MythBusters and the Prez

[gosmith]

Yikes, written in blood no less!

Fist of all, I will take to heart your statement about personal attacks. I found many of your remarks so offensive, that I will admit I may have taken them too personally. I meant what I said about your rhetoric turning my stomach and it honestly alarms me know that there are people who think this way. You apparently feel the same way about some of my statements. I hesitate to answer much of your last post as I have no wish to escalate this any farther than it's already gone and that will accomplish nothing. I'll give it a shot anyway, and we'll see where this goes. I'll try to keep my answers brief.

WE ALL DESERVE A HIP HIP HOORAY WITH FLAGS WAVING AND THE BAND PLAYING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.

Yes you do. Thank you for your for your military service.

A voting record doesn’t necessarily make you a real American but it’s a start.

Thankfully, it's not up to you to decide who is or isn't a "real" American.

Statement Removed by Admin.

Too bad. But maybe for the best. I will trust the judgment of the referees.

Have you ever been on a battle field with an enemy that is trying to kill you?

No, I haven't. I was a civilian flight instructor for the military at the end of the Vietnam era. Our job was to wash out wanna-be pilots in Cessnas before they were allowed into expensive military aircraft. I disagreed with the purpose of that war, and still do. Saddens me that so many Americans had to sacrifice their lives for no good reason.

the illegals wouldn’t go home because they get government support for their anchor babies….welfare just like Democrat Reid and Polisi are trying to put in place now!

Not the baby's fault that he was born here. I believe the "anchor baby" problem has been greatly overstated. I support the Dream Act too.

Have you ever read the Koran?

Nope, and I don't plan to. I have better things to do than waste my time on religion. Sharia Law does not take precedence over civil law in this country. Stoning people to death is murder, plain and simple.

If you don’t think that allowing gays and lesbians to marry will have any effect on the American way of life…you really do have your head in the sand. Even animals don’t pair up in such a manner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosex...ior_in_animals

True, Christians have done some terrible things in the past but not one Christian religious book or bible can compare with what is written in the Koran.

Judaism, christianity, and islam are all derived from the same brutal background. They all promote violence, racism, and even genocide.

Gun registration is the first move and it’s what Hitler did. . .

Yeah, a lot of what Hitler did was bad. Guess I'm not as paranoid as you about gun registration. No one would ever dare try to take away all the guns in this country. Won't happen. Meantime, guns continue to kill many more innocent people than crooks. This is not a huge issue for me. I'd like to see some reasonable way to address the problem of irresponsible gun owners. Feeling safe in American society should not require a weapon. Talk about animal behavior.

How many people do you actually know that has RPGs?

Only one, years ago. He had some hand grenades and claymores too. Scary survivalist guy. Don't know where he got the stuff, but I bet it wasn't at a gun show.

. . . What I actually said was “gun rights abolitionist”. . .

You're right. My mistake to have mentally added a comma there. It did seem pretty weird to me.

Give Obama a call…he’ll see to it you get your health insurance back pronto….

Wish he'd hurry. I'd sure like to have the same coverage our elected officials awarded themselves.

….I’ll pay for it out of my pocket. He’ll see to that also.

Thanks.

Let’s just get rid of the Federal Reserve . . .

Be interesting to see what Ron Paul does in his new job, although he says he isn't planning on any big changes.

One working adult, that must have been nice. I was raised on a farm in the 40s, 50s up to early 60s by my Grandparents when I was a kid. . .

Not a fun life from the sounds of it. Now a days, it seems like only illegals are willing to work so hard. I saw an article about farmers complaining that they simply can't find enough legal citizens willing to do the work.

Where were you in ’62?

Let's see. In '62 I was nine years old. My mom, brother, and I lived in a rat-infested basement of a condemned building in San Francisco. My brother and I shined shoes after school to help put food on the table. Guess we all have our own hard luck stories to tell.

Yea, full speed ahead. That seems to be what the Democrats have been saying for quite some time now!

