What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

And the winner is....

  • Thread starter Cynic81
  • Start date
  • #21
Actually, I was kind of on Arnold's side... of course, I'm in Florida, so what business of this is mine?

***hides behind Lauderdale***
 
  • #22
buckeye, you make some good points, but you're just wrong about "the media", in my opinion. All one has to do is look at the rich corporations (the very few) that own the media to know what biases and agendas it has (pro-business, anti-regulation.) Meanwhile, the talk shows on radio are dominated by raving right wingers like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, pushing the conservative agenda with every fiber of their beings. The myth of the "liberal" media is pushed by conservatives so as to avoid accountability. Very often, the mere facts of a story appear "liberal" because they chronicle the human tolls of indifferent corporate actions.

Capslock <--- not so much liberal or conservative as anti-corporate.
 
  • #23
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">"Schwarzenegger: Groping for answers"
[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

hahaha I love it!!!
tounge.gif


thats all I have to say I know nothing about politics
 
  • #24
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">All one has to do is look at the rich corporations (the very few) that own the media to know what biases and agendas it has (pro-business, anti-regulation).   . . . Very often, the mere facts of a story appear "liberal" because they chronicle the human tolls of indifferent corporate actions.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Hey capslock.

If the media does have a pro-business agenda then why would they "chronicle the human tolls of indifferent corporate actions?"  Wouldn't they try to cover this up so people would think big business is good?  

Also why is the media only reporting the bad things that happen in Iraq?  There is no doubt war is good for business. It creates jobs and generates lots of money. So wouldn't a pro-business media what to report the good things? Things like new schools being open, new women freedoms and a more dependable power grid. I guess, in my opinion, i just don't see the media as being pro-business.



     -buckeye
 
  • #25
Hey buckeye,

Forget the biases, the real motivating factor in media is SALES. The most sensational stories, the most tragic and the most lurid stories are the ones that sell best and garner the highest ratings. Stories of the good things that happen just don't sell.

Capslock
 
  • #26
The media is comprised of different owners having biases and agendas. I'm sure everyone has their favorite sources of news as well. Therefore, there is competition between media "outlets". One network would be more than happy to report bad news about other competitors and the large corporations they own-but most likely never expose its own shortcomings. Bad news "sensationalism" sells. Positive things are used as filler when they run out of "shockers". Do not forget the persuasive powers of our government
in using the media. Cases have to be made and heard by the American people before they can "justify" how they squander our tax dollars.
 
  • #27
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Once you allow people to indulge in so much comsumerism you can never get dull, boring, unsexy things like the needs of education, health care, etc to matter again. [/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Who is the "You" that "allows" me to indulge in consumerism?  The last time I read our Constitution I do not need the permission of "you" to do what I want.  By the way, who gave you permission to go out and spend your money on a completely unnecessary item such as a carniverous plant?  
wink.gif
 
