John Prezioso

I would rather die than never eat a steak again. Seriously. My cousin, on the other hand, is not only a vegatarian, but a vegan. For those who don't know what that is (I didn't know what it was at first, and when he started to explain it to me, I thought for sure that he was messing with me), here's a link. http://www.vegan.org/about_veganism/index.html When we were kids growing up together, he liked to go to McDonalds as much as I did. We didn't see each other for 8 years, and when we saw each other again, he had become a vegan. I asked him what changed him and all he would say is that it was a natural thing to do. Okay, whatever...

That is an awesome way to avoid just throwing someone out on their @$$ while still pressuring them into getting off said @$$ to look for a job.

Personally I feel that it should be self-evident that anyone in America should be able to drive whatever they like. Having said that, I often wonder why so many people feel the need to own these gas-hungry monstrosities known as SUV's. The commercials all show these badboys covered in mud, driving up a mountain over rocks and fallen trees. Hell, most REAL SUV owners slow down to .0005 mph just to go over a frickin' parking lot speed bump. Ah, we American's and our pointless status symbols...

Spaceballs the Lunchbox; Spaceballs the Videogame; Spaceballs the Doll; and my personal favorite, Spaceballs the Flamethrower!

I watched this documentary/movie on Discovery Sunday night. It was very well done, and helped tie together the bits and pieces I had heard concerning Flight 93. I was in tears by the end.

I found something the other day pertaining to 9/11, but it seems every year around this time I get so depressed reliving every single minute of that awful day, and I really wasn't in the mood to post or do much of anything. So I only got around to posting it now. http://www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn11.html It's an interesting editorial, if a bit contoversial in places. Hell, I'm still not over my 9/11 funk (4 years and it still affects me the same way - I wonder how long this will go on for) but I figured some here might like it (or love to hate it).

quote:Also this insistence on labling people as welfare mothers does a great disservice to people who use it as a way to get ahead. A complete and utter fallacy. The very nature of welfare is to create a cylcle of dependency, NOT to get ahead. Instead of a temporary fix, it has become a way of life. One that removes dignity, shame, and motivation. Never has there been as damaging and detrimental stain on society as welfare.

Wow! A fair review. Who woulda thunk it? quote:Wait a minute! Is he calling us geeks? No one told me we were geeks! Uh, we thought you knew... sorry.

Psirat: I will grant you that if your last name is "Forbes", than you are more likely to avoid poverty throughout your life. But how many of us know rich brats with NO character whatsoever because everything in life was handed to them on a silver platter? These people are poor, too, just not monetarily. I would not trade my "daily grind" kind of life for anything, because it's mine, and while it may not amount to much compared to some, everything I have accomplished in my life, I have done so on my own (with the strong back and brain that God gave me, of course...) That makes it special, imo. No handouts. No rich parents. No long lost uncles or inheritances. Just good friends and a good wife. How many people win the lottery, and still die miserable? How many even have a penny to left to their name when they die? Is poor a condition, or is it an attitude? I bet you could walk into a ghetto anywhere in America, hand each and every resident there a million dollars, and half of them would be right back there within a year. I say, give a man back his dignity, and let him make his OWN million.

