The "Panama Papers"

Should we all start printing our own money, look like only the select few pocketing all that cash? Originally Posted by HSLWB

get back in your hole, mole you are about to be whacked again

Thanks, will do! (Easy task; life's good.)

Your existence is undoubtedly filled with happiness and pleasure as well, for that Kool-Aid you FairTax cult followers sit around swilling every night is some mightily intoxicating stuff, to be sure.

Enjoy!
. Originally Posted by CaptainMidnight

My life is indeed filled with happiness and pleasure. None of it is related to the FairTax. My life does not revolve around political and policy issues. Since I got out of the law and tax biz, I've been able to focus on what's truly important. I just got back from a visit with my grandkids. Try to get under my skin. Ain't going to happen. Amerika is not a free country. Part of that is our oppressive and corrupt tax system, which you support. I've accepted the fate of my once great country. I'm at peace. I'm not going to disturb that peace by getting into a drawn out attack fest with people who refuse to listen or even consider alternative proposals. So go ahead. Feel superior. It's obviously important to you. But I know what I've seen, what I've experienced and what I've read. You know what you've read. Fine. Enjoy yourself.


I come here for fun. You are not fun. It could have been fun, but you refused. Fine. No worries.
Good Day!

Amerika is not a free country. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

It's spelled America. As in the United States of America. Only people who hate our country spell it with a k.

It's spelled America. As in the United States of America. Only people who hate our country spell it with a k. Originally Posted by lustylad

Yeah, he's been spelling it that way for years, along with prattling from time to time about all the FEMA concentration camps supposedly being set up to throw people into in the event that they they dare to speak out against our repressive police state. It's surprising that he hasn't yet emigrated from this dystopian hellhole.

No wonder he likes to assuage his depression late at night with all that intoxicating FairTax Kool-Aid. I just hope he doesn't endanger his fellow Wichitans by driving after getting plastered on that stuff!
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It's spelled America. As in the United States of America. Only people who hate our country spell it with a k. Originally Posted by lustylad

With all due respect, I think that there are other interpretations. I use that spelling as a non-violent protest against the oppressive tendencies of our government which is restricting our freedoms at an alarming rate.

COG and I don't agree on much, other than WTF is a misogynist, Assup and Ekim008 are losers, and Amerika needs to be much more free.

When we have true freedom, I will go back to spelling it your way.

Once again, with all due respect kind sir.

I don't hate America. I hate what she's becoming. I hate what the government is doing to take away our unalienable rights. I hate the invasion of privacy. I hate the ability to detain people, citizens, indefinitely without due process. I hate out of control spending. I hate wars for profit. I hate a confiscatory and incomprehensible tax system. And I don't care a whole hell of a lot for ignorant (not stupid) smart asses like LL and Captain Midnight who continue to shill for the status quo and refuse to see that there is something terribly wrong in this country, and refuse to educate themselves.

America as a land of the free, home of the brave, promoting individual liberty and personal responsibility is no more. She has been supplanted by Amerika, a police state tyranny hiding in her shadow and preparing to make its entrance. In America, the people have the power. In Amerika, the banksters and corporatists control the government. If you're naive enough to believe that you truly have a voice in what happens or who gets elected, you are uneducated and delusional.

House unanimously passes Email Privacy Act, requiring warrants for obtaining emails

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed H.R. 699, the Email Privacy Act, sending it on to the Senate and from there, hopefully anyhow, to the President. The yeas were swift and unanimous.

The bill, which was introduced in the House early last year and quickly found bipartisan support, updates the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, closing a loophole that allowed emails and other communications to be obtained without a warrant. It’s actually a good law, even if it is arriving a couple of decades late. (source)

,

, Originally Posted by I B Hankering

Worth celebrating.

I don't hate America. I hate what she's becoming. I hate what the government is doing to take away our unalienable rights. I hate the invasion of privacy. I hate the ability to detain people, citizens, indefinitely without due process. I hate out of control spending. I hate wars for profit. I hate a confiscatory and incomprehensible tax system. And I don't care a whole hell of a lot for ignorant (not stupid) smart asses like LL and Captain Midnight who continue to shill for the status quo and refuse to see that there is something terribly wrong in this country, and refuse to educate themselves.