  • #28
Hi Buckeye,

So its cool that Arrrnold only admires Hitler's rise to power in Germany? He likes that Hitler built a private army of thugs; that Hitler staged a coup; that he was a convicted terrorist/trader/criminal; that he used the rich right wing in Germany to fund his little genicidal Nazi Party; that he bullied, beat the heads in, tortured and killed members of the opposition parties and when he was finally appointed Chancellor instantly destroyed democracy. Yeah, we should all admire his rise to power.
There is no way a good person can view Hitler from any angle and find ANYTHING good in his actions. To remove Hitler from the CONTEXT of HOW he obtained power and to just get excited over the fact that a thug was able to get power is the kind of lunacy that breeds a Hitler. Admiring Hitler's rise to power is like admiring the technique of a serial killer -- as that is all Hitler was, a serial killer with the power of a State. Is it ok to admire how Jeffrey Dalmer cut up his human victims? Nothing morally wrong in that? Ignore the ends and love the means?
Arrnold admiring Hitler's rise to power is actually worse than admiring his use of that power. The way he rose to power foreshadowed how he would use power. There is no way an intelligent and moral person can admire anything about Hitler. When someone says they do it is a red flag revealing dangerous, unexpressed thoughts and feelings.
The author of the book was the guy who directed Arrnold's body building movie in the 1970's. he had Arrnold on tape saying all these wako things about Hitler. Arrrnold bought the tapes and paid the guy a million dollars. He needed to clean up his skeletons.
I didn't say the school funding was going to the wasteful Hummer crowd. I said that they were not taxed enough so that too little money was in the public arena and too much was in the private arena. Having a society that works is expensive and must be taxed to be funded. If you want to live in a 1850's frontier town with Reagan and Bush be my quest. I have no wish to return to ugly, racist, violent, stupid frontier rugged individualist America. We have too much money in the private sector and do not fund the public sector anymore. As long as one kid can't get to college or one guy is homeless or as long as any social problem remains it is wicked to justify the selfish indulgence of useless luxury. This country did not do that from the 1930's to the 1970's. It began in the 80's as the Repubs brought back the long discredited siren song that selfish greed is good.
I would have a higher regard for the "success" of the successful is I did not see that most make their "success" by lying, cheating and stealing. I do not know one wealthy individual who did not cheat to get there. Yeah, hard work!
Its not the debt that 87 billion will cause; its that the Repubs always SCREAM debt and taxes when any social program is mentioned but when it comes to the greatest waste of all -- as you admitted -- war, the Repubs could care less about debt and taxes. Am I the only one who finds this to be hypocritical?
Bin Laden is a threat to this country and the war in Afganistan (now totally overshadowed by Iraq) is justified. Saddam was not a threat to us or anyone anymore and this war is for anything but our safety. Like Vietnam, it is PURELY a political and financial war to serve the interests of those in power. We were sold a shell game and far too many of us bought into it. The blame rests solely with the Repubs.
The California recall was NOT the result of an innocent desire to recall the governor. It was a political battle plan hatched and FUNDED by right wing Repubs to take advantage of a perceived opportunity. It was the height of political cynicism and politics as usual. Had the looney right not bank rolled it it would have never happened. California needs to drop all its "people" iniated propositions, raise property taxes to real market levels and return to what it once was before right wing rich politicans played on anger and greed to get idiots to hate taxes while imagining a society worth living in can run without them.
The undercover CIA woman was exposed to an archly conservative columnist -- Robert Novak. He is a mouthpiece in the mainstream media for all the Repub agendas and fantasies. The phantom liberal media had nothing to do with it. The whole sordid episode was hatched and cooked within the right wing media loop. They have no one to blame but their own unpatriotic selves for what is now happening and for endangering the life of a woman working to find WMD in this world. But I guess someone needs to do a "Lewitsky" for the right wing attack dogs to run chomping at the bit over. Unlike with a "Lewitsky" -- which is not a crime -- they are defending this actual crime. And that says it all.

Bobby
 
  • #29
Wow, another great rant from biggun! Again, I agree with most of it. I just wanted to point out that we shouldn't get nasty or personal with anyone here. Yes, the California recall JUST happened, and the emotions are fresh and vivid. However, everyone here is just a CP enthusiast, and as part of that community, I'd hate to see it torn apart by political differences. So let's keep it friendly!!!

The only quibble I have with your piece, biggun, is that there are a few wealthy people out there who made it with hard work. There's nothing wrong with getting rich. The profit motive is needed to excel in whatever it is we do, and it shows in the standard of living of countries with at least marginally free markets. The problem arises when people get the mentality that they never have enough, and they lose their social concerns. It is a tragedy that in California we don't have enough money for schools, infrastructure, and other programs for people who really need it when there's so much money in the private sector.

