Posts by Don Jefe

Re: Irony?

No it is not. The USS Jimmy Carter is deployed for scientific communications research.

Re: Achievement Unlocked: New Cadillac

Yes. It takes quite a bit of experience to forge the lasting relationships with constituents and peers that allow them to gorge themselves on pork kickbacks and donations for decades. That's why newbie Congressmen have the shittiest cars and have their 'DC' homes in Maryland, thy can't afford to live in DC. It takes a few terms to unlock those achievements.

The Congressmen hire their own personal staff (Representatives have 14 full time personal staff each and Senators have 34). It is a common for political hopefuls to work as Congressional staff but almost none of them ever become Congressmen, they can actually do something so they don't really fit in with Congress.

Re: "they don't give you the Nobel Peace Prize for nothing"`

Especially when the GOP states publicly that their main goal is to stop him from doing anything. They've even gone so far as to lock up the entire country to satisfy their little egos.

Proper FUD

No. Good FUD relies on the perceived power and knowledge of the speaker. Effective FUD sows the seeds of doubt and let's you draw your own conclusions. The idea being that human nature will make any unknown factor far more dangerous than it is in reality.

Knowing who this guy is, I would venture to say he is an expert in creating and disseminating FUD.

Re: It's not about the truth

Most western law enforcement tossed 'seeking the truth' out the window a long time ago. What they seek now is the easiest conviction they can get. Therefore they need access to as much information as possible to string together any case they can conjure up.

Re: The Civil Service at its best!

This is reflective of privatization as much as government. Any time a private company can tilt things in their favor they're going to. Nobody should be surprised by that. Not arguing for bigger, more intrusive government, but if government spent their time (and money) doing what they're supposed to be doing instead of being intrusive and pandering to their private sector buddies things would be a lot better.

@UndefinedNaN

I'm not sure you know what the word radiation means.

Re: aren't realizing the full purchasing power of your money.

Nobody said free lunch, you have to pay, but why not stretch the dollar a little further. Using my credit card has no down side for me. I have the money for my purchases but if I pay with cash or check I don't get the rewards. The annual card holder fees are trivial next to what I receive in points and less than what I accrue annually in my savings account.

It sounds like you were using your credit cards as short term loans instead of as a cash substitute. That's simply poor financial management. Just because you made poor decisions in the past doesn't mean you can't learn from them and not be scared of credit cards.

Re: @Zmodem

I bought my wife's SmartCar on my credit card simply because of the cash (points really) back option. I use my credit card for 95% of my purchases. There is no interest as I pay the balance every month, no practical limit, and I have enough reward points to buy all the birthday presents I have to get throughout the year. I also get large discounts on my plane tickets, rental cars and car insurance and don't have to carry much cash.

Not sure where you're getting your financial advice, but you need to find someone new. If you're using cash or debit you aren't realizing the full purchasing power of your money.

Re: "Operated within the law"

Vote YES for cake!

I was going to come up with a nifty campaign slogan, but cake is hard to rhyme.

Re: The MAD question

"If they are rational enough to be playing with game theory, what imaginable reason would they have for attacking Britain"

Ah! That's an common oversimplification of game theory, where you assume your opponent (real or imagined) is using a strategy where you are the actual target as opposed to using you as a pawn in a greater game against another opponent. An attack on Britain would destabilize not only Europe and the US, it could serve as a distraction to draw attention away from the occupation of Australia. A nation rich in resources and low in population, thus easy to conquer for a nation willing and capable of launching a nuclear strike on a Western nation.

Game theory is a good exercise, but it has serious flaws as one must assume a logic chain similar to your own in order to play out scenarios. The insanity necessary to instigate a nuclear war cannot be simulated or accurately modeled, that's why it is called insanity. The best defence ends up being one of ridiculous over readiness or refusal to play the game in the first place. Refusing to play would be the most effective and responsible but that wouldn't satisfy the 'biggest gun' egos of most countries goverments.

'True' religion is practiced everyday by millions of people, just not in an institutionalized way. Institutionalized religion implies that God has an ego and is one hell of a pendant. Seems a bit off for an all powerful super being to be interested in any of those things.

Re: Seriously??

Dude, if Jesus isn't following your Twitter feed you need to step up your game. You can also Friend Him on Facebook. He doesn't update his page much but best to cover your bases. Since the SEC now allows public disclosure of corporate operational issues through social media the Rapture will certainly be announced first there, simply to save on the Bloomberg filing fees.

You can try LinkedIn too, but he's only connected with 12 fisherman, a hobo from Argentina and some trashy Jewish princess from his early post synagogue days. His professional contacts seem fairly specialized and unless you're a fisherman he probably won't connect with you. You can endorse him though, he might slide you a few indulgences on the side...