Clueless

That's really cheap for an IPA, which is one of my favorites....we are getting a Costco down here soon...I hope they have that down here! I don't care for wheat lagers at all, but I haven't met many ales that I didn't like, lol.

One of my local favorites is NOLA Blonde ale....so damn good, but expensive.

We could apply this same logic to different situations all day, what if someone owns a house and didn't have homeowners insurance and his house burnt down...pretty bad luck, a real life changer, but should it be the governments responsibility to buy him a house? Or in the same car accident that you are talking about...what if you couldn't afford car insurance and the car was totaled...should the government not only fix you, but also replace your car? I don't think so. It's all a matter of personal responsibility.

I am not saying that someone being stuck without health insurance and having a major issue is no big deal to me....I think it sucks, but my argument is based on whether or not it's the governments job to provide health care, and I don't think that it is.

It all comes back to identifying and fixing the root issues that cause health care and insurance to be so expensive, then more people could afford it. And if there is to be some sort of government assistance, it shouldn't come until the system is fixed first. I had to have an allergy screening done this year because i'm having some bad issues with asthma and stuff....they took a block with a whole bunch of needles on it...each dipped in something different....stabbed me with it, and watched to see what my body reacted to. The test took about 20 minutes and looked pretty low tech, how much was it? $980!! There is absolutely NO way that should cost that much...and that's the kind of stuff we need to research and try to fix. It's right up there with the government's $200 rolls of electrical tape, just stupid.

I am not religious, but I feel that people can believe in whatever brings them peace, no skin off my back.

You spoke of the situation where someone loses their job and because of that, their healthcare, this is one of the situations that I feel help IS warranted, I have no issues with the government using our collective money to provide TEMPORARY assistance to people that need it until they get back on their feet, but I am against career moochers, and we all know that there are more than enough of them.

We also donate to charity, because we choose to, so please don't assume that because I disagree with the idea of government handouts, that I am an evil, selfish person...anyone that knows me would tell you quite the opposite.

I am also not saying that I am heartless and pretty much just say "screw you, I got mine"...I just don't believe in the government handing out "free" healthcare. I honestly don't think that healthcare....even major stuff NEEDS to be that expensive, and THAT is what I think we as a nation should be working on. There are so many reasons why it is the way that it is, but there are very few reasons why that it needs to be. So again, I am not against finding an actual solution, I am just against handing out shares of our broken system to everyone and paying more taxes....I am paying more now than I ever have, and yes, it HAS increased by a noticeable amount in the last 4 years....enough is enough.

Why doesn't the government ever figure out a way to work on it's own budget so that it can give stuff away with the money it already takes from us instead of demanding more? Why are the American people the only ones that have to make a budget and keep to it in order to survive?

Well Shaft....I'm not gonna go all crazy researching and posting graphs like y'all do, but I will say this, Countries like England also pay MUCH higher taxes than we do, and I for one would like to control my own fate rather than pay heavily into the system so that the government can control everyones....fate as it relates to heath care of course. I can also tell you that one of my close friends is from Europe, and had government health care...he will tell you all day long that the idea of it sounds good, but the reality of it sucks. It takes MONTHS to get in, and yes...even if you have cancer, you will wait months for testing to determine further action, UNLESS....well, if you would like it done sooner, most of the doctors have private practices that can get you in right away, but then you are paying the same as you would over here....it's all just a happy ideal that doesn't pan out in reality. People sit back and dream about this beautiful idealistic vision of a nation with free healthcare and start seeing rainbows and unicorns....it's BS, nothing is free....it all comes from somewhere, and you would be kidding yourself to think that the quality of healthcare wouldn't go down, it's already starting to with Medicaid because of Obamacare, my wife is in that business, works with disabled kids and stuff, and I can tell you for certain that children are already NOT getting the care that they were already getting with Medicaid before these insurance companies were involved in administrating it.

I do agree with an earlier post that mentioned the burden of ER's by people using it as a free clinic...yup, it happens, and some hospitals are beginning to shut down their ER's because of it. And I can tell you for certain, at least where I live, it's a HUGE amount of illegals causing it. They come here and make our money, but don't spend it to take care of themselves. And lower class people that don't want to work but would rather milk the system? I guess we should pay for them too...It just seems backwards to change the entire system to cater to those that are abusing the current one.

It brings me back to my other statement...we need to work on the reasons that health care costs so much to begin with....giving it away to everyone isn't the answer. I am VERY middle class, and I work hard for my money, 55 to 60 hours a week, and I am sickened that I should be asked to pay MORE taxes than I already do to cover the expenses of "free" healthcare to people that won't get off their arses....I still have to have insurance...and now, the government will make that LAW, so why should my taxes go up even more?