Capslock
 
  • #30
My thought is the people wanted the Big Bag of Air out (Greg Davis) so they did a recall. People voted for Arnold - he won. There are unhappy ppl still but tuff luck. Most of the people wanted Arnald and they got him. If he sucks, at the end of his term the people will decide his future. Besides all of this pre-talk it is a bunch of bs (on the news) - nothings happened. Anything that happens now till Mr. Arnold moves in is Mr. Big Bag of Airs fault. That is all.

Travis
 
  • #31
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">There is no way a good person can view Hitler from any angle and find ANYTHING good in his actions. To remove Hitler from the CONTEXT of HOW he obtained power and to just get excited over the fact that a thug was able to get power is the kind of lunacy that breeds a Hitler. Admiring Hitler's rise to power is like admiring the technique of a serial killer -- as that is all Hitler was, a serial killer with the power of a State. Is it ok to admire how Jeffrey Dalmer cut up his human victims? Nothing morally wrong in that? Ignore the ends and love the means?
[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>


Hitler was un-doubtedly the greatest military mind of his century. His rise to power isn't what set him aside as a potent leader, as we have seen recently any half-wit with some star power can get elected. What he did well as turn a country with no economy and massive inflation to a juggernaut in three years. He played every other world leader like a Violin, and orchestrated one of the most effective military campaigns in the history of the western world.

Please don't take offense, but I think half of your babble is commie non-sense. We as a nation NEED 2 parties. It’s a sort of checks and balances. BOTH parties have good views; BOTH parties are low down dirty scoundrels, BOTH parties lie and cheat their way into office.

I can't go back to get your quote on the war, but I assume you are making a statement about the war in Iraq. Let me tell you, I would MUCH rather fight the war on terrorisms in the streets of Iraq, then on the streets of New York. Lets face it, as anti-bush as you want to be, Sadam was an EVIL man. If he got his hands on a nuke there is no doubt in anyones mind, he would use it. Do you actually read about half the stuff he and his family did to his OWN PEOPLE? You have to be kidding me when you say we shouldn't be there. "The only thing needed for evil to prevail, is for good men to do nothing" Add to the fact that I sure as #### don’t want to pay 5 bucks for a gallon of gas, and I say we had all the reason in the world.


You anti-repubs always put a smile on my face. You will distort and twist anything around to put down a repub. You talk about Arnies grab@@@ but Clintons actions where none of our business (at least the Dems say it isn't) Please, give me a break.

I really didn't want to get into a political discussion but I couldn't resist.


Casper
 
  • #32
Hi again Biggun.

First off the NY times had to issue a retraction on their article about Arnold and his quote about Hitler. This is what the times quoted: "I admire [Hitler] for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it."  But in the transcript of outtakes from Pumping Iron Arnold actually said: "I didn't admire [Hitler] for what he did with it."  The man who produced the film, George Butler, gave the quote to the Times and after the story ran Butler admitted to the times that he misquoted Arnold. It's amazing to me that a large paper like the Times would take a quote from Butler and print it without checking the actual transcript of Arnold's comments.  Also the rest of mainstream media took the quote from the Times and ran it without first checking the facts.  They knew the blow it would cause to Arnold, so they printed it whether they knew it was true or not!

Here's the full quote the Times later printed (of course their liberal agenda was complete, they had already put the doubt into readers minds! ):

"In many ways I admired people — It depends for what. I admired Hitler for instance because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power. And I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for his way of getting to the people and so on.

"But I didn't admire him for what he did with it. It is very hard to say who I admired and who are my heroes. And I admired basically people who are powerful people, like Kennedy. Who people listen to and just wait until he comes out with telling them what to do. People like that I admire a lot."

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The author of the book was the guy who directed Arrnold's body building movie in the 1970's. he had Arrnold on tape saying all these wako things about Hitler. Arrrnold bought the tapes and paid the guy a million dollars. He needed to clean up his skeletons.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

George Butler was who wanted to write the book about Arnold.  He's also, like i said above, the man who directed the film.  I did some research on the internet and no where did i see anything about Arnold paying Butler for the tapes.  If Arnold did, he did it because he knew Butler was going to out right lie and misquote him.  Would you want a book printed about you full of lies??


