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[Chat]ting for equality

2456749

Posts

  • JamesKeenanJamesKeenan Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Thinatos wrote: »
    Maybe I'm a libertarian who doesn't froth at the mouth and get all beady-eyed at the idea of government run and funded social programs? I don't harbor this illogical fear and hatred of subsidies and federal departments?

    I don't know what my keenness of the word is...
    You should hate subsidies, because they're awful, horrible things that run counter to just about every other goal the federal government attempts to attain.

    Well, as it stands now, I don't approve, but... I really just don't know. I'd be willing to hear your opinions on it, however. I don't have a job which (loosely) relies on my knowledge of economy. And I haven't taken 4 years of political science and economy courses.

    For instance, the current farming situation, with meat and dairy getting 75% of subsidies, while fruit and vegetable farmers get less than 1%? That's pretty fucked up, and, despite what Human Nature says about a global fat epidemic, could be argued as a cause of national weight gain. My own family, for instance, almost all qualify as overweight. But we're also poor. We can't afford to eat very healthy. Not for six people.

    But that doesn't necessarily mean subsidies are implicitly bad... I don't think...


    [EDIT]: Also, granted that there's more to health than fruits and vegetables, but pasta every third night doesn't help, either.

    JamesKeenan on
  • The Green Eyed MonsterThe Green Eyed Monster i blame hip hop Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    The government should subsidize my cock.
    It's not turning a profit on its own?

    The Green Eyed Monster on
  • ChurchChurch Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    The government should subsidize my cock.

    I find your ideas interesting and would like to subscribe to your pamphlet and/or newsletter.

    Church on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • Casual EddyCasual Eddy The Astral PlaneRegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    celery77 wrote: »
    The government should subsidize my cock.
    It's not turning a profit on its own?

    It's doing fine, I just want monies for not doing anything.

    Casual Eddy on
  • The Green Eyed MonsterThe Green Eyed Monster i blame hip hop Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    But that doesn't necessarily mean subsidies are implicitly bad... I don't think...
    Subsidies are generally universally bad, with perhaps the exception of tech research and arts funding. The farm subsidies are a crime of epidemic proportions. I think there's a documentary called King corn or somehow about Corn that's making the rounds now that covers a lot of this. I'm really curious about that one.

    Just try, sometime, to eat without consuming any corn in any of your foods. It's insanely more difficult than you might think at first.

    The Green Eyed Monster on
  • JamesKeenanJamesKeenan Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Oh, christ.

    Everywhere I fucking turn, there's high fructose corn syrup in fucking everything.

    In my fucking bread!

    JamesKeenan on
  • ChurchChurch Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    When the government messes with legitimate farming operations, it always results in fan blades coming in direct physical contact with fecal matter.

    Church on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • The Green Eyed MonsterThe Green Eyed Monster i blame hip hop Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Oh, christ.

    Everywhere I fucking turn, there's high fructose corn syrup in fucking everything.

    In my fucking bread!
    Subsidies!

    The Green Eyed Monster on
  • JamesKeenanJamesKeenan Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    No Child Left Behind was pretty fucking stupid, but I wouldn't want to abolish the Department of Education.

    JamesKeenan on
  • ChurchChurch Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    So what's this about corn running amok?

    Church on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Thinatos wrote: »
    Maybe I'm a libertarian who doesn't froth at the mouth and get all beady-eyed at the idea of government run and funded social programs? I don't harbor this illogical fear and hatred of subsidies and federal departments?

    I don't know what my keenness of the word is...
    You should hate subsidies, because they're awful, horrible things that run counter to just about every other goal the federal government attempts to attain.
    Well, as it stands now, I don't approve, but... I really just don't know. I'd be willing to hear your opinions on it, however. I don't have a job which (loosely) relies on my knowledge of economy. And I haven't taken 4 years of political science and economy courses.

    For instance, the current farming situation, with meat and dairy getting 75% of subsidies, while fruit and vegetable farmers get less than 1%? That's pretty fucked up, and, despite what Human Nature says about a global fat epidemic, could be argued as a cause of national weight gain. My own family, for instance, almost all qualify as overweight. But we're also poor. We can't afford to eat very healthy. Not for six people.

