The Seinfeld Thread-A rambling, non-strict topic thread free-for-all

[NickF1011]

You could be right. However, "productivity" is a very nebulous concept, but it is a fact that Americans work longer hours and take less vacation time than workers in other countries, regardless of their "productivity" rating.

 

Now, add lousy, high-starch, high-fat diets, lack of exercise to this . . .

Same point really. Americans need to freakin' relax!! Easier said than done, of course.

[silvrsvt]

In America, Where You're Born Has a Huge Impact on How Far You'll Go in Life

 

It's well known at this point that not only does the United States have an unusually large level of income inequality compared to other rich countries, but we have a low level of intergenerational mobility.

 

Kids whose parents have low incomes, in other words, are very likely to themselves grow up to have low incomes. But the United States is also very large compared to most other rich countries, which raises the question of how uniform that pattern of mobility is.

 

Well one thing here is that it all depends on how that person is brought up or what type of environment that person was raised in. I had a friend of mine who was from Protection, KS, which had a tiny population and she moved to NJ for a Nanny drive that paid better and plus was more adventurous for her. She told me several times that people often windup just accepting what is, is what it is and feel like they have no need to improve "their station in life".

[FiredMotorCompany]

Well one thing here is that it all depends on how that person is brought up or what type of environment that person was raised in. I had a friend of mine who was from Protection, KS, which had a tiny population and she moved to NJ for a Nanny drive that paid better and plus was more adventurous for her. She told me several times that people often windup just accepting what is, is what it is and feel like they have no need to improve "their station in life".

That's the problem with the indigent raising children. Acknowledging there exceptions, most children are indoctrinated with the same skills their parents had, if for no other reason than immersion.

It's far more likely a rich child will have the knowledge and discipline to handle money that a child raised in poverty will not be able to visualize due to a lack of exposure to those skills being passed on from parent to child.

 

Children of Ford workers often follow in their parents footsteps.

Carpenters, mill workers, executives alike. A child raised in a slum CAN rise above those obstructions, if you will, and become someone who outshines their parents achievements. But you can't say there are more than less who don't climb far above their childhood environment.

 

A child born in a cardboard box vs. a child born with a silver spoon in their mouth. What are the odds their "fates" will reverse? Not impossible, but near zero.

[Edstock]

[FiredMotorCompany]

You don't need no stinking degree to work 29 hours at McDonalds.

 

 

Those are the jobs being created in the US today. A degree for the sake of a degree is in itself a waste of effort. There are some with Master's Degrees working entry level jobs for a lack of employment opportunities. Spending tens of thousands of private or public money just to have a piece of paper is lunacy.

Until this economic catastrophe of the Obamamoble era is reversed there won't be enough jobs for those capiable of EARNING such degrees, and GIVING them to everyone who put forth an "effort" is madness!

Edited August 8, 2013 by FiredMotorCompany

[Edstock]

Marriage Is the New Middle-Class Luxury Item

 

For their new paper "Intimate Inequalities: Love and Work in a Post-Industrial Landscape," University of Virginia sociologist Sarah Corse and Harvard sociologist Jennifer Silva interviewed 300 working- and middle-class Americans like Cindy, Megan, Earl, and Jan about their work and relationships. They found that as the American workforce and the American marriage have destabilized over the past half-century, marriage has become an increasingly inaccessible option for working-class Americans. While middle-class people like Earl and Jan are throwing money at their intimate relationships to keep them stable, working-class people like Cindy and Megan have been priced out of the institution.

 

Part-time employment, part-time marriage, like time-sharing?

[FiredMotorCompany]

Marriage Is the New Middle-Class Luxury Item

 

For their new paper "Intimate Inequalities: Love and Work in a Post-Industrial Landscape," University of Virginia sociologist Sarah Corse and Harvard sociologist Jennifer Silva interviewed 300 working- and middle-class Americans like Cindy, Megan, Earl, and Jan about their work and relationships. They found that as the American workforce and the American marriage have destabilized over the past half-century, marriage has become an increasingly inaccessible option for working-class Americans. While middle-class people like Earl and Jan are throwing money at their intimate relationships to keep them stable, working-class people like Cindy and Megan have been priced out of the institution.

