Oh, you Americans! You have supported all kinds of terrible dictators in Latin America. It takes a lot of nerve to be calling Chavez a dictator!
The only reason you hate him is because he was one of the first Latin American leaders that showed you the finger and you couldn't eliminate! A few others have followed the example, which revolves your guts. Latin America is no longer your backyard, get used to it. If you want oil, pay for it big time, instead of bribing a few officers, like usual.
If Venezuelans don't want Chavez in power, it's not like they don't have options. Just vote for someone else. It's called democracy, you Americans hypocritically blabber about it ad nauseam. But guess what, he greatly reduced poverty, gave education and healthcare to those who never had anything, he's trying to reduce violence, etc. The majority of Venezuelans are very poor and are living a lot better since he's in power. Maybe they simply... well... like him!
"the emails will also expose the hypocrisy of other governments and companies"
In other words he will filter out data that will United States and Western Europe in a good light.
So, when he filters you accuse him of cherry-picking. When he publishes everything you accuse him of publishing shitloads of irrelevant and mundane data. If you want to bash the man, at least get your hatred bullshit straight! It the US and Western Europe are so pure and clean they should have nothing to fear, should they?
My prediction it will show that Companies are dealing with Syria by working around any laws to stop them, and there are some politicians who were willing to look the other way for some concessions, and Oil...
If you don't know this stuff is actually happening then you are either an idiot, or you live in Mr. Happy land where your country can do no wrong.
One thing is people gossiping about that. It's only one more conspiracy theory to add to the lot. But this is evidence. It's quite different. You're just trying to spin it to your liking. If there weren't embarrassing details for the West you'd be screaming and shouting about how monstrous the Assad regime is, and how this is the definitive evidence to justify an invasion!
Happy to see a beneficial use for drones, instead of imposing the will of the Empire on the other side of the world, or spying on American citizens because they can all be eeeveeel tarrrrrraaaaaissssts!
Transylvania is only a part of Romania (not "Rumania") after World War I. It was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before. And Hungarian is still the second language there. Nothing is simple in the Balkans:-)
The female hygiene brand "Rexona" was called "Rexina" exclusively in Portugal for years, before they had the balls to change the name to match the rest of the world. The inevitable jokes arose immediately.
Spanish people always laugh when they mention the Portuguese football player "Folha" ("Folla" in Spanish).
"Rapariga" is a widely used word in Portugal, it means "young woman". In Brazil it means "slut".
Also, your argument that higher taxes will cause smokers to quit is a lot like the argument that making narcotic drugs illegal was supposed to cause drug use to go down. The latter has obviously not happened, and has in fact increased... especially among the poor.
Thanks for the citations. So I concede, rich folks smoke less than the poor. This means that a tax on tobacco is not likely to make an effect on rich people, who can afford it, but will drive poor people to quit smoking. This could, in the future lead to equal percentage of smokers among the rich and the poor, with very obvious well-being advantages for the poor people. So, at least concerning smoking problems, we'll have a fairer society. What's the problem with that?
Almost every farmer I know is obese, drinks, smokes and eats fat and sugar like there's no tomorrow and has a full collection of chronic health conditions, from hypertension to diabetes. Some of them are walking miracles just for being alive.
This week it's cigarettes because everyone dislikes smokers, next week it's sugared drinks because everyone hates fat people, well next week maybe it'll be skinny people or bald headed people, or people of a certain skin color that takes the bureaucrat's fancy.
That's a really stupid argument. There's plenty of objective data about how smoke greatly affects your own health and that of others around you. And obesity is objectively a major public health concern. These issues have been scientifically studied for decades. And, if you want to go for the money, these issues cause millions of economic losses for the economy of whatever country you live in. Which means it affects you too.
I don't give a fuck if we're going extinct or not. We'll eventually go, as other species did. What worries me is how I'm going to live, and my children. If our future is food scarcity, massive disease and violence, etc., I'm not so happy. Maybe we should do something about it.
