Displaying 61 To 90 Of 1,384 Comments The Insanity Defense for Trickle Down Hi wts… Additional follow up: What makes anyone think that government (which is a totally different critter than private enterprise) SHOULD be run “like a business?” The two have completely different functions and goals. Part B: Why, then, should we even be looking at “successful businessmen” as candidates for high office? They have NO EXPERIENCE in running government functions! NONE! We are a foolish bunch, we Americans… » Posted By PocketWatch On June 16, 2011 @ 6:13 am Hi guys…. Sorry to have been absent for so long, but I’ve been busy looking for work and so on… I HAVE been lurking here from time to time to try and keep up. However, this is one of my favorite subjects. I have been asking questions about privatization and the notion that private industry can do things better than government (the stepchildren of “let’s piss on their heads and tell them it’s raining” economics)and have never gotten an answer. Maybe one of you smarter than me guys can give me one. Q1: Name one thing that was formerly a government function or effort that has been privatized – local, state, or federal – that is less expensive or more efficient. I have asked this question for 30 years and have yet to have anyone give me an example. Follow-up: Why, then, do we allow this to be a valid assumption in any discussion about the role of government? Q2: Name any company or organization you personally have worked for that wasn’t run by (at least in part) by fools and idiots. Name one organization that didn’t have institutional waste, fraud, theft, and abuse. Name one company you’ve worked for that everyone in the rank and file didn’t daily piss and moan about how stupid and foolish management was, and how it couldn’t be done better by your 10-year old nephew. Name one. Never got an answer on that one either. Same follow up: Why do we allow this notion of “private is better” into any discussion about government when it clearly is no better – and in many ways worse – than government, based on PERSONAL EXPERIENCE? So, I eagerly await someone – anyone – to answer the questions and give me long lists of privatized government functions all over the country that are by the numbers more efficient and cheaper than they were before. I’ll also be pleased to see extensive lists of companies that are efficient, smart, honest, well and intelligently run, and are profitable and with little or no personnel turnover. Meanwhile, I need to tend to my cricket farm… » Posted By PocketWatch On June 16, 2011 @ 4:34 am On Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats foodchain – funny you should mention English Cockers… I used to have a Doberman, many years ago. She was literally the smartest dog I’ve ever seen or known. When she was about 9 months old, I took her grouse hunting with me, and when I downed the first grouse in a large area of tall grass and brush, I figured I’d have to go in and get it. Took two steps and here she came, grouse in her mouth. I told her to sit and said my release words “Thank you!” and she dropped it, neat as you please into my hand. After that, it would have taken the SEAL Team 6 to keep her out of the truck when she saw the shotgun case. She worked the trails like a pro, and retrieved like a champion. One day, I ran into a professional hunting guide out of Green Bay that had 6 English Cockers, and he claimed they made the best grouse dogs, and couldn’t believe that a Doberman could do it…. so we went out together. LOL My Dobie lasted all afternoon while he ran through all six in pairs… And she was every bit as good at finding them and getting them up in the air… He just couldn’t get over it. I miss THAT dog, too! » Posted By PocketWatch On May 24, 2011 @ 2:27 pm Can you imagine, though, how effective a hunting cat would be???? Awesome! » Posted By PocketWatch On May 24, 2011 @ 12:55 pm Having been a dog person my whole life (I STILL miss Sam, the female Springer/Cocker mix I had as a kid…. I could tell you stories…!!!), and had four dogs at once at one time (a Rottweiler, a mutt with 3 legs, a miniature Dachshund, and a teeny ShiTzu) who were all trained and I could walk for miles off leash… I can say without qualification that I like dogs very much. Strangely, cats have always liked me. Even cats that would hide when anyone outside the household came in the door would find my lap like a magnet. Probably because I just let them be and was pleasant when they showed up. At any rate, you all know I now have a cat (or she may have me, I’m still not sure). What I find interesting is that I have conditioned her to walk with me off leash, and she does very well at it. Much better than a dog, actually. Dogs will run all over hell and gone, whereas Maggie is content to just mosey along with me. It’s true we go where SHE wants most of the time, but not always. I think it’s a tossup between felines and canines, frankly. BTW, she doesn’t bite or scratch, even in play. She’ll put her teeth on me, but never has bitten down. Can’t say that about all the dogs I’ve had… Now if I can just figure out how to train her to hunt ruffed grouse…. » Posted By PocketWatch On May 24, 2011 @ 11:45 am BREAKING NEWS: Osama Bin Laden Dead I’m sitting in a coffee shop somewhere in southern Illinois, getting ready for the last leg of my move to Wisconsin, and I hear from the next booth some noise about “there’s no proof, they dumped a body at sea, big deal.” I guess someone needs to start a movement to produce a death