Thursday February 16, 2012

Alphaape's past comments

  • 1

    Alphaape

    Hearing deteriorates as people get older. Also electronic voices (as through the phone) can sound different. (Voice of experience)

    I may be able to buy that for a little, but another question remains in my mind. why didn't the mother follow up with a call to her son to see if he got the money? Seems kind of odd to me not to at least follow up. I guess the son has done this type of thing before asking money from the mother. It would seem that she is familiar with this type of behavior.

    Also, I guess the mother must not have talked to the son much. I live around the world from my family, but I do take the time at least once a week to drop a line to see if all is well, and to just conversate with family. I guess that is one of the mysteries of Japan. You have a whole holiday period of going back to remember dead relatives and setting up candles outside the door for them, but you don't take the time to speak to them while they are living. Interesting.

    Posted in: Elderly woman transfers Y29 million to man posing as son in trouble

  • 0

    Alphaape

    @tigermoth11...I guess you don't read the news about civilian(women, babies, old people) killed by bombs, drones, missiles in Libya. or Pakistan. Or Afganistan. Or how about Somalia. Oh, don't forget Yemen. I guess we forgot Iraq, oh sorry...David Letterman is an influential TV personality who can incite people to hatred. What did the innocent civilians do?

    @Assago: The killing you mentioned in these places is being done by other Muslims to innocent muslims. In Libya, yes drones and bombs are falling from the air, but it is done at the request of the breakaway factions from Khadafi during their civil war. If both sides weren't fighting each other, there would be no bombing.

    In Somalia, there may be a missile flown in, but most of the killing is from one faction against another. Not to mention the factions that are not letting relief supplies in for people starving from the famine.

    Same inPakistan and Afg. Suicide bombers target their own fellow Muslims.

    So, if anything, this guy should be saying he should be issuing a jihad against jihad.

    Posted in: Jihadist calls for David Letterman to be murdered

  • 0

    Alphaape

    WEll, I guess Dave will not be telling too many more jokes about the war in the Middle East and standing behind the likes of Anderson Cooper and the rest of the media's "Arab Spring" rebellions.

    Posted in: Jihadist calls for David Letterman to be murdered

  • -1

    Alphaape

    Except for extended unemployment payments, there will be new proposals such as tax incentives to hire the unemployed . Something wrong with that?

    @paulinusa: Nothing wrong with the incentives to hire the unemployed, but what will he actually propose? Take a look at an article that has been posted on the web about the last batch of "Green Jobs" that were supposed to occur in Seattle in weatherproofing homes from grants from the first stimulus. To date, $21million has been spent, to hire 14 people (mostly administrators to oversee the project) and only an handful of homes have had the actual work.

    I think the best thing Obama could do is say, that Obamacare will not be enacted until we show growth in the economy for at least 2 years, thereby businesses will not be hesitant to hire and not worrying about how they are going to be hit with higher taxes to pay for healthcare.

    Posted in: Obama to lay out new jobs plan in Sept speech

  • 0

    Alphaape

    Your next attempts to deflect involved bringing up CEOs who support Democrats, how Huffington Post treats freelance bloggers, and how ACORN compensated protesters. None of which have anything to do with minimum wage laws for fulltime employees and economic competitiveness.

    @yabits: I suggest you read the book "Do as I Say, Not As I Do" about how some on the left are very hypocritcal when it comes to what they seem to fight for and how they live. My comments about ACORN are very relevant to this case. Community organizing groups and unions pay protestors to picket outside of local Wal-Marts to demand that they pay higher wages to their employees. However, those organizations only pay about $5/hour for the protestors. Wal-Mart, normally starts pay around $7.25 (or around that amount). So for groups to send people to protest about minimum wage jobs, and then doesn't even pay the people that they hire to do it smacks of hypocrisim to me. If they minimum wage is not liveable, then I would expect those groups to send people out paying them that amount or more. But they seem to not be willing to do so. I guess that would cut into their "donations" that they receive and would leave them with fewer money to pay their pensions (oh I forgot, the company pays employee pensions and not the unions) or to give to lobbyist.

    Posted in: Obama begins political counteroffensive in Midwest

  • 0

    Alphaape

    No, Lyndon Baines Johnson did call it "The Great Society." He rammed through the Civil Rights Act. Are you suggesting, BreitbartVictorious, that it was a mistake to outlaw racial discrimination by state governments and other institutions that were supported by federal tax money?

    @Virtuoso: The Civil rights act of 1965, was passed to make sure that the rights that blacks had gained after the Civil War and the first civil rights act (passed in 1869 by Grant) were enforced. They were still on the books, but the Plessy v. Ferguson decision made by the Supreme Court in the late 1890's pretty much took away some of their effectiveness.

