I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Our chaplain/bartender is wise.  Good information and tossing around ideas is worthwhile but you cannot make people care.  It is what it is and time is best spent elsewhere.  This is an excellent elsewhere ... you all restore my faith in humanity.  And the drinks are good too

Way past my bedtime but I'll leave the nightlight on in case our west coasters come along. 

Edited so the grammar police don't get after me ... you know who you are   

Yummmm - Lemoncello!  Reminds me of my life in Italy.

Sunflowers, there was an association like that in NYS as well. However, the insurance they had available was only catastrophic.

I'm glad to see you here, Alexandria!  There is just no reasoning with heartless, soulless people who say, 'I don't want people to die, BUT ..."  There is no "BUT."  

You know, ladies, I was watching a news segment about Denise Rich renouncing her U.S. citizenship for tax purposes and something occurred to me -- just how much money can one person spend?  I mean -- REALLY?  How many houses do you need?  How many jets?  How much jewelry?  What does a CEO who makes $10 million dollars/year actually DO with that?  And what does s/he DO that is so special as to be worth $10 million?  I'm not against people making a lot of money (I don't make much but we've saved and invested well), but what is the point of having money you cannot possibly spend on another house, car, diamond bracelet, yacht, etc. 

 And if you have millions and billions of dollars that you can't spend, will you even miss the taxes you pay?  We don't have millions and we pay a lot in taxes because we aren't rich enough to have fancy tax lawyers and tax dodges.  I don't mind writing the check at the end of the year because I think of all the things I buy with that money -- roads and air traffic controllers (I keep mentioning them because I am afraid to fly!) and clean food, water and medicine and cops and firefighters and street lights and all the other things that make life -- and commerce -- easier and safer. 

The fallacies about "Well, if you want to pay more in taxes, just write a check" don't fly either.  If you want to use the roads and water and air traffic controllers and all the benefits that they bring (including easier and safer and cheaper commerce), then you should pay for them too -- or you are a freeloader.  Seems there are a lot of freeloaders, and they aren't the people who make so little as to pay little or no Federal income tax -- because they pay plenty in state, local, sales and excise taxes, as well as payroll taxes.

Just ruminating.

L

AHAHAHAHA!  Yes, that must be it! 

And this just in from the WaPo - http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/in-2009-americans-paid-lowest-tax-rates-in-30-years-to-federal-government/2012/07/10/gJQAWc5bbW_story.html?hpid=z5

So we should be absolutely drowning in jobs, no?

Welcome, Alexandria - and I love your name - very feminine and pretty.

There's no point in having a discussion with people who just don't get it morally. We pinko commies here are values, voters, wouldn't you know? We actually believe healthcare is a human right. So while other so-called values voters seek to insert foreign objects into our vaginas, we seek to tend to the sick. Each to his own.

Oh, forgive me, but I can think of many ways to totally spend $10 million in a heartbeat. Lionesses are not known for their frugality, you know! Seriously - one thing I would purchase would be a group of experts to study lion populations in Africa so that they can be listed under appendix II and receive more protection than they currently do. I'd also fund repatriation efforts to get lions and other big cats out of small zoos and set up settlements for them in Africa. Their offspring could be assisted in forming prides. This has been done before.

Lions should only be visible in the wild and on television.

But I would buy plenty of shoes, too. :-)

I wouldn't spend 10 mil, but I would invest it for future generations, do philanthropic things etc. No problemo.



By the way, I am not actually a pinko commie, pretty conservative at heart. I just think it is silly to think that we live in some sort of libertarian-anarchistic utopia (and I wouldn't want to anyway) The Greek word for "private" is "idiot." In other words, he who does not participate in securing the common weal.



Also, quite apart from the humanitarian aspect of ensuring health care access for all, there is a purely practical and perfectly capitalistic benefit to many do-gooder initiatives. The current system has become unwieldy for business and for entrepeneurs. The current set-up also puts small business at a serious disadvantage in many ways, not a good thing if you are trying to get the economy humming again. Finally, you lose work hours when people do not have good health care, and the cost of care goes up, because people tend to be sicker once they are forced to seek care. I mean, there is a REASON why the first mandate was put in place by a Republican, you know?

Speaking of civics, our local publically-funded tv station (TVOntario) has a public affairs show every night.  Last night's guest was Sandra Day O'Connor, who talked about the program she and others have set up, teaching civics to middle schoolers.  I'll see if I can find the transcript.

The most emailed article in today's New York Times is:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/opinion/brooks-the-opportunity-gap.html?src=me&ref=general

I read so many of you here, and I can hear my own voice.  It's comforting, but I really, really worry about the future of the USA.

On a brighter note, Melinda Gates is making wonderful "waves" in London, and they have, with Buffett, created an organization, besides their own foundation, to encourage philanthropy.  Can't remember website, will find & post.  

ooohh....thanks..I never think to read the comments - going to do that now!  You are all so great!!!!!!!!!

Fundamentalism (in any religion) is not conduceive to intellectual curiosity for the most part. There is a reason why civilized religions with long-term success have usually found a way to encourage or at least tolerate solid education.

The better educated you are the more improved your critical thinking skills.

Like, like, like CLC's words.

Will add, I think that "critical thinking" is considered dangerous by most with "fundamentalist" positions on all sides of the political spectrum.  Really am amazed at how strident the "conversation" is on all sides of this political spectrum. Our whole system of government, as I understood it, was based on constructive compromise.  The "labels" that are flying, or used as 'hooks' in the media are stomach churning...really no place to turn, that I know of, for what we used to call "news."

Geez - and I hadn't even read that. 

There are reasons that right wing conservatives are so strongly fixated on both home schooling and charter schools.  I've often considered how different my life would have been if home schooling had been as easily done when I was young.  My mother would have been all over it. 

Yes, we are REALLY SCARED!!!  I hope the pendulum doesn't need to swing too much further in this direction before it reverses it's course.  In fact, I'd like to believe that it's already starting it's move in the opposite direction.