The Al Realpolitik Institute of Sulfur Mining & Extraction

[Antonio the Sixth]

It's entirely unsurprising that the Nazis came to power in Germany and not some other country.

Do you try to be an asshole or does it just come naturally?

[Antonio the Sixth]

This is an incredibly dumb choice.

This is a wormyguy poll.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Well, if you put Murray Rothbard at one end and Karl Marx at the other, it's fairly obvious which side of center the Nazis come down on.

Really, being an idiot ought to be a bannable offense.

[Antonio the Sixth]

More from the same thread as Gustaf's.

If Romney wins in 2012, he will be reelected in 2016. All presidents who defeated an incumbent have gone on to serve full terms.  In 2020, the youngest "50's kids" would be 61--pretty old to be president.  

Carter? Benjamin Harrison?

Carter isn't a good example, he was running against Nixon's ghost, not Ford.  As for Benjamin Harrison, I am referring to only post-WWII elections.

Here's another relationship that will blow your mind - no President with a "J" in his name has ever served two full terms.

Well, I am only referring to the post-Jacksonian era. Jackson and the five preceding Presidents were all Js, and four of them including Jackson himself served two full terms. But ever since, the letter has been cursed.

And in case you cite William Jefferson Clinton - I'm only referring to first and last names.

Pretty epic piece of laugh. Props to Nichelm.

[Antonio the Sixth]

#absurd

You seem to have attempted to use a hashtag. Hashtags do not work there. You may be looking for Twitter.

Xahar wants to be the new Al soooo badly you can almost see it.

I don't see the relationship, given that Xaviar is much funnier than Al, who is merely funny because of his pomposity.  We laugh with our dear Xagar, but as for the unfortunate gnome of the mine-shaft, one laughs (perhaps a little guiltily given his handicaps) at him.

Clever people often get laughed at by buffoons like you.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I read it and honestly, for wormy's standards didn't find it that stupid.

Not saying a lot, of course.

[Antonio the Sixth]

America is a republic and not a democracy. There are limits on power. The majority doesn't always rule.

This idiotic distinction between "republic" and "democracy" is an exclusively American thing. It also unfortunately shows that you don't know the meaning of the words.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Of course not. It's not a holiday in the US.

Labor Day is May 1st.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I take it then that you do not support Rick Perry for the Republican nomination.

It's as well known as "The sky is blue" on this forum who Phil supports for president. It's not Perry.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Hehe, officepark reported the above post, but not the actual source quote. 

So you refuse to contribute anything useful, eh?

Is there a contest for the most mediocre poster or something going on?

Look at the username, dude.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Hehe, officepark reported the above post, but not the actual source quote. 

So you refuse to contribute anything useful, eh?

Is there a contest for the most mediocre poster or something going on?

Look at the username, dude.

Ah, crap. That's what happens when you simultaneously try to sh**t, shower and shave, study for a quiz, and get your ass out of the house before 7.

No offense.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The question this Sunday (Oct 2nd) is whether Cain will be the political talk within churches...examples:

Pastor [to congregation]:  I don't have much hope for this country.  This country is in moral and financial decay.  America has become a debtor nation owned by China.  If we don't elect someone with some moral common sense, someone like Herman Cain...

And of course, who could forget these nuggets:

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And, of course, this:

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And who could forget this!

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[Antonio the Sixth]

Joe has five dollars and spends five dollars.  Bob has five dollars and spends four dollars.  Bob has infinity more wealth than Joe.  This is not a problem.

That analogy is so unrepresentative and mind-numbingly idiotic it's impossible to really even begin to refute it. It's kind of better just to let its inanity and illogic stand on its own.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The wheel turns, does it not?

Yes, a wheel does turn. Very good! I'm proud of you. It is such a rewarding experience watching kids discover how things work in the real world. To be young and curious. Those were the days.

Beautiful.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm really curious why the disagree people disagree with the quote. It seems pretty sound to me.

Even if its assumptions were true, it obviously is using circular logic.  Of course, its assumptions aren't true, the hypothetical individual could simply start their own farm on unoccupied land and grow enough food to eat.  That is problematic in the US since the state has declared itself the owner of all unoccupied land, but you can see that's still circular logic.  In fact, land isn't even required, modern hydroponic technology is more than sufficient to produce enough food for a person on a very small footprint, but then you get the Feds knocking on your door because they think you're growing dope.  Again, circular logic.  And all of this is without even considering the fact that there's no such thing as "Obama's stash," for the state to giveth it must taketh away in higher quantities since it has to pay all its precious "administrators" at a higher priority than the supposedly highest-priority, supposedly otherwise starving people.

But, of course, Leafy here is so brilliant he must've figured all that out beforehand.

Uhh are libertarians really this far off in the loony land?

I am opposed to law, which is the opposite of civilization. -Wormyguy

[Antonio the Sixth]

Spade makes much more sense when he doesn't call people f****ts.

And no, I don't really care about a fetus' life, honestly. Yes, I think a fetus is a living being, but not a self-aware human being. As long as it doesn't even feel pain, I don't really mind killing it. Of course killing a living being is always a bad thing, but don't we kill animals to eat them, or to make scientific experiences ? Yes, a fetus is a life, but not yet a human being. It deserves some dignity, but not the same we give to full human beings.