Excuse me. The Republicans have done their fair share of deficit spending too. How 'bout those 6000 earmarks they've just added to the current bill moving through congress? The fact is, we have to tighten our fiscal belt as a nation. That is neither a "liberal" or "conservative" cause, just a cold hard fact that we and our children have to face. Once we get our house in order, we can all sit around and argue about how to spend whatever tax dollars might still be available. I'm sure that some of the things that I might believe are important would not find approval with some of you more conservative types. That's a good thing. I won't like some of yours either. Checks and balances. We can all discuss it like grown-ups.

The problem with your previous statement is that it doesn’t cover all the monies handed out to the welfare bunch. . .

You're right, it doesn't. That was only the figures for Families and Children vs Corporate Subsidies. Look, we can sit around forever and cherry-pick stories about how various people, both rich and poor, have scammed and abused the system. Those people should all be caught and punished accordingly.

Do you have a solution as to how to remove these useless individuals form the system and putting them to work doing the jobs the illegals are doing? I’m willing to listen and even back you if it is feasible.

First off, I don't consider any human being to be useless. Brings up thoughts of Hitler once again. Secondly, I don't understand why you only seem to focus on the poor. There's plenty of schemers and scammers at every level of our society. Let's put a stop to all abuse. And lastly, I don't have any magic solution to fix any of the problems we face today as a nation. I only know that I can't recall a period in my lifetime when this country seemed as polarized as it is now.

You don’t have to give me anything…White, black, yellow, brown or purple…I don’t care what color you are….

Glad to hear it.

I’ve never drawn welfare or unemployment in my life . . .

Hope you don't plan on using any of that Medicare you're eligible for. . . Personally, I've never received welfare either, but have drawn on unemployment insurance a couple of times. Glad it was there. I paid into it for long enough. Looking forward to my Social Security in a few years. Be nice to get some money back.

I think you mean LEFT WING DITTO HEADS since it was the Democrats that bailed them out.

Plenty of Republicans signed off on it too, as I recall. Nice of them since they caused the problem in the first place. Look, there's plenty of blame to go around on both sides.

Actually America is not a democracy....look it up....it's a REPUBLIC....quite a different animal from a democracy but if the Democrats keep on the way they have been doing for years now, it will be a socialist country pretty soon.

Yes, we all learned in school about this being a republic. . . Socialism, huh? Thought you were worried about Fascism earlier. Sorry, supporting social causes is not the same as being a socialist. Putting scary labels onto people doesn't serve any purpose other than to marginalize their point of view. This feels like it could be a pivotal time in our nation's history, as well as the world in general. We're probably in the process of creating a new kind of "ism" that hasn't been defined yet.

Impeachment, removal from office of all of them top to bottom and charge everyone of them with treason against the American People…the entire congress…both sides, the president and all his appointed cronies.

Sounds like you're ready for a revolution. Hope calmer heads will prevail.

and as for the Admin of this site…I am the Admin….this is my website and Badflash and I along with some other very devoted individuals have worked very hard to build it and you are a guest here for as long as you treat everyone here the way you would expect to be treated.

I do appreciate the hard work it takes to keep a site like this going. I've learned a lot here, and hope to repay the education as time goes along. As the site owner, you certainly have the right to boot anyone you care too. You seem to have taken my post as a personal attack, yet that was not my intent. I responded only to what I perceived as inflammatory and insulting statements. I do not feel I went too far by any means, but I'll have to let others be the judge of that.

The Civil War is over you know and the North Won (but somebody needs to tell the South).

LOL

After the hootch…take two aspirins and call your doc in the morning.

Have to settle for just the aspirin. Can't afford the doc. My Obama Care won't kick in till 2014.

Peace,

Gary

[rfeiller]

One of my closes friends for almost 30 yrs and I almost never agree on anything. He is a dem, an athiest, could care less about the preservation of the world around us, etc. When we get together it's never dull!
You and I don't have to agree, but we will get to know each other better and maybe come away from the sump with a different perspective.

