Are You Better Off Now?

[Serenity]

Aa boo-hoo you poor Americans. You're so abused. WAAAAA!!

 

I just figured we were finally after all these years paying the same price for gas that everyone else has been for fifty years. Oh, and the people who have been fighting to help us pay for our gas were dying by the tens of thousands all these years. Your sense of entitlement is unreal. Welcome to reality. Hurts doesn't it?

 

Did you know that in 2005 there were over 16,000 Americans killed? By other americans or illegal immigrants murdering them!! That's roughly 15,156 more than were killed in Iraq. Sense of righteous indignation? Less than zero by this sites standards.

 

In the same year there were 16,885 alcohol related deaths in the United States. Outcry on CC.com? Zero.

 

I'm sure in some of your eyes, the current crop of Democratic candidates are like the second coming of John F. Kennedy, but I think in the long run you'll find they're just politicians like the rest of the shit dicks we are saddled with these days.

 

 

[crackers]

Aa boo-hoo you poor Americans. You're so abused. WAAAAA!!

 

I just figured we were finally after all these years paying the same price for gas that everyone else has been for fifty years. Oh, and the people who have been fighting to help us pay for our gas were dying by the tens of thousands all these years. Your sense of entitlement is unreal. Welcome to reality. Hurts doesn't it?

 

Call the waaambulance!

 

Oh snap! Wait.

 

Do you mean that we're paying the same in taxes as the rest of the world to keep our highway and bridges from collapsing?

 

Oh good. Glad to hear it. I thought we were giving the money to the wahabi's to buy our bid’a weapons that we'll have to break with our force of arms sooner or later.

 

thanks for clearing that up!

 

------

 

I am better off. i got married. nothing to do with anything else...

[Serenity]

Oh dooood! You are so on a Saudi blacklist now! Don't even get me started on those losers in the Kingdom.

 

IF THERE WERE A SINGLE REASON WE ARE INEXTRICABLY INVOLVED IN THE SHITTIEST MOST WORTHLESS REGION OF THE WORLD IT WOULD BE SO WE CAN PROP UP THE SAUDI'S AND THEIR OIL WEALTH.

 

Actually our taxes are considerably less than the rest of the modern world. Except you can go into a health care clinic in Finland and actually receive treatment without going into bankruptcy or being treated like a welfare recipient.

 

[Serenity]

Oh, and leave it to the Euro's to do what our castrated/greedy car and oil companies won't do. I mean after all Exxon makes 2.5 BILLION in profit every 3 WEEKS. Why would they want to fix anything? It's only costing us our national identity, and the lives of 1000 americans a year to keep fattening them up.

 

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/02/vw-unveiling-an.html

[billcoe]

Oh dooood! You are so on a Saudi blacklist now! Don't even get me started on those losers in the Kingdom.

 

IF THERE WERE A SINGLE REASON WE ARE INEXTRICABLY INVOLVED IN THE SHITTIEST MOST WORTHLESS REGION OF THE WORLD IT WOULD BE SO WE CAN PROP UP THE SAUDI'S AND THEIR OIL WEALTH.

 

Actually our taxes are considerably less than the rest of the modern world. Except you can go into a health care clinic in Finland and actually receive treatment without going into bankruptcy or being treated like a welfare recipient.

 

Is the sky falling....agree with you on the Saudis.

 

However, like the last war, this one is again dividing our country.

 

No matter if we get out immediately or stay, living in a nation of backbiters, whiners and complainers is more disturbing to me, and, I believe, to our countries long term health.

 

Final thought:

 

United we Stand, Divided we fall.

[rob]

Except you can go into a health care clinic in Finland and actually receive treatment without going into bankruptcy or being treated like a welfare recipient.

 

I was a "welfare" recipient once. I was never treated poorly, and the state paid my medical bills at real hospitals with real doctors and real treatment.

 

Just saying.

[glassgowkiss]

I guess with all my edits I forgot the mandatory, "we're not talking whole foods here!" disclaimer. Safeway, cheaper than QFC, that's where we go. Same damn loaf of bread we buy has increased over the last couple of years from 1.29 to 2.39. Beer! That's gone from ~$5 a six of micros to $5 a six of Bud. Ouch.

