Well it seems like only people outside the US realize that America is ****ed.
I wouldn't say "only people outside the US." I realize it, too, but maybe for different reasons than those above.
Oh wait, I live in Texas. I guess you're right.
Geekhack.
100% American.
We just let foreigners in for the lulz.
Especially our Junior Partners, the Canadians.
Well it seems like only people outside the US realize that America is ****ed.
Idiocracy is being realized right before your eyes!
Saying we're ****ed is negative. Maybe it's just that we're more positive than people outside the US.
Positive people tend to be more successful so...
I don't know why anybody cares what a Hungarian OP thinks.
Have you been to Hungary? In my experience there, it is a fairly open and liberal place. I've spent quite a lot of time there, especially in Budapest, it is one of my top 3 favorite places. I would consider moving there if I had an easier time with the language.
I hear you have to be careful what restaurant you go to.
Yeah but then his poor wife gets her blood sucked.
South Park time! ANOTHER Great AMERICAN Invention!
Poor little feller.....
[video=youtube;S9yqRsfRPqU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9yqRsfRPqU[/video]
In Hungary they have goulash and hate black people. Other than that I think they are pretty irrelevant.
In America we have Chinese American conductors. the best Military in the world, and African American singers at our Football games (not the fake football, the REAL football).
[video=youtube;QVrBAWJPOlI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVrBAWJPOlI&feature=related[/video]
I'm used to people being jelly of Number One.
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?26781-Do-you-think-Ripster-is-the-1-Keyboard-Expert-on-Planet-Earth
In Hungary they have goulash and hate black people. Other than that I think they are pretty irrelevant.
In America we have Chinese American conductors. the best Military in the world, and African American singers at our Football games (not the fake football, the REAL football).
I hear they have lots more instant noodles than our MREs.
But really, would you rather fire a Chinese MX clone keyboard or a German MX keyboard?
Quote from: Malphas;516391Ha ha, debates over nations are like those "my dad could beat your dad in a fight" argument that kids have at school.You only say that because Scotland isn't even in the running.
In America we allow many immigrants to not speak english.
Like my housekeepers.
Hmm... hope the IRS doesn't see this post.
The country is not run by idiots at the moment.
Europe? Europe is trying to cut their way to prosperity. It's not working. The continent is in a depression. The Euro failed.
Pfft.. Many Americans make the error of seeing Europe as a largely homogeneous entity. It's not. There are huge differences
I know. All the countries with their own currencies are OK. The peripheral countries on the Euro are in trouble, their German central bankers are not looking out for their interests. Surprise.
the south are a bunch of backwards goat farmers/Cosa Nostra.
I hear Scotland won't be part of the UK.....Yeah, Scotland is already semi-autonomous, which is why the recession (well not technically a recession anymore, but whatever) affecting the UK is pretty much non-existent here. I don't really care either way how the independence vote turns out though, my girlfriend is American and doesn't plan staying here forever after graduating University, so I'll probably emigrate over to the US by the time the vote takes place.
It is funny how you make this personal in every thread of mine. This time you made an irrelevant & ad hominem attack on me by associating me with an ignorant picture of a country you clearly know nothing about. Btw I'm not even from Hungary, I just live here.. Once again you proved us your ignorance just like those guys in the video. You must really hate yourself.
Like duh, the Wright Brothers didn't achieve their first powered flight in Ohio!And... the Wright Brothers were not even the first to do a powered flight. The first was made by German-born Gustav Weisskopf (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Whitehead). He emigrated to the USA in 1893 and changed his name to Whitehead ("Weisskopf" means literally "white head"). Evidence of his flights exist from 1901, but he may have been flying as early as 1897.
This kinda insulted asians AND jews.
But there are so many of these that even it can pick up RiGS jew/gypsy/American hatin'.
And... the Wright Brothers were not even the first to do a powered flight. The first was made by German-born Gustav Weisskopf (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Whitehead). He emigrated to the USA in 1893 and changed his name to Whitehead ("Weisskopf" means literally "white head"). Evidence of his flights exist from 1901, but he may have been flying as early as 1897.
However, Whitehead did not use rudders to steer and could only fly onwards and not compensate course for wind shear. The Wright Brothers were the first to achieve controlled flight a few years later.
Because Whitehead had been born in Germany, his accomplishments were deliberately ignored for political reasons for many many years.
