Got a crazy forwarded political email from your family? Post them here.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Got a crazy forwarded political email from your family? Post them here.

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Harold Fjord: Jan 3, 2004

BRISTOL PALINS BABY posted:

It's always kind of funny reacquainting yourself with someone you had a lot of fun with at one point in your past, and then seeing something like that Fox News barf. You have to wonder how they seem to function rationally in so many other respects of their life and then just totally give up even processing something like that.

Saw that recently with an old highschool friend

Which made me want to just comment, "Yeah! America should be more like those awful barbaric countries that no one wants to live in! Perfect list of countries we should aspire to be more like."

Instead I just unfriended him.

This happened to me almost exactly, except it was my biological father and the topic was literally getting rid of 'those people'.

# ? Sep 12, 2011 06:31

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# ? May 25, 2024 21:08

ErIog: Jul 11, 2001

Nevvy Z posted:

This happened to me almost exactly, except it was my biological father and the topic was literally getting rid of 'those people'.

Hey "head in the sand about politics with the fam," buddy. My situation was like something out of an awful sitcom based on a twitter feed. My parents divorced when I was 12. My mother got custody. I was never very close with my father. It only took about 2 more years for me to realize my mother was loving insane, but I only saw my father once every two weeks. He's a real quiet guy in general.

My mom's nuttiness hit peak when I was home for summer vacation from college, and she banished me from her house. She also refused to hand over any of the child support money she had been receiving to pay for my living expenses that were instead going to her living expenses.

So at this point I just go straight to my dad and his new fiance. They get me through it, and I become a lot closer with them. This becomes a stronger bond over time until I quit a really poo poo job last February that forced me to move in with them. I had not realized the extent to which Fox News and conservative talk radio affected their life. My dad started to send me similar e-mails to what's in this thread. They love Sarah Palin. They went to an astro-turfed Tea Party rally. They hate acronyms. They don't watch any of that "liberal news media." They're not quite to Freep levels of crazy, but from time to time there is quite a bit of dog-whistling.

I had grown up in a very nice complete political vacuum that allowed me to be a staunch talk radio rear end in a top hat conservative from ages 12-17, then a libertarian for a few years, then a Democrat after that thanks to a girlfriend, and now finally a staunch progressive with anti-capitalist leanings thanks to this forum. I have stopped discussing politics with my parents. I love them to death, but I get too angry.

The funny thing is that my parents think I'm just going through a liberal phase that they think I'll grow out of when I get to be their age, but I know that there's no way I can. I know because I used to be like them when I first got into politics as a teenager through conservative talk radio. It was very easy to hold those political positions with no life experience. Then I went to college. Then I met lots more people. Then I started hanging out with a lot of lesbians, and then I did study abroad. None of the conservative mindset holds up to any real solid life experience because reality constantly conflicts with it. Reality does have a liberal bias, and if you consume enough of it you find it's catching.

So from my perspective it's really them who are in a kind of politically-motivated Peter Pan syndrome that's fueled by too much biblical literalism and just world fallacies. They haven't had enough life experience or grown up enough to realize that the things they think are wrong with the world aren't wrong with the world, and that making them more like they "ought" to be won't actually fix those problems because they don't exist.

# ? Sep 12, 2011 08:52

Strom Cuzewon: Jul 1, 2010

ErIog posted:

They hate acronyms.

Just when I thought this thread couldn't get any crazier. What's to hate about acronyms?

# ? Sep 12, 2011 09:32

Leospeare: Jun 27, 2003; I lack the ability to think of a creative title.

Strom Cuzewon posted:

Just when I thought this thread couldn't get any crazier. What's to hate about acronyms?

Gotta be because Fox is the only 24-hour news network that isn't one. Either that or just the alphabet soup of government agencies.

# ? Sep 12, 2011 10:18

Sarion: Dec 24, 2003

Leospeare posted:

Gotta be because Fox is the only 24-hour news network that isn't one. Either that or just the alphabet soup of government agencies.

And the ACLU, and the NAACP.

# ? Sep 12, 2011 12:04

Z-Magic: Feb 19, 2011; They talk about the people and the proletariat, I talk about the suckers and the mugs - it's the same thing. They have their five-year plans, so have I.

Sarion posted:

And the ACLU, and the NAACP.