 

I'd say our food bill has probably gone up 100% in four years, but there's lots of stuff that factors in to that like growing kids, and switching to some organic stuff. But I still stick to my carefully worded claim that the increase is "closer to 100%" than 10%.

 

 

Think biofuels and corn prices.

think all time high budget deficit, think currency in a gutter 2 wars (with no end) and pretty much most of the production moved to your friendly china. do you think corn or biofuels have anything to do with this? btw- during this administration there was the biggest single increase in government hiring in the past 50 years! how do you explain 18billions a week on a war nobody can win!

[glassgowkiss]

Than 4 years ago? Reagan's a propos question..

 

For the first time in 20 years, I gotta say "No" and this

is why.

you voted for him, didn't you? so stfu cunt now. you lost your right to speak on this topic whinny beotch. letting bush win once - maybe you can call it a mistake. let him win twice- plain stupidity!

[StevenSeagal]

i feel better off when i don't try to think how i ever felt at any other time - actually just not feeling or thinking at all seems to be a very good piece of advice, if only i could get that whole 8-fold path thing worked out....

 

Truth is a pathless land.

 

 

man, if you are quoting krishnamurti, don't get me started....

 

 

***"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society"***

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Than 4 years ago? Reagan's a propos question..

 

For the first time in 20 years, I gotta say "No" and this

is why.

you voted for him, didn't you? so stfu cunt now. you lost your right to speak on this topic whinny beotch. letting bush win once - maybe you can call it a mistake. let him win twice- plain stupidity!

 

which administration was it that helped get your homeland out from under the boot on the neck of the SSSR? you can STFU, ungrateful prick.

 

[KaskadskyjKozak]

However, like the last war, this one is again dividing our country.

 

"This war" did not divide our country. Our country has been divided for 30 years.

 

I think most Americans would like the Iraq occupation to end, the question is how to do it. Most "dialog" on the topic is all about blame, recriminations, and attacks, include this thread. Just look at the jackass glassgowkiss for a prime example.

 

In any case, back to the topic at hand. I don't think the war in Iraq is the primary cause for our higher gas prices and cost of living - it's about the dynamics of the evolving world economoy, peaking of gas supplies/production, and shifting trade dynamics, and our lifestyle. How will we address these moving forward? By harping continually on the war in Iraq and Bush, and namecalling? Please.

 

 

[glassgowkiss]

and which administration is pushing it right back in?are we talking Reagan or bush? i think this administration did everything possible to reverse the gains from the early 90's in central europe. as well as undermining every military alliance us had.

[sexual_chocolate]

i feel better off when i don't try to think how i ever felt at any other time - actually just not feeling or thinking at all seems to be a very good piece of advice, if only i could get that whole 8-fold path thing worked out....

 

Truth is a pathless land.

 

 

man, if you are quoting krishnamurti, don't get me started....

 

 

***"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society"***

 

 

"perhaps one should follow the sensical conventions of society, when they keep one from impregnating a married woman, over and over again, leading to abortions etc etc."

[KaskadskyjKozak]

and which administration is pushing it right back in?are we talking Reagan or bush? i think this administration did everything possible to reverse the gains from the early 90's in central europe. as well as undermining every military alliance us had.

 

Pushing it back? WTF are you talking about?

NATO is still in place and expanding into eastern europe, and the EU is expanding there as well. So what are you referring to?

 

Democracy in Russia is a joke, I'll grant you that. But they've certainly been defange in terms of expansion into Eastern Europe and beyond.

 

[glassgowkiss]

However, like the last war, this one is again dividing our country.

 

"This war" did not divide our country. Our country has been divided for 30 years.

 

I think most Americans would like the Iraq occupation to end, the question is how to do it. Most "dialog" on the topic is all about blame, recriminations, and attacks, include this thread. Just look at the jackass glassgowkiss for a prime example.

 

In any case, back to the topic at hand. I don't think the war in Iraq is the primary cause for our higher gas prices and cost of living - it's about the dynamics of the evolving world economoy, peaking of gas supplies/production, and shifting trade dynamics, and our lifestyle. How will we address these moving forward? By harping continually on the war in Iraq and Bush, and namecalling? Please.

