Thursday February 16, 2012

TheQuestion's past comments

  • 0

    TheQuestion

    My Stanley can do 130 sheets and it only ran me about half that much. Though it weighs about three times what this does, all about priorities I guess.

    Posted in: Vaimo 80 stapler

  • 1

    TheQuestion

    With US bonds you can be sure that they will paid. The only risk that you have is that the US Dollar will lose in value (actually, that is not risk, that is something you can be sure of). But it will always be there.

    Just using my bonds as an example. It's all well and good for people to talk about eliminating all debt but people never think about the ramifications or who is really impacted. When you make something free you make it worthless, they just can't wrap their heads around it.

    Its like the OWS people asking for college debt forgiveness. If education is free, anybody can get it. If anybody can get it than it isn't worth anything, that’s why a 4 year degree is basically worthless today in the U.S but yet companies still pay more for my bachelors than they do for the master's diploma that my French colleagues have because those diplomas are a dime a dozen while mine is more like a quarter.

    Forgive the debt and you basically collapse every market in the industrialized world.

    Posted in: Europe's crisis hits new pitch on 'deep depression' warning

  • 0

    TheQuestion

    I'm not an economist but couldn't we find a way to reset the clock, erase the debt and start over...even if it means inconveniencing the speculators, bankers and other swine who grew fat off of this catastrophe? I mean, are we really seriously going to allow society across the globe to descend into chaos in order to save guard the luxuries of a very small few?

    You know it's not just banks and speculators that hold bonds. Most of the debt is actually in the form of government bonds bought by citizens. I own U.S bonds and I give bonds to my niece and nephew for their birthdays, many people use bonds to suppliment their retirement (not the best but they do it anyway). You're not doing anybody any favors by erasing the debt, just screwing a lot of honest people out of their money.

    Posted in: Europe's crisis hits new pitch on 'deep depression' warning

  • 2

    TheQuestion

    The race has turned into less of a competition between candidates and more a waiting game of who messes up the worst. In that regard Paul and Gingritch are the best. Ron Paul always sticks to his principles and he has decades of speaking on those (without notes or prompters might I add) and Newt is a professional passive talker, he's very calculating and rarely says anything he can't back up.

    The race is Romney's to lose though. As much as I love Dr. Paul his small, staunch following is fairly exclusive and his straight talking, blatant honesty just doesn't appeal to the voting populous.

    Posted in: Republican rivals debate foreign policy

  • 9

    TheQuestion

    China executes man for raping 14 schoolgirls

    Good

    Posted in: China executes man for raping 14 schoolgirls

  • -1

    TheQuestion

    I would like to draw some similarities and distinctions between peaceful, lawful acts of protest in the USA, notably this subject incident, with protest actions in other places like outside the Gdansk shipyard and Tienanmen Square.

    We're drawing comparisons to that? Where people are being seriously oppressed and their rights legitimately violated to some college students that don't feel like paying for tuition? I don't buy that for a second.

    It does not negate the fact that people operate under a moral obligation. What is rooted in reality is the fact that you have no sense of any such obligation when it suits your purposes.

    So sue me if I don't put my faith in the flakey moral sensibilities of people I don't know. Oddly enough I'd much rather have some solid legal statutes backing me up rather than expecting people to behave a certain way simply because they ought to.

    "protect[s] the rights of our students, faculty and staff to engage in non-violent protest."

    My resume once stated that I was a loyal and committed employee that would look out for the best interests of the company, didn't stop me from jumping ship at the first sign of management problems. Unless they come in the form of a binding contract words mean slightly less than nothing when it counts.

    So when a police officer visibly deploys a weapon designed to cause severe physical discomfort to an individual, I believe most intelligent Americans would agree that an apprehension would be created in the target of an imminent offensive contact.

    Ugh Apprehension is defined as a reasonable belief of the possibility of imminent injury or death at the hands of another that justifies a person acting in Self-Defense against the potential attack.

    Considering there was no threat that would qualify the students to use self-defense the requirements for assault remain unfulfilled. The difference between my legal precedent and your moral sensibilities is that mine actually carry weight.

    As such, they are the authoritarians' best foot-soldiers -- masquerading themselves as "libertarians.".

