Nekulor wrote:I'm simply saying, I don't want to support the lower levels of society, nor do I feel the need to. They can support themselves. If I'm capable of success, and they aren't dead or disabled, then they should also be capable of it. However, certain niches ultimately need to be fulfilled in every society, and certain people are just going to be poor.
I never realized being poor was a niche market
You make it sound like someone would actually choose to be poor when in fact circumstance plays the greatest role. Heck, anybody can be homeless in a hurry if circumstance caused them to miss just a couple of mortgage payments. People born below the poverty line tend to stay below it and kids born into wealthy families tend to stay above it.
We can't all be rich and successful, because it would undermine the fundamental values of an economic system. If you want to argue that there are not fundamental niches in each society, then you truly failed to pay attention in sociology and economics, because even in the totally "equal" communism, there is a disparity in power.
Your point is what? What you’re talking about is relativity, that's all. What's considered poor in one country is considered rich in another though your previous posts suggest poor people are that way because their just lazy or something and need to be dealt with.
The only "remedy" to this is communism, and I'd die before I see this country EVER take that bane upon the world that is communism as an economic strategy. Communism encourages laziness and lack of work ethic. People should be rewarded for hard work. A rocket scientist should not be paid the same as a garbage disposal worker.
Funny. I've heard many white collar people see Unions in the same light. Besides, Communism only ever worked on paper because it never took into account human desire to improve quality of life.
Now back on topic. To clarify my view on torture in a few points:
1.) Torture is bad. I never said it was great, good or fun. Torture is evil.
Torture is also illegal. Re-defining what "Torture" is doesn't change that and re-naming captives under another name to deny basic human rights is the kind of stuff the US once fought against.
2.) Torture is, in extreme cases, a necessary evil. In the event that public safety and human rights come in conflict, I go with the general good every time.
Utter bullshit. Stop watching 24 and go talk to someone who's taken Escape and Evasion classes. Sleep deprivation and stress positions will usually break someone in 72 hours or less and even then, most if not all the intel gleaned will be whatever the interrogators’ want to hear, just to end it. Now think of the thousands of "captives" in the US network of secret prisons conveniently located in ex-Warsaw Pact countries that have been tortured for years now. Think any of it is "actionable intelligence"??
3.) Gitmo needs to be overhauled. So do many of our other prison facilities.
They need to be closed because the PR damage the US is doing to itself far outweigh any gains.
4.) Ultimately, I do not care about the well being of foreign insurgents. They give me no reason to care about them. They hate me, they want me dead, and they will blow themselves up to see that happen. They spit on my nation's flag, they burn my nation's flag, and I've had it up to here with international peace organizations telling us we need to play nice with these people! They throw Geneva in our faces weekly, but they don't do it to other nations.
You seem to believe that everyone gathered up and placed in these prisons actually deserve to be there. Fact is, most are there because the US pays good money for anyone handed over and rivals get each other picked up to gain power. The Washington Post had a great article on the "market" for insurgents last year.
5.)I've lost faith in the current administration. Rudy Giuliani in 2008. Either him or Fred Thompson. Both are moderate conservatives. The current administration panders to big buisness and spends like a bunch of liberals. We need true domestic, economic and foreign policy conservatives or a very moderate democrat to fix the mess Bush will leave us with.
That mess is going to haunt the US for at least a generation. Besides, Giuliani doesn't stand a chance. Michael Bloomberg is the Republicans best chance so I expect him to run, mainly because the other options are laughable.
Kate
"We had gone in search of the American dream. It had been a lame f*ckaround. A waste of time. There was no point in looking back. F*ck no, not today thank you kindly. My heart was filled with joy. I felt like a monster reincarnation of Horatio Alger. A man on the move... and just sick enough to be totally confident." -- Raoul Duke.