FEMA death camps :tinfoil:

# ? Sep 12, 2011 12:53

York_M_Chan: Sep 11, 2003

ErIog posted:

The funny thing is that my parents think I'm just going through a liberal phase that they think I'll grow out of when I get to be their age, but I know that there's no way I can.

Did you get the bullshit "You're not a property owner so you don't understand" argument? "Just wait til you own a house and have to pay taxes! Then you'll be on our side."

My father-in-law was, well just like every talked about in this thread. He got esophageal cancer last year, which one of the contributing factors is acid bubbling up into the esophagus. I couldn't convince him that listening to Limbaugh and the like every day sent him into an angry rage that was causing his cancer. There is a reason that this cancer is mainly found in upper-middle-class white males. He listened to that garbage during chemo and up to the day he died. I still blame Limbaugh for his death. He also turned 65 during this time and promptly went on Medicare, seeing no irony in it at all.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 17:23

Vivian Darkbloom: Jul 14, 2004

quote:

FYI

Guess I won't be drinking Starbucks !!!!!!!

Recently Marines in Iraq wrote to Starbucks because they wanted to let them
know how much they liked their coffees and to request that they send some of
it to the troops there. Starbucks replied, telling the Marines thank you for
their support of their business, but that Starbucks does not support the
war, nor anyone in it, and that they would not send the troops their brand
of coffee.

So as not to offend Starbucks, maybe we should not support them by buying
any of their products! I feel we should get this out in the open. I know
this war might not be very popular with some folks, but that doesn't mean we
don't support the boys on the ground fighting ! street -to-street and
house-to-house.

If you feel the same as I do then pass this along, or you can discard it and
no one will ever know.

Thanks very much for your support... I know you'll all will be there again when I
deploy once more.

Semper Fidelis..
Sgt. Howard C. Wright
1st Force Recon Co
1st Plt PLT

PLEASE DON'T DELETE THIS . ALLOW IT TO BE PASSED TO ALL IN MEMORY OF ALL THE TROOPS WHO HAVE DIED SO THAT WE MAY HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE TO SUPPORT THEM OR NOT! ! !

Also, don't forget that when the Twin Trade Towers were hit the fire
fighters and rescue workers went to Starbucks because it was close by for
water for the survivors and workers and Starbucks charged them!

JUST A NOTE TO THIS; STARBUCKS HAD STORES ON SEVERAL MILITARY BASES IN THE UNITED STATES. THEY RE NOW BEING REMOVED BECAUSE OF THIS. GO GET 'EM AMERICA . STAND-UP FOR OURSELVES!

The disturbing part is that someone took the time to write a long diatribe about it instead of just spending a minute searching. No wonder Gmail thinks it's spam.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 20:35

jojoinnit: Dec 13, 2010; Strength and speed, that's why you're a special agent.

Also, don't forget that when the Twin Trade Towers were hit the fire

# ? Sep 13, 2011 20:42

Push El Burrito: May 9, 2006; Soiled Meat

Starbucks lost hundreds of customers in the 9/11 attacks you monsters.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 20:50

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

I just sent the starbucks president an electronic mail and he confirmed that story.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 20:54

Orange Devil: Oct 1, 2010; Wullie's reign cannae smother the flames o' equality!

Countblanc posted:

I just sent the starbucks president an electronic mail and he confirmed that story.

He added: "Muahahahahahahah Muahahahahahhaha aha ha ah"

# ? Sep 13, 2011 21:20

Absurd Alhazred: Mar 27, 2010; by Athanatos

York_M_Chan posted:

Did you get the bullshit "You're not a property owner so you don't understand" argument? "Just wait til you own a house and have to pay taxes! Then you'll be on our side."

That's some sound class analysis right there.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 21:40

Sarion: Dec 24, 2003

York_M_Chan posted:

Did you get the bullshit "You're not a property owner so you don't understand" argument? "Just wait til you own a house and have to pay taxes! Then you'll be on our side."

I own property and pay a variety of taxes. I think those taxes should be raised on me and people who make more than me. And I think the government needs to spend more money than it does in a number of areas.

Nope, still not on their side. Its kind of funny the way all liberals are welfare sucking lazy bums. And also over educated elitists.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 23:24

spankmeister: Jun 15, 2008

Starbucks president has a collection of 365 moustaches, so he can twirl a different one each day.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 23:25

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Thanks grandpa! :waycool:

silly gramps posted:

An old West Virginia Hillbilly saying:

You cannot get the water to clear up until

you get the pigs out of the creek.

