Lefty

What a disturbing thread. I hope you realize that even if you are right, you'd be setting the standard for Pyrrhic victories on these forums. Stay away from my stuff, please. Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

You just had to put Ron Paul links at the end. Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

Does it matter? The article points out the financial trickery Congress uses on the gullible for this particular bill. Everything else can take a break for the time being. The healthcare bill is expensive enough to warrant its own discussion. Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

So Lucky is lefty but Lefty isn't Lucky Nor is Lefty lefty. Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

OK, I laughed. Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

Clicky Ever get that feeling that adding new entitlement programs while decreasing the deficit seems a little...impossible? Good article. Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

I'd like to add, and then immediately strike from the list in the name of public safety, drinking for "ummmm"s, "ahhhhh"s, and "errrrrr"s. Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

Clicky. I'm not part of the populist rabble that wants to see "executives" making minimum wage, but isn't this the same sort of thing Washington has been demonizing private companies for doing? Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

I'm not concerned one bit with the particulars of his nomination. Almost anyone can be nominated, as has been pointed out. Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

Fair enough. I've got a long list of people who deserve it equally as much as Obama: me, you, Clint Eastwood, whoever came up with the design for these New Balance shoes I'm wearing, Chicken McNuggets, etc. I mean, what's the criteria for winning the Nobel Peace Prize nowadays? Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

Obama must be so embarrassed by this. Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

Funny, I thought it was obvious enough. Did the sarcasm throw you off? Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

Little did I know that when I swiped that candy bar from the grocery store when I was four that I was the victim of vigilantism! I should have demanded my right to a trial by a jury of my peers, yet the lynch mob (store employees) tracked me down (a lady there was friends with my mom), took justice into their own hands, and said an apology would do. Fiends! Stalkers! Vigilantes! Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

If the post commander had tracked the guy down and decided to do nothing (not even notify the police to the arson), would it still be vigilantism? Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

The reporter mentioned "passer-bys taking pictures like this one" (the one they used in the news footage). Would you have called the police if you had seen a man taped to a flag pole? Would you have asked the guy if he was OK? Do you think the guy would be so intimidated by the old vets that he believed not even the police could save him from their wrath? Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

There's something people are missing here. Why was the man not turned loose by one of the people passing by? If the man himself wasn't telling people to leave him bound, some scrupulous passer-by would have called the police or cut the tape. The act took place in public and in daylight. It seems the guy who burned the flag took his punishment like a man. No crime was committed here (except the property burning, of course). Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

No, but if it went to people who don't have as much for legitimate reasons like many do, then I would find it pallatable. What's a "legitimate" reason in Monopoly? Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

So unless the government option is always the best and cheapest (which I'm assured won't happen...competition, right?), we'll be compelled to purchase the product of the same insurance companies who are being demonized by the politicians? Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

You all talk about FOX News as if other outlets don't have their own masters to please. I recently finished an experiment where I put the FOX and CNN headline gadgets next to each other on my iGoogle page for a month. Both of them put such a spin on things it's funny, but FOX is definitely the worse offender. Obama knows where his bread is buttered so I'm not surprised he would exclude FOX. Anyway, now both gadgets are deleted in favor of NPR Talk Of The Nation. Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

The difference is the politicians can legally use guns to enrich themselves. Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

Seriously. Every now and then after I make a post I get that little nervous rise in heart rate and blood pressure when I consider that maybe I've said something completely foolish and that someone like llibvon (just kidding) is about to hit the softball out of the park. Cliff, how has your head not exploded yet? Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

Perhaps my point was a bit vague so I'll rephrase. If you tax (punish) productive behavior, you will get less of it. Now, the problem with your original post (and the link BIGUN posted--the one you didn't click) is that it views taxes in a vacuum. Are spending cuts so far out of the realm of possibility they're not even seen as a contributing factor to the issue? Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

That's a lot of work for Speaker's Corner. Tell you what--I won't write your research paper for you, but I will provide you with a Wikipedia article concerning the psychological concept of "operant conditioning". Enjoy! Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

And a Swayze 9mm. Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin

I'll go with E. Final answer. Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful. -Calvin