Humor Random Comments Thread

[SolarLiner]

Yeah. A two party system is not the best. You can't align your views truly. There's no such thing as a full-on Republican or Democratic. Everyone will have diverging views on some matters but converging ones on others. Even if the questions are binary, everyone will pretty much have a different view on the 'Grand Scheme of Things'. This is why, in France, there are several parties. They're defined as Left or Right still, but differ in ways that suits an electoral group better than an other.

 

[Urwumpe]

Yeah. A two party system is not the best. You can't align your views truly. There's no such thing as a full-on Republican or Democratic. Everyone will have diverging views on some matters but converging ones on others. Even if the questions are binary, everyone will pretty much have a different view on the 'Grand Scheme of Things'. This is why, in France, there are several parties. They're defined as Left or Right still, but differ in ways that suits an electoral group better than an other.

I generally think that parties are no longer the best way to do politics.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

I generally think that parties are no longer the best way to do politics.

I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. What alternatives can you envision?

I think there is a certain problem in politics similar to that of a biologist tasked with organizing organisms. There are "lumpers" that tend to want to combine everything into certain groups, and "splitters" that tend to observe the fine gradations and subdivide accordingly.

The lumpers have held sway in U.S. politics for a long time. There are technically many political parties in the U.S., but practically you are Republican, Democrat, maybe Independent, and everyone else gets dismissed as wack-jobs with no chance of winning. These "wack-jobs" might actually have excellent ideas and have very reasonable politics, but they don't align themselves under R or D and so fall through the cracks.

Even Bernie Sanders - he's a democratic socialist, where the Democratic Party (tm) is really more centrist. He (and the democratic socialists) know that they have better a better chance of being heard if they align with the Democratic Party and define their left position.

I suppose the same is true with the Republicans - look at the range of political views in that rabble of candidates, yet all are running under the Republican banner. Practically they are different parties, but for pragmatic reasons simply all label themselves Republican. They love calling each other RINOs (Republicans In Name Only), which is true, because they all define being Republican in different ways.

 

[Urwumpe]

I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. What alternatives can you envision?

Generally, I think it should be about which values you want to see for a position. Not just finished solutions or always vote for every tiny law. I have no good solution yet, but I like what the LiquidDemocracy concept does in the few counties in which it was experimentally tested.

It is essentially about that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delegative_democracy

Not sure if it also works for big issues, which are way more complex than you can easily put into a few words because the time scale exceeds what can easily be grasped. But essentially, it must be about involvement. Because if the people want to be involved, you should make it easy, not tell them to wait until you are done with the big donors of your party.

But we get into Basement territory there.

---------- Post added at 11:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 AM ----------

My new toy arrived

Now my eternally drilling and hammering neighbor can has no other option but listen while my guitar gently weeps.

 

[Loru]

Seriously IRS? $1.20 ??

I have no idea what to do with it.

 

[Urwumpe]

Seriously IRS? $1.20 ??

I have no idea what to do with it.

I would say, you can really drive the IRS nuts this year, by demanding $1.20 back from your US income tax as Polish citizen because it was way below the tax exempt amount.

 

[kamaz]

Seriously IRS? $1.20 ??

I have no idea what to do with it.

Report on Polish tax form (witholding tax = podatek u źródła) http://www.pit.pl/dochody-zagraniczne/

Without this form Poland wants you to pay 18% tax on your US-source income. With this you just have to pay difference in case the tax due in Poland would be larger than the tax paid in US.

---------- Post added at 12:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 PM ----------

Meanwhile in Poland:

(it's actually a monument to this guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakub_Wejher )

 

[Urwumpe]

Playing "Star Spangled Banner" loud, distorted and dirty : CHECK! :headbang:

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Meanwhile in Poland:

Click this bar to view the full image.

(it's actually a monument to this guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakub_Wejher )

I find your lack of tax withholding disturbing:

 

[C3PO]

[/COLOR]My new toy arrived

Now my eternally drilling and hammering neighbor can has no other option but listen while my guitar gently weeps.

I got that one as soon as it was released. Bloody brilliant!!! Best buy so far.

I've got the StageSource L2t to go with it. No more combos!!! Next will be a L2m for a stereo pair. L6 LINK network ftw!!! :RnR1:

 

[Urwumpe]

I've got the StageSource L2t to go with it. No more combos!!! Next will be a L2m for a stereo pair. L6 LINK network ftw!!! :RnR1:

Is it really that good with the L6 link? I did not yet find good comparisons to compare. But the sound is really good with the POD, I really enjoy it.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Seriously IRS? $1.20 ??

I have no idea what to do with it.

Welcome to the madness that is the Infernal Revenue Service. :dry:

 

[mojoey]

I'm convinced that CPAs and tax preparers are practicioners of the dark arts.

 

[tl8]

I'm convinced that CPAs and tax preparers are practicioners of the dark arts.

My sister is an accountant. If the ATO (Australian Tax Office) doesn't give her the answer she wants, she just hangs up and tries again.

I think that works because the ATO staff can make a ruling. My understanding is that the IRS doesn't have the authority to make a ruling.

That said, I have had software development called a dark art before...

 

[Linguofreak]

That feeling when the family member that infects the family computer with the first virus in years is not your sometimes-reckless brother, nor your technophobic mother, but your father, who programs for a living and knows better. :-/

 

[Artlav]

who programs for a living and knows better. :-/

Oddly enough, it's the carpenter with 30 years of experience who is more likely to ignore all safety rules and get his head's convexity altered with a 2x4.

 

[Urwumpe]

Oddly enough, it's the carpenter with 30 years of experience who is more likely to ignore all safety rules and get his head's convexity altered with a 2x4.

Like the old saying: There are no greater fools than old fools.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

My understanding is that the IRS doesn't have the authority to make a ruling.

The IRS merely implements the Byzantine tax laws put forth by our congress. Frankly I think the IRS does an amazing job considering the mess they have to deal with. They have actually caught errors in my tax filings that lead to my getting significant refunds (I failed to take a deduction that I was not aware of).

I'd like to see the tax laws simplified and the IRS shrink as a government entity, but the blame for that doesn't sit with the IRS.

 

[SolarLiner]

Obligatory Last Week Tonight episode:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn_Zln_4pA8&"]Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: The IRS (HBO) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Urwumpe]

Congratulations to the German handball national handball team for winning the European Championship in Poland.

Highly surprising here, many players made a debut in the national team for this tournament (16), so it was very hard to predict how much is really possible. And especially an epic performance of the goal keeper Alex Wolff.