*SOME OF YOU MAY APPRECIATE THIS

AND SOME OF YOU MAY NOT.*

*I DO NOT APOLOGIZE FOR SENDING THIS

BECAUSE OF IT'S TRUTH.*

ave

*If any other of our presidents had doubled the national debt,

which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one

year, would you have approved?*

*If any other of our presidents had then proposed to double the

debt again within 10 years, would you have approved? *

?*If any other of our presidents had criticized a state law that

he admitted he never even read, would you think that he is just

< span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; color: black; font-size: 18pt; ">an ignorant hot head? *

?*If any other of our presidents joined the country of Mexico and

sued a state in the United States to force that state to continue

to allow illegal immigration, would you question his patriotism and

wonder who's side he was on? *

*If any other of our presidents had pronounced the Marine Corps

like Marine Corpse, would you think him an idiot? *

*If any other of our presidents had put 87,000 workers out of work

by arbitrarily placing a moratorium on offshore oil drilling on companies< /span>

that
have one of the best safety records of any industry because one

foreign company had an accident, would you have agreed? *

?*If any other of our presidents had used a forged document as the

basis of the moratorium that would render 87000 American workers

unemployed would you support him? *

*If any other of our presidents had been the first President to need

a Teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference,

would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how inept he is

on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes? *

*If any other of our presidents had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars

to take his First Lady to a play in NYC, would you have approved? *

*If any other of our presidents had reduced your retirement plan holdings

of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM,

would you have approved? *

?*If any other of our presidents had made a joke at the expense of

the Special Olympics, would you have approved? *

*If any other of our presidents had given Gordon Brown a set of

inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown

had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would

you have approved? *

*If any other of our presidents had given the Queen of England an

iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought it a

proud moment for America ? *

*If any other of our presidents had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia

would you have approved? *

*If any other of our presidents had visited Austria and made reference

to the nonexistent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off

as a minor slip? *

*If any other of our presidents had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers

with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would

you have approved? *

*If any other of our presidents had stated that there were 57 states in

the United States , wouldn't you have had second thoughts about his capabilities? *

*If any other of our presidents would have flown all the way to Denmark

to make a five minute speech about how the Olympics would benefit him

walking out his front door in his home town, would you not have thought

he was a self-important, conceited, egotistical jerk. *

*If any other of our presidents had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer

to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the

5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again,

wouldn't you have winced in embarrassment? *

*If any other of our presidents had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go

plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?*

*If any other of our presidents' administrations had okayed Air Force One

flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown

Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether

they actually get what happened on 9-11? *

?*If any ot her of our presidents had failed to send relief aid to flood victims

throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in

New Orleans , would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue

with claims of racism and incompetence? *

*If any other of our presidents had created the position of 32 Czars who

report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is

happening in America , would you have ever approved. *

?*If any other of our presidents had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved? *

*So, tel l me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and

impressive? *

*Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He's done all this in 24 months --

so you have that much time to come up with an answer.*

*Every statement and action in this email is factual and directly attributable

to Barrack Hussein Obama. Every bumble is a matter of record and completely verifiable. *

AND NOW, HE ACTUALLY WANTS US TO RE-ELECT HIM.

HA! WAKE UP AMERICA 2012 IS UPON US.

*I WONDER HOW MANY OF YOU WILL FORWARD THIS ? *

*"All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."*

?*I have 6 question marks because I don't know the efficacy of these statements.

< /td>

< /o:p>

=

Its the hilarious formatting that makes this email, otherwise it'd just be the same old rehashed poo poo in a different package.

# ? Sep 13, 2011 23:37

Z-Magic: Feb 19, 2011; They talk about the people and the proletariat, I talk about the suckers and the mugs - it's the same thing. They have their five-year plans, so have I.

How are u posted:

If any other of our presidents had doubled the national debt,

which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one

year, would you have approved?

That depends, is he white or ~~a friend of the family~~ black?

# ? Sep 13, 2011 23:39

Sarion: Dec 24, 2003

Dear Grandpa,

You may want to be more careful forwarding emails that claim to be completely true and verifiable statements.

"Obama doubled the national debt his first year as president" - Verifiable facts:

Debt on the day Obama became President: $10.6 Trillion
Debt after one year of Obama as President: $12.3 Trillion
Increase: 16%

Not even close to the 100% increase in one year that the email claims. If they can't even get something as simple and as easy to verify as this correct why would you believe any of the other nonsense?

