Does it bother anybody that 264 people own as much wealth as the bottom 50% on this planet? Does it bother anyone that there are over 3 million people in jail in this country, many of them incarcerated for victimless crimes, and this is an allegedly free society? Does it perturb you that the USA has a greater percentage of its population in jail than any other first world country, yet claims to be a land of freedom?
Should we give most favored nation status to China when they have ten million prisoners being forced to (that’s right slavery) work long hours to produce products for export to the United States, so that China can obtain Dollars, and we in turn can buy cheap products.
We also export 3$ land mines by the millions to puppet dictatorships whose allegiance we enjoy and they dismember children (we make them in a nice intriguing butterfly shape; good for kids!), by launching them out of helicopters, while simultaneously rendering thousands of square miles of precious arable land lethally fallow.
Does the preponderance of evidence suggest that the world is run by a small but lethal cadre of mostly men (I am sure that there would be women but they can’t get in; another huge inequitable distribution of power and resources), and that we are headed toward very serious problems? (Complete depletion of the world’s oil resources within fifty years and no alternative technology to replace it, for instance).
Happy Fourth of July to Bosnia, Vietnam, Cambodia, El Salvador, Panama and Grenada.Just a few of the countries we have bombed in the not too distant past. Y’all have a good week.
Chronolicht wrote
I’m sorry; did you say something?
I think you need more fiber.
Sorry. Let me put that a little less sarcasticly:
Do you have a point you’d like to debate?
have no comment.
Let’s start by who you’ll vote for in the coming presidential election. Maybe I can get some purchase there, Billyclub.
Yes. The rich get richer every year, it’s every man for himself out there.
Yes. I heard 2 million people, does anyone out there have any current statistics on how many people are in jail in this country? I (perhaps foolishly) still believe in this country’s justice system and that the vast majority of people in prison are there because they broke the law. If they didn’t want to do time for “victimless” drug offenses then they shouldn’t have gotten invloved in the drug trade. It has been speculated that the reason so many people are in jail right now is due to the lax law enforcement of past decades which allowed inner city areas to become “free crime zones” instead of “crime free zones”. This nation is now paying for its past indiscretions by having to put out a forrest fire of crime.
I heard that China has about half a million prisoners, far fewer than the United States (probably because they never let crime get out of control in the first place, not because they are a more just country than the USA). In answer to your question, no China should not have most favored anything status. They are undemocratic and corrupt in the extreme according to everything I have ever heard. I have said it before and will say it again, if we need cheap labor let’s import the people not export the jobs, were making monsters like China very strong.
It is China that manufactures the majority of the world’s cheap land mines (i.e. unsophisticated toe-poppers). The land mines we produce are far more complex and expensive, they include features like remote arming and vibration sensing to detect approaching tanks (or so I was told). These mines have to be sent a radio signal to arm them and they remain armed for only a matter of hours. They are used in places like the North/South Korea border to prevent any invasion from quickly seizing South Korea (as happened in 1950) before our forces could deploy. The USA refused to sign the international ban on land mines because it would have forced us to remove these mines. The butterfly shaped mines thrown from helicopters onto unsuspecting children is a story I first heard in reference to the Russians in Afghanistan, I really don’t know how much truth there is to it. (Cecil can you help us?)
Yes on all points.
You too.
Well, it’s two peas in a pod here. Where’s oldscratch? I’m guessing he’d enjoy a piece of this.
"Yes. I heard 2 million people, does anyone out there have any current statistics on how many people are in jail in this
country? I (perhaps foolishly) still believe in this country’s justice system and that the vast majority of people in prison are there because they broke the law. If they didn’t want to do time for “victimless” drug offenses then they shouldn’t have gotten invloved in the drug trade. It has been speculated that the reason so many people are in jail right now is due to the lax law enforcement of past decades which allowed inner city areas to become “free crime zones” instead of “crime free zones”. This nation is now paying for its past indiscretions by having to put out a forrest fire of crime.
I think you hear what you want to hear. It is not an "indiscretion to maintain a surplus population to ensure cheap labor. That is called Darwinian Capitalism. It also doesn’t address the question of consensual crimes being illegal.Who the hell is anybody else to tell me or you what to do if we aren’t hurting ourselves (Witht the exception of certain utilitarian laws like mandatory helmets)? The Justice System? Can you say Rampart?
“It is China that manufactures the majority of the world’s cheap land mines (i.e. unsophisticated toe-poppers). The land
mines we produce are far more complex and expensive, they include features like remote arming and vibration sensing to detect approaching tanks (or so I was told). These mines have to be sent a radio signal to arm them and they remain armed for only a matter of hours. They are used in places like the North/South Korea border to prevent any invasion from quickly seizing South Korea (as happened in 1950) before our forces could deploy. The USA refused to sign the international ban on land mines because it would have forced us to remove these mines. The butterfly shaped mines thrown from helicopters onto unsuspecting children is a story I first heard in reference to the Russians in Afghanistan, I really don’t know how much truth there is to it. (Cecil can you help us?)”
It is also Pollyanna to think that we only use “smart” mines. Some cursory research will reveal that we still export many millions of cheap butterfly type “antipersonnel” mines. I wouldn’t call children “personnel”, would you? It is drivel to think that we didn’t sign because we would have been forced to remove them. What is that? Like a product recall? It is wishful thinking.Many of the millions of cheap mines in Angola were made in the USA. One in 47 people there has been maimed. This is the a brutal testament to the power of the arms manufacturing lobby in the US.
