DebateGate

The birthers are like the liberals todays thier actions only have to reverse effect and refuse to believe it. Notice how trump ended that topic it simply had no benefit

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Obama did not begin most of these programs. Some had their beginnings before Bush - in fact, some have been plodding along for decades. But they took off after 9/11 under Bush, when Americans clamored for security at all costs and were willing to trade their freedoms for it. Remember the Patriot Act everyone wanted to 'protect' them? Those of us who tried to warn against it then were shouted down and ignored.

I worked at the National Security Agency in the late 70's and early 80's. I had a pretty good perspective what their monitoring capabilities were then, and with a tech background it wasn't difficult to see what was coming if it wasn't kept in check. It wasn't. As personal computers, cell phones, 'smart' phones and 'smart' technology has grown, so has the government's ability to use our own tech to gather information - on us. And if they can, so can anyone else with the tech skills, and inevitably, if anyone can, someone will.

Now, here's what may be hard for some to swallow - Obama, nor anyone at DOJ, FBI, CIA, whatever, needed to order any kind of taps or monitoring. If telephones, emails, any sort of electronic transmission at all was used, more than likely the recording was automatic. All that was required was someone to dig up the relevant data (from the vast amount collected each day on everyone) and leak it. Anyone with access might have done it, and that number runs into the thousands of NSA, CIA or other government employees or contractors. Remember Snowden? So you, or Trump, can yell 'Obama' all you want, but you are overlooking the much greater possibility - and danger - it was someone else.

i think occupy are abit more aggressive

. it was this forum that i learn people think asians only got to college due to affirmative action not from hard work .

I like kosher food and my mom think gefelte fish is a very fancy version of dish we call fish paste.

My opinion on debt has changed in the past few years... due, in no small part, to being in debt.

For a long time, yeah, that debt felt like sin. Those red numbers were a failing on my part, they represented insufficient work ethic and gluttonous indulgence and poor planning. Sure, I was making the required minimum monthly payments on my credit card, but I had a negative balance and I was bleeding away interest with every passing month. How irresponsible, how stupid, how low-class of me!

But, as I've come to learn, most humans on this rock have a negative balance of some sort. Many of the "richest" people you see are actually thousands (if not millions) in the hole, when you total everything up. Being rich isn't about the total amount of money you have. It's about what you can do.

Am I in the red? Yes I am. But if I lost my dayjob and somehow Patreon was outlawed tomorrow, I know I could keep the lights on and keep food on the table for a few months while I looked for a new employer. I feel financially secure, and that feeling of security allows me to do more things.

And y'know what? A lot of that feeling of security is due to being Canadian. I know if I get laid off or if I have a heart attack, the government's got my back. I feel wealthy because I live in a rich nation. I've often said that the wealth of a society is determined not only by the height of the ceiling, but by the depth of the floor. A few nice, cushy, overlapping social security nets promote risk-taking - new ventures, new businesses, new jobs. This comic right here is living proof.

Of course, I also feel that the average person having a negative net worth is unsustainable; a symptom of the decay of late-stage capitalism... but hopefully we can scare up some bread to offset that particular cumulative burn.



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...too far of a reach with that metaphor?