</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I didn't say the school funding was going to the wasteful Hummer crowd. I said that they were not taxed enough so that too little money was in the public arena and too much was in the private arena.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

The "Hummer" crowd isn't taxed enough??  The top 5% pay 56.5% of the Fed. income tax!!  5% percent of the US population pay almost 60% of the tax!!!!!!  The top 50% pay 96.1 % of income tax!!!! ( top 50% means a houshold income of $26,000+)  Which means the bottom 50% ($26,000 and down) pay less than 4% of the taxes!!!!  Do you suggest that only the wealthier people should pay taxes while the rest of us just ride along??


</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"> I would have a higher regard for the "success" of the successful is I did not see that most make their "success" by lying, cheating and stealing. I do not know one wealthy individual who did not cheat to get there. Yeah, hard work!
[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

I'm not even going to get into this. This is completely untrue.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Its not the debt that 87 billion will cause; its that the Repubs always SCREAM debt and taxes when any social program is mentioned but when it comes to the greatest waste of all -- as you admitted -- war, the Repubs could care less about debt and taxes. Am I the only one who finds this to be hypocritical?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Once again, unfortunately war is needed.  It protects our freedoms and rights from people who would like to take them away from us.  Most often republicans are against some social programs because they are a waste.  And no it's not hypocritical.  Sometimes gov't spending needs cut (like by cutting some worthless social programs), but protecting our nation is not a time to cut spending.  

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Saddam was not a threat to us or anyone anymore and this war is for anything but our safety. Like Vietnam, it is PURELY a political and financial war to serve the interests of those in power. We were sold a shell game and far too many of us bought into it. The blame rests solely with the Repubs.
[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

I could not disagree with you more.  Saddam was a dangerous leader.  He killed people who didn't agree with him.  He had WMD, we just haven't found them yet.  Even if we never find them, they were there.  We just gave him way too much time to hide/sell them while we messed around with the UN.  Isn't Saddam just like Hitler??  They're both very evil, hateful murderers.  Would you have preferred the US to have left Hitler in power of Germany??


     -buckeye
 
  • #33
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Having a society that works is expensive and must be taxed to be funded. If you want to live in a 1850's frontier town with Reagan and Bush be my quest. I have no wish to return to ugly, racist, violent, stupid frontier rugged individualist America. We have too much money in the private sector and do not fund the public sector anymore. As long as one kid can't get to college or one guy is homeless or as long as any social problem remains it is wicked to justify the selfish indulgence of useless luxury. This country did not do that from the 1930's to the 1970's. It began in the 80's as the Repubs brought back the long discredited siren song that selfish greed is good.
I would have a higher regard for the "success" of the successful is I did not see that most make their "success" by lying, cheating and stealing. I do not know one wealthy individual who did not cheat to get there. Yeah, hard work!
[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Man, I don't know about anyone else, but that sounds a lot like communism to me. This country was founded on the ideals that anyone who works hard enough can make something of theirselves.
I worked my but off to send MYSELF to college. Please, for the love of god, tell me why in the world I should pay to send YOU or your kid to college. ANYONE can go to school today. There are so many grants and programs that if you don't go to school its your own fault.
Sounds like you are angry with people that have made a good life for theirselves. Let me tell you something buddy. My family owns an extremly succesfull construction company. We grew a $100,000 loan into a company worth 18 million in 10 years. We didn't lie, we didn't cheat, and we didn't steal. We worked our tails off. THAT IS THE AMERICAN WAY my friend.

An averadge of 54% of my money goes to taxes. How dare you say thats not enough? Over half of the money I EARN goes to the gov. and simply because I make more than you, it isn't enough. Basically, what your saying is we should all be taxed down to your level of income so we stand on level playing fields.