 

hey asseyes- first step to fixing things is to admit that mistakes were made and analyze them- something this administration is still not willing to do. btw there is big difference between making a mistake and acting in a bad faith, which in a case of this administration we are talking the second option. it's not name calling you politically correct bastard- it's saying how it is. and by casting your vote for this group of people 4 years ago and now whining about it makes you simply a cunt.

[glassgowkiss]

and which administration is pushing it right back in?are we talking Reagan or bush? i think this administration did everything possible to reverse the gains from the early 90's in central europe. as well as undermining every military alliance us had.

 

Pushing it back? WTF are you talking about?

NATO is still in place and expanding into eastern europe, and the EU is expanding there as well. So what are you referring to?

 

Democracy in Russia is a joke, I'll grant you that. But they've certainly been defange in terms of expansion into Eastern Europe and beyond.

are you THAT stupid or just pretend to be. what friggin democracy in russia? like the last elections in ukraine were not a "probe" how old methods would work again? maybe think Gazprom and their constatn threats of cutting gas off to central europe?

how well nato is doing we can clearly see in afganistan.

[JosephH]

United we Stand, Divided we fall.

 

The problem is that if your idea is that we close ranks behind a bunch of unindicted felons and traitors who have essentially sold out and tanked our country in pretty much every single respect, then I suggest you think about that proposition one more time.

 

And yes, Serenity, I and most educated folks understand how gas prices work here and abroad - the question is will uneducated rural red staters. Pretty hard to pin $4.17 a gallon 'illegal immigrants' and the welfare state - not when, as you say, Exxon is racking it up big. Come November we'll get to see if they are completely blind and stupid three elections in a row.

 

Oh, and illegal immigrants are of zero importance beyond serving as Karl Rove's 2008 stand-in for Gay Marriage and Abortion - illegal employers are the heart and sole (literally) of the problem and if you could do the tally you'd find hypocritical, but nonetheless patiotic republicans are the vast beneficiaries of illegal employment.

[tvashtarkatena]

Just a note of correction; it was previously stated that U.S. tax rates are lower than elsewhere. Perhaps, but it is not because we're somehow more efficient; it's because we fund our government through debt rather than taxation. Like most of our policies, it's unsustainable and, as we can all read in the papers, coming back to bite us.

[glassgowkiss]

United we Stand, Divided we fall.

 

Oh, and illegal immigrants are of zero importance beyond serving as Karl Rove's 2008 stand-in for Gay Marriage and Abortion - illegal employers are the heart and sole (literally) of the problem and if you could do the tally you'd find hypocritical, but nonetheless patiotic republicans are the vast beneficiaries of illegal employment.

 

in 2006 US granted 50 work visas to Mexico. Average wait for work visa to the US is about 18 months. After getting married it took "only" 13 months over 1100 bucs in fees and 5 trips to Seattle to get her a greencard (in the meantime of course she could not work). there are cases people wait 3 years for the FBI background check, which is necesary for citizenship on permanent resident status! immigration office is a friggin joke. after making an appointment with CIS we drove do Tukwilla from Bellingham. it was friday morning, only to find out (after talking with an officer there) that people with decision making power work mon- thur! wtf!

[KaskadskyjKozak]

and which administration is pushing it right back in?are we talking Reagan or bush? i think this administration did everything possible to reverse the gains from the early 90's in central europe. as well as undermining every military alliance us had.

 

Pushing it back? WTF are you talking about?

NATO is still in place and expanding into eastern europe, and the EU is expanding there as well. So what are you referring to?

 

Democracy in Russia is a joke, I'll grant you that. But they've certainly been defange in terms of expansion into Eastern Europe and beyond.

are you THAT stupid or just pretend to be. what friggin democracy in russia?

 

I said above "Democracy in Russia is a joke". What part of that simple statement do you NOT understand? It is you who are the fucking moron. Learn to read English.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

United we Stand, Divided we fall.

 

Oh, and illegal immigrants are of zero importance beyond serving as Karl Rove's 2008 stand-in for Gay Marriage and Abortion - illegal employers are the heart and sole (literally) of the problem and if you could do the tally you'd find hypocritical, but nonetheless patiotic republicans are the vast beneficiaries of illegal employment.

