RANT!!
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Ken,
You are kind of all over the place on this - but I agree strongly with one thing you said. Not the teabagger definiton
(learn something new here everyday) but the five words ("I will not run again") reference! We suffer from a lack of leadership in all facets of the government (President and both Houses) as partisan politics rule the day and every politician's first priroity once they are elected seems to be pandering to those that will help to get them re-elected. I would be really interested to see how it would work if we eliminated politics as a profession and made it all single 4 year terms, and you could only run again after sitting out a term. I think that would be much more of a "for the people by the people" approach.The market reactions to the S&P ratings reflect a clear lack of confidence that the current group in both the Whitehouse and on Capitol Hill will be able to get past the Politics and deal with the financial issues that are facing this country. While the economists don't agree on all of the points - if you read through what they write or listen to their comments, there are some clear basic concepts and no one in the Government seems to want to listen.
On top of all of this - if you look closely at who is lining up to take the next shot at it in 2012............scary
Dean
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Bytor
Not sure why you would say I am all over the place. The truck story was just a reference to the fact that spending sometimes appears to eradicate the money problem, but the real solutions is in taking care of the truck, spending the money more wisely than just buying another truck. And this is what I see in our government right now. Adding more and more money to solve all problems, when the real solution may be by other means.
As an example, our schools. Look at all the money we spend on new schools, under the impression that at a new clean school, students will be better prepared. When the real solution is to send better students to school. And better students come from better parenting at the home and a system that is welling to rid the school of students that are trouble makers and disrupt the class rooms. And yes I know that is extreme and I am not advocating wholesale removing of students. Just the students that are not reachable in regular school system. Maybe have them removed or attend a special school.
I have taken a few job related short term classes for special projects. And if you were not ready and willing to be an active participant, out you were. Talk about the instructor having your attention.
On top of all of this - if you look closely at who is lining up to take the next shot at it in 2012............scary
Not sure who scares you in the present group. I guess you had no fear in the last election.
Lapx
I meant by "I am gone", that I would just retire completely, not add anything to the society, just be a taker.
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Ken,
All over the place was in reference to starting to debate the debt issue and then wandering through teabagging, taxes, a truck story and now public schools. I was trying to pin down exactly what you and Solo were originally debating but I think that is moot now.
So if by the truck story analogy you mean we can't just expect to print more money to get out of this - then I agree. And the out of control spending is the issue. The undertone I get is that you pay your taxes and don't like pulling your own weight when the "freeloaders" skate - I couldn't agree more. While the schools are a whole other issue - I understand your sentiment and agree that the problem starts at home. I paid to send 4 of my kids to parochial school through 6th grade for the discipline and the education. 2 of them continued through high school. It was really tough finacially for many years and we went without a lot of the things I saw other people have like new cars every 2 years, etc. - but it was the best money I have spent to date!
All of the options right now scare me. As a "cured" republican - I bought into that message of hope only to see the messenger lose his convictions the mimnute his party started calling in their marker for helping to put him in office. I think it will be interesting to see how the next 15 months work out. We have seen the effects of the promise of "change" over the last two elections (2008 / 2010) and how is that working out for us?
The reality is we needed to achieve 4 Trillion in cuts, and there were plenty of opportunities to get there. Neither side could stomach the compromise needed to get there!
So - for me it is a full circle back to the original topic of RANT - both sides (Republican & Democrat) piss me off!
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While I don't agree with Solo's method of stating a fact, he is right about the debt limit and the current political shenanigans occurring around it. As for the rebuttal from Ken, I have liberal leanings and take offense at branding us all with such a broad brush. I have seen worse things than Solo's comments pass through my spam folder about Obama, should I label all conservatives religious fascists interested in protecting the rich? I think conservatives might find that offensive too...
As far as the things happening with the Tea Party, they are a distraction; the conservatives only paint 50% of the picture and the dems the other 50%. The problem is that the US debt limit does not account for money we owe ourselves, things like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are not included in the official US debt. We all know the baby boomers are going to be hitting the government age for drawing social security and IIRC that will be on the order of 3 trillion a year (if all 75+ million boomers draw around $40,000 a year) that has to be paid for along with the other items that we have to pay for. IMO the conservative/tea party movement to hold the country hostage and affecting world markets for personal political gain (yes, it is personal. The facts about actual US debt are no secret to them) is absurd.