"it is wicked to justify the selfish indulgence of useless luxury" that has to be the saddest comment I have ever read. Now we are getting into socialism. We should I work hard and try to prosper when you think I should just give all the money back to help the lazy?
Give me a break. *Most* of the homeless are homeless because of there own faults. Everyone who asks me for a dollar on the street, I usually give them a few bucks, but I also give them my buisness card. I tell them to come by the office in the morning and I would put them to work the same day. Keep in mind, these where all ABLE boddied people. You know how many came to see me? NONE. Why should I help someone who doesn't want to help theirselves?


</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Bin Laden is a threat to this country and the war in Afganistan (now totally overshadowed by Iraq) is justified. Saddam was not a threat to us or anyone anymore and this war is for anything but our safety. Like Vietnam, it is PURELY a political and financial war to serve the interests of those in power. We were sold a shell game and far too many of us bought into it. The blame rests solely with the Repubs.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>


You speak about the morallity of helping the homeless but what about the persecuted, the people that are being starved and slain by there own leader. Oh, wait, thats right, its not in our backyard so its ok, right? Screw em, they arn't worth helping because WE have some lazy slob who can't hold a job living on the street. Add to the fact you have a psychotic dictator in power that has used WMD against his OWN PEOPLE. What in gods name makes you think he wouldn't use them on anyone else. Do you have any idea what would happen if he actually used them on his neighbors? The entire mid-east would de-stabalize into war. Hello 10 bucks a gal at the pump.


/rant off

Casper
 
  • #34
Now let's not throw the communism card around here. Nobody is suggesting that. Every first-world nation is a combination of free-markets and social programs. The only arguement is how much of each makes for wise and prudent social policies.

It's distressing for me to go to much poorer countries than ours and see better public schools available to everyone, including at the university level, better access to medical care, better public transportation and roads. There's no reason we have so many millions without basic health insurance, and it costs those of us who pay taxes to have a cycle of poverty and crime in our cities due to a lack of services that provide a pathway out.

However, it's also obvious that we shouldn't just give cash to junkies and do other stupid things that just enable a degenerative and parasitic lifestyle. Unfortunately, intead of a debate on wise vs. stupid social programs, people tend to get on a more vs. less debate.

Also, I don't know who does all your taxes, but I've made as much as $500,000 in a year, and never paid anything remotely close to 54% of that in taxes. In fact, there are many more tax breaks available to the wealthy than anyone else. As a small business owner, I know the value of hard work, and the importance of being rewarded for that work. But I also want to live in a world where people who don't don't achieve like you, Casper, or any of the rest of us who've had good opportunities in life, can still have productive, happy lives. And I want to live in a world where everyone has access to health care and education, so they can become better people, and where I'm not always stuck in traffic or suffering power outages.

Capslock
 
  • #35
54% is relative after income and property taxes are assessed.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">And I want to live in a world where everyone has access to health care and education, so they can become better people, and where I'm not always stuck in traffic or suffering power outages.
[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

I agree with you whole heartedly. Fact of the matter is, we have programs set up for higher education. Anyone who wants a higher education has the ability to get one. They just have to work for it.

Health care is another issue all together. Everyone should have health care, and there are programs in place, that you and I pay for, to give health care to people who can't afford it. Is it the best system in the world? No, it isn't, but neither is the expensive health care that I pay for my family. Untill the money is taken out of polotics, I don't see it changing any time soon either.

A lot of the problems we have in this nation, ultimatly resort back to us, as a people. Locally, we recently had a gubinatorial vote. On the ballot was an amendment to raise property taxes (avg of $66 a year per $100,000 of home value) to go directly to our school system. The vote passed by half a percent. That is a sad. The PEOPLE would rather have a few hundred dollars a year than to give their children better education. No polotics involved, no parties, the people voted on this and it barely passed.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">It's distressing for me to go to much poorer countries than ours and see better public schools available to everyone, including at the university level, better access to medical care, better public transportation and roads.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>


In retrospect, I have been to countries where people WISH they could be poor in the US. Places where hundreds of children are begging outside of the airport for food. Disease runs rampant. most young girls resort to prostition, etc...
Don't get me wrong, I understand what you are saying about some have it better, but keel in mind, some have it a lot worse.


