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- for Juliet and all my deans circle rat friends.
- Enjoy
- Twenty Ten by Lloyd Marcus
- The Rat Pack is Back but where is Rac?
- my big boy got married
- Paul is really.. The Mad Hatter !!
- Party!!
- A view from the Village Hotel in Ponhpei
- Nom Madol in Kosrae
- winter wonderland in sw florida...brrrrrrr
- Happy New Year.. Circle Rats
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Jan
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The Dean's Circle Gang
- Allan Amor
- Becki
- CJGuam
- Chew Bird
- Chris
- Cindy
- Clay
- DanL
- Dave
- David Waite
- Desi
- Doug
- Doug
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- King
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- Pat
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- Renee
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- Valiza
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- fastjimmy61
- illustrationISM....
- jinny
- juliet
- mat
- rac
- tophersguam
- ~dana
38 comments:
Sorry folks, but it's been a while since we've had a good squabble about politics. Plus I figure it should draw rac out of hiding.
"Squabble"?!
I prefer to view it as spirited discourse. We celebrate our First Amendment freedoms by pissing each other off.
Well you know Dave, this BLOG just isn’t the same any more without DRL or Matheeeew the mad man Kalb (my mentor)! And Doug, if you want to see people piss each other off…how about lets bring them back! ;) Nice video Dave! It must upset the Libs that a black American is such a Conservative.
Ric,
I never made Matt go away. It unfortunately is beyond my capabilities to make him come back.
I do miss him.
I saw Lloyd perform live at the 9.12 event in DC last year.
Who will join me in DC this April 15th? Let's make it 2 Million this time!
I saw Lloyd perform live at the 9.12 event in DC last year.
Who will join me in DC this April 15th? Let's make it 2 Million this time!
Sean, buy my plane ticket, I'm there.
no, never mind, hate flying now.scared of
the bad guys.
wasn't impressed with youre video Dave. It's always negative with you and I'm pretty sure you aren't that. love ya anyway!
PS. I won't be marching with sean against our president of the united states.
I won't be marching against the president, but rather for liberty. For smaller government, adherence to our constitution which limits federal powers, for an end to wealth redistribution - whether on an individual, class or state level - and accountability from our elected leaders.
and, it isn't just the current president who needs to hear us. I've got a message for Nancy and Harry also.
Sean,
just for the sake of discussion, what particular "wealth distribution" do you feel should be ended?
As to the issue of accountability, I was under the impression that this was what regularly scheduled popular elections were for.
Don't get me wrong. I am not being flippant. March on the Capitol. If it makes The Man squirm I'm all for it.
Sorry Pat, you are hard to impress. I'll have to find something more to your taste..
Than you David. I would appreciate that. :)
thank
Sean, I'm sorry I had to delete you from facebook. I couldn't take the blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda.
I am heartbroken to be defriended by Pat.
But, oh so uplifted, motivated and confident after that rousing speech from Obama. He really explained how loosing my healthcare rights is good for me. How bankers are evil men who should be punitively taxed. How even if you don't believe in the falsified climate change "science" you must still believe in the crippling cap and trade scheme.
Yes, I feel much better today.
Doug - taxing some and not others is bad enough. Taxing some to provide benefits to others is redistribution, wouldn't you say? The same things happens on the state levels. It goes into a federal pool so congress can redistribute it. These are not programs to provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare - it is overstepping the limits placed on the federal government by our constitution.
I did not watch the address, chose to watch a ball game instead. Thank God for ESPN.
It is something of a fallacy to say that some in our society are not taxed. It would be a very rare individual indeed that managed to completely wriggle free of the dragnet that is Federal, State & Municipal taxes. Be it Sales, Property, Income or any of the other myriad ways our governments have in siphoning off private wealth into their gaping maw.
..."Taxing others to provide benefits to others"...
Well, there's the rub now isn't it. Where do we draw the line? What exactly falls under promoting the general welfare?
I personally don't find much pleasure in:
My money going to fund someone else's grandparents' medical care (Medicaire).
My money going to fund health care for those either unwilling or unable to pay for their own.
My money funding the feeding, education & housing of the unwashed, lower income masses.
My money going to fund the local homeless shelter:
My money going to fund roads, bridges & highways in other states.
Among many others. I think you get the point.
But I do. Not only because I don't have much choice but also because I realize that this is the price we pay for living in a society. I don't much care for the prospect of living in a culture with no safety net. May as well to Belize if we're going to do that. Better weather and duty free liquor.
roughly half of Americans do not pay any federal income tax. Yes, I know that social security and medicare are really taxes...
