Itinerant Air-Cooled

Well first off I don't put a lot of credence in the "climate summits". We tried discussing that ad nauseam. The rate of sea level rise has dropped in recent years, and may continue in 2011 ( maybe Obama is messianic - oops, shouldn't use hebrew words that might imply support of Israel! ) Um, how 'bout a goodly portion of the marvels of modern life in the post-third industrial revolution. How 'bout living in a free country where ya' can be anything you choose? DUH.

Adidas and Nikes for everyone. WalMart for South Africa. What marvels. Strip malls for the world. Native cultures destroyed by the capitalistic model. There's that arrogance again.

Increasingly, here in this country you can be anything you choose if you have enough money. However, you have an edge, and are freer if you're a white male christian. English language only in the land of the free. Hey, don't build that mosque there, that's just disrespectful to....

Upward mobility, eg "you can be anything you choose" is increasingly a myth, the carrot on a stick, just one more tactic to keep the oppressed oppressed, as mythical as the old "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" adage. Tough to do without bootstraps.


neal

What are you doing right now? I rest my case.

Enjoying the bones tossed to me while I can.


neal

Same here. What more can we expect? I shop a little at Target or Walmart but prefer smaller outfits. I might go to Walmart once or twice a year. I don't hate the place. From what I understand, they are a J.O.B. for some people.

Enjoying the spoils of our imperialistic foreign policy, as time and time again we destroy freely elected democracies with social services for the citizens, health care, education and such, replacing the elected leaders with tyrants and dictators, who gladly implement "economic adjustments" that kick the citizens to the curb but that enrich our corporations profits as they extract resources, destroying ecosystems with toxins, yep, enjoying those bones until they quit being tossed to us.

Gee, why don't people we drop bombs on appreciate all we're doing for them?

Of course, those same "economic adjustments" are being foisted on this country. We've been enjoying downward mobility in the work place for a bit now.


neal

This should breathe a few dozen more pages of life into this thread:

Ex-Swiss banker to hand account files to WikiLeaks
2 hrs 38 mins ago

LONDON – A former Swiss banker was on Monday due to hand over files to WikiLeaks which he alleges detail attempts by wealthy business leaders and lawmakers to evade tax payments.

Rudolf Elmer, a former employee of Swiss-based Bank Julius Baer, told Britain's Observer newspaper on Sunday that the documents include details of about 2,000 accounts held in offshore financial centers. He says the account holders include "high net worth" celebrities, business leaders and lawmakers from the U.S., Britain and Asia.

Elmer, who has previously leaked banking documents to the secret-spilling site, was scheduled to hold a news conference later Monday at London's Frontline Club with a WikiLeaks representative. Vaughan Smith, the owner of the Frontline Club, said he couldn't say who the representative would be.

Smith's 10-bedroom mansion in eastern England has been serving as a makeshift headquarters for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange since he was released on bail on Dec. 16. Assange has compared his bail conditions — which largely confine him to Smith's home — to "high-tech house arrest," but has recently promised that the flow of leaked documents would increase.

Elmer's press conference comes two days before he is due to appear before a Zurich regional court to answer charges of coercion and violating Switzerland's strict banking secrecy laws.

He told the Observer newspaper he planned to disclose the new set of files to expose activities in offshore financial centers. "The one thing on which I am absolutely clear is that the banks know, and the big boys know, that money is being secreted away for tax-evasion purposes," he was quoted as telling the newspaper.

ruckman101 wrote:Enjoying the spoils of our imperialistic foreign policy, as time and time again we destroy freely elected democracies with social services for the citizens, health care, education and such, replacing the elected leaders with tyrants and dictators, who gladly implement "economic adjustments" that kick the citizens to the curb but that enrich our corporations profits as they extract resources, destroying ecosystems with toxins, yep, enjoying those bones until they quit being tossed to us.

Gee, why don't people we drop bombs on appreciate all we're doing for them?

Of course, those same "economic adjustments" are being foisted on this country. We've been enjoying downward mobility in the work place for a bit now.


neal

The PC Rabbit-hole of feigned despair. It never ends.

There is absolutely nothing fictitious in what I typed. Truths not talked about acknowledged, yes, feigned indignation, no. My indignation is actual. I'm just tired of the hypocrisy.


neal

For two centuries, America’s free market has not only been the source of dazzling ideas and path-breaking products, it has also been the greatest force for prosperity the world has ever known. That vibrant entrepreneurialism is the key to our continued global leadership and the success of our people.

By BARACK OBAMA
JANUARY 18, 2011

An idealized concept less and less true, unless you count our superior weapons technology. If it was truly the case, our "vibrant entrepreneurialism" would have developed alternative energy sources and we wouldn't be in Iraq for the oil. Instead, other countries are eclipsing us.

Our iPhones, iPads, etc. are affordable because of our control of resources and cheap labor, at the expense of other peoples.


neal

Is it true or not? The fact Obama said it is telling of a shift in rhetoric coming from him, empty rhetoric as usual though. But the truth of the statement is absolutely backed up with so many real things it's not funny but I have to laugh anyway. That is what I was trying to suggest yesterday. Those capitalists. There time's a gonna come though..

turk wrote:Is it true or not? The fact Obama said it is telling of a shift in rhetoric coming from him, empty rhetoric as usual though. But the truth of the statement is absolutely backed up with so many real things it's not funny but I have to laugh anyway. That is what I was trying to suggest yesterday. Those capitalists. There time's a gonna come though..

A simple-minded donkey might not be able to grasp that what Obama spoke of is true, and what Ruckman101 spoke of is equally true.

The fact Obama said it is telling of a shift in rhetoric coming from him, empty rhetoric as usual though. But the truth of the statement is absolutely backed up with so many real things it's not funny but I have to laugh anyway

Then it is true. Thanks for informing me. I couldn't make that determination alone. I'm too stupid. It was my point earlier in the thread: that some things those capitalist westerners accomplished ain't too shabby. Simple minded donkeys can read, follow, synthesize, and summarize.

turk wrote: Simple minded donkeys can read, follow, synthesize, and summarize.

I thought you were an elephant, but apparently you are an ass.