So, Carol, what would YOU reccomend for a fair tax rate?
And which rule might that be? Oh yeah, US = bad. Got it.
And I could bring up the United Nations, the Marshall Plan, and Apollo 11. But I guess that would be pointless, since we already have “the rule”.
Given how the Euro has been beating the piss out of the dollar this year, I would argue that those Europeans might just know a thing or two about influencing events on the world stage, hence my reference to a European poll.
Your idiosyncratic usages of the words “threat” and “powerless” notwithstanding, for most of us the phrase “powerless threat” would be a contradiction in terms.
Personally, I don’t think Al Qaeda is much of a threat, because I don’t think they have much of an ability to influence the course of events (i.e. power). See how that works?
One example of governmental incompetence in natural disaster response as compared to the countless other instances in which local, state, and/or federal authorities acquit themselves favorably every year? Apparently that doesn’t figure into your moral calculus.
No, I haven’t read any of your “previous responses to that kind of kindergarten shit”. Again, check my join date. Why you think it incumbent upon to me to become intimately acquainted with the previously expressed political positions of posters at an anonymous message board is beyond me.
Judging from your hyperbolic response to my post, I can surmise that you don’t particularly care for a stranger casting your country in a less-than-flattering light. Neither do I. Of course, I can get my point across without losing my shit. You? Not so much.
As I noted upthread, you have a rather unusual take on how to assess national strength. Perhaps you would care to explain how you arrive at your judgments, perhaps providing some examples of powerful countries of the past and present? Going from what you haven written here, I can not think of a single nation in history that could be labelled as “powerful”, which kind of defeats the purpose of having terms like “strong” and “weak” to use as relative descriptors.
And urban sprawl as a sign of national weakness? This has to be one of the nuttier responses I’ve seen in this thread. 
The government doens’t want your body.
A person is more than just his body, though for all I know you may be the exception.
You “bowed out” of the last such one because you weren’t au fait with the personalities involved, but I assumed you actually read the thread. Silly me.
No, I don’t particularly care for tu quoque as a rhetorical fallacy. It got old the first time it was done. What it is about people finding out I’m South African that makes them bust out this shitty argument technique, I don’t know.
And unless your reading comprehension is way off, I don’t have a problem with people pointing out the faults in a country I’m not particularly loyal to, internationalist anarchosyndicalist that I am. I just hate its use as a truly craptastic “gotcha” attempt. A fucking lot.
Crappy argument technique makes me lose my shit, motherfucker. People mistaking me for a jingoistic patriot while doing it is always the real kicker.
So it seems. I guess I misinterpreted what people mean by “strong” all around. From now on I will read it as “Can fuck your shit up”
I’d have called post-Depression, pre-Vietnam USA “strong”. Late Victorian Britain too. Japan around turn of the 20th Century. All within their context, of course.
I wasn’t thinking of “strong” as a relative descriptor - guess that’s where I was wrong.
Almost an entire nation devoting itself to a lifestyle that’s detrimental to its best interests, both short and long term? What’s nutty about pointing out that that’s a weakness? “Clusterfuck Nation” indeed.
it doesn’t even think I’m cute?
well, not on the first date anyway.
For a pun like that, you deserve to be stoned.
It’s Bush’s fault.
What, like your Prius, and big screen TV, and shit like that?
Sorry for that. I can only post at work if it’s not busy, and at home, I’m on a friend’s wireless router that regularly conks out for hours at a time. So I cannot always return in a timely fashion to threads I’ve been participating in. In the other thread, by the time I got back to it, it had already petered out, and n00b that I am, I thought’d be a bit presumptuous of me to raise it from the dead. I’ll (try) not to let it happen again.
Maybe it’s simply a matter of you being a foreigner and speaking negatively about someone else’s country? For me, it doesn’t matter that you’re from SA, only that you’re not American, so in the context of discussing the relative virtues of nations, the most natural point of comparison is to use the detractor’s home country. If, given what you have said already, but with your self-identification as being El Salvadoran rather than South African, I probably would’ve cracked wise about death squads.
