meol

Again, dissing something as "collectivist, anti-individual bullcrap" just makes you sound pretentious. I can so easily talk about your egoistic libertarianism. But political tags don't help in a debate; they just create a "we vs. them" mentality. With progressive taxes, one still has the incentive to earn more because, ultimately, the wealthy still keep more of their earnings than the middle class or the poor do. Also, I'd say that by living in society and getting its protection and benefits implies you are bound to cede some of your individual rights. The State does have rights over the individuals. I'll look into that FairTax website you linked to. It'd still be nice if you told us its main points. So far it sounds like a flat sales tax with a fixed exemption for basic survival. Am I wrong?

It's in the same 10 point list where progressive taxes are proposed too, and much of Communism was created as an answer to the exploitation of workers in that time. As for it being wrong or not, this topic isn't the place for that discussion; I just wanted to point that out. To me, there is fairness in progressive taxation because it considers what people can actually afford to pay in taxes. The fact that people still strive to be successful shows its not penalizing and punishing success like you mention. Instead it uses that success for other societal needs. On the contrary, I find flat taxes unfair because they punish people for being unsuccessful (which is already a punishment on itself), regardless of the reasons they have a lower income, while further reducing social mobility.

Another one of Marx's proposals in that same text is "Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form." Clearly, calling something communist is not a decent rebuttal at all. Progressive tax rates are only fair.

Yeah, I've always known my musical taste is quite unorthodox. I actually have a very hard time finding bands or artists I can really enjoy. Up until a few years ago, I simply didn't listen to any music at all, because I hadn't found anything I liked. (And just fyi, muy bajo is very low, and desconocido means unknown)

On other news, it seems Iceland has elected the first openly homosexual Chief of State, an impressive landmark for equality.

I figure I can have a Super rating with someone beside penguingeek. Here's my profile, feel free to add me.

It possibly has a trigger, as Lateralus said, but you shouldn't simply avoid the problem. Have you considered visiting a psychologist?

I'd say it's pretty obvious that someone who has been blind since birth would still be able to dream, yet not "see" anything in his dream. Just as for us, dreaming i¡would just be a surreal version of his daily sensations, so he would still hear, touch and smell in his dreams. They couldn't possibly dream of random colours and shapes because they are unkown to them (just as we can't imagine a new colour we've never seen before). Rather, they'd just experience their dream reality through textures and so on. The same would happen to someone who's been deaf his whole life.

Of course! I'd love to have that much experience writing. Drawing would be pretty awesome too, but writing is much more useful. Other than that, maybe guitar.

You could have added one for us... :wall: 178 Nah, shaddap. 168

I suppose you guys don't need me any more, do you? 177

It's a pretty grim situation indeed. I figure it'd help if gun sale was more strictly sanctioned and controlled -especially in the US, since many of their arms are smuggled from there.

6.58/10

Yep, the series is awesome. But I'm afraid the movie looks seriously disappointing.

I think the point was to develop some kind, any kind of communication. Eh, SETI failed. Can't blame you for being sceptical. Well, you're right, as long as the aliens could identify the signals as artificial, it should work. It just seems some people think binary is a universal language of some sorts. Not that aliens should have to translate binary into English.

Sending a message to aliens looks like a waste of time, unless they happened to understand English. :lol: Anyway, the question from the FAQ left me cold: What happens if someone or something responds? I was shocked to know there are actually people responsible for answering, knowing that our first contact with other intelligent life beings and the whole the future of our civilization would actually depend on them. :shock:

It's even worse when there's even a state religion in your country, and the government actually funds that church with tax money, whether you like it or not.

I always thought everyone did that.

Way too much information. :?

Why can it be you still discussing semantics? :| Curiously, I still pray, even though I find the existence of a God implausible. After being raised in a Catholic family, the habit stuck to me, and I must admit it can be somewhat reassuring.

Ouch. 370

Er, you know there's a "Go To Page..." link at the bottom of every thread, right? 378 Forth, Eorlingas!

Wow, you guys play way too fast. Can anyone update me on the status of the EC? It seems they're letting everyone in these days. Seeing 75% of Spain is Catholic, I'm afraid the whole would start opposing the current Pope's actions in Africa, and oppose Liechtenstein's and the Vatican's entry into the EC.

Whats with the image giving me a log in pop up when I load this page? Should i trust that...? Same with your other post.. Not at all. It seems a user was trying to get passwords. If anyone entered their real account details, please contact me asap.

I'm playing Tales of Symphonia right now, and I just noticed Kratos is the guy that used to be in Ginger Warrior's sig.