I believe the world would be a better place if there was no privacy. Anyone and everyone would have free unlimmited access to anyone elses details/activities etc.
Due to the economy of scale, only those who are in the public eye would be thoughly investigated by many people. It would make political corruption almost impossible. Meanwhile people will learn just how common currently tabboo actions are, leading to the end of dissaproval for most actions, plus extreme prevention of those that are truley repugnant to the majority and that remain or become illegal.
Anyone could be being watched, but they could also watch the watchers. And those who seek important positions should ensure their slaight is cleaner than the average persons.
I am trying to find a cite for this but from everything I’ve read it’s only breastfed baby poop that does not stink. The formula fed kiddos stink right from the start. At least until they begin eating solids. I nursed my daughter for two years and found it personally true.
And since I’m still in the pit I think people who don’t vaccinate their children without good medical reasons should never be allowed to have anymore. I also think that if an outbreak occurs because of their carelessness and stupidity they should be held financially liable for any charges sane people incur.
In response to Ensign Edison, the person who was shot and killed was also a pancake thief, everyone in the car was skipping on the bill. I do not believe pancake thievery deserves a death sentence, in fact I don’t believe anything deserves a death sentence.
However, I do believe the police officer in question was properly executing his duties as a law enforcement officer, I believe he shot at the moving vehicle as a last ditch effort to save his own life. Reports have come out confirming the officer acted correctly. I believe that if you commit an assault on someone in an attempt to kill them and they kill you in self defense then that is your fault.
I also believe the world is better off anytime a criminal dies, but I certainly wouldn’t advocate killing someone purely because they stole pancakes or because they are a thief in general.
I’m not here to compare myself to Der Trihs, however I will just state for the record I’ve never wished death blanketly on millions of people.
That the officer was acting correctly was resolved, but is of no point to whether the world is better off because a teenage pancake thief accomplice is dead.
I still feel that Red Shirt speaks out of what he believes is true compassion, twisted as it may be. He’s also not in the least bit dangerous, because no one wants to march under his banner. Martin Hyde, on the other hand, is a snake.
Even if every word you said in that thread was fair and true, Martin, to continue to flaunt it when someone specifically asked you to stop because he was friends with the boy’s family was simply inhuman.
I’m done with this now. For once, I’m self-limiting a hijack, so you can belay those angry missives, champs & champettes. This one speaks for itself.
And as I’ve asked a gazillion times, has this been established as a fact beyond all reasonable doubt? That, by your assertion, not only was the person that died definitely one of those that perpetrated fraud by theft of services/goods, but all of the others as well??
If that’s the case and I’ve missed it, could you please provide citation? Thank you.
Hypotheticals? I am responsible for taking care of unwanted kids. The tax paying public in general is responsible for caring for unwanted children of every age. And you know what else? The tax paying public is also responsible for the unhappy, unhealthy, and sometimes dangerous adults these kids become. You think the idea of a torn and tattered 45 day old fetus is heartbreaking? Then imagine how you would feel when a disconnected, lonely, and scared 16 year old looks you straight in the eye and says “I wish I had never been born.”
You want control over women’s uteruses? Fine. Then wait at the entrance of same, catch the babies as they come out, and take them home and raise them for God’s sake. Be a parent, not a picketer.
Permanent adoption by radical pro-lifers is a better solution than being bounced around from foster home to group home to juvenile detention centers. We need solutions, not bleeding hearts. Join CASA, become a child advocate, a big brother, or a big sister. Holding a sign outside a clinic benefits no one but the sign holder.
Apparently I believe I should step away from the keyboard tonight since I’m not expressing myself very well. I’m adamantly pro-choice and what I was talking about in the above passage (obviously back-asswardly), was that the after part of a pregnancy is infinitely more important than any hypothetical belief (IE: that an something pre-sentient is a human) and that pro-lifers should put paid to their points of view. If you petition for changes in how our government acts accordingly to these issues, then you damn well should put in some work via adoption, directly effecting volunteer services, foster parenting, etc., etc. Also, those that wish to ban or limit abortion taut adoption as the supreme alternative to those who can’t have another/don’t want/whatever a child. That isn’t so. Perhaps, in some cases, the lesser of two evils, or in others, a wonderful solution, but it is by no means an across-the-board absolute positive.
