Hey Balthazar....

[A Horse With No Name]

[balthazar]

Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the harsh spotlamps of the IRS/ the Fed Gubment, greedily snatching away every dime you make until midnight on April 29th.

[A Horse With No Name]

I can agree with you that we need a more lean, well focused fed gov't.....

[balthazar]

A 'well-focused' Gov't might take all my dimes thru June 31st; what I'm advocating is a NEW government. Can you side with that?

[67impss]

If you mean a new electorate body serving our constitution yeah but scrapping it and starting anew nah. The constitution isn't broke it's the politicians.

[balthazar]

The politicians and the system they perpetuate.

[A Horse With No Name]

A 'well-focused' Gov't might take all my dimes thru June 31st; what I'm advocating is a NEW government. Can you side with that?

HELL YES!

If you mean a new electorate body serving our constitution yeah but scrapping it and starting anew nah. The constitution isn't broke it's the politicians.

It's main steet more than wall street that has done this...we as a people ahve let our elected officials walk all over this.

Fix main street and wall street and you will fix Washington...

[balthazar]

^ I would disagree- DC just isn't that plugged in to be directly effected. They operate outside of reality & the world of the people they supposedly represent.

[A Horse With No Name]

Fix main street and you will fix WHO we send to DC....it is a long process.

I really think we are becoming an idiocracy....I was sitting at a bar in a restaurant eating lunch the other day and the guy next to me is ranting about how the whole economic collapse was caused by Bill Clinton loaning black people money to build million dollar homes in the ghetto....

Our whole culture, Liberal, conservative, whatever...is devoid of any form of reality when they walk into the voting booth IMHO.

[balthazar]

We CANNOT just send people to DC and expect a turnaround- we've been DOING that all along.

The SYSTEM has to change, not just the puppets.

That said; I don't necc. disagree with you, Horsey

Edited October 31, 2011 by balthazar

[SAmadei]

Hows this for a crazy idea to get people plugged into political reality a bit more... in exchange for a reduction of your taxes, you volunteer to work for the government in some way that uses your talents. It puts you in contact with government people and their processes and might get people realizing in small parts, where things are truly broken.

[A Horse With No Name]

We CANNOT just send people to DC and expect a turnaround- we've been DOING that all along.

The SYSTEM has to change, not just the puppets.

That said; I don't necc. disagree with you, Horsey

Our media has to change...we give both Democrats and Republicans too much of a pass.

We need both good old fashioned muck racking and good old fashioned journalism, where we get the news without bias.

Hows this for a crazy idea to get people plugged into political reality a bit more... in exchange for a reduction of your taxes, you volunteer to work for the government in some way that uses your talents. It puts you in contact with government people and their processes and might get people realizing in small parts, where things are truly broken.

Not a bad idea...I would love to use my electrical or refrigeration talents if they would be able to be harnessed for good.

[balthazar]

... in exchange for a reduction of your taxes, you volunteer to work for the government in some way that uses your talents. It puts you in contact with government people and their processes and might get people realizing in small parts, where things are truly broken.

Trickle up reform? I don't think so, Tim. A few thousand guppies aren't going to turn the Queen Mary around.

I cannot afford to donate my time to Gov't projects for free, and I would never trust a 'tax for work' agreement written up by DC lawyers.

However, I will do evil for cash.

• • •

Our media has to change...we give both Democrats and Republicans too much of a pass.

We need both good old fashioned muck racking and good old fashioned journalism, where we get the news without bias.

Here's what happened; There used to be 3 broadcast news outlets with limited daily shows, so the 'pie' was cut into 3 huge slices.

Now there are 40,000 news outlets, 24/7, and partisan broadcasting works really well, so every outlet filters their output.... in order to fight for their 1/40,000 slice of the pie. 'Objectivity? SNORT!- who still believes news is about the news?

Unfortunately, I am going to have to lay the blame of rampant subjectivity in the media at the doorstep of Technology.

• • •

Not a bad idea...I would love to use my electrical or refrigeration talents if they would be able to be harnessed for good.

How exactly has refrigeration been used for evil in the past? Do tell....

[A Horse With No Name]

... in exchange for a reduction of your taxes, you volunteer to work for the government in some way that uses your talents. It puts you in contact with government people and their processes and might get people realizing in small parts, where things are truly broken.

Trickle up reform? I don't think so, Tim. A few thousand guppies aren't going to turn the Queen Mary around.

I cannot afford to donate my time to Gov't projects for free, and I would never trust a 'tax for work' agreement written up by DC lawyers.

However, I will do evil for cash.

• • •

Our media has to change...we give both Democrats and Republicans too much of a pass.

We need both good old fashioned muck racking and good old fashioned journalism, where we get the news without bias.

Here's what happened; There used to be 3 broadcast news outlets with limited daily shows, so the 'pie' was cut into 3 huge slices.

Now there are 40,000 news outlets, 24/7, and partisan broadcasting works really well, so every outlet filters their output.... in order to fight for their 1/40,000 slice of the pie. 'Objectivity? SNORT!- who still believes news is about the news?

Unfortunately, I am going to have to lay the blame of rampant subjectivity in the media at the doorstep of Technology.

• • •

Not a bad idea...I would love to use my electrical or refrigeration talents if they would be able to be harnessed for good.

How exactly has refrigeration been used for evil in the past? Do tell....

As for refrigeration being used for evil, I think you might have to look for experiments in a concentration camp.

As for Technology making partisan broadcasting easy, your absolutely effing right.

I would like to donate time in a well managed deal like Habitat for Humanity or something....and yes gov't layers could eff up anything.

[balthazar]

Kudos to you for having the financial time to donate to others.

Myself- I will only deal with state or corporate clients when the deal is air-tight and lucrative for me.

That said, I have had good returns recently doing insurance-paid work.

I will enter an agreement with the State this month- we'll see how that paperwork looks...

[SAmadei]

Its not being donated any more than your current taxes are being donated.

Still better than the time donation jury duty is. $5 a day... are you F'ing kidding me?!?

[A Horse With No Name]

Being on a jury can be fun or interesting...

I don't mind donating time for that kind of gov't work.