Stephen wrote:
> On Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:05:04 -0400, Sabrina Kilian <ski### [at] vtedu> wrote:
> 
>> Stephen wrote:
>>> On Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:33:51 -0700, Patrick Elliott <sel### [at] npgcablecom>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Well, given you can find idiots in places like Florida that actually 
>>>> state things like this:
>>>>
>>>> "Obama is a Marxist... What's a Marxist anyway?", and be seriously 
>>>> apposed to what they don't even fracking know the definition of...
>>>>
>>> Surely Marxist/Communist is just a generic insult from the right?
>>>
>> That is a quote from someone in the video.
>>
> 
> Ah! That shows how much I have learned from these newsgroups :)
> 
>>>> http://www.youtube.com/v/2wLYgbS8HeA&hl=en&fs=1&
>>> I could not view it 
> 
> I still can't see it, all I get is a popup asking if I want to download a
> shockwave flash object. <Grrr!>
> 
>> Guy with video camera goes out to a Teabag Rally, and asks people to
> 
> What's a Teabag Rally?
> 

Someone's bright idea of political satire. Some people who are/were
against increasing government spending thought they would hold a modern
day Tea Party. Mimicking the Boston Tea Party, only this time there was
too much Samuel Adams beer and not enough of the politician. At some
later point, someone suggesting mailing tea bags to Washington. And with
outsiders looking on at why they would un-ironically associate their
movement with tea bags, the name just stuck.

>> describe what they have against Obama or health care reform. One lady
>> was debating with herself, in range of the microphone, whether Obama was
>> a Marxist, Socialist, or Communist. She settles on Marxist, because he
>> doesn't match all the points of the other two. When asked what those
>> points were, or what makes a Marxist, she wanders off to find someone to
>> tell her.
>>
> 
> Well at least she has an opinion LOL
> 

 . . . that's a good way of looking at it.

>> The rest is even stranger, as people with printouts try to poke holes in
>> "The Health Care Bill". They quote section, paragraph, and line numbers
>> of one of the many versions of the bill, but manage to cut short most of
>> what the line says. 
> 
> Don't a lot of people do that with your constitution as well? Especially when
> talking about the Second Amendment.
> 

Most of the time, the legal folks argue about the meaning of a few
commas. But yes, there are folks on both sides of that issue that insert
strategic ellipsis to make the words parse the way they want them to.

Completely off topic,

>> The shining example was "This tax is not a tax..."
>> which sounds outrageous, but the line reads more like "This tax is not a
>> tax for the purposes of determining, via total taxes paid, how much
>> something costs."
> 
> Let me guess. A lawyer made that one up or an accountant :)

I suspect so. It makes sense, otherwise some brilliant accountant would
just apply the tax constantly, like continuous compound interest. Call
the fee 10% of what ever tax you pay, and you paid 100 units in taxes.
So the fee is 10 units, but now you have paid 110 in taxes, so the fee
is really 11 units, but now you have . . . and ending up with (e^0.1 -
1)% needing to be paid.

>> Debate would be lovely, but the video isn't debate. It is funny though.
> 
> I'm loosing my sense of humour when it comes to politics, nowadays :(
> (But not my fecking vocabulary ;) )
> 

I have to find humor in it, it would be too depressing otherwise. I mean
if people, on both sides of these issues, really do believe everything
they hear from a few people who talk loudly, and do not even attempt to
research what they are handed as facts, it would just ruin any hope I
could have for the coming generations.

On the other hand, if that is really how people behave, I posit that the
health care bill is so (insert personal feelings here) that everyone
must (protest/support) it by sending $10 US currency to Sabrina Kilian.
This is a must, and will guarantee that the bill (does/doesn't) pass.
Please, think of the (children/budget/future generations).

> Thanks, Sabrina. You're up late or early.

Both.

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