"Promote the general welfare" has become "bankroll everyone's happiness" and that simply isn't in the enumerated powers of the federal government. Besides, the "general welfare" words aren't even in the constitution but rather the preamble/introduction. This say "why" we have a constitution, the actual powers are specifically enumerated in the constitution and amendments that followed.
"...roughly half of Americans do not pay any federal income tax...."
Well in some ways that's a better percentage than Corporate America. A GAO accounting in 2006 showed that 57% of US Corporations avoided paying ANY Federal Income taxes for at least one year in the 1998-2005 time period. These are companies with assets of at least $250 million. As one of the 50% or so of the population that does pay Income Tax (fairly substantial I might add) let me just say that I have not enjoyed that type of largesse. Ever.
Taxes were avoided through Tax credits, operating losses and the shifting of income to lower tax rate countries.
Federal Income Tax is obviously not the only way the people are taxed. Property tax, State Income tax, User fees, Doc stamps and it goes on and on. Gas up the car. Pay Uncle Sam. Pack of smokes, pay Uncle Sam. A number of states tax people for food and medicine for Chris'sake.
Just because the working poor do not pay Federal Income Tax does not mean that they do not bear part of the tax burden.
There is a huge difference in progressive income tax that is not applied equally to all (i.e. it has a progressive rate) and a tax on gas, smokes or alcohol that anyone buying those goods will pay equally.
The working poor are poor *because* of the progressive tax and entitlements, not despite them. We have allowed the feds to take responsibility from individuals in this process.
Now, your emotions might say this is great because we have a social net to protect people. But, really the loss of responsibility results in a loss of freedom - for all of us, not just the recipients.
Oh, so there were no working poor before the advent of the progressive tax and entitlements?
And I can assure you that my emotions have little to do with my thoughts on this matter. My motivation is actually quite selfish. I would prefer to not live in a society where the less fortunate (however they came into that predicament) are not publicly thrown on the scrap heap of Mt. Everymanforhimself. It can make for awkward & unpleasant interaction between the classes.
Think Haiti.
It sounds like you are saying that government can solve these peoples problems. I think not.
Think Haiti.
Are Haitians inherently less capable or inferior? no way. Is there government and perhaps culture inferior? Obviously. The American system has created the most innovation, wealth, prosperity and opportunity of any system ever in history. This has created some very rich people, sure, but in the end we have all benefited from this. In fact, the entire world has benefited from this.
The promise of America is not "come here and we'll take care of you", but rather "we have the best system with the most opportunities, if you are motivated and disciplined to take advantage of them".
Look at California. This state was settled by people with probably less than nothing, with no "safety net" to catch them but with an opportunity. Come to California for the gold rush. How did the stock of the 49ers ever devolve into the snivling, crybabies that currently seem to infest that state? Do you think this country (or our species) would ever have gotten this far if Nancy Pelosi was the model for success?
Sean, you should be.
hey, they get to legally buy pot in California. Damn right they're happy!!
Sean, Pelosi, Speaker Of The House is successful, particularly by your standards of financial evaluation and California was ranked economically as the seventh larges world economy in 2008, but the USA and our capitalistic banking and investment practices along with Bush's bogus wars were able to bring down all the world economies.But I guess the architects of that agenda would be considered successful individuals by you because they made a lot of money. BTW You would be considered a loser by them.
Juliet, if you define bankruptcy as success, then I guess you are right.
and, kudos on find yet another way to call someone names.
The point is you define success by how much money you can squirrel away in your pocket free from government taxation. Lots of money was made and is still being made by a privileged few from this prolonged recession. I want to point out that compared to the people with real wealth we are losers in the money game. A million or a few hundred thousand is nothing but pocket change.
I don't think that's my point at all.
My point is that government's role is not so take care of us. The president doesn't take an oath to feed and cloth the people. He doesn't take an oath to ensure everyone gets a piece of the pie. He swears and oath to protect and defend the constitution. THAT is enough. The US constitution is more than sufficient to provide the conditions for individuals to thrive and succeed. It is still up to we the people to ensure our success.
There are many millionaires in the US and even billionaires. These are not pre-ordained because of royal bloodlines. Nor are the working poor prohibited from achieving this success for their lack of royal blood. This is the essence of America. We are created equal. How we fail or succeed is up to us.
Wow that was heavy. I agree Sean, how we fail and succeed is mostly up to us. Although you can't forget those who just get a bad break.I didn't read anything in Juliets posts "name calling".
Who hasn't had a bad break?
Sorry Pat, I too just ZAPPED you off my facebook. Thought we could all just get along and respect one another’s opinions! But hey, we can still dig jabs at each other on the DC Blog!
I feel sorta sorry about that. But really, Do you think I care?
Nope.
I just love the way politics brings people together. Just like the way the current administration is finally uniting the country.
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