    But that doesn't necessarily mean subsidies are implicitly bad... I don't think...
    I don't know where you're getting your numbers, but I find them difficult to believe, given that the top recipients of farm subsidies are mostly corn states. Though, given how shitty it is for you, I can support not counting corn as a fruit or vegetable.

    And if you want to look at obesity rates, they pretty much directly correlate with soda consumption in this country, which no one will talk about, because the soda industry is a huge client of--you guessed it--the corn industry.

    Thanatos on
  • JamesKeenanJamesKeenan Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I pinky swear I didn't make it up. There was a pyramid chart and everything...

    But I'll look it up, so I don't look like an ass.

    JamesKeenan on
  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I pinky swear I didn't make it up. There was a pyramid chart and everything...

    But I'll look it up, so I don't look like an ass.
    I think I remember seeing it, too, but I just simply don't believe it with the amount we give corn and wheat growers in this country.

    It'd be like telling me that the #1 religion in the South is Shi'a Islam. I don't give a shit what sort of statistics you've allegedly got, they're wrong.

    Thanatos on
  • MrBallbagginsMrBallbaggins Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I have next to no knowledge of how subsidies work, but I do know that several people in this area are paid by the government to not grow certain things in their fields. They are essentially paid to allow good land to go to waste, and the only reasoning I've heard behind it is to keep the market from being overcrowded with certain crops and causing the cost of said crops to plummet.

    Is this why you hate them? Because I could probably understand that.

    MrBallbaggins on
  • JamesKeenanJamesKeenan Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Well, to be fair. I could just be wrong. Maybe it was just fruit? Corn could have been the second biggest piece of the pyramid?

    [EDIT]: I'll preface this by saying, as soon as we started talking about corn, fruit and vegetables getting less then 1% did seem fishy.

    Secondly, I found the source. It's... eh.

    Here.

    JamesKeenan on
  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Well, to be fair. I could just be wrong. Maybe it was just fruit? Corn could have been the second biggest piece of the pyramid?
    No, I remember seeing the same thing, and not commenting because I'm lazy, but I don't remember what thread it was in.

    Put simply, as much as I hate farm subsidies, that pictograph was almost certainly wrong.

    Thanatos on
  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Thinatos wrote: »
    Well, to be fair. I could just be wrong. Maybe it was just fruit? Corn could have been the second biggest piece of the pyramid?
    No, I remember seeing the same thing, and not commenting because I'm lazy, but I don't remember what thread it was in.

    Put simply, as much as I hate farm subsidies, that pictograph was almost certainly wrong.
    See this right here Michael Moore? Integrity.

    electricitylikesme on
  • JamesKeenanJamesKeenan Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I'll chalk my own ineptitude at remember facts up to my monkey brain.

    JamesKeenan on
  • The Green Eyed MonsterThe Green Eyed Monster i blame hip hop Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I have next to no knowledge of how subsidies work, but I do know that several people in this area are paid by the government to not grow certain things in their fields. They are essentially paid to allow good land to go to waste, and the only reasoning I've heard behind it is to keep the market from being overcrowded with certain crops and causing the cost of said crops to plummet.

    Is this why you hate them? Because I could probably understand that.
    That's like the tip of the iceberg.

    They're made to protect markets against themselves, leftover from a less sophisticated time when economic whims could prove devastating for the entire nation. With modern business practice and economics and global competition and such, they're really just artificial props for failing businesses.

    Anyway, I think I'm really going to bed after this reply. Good night all.

    The Green Eyed Monster on
  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Well, to be fair. I could just be wrong. Maybe it was just fruit? Corn could have been the second biggest piece of the pyramid?

    [EDIT]: I'll preface this by saying, as soon as we started talking about corn, fruit and vegetables getting less then 1% did seem fishy.

    Secondly, I found the source. It's... eh.

    Here.
    Well, it's a site called "treehugger.com." That should be your first clue that it's maybe not the most reliable source. :P

    Second, as she mentions in the article she's counting all of the subsidies paid towards soy and corn as meat industry subsidies, even though not all corn and soy goes towards feeding cattle.

    Thanatos on
  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    celery77 wrote: »
    I have next to no knowledge of how subsidies work, but I do know that several people in this area are paid by the government to not grow certain things in their fields. They are essentially paid to allow good land to go to waste, and the only reasoning I've heard behind it is to keep the market from being overcrowded with certain crops and causing the cost of said crops to plummet.

