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Author Topic: Signs, signs, everywhere there's signs  (Read 24358 times)

Luigison

  • Old Person™
« Reply #60 on: November 16, 2011, 05:28:42 PM »
“Evolution has shaped us with perceptions that allow us to survive. But part of that involves hiding from us the stuff we don’t need to know."

ShadowBrain

  • Ridiculously relevant
« Reply #61 on: November 16, 2011, 08:32:17 PM »
I wish I could immediately believe he said that. I'm not saying he didn't; I've just seen more than enough falsely-attributed vague prophecies that people pull out of thin air and/or their ass when the political climate calls for it.
"Mario is your oyster." ~The Chef

« Reply #62 on: November 17, 2011, 02:51:04 PM »
You nerds are all a bunch of corporate shills.

I am not!

* Toad sips his Starbucks



I have something I want to say, but I don't want to get into this big debate..
Kinopio is the ultimate video game character! Who else can drive a kart, host parties, play tennis, give good advice and items, and is almost always happy??

« Reply #63 on: November 17, 2011, 03:41:20 PM »
Say it and I swear we won't rip your opinion to shreds like the piece of crap that it is.
Luigison: Question everything!
Me: Why?

CrossEyed7

  • i can make this whatever i want; you're not my dad
« Reply #64 on: November 17, 2011, 04:46:25 PM »
Something I thought of today that seemed relevant to this thread:



Cutting politicians' salaries, an emotionally-appealing proposal often met with cheers, would make things worse. Running a campaign is basically a full-time job that pays you in negative dollars. You have to quit your job for several months, which already requires being relatively wealthy, and then you have to spend most of your campaign time doing fundraising. And then once you're in Congress, now you have to have two residences, one in Washington and one at home, which is expensive and complicated. And also you're still doing fundraising most of the time so you can be reelected.

The lower Congressional salaries go, the more true it will be that you have to be rich or be indebted to rich powerful friends to get into the government. The less money Congresspeople get from their salaries, the more willing they'll be to take money from lobbyists. And lobbyists are the root cause of what the Tea Party, the Occupiers, and everyone in general are ****eded off about. Big government, big business, fascism, communism, whatever you call it, it all comes from the symbiotic relationship between the permanent political class and the permanent wealthy class, and the more we try to cut the umbilical cord between the government and the politicians, the stronger their bond with big business will be.

If we want to get "normal people" in the government, then in addition to high Congressional salaries, we need a better, fairer form of public funding for campaigns. This would probably require a constitutional amendment, as this is definitely not an enumerated power of the federal government, and there would be some important First Amendment issues to work out and clarify (Does funding a candidate like Bachmann or Santorum violate the Establishment clause? Does taking my money to support a candidate I don't support violate my free speech and free exercise rights, particularly if an issue like abortion or gay marriage is involved?). We could at least start, though, by addressing the issue with Congresspeople having to keep two residences, by doing most Congress things through videoconferencing and only convening in person a few times a year for major legislation. This may also have fringe benefits, such as keeping representatives closer to their constituents, saving a little on DC's electric bill, making lobbyists' jobs harder by giving them 500 different places to go to, and maybe even getting reliable high-speed internet to places that wouldn't get it otherwise, which would help out the economy in general -- we really need to get with the program on internet coverage compared to the rest of the world, and you have to admit, if the government hadn't propped up the telephone industry, there would be large swathes of the country that to this day would not have basic landline service, for the same reasons that in the 20 years I've lived at this address, the local cable company has refused to extend the network that they have about three miles down the road from us so we could get service from them (unless we pay the few thousand dollars it would cost to run the cable out ourselves).
« Last Edit: November 18, 2011, 11:16:17 PM by CrossEyed7 »
"Oh man, I wish being a part of a Mario fan community was the most embarrassing thing about my life." - Super-Jesse

« Reply #65 on: November 17, 2011, 08:40:27 PM »
Say it and I swear we won't rip your opinion to shreds like the piece of crap that it is.

LOL

Ok, here goes..

We are all corporate shills. We wear clothes, eat food, live in homes and even work for corporations. A corporation probably made the computer you are playing on right now. Corporations are a big part of our lives..

.. I actually had a point for this..point, but I can't remember what it is now.
Kinopio is the ultimate video game character! Who else can drive a kart, host parties, play tennis, give good advice and items, and is almost always happy??

Luigison

  • Old Person™
« Reply #66 on: November 17, 2011, 08:51:49 PM »


“Evolution has shaped us with perceptions that allow us to survive. But part of that involves hiding from us the stuff we don’t need to know."

