"The world is sick... and we are it's doctors..."

I'm in! Anything with THAT BAD a sound bite HAS to be AAAAWWWWWEEEESSSSOOOOOMMMMMEEEE!!!!11!one!

Bill Gates - and all the ProgLibDytes on the forum - entirely miss the point.

You could take every single member of the top 5% of the United States and immediately confiscate 100% of all their wealth, income, assets, property, and leave them penniless paupers in the gutter. It would not so much as balance the Federal Government's budget for one QUARTER, let alone a whole fiscal year. The problem is not that taxes on the rich are too 'low' (they certainly aren't). The problem is that government spends too much money on crap that government has no business spending so much as one thin dime on (IE all the social programs). Government has over-promised on too many things to too many groups for far too long. They foot a bill too long for their purse and can't pay it - no matter how much it taxes the rich, corporations, or anyone else.

Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Warren Buffett's secretary (also rich), Hollywood, and all the other rich idiots with their crocodile tears about not being taxed enough... Every single one of these hypocrites has the address of the National Treasury, and can write out checks giving every penny they earn to the government. They can fire thier accountants tomorrow and not use all the exemptions they fight so hard to maximize. They don't need thier taxes raised. They could pay higher taxes this very instant under current law.

So why don't they? Simple. They know government is a terrible place to put money.

Gates is dumping money into private philanthropical efforts - which shows that he hasn't completely lost his wits (even though he's talking like a total moron in this clip). No one believes that giving the government more money is a good idea. The US government is one of the most wasteful, and least efficient organizations on the planet. Bill Gates knows this. So it isn't hard for him to figure out that "the nation" would be better served dumping his money in an incinerator rather than pay the Feds more tax money.

So what's with these hypocritical screeds that rich sleazeballs like Buffett? The answer is also quite simple. They are doing nothing more than mouthing platitudes specifically to assuage all you ProgLibDyte peons with your class warfare pitchforks.

It is quite amusintg, really, just how easily and thoroughly people on the left like the Sift are duped. All Gates has to do is go on a show here, or a show there, and say a few of the correct leftist catchphrases. Then suddenly all the lemmings are literally knocking each other over to be the first in line to start french kissing Gates or Buffett's duodenum.

See - that's what's so funny. You ProgLibDytes don't care that Gates is laughing his way to the bank, and that he will NEVER pay a cent more in taxes than he has to. Oh no. That doesn't matter. All that matters to all you agenda slaves is that he blathers the right sound bite at you. Then your ideological addictions get thier nice little junkie fix, and you're putty in his hands, laughing at you because he knoew (A) he isn't going to pay more taxes and (B) all he has to do is keep shunting a few bucks at the right leftist radicals and he will have political protection payola shielding him for life. And all he needs too keep the racket going is a bunch of you simpletons brainlessly following your left-wing marching orders so he has a permanent audience to sing to. How's it feel knowing you're the intellectual equivalent of Bill Gates' used condom?

I reckon you are right. That's going to turn out to be a tightly edited sound bite that will haunt him in the coming months.

>> ^Edgeman2112:

Oh cmon now.
The senate passed it, but the house hasn't voted yet, and Obama strongly objects to this which makes a veto likely. The bill is not law. Stop playing the fear factor or I won't take your seriously every again.


The video states that it currently is not law, but it is on its way to potentially becoming law. It provides details of what the proposed law is and why it is a threat to our civil liberties, and effectively states that as citizens it is our right to stand up against the injustices of our government. As citizens it is our duty to be informed voters.

While their screwy video production makes them look quite kooky, the point they are making is very valid. Unfortunately the average US voter is too busy watching the 700 Club to bother researching and understanding the issues that affect our country in any detail beyond a propaganda laden sound bite. This video does serve its purpose. To help bring about awareness. We are discussing it in some manner, so in that way it is a success.

It is a responsible citizen's duty to understand, and research an issue thoroughly and to come to one's own conclusion. This video does one thing. It brings about a dialog that the US corporate propaganda laden media establishment will NOT start in any meaningful way. With any luck, it will help encourage the average lazy uneducated US voter to use that thing in their head called a brain and to stop taking everything on 'faith', and become participatory democratic citizens.