Your loving grandchild.

# ? Sep 14, 2011 00:50

wormil: Sep 12, 2002; Hulk will smoke you!

The stupid Dr. Pepper removed "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance thing is going around some of my family and friends on Facebook. I pointed out to several that it was a 10 year old myth but it didn't curb their enthusiasm for reposting or vowing to boycott them.

# ? Sep 14, 2011 02:41

RagnarokAngel: Oct 5, 2006; Black Magic Extraordinaire

I feel like the 10th anniversary of 9/11 is digging out a lot of early 2000s era emails from the graveyard.

# ? Sep 15, 2011 06:12

Handsome Ralph: Sep 3, 2004; Oh boy, posting!
That's where I'm a Viking!

Vivian Darkbloom posted:

Starbucks

I realize that the entire email is bullshit but I always get a laugh at whoever writes these tries to legitimize their argument by giving the "author" bullshit credentials. In this case, instead of A LAW STUDENT OR 88 YEARS OLD AND ASHAMED OF HIS/HER COUNTRY FOR THE FIRST TIME, we get this,

posted:

1st Force Recon Co
1st Plt PLT

Which is hilarious to me and I'm sure any other military types considering that doesn't make any sense. At all.

God I love this thread.

# ? Sep 15, 2011 17:49

XyloJW: Jul 23, 2007

Boondock Saint posted:

I realize that the entire email is bullshit but I always get a laugh at whoever writes these tries to legitimize their argument by giving the "author" bullshit credentials. In this case, instead of A LAW STUDENT OR 88 YEARS OLD AND ASHAMED OF HIS/HER COUNTRY FOR THE FIRST TIME, we get this,

Which is hilarious to me and I'm sure any other military types considering that doesn't make any sense. At all.

God I love this thread.

For some reason, I can't quote from snopes, but it turns out that that guy was contacted by Starbucks, and the explained that that's not true, and they persuaded him to send another email out that said "Sorry, I didn't know what I was talking about. Please pass this on." Needless to say, that one doesn't get circulated.

# ? Sep 15, 2011 18:44

myron cope: Apr 21, 2009

I saw this on Facebook, sorry if it's been posted before (how often does this thread go through repeats, every two or three pages?):

quote:

So, the US Supreme Court has ruled that you have the right to protest military funerals. I invite you to start your protest in my front yard, and we can see if your first Amendment right is better than my Second Amendment right. Re-post if you dare!!!

The Second Amendment: the one that says murder is ok

# ? Sep 15, 2011 20:11

JoshTheStampede: Sep 8, 2004; come at me bro

myron_cope posted:

I saw this on Facebook, sorry if it's been posted before (how often does this thread go through repeats, every two or three pages?):
The Second Amendment: the one that says murder is ok

Maybe he lives in Texas where it literally is legal to murder someone if they are standing on your lawn.

# ? Sep 15, 2011 20:20

Push El Burrito: May 9, 2006; Soiled Meat

Someone sent me the Professor and the Military Student earlier. I replied back with the Bear and Richard Dawkins. He hasn't sent me anything since

# ? Sep 15, 2011 20:20

JT Jag: Aug 30, 2009; #1 Jaguars Sunk Cost Fallacy-Haver

Dominion posted:

Maybe he lives in Texas where it literally is legal to murder someone if they are standing on your lawn.

Castle, Bridge, and Moat Doctrine

# ? Sep 15, 2011 20:23

Sock on a Fish: Jul 17, 2004; What if that thing I said?

THE GAYEST POSTER posted:

Bear and Richard Dawkins.

What's this?

# ? Sep 15, 2011 21:16

Push El Burrito: May 9, 2006; Soiled Meat

Sock on a Fish posted:

What's this?

quote:

A United States Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan . One of the courses had a professor who was a vowed atheist and a member of the ACLU.

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, �God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I�ll give you exactly 15 minutes.� The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop.

Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, �Here I am God. I�m still waiting.� It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and lifted up his arm to strike him.

