Okay, so LA has a problem. It's not a nationwide epidemic, the average pay for firefighters simply isn't that high. Members of congress get paid $174,000 a year, the President gets paid $400,000/yr. You probably shouldn't be paying the average firefighter more than a House freshman, and the Fire Chief more than the President.

As for your architect, I'm not surprised by that at all. If you want to tell that as a story about taxes, you're probably going to have to at least provide an example of how the math works out so that you make less owning your own business than working for someone else solely because of taxes. I bet it's mostly due to the fact that there's not really a big market for a mom & pop architect out there even in good times, and especially given the state of the real estate market right now. Running your own business isn't easy, and it's certainly not the way to get yourself a stable source of take home income in a depressed economy.

I'm of two minds about your last paragraph. Someday I think I'm going to write some big blog posts about my life, and how it shaped my political outlook. For now, I'll just say I did ultimately have a privileged life compared to most, but not by as much as you seem to assume. I'm no trust fund baby -- and I went to school with enough of those to know the difference. I have a shitload more in common with the poor working class people in the neighborhood I grew up in than I do with the trust fund set I went to school with.

The trust fund set generally felt like accumulation of wealth and status was the primary route to happiness. The more working class people in my neighborhood saw money as more of a means to an end. Happiness for them was being able to not have to worry about whether they could afford groceries, or worry about their car breaking down, or having to borrow to make rent/mortgage payments, or medicine for sick kids. They didn't really care about having the nicest clothes, a nice car, gourmet foods, or who had membership to the more prestigious country club. Those were things my rich friends talked about constantly.

I grew up constantly switching between class experiences. Over time it made me see pretty clearly that money isn't the key to real happiness. I saw lots of unhappy rich people, and lots of happy poor people. Their outlook on life had more to do with things other than money.

Anyways, it sounds like you think you're engaged in a class struggle to try to help the lower classes get a leg up on the rich. If so, great, you and I are on the same side then.

In reply to this comment by blankfist:
Dude, is it so hard to believe a public employee makes $12,000 a month? That's only $144,000 a year, not $1.4 million. It's possible. Especially since so many groups are unionized in this state.

[snip]

My CPA also told me a story of an architect who got tired of struggling as a small business and having to pay so much in taxes, so he quit the private sector to make more money working for the city. You wanna call BS on my apocryphal architect?

And I do care about the taxes I have to pay. I envy you that you don't. You must've had a great life as a lawyer's son. Always having more than you owe. I wish we all could come from there so we could also take the same sanctimonious positions you do. Only people of privilege seem to say things like, "money isn't everything." As if they scowl at the rest of us for wanting better for ourselves. Now excuse me while I go back to that mom of yours I was fucking when I told you this story.

Quit sending me private messages from your sockpuppet accounts, choggie.

In reply to this comment by OmarBinHashishin:
How about sticking with this?
I am a new user who knows the member formally known as choggie, the same who created this account on his behalf upon request.
He described a scenario in which the actions or inclinations of a few douchebags on the site who for lack of administrative mandate or simply users with an opinion who otherwise tend to remain voiceless by withholding judgment for sake of spectacle or novelty, are suffered.
At first glance, and a second, I would tend to agree that some are not commandeering the cart for the sake of the passengers. Why then, would I be addressing you?

No problem with it, consider the matter "taken up" with dag or lucky.

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
Your use of pseudo-intellect reminds me of an old not-friend who liked to say the same thing. And this comment came out of nowhere, didn't it?

And how generous of you to give the 10th vote on choggie's last six videos that were published:

http://videosift.com/video/Bob-Andy-Marcia-Young-Gifted-and-Black
http://videosift.com/video/Judas-Priest-S-I-N-N-E-R-1982-Mid-South-Coliseum-Memphis
http://videosift.com/video/Bike-Tricks
http://videosift.com/video/Buzzcocks-Orgasm-Addict-Live-London-1989
http://videosift.com/video/Rasta-Gourmet
http://videosift.com/video/Chief-Justice-John-Roberts-Confirmation-Hearing-Excerpt

I know you weren't trying that hard this time, choggie. Chic's working out pretty well for you, so why not stick with that.