 

in 2006 US granted 50 work visas to Mexico. Average wait for work visa to the US is about 18 months. After getting married it took "only" 113 months over 1100 bucs in fees and 5 trips to Seattle to get her a greencard. there are cases people wait 3 years for the FBI background check, which is necesary for citizenship on permanent resident status! immigration office is a friggin joke. after making an appointment with CIS we drove do Tukwilla from Bellingham. it was friday morning, only to find out (after talking with an officer there) that people with decision making power work mon- thur! wtf!

 

WAHHHHHHHHHHH!!

[minx]

i have never had to deal with the immigration office in this country but know plenty to who have. Every single one of them has complained not about the requirements to get a green card but rather the epic amounts bureaucracy and misinformation provided to them. These have led to long delays and near deportation in some cases.

 

I know one couple who eventually got so tired of the hastle that they bothe emigrated to canada where it was easier for both of them to gain legal residency than it was for him to stay here.

[StevenSeagal]

 

"This war" did not divide our country. Our country has been divided for 30 years.

 

Agree

 

 

I don't think the war in Iraq is the primary cause for our higher gas prices and cost of living - it's about the dynamics of the evolving world economoy, peaking of gas supplies/production, and shifting trade dynamics, and our lifestyle.

 

Lifestyle is an interesting topic. You know as well as I do that for every person in this country who actually is taking tangible actions to change their lifestyle in a way that they earnestly feel will "make a difference" (even if the difference it actually makes is negligible, nil, or too subjective to quantify), there are far more people who bristle at the very suggestion that a change in their lifestyle is or may be necessary, citing "freedom" and a virulant opposition to "social engineering". In fact, many of the latter will go so far as to ridicule and deride others simply for their own personal actions of conservation, regardless of whether it attempts to intrude on the choices of others. Rush Limbaugh (sure you can dismiss him if you like, but he has 15 million people who listen breathlessly to him every day) recently urged people that they can conserve if they want to make themselves feel better but that "it won't make an iota of difference, none at all", and that the most important action we can take is to find and consume as many resources as possible both in our country and in other countries, because that "makes the economy grow".

 

Ultimately, the truth is that most people are so self-centered and unconcerned about the collective part of society that they won't actually change anything about their lifestyle until they are forced to do so. And that isn't really a change effective on behalf of others, it's just a shift made again for self-centered rationale. This society is wealthy enough that even $4 a gallon gas by itself doesn't do it- a guy who can afford a $75K Hummer in the first place doesn't care that it costs $110 to fill up. But when the cost of everything else skyrockets, and wages stay flat, over time you may see people begin to change habits.

 

 

 

[glassgowkiss]

and ]

But they've certainly been defange in terms of expansion into Eastern Europe and beyond.

 

 

I said above "Democracy in Russia is a joke". What part of that simple statement do you NOT understand? It is you who are the fucking moron. Learn to read English.

this is the biggest bullshit i have read this week. plain untrue and dangerously stupid.

 

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Ultimately, the truth is that most people are so self-centered and unconcerned about the collective part of society that they won't actually change anything about their lifestyle until they are forced to do so. And that isn't really a change effective on behalf of others, it's just a shift made again for self-centered rationale. This society is wealthy enough that even $4 a gallon gas by itself doesn't do it- a guy who can afford a $75K Hummer in the first place doesn't care that it costs $110 to fill up. But when the cost of everything else skyrockets, and wages stay flat, over time you may see people begin to change habits.

 

 

 

I think your view is cynical. People are receptive to change, but a lot of it is in the way the message is presented. Calling people redneck, red-stater, bible-thumping, selfish, hicks who shit on the planet is not going to get anyone to listen to you. Also, changes of this magnitude will take time, and require patience. It took 40-50 years for us to go from the thrify, modest-living "greatest generation" to wasteful, over-the-top consumer-crazed people.

 

But there is some truth to what you say. I would like to see our politicians tell the American people more of what they NEED to hear rather than what they WANT to hear, more often. Even if it causes the politicians to be run out of office every time after one term. Remember Carter's malaise speech? Look at this part:

 

" I'm asking you for your good and for your nation's security to take no unnecessary trips, to use carpools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel."

 

It's very a propos today. Use the bully pulpit for this - and the senate floor, rather than arguing stupid shit endlessly - like whether Roger Clemens took steroids, and if we need guns in our national parks.