    Is this why you hate them? Because I could probably understand that.
    That's like the tip of the iceberg.

    They're made to protect markets against themselves, leftover from a less sophisticated time when economic whims could prove devastating for the entire nation. With modern business practice and economics and global competition and such, they're really just artificial props for failing businesses.

    Anyway, I think I'm really going to bed after this reply. Good night all.

    Well it's more like their artificial props for business from like 3-4 decades ago. At some level you need to protect an amount of internal agriculture from going under.

    electricitylikesme on
  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    celery77 wrote: »
    I have next to no knowledge of how subsidies work, but I do know that several people in this area are paid by the government to not grow certain things in their fields. They are essentially paid to allow good land to go to waste, and the only reasoning I've heard behind it is to keep the market from being overcrowded with certain crops and causing the cost of said crops to plummet.

    Is this why you hate them? Because I could probably understand that.
    That's like the tip of the iceberg.

    They're made to protect markets against themselves, leftover from a less sophisticated time when economic whims could prove devastating for the entire nation. With modern business practice and economics and global competition and such, they're really just artificial props for failing businesses.

    Anyway, I think I'm really going to bed after this reply. Good night all.
    Well it's more like their artificial props for business from like 3-4 decades ago. At some level you need to protect an amount of internal agriculture from going under.
    Well, thank god that if the entire rest of the world ever decides that "hey, we hate America more than we like money," we can rest assured that we'll have enough... corn... to feed everyone.

    Seriously, pretending that there's any sort of reason behind the food subsidy system in this country is fucking ridiculous. I could absolutely see that there are arguments to be made for having certain food subsidies in order to maintain a domestic food supply; however, such an argument would have to be made from a position of "yes, we need them, but the current system we have sucks ass and will need to be massively reformed before it can be anything even approaching useful."

    Thanatos on
  • JamesKeenanJamesKeenan Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    On a slightly related note, I was watching C-Span the other day, and I caught it during a British House Commons session. I don't watch C-Span as a hobby. Mostly they're covering very dull topics. But someties it's interesting, and a different culture's political process is doubly entertaining.

    Anyhow, there was mud slinging and policy debating, and whatnot, and then someone changed the subject to the problem of binge drinking. I suppose the Brits are having an alcohol problem (maybe), because he spoke as if they all knew what he was even talking about. He could have just been crazy.

    He said he had been looking into the issue, and found it was the supermarkets fault.

    "Many supermarkets have been selling the drink at production cost! It's too cheap!"

    He went on to say they should force alcohol prices up to stop drinking.

    JamesKeenan on
  • MrBallbagginsMrBallbaggins Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I wish instead of paying them to grow nothing they'd maybe pay them to grow some goddamn hay.

    That shit is too expensive this year. Fucking lack of rain.

    MrBallbaggins on
  • JamesKeenanJamesKeenan Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Thinatos wrote: »
    Well, it's a site called "treehugger.com."

    Yeah, as soon as I saw that it hit me that I might as well have been taking my political facts from a Ron Paul supporter's website.

    :D

    JamesKeenan on
  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    On a slightly related note, I was watching C-Span the other day, and I caught it during a British House Commons session. I don't watch C-Span as a hobby. Mostly they're covering very dull topics. But someties it's interesting, and a different culture's political process is doubly entertaining.

    Anyhow, there was mud slinging and policy debating, and whatnot, and then someone changed the subject to the problem of binge drinking. I suppose the Brits are having an alcohol problem (maybe), because he spoke as if they all knew what he was even talking about. He could have just been crazy.

    He said he had been looking into the issue, and found it was the supermarkets fault.

    "Many supermarkets have been selling the drink at production cost! It's too cheap!"

    He went on to say they should force alcohol prices up to stop drinking.
    Question Period is awesome. I don't know how Gordon Brown does, but watching Tony Blair at Question Period was like watching a Shaolin master of answers.

    If we had Question Period in this country, I doubt Dubya would have won a second term.

    And Britain has been trying to address their binge drinking problem for quite some time, now. I don't know how much of a problem it actually is compared to, say, the U.S., but I think I remember hearing that it's pretty bad compared to most of Western Europe.

    Thanatos on
  • Casual EddyCasual Eddy The Astral PlaneRegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    For some reason I find Question Period to be adorable. It sounds like a class in first grade.

