Re: Obama to tax all electronics to subsidize newspapers!

in the 1990s Housing and Urban Development threatened to prosecute people who protested group housing for drug addicts as "discriminatory"

the academic question of whether socialism leads to tyranny can be bypassed

in America it does.  It must, because the MORAL AUTHORITY of socialism trumps the moral authority of property owners to opt out, or even, object

The core joke of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is that of course no civilization would develop personal computers with instant remote database recovery, and then waste this technology to find good drinks.
Steve Jobs has ruined this joke.

Re: Obama to tax all electronics to subsidize newspapers!

"Advocating a government with no limits on its power is advocating tyranny. I'm not interested in equivocating on word choice."

I never advocated limitless power to the government. I only advocate big responsible government. Some things (like health care) are better left to a body that consists entirely out of elected people rather than the free market. The first you can change all the time, the latter only wants to make profits out of it.

"I didn't say you've all been indoctrinated."

Well this seems to say otherwise: "I simply don't admire the BBC's quality particularly much. Perhaps you've grown used to propaganda and indoctrination in your news media as many on your continent have."

"The theory that everything is fair, that somehow government funded news media and free market news media are are magically equal in value, doesn't even have face validity. If that's your argument, you're not even trying, and there's no sense in responding. You're here accusing me of not accepting that we do things differently. But I'm merely discussing the differences."

No, if you claim we're all indoctrinated for merely supporting the idea that state funded media isn't so bad after all, you sort of push the discussion into a corner. Time and time again, people turn to insults when a different approach is suggested. Then it's not me who blows up the discussion, but then it's you. That was merely what I wanted to say. Or as you put it: "If that's your argument, you're not even trying, and there's no sense in responding".

You seem to be the only one around here that represents the american right wing movement intelligently (apart from Chris, but I think he's flying inside sometimes), and I have respect for your manner of debating, but that post you made, lade you look like you slided off into the more common style that gives me diarrhoea.

God: Behold ye angels, I have created the ass.. Throughout the ages to come men and women shall grab hold of these and shout my name...

28 (edited by V.Kemp 09-Jun-2010 09:15:15)

Re: Obama to tax all electronics to subsidize newspapers!

>>I never advocated limitless power to the government.<<

The U.S. Constitution does not give its government the power to socialize newspapers. Discussion closed.

>>Some things (like health care) are better left to a body that consists entirely out of elected people rather than the free market.<<

There's a reason I had a million dollars of medical work done in the USA. And it's not because your country funds the best healthcare system in the world. It's because the free market does. Your statement that "some things are better left to a body that" blah blah blah blah is ignorant garbage at best. You're an ideological child [/young adult, the physiology is the same], and so long as you choose to attack me rather than my statements, I don't really care to embarrass myself further responding.

>>No, if you claim we're all indoctrinated for merely supporting the idea that state funded media isn't so bad after all....<<

That isn't the reason I gave, nor did I claim you were _all_... if you aren't going to respond to my statements but only strawmen _repeatedly_ even after I call you on it, I'm not going to engage in some distorted bullshit contest where you repeatedly respond to comments I never made. I point out that you're responding to statements I never made and you can, in response, respond to more statements I never made, but I'm going to lose interest in responding. I have. If you had any interest in a real exchange, you'd have responded, rather than twice-over responding to straw-man arguments I never made.

>>Time and time again, people turn to insults when a different approach is suggested. <<

Good point. You, alone, did just that.

>>Then it's not me who blows up the discussion, but then it's you.<<

Again, any 5th rate language or logic teacher will point out to you that, because you did it, you did it. Law of identity. Nobody disputes this law.

>>but that post you made, lade you look like you slided off into the more common style that gives me diarrhoea.<<

Blah blah blah. As is evident in this response, I'm not into the garbage exchange you're starting here. My last post made it clear I'm not interested in the pseudointellectual drivel you're giving me here. I pointed out that you ignored content and resorted to personal attacks, and in response you claimed that I was the one resorting to personal attacks... It's just awkward, weird, embarrassing, and stupid. I'm not a child. I'm not uneducated. And, though you describe me as "American right wing" (I added the caps, cause that was beyond you), I disagree with the American "right wing" on a number of issues.