America as a land of the free, home of the brave, promoting individual liberty and personal responsibility is no more. She has been supplanted by Amerika, a police state tyranny hiding in her shadow and preparing to make its entrance. In America, the people have the power. In Amerika, the banksters and corporatists control the government. If you're naive enough to believe that you truly have a voice in what happens or who gets elected, you are uneducated and delusional. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Ah yes, those evil “banksters and corporatists”. They pull all the strings, don't they? They're the ones who control the government, not the people.

So why did those powerful “banksters” fuck themselves by allowing the government to pass the Dodd Frank Act? Can you explain that, COG? No, you can't!

And why do those manipulative “banksters” keep rolling over and shitting nickels every time Obama's DOJ files another bogus lawsuit shaking them down for billions more in fines and “settlements”? Can you explain that, COG? No, you can't!

And why couldn't those self-serving “corporatists” get Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline? Can you explain that, COG? No, you can't!

And why didn't the all-controlling “corporatists” stop Obama from bankrupting the coal industry and destroying the livelihoods of thousands of workers in Appalachia? Can you explain that, COG? No, you can't!

And why can't those demon “corporatists” get anyone to lower the US corporate tax rate – the highest in the industrialized world – if they're so effective in getting their way? Can you explain that, COG? No, you can't!

I could go on, but most people get the point by now.

Too bad the real world doesn't conform to your all-purpose conspiracy theories, COG. But don't let that bother you. It's much easier to cling to phony simplistic slogans than it is to deal with any facts that contradict them. And it's much more fun to play the hero who stands up for liberty and the people against “Amerika” and some nascent “police state tyranny”. Your ego requires it. It's part of the self-image you need to guard at all costs, no matter how divorced from reality it is.

You refuse to understand. Sad. Have a nice weekend!

Lesson #1: How to save face in a debate that you're afraid is going down the tubes for you.

Suppose that you've stupidly overreached more than just a bit by telling a couple of people you've exchanged posts with that they're clueless captives of the mainstream media, ignorant smartasses, naive, uneducated, and delusional.

One of them responds with this perfectly apt observation:

Too bad the real world doesn't conform to your all-purpose conspiracy theories, COG. But don't let that bother you. It's much easier to cling to phony simplistic slogans than it is to deal with any facts that contradict them. And it's much more fun to play the hero who stands up for liberty and the people against “Amerika” and some nascent “police state tyranny”. Your ego requires it. It's part of the self-image you need to guard at all costs, no matter how divorced from reality it is. Originally Posted by lustylad

And then challenges you to back up your previous assertions with some sort of cogent, reasoned argument:

Can you explain that, COG? No, you can't! Originally Posted by lustylad

(x5!)

Uh-oh! To the untrained eye, it might look like our esteemed debate coach has painted himself into a corner and embarrassed himself. But not to worry -- he has an artful and creative riposte at the ready:

You refuse to understand. Sad. Have a nice weekend! Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Very impressive, indeed. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a wonderful lesson in how to distinguish yourself in a debate!
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My life is indeed filled with happiness and pleasure. None of it is related to the FairTax. Then why are you so obsessed with it, and why do you go apoplectic when anyone challenges all the ridiculously false claims made by its cult-like supporters? My life does not revolve around political and policy issues. Since I got out of the law and tax biz, I've been able to focus on what's truly important. Good grief! How in the world could you have possibly been in the "tax biz" and manage to learn nothing at all about taxation? That just boggles the mind! I just got back from a visit with my grandkids. Try to get under my skin. Ain't going to happen. Amerika is not a free country. Part of that is our oppressive and corrupt tax system, which you support. I do? Please point to any statement I've made that may reasonably be interpreted as explicit or implicit "support" of our present tax system. (You can't, of course, so you won't.) I've accepted the fate of my once great country. I'm at peace. I'm not going to disturb that peace by getting into a drawn out attack fest with people who refuse to listen or even consider alternative proposals. Uh, if you don't like "attack fests," then why did you unload on me with such vitriol in those earlier FairTax threads? So go ahead. Feel superior. It's obviously important to you. But I know what I've seen, what I've experienced and what I've read. (Read? LOL! Where? You never say where you come up with all this insane BS!) You know what you've read. Fine. Enjoy yourself.