« Reply #67 on: November 17, 2011, 10:14:49 PM »
Please read CrossEyed's post, you guys.
Luigison: Question everything!
Me: Why?

CrossEyed7

  • i can make this whatever i want; you're not my dad
« Reply #68 on: February 19, 2012, 02:00:42 PM »
« Last Edit: February 19, 2012, 02:04:20 PM by CrossEyed7 »
"Oh man, I wish being a part of a Mario fan community was the most embarrassing thing about my life." - Super-Jesse

CrossEyed7

  • i can make this whatever i want; you're not my dad
« Reply #69 on: February 19, 2012, 02:46:39 PM »
I wish I could immediately believe he said that. I'm not saying he didn't; I've just seen more than enough falsely-attributed vague prophecies that people pull out of thin air and/or their ass when the political climate calls for it.
"Oh man, I wish being a part of a Mario fan community was the most embarrassing thing about my life." - Super-Jesse

CrossEyed7

  • i can make this whatever i want; you're not my dad
« Reply #70 on: March 08, 2012, 03:07:46 AM »
"Oh man, I wish being a part of a Mario fan community was the most embarrassing thing about my life." - Super-Jesse

CrossEyed7

  • i can make this whatever i want; you're not my dad
« Reply #71 on: April 25, 2012, 08:03:07 PM »
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcQJIQmasdo" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcQJIQmasdo</a>.
"Oh man, I wish being a part of a Mario fan community was the most embarrassing thing about my life." - Super-Jesse

Luigison

  • Old Person™
« Reply #72 on: April 26, 2012, 03:55:42 PM »
Good video, but what is the solution?
“Evolution has shaped us with perceptions that allow us to survive. But part of that involves hiding from us the stuff we don’t need to know."

CrossEyed7

  • i can make this whatever i want; you're not my dad
« Reply #73 on: April 26, 2012, 05:29:25 PM »
I think the biggest part of the problem right now is polarization -- conservatives want everyone to be absolute real true pure conservatives, and liberals and moderates see the parts of the package they don't like and don't want anything to do with anything that could be considered Republican. And so whenever the tea party talks about big government having too much power, it has to also be about those dang liberal tree-huggers and queer Mexicans, and whenever the Starbucks party talks about big corporations having too much power, it has to also be about those evil Christians trying to outlaw my condoms and my Satanic Pokemon cards and my PBR.

This shouldn't be a partisan issue. Conservatives and liberals should be able to agree that corporatism and cronyism and lobbying are major problems that need to be dealt with. But we're so used to the tribalistic us vs. them mindset that we can't accept that. When we hear someone talking about it, we don't really listen to what they're saying -- we look at who they are, for the cues that tell us if they're in our clan or not. If we don't recognize the name and they don't have a letter after their name, we listen for the buzzwords. Klein exclusively uses examples from the Bush administration, so a conservative watching that video will very quickly tune her out as just another Bush-basher, and would also then criticize her delivery and stuttering and that part where she forgot which department she was going to mention ("See? She doesn't know what she's talking about!"); Palin in her Iowa speech back in September used examples from the Obama administration, so a liberal watching her speech would tune her out (a hypothetical liberal who hadn't already tuned her out years ago) as just another crazy folksy hillbilly who probably also wants to ban evolution. Both of them are talking about the same thing. And until the left, the right, the middle, the up, the down, and everyone else can recognize that politics is more complex than "People who agree with me on everything" and "People who are evil morons," we're never going to get anywhere.

How do we get there? Get as many people as possible to see as many things like this as possible. Avoid partisan language and generalizations as much as possible. Judge people -- both politicians and citizens -- not by how they identify but by how they act, and never presume that a label -- any label -- tells you everything you need to know about anyone. Keep an open mind. Be humble: insofar as you have a "side" in politics, look for the failings and hypocrisies of your own side first. Don't assume that everyone has an ulterior motive -- and don't harbor ulterior motives yourself.

And -- most of all -- use way too many dashes -- or two hyphens together if you're too lazy to key in actual dashes -- in your sentences.
"Oh man, I wish being a part of a Mario fan community was the most embarrassing thing about my life." - Super-Jesse

Luigison

  • Old Person™
« Reply #74 on: September 26, 2012, 06:45:20 PM »


the last sign made me think of CrossEyed7.
“Evolution has shaped us with perceptions that allow us to survive. But part of that involves hiding from us the stuff we don’t need to know."

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