The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

[5mn_Major]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

As a point of clarification, I often answer questions on my positions with sources. But when I provide that answer, I will rarely answer yet another question if my questions are ignored.

That's the one I meant. Where there's the alleged regular hail of bullets during rush hour that must be somehow gotten through.

Oh...this one.

Woman shot and killed by police on I-394
citypages.com

Interstate 394 was the site of a shooting incident this afternoon that left an armed woman dead, though details of what led to her shooting are not yet public. Just after 1:00 p.m., a Golden Valley cop pulled over a woman near the Hopkins Crossroads on I-394 near the Hopkins Crossroad. The woman, who was in possession of a handgun, was shot and killed by the officer who'd pulled her over.
________

Its good to see your so familiar with the area. I'd ask you to hang out after dark at Penn & Plymouth, a few blocks north of 394, and give your (or your next of kin's) assessment of the area.

 

[Rover]

I love how you assume that every GOP person in Congress is fiscally conservative. I bet most of them aren't.

Lets dispense with labels for a moment. I will say this: I think almost every GOP person in Congress is dedicated to tax cuts for the wealthy and/or corporations above all other considerations, including deficit reduction. I've got a slew of bills passed by them backing that up, some of which were enacted into law during the Bush II debacle, I mean administration.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

I don't give a shiat that you think sales taxes are great. I strenuously disagree, as would the founder of modern capitalism, Adam Smith. But it's tough to hold a serious coversation when you refuse to agree to basic definitions of economic terms. Why bother at that point? It's like trying to discuss algebra with someone who thinks 2+2=5.

I will admit, it is tough to hold a serious coversation [sic] with someone who doesn't understand what a flat tax is.

 

[unofan]

I will admit, it is tough to hold a serious coversation [sic] with someone who doesn't understand what a flat tax is.

So sayeth the one who cannot grasp the relatively simple concept that a nominally flat sales tax has an inherently regressive impact in the real world.

 

[5mn_Major]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

So Sandy passed the Senate 62-36 for $50B anyways. Don't know that the GOP will get any slack for passing this as they put up so much resistance...or for putting up so much resistance as they helped pass it.

 

[geezer]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

Woman shot and killed by police on I-394
citypages.com

Interstate 394 was the site of a shooting incident this afternoon that left an armed woman dead, though details of what led to her shooting are not yet public. Just after 1:00 p.m., a Golden Valley cop pulled over a woman near the Hopkins Crossroads on I-394 near the Hopkins Crossroad. The woman, who was in possession of a handgun, was shot and killed by the officer who'd pulled her over.
________

Its good to see your so familiar with the area. I'd ask you to hang out after dark at Penn & Plymouth, a few blocks north of 394, and give your (or your next of kin's) assessment of the area.

I'm sorry, that's terrible. I know I shouldn't make jokes about gun violence, it'll come back to bite me some day. But, noted: I'll steer clear of that neighborhood.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

I'm sorry, that's terrible. I know I shouldn't make jokes about gun violence, it'll come back to bite me some day. But, noted: I'll steer clear of that neighborhood.

Um, I don't think I'd ever feel remotely in danger in the 394-Hopkins Crossroads Area. The biggest danger there are hockey moms driving SUV's and talking on their cell phones at the same time.

 

[walrus]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

So Sandy passed the Senate 62-36 for $50B anyways. Don't know that the GOP will get any slack for passing this as they put up so much resistance...or for putting up so much resistance as they helped pass it.

Was it still in the same form, couple bucks for Sandy victims, the rest ridiculous pork?

 

[Bill]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

Inflation is the most insidious regressive tax, yet that is the method the politicians in Washington will likely use to try and pay off the country's debt.

 

[mookie1995]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

unofan covered it. Sales taxes are regressive as in the poor/lower income/etc feel the effects of them a lot more than the wealthy. Look, if that's the way you want it that's fine. All we're doing then is discussing semantics. I happen to disagree strongly with tax schemes such as this but again, its a plan and in Herm's case the guy was pretty straightforward as to where his priorties lay (simplicity over progressive taxation). If you feel that way, embrace it. I personally look forward to this discussion if conservative leaders in Congress make this their official view, complete with a bill or two passed out of the House to codify the idea.

how about a flat tax (income)
with a wealth tax (like my MA excise tax... you have a $$$$ house? four of 'em?? get out the checkbook)
and a 100% death tax. you want to pass on your wealth, give it away. you die, it pays down the national debt.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

how about a flat tax (income)
with a wealth tax (like my MA excise tax... you have a $$$$ house? four of 'em?? get out the checkbook)
and a 100% death tax. you want to pass on your wealth, give it away. you die, it pays down the national debt.