In a Democracy, when we stop thinking. When we start trusting our government without question. When we stop protesting our grievances as our constitutional rights grant. Then we have lost our Democracy. We might as well hand over the reigns to a dictatorship.

>> ^ChaosEngine:

Nice speech, now do something about it.


I agree, BUT:
I think that we have unrealistic expectations about Presidents being proactive and "getting things done" in all sorts of policy areas, when the reality of the checks and balances between different branches of government makes it so they actually can't do all of these things. Congress / the legislative branch sets tax rates, so the president has little to do with it, other than veto/approval of what congress puts on his desk.

So, making a speech is pretty much the only way that he actually can "do something about it".

The fact that every single president or presidential candidate makes campaign promises about things like this that are in reality almost entirely out of their control is frustrating, but on the other hand "if I get any tax increase bills from Congress, I will most likely try to veto it unless it is attached as a rider onto some other item that I am unable to veto" doesn't make for quite as good a sound-bite as "read my lips, no new taxes" (even if it turns out that you're just flat-out lying).

To get elected, you have to make promises that you can't actually follow through on, at least not without seriously adjusting the definition of "follow through".

I'll vote based on the topic, not the heinous colored lights and gag-worthy sound bites.

The question was unanswered. I guess even here we only post 1/2 truths and sound bites to make our opposition look bad.

What Ron Paul did say made sense. I only wished the poster of this vid was open minded enough to post the whole question.

Oh, I think he understood damned well. He just doesn't have a problem if one of the innocent darkies gets executed on his watch. I'm actually not against the death penalty in theory. Even the way he (quite panderingly so) states it is fairly simple: I don't have a problem with a bat-shit crazy serial killer rapist being put to death.

The problem is that the actual enforcement of the death penalty is just racist. White criminals and black criminals don't get the same sentences for the same crimes.


Of course, there is the issue of innocent people being put to death too and I definitely have a problem with a death-penalty case which is nebulous. Say something there they don't have direct evidence and the links to the criminal are circumstantial.

That said, I would have no problem with someone like Jeffrey Dahmer being put to death. Caught red-handed and guilty of unspeakable horror and cruelty... fry him up.

Edit: just one source for the whole racist aspects of the way that the death penalty is handled http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-penalty-black-and-white-who-lives-who-dies-who-decides

>> ^Yogi:

Education is all I can think of when I see stuff like this. People who cheer things like that simply aren't educated.
EDIT: Also you have to be concerned with the education of Parry because he clearly didn't understand the question. The question was essentially do you lose any sleep over possibly executing innocent people? To which he replied that if you commit a heinous crime you should be put to death. I understand in this country with our sound-bite media that a candidate cannot be heard to utter something that could be perceived to go against their supporters wishes. However I really wish in a public debate we had instead of Brian Williams a man who knows exactly what's going on and allows it we had someone like David Mitchell because there is no way he would let that go. He would've kept pressing him until he made him look like the utter retard he is.

Education is all I can think of when I see stuff like this. People who cheer things like that simply aren't educated.

EDIT: Also you have to be concerned with the education of Parry because he clearly didn't understand the question. The question was essentially do you lose any sleep over possibly executing innocent people? To which he replied that if you commit a heinous crime you should be put to death. I understand in this country with our sound-bite media that a candidate cannot be heard to utter something that could be perceived to go against their supporters wishes. However I really wish in a public debate we had instead of Brian Williams a man who knows exactly what's going on and allows it we had someone like David Mitchell because there is no way he would let that go. He would've kept pressing him until he made him look like the utter retard he is.

Squirrel! Adam Curry uses that sound bite on every podcast of No Agenda. ITM!

>> ^nach0s:

He's technically right. It makes for a bad sound-bite, but corporations are literally considered to be individuals. Look it up.


Yeah I don't get what everyone's so mad about. It's true Corporations are considered people by the law of the land. A law which we can change if you get educated and organized about it...there's plenty of groups already working hard trying to do just that.