Actually we like our Harvard Schooled leaders.
You trust Google? If Ripster Keyboard Science was based on Google searches Geekhack would still be in the dark ages.
See sig for details.
Where did I attack you? I just said you obsess over the US which you do, do you really deny this? You make threads saying the US is ****ed and then gets mad when someone points out the problems the country you live in has. Hypocrisy I love it.
Wait, you believe what you learned in school?
You seem to like posting Anti-USA propaganda on a USA forum.
I don't get it. Go back to Deskthority.net if you don't like it here.
Actually your support of Obama lends me to find you more Anti-USA than RiGS.
you can drop the trolling rigs its not going to work. people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
I dont see how anyone can still support Obama, the guy hasn't taken responsibility for any of the mistakes he has made. Now I don't think they are all his fault, but honestly not taking responsibility for ANYTHING is just childish.
Exactly; he's not a leader. He's not worthy of the position he holds.
He is sure a good actor, he should definitely consider a career change. He is almost as good as Denzel Washington.
Actually we like our Harvard Schooled leaders.
Some go on to Bain Capital and make Billions off the back of the poor and others go on to Community Organization lowpaid jobs to help the poor.
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It seems it works quite well, seeing how defensive you get everytime I start an OT thread.
You seem to like posting Anti-USA propaganda on a USA forum.
I don't get it. Go back to Deskthority.net if you don't like it here.
LOL Ron Paul. I give it about a month before he declares hes going to run as an independant candidate.
LOL Ron Paul. I give it about a month before he declares hes going to run as an independant candidate.
boring. like I said. I think you secretly wish you were American, which is probly why you obsess over us so much. Just curious Rigs, how many jobs have you held in your life? Like real jobs where you get an actual paycheck?
I am who I am. Someone who is proud and responsible for its own actions and integrity. I'll check back when you come up with a better comeback.
Seeing all the evidence of possible vote fraud against Ron Paul has been uncovered in Maine, where several towns and counties did caucus but were omitted from the final state count for no identifiable reason I wouldn't be surprised.
So I'll take this as not a day in your life.
I dont really see someone who is an anti-semite as having integrity.
I don't really think I need to spoonfeed you. Break your conditioning and do your own research.
I had three regular jobs, but I have been self-employed for the last 6 years. Here is an interesting note: self-employed workers make up 20% of the total employed population in Hungary.
I don't really see myself as an anti-semite, but of course jews tend to accuse everyone as an anti-semite.
Lastly, I definitely don't think that I need to defend my moral values to a troll who singles me out, and label me with his ad-hominem BS, just because he feels insecure about himself.
Specifically he has Hungarian Meatballs.
Here's Rachel Ray's interpretation:
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Have I mentioned America has the best food in the world?
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You been probing my Facebook account? That's kinda stalker weird.
You gay?
No thanks to OBAMA you mean (http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-has-now-increased-debt-more-all-presidents-george-washington-through-george-hw).
Might want to double check those numbers there bro. They look...wrong.
And I can't help but notice that you've provided no references.
Here's a video you can watch while you search for said references.
[video=youtube;P5yxFtTwDcc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5yxFtTwDcc[/video]
Or you can just fast-forward to the best part:
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Ron Paul is a Nazi German.
Look it up.
Believes in the German Economic School.
Whacko Nazis.....
You mad bro? Riggsy?? Who are you? Oh, I haven't realized that you are just a noob. Wait till ripster throw you a bone.
Picard considers Ron Paul a man of people, because he advocates peace throughout his career.
What that doesn't mean, however, is that I'll give you a free pass on supporting a Lew Rockwell-associating white supremacist who carefully disguises his prior racism (see: newsletters stoking fear of a black race war against whites in the 80s and 90s in his name) under a cloak of half-Objectivist linguistics that claim a level playing field for all under the "free market", when they would actually reinforce wealth and power divides already entrenched in America.
I don't think that Jean-Luc himself would be so approving of a society that rewarded avarice and self-interest as much as Dr. Paul's would. Or ours does.
You sounds like a victim of the dinosaur media propaganda.
The Federation is utopian socialist society based on the values of universal liberty, equality, justice, peace, and cooperation. I think Ron Paul is the only candidate who truly opposes Corporate Fascism and represent most of those ideas.