Casper
 
  • #36
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I would have a higher regard for the "success" of the successful is I did not see that most make their "success" by lying, cheating and stealing. I do not know one wealthy individual who did not cheat to get there. Yeah, hard work!
[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

I actually find this sort of statement a little offensive. My father built a company from 4 people in his basement to a multi-million dollar coporation SELLING EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS TO SCHOOLS. He worked 80, 90, 100 hour weeks working his rear off to better YOUR education. You sound very ungrateful to me.
He sold his company, and he's wealthy now. Not rediculously wealthy, but wealthy none the less. He earned it. And YOU benefitted from his hard work!
 
  • #37
Ahhhh, there is nothing like a good political discussion to get the adrenalin going.
Every post on this subject just furthers my love for the country I was fortunate enough to be born in. The reason? If this discussion were being held in most other countries...a lot of you guys would be in a gulag making little rocks out of big rocks. Please take no offence from that statement...but it is the truth.
Now if I was the "Benevolent Dictator" of our country, I would simply not allow you to play with your CPs for a year. Hehehe.
biggrin.gif
biggrin.gif
biggrin.gif
 
  • #38
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">It's distressing for me to go to much poorer countries than ours and see better public schools available to everyone, including at the university level, better access to medical care, better public transportation and roads.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Yes but many countries with free college have total tax rates around 80%.  I am in college right now and i would rather pay for my own education for 4 yrs. than pay 80% of my income for the rest of my life.  If a someone would like to go to college but they don't have the money, they can apply to get one of millions of scholarship available.  The gov't also helps those students if they fill out the FAFSA.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">On the ballot was an amendment to raise property taxes (avg of $66 a year per $100,000 of home value) to go directly to our school system. The vote passed by half a percent. That is a sad. The PEOPLE would rather have a few hundred dollars a year than to give their children better education. No polotics involved, no parties, the people voted on this and it barely passed.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

The only problem is some people can't afford to keep adding more and more taxes.  Yes the levy was for only $66 a yr., but it can really add up when you consider all the other levies already in place.  In my old school district they just built a brand new high school, middle school and 2 new elementaries with a tax levy we passed 2 yrs. ago.  Since then they've asked for 4 more levies!!!  Only two out of the four passed.  If they all had passed taxes would have been raised over $1000 for an average family.  And that's a $1000 for 20 yrs., which adds up to $20,000!!  My dad farms and the way our property taxes are set up it would cost him 5 times as much as the avg. household.  I don't think that's right.  Public education is very important but they need to fix some of the unfair tax problems.