 

Part-time employment, part-time marriage, like time-sharing?

Then what's all the hub-bub about Gay Marriage. I guess they are inherently more successful and can afford such luxuries. We need to tax them more so those less fortunate can afford to get married.

 

[Bored of Pisteon]

You don't need no stinking degree to work 29 hours at McDonalds.

 

 

Those are the jobs being created in the US today. A degree for the sake of a degree is in itself a waste of effort. There are some with Master's Degrees working entry level jobs for a lack of employment opportunities. Spending tens of thousands of private or public money just to have a piece of paper is lunacy.

Until this economic catastrophe of the Obamamoble era is reversed there won't be enough jobs for those capiable of EARNING such degrees, and GIVING them to everyone who put forth an "effort" is madness!

Makes me relieved that I didn't go to college...Who would want to get into thousands and thousands of dollars in paper debt just to have a worthless piece of paper?

[FiredMotorCompany]

Makes me relieved that I didn't go to college...Who would want to get into thousands and thousands of dollars in paper debt just to have a worthless piece of paper?

You provide an example of wisdom that didn't come from non-tenured constitutional law "professors".

[Bored of Pisteon]

You provide an example of wisdom that didn't come from non-tenured constitutional law "professors".

 

Thanks for the compliment. Living in the real world outside of academia and not protected by that educational bubble does wonders. Being a 9-5 robot and slave creates a negative routine.

 

Just like driving the same route to work during "rush hour", lot of people don't know alternate routes, which elevates their stress levels when commuting!

[Edstock]

Oregon's GOP Chair Wants to Sprinkle Nuclear Waste From Airplanes

 

 

Really.

 

When it comes to absurdity, Gopper logic is sublime.

[FiredMotorCompany]

Oregon's GOP Chair Wants to Sprinkle Nuclear Waste From Airplanes

 

 

Really.

 

When it comes to absurdity, Gopper logic is sublime.

And you have Howard (Scream) Dean.

 

[FiredMotorCompany]

And yet, today, you have to be proud of Debbie Whatshername Schultz. She'll throw NYC to Christine Quinn by asking "Another" Wiener to stay in the race.

 

Debbie Wasserman Schultz not calling for Anthony Weiner to exit race

Edited August 16, 2013 by FiredMotorCompany

[Langston Hughes]

And you have Howard (Scream) Dean.

 

As Nap likes to say, Swing and miss! Jesus, how long ago was that. You had to go back that far to find something you felt was as dumb as Ed's link? You got no game lately.

Edited August 17, 2013 by Langston Hughes

[Langston Hughes]

Oregon's GOP Chair Wants to Sprinkle Nuclear Waste From Airplanes

 

 

Really.

 

When it comes to absurdity, Gopper logic is sublime.

 

I'm surprised that he didn't come to Todd Aikens defense since he's so full of good ideas.

[napfirst]

Oregon's GOP Chair Wants to Sprinkle Nuclear Waste From Airplanes

 

 

Really.

 

When it comes to absurdity, Gopper logic is sublime.

Dems have got to be proud of this Einstein ......

 

[Langston Hughes]

That was seriously dumb too.

[Edstock]

Goppers have no limits to dumb. Wacko Christians . . .

 

Really.

 

Anti-Choice Activists Want to Know: Are Workers at a Kansas Abortion Clinic Asking to be Shot?

[Edstock]

Washington's Blog

 

 

The poem has links to the various political violations, just click on the link above.

 

Biting Our Tongues Doesn’t Keep Us Safe … It Only INCREASES Danger In the Long Run

 

 

 

First They Came …

Preface: German pastor Martin Niemöller initially supported Hitler. But he later opposed him, and was imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp for years.

Niemöller learned the hard way that keep your head down doesn’t keep one out of trouble … in the long run, it increases the danger to all of us.