At that moment the professor was transformed into a 7-foot grizzly, wreathed in a halo of holy fire. The bear spoke: "Blasphemer thou art, thou thinkst to take the place of God? Those who deny me face eternal fire, but you who knows my work and yet commits the sin of Satan I curse a hundred times over!" The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently picking at his boils. Then Richard Dawkins burst into the room, wielding a copy of The Selfish Gene and crying "Leave that boy alone, you pathetic atavism!" As the holy bear whirled around, terrible light flashing in its eyes, Dawkins shed his mortal form, raised each of his seven horned heads, and hissed. "It'ssss me you want!". And then the Lord and the Antichrist joined in the final battle.

The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence.

# ? Sep 15, 2011 21:19

Goatman Sacks: Apr 4, 2011; by FactsAreUseless

Dominion posted:

Maybe he lives in Texas where it literally is legal to murder someone if they are standing on your lawn.

Actually, it's even legal to murder someone if they're standing in your neighbor's lawn.

# ? Sep 15, 2011 21:53

Yehudis Basya: Jul 27, 2006; THE BEST HEADMISTRESS EVER

THE GAYEST POSTER posted:

A United States Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan . One of the courses had a professor who was a vowed atheist and a member of the ACLU.

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, �God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I�ll give you exactly 15 minutes.� The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop.

Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, �Here I am God. I�m still waiting.� It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and lifted up his arm to strike him.

At that moment the professor was transformed into a 7-foot grizzly, wreathed in a halo of holy fire. The bear spoke: "Blasphemer thou art, thou thinkst to take the place of God? Those who deny me face eternal fire, but you who knows my work and yet commits the sin of Satan I curse a hundred times over!" The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently picking at his boils. Then Richard Dawkins burst into the room, wielding a copy of The Selfish Gene and crying "Leave that boy alone, you pathetic atavism!" As the holy bear whirled around, terrible light flashing in its eyes, Dawkins shed his mortal form, raised each of his seven horned heads, and hissed. "It'ssss me you want!". And then the Lord and the Antichrist joined in the final battle.

The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence.

If somehow Einstein and "welcome to the republican party" and maybe someone screaming "semper fi" were also involved in this edit of the marine story, this would be perfect.

My family stopped sending me crazy forwards, now they just send me links to awful editorial pieces. It's like this thread and the terrible editorial thread have merged into one cesspool of conservative poo poo in my inbox.

# ? Sep 16, 2011 00:59

ts12: Jul 24, 2007

Yehudis Basya posted:

If somehow Einstein and "welcome to the republican party" and maybe someone screaming "semper fi" were also involved in this edit of the marine story, this would be perfect.

My family stopped sending me crazy forwards, now they just send me links to awful editorial pieces. It's like this thread and the terrible editorial thread have merged into one cesspool of conservative poo poo in my inbox.

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all that evolution had created.

"What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!", he said to himself. As he was walking along the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. When he turned to see what the cause was, he saw a 7-foot grizzly charging right towards him. He ran as fast as he could. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing, He ran even faster, crying in fear. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. His heart was pounding and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up, but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him.

At that moment, the Atheist cried out "Oh my God!...." Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. Even the river stopped moving.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky, "You deny my existence for all of these years; teach others I don''''t exist; and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"

The atheist looked directly into the light "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You to treat me as Christian now, but perhaps could you make the bear a Christian?" "Very well," said the voice.

Suddenly, the bear shed its fur, gained 300 pounds, and donned an ill-fitting sweatsuit. It could no longer walk properly because of the extra weight, so God provided it with a Rascal.

The bear revved the tiny engine and approached the horrified atheist. "THIS IS ARE COUNTRY," it screeched as the Rascal slowly moved over the atheist and crushed him.

# ? Sep 16, 2011 01:04

ApathyGifted: Aug 30, 2004; Tomorrow?

ts12 posted:

The bear revved the tiny engine and approached the horrified atheist. "THIS IS ARE COUNTRY," it screeched as the Rascal slowly moved over the atheist and crushed him.

There's isn't a LAW STUDENT or a U.S. MARINE in there, it'll never fly.

# ? Sep 16, 2011 04:28

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

Then the entire forest burst into spontaneous applause.

# ? Sep 16, 2011 07:36

Sarion: Dec 24, 2003

And then an old white man walked out of the woods. He walked up to bear-Christian and said, "Welcome to the Republican Party."

And that man was Ronald Reagan.

# ? Sep 16, 2011 12:16

Opinion Haver: Apr 9, 2007

You can't quote those without posting the link to the LF thread (that I sadly don't have) that those came from.