I might’ve done better describing all this here. Hey, it’s a long post among more long posts in a long ass thread. Sorry and I hope that helps clarify my position.
I believe that cynicism and misanthropy are not hallmarks of an intelligent and distinctive mind - in fact, I count it more as a “fad” than anything else. It doesn’t make you more insightful or smarter - it just makes you more cynical/misanthropic. That’s all. (Heck, sometimes I’m tempted to think that miserable people do more harm to humanity at large than GWB. I’m also tempted at times to apply this statement to atheism, even though I’m closer to them ideologically than religious folk.)
I don’t believe that the modern world is any better or worse off, on either a global or human individual scale, than any other time in history, except perhaps in environmental matters. In all others… nope.
I believe that a majority of people who’ve declared that they want to move out of the country in the last six years really wouldn’t be much happer if they did.
Mystery novels should actually have a mystery to it that readers can solve from clues in the narrative before the ending. If they don’t, it’s not a mystery - it’s a crime drama or something else, but definitely not a mystery.
Then sister, please accept this apology from a nearly burned out social worker. I misunderstood your POV. I haven’t met a kid yet who I truly felt would be better off dead, but I have met hundreds of homeless teenagers who would have been better served by a permanent home with even the most radical sign-toting right-winged conservative. I plan to retire the day that I have an endless line of pro-lifers waiting to adopt troubled teens.
What do you mean by, “beyond all reasonable doubt.” That is the threshold for determining guilt in a criminal proceeding, but not necessarily a reasonable threshold for general purposes.
It is my opinion based on the evidence and statements from persons involved that all persons within the Jeep Grand Cherokee in question either tacitly or explicitly agreed to skip on the check.
The driver of the Jeep was Steve Smith. His story is, he left the restaurant to warm up the car, he says there was never any talk of skipping on the check that he was aware of, his claims are once the rest of his friends came out to the Jeep they told him to, “go,go,go” and he realized they were skipping on the check at this point. His excuse for this was, “he did not want to leave his friends stranded.” Smith says it was his understanding originally that Aaron Brown (the deceased) was going to pay the bill (the remainder) with his debit card.
Another passenger in the vehicle, Breklyn Paulitzky, explained that her and the fourth passenger, Aaron Daughtrey did not enter the IHOP until after their friends had ordered, so her and Aaron D. (not the deceased) did not order. She claims that when it was time to leave James (a fifth party member who left in his own vehicle and was not a witness to the shooting) left his share of the bill and Aaron Daughtrey left his share. Which is strange and contradictory since earlier in her statement she claims her and Aaron D. did not order any food at IHOP (and this ostensibly wouldn’t be paying a bill for food they didn’t eat.) However Breklyn may have been referring to Adam Daughtrey, Aaron’s brother who was also a passenger in the Jeep.
There were five persons in the jeep that fateful night. Stephen Smith (driver), Breklyn Paulitzky, Aaron Daughtrey, Adam Daughtrey, and Christopher Waters.
Smith claims he never intended to skip out on the check and that he was outside warming up the Jeep. He also reports that when his friends came out he was told to, “go,go,go” because they had not paid the check and were skipping on it.
Breklyn Paulitzky and Aaron Daughtrey did not order.
Adam Daughtrey did order and says he paid $10 on the bill and that Aaron Brown said he would pay the remainder with his debit card.
Christopher Walters attests that when he got up to leave the IHOP Brown said he would pay the remainder of the bill with his debit card.