Take care have a wonderful day.
Rich

[gosmith]

Thanks Rich,

Appreciate the sentiment. The world would be a pretty dull place if we all agreed on everything.

Been following your greenhouse revamp thread, but don't think I've posted there. Nice work and very cool turtle. You're doing some interesting stuff that's a little different than the usual. Hope you got the bell syphon problem worked out. I'm anxious to try making some of those myself, but haven't got that far yet on my own project. Still have much to learn about AP, so everyone can expect some ignorant newbie questions down the line.

Not sure if anyone's interested, but here's a link to a poll result for the Obama support group, Organizing for America, that I belong too. The poll was taken the day after Obama cut the deal with the Republicans. Might be a good chuckle for all to see what topics us Muslim lovin' socialists think are important for our Prez to be working on. Man, I gave 'em an earful about my opinion of that "deal."

http://my.barackobama.com/YourFeedback

Gary

[rfeiller]

Forgot to mention, it was my contrary friend that got me interested in hydroponics. Yup, were don't agree on how that's done either!

[keith_r]

see, thats the thing, everyone is going to look at things from their own perspective...

take the koran stuff.. most of it is the exact same as the bible! religions were good for early societal evolution (like evolution never happened and the earth is really 6000 yrs old) but hopefully will go the way of the dinosour.. just think, some day logic and truth will be evident..

and come on jco, don't tellme you're a birther too? muslim obamma? namecalling has never worked in a real "debate"

and thats my point,, there aren't any debates, only my side or the wrong side... it's polarization of the masses,,, which benefits who? as long as big business and the $ runs the gov, nothing will change. the big business funded "tea party" is a perfect example of it
we should be socially responsible, welfare reform has worked, it's necessary to provide services, and it's fair to have requirements to receive benefits (like mandatory drug testing, and job training). and it all really boils down to education.. until we educate the masses, they'll just be targets for the corporations

[rfeiller]

If truth were known we might find out that the really powerful are neither Republican or democrate. They have given us a couple of teams to fight for, so that we will feel that we have some say in the matter.
The game is not for us to be suckered in, but to be strong in what we believe in.

[JCO]

Gosmith,

Can't devote any time to your response at this time. I am studying for a College exam on Saturday and at age 67, it isn't as easy as it was when I was younger. After 3 heart attacks and surgery, my memory doesn't work as good as it use to but I will get back to you on it.

From a number of things you said that I do agree with, I don't actually think you are as far left as you first put on but I do think I have you on the run.

Myself, I am actually very easy to get along with but I am like the proverbial Tiger. In essence "you never poke Tiger when the cage door is open."

As for booting you off this site, unless you get completely out of hand, which I don't foresee, that will never happen. Everyone is entitled to their opinion here as long as it doesn't result in personal attacks on other members.

So pull up an easy chair, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride (don't forget the seat belt though....it could get a little bumpy from time to time)

By the way, the invitation that I extended to the others to become a contributor on my political website http://webnewsfeed.com also extends to you. So far no takers. What say you, could you put up with my fanaticism on the other side of the fence in order to work together to put ideas out there about what could work and be agreeable for both sides?

[badflash]

I love free and open exchanges of viewpoints. You learn little from those you agree with. Just a reminder to keep it on the up & up. No personal attacks, just what you think about the concepts, not the posters.

What I find fascinating is that most people, liberal or conservative vote their wallets. If you are poor and stand to gain from government handouts, you vote liberal. If you are middle to upper income, you vote conservative to keep from being raped by the feds. If you are really rich and can afford good tax attorneys, you get liberal again because you can spend other people's money. MY father in law was a conservative until he retired. He then converted to liberal once Uncle's money started coming in.

We ave very close to a simplified tax code. "What do you make? Send it in."

[gosmith]

What bothers me most in this thread is the use of broad and offensive generalizations about the most powerless segment of our society, calling them "useless individuals," and "lazy good-for-nothing dead-beats," righteously vilifying them with a few carefully chosen examples of fraud, then blaming THEM all for all the economic woes of our nation which were, in fact, actually caused by run-away capitalistic greed.

