Y2HH

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 06:28 PM) I just think your views on capital gains and dividends taxes are wrong and that supporting the privatization of Social Security is crazy. I don't know his views on cap gains and dividends...but odds are I agree with them, and in an actual real world conversation I could easily explain why. SS being privatized, however. How about no.

QUOTE (Zoogz @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 05:25 PM) What substance would you like? Or are you perfectly happy with the previous twelve (to thirty) years? Fine...I'll bite. I'd like ACTUAL substance, based on reality. Not this dream world you invent in your mind because you live within a lazy generation that likes to live so far above and beyond it's means that "debt" isn't a 4 letter word...but expected, and worse, shrugged off as no big deal. I'm more than happy with the past twelve to thirty years. Why wouldn't I be? Life is awesome...and it's getting better. Everything around us has gotten better, the problem is people like you, who can't to see it, because you're too busy comparing everything you have around you (which is practically everything a person could want), to an unrealistic ideal of what YOU believe the world should be like. Everything about my life is far superior to what it was 12 years ago...and 30 years ago? Not even in the same galaxy. I was alive in 1982...and 1982 wasn't all that grand. My father, an immigrant, worked hard to get where he is, and made sure I worked hard too, in school, at work and in life...versus just laying back and having him foot the bill for everything in my life, I found a calling...I followed it...and I studied, and practiced, and networked to make connections for the future. He taught me the value of money, the value of honor and the value of dealing with reality, not what people pitch to you as reality...but REALITY. The most he EVER made in a year was 43,000$, and that was just a few years ago before he retired. My family never "wanted" for anything because he taught us to live within our means. So we didn't grow up with expectations of simple things like a VCR when we couldn't afford it. Yes, we didn't grow up with a VCR in the house, throughout the 80's/90's...because we needed the money for more important things. That's reality, and understanding how to deal with it. We weren't taught to grow up and look at what our neighbors had an compare ourselves to them based on those objects. We were taught to have the things we have because we needed them/wanted them...AND could afford them. A lesson that's sadly lost on the majority of this nation. Based on what you JUST said, you claim that life in 1981 (31 years ago), was better than it is now. Well, sad news...because it wasn't. I'm not sure what history books you've been reading about the 80's...but you might want to close them. Or, as Good Will Hunting might say, "You spend all this money on beautiful, fancy books--and they're the wrong f***in' books." But you know what is awesome? Being alive to see 2012...and hopefully more.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 01:44 PM) Maybe this is an age thing. I'm 39, most of my professional and other friends are 35-45-ish. If you are talking people in their 20's, I don't have much of a feel for it. Now ask these youngsters what they got their degrees in. Because, you know, they have "a" degree...so the world owes them a living. The problem with a lot of these degrees I've been seeing as of late, is they're from what we like to call "degree mills", which are nothing more than "arts" degrees. AKA useless.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 01:49 PM) I don't mean to say they are below me. I think if people believed in God they would not be as selfish as they are and they would make better decisions for the betterment of all. I definitely think it'd be a kinder, gentler America. There still could be somebody in charge of it all no matter what theory you have on creation IMO. Some of the most selfish people in the world believe in God.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 01:42 PM) It establishes a commission to investigate and provide recommendations on prison reform, the 14 member bipartisan panel of experts sort of thing, provides it funds, etc. Had the support of a large number of organizations, including the council of mayors. The stated reasoning by the Republicans is that it is inappropriate for the Federal Government to do anything regarding state/local prisons, with the usual fool or two calling it unconstitutional (Coburn, in this case). Of course, since it would only go so far as to establish a commission to make recommendations, the bill itself wouldn't do anything to change the prisons, but hopefully could provide some plausible roadmaps to improvements, many of which would likely save money. Basically, it's a stand by 1 party to protect the status quo, as usual. Probably with a sprinkling of the "We can't let the Democrats pass anything" thrown in. Just did some quick research on it and I see nothing wrong with it, but that was all of 5 minutes of reading. That said, from what I read, some of the republicans issues on this bill is that it treads on states rights? I don't know how, but I haven't had time to look further into it. ...and 4 republicans voted for it, apparently.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 01:33 PM) Senator Webb (D-VA) has actually made pushing prison reform one of his priorities. There's a bill out there that would be a start...Prison reform bill,, that would do the usual "Blue Ribbon commission" to evaluate prison reform options, which would almost certainly have to deal with the issue of prison rape, in addition to the other problems of violence, racial disparities, etc. That bill, of course, has been stuck in the Senate, most recently failing 57-43. Yes, that's failing, 57 in favor, 43 against. At this point, if you can't figure out the parties on each side...well, not much else I can say. So yeah, I'm content to continue voting for the people I'm voting for, because they actually have tried to act on the issue. Now, did you actually read the bill? Is it a typical new style bill where one sentence is slipped in there somewhere that does something unrelated to "prison reform"? Or is this is really well written prison reform bill that will actually work? I don't know, because I haven't read it, or heard why people are voting no on it...

