"I would be willing to bet $3000 you would not last three months driving a big rig like me."

your job is a JOKE ok?  oh poor flint has to drive a truck, what a hell everyday he suffers

I'm not gonna brag here about the many times I got asleep at the wheel when driving home form work, tired and sleepy, this is not the place to talk about the many shitty jobs i have had in my life that reported me no real income, only the necessary to survive on and stay alive, I'm not gonna tell u about the difference of salaries between your 'hard' job and 90% of the job salary in my country.

I've had more than 30 different jobs in my life and not gonna let you know what it takes to be a man. IF you'd ever been the poor guy you say then you wouldnt be talking crap like you do, so please STFU

And you're making me defend Flint. For that, you should get 100 lashes! X(

basic fundamentals??

lmao

where you see basic fundamentals I see NAZI trash, or either you are unable to read between the lines

Render they are starving whatever we do over here...and most of those places are poor because the head of the army will shoot anybody who tries to make money without paying him off.  And that's the organized places, many countries are full of factions of troops trying to shoot and burn their way to the point they can shoot anybody who tries to make money without a payoff.

point by point

"Well ok I am merely middle class... but I will tell you... I have been poor and eating top ramen for dinner, bologni and bread for lunch, and macaroni and cheese for breakfast...."  ---> It is OFFENSIVE, I have only 1 food a day compared to the 3 foods he had when he was 'poor'.   Also I don't know a poor that has macaroni for breakfast, thats abusive, you are lucky if you have a single coffee and run to work X(

"I have a laptop worth more than my last three cars (and my current car, though I could buy better I do not see a need right now to do so), I can order pizza whenever I want and NOT ask about the price, I can buy video games as they suit my fancy (four this month alone), and... well you get the point."  ---> I get the point that you are a matherialist, also I hope you buy a lot of videogames and stick on them the whole day and dont come to IC anymore.

"I have a constant pocket cash of between $300 to $600 now..."  ---> Get a trip to Spain I will gladly release your pockets of such a heavy weight

"So why does it seem like I am bragging? Trust me I am not. "  --> its called self-psychology, you know you're writing crap and try to convince yourself you aint

"I am trying to show the benefits of hard work, and of chasing your dream. Being lazy is not a dream, nor is living day by day on crap food." ---> we all can see the benefits of your 'hard work' (because you have just bragged about it) but this DOES NOT MEAN everybody doing hard jobs is able to get a benefit, because most of the REAL hard jobs (that you cannot imagine) are slave-like jobs that only allow you to survive for a while until the job is over and you try to figure out what to do next to get food for your sons, because every single penny you won were spent on the way, you arent aware the salary of a waiter is 800

Render you are offensive to me.

This is about picking yourself up, with me giving a life example, which can apply to anyone who wants to try.

Anything that can better your situation should be looked at, don't flinch from the disgusting, the difficult, or the frustrating. That is the message.

This applies to those in Africa you say are starving. They can quietly forge alliances, make an effort to repulse criminals, bad governments, and bandits. Everyone needs to find it in themselves to better themselves, for I cannot better the inside of you except if you accept God from my teachings, gain knowledge from my words.

Were I to be rich and donate it all to your 'starving masses' they would eat for a day, then starve the next. They have made life choices which may not better themselves, or are under control of those I cannot influence.

For instance India and Brazil keep some tribes from gaining technology or consumer goods. These tribes use wood and stone because of the fate forced upon them by others. My words will not change this. Nor will your words.

Were I to raise an army I might be able to force brazil to change, were I to make nukes and place them then threaten to use them... India might change its policy.

But the reality is that even those tribes can better themselves. They can work to make better huts, copying the best made and studying new ideas. They can save spare food and work on irrigating lands.

You mock self sufficiency and the drive to improve oneself all together here.

Hard jobs indeed... my 70+ hour workweek fails to impress... well I have cleaned a sewer manhole (clogged from top to bottom, and smelly as all can be), I have cut a hedge of sticker bushes with a machette, I have been homeless three times and worked while homeless. In fact once I had two jobs while living out of a car whle I got my 2 year equivalency degree.

I think you just hate me, hate my Conservatism, hate my Activism, hate me for my success, and hate me for my existance. The irony of the bumper sticker "Co-Exist" never strays far from head. The very people who cry for diversity and kindness to others are the most intolerant when they see a Republican or a Conservative activist.

If you wish to better yourself then do so. Trucking pays well, very well in some regions. As do fishing fleets, oil field work, and more. My physical injury prohibits me from the fishing, the oil work, the steel work, and working a coal mine. What is stopping you?

""Well ok I am merely middle class... but I will tell you... I have been poor and eating top ramen for dinner, bologni and bread for lunch, and macaroni and cheese for breakfast...."  ---> It is OFFENSIVE, I have only 1 food a day compared to the 3 foods he had when he was 'poor'.   Also I don't know a poor that has macaroni for breakfast, thats abusive, you are lucky if you have a single coffee and run to work "

America has food stamps
we have so much food stamps they have ads on the radio advertising food stamps
the govt is worried people who have a job and a car dont know they can get food stamps
they want more people on food stamps

600 rent and then utilities are another 200?  you are being robbed on utilities and something is wrong with your rental industry, are there govt controls against building more units or something?

Why are you so angry with him, even the communists said the same damn thing  "Each person is ultimately responsible for their own success, their own dreams, what they do to reach their dreams."
you think anybody got to bitch in Russia that Russia sucked and why bother and hey, when's lunch?
Why do some Europeans get born into the mix like you and then they make enough to have a house and you don't? Are they better than you?  Are you born worse than them?  Rising is always due to your own ambition to deliver something to somebody who will turn around and reward you more.  that is learned skill not given to you by a govt. 

"mainstream media"  I use the internet, I was a history / poli-sci major, I subscribed to National Geographic, I was taught by Leftists and the FACT of third-world strife and decay is not debatable...Idi Amin was not imposed on Uganda by CIA, Union of African States locks ranks around Mugabe despite US pressure and he is turning Zimbabwe into a desert; it was not CIA who had Hutu kill Tutsi,

Render,

You are out of line. You are one of those depressing persons who blame people for improving their own lives, rather than serving some twisted moral duty to uplift those whose lives are worse off. Self-interest is the only thing that has pushed the wheels of progress. Your values of self-sacrifice and equality cause poverty and suffering. They are the words of tyrants and their tools.

As ridiculous as I think Flint's ideas are, I have to acknowledge and credit him for his resilience. Others in his position would choose to mooch off welfare programs, but he decided that it wasn't worth living as a parasite. Although there is a tone of grandiosity in his op, and Flint is somewhat of a narcissist, he mainly wanted to share his experience that independence and a better life can be achieved and it's worth the effort.

Honestly, I do understand Render's point.  To be fair, talking about being poor and eating 3 meals a day does strike me as odd.  Not that I am in any way downplaying your hard times, Flint.  I just mean that it was perhaps not the best choice of words to express financial hardship.  Still though, I got your point and I see what you are saying in the big picture.

Render, again I understand where you are coming from but I think you are taking this too personally.  And quite frankly, there is a difference between being offended and being harassed.  You have been offended by what has been said here, and that's unfortunate.  But you are now harassing another player by telling them that your dream is for them to die, and by saying you will relieve them of their cash of they are ever in spain.

That is uncalled for, and will not be tolerated.  Let's take this down a notch.

LoL... elephant lined room... that's great... next to make it the world since I am supposedly such a great Statesman.

So Flint for President of the United States? Or Flint for the head of the U.N.?

flint for supreme ruler of the world!!