the eternal

That was a great post! Unfortunately, unless there is either public financing of elections or a severe limit on campaign spending with FULL disclosure of where the campaign money comes from, it'll never change. How can a green or libertarian with $10k compete with a Club For Growth-backed candidate with $10 million? We need to make elections about ideas, not money raised. Or in the words of the immortal Tommy Wiseau (substitute the word political system for "Lisa")

We'll just have to agree to disagree. I haven't been beating the drum of "but Bush started it" but we did inherit his economic free fall after prosperity under Clinton, and to use the talking points of the Fannie/Freddie is to completely ignore the corporations run amok scenario when we have deregulation. AND if you do want to regulate the mortgage lenders why not the corporations. The problem I have with the GOP in general, is they hate hate hate regulation. The invisible hand of the marketplace does NOT know how to regulate itself because its too damn tempting to be corrupt. If theres a police force on the street, there should be one for our boardrooms. And I agree it would be revolutionary to have a Fair Tax, but I don't support it. Even with the prebate, it would be regressive (IE making everyone pay 23% sales tax is unfair to the middle class when rich people can much more easily afford it. Not to mention that with no income tax on the rich, that's a lot of money we're losing out on. Rich people don't spend all the money. They shelter and move it around. And every dime of some billionaire should be taxed, because they can afford it MUCH better than my poor ass paying 23% tax on a candy bar) but I'm happy with even a small tax cut. And let's make something really clear, Obama WANTED to extend the Bush tax cuts on non-rich people, but the GOP said NO. Because they LOVE rich people and need to protect them at every turn. If trickle down actually worked, and cutting taxes actually created tons of jobs, I'd be behind it. But it hasn't. Rich people love their money and if they can make one guy work twice as hard they'll never hire a second one. I couldn't give a g-ddamn about cutting taxes for a millionaire when I have arrearages and collection agencies on my ass. Make them eat fucking ramen for a change. Oh right. That will never happen.

Good luck!!

It's so annoying that if the guy isn't on your side, somehow even a positive thing is bad. You know I hated Bush. But if he did something good, I'd give him credit. I was upset about the Bush tax cuts because it wasnt designed for me. It was designed for the rich, but included tax cuts for me, because there would have been class warfare otherwise. Now we have a guy who ran on lowering taxes for people making under $250k/yr, which I'm postiive all of you do, who actually lowered taxes literally to benefit all of us, as well as Wall Street reform so we don't go into the same hole again, and you can't just appreciate it, because doing that would actually acknowledge something good he did. The election's going to be great. We have a nation of disillusioned people, because they thought Obama was going to wave a magic wand and fix the economy, as well as bring harmony and bipartisonship, which most people want. Since he didn't, they are going to vote in a bunch of people who ALSO won't fix the economy and will bring about a bullheadedness and partisonship and gridlock, the likes of which we've never seen before. And then when they overturn Wall Street reform, which I'm saying not to be cunical, but because they opposed it in the first place, our corporations will do all the things that fucked us up allover again. And then we'll be looking for a liberal. (edited to add--) Who won't be able to wave a magic wand to fix the economy or make D.C. bi-partison. And the cycle continues.

So, neither Lord or Sins or beanternal have been there in 6 months. It was fun. We kinda forget to go dancing, which is odd for a dance club, but there you go. Tyger hugged me, Mstrbeau talked to me, KatRN buttdanced on me, LOS fondled me, Crank shared FOS with me Stormknight and pRick talked bad movies with me, Nightgaunt argued with me,(not in a bad way) Mrs Heart and Black Jack laughed with me and Slogo felt my bare ass, by accident, then had to go do some soulsearching It was a good night

I hate not having money. I have enough to take care of my responsibilities, but little more. Since I (and most of my team) didn't hit my work goals, I'll be out over a thousand dollars, which is devastating. I'm glad that many of you are comfortable, and that minor tax cuts don't effect you. But $400 is a big deal to me. Even if it is in 52 $7.67 increments.

OMG I love that song! (The other two umm.. not so much ) Not to be a dick, but I thought it might be nice to add a touch of gothic into a detroitgothic list