And what of the severely mentally handicapped? Are they full human beings? And if they aren't, then should they have less rights than the rest of us? And to what place does that lead us?

I think in general that it's better not to philosophise too much over issues like this. Better to accept the necessity of imperfect and necessarily contradictory compromise.

Depending on how you define "full human being" I would say no.  Frankly we shouldn't pour valuable resources into keeping the severely mentally handicapped alive while entire families are having their homes foreclosed on and being tossed out into the street.  Our priorities in America are completely nonsensical.  I've seen severely mentally handicapped people that don't move, don't speak, who can't even feed themselves be admitted to the hospital time after time and have all kinds of interventions done to prolong their lives.  All at the tax payers expense.  If I were to have severe dementia and a stroke I wouldn't want people to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to prolong my "life."

The hundreds of thousands of dollar that were used to prolong the "life" of Terri Schiavo were a complete waste.

Frankly I think all Down syndrome babies should be aborted.

Depending on how you define "full human being" I would say no.  Frankly we shouldn't pour valuable resources into keeping the blacks alive while entire families are having their homes foreclosed on and being tossed out into the street.  Our priorities in America are completely nonsensical.  I've seen black people that don't move, don't speak, who can't even feed themselves be given taxpayer money time after time and have all kinds of interventions done to prolong their lives.  All at the tax payers expense.  If I were to waste money on sneakers and blow, I wouldn't want people to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to prolong my "life."

The hundreds of thousands of dollar that were used to prolong the "life" of a black like Linda Taylor were a complete waste.

Frankly I think all black babies should be aborted.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I don't see how anyone can interpret him as actually saying there should be more terrorist attacks. He's merely making a point which is probably correct - if you deal with a problem too effectively people will stop considering it a problem.

Yeah, after a problem is gone people actually tend to care about different problems. It happens. Gingrich should deal with that reality.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Got to love that liberal "tolerance."

That's "tolerance" I guess.

Here's the difference: Liberals are happily tolerant of people with different faiths, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, etc. Few leftists (outside conservative's imaginary strawmen) are tolerant of a$#holes.

[Antonio the Sixth]

It's the Soviet Union, people.

Congratulations, Mint gets a prize!

(Well not really, because I told him).

Clearly the problems with the Soviet Union were not the absence of any sort of democracy or the total lack of basic freedoms or the arbitrary judicial system or the failure of the system to fulfill the promises that it made. No, the problem with the Soviet Union was that it promised free healthcare and generous pensions.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Wormyguy fails once again.

I hardly think Attlee was judge, jury and prosecutor in this trial you know.

... and he wasn't Prime Minister either.

[Antonio the Sixth]

So much for Osbourne's spending cuts stimulating the British economy.

Because that recipe worked sooooo well everywhere else.

And so well during the Great Depression.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I am just mystified by the pervasive anti-tax sentiment in the United States.  Compared to individuals in other countries, we are taxed very lightly, and in places with lower marginal rates for businesses in corporations, governments often recoup the revenue through high VATs, which cut into demand anyway.  And even with the nominally high marginal rates for businesses and wealthy individuals here, there are so many forms of deduction, loopholes and shelters that most pay nowhere near the nominal rate in the end.  Some very, very great fortunes were made by companies in the U.S. during decades with nominal marginal rates considerably higher than they are now.  And still, so many talk about taxes in the U.S. as if they were the eleventh plague that lays waste to the whole land or something.  And this ridiculous rhetoric of taxes constituting a form of punishment for amassing wealth, good grief.  How about we throw in with the rest of your startup costs the price of creating your own infrastructure, plus hiring a private police force and emergency services to provide various forms of protection of your property, plus hiring a permanent force of instructors to educate high-skilled employees you might need, and so on?  I can understand complaining about things like government waste, overspending, spending priorities, lack of accountability, debt and so on.  But, having lived and spent considerable amounts of time in other parts of the world with high standards of living, where people pay far higher taxes than exist here, it really makes me feel like those who complain bitterly about rates in the U.S. really need to go back to mommy for a diaper change quickly--and that includes people in both the upper and middle-classes, by the way.  Taxes here are not too high across the board, they are too low, across the board.  "But, no!!--we're fighting a war or two, the country is awash in debt, our infrastructure is collapsing, our education system is in crisis, we're doing nothing to control health care cost inflation--but give me a bigger tax cut, dammit!"  Our grandparents and great-grandparents were so much better citizens than we are that even comparing ourselves with them insults their memory.  If our generation had to fight WWII, we would have been routed in ten weeks.  

This might be one of the greatest posts ever made since I joined the forum.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Let's correct the mistake. This belongs in here.

No, and shut up.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Don't assume, remember the Reichstag Fire.

WTF? Obama's going to use the killing of a cat to assume dictatorial powers. Sure.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm not concerned about the very poor, and neither are most Americans.  They give money to charities, in the hope that it helps the few who have encountered tragedy in their lives.  The rest?  Largely responsible for their own situation.

Americans are for lifting up the deserving and helping those who face difficulties.  People who suck at life?  They can drown.

There's a word for people like you. First syllable of 'country', in case you'd not guessed. I think in your case we can extend it somewhat; perhaps by adding 'obnoxious' in front of it. Perhaps things could be done with words like 'scum' and 'reprobate', and I suppose a case exists for the use of 'depraved'.

I didn't know c*nt is pronounced that way.