This is how you marginalize people and downplay the need for any kind of assistance whatsoever. The vast majority of people receiving assistance do not fit the above profile.

There are plenty of honest and decent, hard-working Americans who will lose their homes today. There are single parents who have a full time minimum wage job (or two), who will have their heat turned off or are behind on the rent, waiting for an eviction notice. There are elderly folks who never had a 401K and are finding their SS checks no longer sufficient to make ends meet. These are not evil drug addicts or conniving illegals, these are your friends and neighbors, your relatives maybe.

There are also real American children who will go to bed hungry tonight. About 17 million of them, according to the stats. Some of them also need to be taken out of abusive households and placed into foster homes, yet there are simply not enough caring Americans signing up for the Foster Care program who are willing to open their homes to take them in. Fact is, the number of folks seeking Foster Parent licensing has actually decreased in the last ten years. Might be because the government reimbursement rates for foster parenting in most states is no longer adequate to cover the actual cost of providing routine care for the child. Foster Parents are expected to open their wallets as well as their homes.

My own wife works for a non-profit that houses and takes care of severely mentally challenged adults who have essentially been abandoned by their families. Some of them do have trust funds that help pay for some of their 24/7 care, but most are funded by your tax dollars. BTW, they've all just lost their dental and vision health care due to budget cutbacks.

But let's forget about all those worthless individuals, let's just talk about those unemployed deadbeats who would find a job tomorrow if you simply cut off their unemployment checks.

There are 17,984 listed jobs available in my state today, according to the official WA employment services site. That number probably doesn't include the occasional "help wanted" sign in a window, or jobs that may be filled by word of mouth before being listed, so let's be generous and double that number to 36,000. There are currently 324,300 folks here actively looking for work according to the same site. Our unemployment rate is slightly lower than the national average.

<text addition edit>
In my rural neck of the woods, there are many displaced fishing and logging families who are having difficulty. Aside from unemployment, food stamps, and other types of public assistance, there are tax sponsored retraining programs at the local community college. Family farms and dairies had a tough time a while back, but are now being revitalized by the high demand for local produce, especially organically grown. The tax funded WSU ag extension facility here has been vital in this transition. Workers in these occupations tend to be fairly conservative and are proud to call themselves rednecks, (at least the fishermen and loggers.) Don't know how the heavy reliance on public assistance may have affected their politics.
<end addition>

I could go on, but what's the point? Minds are already made up. Go ahead and label all of this as socialist drivel or some sort of liberal agenda to destroy the American way of life, if it makes your conscious feel any better. But please, at least have the decency in your blackened hearts to stop using such derogatory terms to describe persons who may be a little less fortunate than yourselves.

Look, continuing this thread will not serve any purpose, as far as I'm concerned. I will read whatever comments are yet to be made here, but choose to opt-out of any further participation. What I said in the first paragraph of this post is what really set me off in the first place, not any desire to have a liberal v conservative debate. I really do practice what I preach, take active steps to help feed the homeless, donate time and contribute a bit of my lower-middle-class income to charities. Frankly, I don't run into many conservatives out there on the front lines of this particular war, and I don't care for some of the labels that often get laid onto people who choose to blend a little compassion with their politics.

Sorry JCO, I don't wish to become a token liberal for your conservative soapbox blog. Don't want to even look at the site, which I assume is filled with the same colorful language you've chosen to use here.

Cheers,

Gary

[rfeiller]

Each of us have come to our own conclusion as to the evils in our country. Much of the time we are basing our stand on something we have heard on radio/tv or read in a publication.
There are two prominent radio stations in San Jose, 910(Rep), 960(dem) I switch back and forth to hear the opposing opinions and dramatizations of the facts.
I would love to see a blog that presented just the facts from both sides with no slamming by either side of the other. When emotion enters in there is no room for logic.