This sounds like fodder for another topic. Standing up to bullies vs suffering through it (and trying to get grown ups to stop it) It can be very hard to stand up, esp when it's not a bully but a group of people teasing. And of course when the person is a lot stronger than you, if you DON'T succeed it hitting someone, they could pulverize you. And then you'll get laughed at for getting your ass kicked. I can see both sides. I wish I stood up a few times, but I don't think that's our real problem. As LPK said, we need to make our parents and our educators accountable. To put a fine point on Epic Fail Guy's claim of the root cause of bullying There would be no suicides if parents paid attention to their kids and raised them right instead of treating them like shit and abusing them at home. Emotionally I want to agree 500% with everything Epic Fail Guy said. In fact, I would love to go back and kcik the ass of every person that ever made me feel small. But my head says NO. First of all, the bully usually doesn't learn shit. Here's why. Watch what happens to that bully after a beatdown. He doesn't stop bullying. He stops bullying you Then he moves on to other people to bully. Secondly, beating up a bully teaches you to handle violence with more violence. Great value. Also, I COMPLETELY disagree that there's more suicides and school shootings than there used to be. There's just MORE COVERAGE of suicides and school shootings than there used to be. Turn on Nancy Grace. That woman is OBSESSED with any sensational death or missing girl. Another reason we're seeing more coverage now, and this is a good thing, is that we care about gay people. I'm sorry but we didn't give a shit before. Don't tell me Matthew Shepard is the first gay guy tied to a post and left for dead. He's just the first one we cared about. Don't ask don't tell will be a thing of the past soon. Gay marriage will be seen in our lifetime. What this says is we actually are starting to think about gays as equals now. Amazing! Women too. We TALK about gay bashing now. We TALK about domestic violence now We TALK about rampant molestation in the churches. But it's not anything new. It's always gone on. We just didn't acknowledge it. With the advent of reality television, we have become extremely focused on our lives and what happens to average people. It has made us more soulless and sensationalistic and given us an inflated sense of our own worth. BUT, along with our endless naval-gazing, we are finally acknowledging that there are problems in our lives and in kids' lives. Problems that should be addressed. And we need to make the schools accountable. We need to teach them how to deal with bullies, and create an environment that doesn't allow bullying. And on an individual basis, the schools need to start suspending and expelling kids that don't learn. BECAUSE schools turning a blind eye to bullies, despite repeated complaints by kids/parents, teaches the bully they can get away with it. Schools don't do shit. They don't give a g-damn about protecting the kids they're supposed to be nurturing. And they could. It's not that hard. This board is a perfect example of what the schools could do. There are bullies that come on here. They are complete assholes and they do nothing but start shit. And then they get banned. It's not a perfect system. I can think of a couple former mods that I wouldn't mind getting a second chance, but overall it works. I was bullied on here by a complete dick fuck. He made fun of me in posts and PMs. He got warned. He trashed the things I liked and the people I liked. He got warned. Then he PMed me that I wears worthless and that no one liked me. And that Troy hated me. And that everyone laughed at me. And that I should leave the board. And then he got banned. (If you're curious, he now apparently DJs around Detroit, and unless you've been on this board for 5 years, it is NOT who you think it is) Why can't schools do the same thing?

I've been a big winner lately

Like checking backing in on an old friend's house and wondering where everyone went. Is this just the downward turn in the roller coaster ride before going back up and everyone starts posting again?

If you were served in the "pass" maybe it was JD that passed you by. I think bean made a good point if it was the real deal. Since it appears not be the case, then I would take KatRNs advice and file a police report. Good luck!

NSFW language

May I add to bean's thoughts. I'm disappointed in you. I looked up to you. I felt bad for you. As so many have. ESPECIALLY WOMEN Women you took advantage of sexually and emotionally, as well as financially. Even though they were all too fat for you. How you could you take her money and her self confidence--which was in short supply to begin with? Are you such a sociopath that it doesn't affect you at all when you steal from others the essence of what makes them human? OH, one more thing. She wasn't really thinking of Phee. THIS is what she was thinking of Phee. You gave me the true death. But in doing so, you also gave me eternal life. On demand. Without you I would have no knowledge of tranny prostitutes in Hawaii or all the different ways I could feel like shit about the Katrina victims. Maybe George Bush really DIDN'T care about Black people. I don't know. But it's so much more. How else would we know how to trade bread for sheep? That there were still unheard dead baby jokes out there just waiting...waiting for me to hear them? That I could be my own person because I Wasn't Born To Follow You are not just a great guy. You are a Superstar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMMlN49_sYY&feature=related OK it was what I was thinking. But I'm sure she'd agree.

I don't like this line, because it insinuates that those who don't have kids are being selfish. You can be a giving, loving person without having children. You yourself said that you were that way before your child came into the world, so why then comment about how ---being by yourself is selfish? One day, you will have...THE BOY?!!! Although what you said makes sense, ie you can maintain privacy/pursue career goals AND have kids, kids do generally make most if not all of those things challenging if not impossible (esp avoiding a Chuck E Cheese) Plus, I think you took this way too seriously. This was one woman's take on why she stayed childfree, not a study commissioned by the National Institute of Health. ------------------ MY TAKE --- EVERYTHING in life is a tradeoff. I agree with just about all 100 things, but with a wink of an eye. Anyone who's had kids can probably appreciate a lot of the things on this list, BUT many of them can also think of 100 reasons why they're happy they had one(or more) I love kids. I always will. And there could be 1000 things on a list and that would never change my mind.

Did you get it?

Happy 1 1/2-month-belated birthday

Happy 1 1/2-month-belated birthday!

Happy 1-month-belated birthday!

One day is not belated. One month--now THATS how to wish a happy belated birthday

Thank YOU for all the great spins! Happy belated birthday

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday! 21 is not far away now!

I'm ACTUALLY making a short post here. And giving full disclosure about +1s, since theyre always anonymous. I +1ed the initial post because I like your idealism even if I didnt agree with everything and I liked the creative way in which you put it, which no one seemed to appreciate. Most posts are either dogmatic, cliched, or boring. I was entertained, which should still count for something. And I +1ed Hunhee because she was very insightful and if there's one thing that we can never have too much of, it's insight. (I could derail things and go on and on about the actual merits of bureacracy, law and order, and well-regulated capitalism, but I think I'll just leave at this) Good luck with the revolution!