    The chancellor represented the legitimate authority in charge of the campus premises and they wanted the students removed from the area. The police went to enforce the right of the property manager, if the process was unlawful the students could have appealed in court like reasonable human beings up they elected to sit there for the pepper spray without a legislative leg to stand on.

    TheQuestion, okimike67, RomeoR are nothing but brainwashed government pawns

    I've been posting about government overreach for years and the establishment of substantive limits on power. I don't feel that this particular instance was anything beyond police acting on behalf of the property's authority figure.

    Posted in: Calif college suspends police chief in pepper spray row

  • -4

    TheQuestion

    The right of students to peaceably assemble on their own campus -- so long as they were not impeding the ability of other students and faculty to perform their duties -- far outweighs any "right" of a policing function to assault them with force.

    Read a little and you'll find that the officers were asked to remove the students from the pathway. It was college property and the college may do with it as it pleases.

    The basic duty of a police officer is to "protect and serve."

    Warren v. District of Columbia found that it is a "fundamental principle of American law that a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any individual citizen." So as fun as that motto is to day it's not really rooted in reality. You'd be better off getting a private security company with an actual legal obligation if it's protection you're looking for.

    Some other reading into what police are actually obligated to do (but dealing with the shocking number of things they are not) include Riss v. City of New York, Keane v. City of Chicago, Morgan v. District of Columbia, and Weutrich v. Delia. All of which affirm that police are under no obligation to protect citizens or even show up to a crime in progress.

    Police exist to uphold the law.

    The defense of the assault on such individuals, as well as the assault itself, constitutes an attack on the concept of freedom spelled out in the first amendment to the Bill of Rights.

    Assault is defined as an intentional act by one person that creates an apprehension in another of an imminent harmful or offensive contact.

    The officer was not engauging in such behavior as there was no malicious intent (or at least no intent you could prove) Rather, they were getting rid of students that refused an order by a police officer that were asked by the property's chancellor to remove them from the area.

    Posted in: Calif college suspends police chief in pepper spray row

  • -6

    TheQuestion

    And the people who pepper-sprayed the peacefully-assembled students got fired.

    The two officers were put on leave, not fired, and will probably go back to work in some capacity after they are cleared. They followed procedure and gave verbal warnings before using the spray.

    I'm having a difficult time understanding how people can't understand the officers who assaulted the students did wrong.

    I'm not going to argue that this isn't exactly the most fun outcome that could have come out of the exchange, but in the end the police followed the rules, the students didn't.

    Posted in: Calif college suspends police chief in pepper spray row

  • -8

    TheQuestion

    Police gave a verbal warning. Students did not comply. Students got pepper sprayed.

    It's a fairly straightforward series of events and I'm having a difficult time understanding why so many people are incensed by it.

    Posted in: Calif college suspends police chief in pepper spray row

  • 1

    TheQuestion

    And yet sadly they are not. What's more, their tossing away of their own health doesn't merely harm them, it costs the tax payers.

    Ah yes, individual choice is fine up until it becomes and inconvenience to the collective. How orwellian.

    Actually, I have an idea. The government should be able to put whatever restrictions they want on those on the public dole for healthcare. If you're using other people’s money you should live a more healthy and conscientious life. They should require no tobacco, no alcohol, no fast food, and a vegan diet.

    Tobacco pollutes the lungs and heart. Alcohol dilutes the mind and damages a variety of organs. Meat consumption has a number of harmful effects and increases the likelihood of acquiring a food-borne disease. Refined sugars have virtually no nutritional benefit nor do the variety of preservatives and salts we use in our food. Honestly, it’s for the people's own good.

    Meanwhile they should remove any and all restrictions on substance consumption for adults while on private property. Let the smokers go to smoking bars, that way if you smoke in a non-smoking establishment you get fined, and if you're on public healthcare you get fined if you go in a smoking establishment. I'll stay on my private healthcare and smoke and drink and eat all the terrible foods I love. The nonsmokers will live healthy and productive lives for the state and the unhealthy can do what they please until they eventually die out from cancer and heart disease, because healthy people don't die like unhealthy people right?