    Casual Eddy on
  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    For some reason I find Question Period to be adorable. It sounds like a class in first grade.
    Technically, it's "Questions to the Prime Minister." Or "PMQs," for short.

    In Australia, though, it's "Question Time," I think. But you already knew that, didn't you, Eddy, you goddamned foreigner? When will they be deporting you?

    Thanatos on
  • Casual EddyCasual Eddy The Astral PlaneRegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    If I'm caught with drugs I can be deported. D:

    That citizenship application can't get back fast enough.

    Casual Eddy on
  • SamiSami Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Jinnigan wrote:
    Alright, I'm convinced. The politicians I thought were serious politicians are Fleas on the Beast. Ron Paul will put the Beast on a diet. Or possibly tame it. The metaphor isn't clear, but that's not the point. The point is that before I didn't see the light, but this woman who doesn't blink and her terrible metaphor have made me see the light. I'm buying liberty dollars as we speak and registering to vote in the Republican primary.

    That bitch is terrifying.

    Sami on
  • JamesKeenanJamesKeenan Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Thinatos wrote: »
    On a slightly related note, I was watching C-Span the other day, and I caught it during a British House Commons session. I don't watch C-Span as a hobby. Mostly they're covering very dull topics. But someties it's interesting, and a different culture's political process is doubly entertaining.

    Anyhow, there was mud slinging and policy debating, and whatnot, and then someone changed the subject to the problem of binge drinking. I suppose the Brits are having an alcohol problem (maybe), because he spoke as if they all knew what he was even talking about. He could have just been crazy.

    He said he had been looking into the issue, and found it was the supermarkets fault.

    "Many supermarkets have been selling the drink at production cost! It's too cheap!"

    He went on to say they should force alcohol prices up to stop drinking.
    Question Period is awesome. I don't know how Gordon Brown does, but watching Tony Blair at Question Period was like watching a Shaolin master of answers.

    If we had Question Period in this country, I doubt Dubya would have won a second term.

    And Britain has been trying to address their binge drinking problem for quite some time, now. I don't know how much of a problem it actually is compared to, say, the U.S., but I think I remember hearing that it's pretty bad compared to most of Western Europe.

    I should qualify my statement with that I wasn't finding humor in the problem or his suggestions, per se...

    It was more the very stereotypically, angrily "British" way in which he was talking about it. And the way he said "at production cost" made it seem like he had forgotten how outraged and amazed he was by that fact, and was discovering it all over again as he spoke.

    JamesKeenan on
  • Nova_CNova_C I have the need The need for speedRegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    This is going to be an awful week. I missed yesterday because I couldn't sleep - I had a brutal headache and that was compounded by the fact that every time I laid down I could feel my heart pounding. I called in once morning rolled around and finally got a few hours of sleep. Now it's 3AM and while I don't have a headache now, my heart pounds every time I lay down again. I don't think I can afford to miss another day of work.

    :(

    Nova_C on
  • DasUberEdwardDasUberEdward Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    So is anyone else awake at 5:30AM or are am I the only bastard on the east coast?

    DasUberEdward on
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  • Casual EddyCasual Eddy The Astral PlaneRegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    i'm on the east coast

    bleh

    Casual Eddy on
  • DasUberEdwardDasUberEdward Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Oh good. It must be our names driving us to this god awful hour.

    DasUberEdward on
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  • JamesKeenanJamesKeenan Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I'm an insomniac.

    Also: New av and sig.

    [EDIT]: Realizing now I need to change my title and location...

    [EDIT]: Done.

    JamesKeenan on
  • DasUberEdwardDasUberEdward Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I really need to work on my Light's Santa hat.


    Which means I really need UPS to deliver the parts for my new PC and I need to learn how to build a PC.

    DasUberEdward on
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  • JamesKeenanJamesKeenan Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    You can't just download a gif editor and make a santa hat?

    JamesKeenan on
  • DasUberEdwardDasUberEdward Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I suppose I could try but i'm regulated to the computer lab here. These computers are a little funky about installing programs at times.

    DasUberEdward on
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  • Loren MichaelLoren Michael Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    BWA HA HA HA...

    The Russians love me again. Even the girl who should totally hate me.

    Loren Michael on
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This discussion has been closed.