Mankind has successfully executed coordinated actions to eliminate, or at least mitigate, serious large scale problems. Massive world-wide vaccination campaigns have successfully eliminated terrible diseases worldwide. Preservation campaigns have successfully spared fishery stocks, forest, wetlands, etc. There are worldwide campaigns against pollution, obesity, AIDS, whatever, that are doing good progress, in spite of all the difficulties.
Active intervention and collaboration make even more sense in a world that is more and more interdependent. Despite all the contempt you Americans feel about the UN, many of their organisms have been doing a great job at improving everybody's lives at a global level. Is it easy? No. Does it always work? Fuck, no! But it's better than the stupid, ultra-individualistic option of dropping your arms and saying "Oh, it will just fix itself". It certainly won't. Only an ignorant can think that.
What the fuck is wrong with you Americans these days? It's not the fault of the public schools, something is terribly wrong with your society. What kind of adults will these kids be tomorrow? Being raised like this, they'll accept being ruled by a fascist government without blinking.
My kids come home every day with bruises they get while playing. They don't care, I don't care, they're enjoying life. They tell me about the arguments they have with other kids. Great, they're learning to socialise! Sometimes it makes them angry or sad. Great, get fucking used to it! You're going to face shit that makes you angry or sad during the rest of your lives! Cope with the bad stuff and enjoy the good stuff! That's life! If you don't learn it while you're young, you'll be a frustrated and miserable adult! I'm there to help them learn about life with the best possible support, I'm not there to protect them from every possible little fucking thing that might possibly challenge them.
I guess this "Zero tolerance" stupidity is caused by schools living in terror of being sued by paranoid parents. Sane people like you should band together and take a stand against those people. Or else, a tiny minority of over-paranoid soccer moms with too much time in their hands will totally fuck your kids' future together with their own's.
Another problem many Southern European countries face is a relatively high corruption and a very large black economy(the figures I've seen so far estimates that the black economy in Greece is about 40-45% of GDP). That is a huge problem because even if there is enough taxable economy to successfully run the country it is simply not getting to the government.And typically the people that will manage evade taxes is not the grassroots population.
An example I saw from Greece is that to get a doctors appointment you are expected to bring a small bribe or you will be waitlisted forever and that doctor will often declare an income just below taxable levels and thus pay little to no income tax. Contrast this with Scandinavia and Germany where bribes and corruption is thankfully very rare and the black economy is also similarly small in comparison so most of the taxable income makes it to the Government who can then properly run the country.
You're right. Funny how the troika that "rescued" Ireland, Portugal and Greece are a lot more concerned about privatising the public services at low cost and ending all social benefits than they are about fighting corruption and cutting, for example, useless defence expenses (Greece buys a shitload of weapons from Germany).
Also funny how Goldman Sachs was involved with the right-wing Greek government cooking the books to be able to join the Euro, but, somehow, an ex-top executive from Goldman Sachs was appointed head of the Greek government and another one as president of the European Central Bank.
Last but not least, the governor of the Bank of Portugal that failed miserably at finding the huge frauds being performed by some Portuguese banks (that had to be rescued by the state, leading to our public debt crisis) was "punished" with the vice-presidency of the European Central Bank! How's that for fighting corruption?
By the way, I'm Portuguese. That thing about having to bribe the public doctors makes my stomach revolve. Although we have lots of corruption here, it never got to that point, that I know of. A doctor who tried to pull that one out would land in a court pretty quickly.
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Oh, you Americans! You have supported all kinds of terrible dictators in Latin America. It takes a lot of nerve to be calling Chavez a dictator!
The only reason you hate him is because he was one of the first Latin American leaders that showed you the finger and you couldn't eliminate! A few others have followed the example, which revolves your guts. Latin America is no longer your backyard, get used to it. If you want oil, pay for it big time, instead of bribing a few officers, like usual.
