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Messages - acrogimp

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61
Spin Zone / Re: Inconsistent pro-lifers
« on: March 22, 2018, 02:25:46 PM »
Quote from: bflynn on March 22, 2018, 01:28:20 PM
What I take from you not answering my pointed questions is that you don't want to acknowledge the implicit answers in the questions.  I don't believe that you are OK with a subset of society agreeing to kill some of it's members, but you can't figure out how to reconcile that with the belief that we must kill certain people.  The answer is simple, we should not be killing anyone. 

The nazi party was a subset of German society that agreed it was ok to kill some people.  They set up the rules for it, followed their rules and according to their rules, they were doing it the right way and to the right people.  Of course we condemn this, but we cannot condemn it for any reason other than killing people is wrong.  We do it all the same way, we just have much stricter rules and a lower body count.

Not getting anywhere close to the nazi party is one reason I reject capital punishment.
You are over simplifying everything. First, in the modern context of "pro-life", it generally refers to the abortion debate, unless otherwise stipulated up front. I understand what the meaning of "pro-life" is (both the modern context and yours), but context is important.

Acrogimp is spot on with his assessments of pro-life and capital punishment. Children are innocent; they have done absolutely nothing wrong and every unborn child is important, because every life is important. Every life holds value, which is why the death penalty is neither easy to receive nor be carried out. You cite the Declaration of Independence in your posts, which is interesting because the follow-on document was the Constitution, and specifically the Fifth Amendment which describes due process. Clearly the framers considered the value of life when they added that part in there.

If you want us to take into consideration your concept of "pro-life" then you must extend the same courtesy to others.

62
Spin Zone / Re: Hawking dead at 76.
« on: March 16, 2018, 11:49:19 AM »
I wonder if he found out that God does exist after all.

63
Spin Zone / Re: Hawking dead at 76.
« on: March 16, 2018, 11:26:44 AM »
Never liked his social positions, or claims on man made climate change, but he was a brilliant mind in other ways.  RIP. 

64
Spin Zone / Re: What are your thoughts on the tariffs...........
« on: March 07, 2018, 04:53:39 PM »
I’m a CPA and US tax guy, but I’m not an international tax expert.  I’m also not a macro economist, which is important to understand the importance tariffs have on international trade.

That being said, I’m not convinced either side has a handle on the net effect of tariffs. One thing I DON’T like is that it adds $$ to the fed. We ran the country just fine with tariffs before the income tax, but now it would be yet another tax.

I do think that they can be used as a hammer to correct inequities.  For example, I heard on this thread that Harley Davidson has a 100% tariff on motorcycles sold in India. Do we impose a 100% tariff on Mahindra  tractors in the US, usually priced lower than a comparable John Deere tractor?  If not, why not?  How do Harley Davidson and John Deere benefit from having disproportionate treatment between countries? 

65
Spin Zone / Re: N. Korea denuclearization talks!
« on: March 06, 2018, 10:01:54 AM »
The Norks will never in a billion years allow US state dept in to validate anything, specifically nuclear weapons controls. I seriously doubt they would let the south Koreans in either, but maybe a very limited guided and restricted 'tour' which is useless. The Norks will use this weakness as a means to some financial gains, without any capitulation in their actual nuke weapons processes. All smoke and mirrors. Don't fall for it.

66
Spin Zone / Re: On gun control.
« on: February 23, 2018, 10:11:36 AM »

67
Spin Zone / Re: The America we live in today
« on: February 11, 2018, 08:06:43 PM »
Quote from: Little Joe on February 11, 2018, 10:57:10 AM
I don't think it was a joke.  Satire maybe.
No, it wasn't funny.  It was painful because of the grains of truth throughout.

Who are you suggesting needs to respect whom?  Was it the guy building a snowman?

He didn't build that.  :P

68
Spin Zone / Re: Obviously He's smarter than the rest of us
« on: February 04, 2018, 06:53:00 PM »

69
Spin Zone / Re: Definitely a Racist
« on: January 16, 2018, 01:34:06 PM »
Quote from: Little Joe on January 16, 2018, 06:25:05 AM
Racism is still a problem in this country, but I really feel it is fading fast.  It may never go away completely, but it is nowhere near the problem it used to be and is diminishing.

That is, unless the real racists, like the one in the OP have their way.  Some people seem to have a vested interest in stoking the flames and keeping it alive.  And it isn't white people.
I believe that in the late 1990s / early 2000s we were as close to being a color blind society as we have been in my lifetime. MLK would have been pleased if he lived to see it.