    The Great Society had nothing to do with Civil RIghts in terms of Black vs. White, but trying to eradicate poverty by eacting social programs, that some at the time said would further continue the poverty. Take a closer look at some of the legislature that was passed in terms of welfare. Women who had no father in the home were eligible. If a man was in the home, then the family was not eligible. So what do you thing people will do in that case? Go for the option that will give them the money, and thus you have the situation that you have in America now. I know of people who have spent generations on the public dole, and do not see a problem with it. The policies that were inacted though they had good intentions, fell way short of what they needed to do.

    Posted in: Cameron: Riot-hit UK must reverse 'moral collapse'

  • -1

    Alphaape

    Usually we start with finding a perp. Then we move on to establishing a motive. Only then do we ask such questions, not before.

    @Oracle: Let me give you a clue. If this had happened in a place like Japan, then your statement would be valid since there may have been other reasons why someone wanted this woman dead. But in Afg, you can assume that if a woman is killed in this manner, it is because some persons thought that she had violated the tenets of Islam. Whether she was doing something as simple as going to a school to learn to read, or visiting a medical clinic, or heaven forbid, seen walking with a male that was not related to her.

    I say let the international community pull out of there, and let them sort out all of their problems themselves.

    Posted in: Female Afghan gov't worker, 18, shot dead

  • -5

    Alphaape

    I hate to sound grim, but I hope that they check out his family to make sure that everyone is ok. This nut case sounds liket the type that would off his parents, and then try some stunt like this to go to jail to get taken care of.

    If not, he will soon be on the World's Dumbest Criminals show.

    Posted in: Man arrested over amusement park hoax bomb threat

  • 0

    Alphaape

    The topic is how economic competitiveness is impacted by a minimum wage and/or collective bargaining.

    I understand why you want to go back out into left field since you can't offer anything that's relevant.

    @yabits: My comments do add to the discussion. The countries that you name don't have the same social issues that the USA does. They can afford to offer higher wages, simply because they tax heavier than the US and give more benefits to their citizens. The USA can't. We take on a massive immigrant community who get paid minimum wage (if they are lucky) and who also drain our social services system. Sure we can increase the minimum wage, but then those same people will be required to pay more to taxes, if we are to be able to give them the same lifestyle as you say those two countries have.

    I am for increasing the workers right to get better compensation. But you must realize you just can't make money appear and spread it around evenly.

    Posted in: Obama begins political counteroffensive in Midwest

  • 0

    Alphaape

    Gee, the thought of the U.S. becoming more like Switzerland or Denmark in terms of quality of life.

    I wonder does Denmark or Switzerland have to deal with gangs like MS13, and turning what used to be poor areas in the US into worser hell holes and combat zones like the ones I see now in some areas of the US. Does Denmark and Switzerland have a huge uneducated population of immigrants and natives that can't do high tech jobs, and thus rely on the public dole to support them.

    So, if they have those problems, and manage to make their societies a socailst haven, then good for them. But the US is a differnt place, and those pie in the sky dreams that you keep expousing will not work here.

    Posted in: Obama begins political counteroffensive in Midwest

  • 0

    Alphaape

    RIP in soldier!

    Posted in: Oldest survivor of Bataan Death March dies at 105

  • -1

    Alphaape

    I wonder did she pose with that idiotic "peace" sign with her fingers. Can her relatives sue her traveling partners for negligence under Japanese law?

    Sad for her to die this way, but when you stradle a fence above a steep fall, you are taking the risks all on your own.

    Posted in: Niagara Falls search for Japanese woman turns up man's body

  • 0

    Alphaape

    Go back and re-read the statement: many of the world's most competitive countries. Not all. If minimum wages were the factor -- the main reason -- then nations like Finland and Germany could not compete along with China. And yet both are highly competitive.

    @yabits: What are the low cost Finnish and German products that are flooding the world's markets today?

    Also, go back andre-read my post. How many of those companies that the left seems to believe are "good" (i.e. big financial supporters) actually pay more than the minimum wage?

    Posted in: Obama begins political counteroffensive in Midwest

  • 0

    Alphaape

    Second, those "higher wages" usually don't always translate into higher tax revenues when tax rates are cut because - God forbid - those occupying the stratosphere of the upper-quintile might choose to up and retire. And don't get started on how these uber-earners pay so much in taxes; all the statistics thrown out don't include state or sales taxes so are meaningless. As a percentage of income, they're far undertaxed.

    Will someone give me an example of a company that has a well known CEO who gives to the Dems and other Far Left organizations that pays well above the minimum wage and gives their workers generous benifits?