    Posted in: Philip Morris sues Australian gov't over cigarette pack law

  • 3

    TheQuestion

    Philip Morris may have a fairly tight case. By removing the packaging (as graphic as most of the label is) they've effectively rendered billions of dollars in intangible assets and investments virtually worthless. It would be like if all the cola companies had to start using the same color labels, loyal customers will still buy their favorite brands but it opens up the market to illegal trade from the chinese tobacco market. If it came from anywhere else I wouldn't mind but chinese tobacco is truely spectacular in how aweful it is.

    People don't smoke for the smoke, they smoke to see the flame when they light up, in my opinion.

    I smoke for the smoke. I've been smoking cigars since my mid-teens it's more of a hobby at this point...although my lighter is pretty cool.

    Posted in: Philip Morris sues Australian gov't over cigarette pack law

  • 0

    TheQuestion

    End of the line for the Euro.

    Doubt it. It would be a pain for nations like Germany to restart their own systems of currency and to many nations are overly dependent on the trade zone. More likley it will change in a number of ways that will be very unpleasant for a lot of people.

    Posted in: Economist Monti to quickly form new Italian govt

  • 0

    TheQuestion

    In the end it forces everyone to be financial wizards or be at the mercy of the large funds who can wipe out wealth overnight. Some people just want to be teachers, construction workers, engineers, etc.

    If this recession has taught us anything it's wanting to just make an honest living is a luxury. I mean that. How many people would have invested in Enron if they had read through the minutes or researched any of the corrupt booking practices they used, the warning signs were there for those who looked. Would the tax code be so intimidating if the average person took some time out of their week to take a tax class? I doubt it.

    There isn't even an excuse to be uninformed anymore. You can get used textbooks online for almost nothing, there are thousands of database sites and financial tracking services to help you invest, and people still elect to sacrifice control over their accounts.

    Having their future financial stability resting on the backs of a very small group of people who are not invested in their investments scares me. It seems that getting an education, getting a job, paying your taxes, and keeping your debt down doesn't amount to what it used to when others can cause so much harm so quickly.

    Yes, but I'm less concerned with the large capital pools (which we've had for decades in good times and bad) and more concerned with what causes the poor investments. The collapse of the banking industry can be traced to the collapse of the housing market and the rise of risky trading habits, both of which were driven by the U.S government, the FED, and federal-esque entities such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Sallie Mae.

    In an ordinary market where interest rates float at market levels investors are generally risk averse and avoid debt financing when possible. Artificially depressed interest rates drove up speculation and poor financing decisions and FDIC insured banks used the low interest rates to play with people's money even more than they had. This crisis is the direct result of a mass exodus from personal responcibility, playing with other people's money with no risk, and willfull ignorance of apparant warning signs.

    Posted in: Occupy protests under pressure after 4 deaths

  • -2

    TheQuestion

    Support and representation are two different things. It is perfectly possible to loathe a fair representation of oneself.

    But they aren't a representation just as the tea party isn't a representation. If it were a fair representation of the american populace they would be more concerned with finding a job than camping out in a park. Novelty wears off really fast here and empathy goes even faster.

    You would not support them in any case, so stop toying with us. If they were more organized you would declare them a coup threat.

    Thanks for that sweeping generalization of my views on the subject, really appreciate it.

    Just makes no sense. You could say the same thing about any neighborhood in the country. People die. A couple die and suddenly you are all for shutting them down? I think its clear your sentiment is not actually about having no spine, its simple oppostion.

    Most people aren't living on public property where adults and children may come and go on a regular basis. And yes people die, but I'm hard pressed to think of the last time one died of monoxide poisoning in my local park, or the last one to overdose in a tent outside my workplace.

    For example?

    I strongly opposed the government bailouts. I was against the war in Iraq. I don't believe that the government should be able to use public money to pick winners in the business system. I believe that lobbyists play to great a role in the legislative process. See, theres a couple. I'm sure I could find a couple more if I wanted to sift through the forums of their websites.

    I have stated, from day one, that some of their concerns are legitimate and that I disagreed with both their method and their solutions. The protesters and I agree on this much, overpowered buisiness leaders are using the government as a weapon against the people. Where we differ is in how to solve this problem. The occupiers want to make the weapon so big that business can't control it, I want to make the weapons smaller.