I come here for fun. You are not fun. It could have been fun, but you refused. Fine. No worries.

Ah, OK. Got it now! You think I'm "not fun." (Gee, whatever will I do?)

But that's understandable -- I suppose that I, too, would not have much fun if I went around continually and falsely characterizing someone else's posts as "bullshit," and then have to punt every time when called upon to say why, since I had no understanding of the topic under discussion. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Your antics were getting tiresome three years ago, and they certainly aren't improving with age. I don't know whether you're just preternaturally incapable of comprehending and learning, or whether you're simply acting like an obnoxious jackwagon because it's "fun" in your book. But it's simply astonishing that you're still parroting all this ridiculous nonsense. You act like a zealous, brainwashed cult member every time you tout the FairTax. Pay attention for once. I explained and debunked the "embedded taxes" bullshit in that long discussion we had in 2013, as well as more recently, and in a clear enough fashion that any reasonably sentient middle-school kid should have been able to understand. But I know you don't want to just take my word for it, so engage your brain and figure it out for yourself. It isn't difficult. Then it should be obvious to you that the 22% number is nothing more than made-up bullshit.

Most people consider it perfectly OK to claim that someone's statement is "bullshit" IFF (If and only if!) you can back up your assertion with a credible link or rebuttal. (If you can't, you'll obviously just look like a clueless jackass.)

Here's what may be the funniest thing of all. Although you continually excoriate others for buying into the narratives served up by the mainstream media, you accept as gospel a bunch of ridiculously laughable bullshit peddled by an attention-seeking radio talk show host and his acolytes.

Oh, the irony!
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I'm not "obsessed" with the FairTax. You made that up. You're more obsessed with disproving than I am with proving it. I've asked about alternatives, but you only reply with how bad the FairTax is. You said you don't like the income tax. What would you replace it with, if you could? We both know that the income tax will never be replaced, but you have a peculiar venom against the FairTax. Why? Do you have any alternatives? We don't have to be practical. In a perfect world, what is the best way to finance government, if we exclude the income tax? That's all I'm after.

So let's debate the FairTax. I will post something. You will go to the MSM, and find someone who hates it. I'll respond. You'll do the same. It won't end, and neither of us will be convinced. That's not fun for me. I'm not going to get involved. I've explained why I support the FairTax. I've also explained I'm also interested in alternatives. I'm hardly obsessed.


If you want to fight about the FairTax, find someone else. I've got other things I'd rather do. If you have an alternative, now that might be interesting.

I'm not "obsessed" with the FairTax. You made that up. Wrong. You're the one who makes stuff up. (See [1] below.) You're more obsessed with disproving than I am with proving it. I've asked about alternatives, but you only reply with how bad the FairTax is. (See [2] below.) You said you don't like the income tax. What would you replace it with, if you could? We both know that the income tax will never be replaced, but you have a peculiar venom against the FairTax. Why? Do you have any alternatives? We don't have to be practical. In a perfect world, what is the best way to finance government, if we exclude the income tax? That's all I'm after. (See [3] below.)

So let's debate the FairTax. I will post something. You will go to the MSM, and find someone who hates it. (See [4] below.) I'll respond. You'll do the same. It won't end, and neither of us will be convinced. That's not fun for me. (See [5] below.) I'm not going to get involved. I've explained why I support the FairTax. I've also explained I'm also interested in alternatives. I'm hardly obsessed.


If you want to fight about the FairTax, find someone else. I've got other things I'd rather do. (See [6] below.) If you have an alternative, now that might be interesting. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

1) Including the Sandbox (before the Political Forum was created) you must have started at least dozen threads on the FairTax over the last five years. In the first one in which I participated, you began attacking and insulting me, ad nauseam, as soon as I disputed -- in a perfectly civil manner -- some of the FairTax website's claims. I've never seen anyone demonstrate such extreme umbrage when responding to reasoned criticism of a pet plan that he's infatuated with. You approach this with the fervor of a religious nutcase or cult member. And all the while, you never make the slightest effort to learn anything about the topic. Anyone can see that you act like a brainwashed cult-follower who's been vaccinated against fact-based arguments and reason. You must be the most annoyingly and persistently obtuse person in this whole forum.