Ban.

And as usual, if anyone has a problem with this, take it up with @dag or @lucky760.

Your use of pseudo-intellect reminds me of an old not-friend who liked to say the same thing. And this comment came out of nowhere, didn't it?

And how generous of you to give the 10th vote on choggie's last six videos that were published:

http://videosift.com/video/Bob-Andy-Marcia-Young-Gifted-and-Black
http://videosift.com/video/Judas-Priest-S-I-N-N-E-R-1982-Mid-South-Coliseum-Memphis
http://videosift.com/video/Bike-Tricks
http://videosift.com/video/Buzzcocks-Orgasm-Addict-Live-London-1989
http://videosift.com/video/Rasta-Gourmet
http://videosift.com/video/Chief-Justice-John-Roberts-Confirmation-Hearing-Excerpt

I know you weren't trying that hard this time, choggie. Chic's working out pretty well for you, so why not stick with that.

Ban.

And as usual, if anyone has a problem with this, take it up with @dag or @lucky760.

>> ^mgittle:

Local place near me:
http://www.famoushamburger.com/menu/famous-gourmet-burgers/
They have 1lb burgers on the menu and you can make them a double or triple. You don't have to get a friggin' McD's manager to make you some special crap.
Also, the meat is actually good meat (100% Halal...place is owned by Muslims) and they'll cook it medium rare or whatever instead of shitty McD's meat that they have to cook well done or risk making people sick. Not to mention you get your name on the wall if you eat a 2lb.
And yes...the ending was terrible for two reasons. 1) Advertisement and 2) Why the hell wouldn't you also film the 3lb?


halal dosent meen shit , other than the animal was killed in a less humain way than normal meat.

Local place near me:
http://www.famoushamburger.com/menu/famous-gourmet-burgers/

They have 1lb burgers on the menu and you can make them a double or triple. You don't have to get a friggin' McD's manager to make you some special crap.

Also, the meat is actually good meat (100% Halal...place is owned by Muslims) and they'll cook it medium rare or whatever instead of shitty McD's meat that they have to cook well done or risk making people sick. Not to mention you get your name on the wall if you eat a 2lb.

And yes...the ending was terrible for two reasons. 1) Advertisement and 2) Why the hell wouldn't you also film the 3lb?

>> ^laura:

CGI= "Computer Geek's Imagination"...no man can build my dream kitchen & then bake a gourmet cake in it...it's just not going to happen, get over it.

Not without the proper building permits, they can't!

>> ^laura:
CGI= "Computer Geek's Imagination"...no man can build my dream kitchen & then bake a gourmet cake in it...it's just not going to happen, get over it.


SWAN DIVE!

@EDD, you smell like you can bake a gourmet cake in a kitchen you built with your own hands.

>> ^laura:

CGI= "Computer Geek's Imagination"...no man can build my dream kitchen & then bake a gourmet cake in it...it's just not going to happen, get over it.


Please, easiest thing in the world.

CGI= "Computer Geek's Imagination"...no man can build my dream kitchen & then bake a gourmet cake in it...it's just not going to happen, get over it.

Hey, that's Dan Noyes with "7 on your side" (Bay Area local news channel) !

"7 on your Side" is a Bay Area institution; he does these all the time to chase down people who are typically up to something screwy. In this case, using donation funds for patient care for gourmet food for staff:

He's a badass, and he's ridiculously tall, so it's sort of hard NOT to be imposing. Works well for his line of work, I'd say . I'm a big fan

^But you do 'believe' in scientific consensus. You 'believe' every other conclusion scientific consensus has ever come to. You don't question gravity, or plate tectonics, or photosynthesis, or the reality of the ozone layer, do you?

Why defy science on this lone issue?

Could it have anything to do with the billion dollar PR campaign designed to put these ideas in the public mind?