“I heard that China has about half a million prisoners, far fewer than the United States (probably because they never let
crime get out of control in the first place, not because they are a more just country than the USA). In answer to your
question, no China should not have most favored anything status. They are undemocratic and corrupt in the extreme according to everything I have ever heard. I have said it before and will say it again, if we need cheap labor let’s import the people not export the jobs, were making monsters like China very strong.”
This takes the cake. Crime is a latent function of poverty. China is a vast agrarian society whose methods of dealing with criminals has been very harsh. Sure, knowing that you will be beheaded for stealing rice in the market or sent to a labor camp for “reeducation” is a powerful deterrent. If crime is out of control then the way to stop it is to ensure that people have a meaningful existence, free from hunger. Again, check your figures: China has ten million incarcerated without due process. Many of the products they produce are for the US market.
There seems to be a dislocation in your worldview. You are willing to think the United States is run by equitable and fairminded individuals but that people in general need to be controlled.If the crime rate in the states has gone down it is because there are more jobs. They are perfectly correlative. This is probably the only thing that the Chicago school "homo-economicus" economists and the sociologists agree on. It is "Law and Order" types like you, the millions of people who have been suckered into believing the dominant consumerist paradigm that our present unmoderated "meritocracy" is workable, that perpetuate tragedy on such a huge but human scale. I hope you have the courage to reconsider your stance. You should redirect your cynicism to the venal endvalves who deserve it. What do you think of that Billyboy?"Yes. I heard 2 million people, does anyone out there have any current statistics on how many people are in jail in this
country? I (perhaps foolishly) still believe in this country’s justice system and that the vast majority of people in prison are there because they broke the law. If they didn’t want to do time for “victimless” drug offenses then they shouldn’t have gotten invloved in the drug trade. It has been speculated that the reason so many people are in jail right now is due to the lax law enforcement of past decades which allowed inner city areas to become “free crime zones” instead of “crime free zones”. This nation is now paying for its past indiscretions by having to put out a forrest fire of crime.
I think you hear what you want to hear. It is not an “indiscretion” to maintain a surplus population to ensure cheap labor. That is called Darwinian Capitalism. It also doesn’t address the question of consensual crimes being illegal.Who the hell is anybody else to tell me or you what to do if we aren’t hurting ourselves (Witht the exception of certain utilitarian laws like mandatory helmets)? The Justice System? Can you say Rampart?
“It is China that manufactures the majority of the world’s cheap land mines (i.e. unsophisticated toe-poppers). The land
mines we produce are far more complex and expensive, they include features like remote arming and vibration sensing to detect approaching tanks (or so I was told). These mines have to be sent a radio signal to arm them and they remain armed for only a matter of hours. They are used in places like the North/South Korea border to prevent any invasion from quickly seizing South Korea (as happened in 1950) before our forces could deploy. The USA refused to sign the international ban on land mines because it would have forced us to remove these mines. The butterfly shaped mines thrown from helicopters onto unsuspecting children is a story I first heard in reference to the Russians in Afghanistan, I really don’t know how much truth there is to it. (Cecil can you help us?)”
It is also Pollyanna to think that we only use “smart” mines. Some cursory research will reveal that we still export many millions of cheap butterfly type “antipersonnel” mines. I wouldn’t call children “personnel”, would you? It is drivel to think that we didn’t sign because we would have been forced to remove them. What is that? Like a product recall? It is wishful thinking.Many of the millions of cheap mines in Angola were made in the USA. One in 47 people there has been maimed. This is the a brutal testament to the power of the arms manufacturing lobby in the US.
“I heard that China has about half a million prisoners, far fewer than the United States (probably because they never let
crime get out of control in the first place, not because they are a more just country than the USA). In answer to your
question, no China should not have most favored anything status. They are undemocratic and corrupt in the extreme according to everything I have ever heard. I have said it before and will say it again, if we need cheap labor let’s import the people not export the jobs, were making monsters like China very strong.”
This takes the cake. Crime is a latent function of poverty. China is a vast agrarian society whose methods of dealing with criminals has been very harsh. Sure, knowing that you will be beheaded for stealing rice in the market or sent to a labor camp for “reeducation” is a powerful deterrent. If crime is out of control then the way to stop it is to ensure that people have a meaningful existence, free from hunger. Again, check your figures: China has ten million incarcerated without due process. Many of the products they produce are for the US market.
There seems to be a dislocation in your worldview. You are willing to think the United States is run by equitable and fairminded individuals but that people in general need to be controlled.If the crime rate in the states has gone down it is because there are more jobs. They are perfectly correlative. This is probably the only thing that the Chicago school "homo-economicus" economists and the sociologists agree on. It is "Law and Order" types like you, the millions of people who have been suckered into believing the dominant consumerist paradigm that our present unmoderated "meritocracy" is workable, that perpetuate tragedy on such a huge but human scale. I hope you have the courage to reconsider your stance. You should redirect your cynicism to the venal endvalves who deserve it. What do you think of that Billyboy?While we’re looking up accurate numbers, did you really mean 264 people have wealth equal to the poorer 50% of humanity? How on earth did you arrive at that, and can I get a list? I kind of assumed after reading the post you meant 264 million, i.e. the approximate U.S. population, but the statement was quoted with no correction, so now I’m wondering.
The richest 264 own as a much as the bottom 50%. Check out
http://www.korpios.org/resurgent/tenets.htm
and
http://www.lbbs.org/
The stats that I quoted as to how many people are in prison in the USA compared to China, is from the CBS News. They also reported that China (and to some extent Russia) are the source for cheap land mines, while ours are more sophisticated. This was discussed in depth when the US refused to sign the international ban on land mines.
No, but pointless threads DO. Just wanna bitch? To the PIT with you, bub.