quote: That's just a fact. I'm basically objecting to the whole Liberal/Conservative dichotomy that peolple artificially impose on an individual's ideas so that they can stop listening to them. Now THIS is the attitude to have when in a debate. I don't want my ideas discounted simply because I'm a conservative, or a Republican, or a "Bushie"... I want you to tell me WHY I am incorrect from your point of view. When discussing "poor people", you always run the risk of generalizing in such a way that seems an off-hand dismissal of a large group of people, and lacking compassion. But recognizing the danger, I still say that there is common thread among most poor people. It is not laziness in my opinion, but an ill-formed sense of entitlement, bred from the immoral and undignified social experiment known as the welfare state. In essence, it is almost brain-washing. In this country, we have people who are third and fourth generation welfare recipients. They don't know what it is to NOT be poor, to NOT receive hand-outs, and certainly can't fathom having to work for their food, seeing as how that concept has been neatly removed from their culture from one genration to the next. What they have known from infancy, and what they pass on to their children, are the absolute logical fallacies that run counter to the very human desire to achieve, to excel, and to succeed. What should be obvious - that if you don't work, you don't eat; and the harder you do work, the better you will live, has been muddied through misguided, albeit initially well-intentioned, attempts to artificially supplant the human will to survive with hand-outs and freebies. Cite all of the examples you want, but the indisputable fact is that every human being, regardless of race, color, social status, culture, or country, has within him or her the power to rise above one's own circumstances and ACHIEVE FOR THEMSELVES. The biggest sin of liberalism (apologies to my liberal friends) is that it has imbued the poor of society with a sense that they are entitled to things they did not earn. Furthermore, they have diverted the energy of the economic lower class from where it should be: wholly focused on remedying what could very easily be a TEMPORARY condition; i.e. poverty, and instead have shifted the focus to what has become the greatest social divider: class envy. How often is the "poor card" played in D.C., with the lies of tax cuts for the rich? How many times are we told that the poor will be the victims of whatever legislation Congress attempts to enact for the betterment of ALL of society? I sincerely try to separate politics from poverty, but the sad fact is that the political motivation of the left is what has turned poverty into a acceptable condition. Any human being whose rationale has been untainted by pretentious and false logic from the left would have the dignity to be ashamed to need his or her fellow man to pay their way through life, and consequently divert all of their attention to rising above poverty, not dwelling in it. Instead the poor are assured the continuance of the immoral taking from the "rich", who they are taught, is essentially anyone who has more money then them. How could a sense of entitlement not be born under such conditiotns. As for the answer, I'm afraid that to fix what damage has been done through the welfare state would involve an abolishment of the very culture the poor have come to rely upon as pre-ordained. And it would serve as a VERY rude awakening for those who have been taught a lie their whole lives. The vast majority would recover from the shock, pick themselves up, and become productive memebers of society. The few who are unable to recover would have to rely on the very thing that liberalism has been weeding out of society through their socialist policies - the unsolicited and un-mandated charity and goodwill of their fellow Americans. And you know what? I think they would be alright, too. Apologies for the long post - I do tend to go on!

The current parties are too institutionalized for this to work imo. Democrats would vote Democrat if Satan himself ran. Republicans would vote Republican if a Kennedy ran on the ticket. And the same number of people who abstain from voting every year due to "disenfranchisement" (what a word!) would continue to do so. It appears we have an unbreakable paradigm all around. Your method would work, but there's no chance of it happening.

Silk - have you ever done a study on the history of third parties in America? It's quite a fascinating study. Our system almost seems pre-ordained to remain a 2-party system. A REAL third choice would be nice, but I don't think it'll ever happen.

Is that thing's name "Foamy"? If it is, then Foamy is my hero!!!!

This article almost mirrored my EXACT feelings on the subject. It was almost as if I wrote it myself. Eery. I can hear the cries of racism now, probably from that fraud, Jesse Jackson. Someone really needs to tell this guy, "Jesse, it's not always about you." Just today I heard good ole Jesse whining that the term "refugee' is racist. EVERYTHING is racist to him. Call me crazy, but half of the people in the church near me who evacuated N.O. look distinctly NOT black to me. Oh, I forgot - THOSE "refugees" don't matter to him, as he can't use them to perpetrate his perpetual lie. Silly me. I would suspect the last thing ANY of these poor people care about is what they are called. The hand-out mentality of the welfare state has removed the dignity from much of the economic lower class regardless of race. Such a shame this is what America has come to.

quote:I've had no problems with it and like it better than XP. WHAT?! My goodness, it's worse than I first thought! You actually like *shudder* Windows ME more than XP? It's okay Grayson, just lie down for a while and I'll go get you some help...

quote: LOL! My wife damn near has to hold me up at gun point to get any cash.LOL! My wife has one, so I can't be too much of a tight wad! But comparing Euro's prices to US prices is a little shaky for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the type of cars Euro's drive. If our gas prices got as out of control here in the US, we would have no choice but to drive the same wheeled shoeboxes our friends across the pond drive!

