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Author Topic: The "America Question"  (Read 19539 times)

freeformschooler

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #60 on: December 04, 2010, 05:19:24 pm »

One thing that disturbs me is that some people have this idea that being stupid is okay because they're not the only ones, like its just acceptable nowadays.

The other thing is this "you're either with me or against me" attitude with politics. You can't be pro choice but dislike healthcare, you have to be on the Dems side or the Reps side. It isn't really a problem for citizens, its a problem for politicians. They can't have their own opinions on things, they're either dem or rep, and then we count the seats in congress like its a competition, like we don't even consider them people with minds of their own, they're just warriors for this side or that battling over control of government. WTF is wrong here.

This is the greatest quote. While the battling itself part of politics, I've always pulled my hair out over how people find something they like one side or the other and blindly follow along with the rest of that side's beliefs. That's why I vote neither red nor blue, but rather, purple polkadot.
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Mictlantecuhtli

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #61 on: December 04, 2010, 05:41:44 pm »

Senate Rejects Obama’s Tax Plan

Quote
“I had a good business career and I would be entitled to a tax cut for those over the million dollar mark” he [Frank R. Lautenberg] said. “But I don’t want it. I don’t need it. What I am looking at today, I think, is a great American travesty.”

:\
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Sowelu

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #62 on: December 04, 2010, 05:47:12 pm »

@ OP: America fell because

1.: It was founded by religious extremists - NOT reasonable people
2.: The further the economy was deregulated, the further corporate corruption spread
3.: The corporately corrupted government did everything it could to ensure that the people were as blindly patriotic as possible, so that no matter what shit they pulled for their personal enrichment, they could always count on being able to go on with it

Ta~daa. Now shower and get dressed, the chinese hegemony is about to knock at the door.

Doesn't...doesn't modern-day China fit all of those?  Kind of?
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AntiAntiMatter

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #63 on: December 04, 2010, 05:48:45 pm »

@ OP: America fell because

1.: It was founded by religious extremists - NOT reasonable people
2.: The further the economy was deregulated, the further corporate corruption spread
3.: The corporately corrupted government did everything it could to ensure that the people were as blindly patriotic as possible, so that no matter what shit they pulled for their personal enrichment, they could always count on being able to go on with it

Ta~daa. Now shower and get dressed, the chinese hegemony is about to knock at the door.

Doesn't...doesn't modern-day China fit all of those?  Kind of?

Take out the religious bit... and yes. It does.
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Aqizzar

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #64 on: December 04, 2010, 05:52:12 pm »

Senate Rejects Obama’s Tax Plan

Chris Hayes had the best moment on television a few days ago, when he was arguing with some Republican Congressman.  According to the last thirty years of mainstream political theory: Taxes must be lowered in bad times because the economy is too fragile; Taxes must be lowered in good times because the growth must be preserved.  Ergo, by that logic it is never a good time to raise government revenue, and the idea state is one with no taxes at all.  Because that would totally work.

That article is a little misleading, in the opening paragraph-
Quote
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Saturday rejected President Obama’s proposal to end the Bush-era tax breaks on income above $250,000 for couples and $200,000 for individuals, a triumph for Republicans who have long called for continuing the income tax cuts for everyone.

It's hardly a "triumph" for anyone whose goal is lowered taxes for one group or another, because once the bracket expires, taxes go up for everyone.  That's why there's so many different groups wanting them extended.  The great joke being, the "Bush tax cuts" being argued over were designed to expire and sunset after ten years, precisely because of the giant hole they would blow in the deficit if they were a permanent effect, and were only instituted to save the economy from the last recession after the dot-com-bubble.

The "joke" part, is that ten years later, it's the exact same Congressmen and Senators making the exact same arguments about what taxes do to the economy.  It never stops being funny.
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Sowelu

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #65 on: December 04, 2010, 05:53:06 pm »

@ OP: America fell because

1.: It was founded by religious extremists - NOT reasonable people
2.: The further the economy was deregulated, the further corporate corruption spread
3.: The corporately corrupted government did everything it could to ensure that the people were as blindly patriotic as possible, so that no matter what shit they pulled for their personal enrichment, they could always count on being able to go on with it

Ta~daa. Now shower and get dressed, the chinese hegemony is about to knock at the door.

Doesn't...doesn't modern-day China fit all of those?  Kind of?

Take out the religious bit... and yes. It does.
Well, they're pretty extreme -about- religion, more or less.
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Some things were made for one thing, for me / that one thing is the sea~
His servers are going to be powered by goat blood and moonlight.
Oh, a biomass/24 hour solar facility. How green!

AntiAntiMatter

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #66 on: December 04, 2010, 05:56:16 pm »

@ OP: America fell because

1.: It was founded by religious extremists - NOT reasonable people
2.: The further the economy was deregulated, the further corporate corruption spread
3.: The corporately corrupted government did everything it could to ensure that the people were as blindly patriotic as possible, so that no matter what shit they pulled for their personal enrichment, they could always count on being able to go on with it

Ta~daa. Now shower and get dressed, the chinese hegemony is about to knock at the door.

Doesn't...doesn't modern-day China fit all of those?  Kind of?

Take out the religious bit... and yes. It does.
Well, they're pretty extreme -about- religion, more or less.