    Posted in: Occupy protests under pressure after 4 deaths

  • -1

    TheQuestion

    And you get a microcasm of America today. Some people just don't want to admit that others might have legit complaints.

    Violent crime at 30 year lows despite unemployment and economic problems. And considering that less than 40% of americans support the protesters I can, at the very least, say that the occupiers are not a fair representation of the U.S just as the tea partiers are not.

    I can respect complaints, I have a few of my own, but the unfocused method by which they voice their concerns is one I do not support.

    Why didn't you?

    I don't live there. But even with my chaotic living patterns I at least know who my neighbors are for all my working locations and for my primary residence.

    You are the one who is so sure he had friends or that anybody knew who he was. You don't just walking into strange people's tents. And if you do and they are lying there snug in their sleeping bag, everything neat, you assume they are sleeping.

    It's not that cold yet and he's been dead for about 2 days. And if nobody's checking these tents for health and saftey it's all the more reason to have the tents removed all together.

    Now here is where you or Wolfpack suggest that things were probably stolen from his tent while he lie there dead, because it seems you two will say just about anything except admit the protests might some justification.

    I don't speak for other posters and they do not speak for me. I have never implied that and I have even agreed that some of the protestors concerns are legitimate. I have voiced my disagreement with how they present their arguments and their method of making their concerns known.

    Posted in: Occupy protests under pressure after 4 deaths

  • 0

    TheQuestion

    Put a lot of angry, unemployed city people into camps, throw in a few drug users, add a couple people with mental health problems, and then have them live in tents in public parks for an extended period of time. Yeah, no way this could go wrong. And with winter coming theres no possible way it could get significantly worse.

    It was alright during the late summer/early fall when temps weren't that bad but now that tensions are starting to flare up and the thermometer is starting to go down the protesters are going to need to either disband or get a hell of a lot more organized. Having people die of drug overdoses and propane leaks isn't exactly condusive to pulic saftey.

    The deaths come after a 53-year-old man was found dead inside a tent at the Occupy New Orleans encampment on Tuesday. The Times-Picayune newspaper reported that he appeared to have been dead for two days.

    I thought these camps were supposed to represent people banding together and the strength of community, nobody thought to check to make sure the guy was alright for two days?

    Posted in: Occupy protests under pressure after 4 deaths

  • -1

    TheQuestion

    The Question, do not waste your vote.

    All votes are wasted as far as I'm concerned. The president isn't supposed to be elected by popular majority anyway, for that matter neither is the senate but thats a different beast entierly.

    Posted in: Republican debate shifts from Cain scandal to eurozone crisis

  • -1

    TheQuestion

    Well, they can all explain to Michigan's citizens how they're doing them a big favor by extending tax cuts for the wealthy, but cutting help to state governments.

    Under Granholm we had 14% unemployment, under Snyder we've got 11%. Its not good, but it's not as bad. The states have to get their acts in order. Snyder also got the 2012 budget done the earliest in 30 years, and as of next year the only businesses to be taxed at the state level will be C-corps. Michigan has a massive industrial skill base, among the best in the world, but nobody wants to set up shop.

    all the Democrats have at the moment is Barack Obama.

    Looks like another lesser of two evils election. Looks like I'm voting for the libertarian party again, at least Wrights is a little easier to listen to than Barr was.

    Posted in: Republican debate shifts from Cain scandal to eurozone crisis

  • 0

    TheQuestion

    Considering support for the occupiers in the U.S is only about 30-39% depending on what poll you use it seems like Canada likes the protesters a lot more. Maybe they could take some of ours, its a win win.

    Posted in: Canada shuts down Occupy protests

  • 0

    TheQuestion

    Asimo has nothing on Boston Dynamic's "Big Dog" and "Petman".

    Big Dog is creepy as hell to watch but it's equally impressive. Asimo is more of a 'sum of the parts' project. We've built robot arms that work incredibly well, robot legs, robot eyes, and even some rather complex robot brains. Honda brings those parts together, while Asimo isn't as usefull as each of it's individual parts it does show us that we are improving.

    Slowly paving the way for our obot overlords.

    Posted in: Honda unveils 'smarter' Asimo humanoid robot

Follow us

Facebook
Twitter

View all