Yet in the quest to sow strife and division in perfect Saul Alyndky style, in the past 10-15 years the left has started the embers of a race war.  And they continue to fan those embers at every chance, including making some big deal of Trump’s alleged “shithole” comment. They never fucking let up.

Of course there are racists. Always have been, always will be. Black and white alike. But there are places in this country that almost seem “post racial”, with blacks and whites living together in relative harmony. Ironically, that seems to be happening more in the former racial hotbeds such as Mississippi, Tennessee, and other southern states.

On the flip side, the most racially charged areas are currently in blue northern cities. Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and of course Detroit and Baltimore have places no smart white person would ever trespass.

It’s almost as if the liberal progressives want it this way.

70
Spin Zone / Re: Dimms planning on skipping State of the Union
« on: January 15, 2018, 09:20:25 AM »
The running narrative is that Trump is a racist. It is so commonly held in some circles that no one ever questions it.

The reality is that Maxine Waters and her cabal of followers are the real racists.

71
Spin Zone / Re: My newest "charity"
« on: January 09, 2018, 04:11:04 PM »
I’m a generous tipper. I don’t penalize the server if the food is bad and it’s the chef’s fault. But I do withhold anything more than 10% if I’m treated rudely.

72
Spin Zone / My newest "charity"
« on: January 09, 2018, 12:32:35 PM »
Each year my wife and I discuss our charitable contributions for the coming year; who and how much.

This year I am going to go about it differently.  We go out to eat quite a bit, and we travel as much as we can.  Everywhere we go we see hard working, friendly people that make very little money.  I usually tip these people rather generously already.  But instead of donating to organized charities this year, I am going to boost my tip amounts.  Many of those waiters, waitresses, FBO line guys, valets, etc are trying to raise kids and pay for education.  And while most of them are very hard working, they generally get very little respect.  I watched some asshole at a restaurant chew out the waitress for every little imagined failure or shortcoming until she was almost it tears and she was shaking when she came to my table.  I doubled my $20 tip to $40 on our $100 meal.  As we were leaving she followed us out to the car to offer it back as she was sure we made a mistake.  When I assured her it was for her, I could see the joy in her eyes.  It made both My wife and I as happy as it made her.

I'd much rather do this than give to the people standing on the street corner with cardboard signs asking for money while talking on their cell phones, or give to charities run by people driving a Mercedes.

I even give good tips to the rude service people (at least once or twice).  Who knows, maybe they are rude because they are broke and have just been stiffed, or they are late with their rent payment.

Try it; you'll like it!  And so will the hard working people that serve you.

73
Spin Zone / So, I'm watching TV last night, and on comes this impeach Trump commercial
« on: November 30, 2017, 04:30:49 PM »
Quote from: Steingar on November 30, 2017, 02:57:54 PM
The estate tax is the funny one.  The Founders put it in themselves, its old.  The reasoning was (at the time) that they didn't want landed aristocracies like the ones they left in England.  As it is the tax only hits a tiny minority of households.  But hey, bring on the Aristocracies!  After all, they all contribute to the Republican cause.
The Founders were around in 1916?  Damn, they aged well.

As for aristocracies, screw you. Who are you to say how much people should be able give to others? 

My widower father-in-law died 18 months after he retired in 1998. Back then the estate tax exemption was $625,000, with a top rate of 55%.

He was a professor in the college of education at an Illinois University.  His aristocratic estate included a debt-free ranch home on a quarter acre lot, two vehicles, modest life insurance, and a vested balance in the State University Retirement System.  The SURS amount was his defined contribution retirement plan. It was also income taxable to his heirs - my wife and her sister.

After massive income tax and estate tax on the sum of those assets, the girls received less than 50% of what he owned. Probably 45% after state income taxes. He made me executor. It was one of the most painful thing I’ve ever done.

I’ve had cash-poor clients have to sell their farm land or businesses just to pay the estate taxes. The estate tax is effectively a forced leveraged buyout of taxpayers assets.

The estate tax is immoral and is designed to enrich the government, not stop aristocracies.

74
Spin Zone / Re: Over/Under on Donna Brazile's future
« on: November 02, 2017, 06:56:51 PM »



Sent from my iPad . Squirrel!!

75
Spin Zone / Re: Another Snackbar Truck Attack, in NYC
« on: October 31, 2017, 03:17:36 PM »

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