OK, The Prez is talking thousands of new jobs. Doing what? Well, infrastructure. Who is going to pay? The govt will.
So now they are bailing out tons of banks so they can lend me money that I gave the government (in increased taxes and "fees" in the first place AND I have to pay interest on it.
I would not give a plugged nickel for any of the politicians. After elected, do they do anything other than hold fundraisers for their re-election?
Not to lump all poiticians into one group, but do they ever give ANY consideration to how a new plan is supposed to be funded and run? Immigration reform. How about land mines? Tiger Traps with punji sticks if you hate the mines. That should slow the border flow.
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186,000 mps. Not just a good idea, it's the law.
This really blew my mind, the fact that me, an overfed, long-haired leaping gnome should be the star of a Hollywood movie
Not only do I think him to be the best combination of Jimmy Carters foreign policy and Reagan's ability to galvanize people into some action, but I think him to be the best politician ever. Being the first African American Statesman to ascend to the Highest office in the Free World is probably going to be untouchable in that regard.
i really do believe that the Arab Israeli Conflict will FINALLY end soon. Probably in his 2nd term. Yes he will be re-elected and by a landslide.
I usually loathe politicians especially from overly liberal backgrounds, but I think he is a centrist at heart.
If he manages 10% of his campaign promises in his first term it will be a miracle.
If he can manage a two-state solution in his first term....well thats some mean feat.
I also suspect that he will manage to do some great things with the 2 Koreas.
that last post makes you a douche. Needlessly trashing on a noob. At least TRY and be nice for a little while.
You notice that I only pick on you, Superscribe, Jeff, whtouche, and the rest of the SuperInternet Macho Poontang Squad because you've been here awhile.... and you deserve it. You know that spells SIMPS right?
It's always good to be nice to the noobs.
FF
PS: I believe he's trying hard to bring peace to the middle east thru diplomacy which is how I draw the line to Carter. And no one since Reagan has had as much clout with the avarage joe as Obama has.
So now they are bailing out tons of banks so they can lend me money that I gave the government (in increased taxes and "fees" in the first place AND I have to pay interest on it.
Redistribution, ftw.
Quote:
I would not give a plugged nickel for any of the politicians. After elected, do they do anything other than hold fundraisers for their re-election?
I think there are some politicians out there... particularly those just starting, who truly want to do good. I think the system just jades them so badly.
I also think it's quite healthy to remember that politicians are politicians first, and a part of a party second. Certain things cross party lines, and it never seems to be the things that it should be...
Quote:
Not to lump all poiticians into one group, but do they ever give ANY consideration to how a new plan is supposed to be funded and run? Immigration reform. How about land mines? Tiger Traps with punji sticks if you hate the mines. That should slow the border flow.
Firstly, no. Far before even this administration we like to spend lots of money we don't have. The way the government has been run is actually pretty representative of the mess that it's people were in actually. Too many people spending too much money they didn't have (I of course don't think that was the sole problem, but definitely a contributing factor).
I think the problem is that government wants to match or seem like it's matching government programs on a scale such as many European countries have. The problem being, we don't want our taxes that high, and you can't really have one without the other. You either have
lower taxes -> less government involvement -> people more self-reliant or
higher taxes -> more government involvement -> people more government reliant.
It's two valid systems both with pros and cons, and most countries tend to strike a balance between the two (I personally tend towards the former of the two, but that's just me, and that's a whole different discussion)... the problem is we're wanting the more government involvement part without the higher taxes part, and that just isn't going to work.
As far as immigration is concerned, as one who's dealt with the system quite a bit, my personal opinion is that I'm very firm against illegal immigration. Thinking of all the trouble I went through to do it right, it makes me pretty angry when I see them passing laws and starting policies that give a free lunch to the bums who didn't put the work into it we did. It is hard, but it's not impossible.
That being said, again as one who's been involved, our system badly needs attention. I had a hard enough time wading through the paperwork as a native English-speaking American... I can't imagine trying to sort through all of it not even speaking legal-government-speak-English well. Approval times are ridiculously long, and most of the work is all redundant and could easily be streamlined. Sometimes the hardest part was simply finding information on what we need to do in order to DO things properly! Don't get me wrong... you don't want the system too lax either else you start letting those people in who should not be in. But it is ridiculously complicated and difficult at this point, IMNSHO.
that last post makes you a douche. Needlessly trashing on a noob. At least TRY and be nice for a little while.