And as far as this "rich people need to pay more" crap...I don't subscribe to that either....people make their own ways in this world, and this country provides opportunity, if someone was ambitious and smart enough to make a boat load of money, good on them, I don't feel that I am entitled to any part of it, nor do I want it. I want what my wife and I earn for ourselves and our family...people should stop waiting for handouts and start trying to improve their lives the good old fashioned way...WORK!

Don't get me wrong, I think our healthcare system is broken, and I do believe that Americans in need...REAL NEED should have help when they need it, but just giving it away at the expense of the taxpayers from the same broken system is NOT the answer. They need to work on getting the costs down so that everyone can afford it. I truly believe that insurance companies are huge part of the problem, they have a pretty good racket going, and it seems we as a nation should be taking a hard look at WHY the system is the way it is and start actually trying to fix it.

All I want to see is basic, preventative care that is available to everyone free of charge.

You certainly have the right to your opinions...but I ask the question, why is it the governments job to provide this? We do not live in a Socialist country, whether free basic care is a good thing or not is irrelevant, it really boils down to that simple question to me. And if there were "free" basic health care, which I wasn't aware that Obamacare even went that far, do you really think it will do much? Everything that you need beyond checking your pulse will be an upcharge and you know it. Socialized medicine is a lousy idea, and Obamacare is a baby step in that direction. Where do we stop changing the basic fundamentals of this country?

The government should have no authority to tell me that I HAVE to buy healthcare, and it has no constitutional basis for providing basic healthcare to anyone. They should really start working on the real problems that cause it cost so damn much in the first place instead of trying to fix it with more government free stuff...

Also funny to note that homosexuality has been around 1000's of years longer than the religions that condemn it, lol

As for homosexuality(and bisexuality) it has existed since before recorded time, with evidence of same-sex couples dating back to 2600 BC.

 

Branching off of that different forms of marriage have existed (including between a man and a man) outside of religion for centuries.

 

I also wince when people call homosexuality a choice. It's entirely illogical, a person doesn't choose to find the same-sex attractive that is how they are - why would someone voluntarily choose a life of ostracization, directing hatred and violence against them in our society.

 

I never talked about this publicly, but for a long time I choose to identify as lame. I had relations with men and would be very offended when someone gaybashed (still am). I will not discuss my reasoning for doing this (it may have been a bicurious phase) or if it made any sense but I will say I am no longer attracted to men. I say this because I recently had an interview with a lame evangelical who was ostracized and his defense pretty much came down to this: You cannot deny gayness doesn't exist. Whether it was caused by trauma, some hormonal imbalance, or you were born that way. The reality is that men can be attracted to men, and to restrict their love is just as bad as saying a heterosexual couple can't love each other for some reason or another. In this country when you deny the right to marriage you not only deny that love is possible but you deny access to basic benefits that heterosexual couples take for granted. Example, my friend works for the government and is stationed abroad setting up health care programs, the government does not give benefits to her lame partner that they would give to a heterosexual couple even though they have been together for longer than I remember (at least 10 years).

 

The thing I don't understand is that republicans believe in small government, so why should the government have a say in who you can love or what you can do with your body

I commend your bravery on discussing those personal details....i'm sure it's not easy to put yourself out there like that....especially in forums, where people can be less than understanding. Good for you.

First off, though I don't officially belong to either party, I consider myself very conservative as far as spending goes especially. I also believe in small government, and am VERY against entitlement programs and the like, although I do believe that the Government should HELP a fellow American when they are down, I think it should be strictly temporary to help someone get back on their feet....there are way too many career moochers out there. I also believe that this country was founded on the principles of." work hard and you can achieve much", even though liberals seem to be against anyone who HAS worked hard and achieved wealth...suddenly they are the enemy, strange how that works...but anyways, my ADD is kicking in, lol. The area that I differ GREATLY from Republicans is anything to do with sexuality....it's not our governments business to care who loves who, and how often they do it, or if they want to be united....call it marriage or civil union, who cares. If anyone can find love and happiness in this tough world...good for them, who cares if it's the same sex or not. Religious faith and sexual preference...or hell, sexual ANYTHING has no place in politics, but the Republicans keep pandering to the religious folks to get votes, just like the Dems do to the poor....it's a joke really.

I'm starting to wonder how many politicians have actually READ the Constitution...

By the way....am I missing some new age definition of the word lame or something? The definition of someone injured or crippled doesn't seem to fit the context, lol.