We’ve got three persons who say Brown was going to pay the bill to some degree with his debit card. We then have Smith claiming that when his friends came out to the car they were all telling him to “go,go,go” because he had skipped out on the bill. We also have information from the Aaron Brown’s parents’ lawyer that there is no record of this payment being made with his debit card.
So if we assume that the other passengers weren’t lying, it looks very likely that Smith and Brown were the only two persons to skip out on the bill, and that Smith was in fact not doing so willingly but only because Brown was.
However, we do not know the veracity of the statements, and we probably never will.
In any case, all of the information in this post is in the official investiation of this incident which I have saved on my hard drive. The report was written by S. Randolph Sengel, Commonwealth’s Attorney (Case # O6109452.) I don’t have a web link for this report but I imagine it is not too difficult to find and would not be surprised if it is linked to in the thread in question.
OneCentStamp, I’m not going to quote what you said about me, but I wanted to thank you. Though of course you know this means now I have to try to act like a civilized human being once in a while, damnit.
Ah, I gotcha. And there’s truly no need to apologize. It’s all good in the pit. I hesitated to begin with in using “hypothetical,” but delusionally thought I could pull it out via explanation. I’m thinking that’s an assumption I should never make.
Regardless of my lack of coherency, I applaud your dedication as a social worker. Y’all honestly are one of those that should be admired and emulated. I’m sorry that you’re burned out though. It’s kind of like politics… anyone who is worthy of the profession either avoids it or loses the desire to continue aboard a sinking ship. Such a same. Oh, and I despite my feelings of what pro-lifers should do in answer to the aftermath of pregnancy, I’d never, ever want to see anyone that is radical adopting (or, even birthing, for that matter – I’m thrilled that I didn’t do it when I was a zealot) anyone. Certainly not any human that’s impressionable, like a baby or a troubled teen.
Verifiable, by more than one person and accepted by the court.
[Bolding mine.]
Whether based on your interpretation of what happened or not, it’s still just that. As far as what I can tell, way back in post #264 that “everyone in the car was skipping on the bill.” I contend that there’s no complete proof of that.
Changing stories. How can you believe that someone else (Aaron, the deceased) is paying the bill, yet be enticed by the folks in the car to “go, go, go,” implying a ditch? I’m not sure of that leap.
More of the same. However, how is it contradictory that this woman said they didn’t eat (once again, emphasis mine) and then further claim that she said differently by stating that they didn’t order anything at IHoP?
Has this ever been in contention?
Already stated, and addressed, with the first paragraph of this post.
So they’ve said. How does that jive with this opinion?
Then doesn’t this mean he DID pay? Or does it not count if you hand your money to someone else to go out for a smoke? Warm up the car (like many SOs do)? Whatever. If it doesn’t, then how should we judge him? On naivety? Should he do jail time? Is it just because we can’t prove it? What if we could? I really don’t get the cherry picking here.
That seems to validate some, which appears contrary to your thesis. Unless you believe what I just asked should be seen as a crime (passing the money on to someone else so, say, thirty people must not gather round a register) or that we should all get a receipt. What exactly do you proport?
Now again, the driver is the one who ultimately seems to be scapegoating everyone else the most. Regardless, I still don’t see how any of that translates to “everyone in the car” being guilty of “skipping on the bill.” As a matter of fact, it is just the opposite.
Ok. That would be the position I’d be most willing to take. So then, how is everyone responsible for things they didn’t do?
Yup, that’s what I’ve always contended, but the folks I’ve encountered here that have espoused the statements that you previously have, give ‘facts’ counter to this. Or at least, I feel they do just based upon your own summary.
I think it’s pretty obvious Aaron Brown skipped out on his meal, so I feel comfortable in calling him a pancake thief, and that’s that.
Everyone else in the car was fleeing from the police, so the me they were also responsible, I mean, the check was a group check after all, and they left knowing it wasn’t completely paid off when someone started yelling “go,go,go.”
