"This is slimy, but there is no reason to be in favor of tax simplification."
Really? I attach a value to money outlaid for things like tax prep and software. I also attach value to hours spent self-prepping taxes. It seems that, unless the fear is that somehow the government info used to simplify the filing process is going to be manipulated by the government, streamlining the tax FILING process poses no threat to anyone.
"Meaningful tax reform is not simplification or changing from one type of tax to another."
"Exists sheerly due to legislated monopoly, exempt from anti-trust. So while you're railing at IP, you've NO concern at all for gov't granting a DIRECT monopoly. This is why your notions fail: not consistent."
You seem to think that because I fail to mention something, it follows that I have no opinion on the matter. This is obviously a false assertion. While the post is about baseball, I also failed to mention that I don't like the DH rule, yet you would have concluded that I have no opinion on it at all.
I do my best not to trespass on everyone's patience by filling the post with every last bit of related subject matter. My apologies if this concept of focus eludes you.
Re: BEST WIT of the week: "virtual (but totally autonomous) sock-puppet".
Is there a reason you constantly try to insert yourself in the comments of every post with an off topic screed that attempts to draw attention to yourself rather than the issues discussed? I don't know that I've ever seen someone use the word "I" as much as you do.
Based on past experience, the safest bet is probably to lose your shit over self-perceived attacks on anything with a trigger and tell me 'Merica should murder my puppy in her sleep....
Ha! I'm not Mike, so I'm the anti-American (odd, yesterday I was accused of being a Go AMERICA Rah rah guy....) terrorist loving (odd, all I do is make fun of Iran)....
Re: Re: Re: Impressed with conspicuous waste, you 1-percenter!
There's quite a difference between saying "X amount of money is too much for a person to make" and "X amount of money is too much for a person to make....so I want my corrupt and inefficient government to take it instead."
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "chance to fish in a sea of secrets"
"Calling me an idiot may not be the best way to react dear writer."
Gee, good thing I did nothing of the sort then, huh?
"With nuance dear mr Helmet you can excuse everything."
I have no idea what this is supposed to mean....
"you yanks created Saddam"
Er, no. We actually originally opposed him and helped arm the Northern Kurds against Saddam. We only worked w/him once Iran became what it is today.
"armed him"
To some extent, yes, but our role in arming him has been vastly overblown. Two American corporations gave him 1 of 4 chemical agents he used. Most of his WMD arms came from elsewhere. The Soviet Union also armed him heavily.
"blessed him"
Against Iran, sure we did. He was a secular bulwark against theocracy. We do that all the time.
"knowing the kind of swine he was, knowing what he was capable of doing."
Exactly how were we to know that he'd commit genocide?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "chance to fish in a sea of secrets"
"Interesting to find out that Dark Helmet is one of the "USA, USA, USA!" yelling crowd, disappointing."
Oh, please, give me a break. I'm nothing of the sort, nor have I been in this thread. Try being nuanced enough to understand that you can think our govt. lying was wrong but the war was still the right thing to do. If you can't hold those two thoughts in your head at the same time, too bad for you, but I'm far from an American apologist....
Try 4500 villages, with 100k civilians killed and 90% of Kurd villages erased from the map. If you want to argue further, I suggest knowing what you're talking about first.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "chance to fish in a sea of secrets"
"Forgive me for placing more weight upon a recognized institution such as FactCheck.org than you, but in my opinion you are clearly wrong. Iraq gave up the WMD program in 1995. Any WMD that was there was already declared and was in the process of being disposed and/or was already incapable of military usage."
That's both incorrect and short-sighted. First, in 2006 hundreds of weapons munitions were found that contained mustard gas or sarin nerve gas. While you're correct that that ammunition was degraded, the agents inside them were not, and could be exploited by terrorist or the Saddam regime. Per Army Colonel John Chu: "These are chemical weapons as defined under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and yes ... they do constitute weapons of mass destruction."