certificate. » Posted By PocketWatch On May 2, 2011 @ 3:53 am fox – nothing else to call ’em, really! » Posted By PocketWatch On April 29, 2011 @ 12:11 pm HH – NOW we’re talkin’ ELITIST!!!! » Posted By PocketWatch On April 29, 2011 @ 11:51 am I suspect (and POV members that live in other places can and will comment on this, I expect) that the USA is viewed in other places in the world as an adolescent nation, a petulant teenager at best, and one with enough power to be dangerous and to be handled carefully. And collectively, US citizens are hardly much better. We have a lot of growing up to do, both as a nation and as individuals, and our politics shows that without a doubt. A few points… The ‘rugged individualist’ myth was actually generated by dime novelists back in the 19th Century, generally by British writers. Back then, Britain had a problem. There were many 2nd and 3rd sons of aristocrats that were not going to inherit, and were going to be a drag on family incomes and hanging around to cause trouble if something wasn’t done. What better than to encourage them to emigrate to the States with stars in their eyes of becoming either rich or self-sufficient in the opening West? So, dime novels romanticized cowboys and adventures. If you asked any actual cowboy about his work, he’d tell you absolutely that it was anything but romantic. It’s tough, rugged work, out in the weather for days and weeks at a time, bad food, recalcitrant horses, bad water, no company, and bugs, snakes and always the danger of getting sick or injured and dying alone out there somewhere. The reality for the vast majority out West was very much like village life anywhere. Most people lived where they had access to infrastructure, and banded together for all kinds of things. To do otherwise was to die quickly and alone, just as it’s been since Man began. We are a social species, and groups survive where individuals perish. Why does anyone think “shunning” is so bad? That’s a death sentence in a pre-modern world. In the US, we have culturally forgotten the 20-30 year economic swings that occurred like plagues of locusts up until the late 19th Century. Boom and bust was the norm, and only since Teddy Roosevelt’s time have things improved. Up until that time, the rich fleeced everyone with commodity booms, got out when everything collapsed, and waited until all the commoners put the economy back together again and generated enough common wealth to be raided once again by a new crop of sociopaths. The recognition of the whys and wherefores of that cycle and the idea of the commons we all have invested in, along with regulation of monopolies changed all that, and we know the rest of that story. Americans in general have NO sense of history. Well, I could go on for days, but there’s a couple of things to chew on… or not! LOL » Posted By PocketWatch On April 29, 2011 @ 11:47 am BREAKING: Sun Rises, Trump Proud The Donald is an expert at one thing and one thing only…. well two things, come to think about it… self promotion and losing Other People’s Money as well as his own. » Posted By PocketWatch On April 28, 2011 @ 2:11 pm [img]https://planetpov.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/OBAMAS-BIRTH-CERTIFICATE.jpg[/img] Of course, here are a few items that will be “controversial.” » Posted By PocketWatch On April 28, 2011 @ 11:35 am As a for-the-most-part Socialist, I couldn’t agree more. All essential services need to be government owned and run, IMO. Health care, utilities, police & fire, navigable waterways, highways and tollways, schools, all of it. » Posted By PocketWatch On April 28, 2011 @ 8:50 am agrippa – Actually the “costs” are generally reasonable. It’s the PRICES that are outrageous. And there’s a couple of reasons for that. One is that providers’ list prices are inflated by about 300% – 1,000%. The reason for that is to enable providers to negotiate discounts with insurance companies (generally 50% – 75% off list) and still make a profit. The second is standard supply chain “keystone” retail pricing. If I make something for $1, I sell it for $2. That guy sells it for $4, and the next guy sells it for $8. Something that costs $1 to make ends up costing $8 to the consumer. Almost anything you buy retail is priced like this, including drugs and doctors’ visits. The wonders of consumer capitalism and middlemen. » Posted By PocketWatch On April 28, 2011 @ 8:05 am Is Donald Trump a Stalking Horse? BTW, after doing a little research, and something to stick in your back pockets if needed… Trump has always loudly claimed that his casinos are 100% squeaky clean, never any connections with organized crime. He says this a lot. Not true, it turns out. People he has hired to run his casinos have had ties to the New Jersey mob and Asian organized crime. RuhRoh! » Posted By PocketWatch On April 28, 2011 @ 8:38 am AdLib – And a ‘cigar’ is just a ‘cigar,’ which in the Donald’s case, is true, regardless…. » Posted By PocketWatch On April 28, 2011 @ 7:57 am Kalima – this subject has always been a laugh to me anyway, simply because of the ‘dog that didn’t bark.’ Has no one ever heard of “opposition research?” When there is a viable candidate for any national office, and even state offices, the opposition ALWAYS does research on the candidate, looking to dig up dirt and bad stuff, or even anything that can be spun. When President Obama became the Democratic candidate, does anyone think that the Republicans, as virulent as they are, didn’t do that research? Did they simply miss this little point? This whole thing is, and always had been, utter nonsense, given how people are elected these days. » Posted By PocketWatch On April 27, 2011 @ 6:45 pm Been cruising around the interwebs, and now I see it’s all about proper notorization and the lack of a “proper” seal on the birth certificate… OK, then! » Posted By PocketWatch On April 27, 2011 @ 6:31 pm An hour ago… The Donald in New Hampshire: “Now, we have to look at it, we have to see, is it real.” Asshole! » Posted By PocketWatch On April 27, 2011 @ 4:18 pm This whole birther thing was nonsense right from the beginning, and there is a simple reason why. I have mentioned elsewhere that I was in the NSA, and held a Top Secret security clearance, including cryptographic access, which got me into places that even the President himself was not allowed to go without jumping through a lot of hoops. I taught people how to install and maintain the crypto machines that encoded all the traffic between embassies all over the world, the State Department and the White House, and also military intercept applications. To get that clearance, the government spent over a million dollars on my sorry ass. And that was back in 1970. FBI agents interviewed the nuns I had as teachers in grade school, my HS teachers, and people in my neighborhood. I heard about it, believe me. FBI guys wandering around a little town in Northern Wisconsin get noticed, believe me. I’m told my FBI file is over 6″ thick! Now, knowing that, what kind of scrutiny does a Presidential candidate get? How can anyone believe that a person’s life isn’t torn apart in great detail, along with his family and his friends, by the FBI, the NSA, the CIA, and his political party long before the primaries, or at least once he or she becomes a viable candidate? All those people missed a little thing like not being born in the US or not being a US citizen? I don’t freaking think so! » Posted By PocketWatch On April 27, 2011 @ 2:10 pm …“people in the federal government either assisted in the 9/11 attacks or took no action to stop the attacks because they wanted to United States to go to war in the Middle East.” I actually believe that President Bush and VP Cheney and their minions did nothing to prevent the disaster, if not specifically, at least in principle. They ignored President Clinton’s warning the day Bush took office (“The biggest threat is Osama BinLaden.”) Bush et al claimed they never heard of him, when, in fact, the Bush family and the BinLaden’s had been doing business with each other for decades. They ignored Richard Clark’s frantic pleas for attention. The tapes from the Long Island air traffic control center were destroyed immediately after Sept. 11. How do 4 airliners go off course for hours and no one notices? Why was the FAA never informed, or were they? It has been widely reported before the attack that conservatives pined for a Pearl Harbor style attack. Bush even said he “hit the Trifecta” afterwards. That whole episode reeks, and does not pass the smell test to me. I do not claim they engineered it, but they certainly welcomed it, IMO. As a former member of the NSA with a Top Secret security clearance and having taken an oath to protect this country, I consider these people to be traitors, and should be punished accordingly. I’ve thought so since that day. By the way, I was in NYC that day, headed for a business meeting blocks from Ground Zero. When I heard the news, I headed back out of town, realizing that the city would be shut down, and got over the George Washington Bridge just before they closed it. I knew people that died that day. We discuss hate in another thread, and I truly hate these people in the US that ostensibly welcomed and failed to prevent this attack, violating their oaths of office. They had warning, and did NOTHING! » Posted By PocketWatch On April 27, 2011 @ 8:37 am zampano – Welcome. The waters are warm, deep, and have a few currents that need navigating, but it’s well worth the effort. » Posted By PocketWatch On April 26, 2011 @ 6:34 am wts – I could be called an atheist or an agnostic, or maybe a pantheist or something, but the sad truth is, all the organized religions have it all over folks that have no religion…. No holidays! No Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, St. Patrick’s Day, Kwanza (is that religious?), and so on. I don’t know the Jewish or Muslim ones, so forgive me, but the principle is the same… No days off, no forgiveness at work for having to observe this or that, not even Sundays off! And, having to cover at work for all those other people that take time off for religious reasons. I say atheists and non-believers are de facto discriminated against for this reason and need to organize and file suit immediately! I would have fun watching Pat Robertson’s head ‘splode right out of the TV machine! » Posted By PocketWatch On April 26, 2011 @ 6:18 am jkk – all they are really offering is lowering taxes and deleting any government agency that might keep them from doing whatever the hell they want (EPA, Consumer Credit, FDA, all those alphabet thingies…). No matter what it means down the road, the “benefits” are immediate and take no effort. They couldn’t care less about deficits. If they did, no taxes and deleting government agencies wouldn’t be their agenda. » Posted By PocketWatch On April 26, 2011 @ 9:35 pm I scanned the discussion below concerning education and the role it might play in moving societies into a more empathetic mode. As someone that has taught people in various ways all