Un F'ing Believable. Like there aren't more important things to tackle.
Len
"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water." ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674
Posted Wed Aug 3, 2011, 6:17pm Subject: Re: Our Government Hard At Work Doing The Important Things
I can't think of a better example of government waste than to read that article. We certainly have a bunch of lunatics running things in this country, thats for sure.
Len
"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water." ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674
calblacksmith Moderator Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 5,685 Location: Riverside, Ca, U.S.A. Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: ECM Veneziano A1 Grinder: Many different commercial Vac Pot: 40s era Silex Drip: Milita, Bunn&Curtis... Roaster: Cast iron pan, gas burner
Posted Thu Aug 4, 2011, 9:57am Subject: Re: Our Government Hard At Work Doing The Important Things
Been that way for years. The list is long and full of folly and waste but they still need to borrow half again more than they take in to keep things going... amazing
In real life, my name is Wayne P.
Feed the newbs, starve the trolls and above all enjoy what you drink!
Posted Thu Aug 4, 2011, 11:50am Subject: Re: Our Government Hard At Work Doing The Important Things
calblacksmith Said:
Been that way for years. The list is long and full of folly and waste but they still need to borrow half again more than they take in to keep things going... amazing
The way I see the balance sheet of the U.S. is that we have a net worth of NEGATIVE 14 Trillion Dollars. Ethiopia probably has a higher net worth than us.
In the 50's if you were to visit a cafe in the U.S. 95% of everything around you would have been Made in the U.S., the rest in Italy (the espresso machine). Today you visit a Starbucks and 95% of everything is Made in China. The espresso machine ...????
Terrible inefficiencies involved here. No real capital formation; all just an illusion of wealth.
Lne
"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water." ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674
Yes, indeed - that's the nature of a populist democracy: those doing the governing are drawn from the same pool of lunatics that we are all part of. Presumably we have the constitution to protect us from ourselves. :)
The sad thing is that if we required those going into public service to actually have good reasoning and critical thinking skills, (1) we'd have slim pickings, (2) we couldn't pay them enough, and (3) they'd be either driven insane by corporate lobbyists or become corrupted by same. So we have to settle for the people who have the (corporate) money and political machine to convince us to vote for them because they are the least unpleasant of any number of unpleasant choices.
I have for a long time advocated for a "None of the above" choice on ballots. If None of the above gets the highest percentage, we pick a new slate of candidates and start over. :) :)
Dana Leighton - Espresso hack and CoffeeGeek moderator
Posted Thu Aug 4, 2011, 2:55pm Subject: Re: Our Government Hard At Work Doing The Important Things
dana_leighton Said:
Yes, indeed - that's the nature of a populist democracy: those doing the governing are drawn from the same pool of lunatics that we are all part of. Presumably we have the constitution to protect us from ourselves. :)
The sad thing is that if we required those going into public service to actually have good reasoning and critical thinking skills, (1) we'd have slim pickings, (2) we couldn't pay them enough, and (3) they'd be either driven insane by corporate lobbyists or become corrupted by same. So we have to settle for the people who have the (corporate) money and political machine to convince us to vote for them because they are the least unpleasant of any number of unpleasant choices.
I have for a long time advocated for a "None of the above" choice on ballots. If None of the above gets the highest percentage, we pick a new slate of candidates and start over. :) :)
I like that "none of the above" thing. That is a smart idea. And this "winning by plurality" of the votes cast just plain stinks too. Gotta be a majority. A majority of the 15% of the whole population that is eligible to vote that actually votes, LOL.
Len
"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water." ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674
joshuamurphy75 Senior Member Joined: 2 Jun 2009 Posts: 50 Location: Palmview/Mcallen/Edinburg/Weslaco Texas Expertise: Professional
Posted Thu Aug 4, 2011, 10:38pm Subject: Re: Our Government Hard At Work Doing The Important Things
I am not pleased with what they are doing, but I don't let myself get upset about it. I usually send a few emails to the people representing my district a week. If the bill is really bad, I send the sponsors an email too. At least they know that I am watching them.
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