If Venezuelans don't want Chavez in power, it's not like they don't have options. Just vote for someone else. It's called democracy, you Americans hypocritically blabber about it ad nauseam. But guess what, he greatly reduced poverty, gave education and healthcare to those who never had anything, he's trying to reduce violence, etc. The majority of Venezuelans are very poor and are living a lot better since he's in power. Maybe they simply... well... like him!
"the emails will also expose the hypocrisy of other governments and companies"
In other words he will filter out data that will United States and Western Europe in a good light.
So, when he filters you accuse him of cherry-picking. When he publishes everything you accuse him of publishing shitloads of irrelevant and mundane data. If you want to bash the man, at least get your hatred bullshit straight! It the US and Western Europe are so pure and clean they should have nothing to fear, should they?
My prediction it will show that Companies are dealing with Syria by working around any laws to stop them, and there are some politicians who were willing to look the other way for some concessions, and Oil...
If you don't know this stuff is actually happening then you are either an idiot, or you live in Mr. Happy land where your country can do no wrong.
One thing is people gossiping about that. It's only one more conspiracy theory to add to the lot. But this is evidence. It's quite different. You're just trying to spin it to your liking. If there weren't embarrassing details for the West you'd be screaming and shouting about how monstrous the Assad regime is, and how this is the definitive evidence to justify an invasion!
Like Syria had any capability to do anything like that!
And everybody knows he has nothing to fear from the civilised western countries, does he? When have they ever done anything like that?
Stop watching NCIS. It's fiction, you know? And bad one.
Happy to see a beneficial use for drones, instead of imposing the will of the Empire on the other side of the world, or spying on American citizens because they can all be eeeveeel tarrrrrraaaaaissssts!
There are several tens of millions of people living in those countries. Obviously they don't like being called pigs. Do I really have to explain?
Transylvania is only a part of Romania (not "Rumania") after World War I. It was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before. And Hungarian is still the second language there. Nothing is simple in the Balkans :-)
A stroke is in the brain, not the heart. And what does sleep have to do with resting the heart? It keeps beating when you sleep, did you know?
Dude, chill out. You need to relax a bit.
Sorry. No tech panacea for stupidity.
Cool, let's do nothing then. It can only get better, doesn't it?
Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Claiming otherwise is as true as any other religious statement.
Also, your argument that higher taxes will cause smokers to quit is a lot like the argument that making narcotic drugs illegal was supposed to cause drug use to go down. The latter has obviously not happened, and has in fact increased... especially among the poor.
What has one thing to do with the other?
The discussion already Godwyned. Let's all start using stupid exaggerations as examples. It's gonna be soooo insightful.
Thanks for the citations. So I concede, rich folks smoke less than the poor. This means that a tax on tobacco is not likely to make an effect on rich people, who can afford it, but will drive poor people to quit smoking. This could, in the future lead to equal percentage of smokers among the rich and the poor, with very obvious well-being advantages for the poor people. So, at least concerning smoking problems, we'll have a fairer society. What's the problem with that?
Almost every farmer I know is obese, drinks, smokes and eats fat and sugar like there's no tomorrow and has a full collection of chronic health conditions, from hypertension to diabetes. Some of them are walking miracles just for being alive.
It also happens to be a handy way to tax the shit out of the poor without specifically saying that it's a tax (as rich folk generally don't smoke).
I call utter bullshit. Citation needed, please.
This week it's cigarettes because everyone dislikes smokers, next week it's sugared drinks because everyone hates fat people, well next week maybe it'll be skinny people or bald headed people, or people of a certain skin color that takes the bureaucrat's fancy.
That's a really stupid argument. There's plenty of objective data about how smoke greatly affects your own health and that of others around you. And obesity is objectively a major public health concern. These issues have been scientifically studied for decades. And, if you want to go for the money, these issues cause millions of economic losses for the economy of whatever country you live in. Which means it affects you too.
