise, rather than starting out with "Computer, this is Captain James Kirk of the USS Enterprise. Destruct sequence one, code: 1-1-A."
He'll just do the Hokey-Pokey...
I got one of these netgear ones recently and it works great.
I can set up different access through it...and even click to allow guests, etc.
I have some old computers that just can't get anything stronger than WEP to run on them (an old iBook for instance), so I set up a WEP connection for them, which the router blocks off from direct interaction with any other computer on my system...everything else is WPA2.
There are wireless routers out there that do some neat things, but you gotta be willing to spend more than $20.
Interesting...everyone I know of in LA and AR are going out of business...selling everything off.
I thought it was nationwide.