You notice that I only pick on you, Superscribe, Jeff, whtouche, and the rest of the SuperInternet Macho Poontang Squad because you've been here awhile.... and you deserve it. You know that spells SIMPS right?
It's always good to be nice to the noobs.
FF
PS: I believe he's trying hard to bring peace to the middle east thru diplomacy which is how I draw the line to Carter. And no one since Reagan has had as much clout with the avarage joe as Obama has.
Have the common decency to remove yourself from the gene pool please.
As far as immigration is concerned, as one who's dealt with the system quite a bit, my personal opinion is that I'm very firm against illegal immigration. Thinking of all the trouble I went through to do it right, it makes me pretty angry when I see them passing laws and starting policies that give a free lunch to the bums who didn't put the work into it we did. It is hard, but it's not impossible.
I totally agree. I grew up in the business doing business immigration. I have done over 500 H1's and then H2's H3's,, L's, TN's, National Interest Waivers.
I am happy to see people following the rules. But you know what? English is the language of this country. When my grandparents came over they did not speak a lick of English. Did they expect everyone to speak Hungarian? No, they learned english. Why do we change school classes to be taught in Spanish? Why are signs available in various Asian languages, Spanish, etc. I remember when I worked in aerospace job candidates coming in with a translator to do the application. As my local radio station says, "it is the continued wussification of America."
Am I racist, no (insert the some of my best friends are,,,here) But why do we need to change the rules for everyone? If you go to Germany, France, Japan, do they expect you to learn the local lingo? Heck yes. When I was an expat in France and Switzerland, did I have to speak french, he!! yes.
Too bad this isn't Sunday so I could go to Hyde Park and get on my soapbox with all the other (note* Loonies has been redacted from the previous sentence)
I am all for legal immigration, but this pouring over the border, running up here to San Diego whilst in labor so the child is an American citizen, and oh, BTW no insurance. Who is paying for it? The sky on my planet is a lovely shade of blue
__________________
186,000 mps. Not just a good idea, it's the law.
This really blew my mind, the fact that me, an overfed, long-haired leaping gnome should be the star of a Hollywood movie
Last edited by Greybeard; 06-09-2009 at 01:03 PM..
"is "the study of, or belief in, the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics)."
give it a try
__________________
Life is like being in the public swimming pool at times, you just never know what you'll encounter...
"is "the study of, or belief in, the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics)."
give it a try
The above was so stupid I actually laughed out loud then facepalmed. Let us know when you get out of middleschool.
I am happy to see people following the rules. But you know what? English is the language of this country. When my grandparents came over they did not speak a lick of English. Did they expect everyone to speak Hungarian? No, they learned english. Why do we change school classes to be taught in Spanish? Why are signs available in various Asian languages, Spanish, etc. I remember when I worked in aerospace job candidates coming in with a translator to do the application. As my local radio station says, "it is the continued wussification of America."
I absolutely agree. I'm not saying that people should not have to speak English... but I think there's a big difference between speaking practical English and a level of English that can decipher the government-speak of USCIS. There are those out there who speak a functional level of English, but would have a hard time with USCIS. Hell, sometimes I had a hard enough time trying to figure out what they were saying.
I don't really see how this problem could be alleviated however... government forms and instructions in plain English would just be... scary.
At any rate, the biggest problems with it is more 1) The availability of help and information on how to proceed and 2) The redundancy and as such 3) The wait times and cost (both I believe which mostly spread from the redundancy).
I know, personally, we must have sent in the same papers at least twice, usually more like 3 or 4 times since you are dealing with different organizations that don't share information. Also, the cost can be crippling. All in all, we've spent about $2k so far on the visa stuff alone. $750 for K-1 (I think), then after the marriage $1k for her status adjustment. This is including all of the minor medical fees, visa fees, blah blah blah, which I'm sure put the figure over the $2k mark.
I do know it is overly difficult, for many reasons, for the average Joe (or the average Pierre, Ivan, or whatever other country they are coming from ) to wade through the visa process and do things the right way. Difficult legal process + Relatively little backlash from illegally doing it = more illegals. Make the process easier, make the backlash more severe (or at least don't enable it) and you reduce the problem. Again, I by no means condone illegal entry... in fact it pisses me off... but when trying to come up with a viable solution, it needs to be looked at. There needs to be FAR more info out there on how to go about getting a visa and it's process, lowered costs, and simplified paperwork with more cooperation and reduced redundancy within the bureaucracy.