Jean-Luc being a captain of the Starfleet would most definitely adopted self-responsibility as his core belief.
Keynesianism worked fine throughout the postwar economy, as it represented a compromise between cutthroat right-wing capitalism and Communism, which was considered a lot more credible and legitimate by the average low-wage worker back in the 40s. The problem is we've applied Friedmanite free market evangelism to extremes lately in the US and UK, as we had done in Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, and many other countries.
The most striking and relevant example of this is the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act, which destroyed the Glass-Steagall act in 1999. Glass-Steagall essentially made it so commercial banks could not also be investment banks. This act was drawn up in the face of a massive financial meltdown, mind you, and one didn't occur that nearly approximated the scale of the Great Depression until 2008, not even 10 years after these controls had been removed from bankers.
So excuse me if this babble about free market capitalism rings a bit hollow in the wake of another financial disaster put upon our shoulders by CDOs and mortgage-backed securitization. These people were given looser restrictions, and they made the entire world suffer for it through taxpayer-funded bailouts, while the vast majority of them lost no skin in their little shell game. Banks have long since recouped all their losses, and are back to business as usual, despite the watered-down regulations Congress put in place a couple years back to try to restore some order.
We're running the world backwards, squeezing the average working Joe for the benefit of the monied elites. Failed austerity policies in Greece and the UK have contracted the economic growth of both countries, yet are insisted upon as necessary by short-termist profitmongers and right-wingers everywhere. Even the left wing has ceased to be a viable alternative with differing ideas in any country, and now represents Reagan/Thatcherism-lite. The working man has been betrayed, and should be out to haul these people into account and take back their countries' governments from the control of money and power, one way or the other.
Let me know when it's realistically possible for a government to have nothing to do with the economic practices in the state it governs bro
The point is the government should be an entity apart from business with control over it, not that it should "have nothing to do" with its economic practices. Government should also in no way base its decision-making around the health of financial markets, because these abstractions do not represent the citizenry they have been elected to serve. Did you mistake me for the lolbertarian who started this thread?
People have forgotten the notion of the public good in the US that services like USPS, roads, schools, and social welfare programs provide. Now, all you hear is complaints over people getting nothing for their taxes, because Republicans and their backwards, self-fulfilling prophecy of "government is ineffective, therefore we should defund government to make it less effective, thus making us even more correct" have been inserted so deeply into the system. Like all conservatives, they pit the working and what's left of the middle classes against themselves and one another with their constant *****ing about unions and religious issues, while crying that the wealthy "job-creators" (who are doing far better than anybody else, yet sitting on their fat wads and banging the drum of yet more outsourcing instead of hiring anybody American) pay too much in tax... despite the fact that the vast majority of millionaires class their income as capital gains and pay only 15% (didn't Romney's tax return list his occupation as "unemployed"?).
The major problem is that Obama is a center-right candidate, and all his opponents are farther right than Genghis Khan. There is no legitimate workers' party in the US or UK, since the UK's Labour betrayed its principles to appeal to suburbanites, same as Clinton did. And so working men and women have nobody to represent them in government, nor in the private sector as unions are increasingly defanged and have their bargaining power broken.
And so wages remain stagnant for working people while millionaires see their profits and their workers' productivity climb to astronomical levels. And so our society continues to rebuild itself in the shape of an inverted pyramid - with a broad slab of wealth spread for miles across the top for people who slosh numbers around in a financial sea, and the tip of the spire balanced plunged into the chest of the people who actually produce and create.
Who wants to see dead Osama Bin Laden pics?
And how come KL always posts right after I do some lame comment?
Show Image(http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Politics/images-4/ron-paul-sad.jpg)
Show Image(http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l8ouk3Faox1qzft56o1_500.jpg)
Hey kids it's time for another round of Media vs. Reality!
Media:
Reality:Show Image(http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/425858_10150621287108207_79085878206_9443440_20236 86898_n.jpg)
Go Obama and we can have moar WAR and moar SPENDING!!!
Whatever. As long as he wins.
Ron Paul is a loser.
**** Occupy Wall Street! Smelly hippies!Show Image(http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/421310_10151399905665092_438375240091_23349308_175072096_n.jpg)
The Stellar Wind (http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/all/1) project has to be stopped. And all governments are the same.I disagree.
His momma dies of cancer due to a crappy American Health system our President singlehandedly overhauls and you laugh?
