Guard Dog

Well, I was hoping at least one thread on US politics could avoid Iraq. But, as Laozi put it, I was kidding myself. Pop, Teeth, explain this one to me. Why is it then that after seven months not only have the Dems not ended the war, it has escalated? And they voted to approve it. Oh yes there have been a number of bills to withdraw the troops. Those are of course worthless because the legislature cannot compel the executive to do anything in this manner. Even if the bills did pass which to date they have not. If the Dems really wanted to end the war all they need to do is vote down even one special appropriations bill that pays for it. No money no war and we would begin an immediate withdrawl. But every one has passed handily. Here is the reason why. And this is important so follow me on this one. If I waved a magic wand and put Obama in the White House today, and left the Dems in control of congress, the war would still not end. The reason is simple. If the US pulls out now Iraq will destabilize. The Shia will slaughter the Sunnis in horrifying numbers and there will be a real civil war. The death toll will be staggaring and in the end, the Shias backed by Iran will prevail. That would give Iran de facto control of 26% of the worlds oil. It would make a potentially dangerous enemy into a real threat. And of course it will create another war to be fought 10 years or so down the road. The dems know this. They are NOT stupid. And they know that history would blame them for pulling out even though Bush started the war. Nobody with half a brain will say that the Iraq war was a good thing or the right thing to do. But however right or wrong it was changes nothing about the current situation. There are two ways it can end, victory (where Iraq is stable and independent of it's neighbors), Or defeat (where it becomes another Iran, or worse Afghanistan pre 2001). I posted right here in thes very forum that the Dems taking control of Congress would not change much. So far, I have been right.

Oh you are not far off there. And you have heard me say as much around here. The pay raise does not piss me off half so much as the tax hike. Or the fact that one follows the other. When I'm getting screwed I'd rather they not be so open about it.

I'm liking this more and more as info comes out about it. Not that there was a chance I would not buy it anyway just for the new modding material alone. I hope they are cooking up a follow up expansion as well. This game desrves at least two.

Finally!!! Humor!!! Thank you Kaftan!

Heck, Bin Laden and Zarqawi cite the Crusades on every other propaganda/rant video tape they put out. That was over 900 years ago. And by the way Yushaa, the US had NOTHING to do with that. You can't blame us for that one. Besides, it's not like the followers of the "jihad" hate doctrine only target the US. In Bali it was just non Muslims in a night club. Australians mainly. England has been hit several times now. Spain has been hit three times in the last four years. And the terrorists there cited the reconquista as a reason. That was like 1491 for crying out loud (by the way the US had nothing to do with that one either). Germany and France have had violent riots when Muslims there did not get their way over something stupidly trivial. They hate the Danes over a newspaper cartoon. The Taliban hated the Chinese and there were a number of "border incidents" mainly consisting of Chinese being attacked. The Russians have been hit many times even back during the days of the USSR. India and Pakistan are mortal enemies. In the Philippines (particularly Mindanao) the Muslim guerrillas there kill non Muslims on sight. Sounds to me like Muslim hate is not reserved for America alone. It is directed at anything not Muslim.

Superbowl titles aside, that is quite a legacy on it's own.

Best rant in a long time! You gotta love Duckman.

Well if Tale and Kaftan cannot salvage this thread with a little bit of humor then it is doomed! Just as well. I get the sense Yuusha has no sense of humor and this whole topic is dead meat the moment Meta or Fio sees it anyway.

Not to make light of this, becuse it really sucks, but at least they did not use a key, or a nail. This sounds a little like an ex-boyfriend at work here. Granted I do not know the circumstances but I would be really surprised if it was just generic racisim. My guess is whoever did it knows you, her, or both.

That is one dangerous business. I don't think I've ever read the headline "All trapped miners rescued". Let's hope for a different outcome this time.

Percentage of Americans who care what Yuusha thinks: 0% Percentage of Obsidian posters who hope he comes up with a better topic next time: 95%

Dont you love it when you are eating with someone who was "dieting" and they order a healthy salad and drown in in real dressing? Or pizza with a diet soda? Too funny.

And that is my new sig!

I've got to admit, there are WAY to many + sizes running around here. What can you expect from the country that invented the Big Mac. Salad dressing AND mayo on a burger? Jeez, no wonder the leading cause of death among males here is heart disease.