my adult life, I can tell you all this… The only way to get something to stick is to figure out a way to present the material in such a way as to convince the student/listener that the material is not only in their best interests, but will make their life easier in a practical way. People are essentially lazy, and want to take the path of least resistance. If you can show that something will make their lives better in a concrete way with little or no effort on their part, you are more than halfway there. That is the challenge of liberals these days. Lower taxes and smaller government now (the stance of the right) versus difficult choices that will pay off down the road (the stance of the left). Which is immediate and concrete? » Posted By PocketWatch On April 26, 2011 @ 7:12 pm We often think of this continuum of emotions as bad, and the other ones such as affection, empathy, love, and caring as good. Personally, I think they are all intermingled. You have to give a damn about someone to love them or hate them. You have to care about yourself to have fear or to suffer in an emotional way. The true opposite of all these emotions is apathy (sociopathy). I believe the true enemy of our society is apathy and sociopathy. Apathy by the “common” citizen, and sociopathy by corporate and political leaders. (Sociopath: Unconcerned about the adverse consequences for others of one’s actions.) » Posted By PocketWatch On April 26, 2011 @ 6:51 am “It is occasionally suggested that consumers end up paying corporate taxes anyway, through higher prices.” For a simple and easy to understand look at why corporate taxes are a drop in the bucket, even at a nominal 35% tax rate, see this article: A Little Truth About Business and Taxes I promise it will help when arguing about corporate taxes, even with business owners that should know better. » Posted By PocketWatch On April 26, 2011 @ 6:01 am The View From the Left Hemisphere of the Universe KT – Consider the Golden Rule… a near-universal moral code among major religions. If we hurt someone else, we are hurting ourselves. I’m sure that is meant in an emotional context. Science seems to be saying that could literally be true in a physical sense. Or, at the very least, we are literally connected to everything that exists in a real and physical way. I find the intersection of religion and science in this way to be very, very interesting. » Posted By PocketWatch On April 26, 2011 @ 7:26 am Another little item that is food for thought… One man’s science is another man’s magic. How many of you can explain correctly how a radio works, in detail? Or a TV, or a computer, or a car, for that matter? How many know that quantum physics is integral to GPS technology or the hard drive you use every day? Can you explain it to someone that’s never heard of or seen such a thing? Most people can’t. To most people, these things are simply modern magic. We just call it science. Back in the day, combining elements to create other things was called magic. We call it chemistry. Predicting the weather? Meteorology, not witchcraft. And so on and so on. The human mind is limited by the senses and the imagination, and those things are colored by our experiences. A simple Coke bottle dropped from a passing plane can be magic to a nomadic tribesman that has no experience to base his assessment on (there’s a very funny movie about this very thing). In 500 years, what will be magic and what will be technology? What we call wondrous and magical now may be explained, but will that make it any less wondrous and magical? Knowing how something works does not make it any less impressive. I know why a sunset becomes really colorful, yet that doesn’t make it any less beautiful. I know how a TV and a radio works, but that knowing doesn’t make those things any less impressive to me… magnetic vibrations sensed over thousands of miles by a rod of aluminum? Really? How cool is THAT? » Posted By PocketWatch On April 25, 2011 @ 11:04 am Hi fox! Hope your dad’s ok… Say hi for me. Packing’s moving along… it’s a misery, though. My lower back is killing me. Ibuprophen and a shiatsu massage pad is saving me, though. I have one closet, the kitchen, and the porch to do yet, and should be all done by tomorrow or the next day at the latest. Lots of sorting and tossing away going on. The 90 degree heat and high humidity doesn’t help either… Maggie’s a little lost, though. She doesn’t know what’s going on, so she’s been a little clingy. I’m trying to keep her reassured. I’m picking up the UHaul on the 29th (this Friday) and we should be done with loading by noon on Saturday. I’m hoping to make Little Rock by late Saturday night, and maybe stay with my nephew in Fish Creek on Sunday night, arriving sometime Monday. Then it’s unloading into a storage place and getting the truck and trailer dropped off. THEN I can relax a bit. » Posted By PocketWatch On April 25, 2011 @ 10:41 am I read something once that makes total sense but is astonishing… 150 years ago, people had to learn maybe one new thing a day to keep up with their society and culture. Today, that’s maybe 500-fold. We are not adapted emotionally to run at that fast pace. We can, but the stress induced by “having” to adjust to 500 new facts EVERY DAY leads to the emotional issues most people have. Maybe it’s best if we regress a bit to a more leisurely lifestyle. » Posted By PocketWatch On April 25, 2011 @ 5:30 amComments Posted By PocketWatch
(Apathy: A state of indifference.)
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