Consider it an incentive to not break laws. What more can you do? Nothing. Because you will continue electing the same people anyway.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 6, 2012 -> 08:53 AM) There was no substance in that post. It was a left wing rant with no basis in reality. The scary thing is none of them see that...all they see is FTW, or AWESOME.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 10:25 AM) 8.1% unemployment....that is bad, California at 10.7% and the actual real unemployment rate is significantly worse, imo. It blows my mind how many young people I know either can't get jobs or are getting minimum wage jobs. Pretty sad. Definitely makes me appreciate the opportunities my wife and I have had thus far in our young lives. I have to ask, as I think we all know people in similar employment circumstances...how much of that is their own fault? I know I can't speak for everyone, but I'm doing better now than I ever have been...so to answer a oft repeated Republican talking point...are you better off now than 4 years ago? Yes, I am. And 4 years ago I was better off then that I was the 4 years prior to that. And so on...

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 10:20 AM) No,i heard it on cnn this morning. Based on the Neilson ratings. From ESPN: The NFL game on NBC garnered an average of 19.8 million viewers compared to the Democratic National Convention, which was watched by an average of 25.1 million viewers, from 10 to 11:30 p.m. ET across seven networks. To be fair on this, it was 1 network versus 7 combined.

I don't like that he was convinced by hearsay evidence...at all. No matter how much I believe this guy is a slime bucket, it sets a terrible precedent.

I do not like ignore features/functions, and I refuse to use them. I think they're for weak minded individuals. No matter how much I may hate reading what someone has to say, because I disagree with it that much, I STILL believe it deserves to be heard/read. And if I STILL disagree with them, no matter how much time passes, I'll just take a pass on replying to them rather than putting them on ignore. WEAK.

QUOTE (Jake @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 09:29 AM) Mitt will be great in foreign policy...especially with developing states. He'll be happy to relocate all of our domestic manufacturing to foreign countries You mean exactly like how Obama's entire job council does/has done? Even HuffPo wrote about this nonsense: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/o..._n_1666443.html This is why I don't get it when Democrats ride Romney as a job exporter, when the guy they have an office now appointed an ENTIRE fleet of job exporters for the job of "saving American jobs".