I don't think we should fund PBS. I agreed with this statement. Because I believe they are so strong and powerful in peoples eyes, that people will continue to fund and support them, even if the government takes it away. Many companies survive without the government handing them money, because people see the good and the value in them and they rally behind it and support it, because that's what we have done in the past and will continue to do as a nation.

 

Good bye to the last bastion of objective journalism in the US. Fox wins!

LOL, I didn't realize that PBS was such a news powerhouse....I thought my baby boy just liked watching cookie monster...

I also agree with the PBS thing as far as cutting funding. Sometimes it's necessary to step back and look at something for what it is, easy or not, and I don't see it as an anti PBS thing. If you look at it and ask the question, is this something that the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT should be responsible for funding?, the answer SHOULD be no. It's not the Governments job to fund TV stations, now I think that PBS has some great programming, and I in NO way want to see it go away, but as their name states, PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE....they get donations from private businesses and the public, that's always been the point of the whole thing. They may even have to change their business model a bit and sell a few commercials, hell, i'd rather sit through those than listen to them beg for contributions every hour. The States however could opt to fund PBS as they choose, but even that's a gray area as far as i'm concerned.

Look at it from the other side too....would you want the government funding FOX News, CNN, or MSNBC? I'm pretty sure that would be a big hell no from everyone.

The Government has no place in funding TV stations....or car manufacturers...but that's another debate.

Moderators nor Board Members typically get involved down here....it used to say something to the effect of "enter at your own risk"....I couldn't find it, but if it's gone, it needs to be reposted on the door.

Political debates are very personal to people and all discussions usually end up heated....so as long as y'all know this and don't get too out of hand...y'all are on your own.

Big boy pants are required attire for the political forums....shirt and shoes however, are optional.

I seem to have pretty crappy registration in the game

I think it's just the crappy game....I tried every rate setting I could find here in the forums and on other forums, nothing seemed to help significantly. I even thought that it might be my PC which was getting a bit dated, so I upgraded and gave the game another chance....but nope, it's still awful. What can we really expect for $15 though? I think Source was a way better game, I still had registration issues with that, but no where near the level that I do with GO. I uninstalled it.

I just don't get why they can't make a game where the shots hit well...I mean, it's a very important basic fundamental of a good shooter. Games like BF3 do it very well, so I know it can be done. BF3 actually works and is a blast to play....dunno why more people here don't play it

Yeah, but will it let you use more than 1 redemption in your Origin account? Getting codes wouldn't be a problem, I would think using them all would be.

Do you play Blackjack strictly "by the book", or do you mix it up?

What's ur game?

Nevermind, you answered that in an earlier post. Congratz on the winnings...looks like it was a fun night!

My last headset was Sennheiser, and they sounded pretty awesome....about as good as anything at the time. I guess it's really just more about preference than anything else, it's kinda like ZD said....you hear alot of stuff, and most of it with amazing clarity, but it's not really the stuff that's important to hear in gaming. My biggest issue is directional awareness....I can hear footsteps a mile away, lots of them, problem is knowing which way they are coming at me.

I don't know if it's my setup or not, to be fair, I haven't played with it much to try and improve it, but I have a surround headset and I don't really feel that I have good directional awareness with it....sounds great, but it sounds like they are coming from everywhere in BF3.

I have the Logitech G930.

Beautiful little guy, congrats!

Lookin good Fk!

RECRUDESCENCE!!

 

BRING IT BACK!

This

Normally I would vote for retiring the Retrocedence name and giving the new server it's own, but given that CS in general has been struggling a bit over the last year or so, i'd say we should keep the identity that we have in place and recycle the name.

If no one is playing CS:S...my vote would be to kill it, cheap or not....no reason to leave it up if everyone is playing GO.

I was cool with just laughing and pointing at Apple, but ok...i'm flexible

Newegg has an MSI TwinFrozer GTX 670 for $409.00 after rebate...I just bought one, it out performs the ATI/AMD card, and it's a lot less cash right now, it was hard for me to make the switch, I tend to like ATI a bit better, but the performance/$$ is something I couldn't pass up.

Do you have a MicroCenter where you live? They sell that CPU for 189.00, and the motherboards are about the same price, but when you buy mobo and CPU...you get another $50 off....that's a pretty big saving over Newegg. The only catch is that it's in store pick up only. I just bought my mobo and CPU there, and bought the rest from Newegg.

I know that your video card is only $329...but if you can do the Micro Center deal, the savings would allow you to step up to the 670 without going over budget.

Looks like you will have a pretty kick arse machine!

doesn't look very patriotic.

 

giddyup

You drive a German car too, from the same parent company

That's what it's built for! Congratz on the new ride!

Great car, very nice!

I would be in, but as my name would imply....I have no idea how to do fantasy football....never done it.