      -buckeye
 
  • #39
Hi,

First off, you guys have made all sorts of assumptions about me personally that you have no way of knowing and are completely untrue. I am not a communist or a socialist. I am not calling for the disappearance of the State (communism) or for the nationalization of the economy (socialism). When one throws around those words -- like the right wing loves to do -- one should get their meaning straight.
I believe capitalism is the best system for a healthy economy but I do not believe that old fashioned, 19th century, unregulated and socially blind capitalism is good for anyone or anything except the relatively few owners. The regulations and curbs that grew up to save capitalism from itself and which the Repubs have spent nearly a century fighting are more essential to capitalism than they are to a fair and just society -- only the greed in capitalism and its inability to joyously criticize itself prevent it from understanding itself.
Now, when I was talking about successful businesses lying, cheating and stealing their way to wealth do you think I was talking about successful Mom and Pop stores that make it through effort and hard work? No. I am talking about the real rich and the real power -- not the upper middle class.
That said, I watched my own father loose a moderately successful business because he was honest and those around him were not. I have also watched 2 friends build hugely successful businesses by lying on their taxes, paying people under the table, using creative bookkeeping, skimming off cash profit and working the deductions so that they meet the "letter" of the law (if unaudited) but in truth give the big lie to the spirit of the law.
Of course, I don't even need to mention Enron and all the rest of those hard working, honest, hugely successful and, of course, totally deserving Repub backing businesses.
Personally, I have worked and put myself through college twice. I did it through my money, loans, grants and scholarships. It was not easy and certainly no where near as simple as you imply. This nation should provide a college education for everyone who can do it. There should only be public schools -- from kindergarden to college. The poor, the rich and the middle, the black, the brown and the purple, the believers and the non-believers should all be in a school system together.
The hardships I experienced make me understnad that life is too valuable to waste on unnecessary struggle. There is always struggle enough. When we are capable of easing that struggle as a society we should pounce on it and not stroke our egos with rugged individualist fantasies.
Saddam is nothing like Hitler. Hitler was in power for 3 years and had a war machine that could challenge the best in the world. Saddam was in power since 1969 and only challenged his own people and Iran. He won nothing. Hitler had a plan (a book) for world conquest. Saddam had palaces. If he was so dangerous then the Repubs should have finished him off when he was most powerful -- during Kuwait. Instead, they let him go when he was the biggest threat. Bin Laden is another story. Plus both men are still free as birds.
The sad truth is the sanctions and inspections -- unsexy though they may be -- worked. He was cantained and had no WMD's. I am glad that you know WMD are there even if NEVER found -- that's a great attitude toward evidence. Convict even when no body is ever found. I believe we always knew he had no WMD. Just look at Repub vs Demo wars. The Demos fight WW I, WW II, Korea and Vietnam -- big bad tough painful wars. What do the Repubs fight? Grenada, Panama, Kuwait and Iraq. Their wars are tiny and victory (of some kind) is assured through hardware. Repubs in the 20th century never fought a hard war. Americans always ignore that little fact of our history. The "peaceniks" have carried the torch.
So Arnold said, "I admired Hitler for instance because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power. And I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for his way of getting to the people and so on."

You only prove my point. There is no way a moral person can admire Hitler's rise to power. It was a path and plan based on murder. He used all the evil to win power that he would use again on a grand scale once he took power. Hitler overthrew a democracy and turned Germany into a dictatorship. Arnold's identification with "the little man" is sick. He reveals a moral blindness of Conan proportions. It is barbaric.

Arnold also said, "But I didn't admire him for what he did with it. It is very hard to say who I admired and who are my heroes. And I admired basically people who are powerful people, like Kennedy. Who people listen to and just wait until he comes out with telling them what to do. People like that I admire a lot."

So Arnold basically admires authoritarian "Daddies" who order people to do things and the people then blindly go about doing them? It all reads like Arnold -- the bodybuilder -- just gets off on power. There is nothing more immoral than a power fetish. Again, that is part of what makes the psychology of a Hitler.
Arnold may have qualified the most obvious objection his admiration of Hilter would inflame but when one reads the entire quote the thought(?) expressed is one of Hitler admiration.
Hilter was not a military genius or a great economist. Russia blew him to bits even after Stalin murdered most of his officers in the purges during the 1930's. And any economy will function well for a time if it becomes a command economy run by the state and focused on military hardware. The history of the USSR shows what happens to such an economy over time -- implosion. Hilter achieved nothing great. He left Germany in ruins and destroyed its arm forces. One can only fantasize a genius out of Hitler's actions if one ignores the whole and makes a fetish out of isolated incidents. Hitler tapped the ugliness of human nature -- greed, power, hate, violence, selfishness and revenge. The only thing he was a genius at was whipping fools into his own rabid dog frenzy.
Let's say you do pay 54% of your income in taxes. If you make $10 million dollars that still leaves you with almost 5 million in the bank. Surely, that is enough? I think I could still find a reason to get out of bed, go to work and live if all I had left after taxes was 5 million.
You see America as an even playing field where the only requirement is sweat. I see a mass of hills and valleys with whole areas already off limits and all sorts of hurdles and handicaps. I wish I could see your idealized Repub vision. I never have. To me, it is unreal at best and a horrible lie at worst.
I find it funny that those without are always labeled lazy.
The nation should take care of health care, affordable housing, mass transportation, energy and education before it runs off after teapot dictators it helped to create.