    Look at the trouble the Huffington Post had when she sold it to AOL, and the bloggers are now saying that they didn't get paid and are trying to sue for back wages. Or look at ACORN, who led strikes against Wal-Mart because of their pay practices, but yet was paying the crowds that they bussed in to picket stores below what the hourly wage was working in Wal-Mart. Better yet, take a look at the movie industry itself. Without a doubt is is pretty left of center, and though some in the industry do make it rich, and I am glad for it, but look at what those who are not so lucky get paid, even with a union like the SAG and other trade unions. The same industry that goes to D.C. to get funding and laws passed so that they can get tax relief, and still ship production of a lot of shows to places like Canada.

    So, I don't think that it is just a "conservative" thing, but also liberal businessess too. Just check where that latest Apple gadget was manufactured, and ask Jobs why he would rather ship work overseast to get done than here in the USA.

    Posted in: Obama begins political counteroffensive in Midwest

  • 0

    Alphaape

    LOL!! That statement can be easily disproven. The fact is that many of world's most competitive economies have either minimum wage laws, or have scrapped them in favor of wages derived through collective bargaining. A theoretical free market would only work if all job-seekers had accurate information on the market value of jobs -- and that value is not what any employer will tell you it is -- since there can be wide disparities from one employer to another for the same kind of work. (And often wide disparities within the same company for the same position.)

    @yabits: How are the collective bargaining rights in China doing today? The main reason why China can mass produce is that don't have a minum wage law, and so they can afford to pay very little to get workers to do the work. It puts an unfair advantage to places like Japan and the US who have to pay more.

    I started off working at $3.35/hour many years ago. It was small but I made do with it. Yes some employers may be able to pay more, but keep in mind, the more they pay, they have to also pay the corresponding amout of payroll taxes to the government. I say, get rid of some of those taxes employees have to pay for their workers, and maybe then theymay be able to pay a larger salary.

    Posted in: Obama begins political counteroffensive in Midwest

  • 0

    Alphaape

    Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said that he would like the Chinese government to explain to the international community why it needs an aircraft carrier.

    The Chinese should respond: "It's none of your business." Just because Japan continutes to believe that the rest of the world will honor their constitution and not go to war is foolish thinkng on Japan's part. China wants to be able to one day protect their access to fuel and other resources from places like Africa and the Middle East on their own, and not rely on the UN or the US.

    If I were Japan, i would ask the question, why don't we have one, and can we really depend on the USA.

    Posted in: Defense chief questions why China needs aircraft carrier

  • 0

    Alphaape

    The treatment of Obama by the right has been shameful from day one. Escpecially from the fringe right who I think have even alienated the most conservative mainstream of the GOP.

    @tkoind2: What about the treatment of "W" by the far left. I remember people like Cod Pink protesting W at his ranch for being in the wars in Afg and Iraq. I don't see them up at Martha's Vineyard doing the same to Obama.

    These are not people who can reach across the isle to make unity in congress. Nor are the people who will inspire the majority of American's to throw their support behind him. They are lack luster and baggage laden establishment politicians who can and will offer only more of the same.

    I don't think so. Not sure whom I will support, but it is probably more the opposite. The Dems will not make a step across the aisle to compromise. Just like Obama, he is such an ideolouge that he is the one that can't reach across the aisle, since he is afraid of losing his base support. At least Bill Clinton, who was an ideaolouge was able to reach across the aisle and push items like Welfare reform.

    Posted in: Republicans hit hard at each other in debate

  • 0

    Alphaape

    The clear winner tonight, Obama.

    @zurcronium: So when Axelrod and the Obama campaign machine say that the way they are going after Romney is to attack him and not talk about the gains made under Obama, I think the real winner was anyone of the persons on the stage. No matter who the Rep nominee is, they can expect dirty politics from the same person who urged us all to be civil in the political arena.

    Posted in: Republicans hit hard at each other in debate

  • 0

    Alphaape

    Bachman, Palin, Perry . . . the division between church and state? These people are making a mockery of the principles that make America great. They appeal to fringe groups of fanatics.

    @soundandthefury: So help me understand, you say that Perry is violating the division of church and state, I guess you are basing this on his recent Pray for America meeting. Then I guess Obama is just as guilty, since yesterday he celebratged the Iftar Dinner celebrated by Muslims during Ramadan. He even went so far as to say that Muslims have been an intergral part of the American history (that's another story). So, hosting a dinner like that, in the White House, is that violating the seperation of Church and State in your opinion, or is that only reserved for Christians? Just curious>

    Posted in: Republicans hit hard at each other in debate

  • 0

    Alphaape

    At least we don't have to worry about an armed populace in Japan since personal firearms are not allowed. Where are all of those posters who keep saying that everytime a disturbance involving gunfire in the USA, that we don't need guns since you can easily disarm someone with a knife a lot easier.

    Now as for citizens heroics, OK, Crickey, you go ahead and "disarm" the next knife-wielding lunatic you see. Not in order to protect your or your family`s life, but just order to be good citizen.

    Point well taken.

    Posted in: Shoplifter injures four in knife attack in Kumamoto

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