We definitely know Brown never paid on his debit card, his parents lawyers attest to that, and none of his friends (why would they lie about their dead friend) saw him pay in cash.
What “court” would ever review this information? If you’re asking for “court accepted” proof then that’s very loaded, because you know damn well courts of law don’t try persons who are deceased, thus no court would have reason to accept or review any evidence in this matter against Aaron Brown.
Fine. I think that’s not really an important issue in light of his death OR future decisions on how security should enforce what happens on a defaulted check, but I see your right to feel that way.
Dude, than I hope your never in a position where someone else is driving and calls the shots. Like running a traffic light, with you as a passenger, and then not stopping with the police in pursuit. All the while you may claim vehemently that you told him to let you out, but how would we know? Especially if there’s conflicting stories on if you did so or not. Perhaps they’ll hold you to the same standard you believe in and charge you with evading arrest.
Again, I’m not disputing this and it is a verifiable fact. That has nothing to do whatsoever with what you claim should be the default (?) perception about the rest of the participants (?).
Again, that was kind of my point and folks further insisting upon “facts” that are really opinions they’ve derived from their own bias, doesn’t necessarily make it true. I only wish you’d more fully addressed what I’d said (about your contradictory claims against, mainly, Breklyn Paulitzky, and secondly, whether or not you’d hold yourself to the same judgment (IE: in regards to be an unwilling conspirator, for lack of a better word). Until you wish to prove or refute that, I suppose ending the hijack would only be the courteous course of action.
My controversial idea is that while capitalism is pretty good at dealing with scarce resources, it is absolutely fucking terrible for dealing with abundance. Markets are positive feedback systems. The brakes don’t come on until after whatever resource is being exploited has been depleted to the point where even the idiots can see that they’ve only got a short time to get out and find another way to make some cash before the stuff is gone.
Another problem is that crap like planned obscelescence of products makes sense. It’s counterproductive for manufacturers to make a really good product, because then they can’t sell you a new one next year. So, they make it just good enough to beat their competitors. Heck, Sony has actually admitted that they deliberately make their stuff to break.
Couple voracious appetite for new materials and negative incentives for conservation, and unless something is changed significantly we are going to burn through resource after resource and screw up the global environment even more than it already is. It’s a fundamental flaw in the system and as far as I can see cannot be changed without a huge amount of upheaval. Which of course means that nothing will be done until an even bigger amount of upheaval is inevitable. Sure, tech might save our asses a few times, but it’s not going to change the underlying problem with this outlook.
I’m just glad I’ll probably be fertilizer before it gets really bad.
Why? So expatriates can be taxed twice? If you live abroad you almost certainly have to pay taxes to the local government. Unless you’ve got loads of money to hire accountants to figure out all the loopholes, you are going to be paying taxes. Period.
For an American in Japan, it’s an either/or choice for the first couple of years—you can pay Japanese tax or you can pay US tax. Either way you’re paying somebody something. After two years of residency you MUST pay Japanese income taxes (you’ve already been paying the other residency, vehicle, sales, a pension fund that you’ll never be able to collect on, and other miscellaneous taxes all along). US income taxes are lower, and you can sometimes write-off the not inconsiderable expense of relocating overseas, so most people opt to pay Uncle Sam until they don’t have a choice anymore.
I have an income that’s slightly below average for someone with a 4 year degree, when you figure in the currency exchange. (Why am I here, then? It’s an opportunity cost). If I paid Japanese taxes and US taxes, I would be around the low-income/poverty level for either country since that would eat up around half my income, even before all the other direct and indirect taxes you get hit with. Cost of living even in the semi-sticks where I live now is about twice that of living in California, where I used to live. All in all, I have a lifestyle that’s not a whole lot more affluent than my student one.
Not all Americans living abroad are millionaires trying to avoid paying taxes. Tax dodgers are probably a tiny minority of expatriates. You, sir, can kiss my hairy ass.
I have it in my head that the USA is guilty of nothing, except being a success.