Cutting alone (the Republican/Tea Party method) will NOT work. Absolutely. Positively. Will. Not. Work.
Raising taxes alone (the Dem's method) is in the same hole. Will. Not. Work.
The two sides have such strong prejudices against the other, some IMO are right, but that doesn't take away from the fact that cuts must be made. Consolidation of the hundreds of redundant government organizations from federal to state needs to be done. Term limits. Tort reform. Taxes need to go up. Federal employees should not be making absurd 6 figure salaries on top of government pensions and health care. The list goes on and on. Conservatives need to stop protecting the tax breaks and loopholes for corporations and the rich. Dems need to stop creating more and more redundant programs that siphon up tax money that could be used to pay down this debt.
If you are frothing at the mouth Dem, Tea party or conservative, I suggest you do some research that doesn't center on Bill Oreilly, Fox, MSNBC or whatever single source agency you draw from and start collecting some real facts about what is happening. And for heaven's sake, stop saying only one side is right. That's like saying a fork stuck in your right eye is better than getting one stuck in your left!
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Bytor
Fair enough Bytor. Yes, I see that I was wandering in trying to cover a lot of ground in a short space. Thanks for the conversation. My original thought came to me while driving, just what could the President, after giving endless and totally void of any workable ideas lectures, say that would energize the private sector to start hiring, and the five words answer was my thought. I was looking for the short terse phase that would be forever remembered, such as "I have not yet begun to fight", "Nuts", and "Here, hold my beer and watch this".
EscapeArtist
Yes it was a broad brush and for that I will apologize. I will narrow my brush the next time. I agree that cutting spending alone will not work. However, if we start with a good dose of cutting, and the elected officials are in agreement that we have a debt problem, then taxing should come aboard to help get us back to financial responsibility. For me, cuts first, not necessary all the required cuts, than taxes to start the pay down of the debt, and then more cuts and more taxes until the debt is under control. I am not advocating a "cold turkey" debt diet, but more of a Nutrisystem of a dieting.
I don't believe I said that one side is always right. If it was implied, not my intention.
So, thanks, Bytor and EscapeArtist for the conversation.
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Ken,
Your didnt understand me. We all agree it needs to end now. And the only way to do that is have everyone help put out the fire.
@unknownuser said:
I work for my family, and when I get to the point that I am working to keep other people afloat, I am gone.
@unknownuser said:I hope ur not serious becacuse you will have to leave the planet. Those of us who are more fortunate have been doing this already for a few decades and it has gotten worse as a result of the politicians and big corps we have. We still have to pull together to put out the fire and then we make tough decisions about what we do from there. It sucks but thats life. The repubs and fox news need to stop poor mouthing the pres and come up with some real solutions. Dems and Repubs broke us with the stupid wars using sledge hammer philosophy. Were they really making us safe? I never believed this. I cant believe they are waiting on leadership when the house is burning.Put out the fire.
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@unknownuser said:
I will narrow my brush the next time. I agree that cutting spending alone will not work. However, if we start with a good dose of cutting, and the elected officials are in agreement that we have a debt problem, then taxing should come aboard to help get us back to financial responsibility. For me, cuts first, not necessary all the required cuts, than taxes to start the pay down of the debt, and then more cuts and more taxes until the debt is under control. I am not advocating a "cold turkey" debt diet, but more of a Nutrisystem of a dieting.
Quite reasonable, and agreed. Now if we could get the politicians on board with this we might actually get somewhere. Unfortunately it seems the issue has been sidetracked into cutting only.
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@unknownuser said:
Ken wrote:
I will narrow my brush the next time. I agree that cutting spending alone will not work. However, if we start with a good dose of cutting, and the elected officials are in agreement that we have a debt problem, then taxing should come aboard to help get us back to financial responsibility. For me, cuts first, not necessary all the required cuts, than taxes to start the pay down of the debt, and then more cuts and more taxes until the debt is under control. I am not advocating a "cold turkey" debt diet, but more of a Nutrisystem of a dieting.Ditto,
Now if we can get our "leaders" to think like this. Maybe they need to learn sketchup
In the mean time porfolios are being wiped out.