# ? Sep 16, 2011 12:34

NatasDog: Feb 9, 2009

I guess I kind of 'won' a facebook debate yesterday, or at least the guy didn't bother posting any kind of rebuttal. I got kind of :words:

y, but I enjoyed it; hopefully you guys do too.

quote:

OP: What she did for us with the credit card companies would be enough to get my vote.

Elizabeth Warren for Massachusetts
elizabethwarren.com
Elizabeth Warren is running for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts! Watch her announcement video now, and let's join her fight for middle class families. http://www.elizabethwarren.com/announcement

Guy1:Flat tax....GE has hundreds of accountants that find every loop hole out there..and if you have seen the size of the tax code, you know there are many...What GE does is absolutely legal. And there is no incentive for them to build plants here, hire here and pay tax's here..so they make sure they don;t...and the CEO of GE was talking about how the rich should pay more..well no citizen would have to pay more if our tax code was changed..The CEO has an obligation to his share holders..If he does not make them profits, he loses his job..So they weigh the cost of 300 lawyers, and CPA's to find every way possible to not pay tax's. Obviously, they calculate that its cheaper to pay all those guys, then it is to pay the present corporate rates..Patriotism has nothing to do with it..A usage tax or flat or a combination is fair, and would help the middle class. It does not however allow for lobbyists to do their thing..YOu would also take the corruption right out of it..and its rampant..just makes too much sense to ever get through DC.. Lawyers love these convoluted, and totally impossible to understand rules..and regs..they love it to be so complicated that you have to hire.......LAWYERS...to figure it out..and as long as the government is run by mostly lawyers, it will never stop..they would not cut off their source of funds ever..Litigation is everything..we sure got so off track and who gets screwed...??

Guy2:what did she do about credit card companies???

OP:Really nothing to the big banks- turns out that what we have known since the turn of the century 1900's that is- they are still too powerful, but at least an 'effort' to stop cheating the users with a mountain of paperwork. A little better than W's raising the minimum payment from $10 to $20.

NatasDog:If you've never heard her speak, you should really check out some of the footage online; youtube has a ton of it. She has a way of making of some of these overly complex financial issues easily understood. Unfortunately, I can't see her mustering the kind of support needed to win a seat in the senate. Hopefully voters there are disillusioned enough with Brown to vote her in.

Guy2:I may be biased, living at the home of Bank of America, but I think banks are getting a raw deal, PR-wise. Typically, when 2 people agree to a contract, and one breaches their part of the agreement, the one who breached is held accountable. Somehow, in the mortgage and credit card industries, the party who upheld their end of the bargain is being demonized. I don't get it. The problem with more and more gov't regulations is that, no matter how good the intention, they muck up the free-market system by raising the price of doing business(which is passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices and fewer options) and create the environment where companies must hire lobbyists to try to persuade the politicians to leave them alone. Not to mention chasing jobs out of the USA. The cure is too often far worse than the problem. The beauty of free-market capitalism is, the consumer ultimately has all the power. Companies who don't treat their customers well will go out of business(unless the gov't stifles competition, ie: public utilities, etc). That is far more effective than the current system of regulation overload and lobbyists buying off the gov't to attain special treatment. I accept responsibility for any agreement or contract I enter in to, and don't want or need some bureaucrat to decide the parameters for me. That being said, I was against the bailouts from the beginning. But the majority of the blame for them should go to the politicians who gave away our money.

NatasDog:I think you're seriously misrepresenting Elizabeth Warren's positions if you're trying to conflate her with your murky definition of 'the government', Guy2. Whether you want to admit it or not, the contracts being pushed by credit card companies are/were overly complex, and people acted in good faith on agreements that they had no hope of understanding. Does that make them partially to blame? Sure, I don't think anyone would argue with you there.

However, pretending that the financial sector is blameless is pretty myopic if you ask me. In fact, being that the ones writing the contracts hold the fancy finance and/or law degrees, they should be held to a higher standard if and when they write a deliberately obfuscated agreement and then their borrower fails to notice any of the pitfalls they overlooked.