I think there are very wealthy people who want to homogenize all societies in order to line their own pockets, by way of ignorance and complacency.
I think the ones who want to line their own pockets, want America to become a third world country, like all the other countries they profit from.
I think the American press HATES the USA. The press WANTS to see the USA fall.
I think the average person in the world really has no idea who they are fucking with, they just listen to their leaders, and the press, press that COMES from the USA.
I think Americans are comfortable, complacent, and happy – the ones who want easy money HATE this, they can only profit from ignorant, needy people, so they would ADORE watching the USA fall. Like jackals after the kill. So there is a worldwide move afoot to HATE the USA.
George Bush is nothing more than a convenient idiot. Like most of the ones prior to him.
I think there is an organized move afoot to bring in people from the third world to degrade everything we have worked for, with no regard to our sovereignty, or laws or our way of life. (Hello – ! 17 million people hanging around with no real accountability!)
I think politicians are directly responsible, I think they are ALL on the take.
I DO NOT believe my vote counts.
I believe anyone who thinks his or her vote counts is deluded.
I think as long as Americans have no needs, the global pirates cannot profit. Create a need, and there IS profit! But not so much. (see: gas prices – American confidence takes a hit, prices get REAL low – in order to ensure an AWSOME Christmas season and an upswing in consumer confidence, face it – do you need “glad zip lock bags” or do you need “GAS” to get to work? GNP goes down, pirates get scared… AMAZING – gas is back to 2 bux a gallon! Imagine that!
I think the very rich want to pave the way for the USA to fall, in order to profit from her decay. They would LOVE to see the USA fall, so they would have a shot at the greatest country on the planet, and all it’s resources.
I think your average American doesn’t care about world events – because your average American doesn’t need to.
I think the average American youngster is pretty narrowly educated, and pretty stupid about the ways of the world. Mostly because their parents are. While they are expressing themselves, as all younger generations have for millennia, they are not being prepared for the actual fall they will face; they are being fed a line about what is right, and what is wrong. They will probably be worried, mostly about how their enemy FEELS as he kicks in their door, and be ill equipped to understand what is happening, as their families are led off to the killing fields. Lead like sheep to slaughter, without any thought to their own self-preservation, and no idea about how good things are here. They will have no idea. The “Gangsta” art and the tough talk life, and it’s art, won’t be shit against a soldier who has actual conviction, and when the whip comes down, they wont know what to do, because… you know they have always been taught to be nice. Nice is good, nice is right. “Can’t we all just get along?” Sure. Nice how you get executed. And when you’re dead - we get along just fine. This is bad. But it is reality. And the pirates know it.
I think people who think 9/11 was a conspiracy are great big stupid idiots, who are generally bereft of reality, and objective thought.
I think liberalism, in its current form, is nothing more than fascism, and a conduit for the death of the USA as we know it.
I think God does exist.
I think Hell does NOT exist. Hell is a useful tool to keep the ignorant in line.
I think evolution IS real. (That’s why they don’t give you penicillin any more -DUH!)
I think God did a great job when God came up with evolution.
I think the universe is consistent. Thus I believe in God.
I believe – Science IS god, and that Science brings us closer to God.
I think living more than 30% of your social life at the other end of a computer screen is really very truly SAD.
I think red meat is good, I think vegetarians are FREAKS.
I think Abortion is absolutely the right of the woman whose body is involved, should a woman feel that a child be brought forth without life – that is her cargo – no one else can be in her head, or her body, Especially the whole of society.
I think if gay people want to get “married” –FINE! Let them, why not? I think getting hung up on the semantics of a word is fucking stupid!
I think guns should NEVER be regulated. No one needs to know if you have one or do not. It keeps the Government honest, and it keeps the “pirates” away from our country – and seriously, any one who has ever lived in a country where guns are illegal KNOWS damn well (sigh) only outlaws have guns, and that includes the POLICE.
Sorry and I hope that helps clarify my position.