Video Analysis:

I can't speak to the validity of the science, because I am not a scientist, but I can certainly speak to some of the political manipulation found within this video.

-The video replaces the term 'climate science' with the less accurate, more politically charged term 'global warming'.
-Science is described as 'opinion' to downplay the research that defines it.
-'Public opinion' is put on an equal footing with science.
-The "debate" is framed as one of equals, using the image of two men with cannons firing at each other. In reality, this is science vs. rich guys who don't want to clean up their factories.
-The video pretends to differentiate itself from, and rise above these two warring factions, despite its overt partisanship.
-The video condescendingly reminds scientists of the importance of evidence. WTF?
-At the end, the video reaches conclusions that were not satisfactorily proven, and then displays the image of a judge pounding a gavel in an attempt to invoke the mental frame of officiality and authority in the mind of the viewer.

The debate on this issue has nothing to do with science, it is pure *politics. The scientific process has already reached the consensus that climate change is real, man made and potentially harmful to organic lifeforms. I find it disturbing that you would put politics on an equal footing with science within the context of a scientific debate. Putting your 'belief' in experts is a good thing, and I imagine that outside of this political bizzaro world, you probably do just that.

If you need medical attention, you go to a doctor, not a lawyer.
If you need your car fixed, you go to a mechanic, not a gourmet chef.
If you need information on climate change, you go to climate scientists, not greedy industrialists!

Getting your computer fixed at Best Buy seems like getting a gourmet meal at McDonalds... You want a personal and unique experience, but you get a mass-producing corporation.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'waterslide, fish, ourmet, burial' to 'waterslide, fish, gourmet, burial' - edited by Fusionaut

i guess we can put them on trial first... but that will just be joining in on the "urge to splurge" taxpayer money, as michael steele has so eloquently coined from his cheat sheet.



For a practical suggestion:

1.) Get rid of drug reps. They are useless salesman.

2.) OUTLAW advertisements for prescription medicines. Straight up.

Those two things alone would free so much money for financial assistance to patients.

/super rant begins

I used to eat those tasty lunches the drug reps would buy the entire office when they came to "chat" with the doctors. I couldnt afford to waste my money on that shit.... but apparently they had plenty to throw around. Oh, how we'd laugh and chat it up. There were some real busty ones, too, for all you male doctors.

... and oh, sorry Mr. Dyingguy, we just can't give you that medicine for free. You know, costs and such. We need to make money for our stockholders. I'm sure you understand. Hey, why are you lying so still? Anyway, here's a fucking pen and magnet with our logo on it for your funeral. I'm all out of calendars, bottle openers, brochures, keychains, strange foam toys, notepads and the like. Oh we make some little pills or something you need to live... but don't worry about those... they're practically worthless without the rest. Plus all we had to do was go into the amazon and steal compounds the natives had found ...and you'll love this... they didn't even know what a patent is! LOL. Natives. Ah, good times.

Here have some more pens. This one is shaped like a femur.... and this one has a little floaty thing in it that may or may not be the actual medicine you need.... this one lights up!! so when can we schedule another lunch? just tell me what you want and ill personally take the order. Gourmet box lunch? How about a taco bar? i hear there's a nice new bistro in town. Thai? no problem.

Oh and one more thing... several of our medicines we're pushing samples of cause heart attacks (oh merck you never failed to please with the recalls.. the recalls alone were giving some people heart attacks from panic LOL oh the irony)... this one causes diarrhea in nearly everyone.. this one... hell i think it's just salt water but im no chemist... here have some samples, i have a FUCKING HUGE TRUNK FULL of pills that cost $80 each... for you, anyway. I'll toss few extra in for your staff's personal use, I know what a pain these things are to get. I get them for free cause i'm a salesman.

But no, im sorry we can't afford to give financial assistance. That would just be irresponsible spending.

Fucking criminal assholes. DIE DAMN YOU.

/endrant?

might as well since i can go on and on...