They have given the short sellers more ammunition. -
This makes me angry. I will eternally blame the Bush administration for creating a moral void that made atrocities like these possible. And no, I am not an 'anti-American'. I simply object to that particular and volatile combination of imperialism, cynicism, and aggression brought to the world stage by Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld et al.
I sincerely hope the next US president won't be a Tea Party-backed neocon hawk. Although the momentum Bush and his cronies profited from has, I think, passed.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/31/2384542/wikileaks-iraqi-children-in-us.html
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An Anti-Rant...
I contacted my local representative who is the Republican Sam Johnson regarding an issue I'm irate about. I tried to make sure my letter was respectful as I wanted him to actually read and not just discard it.
To my delight he actually read it, and gave me an answer, here I was thinking these guys don't listen.
Sure his answer is very partisan and in line with the popular Tea party ideology, but nevertheless he took the time to explain his stance to a democrat that in no way can help or hurt his cause.
Kudo's to you sir.
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/off rant for a sec -
Potentially useful information about contacting your Senator or Congress person / voicing your opinion through official channels:
Do not contact any representative other than your own
Do not send a "chain" or "form" email
Always include a visible return addressIf you write a rep of whom you are not a constituent, the message is discarded. He/She does not represent you. Chain and form emails are not read. They are discarded. Failure to include a return address means that the message will be discarded. Usually these are nasty letters or from a non-constituent.
The office interns read the mail, notes are taken and the information is forwarded to the representative - so be assured, the material is read and does reach them if the above guidelines are met.
The nuttiest and funniest letters are posted on the intern's break room fridge for the enjoyment of all.
*Source: My wife was a Senate intern.
/back to rant
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So I have started playing my trumpet again. I have 4 nice horns but have always wanted to get another pro Bb and possibly a C trumpet. I pretty much know if I do it will be a Yamaha Xeno. 3 of my 4 horns are Yamaha's and they just feel right. However, there is another brand I have always admired from a distance, mainly due to the beauty of the finish. The ZeuS horns look great and I am told play beautifully (as they should, they are made by Kanstul). This is the one I was considering.
I digress...
Zachary Music is were the Zeus horns are exclusively sold and they are located in Canada just across the river from Detroit. I sent them an email asking:
Is there is a retail site in the US where I can try one of your horns or should I make a road trip to Canada?
That was all I put in my email. No more, no less.Now, I have heard that the owner of the company that sells them is eccentric and can be a bit of a jerk but I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. The email reply I got went pretty much like this:
@unknownuser said:
You want to try a ZeuS? I hate that. If you just want to try one you are obviously skeptical and should not buy one of my horns. Therefore I won't sell you one and don't want your money.
Yes I can be a dick because I am able to detect idiots pretty quick and it took only 5 min. to figure you out. ZeuS trumpets are not for Idiots and you are an idiot.
Go spend your money on another brand and they might actually pretend to be nice to you.Needless to say I am not considering a ZeuS trumpet anymore.
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He must be fun at parties. Think I'll email him about trying out his big flutes
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Wanna share his email so we can all send a request for zeus trombone
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RANT:
It's Friday night and I am sitting here at the computer, testing all sorts of software and writing up bug reports and feature requests (even worse; making lists and articles for Rich) instead of going out with the buddies for a couple of drinks into my corner bar (you know the place, Rich, already).
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That felt good
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that brings up a question I have always had. . .when one gets a bug splat or the "your windows program is not responding" thingy on the screen and you have to shut down the whatever program. . .it always asks. .
"Send Bug Report"--where the heck does that go? to Whom and does anybody give a *** when he/she/it gets it?
In my opinion it's like that button you push while waiting to cross the street. It doesn't DO anything, but it makes you feel like you've done something. . . That you have some kind of control. Its a cyber-placebo.
I know this because__I've never once gotten a note back from anybody saying. . ."thank you for taking the time to submit your bug report. We are sure sorry for your (data) loss. We promise. . ..W**E PROMISE!**to get right on this case and get it cleared up so it never ever happens again. . ."
Yeah. . .i'd like to see that. I know cuz I have sent probably 567,914 of these things and not once have I gotten any kind of a thank you note.
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