bhodilee
quality posts: 29
Private Messages
rpm wrote:I had a very interesting conversation with a criminal defense lawyer I know well at a bar lunch yesterday. He said that in the past decade, at least in the larger NYC metropolitan area in which we live, the commoditization of goods -- the vast increase in the availability of more and more sophisticated consumer goods at lower and lower prices (in real terms) and on credit -- has lowered serious crime rates significantly. For example, where there were some 30000-odd car thefts annually in Queens ten or 15 years ago, there are probably no more than 3000 or so annually today.
Similarly, certain types of assaults (on the street, purse snatching, etc.) has declined because of ubiquitous use of cell phones -- a mugger must worry that either the victim or a passerby can not only call 911 for immediate help, but can often take a picture of the perpetrator which will enable police to identify them.
Hence a larger and larger proportion of the crimes that do occur take place indoors, such as burglary, where the police presence and the other citizen witness presence is lacking.
Violent crime seems down as well as more and more citizens are armed.
And, of course, as other crimes decline, the proportion of drug crimes rises even if the absolute numbers don't.
Moreover, police will concentrate more on remaining crimes in order to justify their large numbers and budgets.
Food for thought.
I wrote a paper once about conceal and carry, when it was still a new concept, and they interviewed a gang kid who said he only robbed obvious tourists now cause you never knew what local was packing. Made sense 15 years ago, makes sense now. I'm sad that was 15 years ago. I'm getting old.
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
– George Bernard Shaw, author (1856-1950)
bhodilee
quality posts: 29
Private Messages
chemvictim wrote:Must flee this state. The gentleman from Fairfax...so uncomfortably close to my current position. Must flee! Fleeee!
Usually I'm damn sorry if I read the comments, but this one is fantastic:
'If you can't say the word "vagina," you shouldn't be making laws about it.'
At least the governor took care of this nonsense.
course if you click that person's name and read some of the other comments she's made one says she can't believe she doesn't have herpes, cause all her friends do and she doesn't think anyone would "date down because of the herps".
Um......I would.
Vagina.
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
– George Bernard Shaw, author (1856-1950)
kylemittskus
quality posts: 213
Private Messages
canonizer wrote:I know you guys aren't NYT/New Yorker (mag) types but there's a lot of gloating on the liberal/dem side about keeping the white house.
From my perspective, it would seem that it's warranted. The most viable option is Romney and I don't think he's religious enough (ironic to say that about him, seeing as he's a Mormon and all?) for the crazies who want Sanitarium.
"If drinking is bitter, change yourself to wine." -Rainer Maria Rilke
"Champagne is a very kind and friendly thing on a rainy night." -Isak Dinesen
"There are many ways to the recognition of truth; Burgundy is one of them." -Isak Dinesen
bhodilee
quality posts: 29
Private Messages
kylemittskus wrote:From my perspective, it would seem that it's warranted. The most viable option is Romney and I don't think he's religious enough (ironic to say that about him, seeing as he's a Mormon and all?) for the crazies who want Sanitarium.
It's more that he's the wrong religion
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
– George Bernard Shaw, author (1856-1950)
coynedj
quality posts: 7
Private Messages
Romney himself isn’t the big problem – he’s far and away the most reasonable of the Republican candidates, as far as I can tell. The issue is that he has in this campaign proven himself to be willing to take any position to pander to the extreme right of the Republican Party. If elected President, would he continue down this course and allow the Tea Party members of Congress to set the agenda for the country? He has not shown much of a backbone so far.
I started out on Burgundy but soon hit the harder stuff. Bob Dylan, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
How on earth did I get 7 QPs?
kylemittskus
quality posts: 213
Private Messages
canonizer wrote:I think, given his financial commitment to the church, you have to give some sincere credibility to his religious leanings.
I don't want to sound particularly alarmist but Mormonism...strikes me as odd.
I think the religion, Mormonism, is totally wacked. But I think the same about Catholicism, scientology, and all the rest. Why does the "Mormon thing" bother you?
"If drinking is bitter, change yourself to wine." -Rainer Maria Rilke
"Champagne is a very kind and friendly thing on a rainy night." -Isak Dinesen
"There are many ways to the recognition of truth; Burgundy is one of them." -Isak Dinesen
kylemittskus
quality posts: 213
Private Messages
He's awesome. I have to be pedantic here, though. "It contributes to misogyny and violence against women." In fact, sexual and violent sexual crimes against women and children have decreased in the past 15 or so years. Not surprisingly, the availability of pornography and the ability to access it anonymously via the internet coincides with that time frame. At the very least, psychologists who study such things find a correlation, and some ague a direct causation relationship. Boys. Go fig. is actually good from that stand point. Its effects on marriage are debatable. Addiction to Boys. Go fig. is the same as any other addiction -- it's a disease that would, and in fact, did exist before Internet Boys. Go fig. did. And watching pornography does not alter the brains of children. And it absolutely doesn't alter the brains of adults which are already formed and fully developed. On top of all that, I'll bet a whole lot of money that I could spend on Boys. Go fig. , that Santorum has watched more than his fair share. It seems that it's always the loudest opposers who are the most avid secret consumers.