$.02
Anecdotally, when we were applying, we were 100% lost. I could not really afford a lawyer, there was no number or anyone I could call to find out what we would need to apply for and to state clearly what the following steps and procedures would be. It took a lot of Googling (hours upon hours) to find out what we were really supposed to do, how to go about doing it, how long it would take, blah blah. This is the biggest part that needs to change, IMO. If people don't even know where to start, they won't bother finding out when they can just hop the fence.
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"I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it."
Last edited by I_luv_saber; 06-09-2009 at 03:38 PM..
I saw this on a blog regarding Universal Health Care and having everyone pay: “Don't tax me to support the bad habits of lazy people.”
I don't find that particularly clever, enlightening, or brief enough to be a rallying cry against universal health care. I don't see why that's worth noting.
I am going to assume you are on a health plan, either employer provided or your own. Do you think the other people paying into that plan appreciate paying for your bad brain habits, because you are (according to that quotation) too lazy to pay for it yourself out of pocket?
I saw this on a blog regarding Universal Health Care and having everyone pay:
“Don't tax me to support the bad habits of lazy people.”
I don't find that particularly clever, enlightening, or brief enough to be a rallying cry against universal health care. I don't see why that's worth noting.
I am going to assume you are on a health plan, either employer provided or your own. Do you think the other people paying into that plan appreciate paying for your bad brain habits, because you are (according to that quotation) too lazy to pay for it yourself out of pocket?
Seriously GB of all the people here I would think that you'd understand how collective coverage actually benefits everyone.
This is why I'm so hesitant about universal coverage. Besides the fact that I'm having a hard time accepting that healthcare is a universal right, I wonder, if we actually get universal healthcare coverage in this country, how soon after the government is in trouble and needs to cut costs will the "let's not cover the lazy fatties" group gain momentum. And since private healthcare will be even more ridiculously expensive, then where do they go?
Or they'll end up costing the system more because preventitive care won't be given to an individual (gastric bypass, alcoholism counseling, shoe inserts), but we'll end up treating the symptom (quadruple byass, liver transplants, knee surgery).
I would normally be as ambivalent about universal healthcare as I am about every other giant government initiative. However, given my experiences with the recent success that the VA has had in health care, I am fairly confident that universal health care is ready for the big show.
Yes I do have coverage. In fact I am certified in international and domestic compensation and benefits, Mrs GB is certifed in Compensation and Benefits and is the director of benefits for her company and is the most amazing benefits person I have ever met. And I am not saying that because I get to sleep with her, but I digress.
I am paying plenty for my healthcare. And I managed to hit the annual out of pocket max in one day with my seizure in January. So that was a quick $2k. Nothing that I could have done would have prevented the aneurysm from forming and popping or my seizures for that matter. I have epilepsy as it turns out. But I digress again. It seems to me that in the countries where I have worked with a socialized medical program everyone hates it. When I set up shop in the UK we could not hire engineers until we created a "top up" program that duplicated the US plan as close as can be. When I opened an office in Toronto recently the gentlemen we hired on as Managing Director said we needed a seperate plan over the national health and an RRSP retirement plan.
What I am saying is that I don't want to see my options limited. I don't want to pay for the people that work the system. Look how much welfare fraud there is. Recently a woman was arrested for collecting it in 4 states. IL, WI, MN,IA. she just drove in, got her check, cashed it and drove to the next state. That's appalling. I work hard, why should I pay for her benefits?
As for the fact that Mr. Obama is the first African American to hold the office of president. Why does it always have to be about that? What is all this African American, Hispanic American, Italian American, Jewish American stuff. How about American? Oh, and for the record, Judaism is a religion not a nationality.
How about the fact that he is leading us down the road to being a socialist country? It's his politics I don't like. Was Mr. Bush the best president, not by a long shot. Jeeze, why anyone would want that role is beyond me. However, I respect them for taking the job and trying. Having just contradicted myself I now have to quote the sage Linus Van Pelt. "Never discuss religion, politics, or the Great Pumpkin. Let's just shut up and fence. :-)
__________________
186,000 mps. Not just a good idea, it's the law.
This really blew my mind, the fact that me, an overfed, long-haired leaping gnome should be the star of a Hollywood movie
Last edited by Greybeard; 06-11-2009 at 02:09 AM..
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