Niemöller wrote a brilliant poem – First They Came – about the manner in which Germans allowed Nazi abuses by failing to protest the abuse of “others” … first gypsies, gays, communists, and Jews, then Catholics … and eventually everyone.

 

This is my modern interpretation of Niemöller’s poem …


First they tortured a U.S. citizen and gang member …
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a criminal

Then they tortured a U.S. citizen, whistleblower and navy veteran …
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a whistleblower

Then they locked up an attorney for representing accused criminals …
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a defense attorney

Then they arrested a young father walking with his son simply because he told Dick Cheney that he disagreed with his policies …
I remained silent;
I’ve never talked to an important politician

Then they said an entertainer should be killed because she questioned the government’s version of an important historical event …
I remained silent;
I wasn’t an entertainer

Then they arrested people for demanding that Congress hold the President to the Constitution …
I did not speak out;
I’ve never protested in Washington

Then they arrested a man for holding a sign …
I held my tongue;
I’ve never held that kind of sign

Then they broke a minister’s leg because he wanted to speak at a public event …
I said nothing;
I wasn’t a religious leader

Then they shot a student with a taser gun and arrested him for asking a question of a politician at a public event …
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a student

Then they started labeling virtually every innocent and normal behavior as marking Americans as “potential terrorists” …
I remained silent;
I didn’t want to be called a terrorist

Then they threw political dissenters in psychiatric wards …
I remained silent;
I didn’t want to be seen as crazy

Then they declared that they could label U.S. citizens living on U.S. soil as “unlawful enemy combatants” and imprison them indefinitely without access to any attorney …
I remained silent;
I didn’t want to be labeled an enemy

Then they assassinated an American citizen without any court trial
And they killed his son because he should have had a “far more responsible father” …
I remained silent;
I live on American soil

Then they declared that they could assassinate U.S. citizens living on U.S. soil without any due process of law (update) …
I remained silent;
I didn’t want to be on the list

Then they forced down the airplane carrying the president of a sovereign nation, because they were looking for a whistleblower
I remained silent;
I’m not a foreign leader

Then they called for the founder of an independent publisher to be killed by drone
I remained silent;
I don’t want to worry about drone strikes against me

Then they started spying on all Americans, even though top experts say that doesn’t protect us from terrorism
I remained silent;
I didn’t want to call even more attention to myself from the spies

Then they detained the gay partner of an investigative journalist for 9 hours under terrorism laws – and denied him the right to call a lawyer – as a way to intimidate the journalist
I remained silent;
I’m happily married to a woman

When they came for me,
Everyone was silent;
there was no one left to speak out.

Postscript: I originally wrote this poem in 2007. I have updated it with additional verses as current events have unfolded.

[RangerM]

The irony of lamenting an undefined boogie man like "they" is it often turns out to be oneself.

Edited August 19, 2013 by RangerM

[FiredMotorCompany]

Washington's Blog

 

 

The poem has links to the various political violations, just click on the link above.

 

Biting Our Tongues Doesn’t Keep Us Safe … It Only INCREASES Danger In the Long Run

 

 

 

First They Came …

 

Preface: German pastor Martin Niemöller initially supported Hitler. But he later opposed him, and was imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp for years.

 

Niemöller learned the hard way that keep your head down doesn’t keep one out of trouble … in the long run, it increases the danger to all of us.

 

Niemöller wrote a brilliant poem – First They Came – about the manner in which Germans allowed Nazi abuses by failing to protest the abuse of “others” … first gypsies, gays, communists, and Jews, then Catholics … and eventually everyone.

