idrankwhat

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Everything posted by idrankwhat

  1. idrankwhat
    The question is, why would anybody want her to win? Do her supporters actually think she is the right person for the job or is it simply short sighted political vindictiveness? I for one am hoping that the neo-neo-republican party reinvents itself using a different model, hopefully a pre-Gingrichian one.
  2. idrankwhat
    And I believe that is your position. Frankly, the Dem's to many of us have done nothing but drift rightward since Carter. I'm not sure if neither of us is wrong or if we're both right. Which is why I believe that Specter is a solidly centrist Demoblican/Republicrat.
  3. idrankwhat
    I hope that's not the case. Thanks for reminding me about Edwards. I recall hearing an interview with him last year. Good Stuff!
  4. idrankwhat
    I agree with Specter's statement on the issue. I think his party moved too far to the right, not so much that he moved to the left. I enjoyed having him in the Republican party. He was one of the few that I could count on to try to trip up the previous administration's unitary executive power grab. It was refreshing to see someone who addressed the issues and didn't simply march in locked step with the party leadership. That sort of behavior was a rare treat. Agree. I don't think it's a good idea to have the Dem's with complete control. That said, I do wish that the R's would try providing something constructive instead of seeming to be simply combative.
  5. idrankwhat
    That was back during the "fuzzy math" days. 51% was considered a "mandate" and not bowing completely to the majority was considered "thwarting the will of the people". Nowadays they seem to think that 58-60% is somehow less significant. Funny how perspectives have changed.
  6. idrankwhat
    I agree to a certain extent. I take that position with regard to things like taxpayer dollars for alternative energy development, education, health care, etc. I believe that those things are worth the fiscal pain that they may cause. But I do NOT take an "end justifies the means" stance with regard to human rights issues. Please let me know if you catch me doing it. (The closest I think I've come is the pirate issue. But I think that if you're in the act of willfully committing a violent crime then you bear responsibility for the consequences.)
  7. idrankwhat
    I did consider the rules of the forum. But I broke no rules when I made my point. Marc has an "ends justifies the means" view on waterboarding. The Japanese felt the same way. So did the KR. Pointing that out is not a personal attack. Now if I had called him or anyone else "arrogant" and "limp spined" then I would expect to be kicked out of here. Edited to add: If I ever say something like "I think handing out swine flu infected blankets as a means of immigration control is 'situational'" feel free to compare me to whichever genocidal group you prefer.
  8. idrankwhat
    Thanks for pointing that out. I almost went back in and edited my post to make your point. It was meant to be a joke based on the altimeter grip in the pic. To my knowledge there is no "change the altimeter trick" and I certainly hope that there never was or is one. Then again, I don't know that I'd want anyone grabbing my altimeter, trick or not. Accidents happen.
  9. idrankwhat
    So, by your post it's 66% Bush's fault. Thanks Obama once again! Republican's are fed up with runaway spending. CHANGE IS HERE!!!!
  10. idrankwhat
    I don't think he'll change his position as a moderate or his views. He'll just have a (D) after his name. But while it's true that he wasn't "kicked" out of the party he was certainly pushed. The GOP chairman stated in February that he was open to the idea of denying him RNC funds because of Specter's vote on the stimulus bill.
  11. idrankwhat
    I remember the pic. I thought Saddam was hung for his conviction of an earlier crime. I didn't think we got to the Kurd gassing events. Must have missed it. I figured that they wanted to test out the court with a lesser crime with the added bonus that if he was convicted, that he'd never get his day in court on the gassings. Neat, tidy and very convenient that our complicity never made it into the courtroom.
  12. idrankwhat
    To our credit, I think that we did indeed stop selling Saddam helicopters after he started gassing people. Hey, it's the least we could do. And we did the least that we could.
  13. idrankwhat
    In the "flock" pic it looks like your buddy is pulling the old "change the altimeter" trick. Gotta keep your eye on those guys
  14. idrankwhat
    The mistype didn't have anything to do with it. Well, that's not exactly true. The misspelling was a means to open the door to the point that I wanted to make. We consider waterboarding torture from when it's described in the Spanish Inquisition (maybe even earlier) until today. We hung Japanese prisoners who waterboarded American POW's. We also considered it a form of torture when the knowledge-o-phobic Khmer Rouge did it. Now suddenly, when we do it, we have people who seem to think that the status of waterboarding as torture "is conditional". Having that blatantly flawed argument presented with misspellings, by one of the most vocal supporters/apologists/boosters of the anti-intellectual GOP movement, well.....it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. If people are offended that their arguments can be compared to those of war criminals, then maybe, just maybe they might want to sit back and reconsider which causes they decide to aggressively champion.
  15. idrankwhat
    Good for them.
  16. idrankwhat
    Where did you see the insult? I mocked the spelling error but I thought that was fair game in SC. If it had something to do with my reference to the Khmer Rouge then it's possible that you're unfamiliar with their views on intellectuals. They even took it to the point of killing educated people if they didn't know how to farm. They also embraced waterboarding as torture, and until recently they were the worst, most recent example of which I'm aware. Are you upset about the cherry picked parallels (oh so rare here) that I drew between the KR and the hard core neo-GOP'ers? Waterboarding ok with Bush apologists and the KM? Check. Both appealing to anti-intellectualism? Check. I'm sorry if you feel offended but don't misplace the aggression towards Billvon. I made my case without insult. Now, I COULD have gotten the same point across by poorly wording it directly into a personal attack, as you did earlier. But that's counterproductive to my argument and risks getting me banned.
  17. idrankwhat
    Well, done. I value your opinion. However I didn't want to cut them off until they discussed "family values". I've got a family and I'd like to see what it's going for in today's market.
  18. idrankwhat
    "Enotion"? Is that Cambodian for something? Hmm...not only did the Khmer Rouge agree with your attitude on water boarding, their party also embraced anti-intellectualism, not unlike the hardliners of another scarlet hued party here in the states
  19. idrankwhat
    Very good questions. Just don't forget that "wealth" can can spread upward as well. The last 25 years are a real testament to that. And on top of what some of them "earned" we recently gave them bonuses for being shitty at their jobs. Maybe we should give them a tax cut just to be sure. Hate to snipe and run but I've got a long weekend ahead. See ya!
  20. idrankwhat
    They probably would have gotten away with it if they had kept their shipping costs down to something "reasonable" like $99,000. On another note, look at the pattern of the orders. One for two washers. One for three screws. One for one split washer. Hmmm...I think I'm beginning to figure it out. You know all of those signs you see on the side of the road that say you can make thousands of dollars by working from home stuffing envelopes and the like? I'll be the phone number goes to the Pentagon. And here I thought it was just another scam
  21. idrankwhat
    Good thing this didn't happen a year or two ago. We probably would have invaded Venezuela!
  22. idrankwhat
    I do pay my fair share. They just don't manage it very well. That's just crazy talk. Do you want all of our banks to fail?!?!
  23. idrankwhat
    Finally, three days worth of beautiful weather ahead and I'll be at the airport, talking about skydiving for the whole weekend. The upside is that I should get at least two jumps in and walk away with a coach rating.
  24. idrankwhat
    We have income tax rates and we complain about how high they are. But when you factor in all of the tax credits/loopholes/incentives that our leviathan of a tax code provides the actual tax amount you are responsible for is quite a bit lower. I think mine was reduced by almost 24%. And if you're REALLY good (translated as "politically connected"), you can work the system and actually pay less than 0%.
  25. idrankwhat
    I'm curious, on your side of the pond are the income tax rates and the actual income tax that you pay the same thing?