If you had read the thread you would have realized the constant theme was the inability of today's Geekhackers to read long posts and learn something.
That's dumb - outsourced software has a much higher failure rate than software written by good American programmers in the good ol' USA.
If you were a programmer you might have known that. Yet another reason you're NOT #1.
^ The two above obviously know nothing about software.
http://www.lessonsoffailure.com/companies/outsourcing-cost-lie/ (http://www.lessonsoffailure.com/companies/outsourcing-cost-lie/)
Don't feel bad - you guys just don't know much about software.
It's not like you aren't good at OTHER stuff.Show Image(http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/15809355.jpg)
Santorum tells the Puerto Ricans to ****ing SPEAK ENGLISH!
Smart move.
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[video=youtube;YR32hBw6oXM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR32hBw6oXM&feature=related[/video]
Zen thought for the day:
Brother Ripster supports Obama, yet despises the "T-Ball Generation" who supposedly feel they should be rewarded without having to work.
Hypocrisy? You tell me.Show Image(http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/319861_300792156657924_103005129769962_724249_1050614695_n.jpg)
Well I believe that taxation is theft. Governments are terrible at managing businesses, which is why the majority of government-funded programs suck. But I'm a libertarian.
My theory is that ripster is so rich that tax increases hardly make a dent, therefore he supports them. A lot of rich liberals in California are this way.
Well, I think some forms of taxation are theft. For example, I'm ALL for taxing hookers, gambling, marijuana, cigarettes and booze.
But taxing my freaking income??? THAT is theft.
Well, I think some forms of taxation are theft. For example, I'm ALL for taxing hookers, gambling, marijuana, cigarettes and booze.Yeah, **** housing subsidies for the poor, and paying down interest on the national debt, and NASA, and low-income children's health insurance. I want to buy more plastic **** for my computer.
But taxing my freaking income??? THAT is theft.
Um...what?Oh, sorry, I forgot most people are against taxes as a blanket stance and don't actually bother to find out what their tax dollars go to.
Well, I think some forms of taxation are theft. For example, I'm ALL for taxing hookers, gambling, marijuana, cigarettes and booze.
But taxing my freaking income??? THAT is theft.
You seem to have not read my original post.
It's about taxing what makes SENSE.
And how, pray tell, does an income tax not 'make sense' compared to the other things you listed? At all?
What makes a sales or vice tax more appropriate than an income tax? By taxing vices, the government effectively becomes more addicted to the vice than the users of said vice.
The money that I work my ass of to make is mine.
No, I said pay for that stuff with money from a source that makes sense.
Hardcore liberals DO know how to read right? Have I mentioned the problems with our education system?
I've yet to see common sense represented in any of your posts thus far.
Have you read it?
Speaking of fixing things that our broken, can you name one thing that our current president has fixed?
From what I can tell he just likes making broken things more broken.
are you suggesting that you be presented with a bill every month, and you'll pay THAT from some fund other than your income?
Well, I think some forms of taxation are theft. For example, I'm ALL for taxing hookers, gambling, marijuana, cigarettes and booze.
But taxing my freaking income??? THAT is theft.
I've yet to see you make a point that hasn't been parroted by libertarian babies and GOP media machines for the last 20 years. You keep assuming I am a 'liberal' or a 'democrat' or that I think any president has been more than a figurehead...
But please, continue trying to back up your statements. I genuinely care.
No.So you're saying you don't want to pay for things you use or are provided? Where's the ****ing money, Lebowski?
So you're saying you don't want to pay for things you use or are provided? Where's the ****ing money, Lebowski?
You really can't read, can you?Show Image(http://geekhack.org/customavatars/avatar16997_5.gif)Show Image(http://geekhack.org/customavatars/avatar16997_5.gif)Show Image(http://geekhack.org/customavatars/avatar16997_5.gif)Show Image(http://geekhack.org/customavatars/avatar16997_5.gif)
So you're saying that by having a job I'm consenting to my income being taxed? I'm sorry but I don't buy that.You are whether you like it or not unfortunately. If you don't want to pay income tax then trade your labour for some other form of payment instead of fiat currency or a derivative thereof, then I would have a lot more sympathy for your position.
GOOD ONE BRO
But I mean, apparently not, so explain it to me. How do you figure vice taxes will make up for the amount of money collected for income taxes?