Torture and Tyranny, the Real Che Mass Murderer and Cultural Icon The Bitter Truth About Che

Such as? the income tax being considered stealing. That's an opinion that you stated as a fact. I compared income tax to theft using a very clever and appropriate analogy. I did not equivocally state "income tax is theft". Taks did that. I just made an argument supporting his assertion.

The ususal. Torture, mutilation, summary excecution. The was the commandant of La Caba

Thats a great idea guys. Maybe you could even hand out medals to the winners. And put the whole thing on TV. Too bad no one in the US will watch though. Except me!

I think they specified that because it was on the BBC website.

The income tax is a federal tax. It goes to the federal govenment. It uses that money to fund the military, space program, homeland security, there are thousands of programs. National Parks, HUD, Welfare, FCC, FAA, TSA, resource explorations, the list goes on and on.

Article Link: Link Lady Crimson will hate me for this but.... Cats are EVIL! I kid of course. Just for a laugh, can you imagine if you worked in that nursing home and one day while eating lunch the cat came and curled up next to YOU?

When I was in the Marines I could usually do it in 6 min or a little less. On my PFTs I was always around 18 min for the 3 mile run. I once got a 300 PFT after drinking all night the night before. I was VERY proud of that. Now? I could run a mile. Maybe.

Now that is a BIG question. This could easily become a very long post, so I'll try to keep it short. The first thing you need to understand is that the US and Europe are very different in political makeup. In most European countries there is little to no disparity between government at the local and national levels. In the US, Local, State, and Federal governments operate almost independent of each other. The reason is the each level serves different functions. For example, police are paid for and managed at the local level (meaning county, parish, city). Road and highway construction is paid for and managed at the State level. The military, homeland security, natural resource management, etc are run at the federal level. There are many others obviously but you get the idea. The federal government collects taxes in a number of ways. The main way is by taxing income. Every paycheck they take out a percentage. The tax is progressive so the more you earn, the higher the percentage they take. Corporate income is taxed in a similar way but it uses a marginal tax rate rather than a progressive one. The federal government also taxes profits on investments. This is called a Capital Gains Tax (and IMHO is evil and unconstitutional). Another way the Federal government taxes is through excise taxes. These appear as surcharges on gasoline, ammunition, phone bills, cable bills, etc. The tax is not levied on the citizens but on the companies who provide the services. Of course, those companies pass the cost down to the end user so the citizens end up paying. Another is the "Transfer Tax" or as we call it the "Death Tax". If I were to die today and my estate is worth over a certain amount (not sure what the figure is these days) the Federal Government would seize half of it as a "Transfer Tax" before my heirs could even file a probate claim. The Federal Government is also funded in other ways but these are the main ways taxes paid to the federal level. Each State taxes differently. Some tax income, some property, all use sales taxes and excise taxes. Some (like New York for example) use all of them. In Florida we have a 6% statewide sales tax on all non essential purchases. So if I buy a 6 pack of Rolling Rock for $6, the total charge will be $6.36 (unless there is a local sales tax, more on that in a moment). Now that 6 pack does not actually cost $6 by itself. It also included a 3% excise tax on the distributor, who also paid another excise tax on the gas he used to deliver it to the store. He passed all of those costs on to the store owner who passed them on to me by setting the cost at $6. That is what we fiscal libertarians call "double dipping". But I digress. Florida also collects money via a number of other fees such as hotel bed taxes, business licensing fees, hunting and fishing licenses, vehicle tags, etc. It is really a long list. The last way the state collects revenue is by property tax. Every year I get a bill from the county for an Ad Valorem assessment based on what they think the value of my house is. Last year the bill was $4150.00. That money goes mainly to the county and city governments who use it to pay for the police, fire department, public works, libraries, schools, things the government is SUPPOSED to be doing. The state actually handles and administrates schools so it does get a percentage of the property taxes but the lions share goes to the local governments. Some local entities (like the City of Miami for example) also impose a sales tax. Usually it is small, 1-2% but it is paid in addition to the statewide tax. All in all the total tax burden on the average American citizen varies with where they live. But it is between 35-55%. And to think, we threw the British out over a 3% Stamp Tax. What the hell happened?

Such as?