He's technically right. It makes for a bad sound-bite, but corporations are literally considered to be individuals. Look it up.

>> ^quantumushroom:

Now that your tepid squirt gun of insults is sucking air, maybe you'd like some FACTS.
Medicare Fraud: A $60 Billion Crime

Poverty in America - based on US Census
Speaking of deluded "logic", is yours really 'If it doesn't happen to me, it doesn't happen anywhere.' ?????????????????????????????

>> ^VoodooV:
>> ^quantumushroom:
You gotta bunch of fatalist losers in the audience who believe life is a zero-sum game, that is, in order for one person to win, another must lose. Not one of them has the understanding that wealth is not finite slices of pie, the pie itself is getting larger all the time.
America's "poor" are the wealthiest poor in the world. Most own their own homes, have two cars, air-conditioning, 2 computers, 3 TVs, etc. And that's on top of "free" food and health care.
I'm not so cavalier as to believe losing 60 billion dollars EVERY YEAR to fraud, waste and abuse means nothing, but it really highlights the liberal mindset. When you're taking someone else's money at gunpoint, you really don't care how hard they had to work to earn it.

Like Spitzer said to Kibbe, "You're so wrong on so much of that I don't know where to begin"
You're either incompetent, deliberately lying, or both.
Speaking for myself, by QM's deluded logic, I obviously don't live in America, because I don't even have HALF of what QM claims the poor have.
But that can't be....I'm a public employee, I should have 10 cars and 5 homes if that were true.



What's your point QM? As others have already said. Proving that there is fraud does nothing other than show that things need to be improved. But that's not what you want to do, you want to slash the budget. Slashing budgets doesn't fix fraud...fixing fraud fixes fraud. Pretty basic concept there. It's really quite disappointing. Conservatives cry all the time about how they want efficient government...but they have some pretty inefficient ways to do it.

As to your second link, nice try, but The Heritage Foundation is an obviously conservative movement and thus, obviously biased. But let's go simpler than that. You...and THF made the claim that the "poor" have their own home, have two cars, air conditioning, two computers and 3 TVs. Fortunately, I qualified MY remarks with "Anecdotally" You do know what that word means right, QM? I know it's a big word and conservatives don't like big words, you like manipulating issues with sound bites, I know, but you guys hate big words. So I never claimed that my experiences speak for everyone. So nice try at a strawman, but QM fails again.

But more to the point. THF is full of shit, or their definition of poor is way the heck off or poor compared to Beverly Hills or something . While I do have air conditioning, I rent, I certainly don't have two cars, I certainly don't have two computers or three TVs and I know I'm doing FAR better than most of the people I work with. And again, I work in State Gov't and contrary to your marching orders from Fox News, we don't make a whole hell of a lot. So if, according to THF, I'm apparently lower than poor, but wait, I'm doing better than most of my peers, so they have to be even lower than the lowest of the poor...so again, either THF is incompetent, or much more likely, since THF is clearly a conservative, thus biased, organization, they are either exaggerating, or outright lying.

You clearly don't know what poor is, QM. You lose...again.

Troll elsewhere

I think you just helped make his point Pennypacker.

You don't denigrate an entire group of people because a few suck or are incompetent.

Do we kill all lawyers because there are some bad ones? No
Do we bad mouth all teachers because there are some bad ones? No
Do we hate on all unions because there are some bad ones? No
Do we hate on all politicians because some are corrupt? No

In other words, life is complex and not black or white, therefore you can't reduce complex situations down into a catchphrase or a sound bite like so many Republicans are fond of doing.

Oh, I'm sure they are playing up his sound bites so when things go sour....they can "out the gay". Then let the wife play the "I had no idea" card. And he'll be healed in the church therapy groups to pray the gay out of him.

Website says they've had 5 children, wonder if someone can convince them to get DNA tested to prove he actually had sex with his wife 5 times.

Wonder how many more times the unfaithful family value guys, integrity bribe takers, gay anti-gays, etcs will have to be caught before people learn their words mean nothing.