2) Mainly, I just got tired of all your insults and obstinacy. Although we've gone through this multiple times, you still persist in labeling what I post "bullshit" while refusing to spend even so much as a keystroke trying to explain why. For starters, you've obviously never even made the most rudimentary attempt to understand this 23% "embedded taxes" stuff. Still, even in this thread, you've persisted in claiming that you can add on a 30% sales tax, yet the price of goods and services won't go up since you eliminate a like amount of taxes previously "embedded" in the price. Just go back and look at posts 41-45. If you don't know by now that those claims are nothing more than rank bullshit, I'm afraid there's little hope for you. Come on. You can't say that sort of stuff in a policy debate without getting laughed out of the room. By the way, do you even have any idea how Boortz and his acolytes came up with that 23% number? (I bet you don't.) Further, do you know anything about the stone wall a few Republican house members' staffers ran into back in 2005 when they tried to advance debate on this topic? Do you have any idea what "analysis" they proposed trying to sneak through "in the middle of the night," so to speak? (I bet you have no idea.)

3) Haven't we gone through all this before? Look, I think everyone in this forum gets that you're the closest thing around here to a doctrinaire minarchist who would like to get rid of every government function save for a court system, emergency responders such as police and fire departments, and a bare-bones military sufficient only to defend our borders and shorelines from direct invasion. If that's all government did, we could pay for it with just a few relatively minuscule excise taxes or import tariffs, like in the 19th century. The notion that we could finance today's government with taxation limited to that on consumption isn't taken seriously by any credible economist.

4) For the umpteenth time, try to put a lid on the obtuseness. When did I "go to the MSM" in order to bolster my arguments. Oh, that's right! I didn't, did I? Start paying attention, for a change. Trying to have a discussion with you is like talking to a cross between a petulant child and a brick wall.

5) Of course it's not "fun" for you. I challenged you to travel outside your comfort zone and construct some sort of argument that would convince an uninformed or undecided reader that you may have a point. But you can't, so you won't. You just whine, deflect, dodge, ignore, insult, or create strawmen.

So, here is a challenge for you, if in fact you are actually interested in thinking independently or learning about this topic. Go read post 47 again:

http://www.eccie.net/showpost.php?p=...7&postcount=47

This time, try to make an effort to understand it. You think everything I've posted about this topic is "bullshit," as you so elegantly noted in that recent Rand Paul thread. I challenge you to dispute anything I wrote and to back it up with a cogent argument. Go ahead. demonstrate that you can actually engage in intelligent debate. (If you can.)

6) You have other things you'd rather do, you say? Of course you do! You're incomparably better at slinging childish barbs than you are at understanding or learning anything about economics, finance, or taxation. The sort of thread that contains nothing more than 4th grade-style insults is a much happier place for you. You probably should refrain from venturing outside such safe zones.

Look, I like to debate issues with people who actually try to understand my arguments, and are capable of disagreeing but responding in a cogent fashion without crying "bullshit" while demonstrating ignorance of the topic under discussion, or launching a fusillade of insults. It can be enjoyable and informative. But here's where you and I differ: If I encounter a topic about which I know very little, I enjoy reading and learning about it. (Other people's "debate preferences" may vary, obviously.)

I think we should all be lifelong students. That's why it's sad to see a middle-aged or older person with such a closed mind.
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Look, I think everyone in this forum gets that you're the closest thing around here to a doctrinaire minarchist... Originally Posted by CaptainMidnight

Hey, what's that word again? I know what a monarchist is. I know what an anarchist is. But wtf is a minarchist?

Never mind, I looked it up in the MSM...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minarchism


I'm not sure if that word captures all of COG's essence.... shouldn't we say he is an anti-bankster, anti-corporatist, conspiracy-weaving minarchist?