Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler OT: politics

One assumption ? First, about President Bush (and with precisely zero facts about him to back up your attack on him) you said he was "cocky, know it all, never wrong, financially strong, bully everyone" ... "with a silver spoon in his mouth his whole life" ... then "stumbled from deal to deal with smiles, promises and handshakes" ... and five more insults followed.

You then said I was "more like Dubya than you are like me" and "which is why we have very opposite opinions." You were very clearly attempting to state that I must also have all those detriments you apply to our president. You also don't know WHAT my opinion of George W. Bush is.

From where I sit, between President Bush, whom you have never met, and me, who you know VERY little about, you made fourteen assumptions.

You also started down this attack road of yours by telling me "I was fooling myself" ... which means you called me a fool. I responded by stating you post was a statement about your intelligence. Again, as I stated earlier, ALL posts are a statement about one's intelligence. IT was ironic that YOU made the assumption (#15) that I was citing your LACK of intelligence.

For the record, you are not the first person I have met either in person or on forums who has compared me to others they know with "Daddy's" money ... and you will note I am not comparing you to them. I am merely reading your precise words, and responding accordingly.

But ... If it is now your position that you meant nothing in the way of an attack on me, ok.

Ahem

Your point is ?

>>Your point is ?

... that there are some GREAT cartoons at that link and that we should all go page through them for a while instead of getting into a pissing contest about something as depressingly ambiguous as politics.

I guess that makes me an Eagle Scout

Bridgman, I DO appreciate your wanting to bring some humor into this, and normally I like to do the same. But there are certain people here who love to make insults, then act innocent. I literally had posted facts about Dick Cheney and George W. Bush ... and BigJohn said I was "fooling myself"

With politicians from both sides, people could draw all sorts of conclusions. For example, Al Gore owns 88 acres of pastureland in Tenessee for which he has been given over $500,000 from Occidental Oil for mineral rights. The Gore family was given this tract of land shortly after Al Gore Sr., in 1971, had seen to it Occidental had gotten a 47,000 parcel of Federal property literally given to them by the Govt.

Later, Al Gore Sr. took a $500K per year job with Occidental, and Jr. has made the $500K in royalties, and the stock is worth $1 million. Not bad for zero investment.

Then there is the Kerry/Heinz Family, who pay about 12% of their income in federal taxes ...($600,000 last year on $5 million in income ... all through tax loopholes)

YEP - Politicians take advantage of a LOT of largess ... But we just don't see the "right" leaning guys pointing out the same type of examples that the "left" leaning guys do. I have also noted, in my life experience, that people tend to act in their own selfish interests. Employees, Employers, Unions, Management ... etc... I have ALSO noticed people tend to pick a particular point of view, and that is IT.

Does President Bush get the most he can from the circumstances as provided ? Yep. So does everyone else ... Afterall, I don't see too many lottery winners deciding they are "getting more than their fair share", and turning the ticket back in.

Anyway, I was merely posting facts, when BigJohn took it upon himself to post what he did. I was not typing anything about him ... but, according to him, Spiff, and PM ... HE is allowed to say ANYTHING he wants ... and that is GREAT. If I respond ... That is uncivil.

Hmmmm...I remembered this thread being fun...why is it that only the bad parts seem to be coming back? Can we please just call it a miscommunication and move on.....things come across differently when looking at the written word. Meaning is harder to get across sometimes without the inflection of the words being spoken. Let's get back to the politics part of the thread and if there is a question of was something meant to be an insult, assume it isn't unless there is just no other way it could be taken. Just my 2 cents.

Zarak - For my part, there is no anger here. Just trying to stick to factual presentations ... sans name calling.

>>there are certain people here who love to make insults, then act innocent. I literally had posted facts about Dick Cheney and George W. Bush

Yeah... I couldn't bear to page back through the thread so I didn't even find out how it started, I just saw more people piling on, saw the thread degenerating into a brawl, and none of the people seemed to be having a particularly good time

Bridgman ... Politics are rarely fun, unless you are watching "The Daily Show"

While people argue over which guy is more corrupt, or bullying ... or any one of the myriad of the names one wishes to apply, freedoms are eroded. Example:

Amercians spent 6.6 BILLION hours doing their 2004 taxes at a cost of over $300 BILLION dollars. 6.6 BILLION hours is the entire lifetime of 11,000 70 year olds. Source is the IRS.

This 300 Billion dollars is almost the entire Deficit projected next year ... NOW, add into this the $3 TRILLION underground economy ... which pays NO Tax (It would be appx $750 BILLION in tax Revenues) ... and the $6 trillion tied up in tax free funds which generate $500 BILLION in income for the super rich on which THEY pay no tax ... (it would be another $175 BILLION in revenues) ... and suddenly it becomes pretty easy to understand why the National Sales Tax makes sense for PEOPLE ... though not for POLITICIANS ... The #1 STRANGLEHOLD Washington has on us IS the IRS.

Under the National sales tax, at 23% ... All FICA taxes (15.7 %) AND all income taxes would be gone ... NO tax returns to fill out.

For the poor, They get $300 per month from the Govt., and Food is exempt. In other words, the Single mom making $2000 per month and paying $500 in taxes now, netting $1500 gets to KEEP the whole $2000 ... PLUS she gets $300. She now has $2300.

Let's say she buys $500 worth of food ... under the current system, she now has $1000 left for everything else. Under this new system, she has $1800 left ... IF she spends the entire $1000 under the current system, she would, under the NST, spend $1230. This means she would have an EXTRA $570. EVERY MONTH.

In the meantime - The drug dealers, prostitutes, Muni Bond Holders, and everyone else who is getting a free ride is now paying into the system.

Anyone wish to chat about how to get both Democrats AND Republicans off our backs AND out of our houses ?

so to paraphrase craig polititions suck! j/k seriously though craig the national sales tax thing is pretty cool but how would they monitor it so many companies skirt sales tax as it is now? and would that apply to internet sales as well? also the national sales tax thing kind of reminds me of that idea of no car insurance just put a $1 to $3 insurance tax on gas and figure if you use more gas you travel more or at higher speeds and therefore are more of a liability.there are definatly better ways but the people let the polititions get a way with it.it wont change until we (americans not axiom owners) change it!just out of curiousity as a general question how is a state like texas can have no state income tax? where do they make up the difference? anywho just my two pennies.
Jake