"As far as Iraq having lost its sovereignty, using those same standards, Israel has also lost its sovereignty."
Interesting theory. I wasn't aware they broke all four standards. What ethnic group have they attempted to genocide? What WMDs have they used? How have they repeatedly invaded AS THE AGGRESSOR other nations around them? What international gangsters or terrorists are they actively involved with?
"The fact is the UN never approved the invasion of Iraq, as the US did not wait for Iraq to be found in violation of UNSC Resolution 1441."
That the UN doesn't have the balls to enforce their own resolutions isn't an argument not to do the right thing ourselves. That's a non-starter.
"And for the record, fuck you for saying I doomed anyone to genocide (for the record, he gassed one village, not the entire race, so your claims of genocide are a stretch)."
Get mad all you want, I'm right. If we left Saddam alone, he'd have finished off the Kurds. And, btw, you might want to educate yourself on how EVERYONE, including the Iraqi government, says what Saddam did was genocide. You can turn your nose up at the gassing of 10k civilians. I'm not going to.
"Innocent people never deserve to die, and there's a lot of killing going on all over the world, and we don't do fuck all about it."
Not being able to save the entire world isn't a reason not to save part of it. That's not an argument, it's an excuse not to do the difficult thing and go to war.
On the post: Intuit Continues To Make Sure Filing Taxes Is Complicated
Re: Slimy, but tax simplification is not good
Really? I attach a value to money outlaid for things like tax prep and software. I also attach value to hours spent self-prepping taxes. It seems that, unless the fear is that somehow the government info used to simplify the filing process is going to be manipulated by the government, streamlining the tax FILING process poses no threat to anyone.
"Meaningful tax reform is not simplification or changing from one type of tax to another."
Agreed, and I never argued otherwise.
On the post: No, Freak Gross Injuries Shouldn't Mean Media Outlets Can't Show Them
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: There's No IP In Team: How Protectionism Is Holding Back Sports Metrics (And Everything Else)
Re: Re: Re: Re: BUT there IS MONOPOLY in baseball.
On the post: There's No IP In Team: How Protectionism Is Holding Back Sports Metrics (And Everything Else)
Re: Re: Re: BUT there IS MONOPOLY in baseball.
On the post: There's No IP In Team: How Protectionism Is Holding Back Sports Metrics (And Everything Else)
Re: BUT there IS MONOPOLY in baseball.
You seem to think that because I fail to mention something, it follows that I have no opinion on the matter. This is obviously a false assertion. While the post is about baseball, I also failed to mention that I don't like the DH rule, yet you would have concluded that I have no opinion on it at all.
I do my best not to trespass on everyone's patience by filling the post with every last bit of related subject matter. My apologies if this concept of focus eludes you.
On the post: There's No IP In Team: How Protectionism Is Holding Back Sports Metrics (And Everything Else)
Re: Bill James, Billy Bean...
On the post: The Arab Street Responds To Fear Of Memes By Producing Tons Of Meme Videos
Re: Timmy the (blind) Middle East expert.
On the post: Blowhard UK MP Says Ban Twitter Because Grandstanding Is Fun
Re:
The paperwork he filed includes the possibility of a ban. What are you talking about?
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: BEST WIT of the week: "virtual (but totally autonomous) sock-puppet".
It's kind of sad....
On the post: Maxis: Your Reward For Buying Our Horribly Launched SimCity Is The Previous, Better Version Of It
Re:
Hold that thought....
On the post: Maxis GM: Our Vision Is More Important Than Our Customers & Lots Of People Love Our Crappy DRM
Re:
On the post: No, Sim City Debacle Doesn't Mean Gamers Need A Bill Of Rights
Re:
On the post: Iran Wants To Sue Hollywood Over Argo Somewhere, Some Time, & For Some Reason
Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Iran Wants To Sue Hollywood Over Argo Somewhere, Some Time, & For Some Reason
Re: Re:
You really didn't see Argo, did you?