"If drinking is bitter, change yourself to wine." -Rainer Maria Rilke
"Champagne is a very kind and friendly thing on a rainy night." -Isak Dinesen
"There are many ways to the recognition of truth; Burgundy is one of them." -Isak Dinesen
coynedj
quality posts: 7
Private Messages
chemvictim wrote:This is a fun quote: "While the Obama Department of Justice seems to favor pornographers over children and families, that will change under a Santorum Administration."
There are plenty of real reasons to criticize the Obama administration, from the viewpoint of the left or that of the right. It amazes me that the Republican candidates continue to simply make things up instead.
I started out on Burgundy but soon hit the harder stuff. Bob Dylan, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
How on earth did I get 7 QPs?
bhodilee
quality posts: 29
Private Messages
chemvictim wrote:Santorum is my favorite candidate to pick on. The opportunities are limitless. He thinks pornography is bad, mmmkay? He's particularly interested in obscene, hardcore Boys. Go fig. . Am I the only person who is wondering what that means to him? I suspect he's doing intensive research on the subject. This is a fun quote: "While the Obama Department of Justice seems to favor pornographers over children and families, that will change under a Santorum Administration." Boys. Go fig. > families.
For those of you who care more about economic policies, he wants to triple the child deduction. The child deduction is now $1000 per kid, unless you make more than $110,000. Then it gets phased out. Class warfare! Anyhoo, if it changed to $3000 per kid, how many more families could we add to the no-pay federal income tax group? Is that the goal?
Apparently, there are well over 180,000 complete Pinkys on Facebook. I wonder how many "obscene" Boys. Go fig. sites sprang up under Bush? Um, that sounds wrong.
Also, what law is he talking about, there's Boys. Go fig. everywhere. Is "obscene" defined other than I know it when I see it?
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
– George Bernard Shaw, author (1856-1950)
bhodilee
quality posts: 29
Private Messages
I generally hate email forwards, but I kinda liked this one:
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
It could not be any simpler than that.
Remember, there IS a test coming up. The 2012 elections.
These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
– George Bernard Shaw, author (1856-1950)
kylemittskus
quality posts: 213
Private Messages
chemvictim wrote:What would Romney do to change the status quo? Presumably he would take steps to repeal Obamacare. Is that it? Is that enough?
I think he would stop trying to tax the hell out of the rich in some strange effort to help the poor. The problem is not one candidate will a) say what really needs to happen (cut back on every welfare-type system set up, stop spending money we don't have on things we don't need, and put the power back into state gov't at the least, if not local gov't) b) actually do what they say, even if they did say the right thing or c) stop this Mexican stand-off that keeps happening between the two sides so that nothing gets done either way. I am so f-ing sick of finger pointing at the sake of actually fixing the issue. Blame needs to be placed, but simultaneously, if not before the blame game, the problem needs to be addressed. But the system keeps 'em politic-ing.
"If drinking is bitter, change yourself to wine." -Rainer Maria Rilke
"Champagne is a very kind and friendly thing on a rainy night." -Isak Dinesen
"There are many ways to the recognition of truth; Burgundy is one of them." -Isak Dinesen
coynedj
quality posts: 7
Private Messages
I know others will disagree, but I don't see the Obama socialist outcome-leveling plan that is the premise of the story. Anyone can claim that that's what he wants deep in his heart, but if there's a secret plot for instituting 99% tax rates, it sure isn't being put into action so far.
I started out on Burgundy but soon hit the harder stuff. Bob Dylan, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
How on earth did I get 7 QPs?
bhodilee
quality posts: 29
Private Messages
coynedj wrote:I know others will disagree, but I don't see the Obama socialist outcome-leveling plan that is the premise of the story. Anyone can claim that that's what he wants deep in his heart, but if there's a secret plot for instituting 99% tax rates, it sure isn't being put into action so far.
I didn't see the communism angle either, rather I liked the explanation of "welfare" and found it humorous/sad/maddening.
Makes sense though, I know my raise here has nothing to do with my actual performance, so I don't try very hard.
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
– George Bernard Shaw, author (1856-1950)
coynedj
quality posts: 7
Private Messages
bhodilee wrote:I didn't see the communism angle either, rather I liked the explanation of "welfare" and found it humorous/sad/maddening.
Makes sense though, I know my raise here has nothing to do with my actual performance, so I don't try very hard.
My pay is closely tied to performance, within a band. I can go up or down almost 20% if I'm a superstar of screwup. I do try hard.
I started out on Burgundy but soon hit the harder stuff. Bob Dylan, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
How on earth did I get 7 QPs?