What if I say no?

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Wednesday October 17, 2012 · 7:25 AM PDT

2012/10/17 · 07:25

The consistent meme throughout this President's first, and hopefully last, term in office has been his assertion that he will "ask" the wealthy to pay more. He said it during last night's debate and he has said it throughout his campaign. No matter how it's phrased, "pay more", "pay their fair share", etc., the operative word has always been "ask".

In my 48 years, I don't recall ever being asked to pay taxes. Taxes are always taken from me. I have never once given money to the government voluntarily. The government always takes money from me, using force if necessary. Taxes are taken from my paycheck before I ever see the money. Taxes are taken from me when I purchase goods and, in some cases, services. Hidden taxes are taken from me in the form of inflation when the Federal Reserve prints money and passes the debt onto my yet to be born grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Indeed, it would be a novel concept for the government to actually ask my permission to take money from me (like that's ever going to happen).

I'm not wealthy by any stretch and, if the government has its way, I never will be. However, I can imagine how this conversation might go. Instead of living within its means, the government will ask me to pay more in taxes. I will, of course, politely decline the request. I pay more than enough as it is. I not only pay my "fair share" of taxes, but I pay the "fair share" of others who have squandered the opportunities they've been given. So, no thank you, Mr. President, I choose not to pay more in taxes.

Of course the President is only joking about asking me to pay more. There is no request or, at least, if there is a request, it's a request you can't refuse. But what happens if I do refuse? What happens if I decline your request Mr. President? Well, the short answer is that it really doesn't matter whether or not I acquiesce to his request. The government is going to take money from me, using whatever force is necessary, regardless of whether I want it to or not. So, don't peddle that bullshit around here, Mr. President, just speak the truth. You're not going to ask anyone to pay more, you're simply going to take it from them whether they like it or not.

Just a thought on 'poetically' formatting your diary or comment.

GoGoGoEverton

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Thursday October 04, 2012 · 7:07 AM PDT

2012/10/04 · 07:07

Here's my attempt to explain why I think it's not an awesome idea. O ye few that prefer this format, 'tis not mean to be dickish but to assist thee in thy work.

ban nock for Hunting and Fishing Kos

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Thursday September 27, 2012 · 6:54 PM PDT

2012/09/27 · 18:54

I hate to just post a video without much commentary, especially about something I have no first hand experience with, like hunting pigeons. Ever since Jackson started going out with some kind of Swedish documentary maker the quality of his video's have taken a qualitative jump. The vid is short, fast, and kind of fun. Notice he has a small sheath knife at the back of his belt? Probably legal cause it's not concealed.

I've thought a lot about the big squirrels we have everywhere. It would be legal with a have a heart trap. How to efficiently kill them is what I wonder.

The main character in the vid is the guy from Lackavore Hunter who is now about finished with a book on hunting and eating invasives. He teaches classes on hunting deer for new adult hunters, and wrote another book along the same lines.

Poll

84 votes Show Results

would you try eating a pigeon?

84 votes Vote Now!

would you try eating a pigeon?

yes

57 votes

27 votes

Write-in Candidate for Presidency

GregStafford999

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Wednesday September 26, 2012 · 2:24 PM PDT

2012/09/26 · 14:24

Hello all,

Please help us launch our new Russian Roulette Show in our lamentably "Entertainment vs Informational" Media Environment.

Where 50% of ALL donations and Member dues are paid to Surviving Contestants in Equal shares, Every Week.

[link removed]

We're seeking determined citizens to join us as part of our new push to create the next evolutionary step in Representative Democracy for modern civilization.

In which the Public finally makes use of our relatively new and vast abilities to communicate with each other.. to become the True Congress of the United States.. leaving the Houses of Congress to simple Formalizing of Public Decisions into Legislation.. or ELSE.. we Recall them from Office Immediately.

NOT waiting for any Next Election cycle.

Gangster Octopus

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Tuesday September 25, 2012 · 10:59 AM PDT

2012/09/25 · 10:59

The mainstream media and pretty much everyone else should stop calling these vermin replacement refs and call them by the names they have actually earned....SCABS. I keep reading how these poor guys are doing their best and they are just in over their head. But you know what, they are perfectly willing to be pawns in the hands of the owners to try and break the referees resolve on this issue. And I don't care if you think the refs are being greedy or what,they are SCABS.

Fuck'em.

These SCABS suck at refereeing and they suck at life, too.

Republican Efforts in 2012 Equals 1933 German Election

Nature Freak

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Monday September 10, 2012 · 6:26 AM PDT

2012/09/10 · 06:26

The parallels between the G.O.P. efforts in 2012 and the National Socialist Democratic Action Party efforts in 1933 are striking.

I think we can agree that Bush II was analogous to Hitler. Gitmo is quite clearly parallel to Treblinka and Gitmo on the Hudson (the G.O.P. mayor's handling of peaceful protest at the 2004 convention) was similar to Sobibor.

The moderate and responsible Obama has had only four (4) years to clean up the mess of eight (8) years of Bush II. And when you tack on Bush I and Ray-Gun's tenure, you have twenty (20) years of economic havoc and destruction. A reign of terror long exceeding Hitler's twelve (12) years in power. We must do all we can to avoid the 21st Century Goebbels from taking power.

barrettbrown

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Friday August 17, 2012 · 7:27 AM PDT

2012/08/17 · 07:27

Update

An hour or so after posting a piece that has directly prompted coverage of this issue and demonstrably been understood by a number of other people, including many are new to the issue as well, and having been re-posted on a number of other sites on which it has prompted discussion of the actual subject, all seven comments on this Daily Kos version are about the fact that there are few paragraph divisions and that it is impossible to understand what is being said. I'd like to show what I predicted 55 minutes ago when I posted the article, which I made based on observing the site past few years, and as someone whose goofy comical posts about Bush and other things of that sort voted to the very top of the recs in past years). I'm noting this not (just) to insult people or not (just) because I'm hurt when I get those comments on something I care about (and which clearly links to many things that are not written on this style but explain bits of the issues), but because it's a shame that I was right to expect it. Not every issue of fundamental importance to people here is going to be written as absolutely wonderfully as is everything else published on Daily Kos. Please accept information in the spirit in which it is given. Thanks, especially to two people who e-mailed about this; it's appreciated.