"Make up for"? No, it's "far exceed".
Simple economics which are no longer taught in school I'm afraid :(
You are whether you like it or not unfortunately.
I don't have an issue with you making an argument against income tax, I'd probably agree with a lot of it. it's the mindless parroting of saying "tax is theft, tax is theft" over and over like a lunatic that I take issue with. You haven't addressed any of my points about how that argument is invalid. You're categorising of what taxes are acceptable what aren't are entirely arbitrary as personal opinion as well unless you can back them up with some sort of logic. It's no more justified to have "vice taxes" than income tax, or sales tax. The sale of cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, gambling is just as much a transaction between individuals as the sale of non-"vice" items is, or your employer paying you for your services. The fact you're insinuating it's acceptable based on their status as vices, completely betrays your supposedly libertarian leanings.
I already explained [...] why vices make more sense though.
No you did not. You said that people would buy their vices regardless of taxation.Exactly. You didn't provide any justification for why you think one set of personal transactions (sale of alcohol, cigarettes, gambling) is acceptable to tax, while a different set of personal transactions (general sales and your employer paying you) isn't. It seems to be more a case of personal preference and what suits you, rather than any moral argument, which is why you should drop the "income tax is theft" nonsense, because it just damages any legitimate point you might have.
What you seem to be suggesting is that government should still provide these services, but they should be paid for by taxing certain things because they're considered by society to be morally dubious. That's massively dictatorial.
Exactly. You didn't provide any justification for why you think one set of personal transactions (sale of alcohol, cigarettes, gambling) is acceptable to tax, while a different set of personal transactions (general sales and your employer paying you) isn't.
Huh? What's more massively dictatorial than a government forcing me to pay them a portion of the money that I earned?A government deciding only to tax certain people based on what the current administration considers a vice.
Huh? What's more massively dictatorial than a government forcing me to pay them a portion of the money that I earned?
Dude, we're talking about money that I earned vs. money that comes from payment for a vice. If you don't understand the difference and how it affects my personal liberty, I'm not sure what else to say.
You really can't read, can you?Show Image(http://geekhack.org/customavatars/avatar16997_5.gif)Show Image(http://geekhack.org/customavatars/avatar16997_5.gif)Show Image(http://geekhack.org/customavatars/avatar16997_5.gif)Show Image(http://geekhack.org/customavatars/avatar16997_5.gif)
So who should pay for the roads you use to drive to work?CAN'T YOU READ?
Who should pay to maintain bridges and tunnels?
So who should pay for the roads you use to drive to work?People that smoke weed, gamble or drink alcohol should, apparently.
Who should pay to maintain bridges and tunnels?
People that smoke weed, gamble or drink alcohol should, apparently.
It ALMOST sounds like you're saying that the fact that the money I earn is state-issued means that the state can do whatever they hell they want with it.
I disagree with that entirely.
And the decision on taxing vices has nothing to do with morality or what one person considers to be a vice or not. The government can just say "we want to tax x". Actually, it wasn't even me who used the word vice first in this thread. I've just been using it for the sake of convenience; I originally gave hard examples.
It ALMOST sounds like you're saying that the fact that the money I earn is state-issued means that the state can do whatever they hell they want with it.
And the decision on taxing vices has nothing to do with morality or what one person considers to be a vice or not. The government can just say "we want to tax x". Actually, it wasn't even me who used the word vice first in this thread. I've just been using it for the sake of convenience; I originally gave hard examples.
It ALMOST sounds like you're saying that the fact that the money I earn is state-issued means that the state can do whatever they hell they want with it.
I also think taxation could be minimized drastically by cutting the amount of unnecessary government expenditure as a whole.
ok so let me ask you, if we eliminated income tax, what would you think your tax burden should be?
only on sales tax of items you purchase?
Would you be ok with a Value Added Tax (VAT) like many of the world has? A flat 20% or so on all goods sold?
how about a Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) on all motor vehicles you wish to drive on public roads annually??
I think that the tax burden on individual citizens should actually be nothing. Private/public enterprise is what should be taxed.
What's your justification for this? Why do you still feel you should be entitled to the services provided by the government when you don't contribute financially towards them?
What's your justification for this? Why do you still feel you should be entitled to the services provided by the government when you don't contribute financially towards them?