The change to the inheritance tax has already gone WAY to far. We're in a situation, in my family, where if my grandpa were to pass away, my dad would have to sell off a farm, a farm that my family has been working for 100 years, just to pay the excessive taxes on the other farms he'd inherit. It is highway robbery. ****ing piece of **** Obama.

 

[mookie1995]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

The change to the inheritance tax has already gone WAY to far. We're in a situation, in my family, where if my grandpa were to pass away, my dad would have to sell off a farm, a farm that my family has been working for 100 years, just to pay the excessive taxes on the other farms he'd inherit. It is highway robbery. ****ing piece of **** Obama.

turn it into a corporation and give the shares to the family.

 

[unofan]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

The change to the inheritance tax has already gone WAY to far. We're in a situation, in my family, where if my grandpa were to pass away, my dad would have to sell off a farm, a farm that my family has been working for 100 years, just to pay the excessive taxes on the other farms he'd inherit. It is highway robbery. ****ing piece of **** Obama.

I'd like to feel sorry for you, but it's tough when realizing that simply means you're sitting on god knows how much money in land for that to even be an issue.

 

[mookie1995]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

I'd like to feel sorry for you, but it's tough when realizing that simply means you're sitting on god knows how much money in land for that to even be an issue.

you do realize that one has to work the land to get money out of it? there isn't a ticket oak growing out there


(dems are so funny sometimes... first rover thinking that breaking a gun law would keep gangs off the streets now this )

 

[joecct]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

turn it into a corporation and give the shares to the family.

That's the way to go (I'd look @ an LLC). But, like dynasty trusts, they'll probably get zapped by the revenuers some time in the future.

 

[Old Pio]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

# of innocents dead due to gun violence is the same as # acceptable due to workplace accidents, which is zero. However, how many is acceptable is not the same thing as how many can you reasonably hope to prevent. That # will never go down to zero.

Regarding your other questions, I'm always in favor of robust law enforcement. I'm more familiar with the Boston situation than NYC (although both are widely credited to the same person, Bill Bratton). However, in Boston active policing did the trick. Gangs were being sent up wholesale on racketeering charges and the like instead of waiting for them to murder people. Cops were in the neighborhoods keeping an eye on things. All crime, not just major crime, was being cracked down on. This was helped in no small measure to federal support, particularly the COPS program mind you and a change in policing tactics as you mentioned.

I'm all for the death penalty also although as a matter of justice. I don't think for a minute it reduces crime or again Texas would be the safest state in the union, followed by CA and FL.

But to get back to guns, simply put buying and selling deadly weaponry needs to be done out in the open (figuratively speaking). If you're not up to no good, I'm not sure what the problem is. Will that reduce all crime? No. But implementing that and a more complete effort to enforce existing background check info is in fact the way to go, and its relatively painless. If all cars have to be registered, I'm not sure why guns get an exemption.

Assault weapons bans are a lesser point for me. Its really the background checks I'm after.

It will come as a shock to everyone here that you regard Texas and California as comparable in enforcing the death penalty. Since the modern era of executions began (following the Gregg decision) with the execution of Charlie Brooks in '82, Texas has executed 492 inmates (#493 is scheduled for tomorrow) . During the same period, California has executed 13! There's a huge difference between actually executing a piece of sh*t, and merely sentencing him to death with very little chance he'll actually pay the price. And every dang execution in California is such a big freakin' deal. Witness the hullabaloo surrounding "Tookie" Williams, who after all wrote a children's book on death row and only killed four (or was it 5?) people.

In Texas, and to a lesser extent Florida, when they sentence you to death they're fixin' to come get you. And the sooner the better. Among the big states, I'd imagine Texas is the safest, although an active death chamber would only be part of the mix. While lower murder rates cannot and should not be attributed only to the death penalty, neither should vigorous application of that penalty be ignored as a factor.