On the post: Iran Wants To Sue Hollywood Over Argo Somewhere, Some Time, & For Some Reason
Re: 'my Iranian friends'
On the post: Warner Bros. Lets Veronica Mars Crew Prove Demand For A Movie Via Kickstarter
Re: Re: Re: Impressed with conspicuous waste, you 1-percenter!
On the post: NYT Former Exec Editor Misrepresents Bradley Manning
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "chance to fish in a sea of secrets"
Gee, good thing I did nothing of the sort then, huh?
"With nuance dear mr Helmet you can excuse everything."
I have no idea what this is supposed to mean....
"you yanks created Saddam"
Er, no. We actually originally opposed him and helped arm the Northern Kurds against Saddam. We only worked w/him once Iran became what it is today.
"armed him"
To some extent, yes, but our role in arming him has been vastly overblown. Two American corporations gave him 1 of 4 chemical agents he used. Most of his WMD arms came from elsewhere. The Soviet Union also armed him heavily.
"blessed him"
Against Iran, sure we did. He was a secular bulwark against theocracy. We do that all the time.
"knowing the kind of swine he was, knowing what he was capable of doing."
Exactly how were we to know that he'd commit genocide?
On the post: NYT Former Exec Editor Misrepresents Bradley Manning
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "chance to fish in a sea of secrets"
Oh, please, give me a break. I'm nothing of the sort, nor have I been in this thread. Try being nuanced enough to understand that you can think our govt. lying was wrong but the war was still the right thing to do. If you can't hold those two thoughts in your head at the same time, too bad for you, but I'm far from an American apologist....
On the post: NYT Former Exec Editor Misrepresents Bradley Manning
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "chance to fish in a sea of secrets"
"for the record, he gassed one village, not the entire race, so your claims of genocide are a stretch"
Proves you don't know what the hell you're talking about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Anfal_Campaign
Try 4500 villages, with 100k civilians killed and 90% of Kurd villages erased from the map. If you want to argue further, I suggest knowing what you're talking about first.
On the post: NYT Former Exec Editor Misrepresents Bradley Manning
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "chance to fish in a sea of secrets"
That's both incorrect and short-sighted. First, in 2006 hundreds of weapons munitions were found that contained mustard gas or sarin nerve gas. While you're correct that that ammunition was degraded, the agents inside them were not, and could be exploited by terrorist or the Saddam regime. Per Army Colonel John Chu: "These are chemical weapons as defined under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and yes ... they do constitute weapons of mass destruction."
"As far as Iraq having lost its sovereignty, using those same standards, Israel has also lost its sovereignty."
Interesting theory. I wasn't aware they broke all four standards. What ethnic group have they attempted to genocide? What WMDs have they used? How have they repeatedly invaded AS THE AGGRESSOR other nations around them? What international gangsters or terrorists are they actively involved with?
"The fact is the UN never approved the invasion of Iraq, as the US did not wait for Iraq to be found in violation of UNSC Resolution 1441."
That the UN doesn't have the balls to enforce their own resolutions isn't an argument not to do the right thing ourselves. That's a non-starter.
"And for the record, fuck you for saying I doomed anyone to genocide (for the record, he gassed one village, not the entire race, so your claims of genocide are a stretch)."
Get mad all you want, I'm right. If we left Saddam alone, he'd have finished off the Kurds. And, btw, you might want to educate yourself on how EVERYONE, including the Iraqi government, says what Saddam did was genocide. You can turn your nose up at the gassing of 10k civilians. I'm not going to.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/03/08/1988-Kurdish-massacre-labeled-genocide/UPI-934 71268062566/
"Innocent people never deserve to die, and there's a lot of killing going on all over the world, and we don't do fuck all about it."
Not being able to save the entire world isn't a reason not to save part of it. That's not an argument, it's an excuse not to do the difficult thing and go to war.
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