People only have one avenue of recourse when it comes to dealing with what amounts to an unfair business practice, and that's calling for legislation. Is all legislation good? Not by any means. But that doesn't mean we should just burn it all down and hope that everything works itself out in the end. Public utilities are a terrible example because some of the worst abuses I've seen in the past couple decades were once solvent public utilities that were then privatized, just take a look at Enron. In fact, I'd prefer that more 'public good' type services were taken in house. The problem with letting the market handle things is that it dilutes the individual's power of 1 man, 1 vote and shifts it to the stock market based 1 dollar, 1 vote model where those with the deepest pockets are capable of basically drowning out the average Joe's voice. The current system is surely flawed, but it's far better than just praying in the wisdom of the free market to work things out in my opinion.

I'm speaking as someone who navigated the recent recession and came out pretty far ahead, but I can look back and see how if I had made any of a number of missteps along the way I wasn't very far from sharing the fate that many of my fellow Americans are dealing with right this moment. It's for them that I speak, not my own selfish interests. If I were a less compassionate individual I'd join in the conservative mantra of "gently caress you, got mine" and pretend my good fortune was due to my cunning and amazing foresight instead of mostly just blind luck. However, the steady erosion of the middle class over the last 3 decades has taught me that I'm not really as smart as I like to think I am, I'm just more lucky than most. The fact that many of us are so willing to blame the victim and pretend they're not being manipulated by forces that have deliberately stacked the deck in their favor is disturbing to me; it's like we'd rather have a race to the bottom instead of collaborating to make life better for everyone.

Guy3:NatasDog laying down truth bombs yet again. It's a shame she couldn't get a recess appointment due to the GoP not letting the Senate break. I hope she can find some position to help the people, be it the Senate or elsewhere.

OP:WOW! Good conversation. It wasn't that many years ago that 30% was usury and only loan sharks could demand it. When we talk about the erosion of the middle class we forget that four decades ago 'a' bread winner was enough, three decades ago '2' were necessary, and when that wasn't enough credit became the way to keep afloat. It is no coincidence that about that time credit card companies began to convince us how easy it was to spend, spend, spend. The quest to find someone to blame is always successful. Maybe we are just a gullible nation or maybe we can't say 'no' to the children we leave alone while we work or maybe it will take 50 years for trickle down to work. To be honest, I don't have the answer and I don't believe there is any 1 person who does; as a nation we have to do some real soul searching.

I thought about responding to FLAT TAX guy too, but I figured I'd wait to see if he tried to jump into the discussion.

# ? Sep 16, 2011 15:07

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

NatasDog posted:

I guess I kind of 'won' a facebook debate yesterday, or at least the guy didn't bother posting any kind of rebuttal. I got kind of y, but I enjoyed it; hopefully you guys do too.

I thought about responding to FLAT TAX guy too, but I figured I'd wait to see if he tried to jump into the discussion.

Yeah, he might have been referring (and I doubt it) to a corporate flat tax, which is stupid but not as outright evil as changing it all over to a personal flat tax. Best not to assume till he outs his views in full. Good response, too.

# ? Sep 16, 2011 16:21

ts12: Jul 24, 2007

yaoi prophet posted:

You can't quote those without posting the link to the LF thread (that I sadly don't have) that those came from.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2870098&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1

There you go.

# ? Sep 16, 2011 16:23

Typhoon Jim: Sep 20, 2004; space moo

ErIog posted:

I had grown up in a very nice complete political vacuum that allowed me to be a staunch talk radio rear end in a top hat conservative from ages 12-17, then a libertarian for a few years, then a Democrat after that thanks to a girlfriend, and now finally a staunch progressive with anti-capitalist leanings thanks to this forum. I have stopped discussing politics with my parents. I love them to death, but I get too angry.

I used to be a big old conservative when I was a kid- my relatives would get me Rush Limbaugh books, and I listened to the Ollie North show on the radio (it was always hilarious how he'd talk about the "Special Persecutor". Learn to delete your email next time, Ollie.) It's really an easier ideology to have as a kid- it doesn't ask anything particularly difficult of you.

# ? Sep 16, 2011 16:59

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# ? May 25, 2024 21:08

Zero_Grade: Mar 18, 2004; Darktider 🖤🌊

~Neck Angels~

THE GAYEST POSTER posted:

Someone sent me the Professor and the Military Student earlier. I replied back with the Bear and Richard Dawkins. He hasn't sent me anything since

Haha, that's awesome, although it almost loses a bit without the bear-in-the-forest email as well (I bet the sender has seen that one too however). Still, owns.

# ? Sep 16, 2011 18:05

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Got a crazy forwarded political email from your family? Post them here.

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