Absolutely! You a fellow who's both gay and President is going to have access to all of next season's Prada catalog!

Aweseome! I'm just glad for the first time ever someone has invited the Jedi to reply. Now, if you'll pardon me for a moment, I'm going to stop time with my mind.

You raise some valid views, but you have failed to mention the prosperity of the island.

You can have all the rights and good intentions in the world, but if you're island is not prosperous (therefore unable to provide said benefits), then it's all for naught.

If we're going to start playing that game, there's a whole list that you can have. I don't think like that though. There's a name for people that will only tolerate those who think the same way they do: Republicans.

I think those who say that they want no taxes are just kidding themselves. Even if we're in agreement that government is entirely too large, there are still some basic services that are more practical to provide on a governmental level than an individual level. We can't have ever last street we drive on to be a toll road for example. It's just not practical. I don't think taxes should be at a level where they are a burden for anyone, yet they should be high enough to cover essential services. What's utterly insane is the number of people who do not pay taxes at all. Even if you're poorer, there's still a certain cost to your being in society. You use the same services as everyone else and you should pay for them. On the flip side, we shouldn't rape the rich, but they should pay a rate that is the same is everyone else.

Mitt Romney, still refusing to release his returns, says that he's always paid at least 13% in taxes. And that's supposed to make me feel better? I always pay at least twice that. Usually I'm somewhere between 28 and 33 per cent. And I'm not worth anywhere near what Romney is worth. I dislike the thinking that says tax this guy less and tax that guy more. Ideally, our tax rates should be roughly the same on a percentage basis. That's probably somewhere between 22 and 27 per cent. I don' think anyone should pay much more than 27%.

Isn't that basically where we are now? I don't know about you, but the list of people I trust is very short. And most of the those on the trust list are still on the verify list.

Which is great for the people that had nothing to start with. But if you've saved your whole life and all you have left is $9,000, then you screwed.

In the United States, it's not that bad. I can do everything through the State Department Web Site. Usually, it's about 10-14 days. If I ask for it expedited, it can be just a couple of days. I find the customs process to be more cumbersome. When I'm coming back into the United States from being abroad, they stop short of raping my asshole. I have more problems coming into the United States than any other country. I would think that being a U.S. citizen they'd make it easier on their own people, but not really. I told the custom's officer, "I'm a U.S. citizen. What are you going to do? Tell me I can't come back to my own country?"

How do you mitigate anti-trolling?

Just because I find something nonsensical doesn't mean that other nonsensical people aren't finding legitimate nonsensical value in it. And I've had may share of the nonsensical as well.

What I truly tire of is having the same debate over and over and over and over and over again. Evolution vs. creationism, Christianity vs Atheism, etc. etc. It's literally the same debate by the same people over and over and over and over again . I can only think: "What the hell are you doing?" They have their answer. They know that a certain people percentage of people disagree with them. They have their names, put them on their prayer list. They know that a certain percentage of people agree with them. They have their names. They can send them a Christmas card. I've been here less than a month and I've already quit reading those debates.

I suppose there may be some "clean" politicians, but I cannot name one. So, there you go. If there's a truly clean politician, he's unlikely to be associated with any of the major political parties, as both of your major parties are driven by special interest. Also, it depends on what you call clean. Is clean simply refraining from taking money from special interest?

Like so many things, it actually goes both ways. On the one hand, there's the guy who's incapable of constructive criticism, i.e. "you're fucking stupid". Compare that with say: "you seem to lack a fundamental understanding of how economy works. Your local library is sponsoring a symposium on macro-economics. Perhaps, you'd be interested in attending". The second guy identified a specific problem and offered steps on how to correct it. Grant it, he probably still gets labeled an asshole.

There's a large part of society content to live within willful oblivion, completely ignorant to the basic facts of how things work. And to anyone who addresses their ignorance, they dub them as "haters" for trying to enlighten their willful oblivion. Worse, these willfully ignorant people will persist in arguing with you, in the absence of fact or any kind of logical framework whatsoever. I've always been the kind of guy that respects diverging view points, especially when you're able to logically defend your position.

I'm a big believer in the Dunning-Kruger theory.

At the end of the day, the world listens to the man who is writing out the check. And they don't much give a shit where he went to school or what his degree is, as long as his check will clear. Money makes this whole damn world go around. If you have enough of it, you can do pretty much anything you want. If you have the misfortune of being poor, well.... to hell with you.

Okay, so it's okay when you troll, but damn anyone else? .... I get what you're saying though.