This is embarrassing child's play, and I'm not interested in it. So long as you want to REPEATEDLY attack straw-man arguments and project upon me your ignorant remarks, I'll go make babies with Lisa and not respond.

I believe there's plenty of room for debate on this topic, just like on socialized healthcare (I've repeated ad nauseam that I'm not against social welfare, and advocated for its reform that it may be continued in the future, giving MORE to those who need it. Without reform, its expansion will bankrupt our country like it has [and will continue to] bankruped European countries, at which point it will FAIL to provide the social welfare which I, repeatedly, have suported).

Blah blah blah blah. I get more and more ignorant children responding to posts with straw-man posts ad nauseam. I'm not a Christian. I'm not a [Amerikan] Republican. You can't show your inability to read [my posts] and expect me to respond like the ignorant Amerikan stereotype you respond to me as if I am. When I call you out on doing something, saying "YOU DO IT" doesn't confuse me into thinking you're right. It just tells me you're a dishonest idiot without the dignity to have a real discussion. It doesn't insult me. This is an internet discussion board. I've seen all the worst retards (we know "Decimus" is still around) call me names. They only make me thankful I live a monumentally better life than they do. I'm not going to bullshit with you as if I'm as ignorant and stupid as you are. I never engaged in the "US vs EU" thread because its very premise seemed to me pretentious and ignorant. But you can't just respond to me with relativist claims that don't even hold face validity (and obviously not even know what that means) and project your shortcomings on me and expect some sort of response that treats you as a legitimate poster. You're spamming disrespectful, insulting, ignorant drivel. Don't shit on my lawn and accuse me of the crime. That's just f****** stupid. I have better things to do than to lay out my case that I didn't shit in my lawn.

[I wish I could obey forum rules]

Re: Obama to tax all electronics to subsidize newspapers!

In germany we pay 17

Re: Obama to tax all electronics to subsidize newspapers!

Kemp, this was not meant as an insult:

"But, most Americans don't understand and thus don't like extended government. Soon, "the socialism is evil by default"-tantrum will be uttered again.."

The US of A doesn't have a history of 'big government'. The closest you got was after the crash of '29 when the new deal was proposed. If that was offensive to you, I regret that I put it like that. The second sentence is just a cynical reflection on how the politics forum works.

God: Behold ye angels, I have created the ass.. Throughout the ages to come men and women shall grab hold of these and shout my name...

Re: Obama to tax all electronics to subsidize newspapers!

toldya the American right would be touchy when out of power

we're in siege mode

NUTS!!!!

The core joke of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is that of course no civilization would develop personal computers with instant remote database recovery, and then waste this technology to find good drinks.
Steve Jobs has ruined this joke.

Re: Obama to tax all electronics to subsidize newspapers!

>>Tyranny from taxing electronics? Good joke. <<

Every time a government acts beyond the power given to it in its constitution, this leads to tyranny. Every time such a limiting document is ignored, it erodes the authority of law, setting the stage to ignore it more in the future--in this case, overstepping the limits placed by the US Constitution. This is unlawful, but you call it a joke. I'm glad you think tyranny is funny. Nanci Pelosi laughs about the Constitution as she breaks it. Somebody should lock the bitch up. I'm sure the joke's on me, and you'd love to live in Cuba or China. Tyranny is a good joke! The law is funny!

[I wish I could obey forum rules]

Re: Obama to tax all electronics to subsidize newspapers!

On the other hand, your constitution is more than 200 years old and it shouldn't be taken as a godsent dogma. Those times differ from ours, and that's clear on certain parts of any constitution.. Your country should reserve the right to adapt it.
An adaptation is not necessarily one that makes it worse. If you disagree, you seem to fall into the typical western belief that age means truth (believe me, I do my thesis about it).

