Vile wrote:
] On the subject of Kerry's tax on those in the 200k or over tax
] bracket. Bush claims this is a bad idea because many small
] businesses file their business taxes personally and a tax such
] as this would hinder small businesses abilities to grow.
] Kerry dodges that issue to try to make the small taxpayer feel
] that he will only tax millionaires. Well, there's an 800,000
] dollar difference between 200,000 dollars and a millionaire.
] There are two solutions available, but neither of these two
] jokers care to explore this.
]
] Solution 1: Make the millionaire's tax only apply to
] millionaires. That seems logical enough.

Define "millionaire" for me. Is that someone who *makes* a million dollars per year, or is this someone who *has* a million dollars? It's easy for people to hide their assets - especially by placing them off shore - so the litmus test of possession kinda falls by the wayside. If it's someone that makes a million dollars per year, that seems more fair to me, but then there are all these nice adjustments to income that can be made - regardless of income - that bring the number back down. $200K for an individual is a hella lot of money. Besides, there is no specific "millionaire tax" to apply as of this date.

] Solution 2: Correct the situations that make it more
] beneficial for a business owner to file their taxes
] personally. Then, allow small business to recieve a tax cut
] while forcing those making over $200,000 to contribute to the
] greatness of America that allow them to rise to wealth.

Then how do you designate who is a small business? Is it based on the number of employees? What if you own several small businesses? (A common tactic for avoiding the rules that apply to businesses with 20+ employees, like mandatory health coverage) Do you penalize each business if any of the partners in that business own other businesses? That would keep Dubya from investing in a timber company that only nets him $84 a year. Actually, he probably invested in a timber company to clear his own land so that he could claim a loss, but ended up making a profit. Nobody knows for sure, especially Dubya, since he seemed to not realize where his bread was being buttered.

] The recent revelation of flu-shot vaccine shortages
] underscores (but does not stand as sufficient proof) of this
] very problem. I hear that the suggestion is that we save
] these limited supplies for infants and the elderly. That's
] nice, but, if I may show a tinge of heartlessness, let's
] forget about the elderly and infants for a minute. They do
] less for our society than any other demographic. I will take
] the flu vaccine, I have at least 50 more years of living to
] do, I have a job that needs me there and I have people who
] would miss me numbering upwards of 50 (three on
] memestreams.net). Granted, there are about twice as many
] people who would fancy me dead, but we must prioritize, here.
] What good are infants and elderly if everyone in-between is
] dead?

I'll skip the socialized medicine debate since that's a whole other rat hole to go down. The flu shot is being targetted at the groups of people who have even a slim chance of dying from the flu. If you are between your teenage and prune eating years, you have about a 99% of just getting sick enough to miss a day or two of work. If you're 75 years old and catch the flu, you probably won't see age 76. Just because you have a job doesn't mean that you are worth more than someone who doesn't. The "life potential" of an infant is much more than your own, since you wanted to use the figure of 50 years of living left. That infant has 70 years of living left and may well be the one who finds a way to kill the influenza virus once and for all.

] On the subject of war, I wouldn't worry very much. It's very
] nice to oppose any war for the sake of appeasing the
] "intelligentsia of liberals" that I prefer to call "chattering
] masses." In reality, we needn't worry about the effects of
] war until China decides to invade the U.S. Our Chinese
] planetmates seem to have little interest in such a triflesome
] undertaking, so we can breath easy as we worry about the
] future terrorist attacks that were inevitable whether we set
] foot in Iraq or not.

So 1000+ US troops lost is nothing to worry about? What if you were one of those troops? How about the between $100B and $200B spent so far (Bush says $120B, Kerry says $200B) on a war? I would think any conservative would be concerned about runaway expenses, plus the no-end-in-sight increase in casualties. Would your 50+ people, including 3 on memestreams, still miss you as much as if you'd died from the flu? Do we just need to fill the ranks of the armed forces with our "necessary poor"? Wait, that's already the majority of those in the armed forces...

] Regarding job downsizing and outsourcing, no politician should
] dare run for president of our country unless they are willing
] to place tariffs on any company that outsources its employment
] to another nation. Beyond that, they should be forced to meet
] the salary of each "downsized" employee for five years from
] the date of severance including health benefits. That may
] discourage the company from leaving the US to begin with. If
] not, then you see the dedication that GMC has to the people of
] Mexico. That would bring a tear to my eye. By the same
] token, Corporate Welfare should be an obsolete concept and,
] for that matter, all welfare should come with a demonstrable
] civic duty on the part of the recipient.

For someone who claimed to be a conservative, you certainly have a liberal stance on this issue, mixed in with a bit of libertarian principles. Many European Union countries have rules like this in effect already. If you give someone in France a notice of severance, you have to continue paying them until they find another job, up to some limit that numbers in the years. For the past 2 years at Sun I worked on a team with a guy in Grenoble that was technically laid off, but since he was close to retirement, anyway, he decided to just keep working at Sun.

]
] While we continue on the path of old ideas, there will be
] little progress. As the world changes, we need creative
] solutions. I don't need Bush out of office to create a good
] idea. If you all put Kerry in office, you will only breed new
] problems, but I care about that as much as I care about those
] that Bush, Clinton, Reagan, or any other president has brought
] to our nation. Benjamin Franklin once told us (were we to
] care, or have the balls to apply it to ourselves) that the
] foundation of our nation would become obsolete and devoid of
] benefits when the public becomes stupid and corrupt. At that
] point, we would no longer have the nation that our forefathers
] set up, but rather we would have a nation that a corrupt,
] apathetic, and ignorant people without true vision deserve.
] WE got it. Shoulda' studied your Franklin folks!

Well, I can't really disagree with you there.

RE: Kill Your Brain!