Bobby
 
  • #40
Hi.

Ok, about Arnold and Hitler again.  In Arnold's quote: "In many ways I admired people — It depends for what. I admired Hitler for instance because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power. And I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for his way of getting to the people and so on." Arnold did not admire Hitler for the despicable  man he became.  Arnold admired him because he was an uneducated, low class person who was able to over come this status and become a more powerful person.  Also without education he was able to speak well and get the people behind him.  All this occurred before Hitler starting killing and taking over Germany. When Hitler started killing, he began abusing his power in a hateful way.  This is what is meant by Arnold when he said: "But I didn't admire him for what he did with it."  That's all there is to it.  Arnold doesn't have a "power fetish" nor is he anti-Semitic Nazi.  In fact he has helped an organization for families of the Holocaust and he even had them investigate his once Nazi member dad.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">So Arnold basically admires authoritarian "Daddies" who order people to do things and the people then blindly go about doing them?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Nope, he admires people who can pull themselves up their own boot straps, regardless of their social class.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Saddam is nothing like Hitler. Hitler was in power for 3 years and had a war machine that could challenge the best in the world. Saddam was in power since 1969 and only challenged his own people and Iran. He won nothing. Hitler had a plan (a book) for world conquest. Saddam had palaces. [/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

So since Saddam was in power for 30+ years why mess with him right?  I mean he was just being a selfless leader right?  It's not like he was starving, murdering, torturing, and degrading his people, right?  Oh wait he was, wasn't he.  Oh well, as long as it's happening several thousand miles away from us.  FDR (a democrat) had the same view on Hitler (who had been dictator for 6 yrs. not 3).  Hitler was doing the same thing saddam has done, only he was doing it to Jews, the elderly, the physically disabled and the mentally disabled.  And FDR knew about it!! But as long as nothing happens here we weren't going to get involved. Well something did happen, and it happened in Pearl Harbor two years after WW II started.  We were attacked by the Japan who had joined forces with Hitler. Had we helped defeat Hitler earlier, the Pearl Harbor attack never would have happen.  So, Pres. Bush made sure an attack wouldn't happen on American soil by the evil dictator Saddam Hussein.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Plus both men are still free as birds.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Yep, they're about as "free" as their people were.  Saddam and bin Laden are constantly on the run, hiding in houses and caves to avoid capture.


</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The sad truth is the sanctions and inspections -- unsexy though they may be -- worked. He was cantained and had no WMD's. I am glad that you know WMD are there even if NEVER found -- that's a great attitude toward evidence.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Actually there is evidence, it's called the Kay Report.  The Kay report was an independent study and found that Saddam had violated Resolution 1441.  They also found concealment and destruction of evidence before the UN inspectors showed up.  This was continued by Saddam loyalists after Hussein was forced from power.  US troops have found burnt documents, rooms, offices and computers.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">You see America as an even playing field where the only requirement is sweat. I see a mass of hills and valleys with whole areas already off limits and all sorts of hurdles and handicaps. I wish I could see your idealized Repub vision. I never have. To me, it is unreal at best and a horrible lie at worst.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

It's too bad you have such a pessimistic view of America.  I think most people, whether they're a democrat, republican, or no party, view America as the land of opportunity.  While not everyone can be a multi-millionaire CEO, they can be successful.  And that's one of my favorite things about America.  
smile.gif



     -buckeye
 
Back
Top