What do you mean by "white"? Is there any objective criteria for defining "white"?
You can get the PIGS acronym and stuff in your ass, fucking retard.
I don't give a fuck if we're going extinct or not. We'll eventually go, as other species did. What worries me is how I'm going to live, and my children. If our future is food scarcity, massive disease and violence, etc., I'm not so happy. Maybe we should do something about it.
Mankind has successfully executed coordinated actions to eliminate, or at least mitigate, serious large scale problems. Massive world-wide vaccination campaigns have successfully eliminated terrible diseases worldwide. Preservation campaigns have successfully spared fishery stocks, forest, wetlands, etc. There are worldwide campaigns against pollution, obesity, AIDS, whatever, that are doing good progress, in spite of all the difficulties.
Active intervention and collaboration make even more sense in a world that is more and more interdependent. Despite all the contempt you Americans feel about the UN, many of their organisms have been doing a great job at improving everybody's lives at a global level. Is it easy? No. Does it always work? Fuck, no! But it's better than the stupid, ultra-individualistic option of dropping your arms and saying "Oh, it will just fix itself". It certainly won't. Only an ignorant can think that.
Punishing kids over stupid shit like that?
What the fuck is wrong with you Americans these days? It's not the fault of the public schools, something is terribly wrong with your society. What kind of adults will these kids be tomorrow? Being raised like this, they'll accept being ruled by a fascist government without blinking.
My kids come home every day with bruises they get while playing. They don't care, I don't care, they're enjoying life. They tell me about the arguments they have with other kids. Great, they're learning to socialise! Sometimes it makes them angry or sad. Great, get fucking used to it! You're going to face shit that makes you angry or sad during the rest of your lives! Cope with the bad stuff and enjoy the good stuff! That's life! If you don't learn it while you're young, you'll be a frustrated and miserable adult! I'm there to help them learn about life with the best possible support, I'm not there to protect them from every possible little fucking thing that might possibly challenge them.
I guess this "Zero tolerance" stupidity is caused by schools living in terror of being sued by paranoid parents. Sane people like you should band together and take a stand against those people. Or else, a tiny minority of over-paranoid soccer moms with too much time in their hands will totally fuck your kids' future together with their own's.
GPL should include a clause prohibiting the use of the software to murder people. If you want to kill people, code your own shit.
Another problem many Southern European countries face is a relatively high corruption and a very large black economy(the figures I've seen so far estimates that the black economy in Greece is about 40-45% of GDP). That is a huge problem because even if there is enough taxable economy to successfully run the country it is simply not getting to the government.And typically the people that will manage evade taxes is not the grassroots population. An example I saw from Greece is that to get a doctors appointment you are expected to bring a small bribe or you will be waitlisted forever and that doctor will often declare an income just below taxable levels and thus pay little to no income tax. Contrast this with Scandinavia and Germany where bribes and corruption is thankfully very rare and the black economy is also similarly small in comparison so most of the taxable income makes it to the Government who can then properly run the country.
You're right. Funny how the troika that "rescued" Ireland, Portugal and Greece are a lot more concerned about privatising the public services at low cost and ending all social benefits than they are about fighting corruption and cutting, for example, useless defence expenses (Greece buys a shitload of weapons from Germany).
Also funny how Goldman Sachs was involved with the right-wing Greek government cooking the books to be able to join the Euro, but, somehow, an ex-top executive from Goldman Sachs was appointed head of the Greek government and another one as president of the European Central Bank.
Last but not least, the governor of the Bank of Portugal that failed miserably at finding the huge frauds being performed by some Portuguese banks (that had to be rescued by the state, leading to our public debt crisis) was "punished" with the vice-presidency of the European Central Bank! How's that for fighting corruption?
By the way, I'm Portuguese. That thing about having to bribe the public doctors makes my stomach revolve. Although we have lots of corruption here, it never got to that point, that I know of. A doctor who tried to pull that one out would land in a court pretty quickly.