How so?
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Bauglir

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #67 on: December 04, 2010, 05:56:44 pm »

-snip-
« Last Edit: June 18, 2015, 02:18:07 pm by Bauglir »
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Mictlantecuhtli

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #68 on: December 04, 2010, 11:54:49 pm »

It's hardly a "triumph" for anyone whose goal is lowered taxes for one group or another, because once the bracket expires, taxes go up for everyone.  That's why there's so many different groups wanting them extended.  The great joke being, the "Bush tax cuts" being argued over were designed to expire and sunset after ten years, precisely because of the giant hole they would blow in the deficit if they were a permanent effect, and were only instituted to save the economy from the last recession after the dot-com-bubble.

The "joke" part, is that ten years later, it's the exact same Congressmen and Senators making the exact same arguments about what taxes do to the economy.  It never stops being funny.

I just wish the tax cuts would be allowed to expire. But I happen to know the GOP will NOT give this up without completely halting all progress in our congress. Why should we hold ourselves hostage to the corporate interests?
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Muz

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #69 on: December 05, 2010, 06:50:26 am »

@ OP: America fell because

1.: It was founded by religious extremists - NOT reasonable people
2.: The further the economy was deregulated, the further corporate corruption spread
3.: The corporately corrupted government did everything it could to ensure that the people were as blindly patriotic as possible, so that no matter what shit they pulled for their personal enrichment, they could always count on being able to go on with it

Ta~daa. Now shower and get dressed, the chinese hegemony is about to knock at the door.

Doesn't...doesn't modern-day China fit all of those?  Kind of?

Take out the religious bit... and yes. It does.
Well, they're pretty extreme -about- religion, more or less.

How so?

Quote from: Wikipedia
The People's Republic of China was established October 1, 1949. Its government is officially atheist, having viewed religion as emblematic of feudalism and foreign colonialism. Religious belief or practice was banned because it was regarded as backward and superstitious by some of the communist leaders, from Vladimir Lenin to Mao Zedong, who had been critical of religious institutions.[29] Houses of worship, including pagodas, temples, mosques, and churches, were converted into non-religious buildings for secular use during its early years. The Cultural Revolution led to a policy of elimination of religions; a massive number of places of worship were destroyed.

Sounds like atheist extremism to me. Not nearly as bad these days, but modern China was founded by extremists.
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Shrugging Khan

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #70 on: December 05, 2010, 08:09:26 am »

But they were extremist atheists (or anti-religious, or whatnot). Different thing!

They were right about their stance on religion, for one. Their methods...ah well.
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Azzuro

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #71 on: December 05, 2010, 08:36:00 am »

@ OP: America fell because

1.: It was founded by religious extremists - NOT reasonable people
2.: The further the economy was deregulated, the further corporate corruption spread
3.: The corporately corrupted government did everything it could to ensure that the people were as blindly patriotic as possible, so that no matter what shit they pulled for their personal enrichment, they could always count on being able to go on with it

Ta~daa. Now shower and get dressed, the chinese hegemony is about to knock at the door.

Doesn't...doesn't modern-day China fit all of those?  Kind of?

Take out the religious bit... and yes. It does.
Well, they're pretty extreme -about- religion, more or less.

How so?

Quote from: Wikipedia
The People's Republic of China was established October 1, 1949. Its government is officially atheist, having viewed religion as emblematic of feudalism and foreign colonialism. Religious belief or practice was banned because it was regarded as backward and superstitious by some of the communist leaders, from Vladimir Lenin to Mao Zedong, who had been critical of religious institutions.[29] Houses of worship, including pagodas, temples, mosques, and churches, were converted into non-religious buildings for secular use during its early years. The Cultural Revolution led to a policy of elimination of religions; a massive number of places of worship were destroyed.

Sounds like atheist extremism to me. Not nearly as bad these days, but modern China was founded by extremists.

I'm pretty sure China nowadays allows religious freedom, but only to state-approved religious organizations. I think (based on personal experience) the majority are Buddhist/Taoist to some extent, which the government can't really regulate. For an example of China cracking down on religious groups, google "Falun Gong".
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Sir Pseudonymous

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #72 on: December 05, 2010, 01:57:54 pm »

I'm pretty sure China nowadays allows religious freedom, but only to state-approved religious organizations. I think (based on personal experience) the majority are Buddhist/Taoist to some extent, which the government can't really regulate. For an example of China cracking down on religious groups, google "Falun Gong".
I hate to admit China's authoritarian bullshit is ever a good thing, but in the case of Falun Gong, it is. It's an actively harmful scam, sort of a Chinese Scientology. Of course, China still encourages the practice of Chinese medicine as an actual science...
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Muz

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #73 on: December 06, 2010, 03:50:05 am »

I'm pretty sure China nowadays allows religious freedom, but only to state-approved religious organizations. I think (based on personal experience) the majority are Buddhist/Taoist to some extent, which the government can't really regulate. For an example of China cracking down on religious groups, google "Falun Gong".
I hate to admit China's authoritarian bullshit is ever a good thing, but in the case of Falun Gong, it is. It's an actively harmful scam, sort of a Chinese Scientology. Of course, China still encourages the practice of Chinese medicine as an actual science...

A lot of the people in my family take Chinese medicine, and they get better. The Chinese herbal stuff cures my coughs and soothes throat way better than a lot of the western sugary cough medicine and cough drops. Tastes nice too. IMO, anything where you take a treatment and it makes you better is valid :P
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Tellemurius

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Re: The "America Question"
« Reply #74 on: December 06, 2010, 03:53:09 am »

Brings up another point, when will the government stop relying on medical companies to produce cures and get themselves to work. they won't do it, they'll lose money for less treatment requests. SELL SOME MEDICINE BITCHES.
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