I don't know about the NWO. What I have noticed within my own lifetime is the ongoing homogenization of society. I get in my car and drive 500 miles. I arrive in a town that is just like the town I just left. The McDonald's looks the same. The Toyota Dealership the same. IKEA. Walmart. The newer houses in Town X look exactly like Town Y. They use the same layout, the same floor plan. Especially among the young people, it's increasingly harder to detect any kind of identifiable accent. The kids in the South don't have as much of a drawl anymore (from hours upon hours of watching TV). The Bronx kids aren't as Bronxy as they used to be. Personally, I find it boring.

Honestly, I'm not sure what Communisam is. Is that where Uncle Sam starts banging hippies in a pogrom outside of Berkeley? Or does it happen when the Green Eggs And Ham guy stops getting his government cheese, that Sam I am, that Sam I am. I have a pretty good idea what communism is though.

Sometimes, when I'm walking through the ghetto, I come across a bum pissing on the wall. Momentarily, I'm disgusted by it, but then I look around. This place is filthy and everyone pisses here. The bum obviously doesn't give a shit. He doesn't own the wall he's pissing on. And, if it starts to smell too bad, he simply moves along to another wall. I've been been on the bus all morning. And the espresso from StarBuck's is starting to catch up with me. I look around for a bathroom, but there isn't one. Then, I think "fuck it, I don't own this wall either. I may as well piss on it." And so, I piss on it.

Later, I come across some teenagers painting on the town water toward. "Mayor Ewing is a hore," they write. And I stop in my tracks. I can't let this go on. I call the teenagers over to me. "Listen," I tell them. "The word 'whore' has a silent 'w' on the front of it. It's spelled w.h.o.r.e. Now get back up there and fix that shit. I can't have anyone thinking the kids of our town are ignorant." But you see what I did? I took a little ownership in the kids (not so much in the water tower). And Mayor Ewing is a whore.

By the time, I get to my house in 'burbs, I'm watching the sidewalks like a hawk.

It's time to go have a talk with the neighbor who doesn't mow is lawn. The house that sits across from me that's been vacant is driving down the property values. See, I own this place and I give a shit what goes on here. Now, if the government were to suddenly own everything (and I got this place by way of vouchure as their assessment of my needs) and I'd probably go back to ghetto mentality. Fuck it, piss against the wall. I don't a shit.

As a society, we're not very interested in helping the poor. The counter-argument is the same that capitalist use for everything. Privatization will introduce competition and competition will make the schools better. That's a nice thought for someone living in the suburbs, staring out at their confluence of SUVs and gaited houses. When you have money, you have options. That's the story of America.

Given the choice of building a private school in the suburbs and building a private school in the ghetto, no one in their right mind is going to choose the ghetto. It's the same reason you don't see a lot of other businesses in the ghetto. You don't make an money selling to poor people. So, what happens with privatization is that the suburbs get truly amazing schools (of course they love it), while the ghetto struggles to keep the doors open. The ghetto only becomes a concern again when someone comes along and says that we're going to start busing the ghetto kids out to the suburbs.

And my word! We can't have that shit! So, then the suburb people find Jesus in their heart ---they can really hear the Lord speaking to them---- and the Lord says that they should donate some money to an inner-city school. Momentarily, we feign concern for ghetto kids, but ----really--- we're just trying to keep the cockroaches from scattering and laying their eggs elsewhere.

Really? Are you back on solid foods yet? Or is that the medication?

I think putting your idea out there on a web site is an invitation for someone to steal it. They'll probably even bad-mouth the idea to discourage you from developing, while privately taking notes themselves. It's a dog-eat-dog world and it's been my experience that it's best not to ask for help from other dogs. If you're in dire need of feedback, find someone that you can you trust.

I put the Bible thing in there as a bon mot. If you have seen of my other posts, I pretty much wipe ass with the pages of the bible. It's rougher than toilet paper, but it's a tight economy and times are tough.

I'd prefer the death penalty, if given the option. Everyone deserves to die. It's in the Bible.

Just an FYI, Christians on the modern calendar have chose to celebrate Christimas on December 25. It was originally chosen to coincide with Pagan holidays that were being celebrated at that time. December 25 isn't the actual birthday of Christ. Most theological and historical experts actually believe that the historical Christ was born in the summer time.

In this context, it doesn't really help the writer and may actually hurt her a little bit.

Personally, I don't think it's all that damaging, but it doesn't strengthen the writing at all.

It's not like readers see that line and think "oh, I gotta buy this book now. Her friends is getting fat." They may not think anything of at all, but if they think anything it's more likely to be along the lines of "this writer's a bitch. I don't know that I want to buy her book. Fuck her!"

No offense, but I don't think it's all that sarcastic in that context, but if you're going to be an ass, a "blatant" ass is the best kind of ass to be. I thoroughly detest those people who fully intend on being ass, but they try to hide it behind measured nuance. It's like just come out with already. You think I'm a fucking bum!