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 09:48 AM) That's some great evidence you have there. They might as well cancel them based on what you've presented. ...and your rebuttal contained just as much evidence.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 09:34 AM) I guess it is becoming tradition now that I show back up in the Buster every few months... I don't get where people say Biden's speech was good. I thought it was pretty terrible. He's just not a gifted speaker. How many times did he start a sentence with "folks"? I thought his speech was oddly paced, thin, and badly delivered. Grade: D Obama's speech was good but nothing special. And he didn't get into any more specifics than Romney did - but he delivered better. Obama did what you need to do in the conventions, which is spark the base. Grade: B Michelle's speech was very good, I thought, but as with Ann Romney's speech, it just doesn't carry much weight since she's not running for office. Grade: A- Paul Ryan is a better speaker than I had previously thought, he gave a pretty good speech... except that it turns out a metric f***-ton of the supposed facts he espoused were just utterly false. Grade: C+ Romney improved over any other speech I've seen him give, so that's a good thing. But he is still not terribly charismatic, and that will hurt him in the debates. Grade: B- As for the debates... I am pretty sure Obama will crush Romney, but I am also pretty sure Ryan will crush Biden. Romney can't beat Obama in terms of speaking ability or relatability, so his only real shot is a combination of wilting attacks on the current economy, and providing some specific policy ideas that are his own. I pretty much agree with this...but I don't think the debates mean much anymore. Practically everyone that watches debates already knows who they're voting for, and I've yet to see anyone swayed by a debate. The debate moderators are also next to useless these days, as the candidates almost never answer any of the debate questions posed to them, or outright ignore the questions and say whatever they want about whatever they want. I think this has a lot to do with debates becoming incapable of swaying voters, since none of them bother answering any questions. You will get this: Republicans: "Romney was awesome, Obama lost." Democrats: "Obama was awesome, Romney lost." TAP (our new party): "Neither of them actually answered any of the questions...they both lost. No, scratch that...they both won...the American people lost."

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Sep 6, 2012 -> 02:04 PM) My side doesnt suck. The American Party (TM pending), or TAP, does not suck. If you think it sucks, your anti-American. I will join TAP with you.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Sep 6, 2012 -> 01:06 PM) Honestly the first place this needs to start is just with regular everyday people. The Republican party has faults, the Democratic party has just as many. Instead of pretending that your party, whoever it may be, is better, perhaps we need to start by agreeing that neither are good.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Sep 6, 2012 -> 09:29 AM) ask anyone here if they blame Bush for that. and frankly, i'm sure that gets lost anyway in the myriad of other things he f***ed up. lol again, dodge and deflect. it's all you do! Which is what you just did. We get it, the democrats are always right, because your a democrat. Comparing Obamas performance to Bush's is like comparing s*** to...s***. Both sides created all the s*** YOU want to blame Bush for, and both sides created all the s*** the people you're screaming at want to blame Obama for.

This thread has now turned into nothing more than my side rules banter. Sad news, friends, your sides...they all suck.

QUOTE (G&T @ Sep 4, 2012 -> 10:16 PM) Huh...I was informed that I will be having a second interview. Well, from your previous experience with them, do you honestly want to work there still?

QUOTE (Reddy @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 12:21 PM) you called people stupid while using the "word" irregardless. Well done.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 08:10 AM) as StrangeSox said, a president can't do a thing unless congress supports him. Congress Republicans tried to undermine him at every turn. How can you say he didn't get things done? 1) The GOP didn't let him, and 2) he's gotten things done. - I'm going to have health insurance thanks to him - I've had health insurance the last couple years thanks to him - I've had an easier time paying back my student loans because of him - He got Osama bin Laden - He came out in support of gay marriage - He has stopped the economic plummet, and has started the long, slow climb to recovery He's also done some things I don't like, like continuing to expand the power of the presidency (something ALL presidents, not just Dems do) But to say he hasn't accomplished anything is just not true. Of course he's accomplished things...every president has. I'm not sure that was the posters point, however. He came out in support of gay marriage because it suits him now... He didn't get Osama Bin Laden, the Seal Team 6 did, as well as thousands of unnamed military that helped. Obama sat safely in an office building. He didn't stop the economic plummet, as presidents/congress do not control economies for a multitude of reasons, they can, however, through policy, attempt to sway them or put in temporary stop gaps via enormous spending...but economic control is and always will be an illusion. And if you want to be technical about it, GW passed TARP, which "stopped" the plummet, not Obama. Obama simply carried on what GW started. ** I dislike crediting EITHER of them personally, or either party with preventing a collapse they ALL helped create. Crediting one person with those points is just insane. Stop.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 08:53 AM) this thread LOL This exactly.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Sep 4, 2012 -> 09:45 PM) i'm ignorant here... but what exactly is involved in quidditch? besides flying on brooms. I didn't want to even ask.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 4, 2012 -> 10:33 AM) I agree, spending is too low, particularly given the economic situation. Given the current state of things, we should be spending. When times get better, we should then draw it back...issue is we don't bother with that step.