I know how that hurts, Jag. My condolences as well.

quote: So in answering your question, yes we can have that discussion if we both abide by the same rules. In this case we should just focus on those in need. First of all, I'll refer back to something I stated in a previous post: "To be perfectly honest, I think we right-wingers are at least partially to blame for the state of partisan, political rhetoric today, but regardless, it needs to stop... or at least be put on hold." In case you missed this thread, I was pointing out that we conservatives over analyzed and criticized EVERYTHING Clinton did (admittedly, I still think the guy is a weasel) so now the left feels compelled to respond in kind. That I think Bush, while certainly no Ronald Reagan, is superior to Clinton as President is irrelevant. What matters is that the rhetoric from our side became mean and spiteful at times, and that was just wrong. Having said that, I find it disgusting that now, after a disaster of this magnitude, there is no "cooling off" period in the US, where we help those who we can, and mourn those we can't. Instead, the left jumps on the attack, and politicizes the death of thousands. Anyone who listened to Glenn Beck (conservative radio personality) during and following the 9/11 horror may remember how he would not field ANY phone calls by conservatives wanting to blame Clinton for having set us up for this disaster. He did so later on, and very rightfully so, imo, but the point is, for a little while, as he put it: "We are not Democrats or Republicans, Liberals or Conservatives, atheists or Christians, black or white today. Today, we are all Americans." In my view, it's the only classy way to behave in a time like this. And frankly, Race, the left appears to be somewhat lacking in class.

I'm confused Race. You lament the discussion of anything beyond helping and in THE SAME SENTENCE take an obvious cheap shot at Bush. Mind-boggling. Can anyone have a reasonable discussion anymore without senseless personal attacks?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the US Tsunami aid did not start flowing in until long after 3 days, as was the case in Louisiana. Also, the Tsunami water receded in the affected regions after a matter of hours. Louisiana has been mostly under water for SIX days. A very big difference in my view.

Wow. I'm a troll AND a "smacktard" (your use of that word alone gives a fairly good indication of your intelligence level). All because I labeled your extremeist rhetoric for what it is. Interesting.

My wife just saw on CNN that Chief Justice Renquist died tonight. Odd that I haven't found it on the web yet. Edit: Ah, they posted the story. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168420,00.html Ignoring the political ramifications for the time being, condolences to the family.

The human instinct for survival (not to mention a man's instinct to do whatever it takes to protect his family) is not dependent upon income level. When your family's life is at stake, you find a way. I think a lot of people who were angry about not being rescued after the storm had beforehand figured they could just sit around and the government would swoop in and rescue them minutes after the hurricane past. In my view, one's own survival is the ultimate responsibility of the individual. This is not to say we don't help them; of course we do. But relying on the government for help instead of doing what you can for yourself is a dubious prospect, not to mention a denial of one's own dignity as a human being. Those that couldn't flee would have been gotten out ALOT faster if those who just WOULDN'T leave would have. I can't believe that EVERYONE who stayed behind were the ones who had absolutely no means of fleeing. Some of them sure; but how many stayed behind out of a stubborn insistence to brave the storm, bred from their own erroneously perceived invincibitlity? How many of those who stayed behind expect that the government is obligated to ensure that nothing bad ever happens to them, and if it does, they are obligated to make things right immediately? How many stayed behind BECAUSE they knew the looting would be good? All I know is, when my kids' lives are potentially in danger, I'm hitting the road. Period.

That's a good thing. The movie was intentionally camp and cheesy.

quote: Up to and including criminal charges for involuntary manslaughter for every person who died as a result of their indecisive action. I'm talking all the way to the top. Yeah that's correct my Republican friends. Mr permanent vacation Bush should be impeached on multiple counts of treason against the people of this country and jailed for murder.Extremist, partisan drek.