The Goat Pen

Ahhh, Texas politics. Never fails to amaze, even when it comes to HOAs...

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/05/20/ ... hn-carona/

Bklyn wrote:

eCat wrote:Rand Paul today defending Apple at the tax hearing

SEN PAUL: I don’t know of anybody on this panel who tries to maximize their tax burden. I mean my question for Mr. Harvey : Do you take any deductions on your taxes?

MR. HARVEY: Obviously I do.

SEN PAUL: Do you choose to maximize your tax burden or minimize your tax burden?

MR. HARVEY: Uh minimize it.

SEN PAUL: Do you think you’re a bad person for doing that?

MR. HARVEY: Absolutely not."

The issue isn't doing whatever is legal to minimize your tax liability, the issue is whether the tax structure is screwed up to the point where corporations benefit from the government and regulatory structures existing here, but pay virtually no taxes that feed the government giving it its protection.

and grilling the CEO of Apple is going to fix it?

eCat wrote:heard one interview, guy said it was just like the movie "twister" - he saw horses being blown around in the sky.

Then l'm watching the news and there is these leveled neighborhoods and two horses just standing there in what used to be some guys yard.

yeah, I saw that guy. he had nothing left but his jeans and the mud on his face. the reporter was just asking how he was able to deal with such a disaster and the guy, clearly in some kind of shock, just looked at him. stupid fucking reporter. I mean, I like seeing images of destruction but these TV guys are just clueless at times.

did you see the local feed with the reporter who (lance somebody) who started sobbing midsentence and the harsh anchorlady kind of snapped at him to "get the information out"? then the hairdo dude beside her began to offer a disclaimer on how it's hard to not be affected emotionally by such carnage even for an Emmy Award-winning reporter like Lance.

I liked the lady who thought she had lost her dog, the reporter was trying to milk the emotion, asking the lady, "Do you even have a sense of what has happened, or are you just in shock?" and the lady was like "I know EXACTLY what happened. That's life in the big city." Those people are real, they know how to deal with nature and tragedy, they're not some Kardashian type of clowns whose only sense of tragedy is a bad pedicure...

that reporter reminded me of someone you know

Who?

eCat wrote: and grilling the CEO of Apple is going to fix it?

Shit, hell if I know. I just took the opportunity to get on my tax reform soapbox.

this is an example of where I break with Libertarians, and quite honestly I find the tea party, the gop, and whoever else supporting this some cold heartless bastards.

I heard where SNAP (new word for food stamps) is an $80b a year program with 42 million Americans currently enrolled. So our politicians decide this is too many people and too costly - so their solution? Cut that program as much they can as part of a farm subsidy reform.

My approach would be the same goal, but instead of cutting it, my approach would be to get people off of it by improving their income. I realize that is a much harder task but this is bullshit. Its an $80b a year program because politicians and banks fucked up our economy and now your solution is to starve the elderly and children because the economy hasn't turned around fast enough. All this money being spent on the poor is making you look bad to your constituents and the GOP politician I heard is talking about how food stamps are twice the size of the budget for homeland security , which just fucking infuriated me - like those goddamned Nazi's are a legitimate agency to begin with.

Even Ron Paul aligns with me on this. While he wants massive cuts to these agencies, he recognizes the dependency that is built into the system and social services that feed , educate and provide health care for the poor would be the last thing he cuts and he believes he wouldn't have to (or not nearly to the scale the head choppers want now) because his cuts to the military and bloated government would greatly reduce or eliminate deficit spending and the resulting deregulation of government and reduced tax burden would revilatize the economy to where we'd have significantly fewer people needing these services.

this is the tornado for the first 5 minutes of its life. the dude filming it didnt say a word the entire time but if I woere him I would have been soiling myself

http://hsrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AglOMXjmcO4A ... D_G2B8GJY-

cool video but I'm not sure I understand the logic in moving to multiple locations in the same parking lot

yeah--I think he thinks it might turn twords him but realizes its just slowly going away from him

Regards to Hedge's video:

The cynic in me couldn't help but think they had set that up (really, what are the chances?), but it just seemed too real and she didn't seem like the type of person to get on board with that sort of manufactured chicanery. Bless yor little heart!

You can hear the assistant whisper "oh my god" right after the woman says "That's life in the big city"...

I told my kids yesterday, "Great TV story but don't be surprised if it's fake. If the dog was stressed & heard people would he not bark?"

Another example of why austerity measures do not work...

http://www.economist.com/news/britain/2 ... doesntsell

I'm angry that the boy scouts are taking alot of shit for making the decision to allow gay boys to join.

I think people forget that scouting is about teaching young men about dedication to your country and developing a value system you carry for life.

Some boys may need that more than others.

it's been awhile.

"In order for you to get an injunction, those restraining orders, you had to convince a judge that you were in fear of your life, that you BFs or husbands were going to kill you. Right?"

you don't have to convince a judge that you are in fear of your life to get an injunction. Why did you lie to those women IB?

eCat wrote:I've decided, I think there should be a law that says if you are brought to trial - criminal or civil, that if you are accused and found innocent, all reasonable and merited attorney fees should be paid by the accuser - either the litigant or the prosecutor. I think the amount to be paid should be determined by an independent third party assigned by the state.

Several European countries do this. We have 3 times the attorneys here though. Plus, many of our lawsuits are based on contingency fees that put the lawyers money upfront. Loser pays will get rid of a lot of that, and make it more difficult on the poorer client.