posted
Of course he does. He also thinks he can tell cute fables and hope people forget about Enron. Sorry, Rob. Try again. Then again, he also completely ignores all the time Reagan gave China illegal tech, so it's not like he's willing to listen to anything even remotely resembling "reality."
quote:NOT ALL ANTS ARE CEO'S.
DUH, Robert! In the story, I mention one ant in PARTICULAR. Singular ant. Only one. I know you're all about generalizing people and what not, but you're supposed to be a librarian! Didn't you at least READ what I edited? No, you just switched on the "I'm going to generalize everything" switch and did so.
If it makes you happy, replace the grasshopper with the ant and vice-versa. MY story still proves that pro-deregulation Republicans (in this case, Republioaches) are EVIL EVIL EVIL SPIDERFUCKERS!
Of course, the whole point of my story was that generalizations are bad and a fable isn't really good except to make stupid Republicans feel good about themselves, so you should really be feeling good about yourself, Rob.
Me? I'm feeling kind of dirty for stooping to your level.
posted
Snay, that was what didn't make any sense about your example. You took a story about generalities (which everyone but you seems to already take as a given are inherently flawed, which is why I said I found it "funny" and I didn't say "true"), and tried to rationalize a specificty from it. Any storyteller can tell you that can't work.
I don't believe the story actually was talking about the Democrats and the Republicans, except to the extent that 'political correctness' as portrayed (and taken to extremes)in the story is primarily the pervue of the Democrats.
Of course, in the final analysis, the grasshopper is a symbol of the 'entitlement' mentality ... you can decide for yourselves who represents that side more often ... whereas the ant is a symbol of those of us who do not believe we are 'entitled' to anything, and who simply go out and do the best we can with what we have, whether we're liberal or conservative.
It's simply a coincidence that if you see someone supporting the 'entitlement' concept, 7 times out of 10 they're also a Democrat (Since the Socialist and Communist parties have such small memberships in the US), and of course, there are exceptions to that, too... certain Super-Right-Wing groups support a sort of 'entitlement' concept of their own... but just for their own.
Still, as a general rule, while there is not always a huge gulf between Democrats and Republicans, there IS one between those who follow the 'entitlement' concept and those who do not.
quote:Do you really believe that the main difference between a Democrat and a Republican is how much they put into their savings account?
Of course not. The main difference between a Republican and a Democrat is how much of your savings account they think belongs to you, vs. how much of it they think belongs to 'the people.'
[ February 12, 2002, 12:11: Message edited by: First of Two ]
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
quote:Of course not. The main difference between a Republican and a Democrat is how much of your savings account they think belongs to you, vs. how much of it they think belongs to 'the people.'
By the time your paycheck gets to you, Rob, taxes have already been taken out. They're not taken from your savings account.
posted
You're right. I should have said that the difference is in their beliefs about how much of the money that you EARN should go into your checking/savings account, because it belongs to you, and how much of it should go to "the people."
Since I put all of my money into my checking/savings account, and would do so even if I paid no taxes at all, for ME it's exactly the same as saying "how much of the money that you WOULD put in your checking/savings account otherwise should be taken away and given to 'the people.'"
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
Well, Rob, somebody's gotta pay for ... (ready for it?):
Printing the very dollar bills with which people trade. Public roads. Rural electrification. Government subsidized telephone wiring. Satellite communications. Police protection. Military protection. A criminal justice system. Fire protection. Paramedic protection. An educated workforce. An immunized workforce. Protection against plagues by the Centers for Disease Control. Public-funded business loans, foreclosure loans and subsidies. Protection from business fraud and unfair business practices. The protection of intellectual property through patents and copyrights. Student loans. Government funded research and development. National Academy of Sciences. Economic data collected and analyzed by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Prevention of depressions by Keynesian policies at the Fed (successful for six decades now). Dollars protected from inflation by the Fed. Federal Emergency Management Agency. Public libraries. Cooperative Extension Service (vital for agriculture) National Biological Service. National Weather Service Public job training.
"Why shouldn't the American people take half my money from me? I took all of it from them."
posted
**Points out the Omegaian "Either/Or" Fallacy that Snay seems to have fallen into.**
quote:about how much of the money
See that? "How MUCH," Not, "If ANY"
I don't think even the most diehard Republican would try to say that NO Federal or State or Local funding is necessary for ANYTHING.
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
Yes Rob, I saw that. I simply felt the need to point out to you that its impossible to make any money in the U.S. without relying on the infastructure paid for by taxes, therefore, why bitch about how much you have to pay? Check out the quote in my previous post.
The ant was a hard worker, of this there can be no doubt. But she (because ants that work are female, friends. the males are slackers who just want to fuck and die.) wasn't very original when it came to how she did her work. She did it the same old way along with all of her female, sex in the city watching ant friends, and was eventually killed by a big fat kid with a magnifying glass.
The big fat kid was named Ralph, and came from Buffalo. He was slightly retarded. He used alot of ant poison out of spite, and destroyed the anthill with the viscious relish only children and maniacs know.
The Grasshopper was shocked, and mortified, at least at first. But then she (also a female, here.) started thinking "Hey, I can now institute my liberal Leaping policies with no intervention from those bastard Ants! Thus Years of Greenism will finally end, and all shall be free from the yolk of the Queen Ant, (may the bitch rot in hell)."
But without the Army ants to provide protection, and distraction for his moronic pleasures, Ralph came and stomped the grasshopper to death with his size thirteen Reeboks. "Tee Hee," he bellowed, "It pops like wet Play dough!"
The Spiders had seen all of this, and were overjoyed. Finally, they thought, an end to stupid Grasshopper rule! In celebration, they all got drunk and spun webs with big holes in them for all the other bugs to look at. The flies passed right through their previously effective webbing, and went straight to the good shit.
Then the Killer Bees from Africa came and killed Ralph because he was listening to N'synch too loud. (They don't like loud noise.)
Ralph the retarded sadist was buried in Wisconsin, even though he was from Buffalo.
Which most people found to be pretty amusing.
In the years to come, other insects would come into power, and eventually die off, because most of them are female, and females get PMS and are not to be trusted with power.
posted
I simply felt the need to point out to you that its impossible to make any money in the U.S. without relying on the infastructure paid for by taxes, therefore, why bitch about how much you have to pay?
Because relatively little of my taxes actually GO to that infrastructure. More go to failed social programs.
You seem to be making the false assumption that there is no difference between objecting to excessive levels of taxation and objecting to the CONCEPT of taxation.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
quote:You seem to be making the false assumption that there is no difference between objecting to excessive levels of taxation and objecting to the CONCEPT of taxation.
You know, for someone who thinks your invisible friend created the universe, you can be really incredibly dense sometimes.
I don't think Rob is excessively taxed. I don't think the rich are excessively taxed. I don't think most anyone who gets a paycheck is excessively taxed. Why? Because without the infastructrue either paid for by, or subsidized by, the government, no one would make any money at all. We're talking roads, training ... countless services that have led to people like Bill Gates to be able to make millions, and even you, Omega, to earn a paycheck.
If you don't want to pay "excessive taxes", quit your job. Live off the land. If you want to take advantage of jobs, then you gotta pay for the stuff that makes it work. And it's really not excessive, dear chum.
And ant and a grasshopper were arguing about politics over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over, ad nauseam. So I stepped on them. Got my shoes all yucky, but it sure was fun...
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
That was considerably funnier than your Oscar joke.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
But he missed the cockroach...
Registered: Nov 1999
| IP: Logged
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