 

[joecct]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

It will come as a shock to everyone here that you regard Texas and California as comparable in enforcing the death penalty. Since the modern era of executions began (following the Furman decision) with the execution of Charlie Brooks, Texas has executed 492 inmates (#493 is scheduled for tonight) . During the same period, California has executed 13! There's a huge difference between actually executing a piece of sh*t, and merely sentencing him to death with very little chance he'll actually pay the price. Every dang execution in California is a big freakin' deal. Witness the hullabaloo surrounding the "Tookie" Williams, who after all wrote a children's book on death row. In Texas, and to a lesser extent Florida, when they sentence you to death they're fixin' to come get you. And the sooner the better. Among the big states, I'd imagine Texas is the safest, although vigorous executions would only be part of the mix.

The death penalty has to be the last resort. If there is no hope of rehab and the crime is henious enough, then death is an option as society has determined to remove a cancer from itself.

I think some states are a bit too generous with the death penalty, and some are too lenient. There are crimes that cry out for vengeance. For example, the Newtown Nut, had he lived, would have been a prime candidate.

 

[unofan]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

you do realize that one has to work the land to get money out of it?

Or they can lease it, or sell it. Or incorporate it themselves and continue to work it. I realize there's sentimental value in there since it's been in the family that long, but still. Good farm land (or hell, even mediocre farmland in the current climate) isn't exactly hard to sell these days.

 

[Old Pio]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

The death penalty has to be the last resort. If there is no hope of rehab and the crime is henious enough, then death is an option as society has determined to remove a cancer from itself.

I think some states are a bit too generous with the death penalty, and some are too lenient. There are crimes that cry out for vengeance. For example, the Newtown Nut, had he lived, would have been a prime candidate.

In Texas, with which I'm most familiar, the majority of killers never face the death penalty. Only those charged with and coinvicted of Capital Murder are death penalty eligible--and that final determination is made by the jury that convicted them. The alternative sentence is life.

In Texas Capital Murder is defined as: killing a law enforcement officer (this includes fire fighters and prison guards), killing a judge or justice, killing a child, multiple killing, serial killing, murder for hire, murder for profit, murder by solicitation, killing of a witness, killing during a prison break, killing of a prisoner and the most common form--killing in the commission of an enumerated felony. Rape/murder. Robbery/murder, etc. Since most murders don't fall into those categories, those killers will never face the needle.

In the punishment phase of a Capital Murder trial the jury has to answer several questions about the convicted killer before they must impose the death penalty. In a case cited by anti-death penalty types, two guys were convicted of the same capital murder by two different juries. One was sentenced to death. The other to life. One of the questions the jury must answer is whether the murderer will likely kill again (guards, prison staff, other prisoners). In the case at hand, the guy who was sentenced to death (and subsequently executed) had previously been convicted of killing his own brother! The jury correctly decided this guy was definitely a threat to commit additional murders.

Texas is a big state, with lots of murders. And Texans, generally, favor application of the death penalty. All of the DA's are elected as are state district court judges. And the quickest way to find yourself out of a job is to be soft on the death penalty. Same is true of governors. If you won't sign those death warrants you won't become governor and you won't stay governor. However, you shouldn't conclude that just because Texas has the will to impose and carry out the death penalty that means they are executing people willy nilly. Capital murderers, as defined by Texas law, are among the very worst criminals imaginable. When Ann Richards was governor she issued a 30 day stay for a guy scheduled to die in response to a request from John Paul II. All this guy had done was rape and murder a 75-year old nun. At the end of the 30 days, he got the needle. What Papal intervention buys you in Texas is 30 days, and not one day more.

 

[XYZ]

Re: The 2nd Term - Round 1 - Diving for Dollars

As a point of clarification, I often answer questions on my positions with sources. But when I provide that answer, I will rarely answer yet another question if my questions are ignored.

Try me. You have stated that in the most recent six months reported, nine innocent campers in California alone have been killed by stray bullets shot from the guns of hunters.

We'll ignore the fact this is the sort of thing that would be all over the news considering a single hunting death in MN or WI deer season makes headlines. Can't imagine what nine deaths of random campers would stir up. But anyway, shoot me that link I've already asked for once. If it says what you claim it does you might be surprised what I say.

Until then, hope you don't wield a handgun at any cops along 394. Wouldn't want to see you get shot in response. Though at least I'd then be able to cite it as a hazard of my morning commute. ****ing bullets everwhere.