So noted. I can understand that viewpoint. As long as you can understand that others have more nationalistic/tribalistic sentiments. Your taking offense at my * tu quoque* appears to me to be very similar to how someone who was nationalistic would respond to a slight of their homeland.
I broadly agree with your assessments here.
Well, I think it’s your use of “devotion” in this context that appears nutty. As if any American born after 1940 was even alive when the confluence of historical factors was at work shaping the US urban/suburban landscape. At this point, in 2007, it’s not like anyone can just magically “squish” the suburbs back into the central cities. Had you used “devoted”, instead of “devoting” (which implies a current, on-going process), then I could see your point. Of course, it would still be ironic in a discussion of American weakness, as the scale of urban sprawl was as great as it was precisely because the US from 1870-1950 was so strong - it had vast tracts of land, cheap and plentiful natural resources, and a burgeoning industrialized populace.
Of course, this is a discussion for another thread. I’d be happy to do so except…
:rolleyes:
And you Americans just get cuter and cuter and cuter… It’s like watching kittens fight.
IOW, I was right. High taxes are for other people to pay, but not yourself.
Should you choose to man up, the The Bureau of the Public Debt has a handy address to send your check. 91% of your income, please.
I would like the same tax rate you have been paying.
Nah. If you are stoning birds, they should be terns.
Aw come on, Lib, we’ve ‘known’ each other for too long for you to try to play coy with me. You perfectly well know what I’m talking about.
Namely that every time someone mentions “socialism,” or, even worse, as Guin did, makes the (rather obvious to many of us) observation/comment that it doesn’t equal Communism, your heart skips a beat and you loose a couple of teeth due to involuntary knee-jerk.
Further, who the fuck cares what Karl fuckin’ Marx had to say on the subject? He can stick his opinion of a different ideology where the sun don’t shine AFAIAC. That it irks your own Libertarian leanings is no concern of mine either – you do your thing, let the rest of us do ours. The only thing we seem to agree on is that we both want change, but how’s about you (or Marx for that matter) don’t tell us Social Democrats what it is WE want? Much less define us.
Saludos, bud.
Fuji, don’t mention it. Just my way of saying don’t let your self be intimidated by someone trying to pull some bogus “rank” on you.
Aaah, The Birdman. Football lover but actually a scholarship B-ball player in my youth. D. Johnson, Danny Ainge, Parish, McHale, Demi-god Bird AND the year Walton was coming off the bench. IMHO, best B-team I’ve ever seen. Hated Lakers hadn’t a prayer in that particular immaculate season. I’ve actually lost a lot of interest in b-ball (and all the showboating and drugs) since.
Can we clone them?
BTW, I see you’ve met my good buddy, Mr D. He can be tough as nails in his writing, but as you may find out for yourself if you stick around long enough, he’s certainly one of the better apples in this joint – and keep an eye on 'luc and ETF as well.
BTW, thought you might get a kick out of this thread: King Juan Carlos vs Hugo Chavez. Contradicted myself a bit there from what I told you before…which only made me understand more where you’re coming from.
Take care.
Carol Stream, serious question, did you graduate Summa Cum Laude in Ignorance? 'cause I’m actually in awe of your nonpareil obtuseness!
Congrats!
Probably not, but dust off your Celtic fanwear. I too worshipped at the shamrock-spangled shrine of Cousy, Russell, Parish, Jo-Jo, Bird, et fabulous al., then gave up on the Celtics when they went to hell over the last decade, but this year’s team looks like it’s playing TEAM basketball, and playing it damned well. Worth watching again? We’ll see how the season unfolds, but for the first time in years basketball is enticing.
Oy. I’m laughing, I’m weeping.
As a matter of fact, I did! And nonpareil is some good candy!
What else do you got, because I’m not impressed.
this, from the author of
?