Again, funding media doesn't result in problems on its own. If you see tyranny as the inevitable consequence of funding, this thread is pretty much over.

God: Behold ye angels, I have created the ass.. Throughout the ages to come men and women shall grab hold of these and shout my name...

Re: Obama to tax all electronics to subsidize newspapers!

If the civil rights amendment is 200 years old I am more gay than Primo.

Amendments are how we atte to modify it, and have done so.

not through a strawman argument that it is to old.

If tats the case then laws against murder should go away.

Everything bad in the economy is now Obama's fault. Every job lost, all the debt, all the lost retirement funds. All Obama. Are you happy now? We all get to blame Obama!
Kemp currently not being responded to until he makes CONCISE posts.
Avogardo and Noir ignored by me for life so people know why I do not respond to them. (Informational)

Re: Obama to tax all electronics to subsidize newspapers!

>>On the other hand, your constitution is more than 200 years old and it shouldn't be taken as a godsent dogma. <<

Nobody is suggesting that it is. Aren't you tired of attacking straw-man arguments yet? It's the law. And America is a nation of laws, not a barbarian area of the globe where those in power may do whatever they feel like. It is this constitution that has given the USA wealth that no other country on the earth has ever known. I don't think those parts of the constitution protecting individual liberties and property (among others) which have led to American excellence are outdated. I do not believe that wealth and excellence are outdated. Any adaptation of this document which removes monumentally good parts with anything less is, by definition, one that makes it worse.

>>Those times differ from ours, and that's clear on certain parts of any constitution.. Your country should reserve the right to adapt it. <<

We do reserve the right to alter it. In fact, the Constitution is the legal document which protects this right.

>>Again, funding media doesn't result in problems on its own.<<

You're claiming that a government can hand out money to certain companies in a free market and not others (not based on consumer choice) and that this will have absolutely no negative impact on the consumer. That's just silly.

[I wish I could obey forum rules]

Re: Obama to tax all electronics to subsidize newspapers!

"You're claiming that a government can hand out money to certain companies in a free market and not others (not based on consumer choice) and that this will have absolutely no negative impact on the consumer. That's just silly."

In my country the two poublic station are have allways a less percentage on share than then private ones.

You also assume that the public station will be there to make money, which is also wrong. They are there to provide a service for the public, they will not compete against private stations.

Re: Obama to tax all electronics to subsidize newspapers!

I only assume that "public" stations with government money ballooning their budget are artificially given the opportunity to deceive consumers into thinking their programming is something anyone watches. They're competition to private companies, making it more difficult to run a profitable business providing media to the public. Private businesses should be the only thing competing with private businesses and determining the quality of programming necessary to profit and exist. Funding a company regardless of the quality of its programming (which only consumers are capable of judging) is harmful to companies that produce content consumers actually want.

This thread is about government funding for for-profit companies, Freelancer. Funding for for-profit companies that are failing because they cannot produce a product that consumers want. This action directly short-circuits what makes capitalism work so well in providing the highest quality products at the lowest cost. It is desirable that companies which cannot produce a product consumers want at a price that they can profit from go out of business and cease to exist. Funding such failed enterprises with tax money is a waste of money.

News flash: We don't have a surplus, and I'll wager that non-US residents supporting wasting money on supporting these failed institutions don't have surpluses either. This is just ridiculous. We have no money but some are advocating spending money propping up failed business. No, I don't want anyone taking my money to produce more content that nobody wants. Try what you're advocating in your personal life first before you advocate pushing it on a national scale and wasting others' money: We won't have to respond to your posts, because you'll lose your internet in no time. Things aren't free. You're not doing anyone a favor by proposing actions which increase the cost of living for everyone, you're hurting everyone--especially the poor, who can't afford the increase in cost of living.

[I wish I could obey forum rules]