Update: I have used another e-mail I sent to someone in media on this earlier today to make a shorter, non-bizarre version of this for those who really would like to know what's here but aren't interested in all the details, or who are dumb.

Here's another damn good piece, but now 2 days out of date, from someone whom a lot of you don't actually hate to the point that you are taking time to write mean things to him (at least I'm assuming, don't know what goes on here)

I've worked as a freelance writer and sometimes a journalist and author for ten years. I've written for a number of publications you've heard of, like The Guardian. I've also written at Daily Kos since 2006 or so. I'm mostly known now as an activist who works with other activists at Wikileaks, TOR, Telecomix, and good ol' Anonymous (which most participants always explain is not a group, but which of course is pretty clique-y and localized around a handful of venues to do most of what it's actually known for). I've actually been wrongly referred to as the "spokesperson" for Anonymous (and "self-proclaimed face" of Anonymous, even more wrongly) for a year and a half in dozens of articles and occasional TV segments. In fact, for last year I've been almost entirely focused on a single issue. Here are some of my credentials on it, from panel I did last month. And for the last several days, I've been focused on a single major story that has come out of that issue, but which you wouldn't know from reading the U.S. press, which has again failed to protect us from the state that we shouldn't need protection from but do. I sincerely hope that people at Daily Kos will understand why all democratic institutions are being undermined by this issue, and like me will make it something that they choose to educate others on before it gets worse than it is now - especially because almost no one knows how bad it is based on what's out there, to say nothing of what the secret-keepers in the secret-keeping sector have actually managed to keep secret.

John Bessa

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Friday August 10, 2012 · 10:57 AM PDT

2012/08/10 · 10:57

Metacognition logically extends cognition, which is nearly entirely attributed to Aaron Beck. Aaron Beck's Prisoners of Hate describes the hate group KKK with about 70% accuracy (I am familiar with it as a trucker), but less accuracy when describing America in general. But(!), quite remarkably, with a simple single word substition, Beck can be made to describe the Israeli Likud in it with 110% precision (from NPR-reported reaction to Palastinian grief over PLO leader Arafat's death). For me, this points Beck directly at Israel. I believe he knows!

Very recently I was attacked by a Jew for not being violently opposed to Israel because he hates Israeli repression of Palastine. (He is "very Jewish" to me in terms of thoughts, body language and appearance--far more so that the many Jews I grew up with). To add injury to insult, he apparently engineered my isloation (on FaceBook) from the anti-everything radicals who protest Obama, cutting off my most important sources for radical politics.

When I attempted to ask important questions on this site, I was threatened and ultimately censored (quite undemocratically) for not submitting to (what I believe) is an Israeli metacogntion. So, I ask now, "is Israel wholly a metacognition?" Saudi certainly is as Saud is a family--Arabia is the country, the Arabian name is disappearing as the land has been annexed by an aristocratic family (Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia, well-shooting scene) with the help of the anceitn terror sect that has become the al-Qaeda. (I stood next to the WTC towers as they collapsed with friends inside.)

So, I believe it is within my rights to ask why Israel is important to the US given that some Jews, in particular, are making my life difficult for not being opposed to Israel, as something has to "give."

galex4life

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Tuesday July 31, 2012 · 6:10 AM PDT

2012/07/31 · 06:10

In the Gift of the Jews Thomas Cahill tells us the new idea the Hebrews bring to the world was a changed sense that life is not a just a wheel that spins predictably and inevitably around seasons, birth, and death – but instead life carries a greater meaning defined by the relationship of a people to their one-true God.

However, history does appear to unfold a bit like the ancient wheel, with repeating stories of birth, death, tragedy and everything else that encompasses the human experience. It was perhaps the storytellers, and later the written word, exposing past experiences to their audiences, that reinforced the idea of the wheel as a competing force against the ideas of the Hebrews.

After all, the old stories always looked like the present in any moment they were shared - rife with jealousy, wars, villains, and heroes. These are the stories that go on and on.

It appears life as a wheel competed with the Hebrew’s perspective very well for a couple of thousand years – until Paul and his merry band made a compelling argument for the Hebrew’s version of the meaning of life – with a twist of course - they added Jesus to the story. From there Judaism and Christianity went their separate ways – with a wide chasm over the centuries opening between them.

jesusjamey

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Monday July 23, 2012 · 2:06 PM PDT

2012/07/23 · 14:06

The following is a redraft of the earlier attempt to explain and describe how Religion and Science are functions of the same Human Story.

We address our new acquaintance Robert Fuller.

Others who are stressed or unsettled by the topic or the contents and called earlier comments evil, madness and insanity can compare our little endeavor to that of James Holmes in Aurora Colorado to get a sense of the difference between what is good and what is evil.

We dedicate the diary to the Queen of America, Oprah, and to Barack, both adopted by us as Haida.

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What if I say no?

Just a thought on 'poetically' formatting your diary or comment.

Hunting and Eating Pigeons in New York City

Write-in Candidate for Presidency

They are not Replacement Refs...They are SCABS!

Republican Efforts in 2012 Equals 1933 German Election

Daily Kos not interested in press issues if hard to read

Is Israel a metacognition?

Jews and their friends

God is on TIME