 

This is my modern interpretation of Niemöller’s poem …

 

 

First they tortured a U.S. citizen and gang member …

I remained silent;

I wasn’t a criminal

 

Then they tortured a U.S. citizen, whistleblower and navy veteran …

I remained silent;

I wasn’t a whistleblower

 

Then they locked up an attorney for representing accused criminals …

I remained silent;

I wasn’t a defense attorney

 

Then they arrested a young father walking with his son simply because he told Dick Cheney that he disagreed with his policies …

I remained silent;

I’ve never talked to an important politician

 

Then they said an entertainer should be killed because she questioned the government’s version of an important historical event …

I remained silent;

I wasn’t an entertainer

 

Then they arrested people for demanding that Congress hold the President to the Constitution …

I did not speak out;

I’ve never protested in Washington

 

Then they arrested a man for holding a sign …

I held my tongue;

I’ve never held that kind of sign

 

Then they broke a minister’s leg because he wanted to speak at a public event …

I said nothing;

I wasn’t a religious leader

 

Then they shot a student with a taser gun and arrested him for asking a question of a politician at a public event …

I remained silent;

I wasn’t a student

 

Then they started labeling virtually every innocent and normal behavior as marking Americans as “potential terrorists” …

I remained silent;

I didn’t want to be called a terrorist

 

Then they threw political dissenters in psychiatric wards …

I remained silent;

I didn’t want to be seen as crazy

 

Then they declared that they could label U.S. citizens living on U.S. soil as “unlawful enemy combatants” and imprison them indefinitely without access to any attorney …

I remained silent;

I didn’t want to be labeled an enemy

 

Then they assassinated an American citizen without any court trial

And they killed his son because he should have had a “far more responsible father” …

I remained silent;

I live on American soil

 

Then they declared that they could assassinate U.S. citizens living on U.S. soil without any due process of law (update) …

I remained silent;

I didn’t want to be on the list

 

Then they forced down the airplane carrying the president of a sovereign nation, because they were looking for a whistleblower

I remained silent;

I’m not a foreign leader

 

Then they called for the founder of an independent publisher to be killed by drone

I remained silent;

I don’t want to worry about drone strikes against me

 

Then they started spying on all Americans, even though top experts say that doesn’t protect us from terrorism

I remained silent;

I didn’t want to call even more attention to myself from the spies

 

Then they detained the gay partner of an investigative journalist for 9 hours under terrorism laws – and denied him the right to call a lawyer – as a way to intimidate the journalist

I remained silent;

I’m happily married to a woman

 

When they came for me,

Everyone was silent;

there was no one left to speak out.

 

Postscript: I originally wrote this poem in 2007. I have updated it with additional verses as current events have unfolded.

While I was inclined to show agreement with your post, I see that you copied the entire content of the writers blog and posted it under your own name, plagiarism by any standard.

 

The appropriate way do have made such a post would have to selected the text and then click the "Quote" icon. You should then note the authors name.

 

But, in closing, I do not have a lot of problems with the authors "poem". And I see why you would want to post it here. Just be clear who's words you are posting.

[Langston Hughes]

While I was inclined to show agreement with your post, I see that you copied the entire content of the writers blog and posted it under your own name, plagiarism by any standard.

 

The appropriate way do have made such a post would have to selected the text and then click the "Quote" icon. You should then note the authors name.

 

But, in closing, I do not have a lot of problems with the authors "poem". And I see why you would want to post it here. Just be clear who's words you are posting.

 

He didn't post it under his own name did he. It shows a link to the blog it ran on, unless that is his blog. Are you suggesting Washington's blog and Edstock are the same people?

[FiredMotorCompany]

He didn't post it under his own name did he. It shows a link to the blog it ran on, unless that is his blog. Are you suggesting Washington's blog and Edstock are the same people?

The post was under his name. He included a link to the blog but did not distinguish any of the words as separate from his own or the authors.

 

 

Being obstinate? You know full well the point I am making. And I am not brow beating him, only emphasizing that he left the impression those were his own words.

Edited August 20, 2013 by FiredMotorCompany

[Langston Hughes]

You leveled a serious accusation at him so i was asking. Honestly i didn't know so like i said i asked.

[Edstock]

While I was inclined to show agreement with your post, I see that you copied the entire content of the writers blog and posted it under your own name, plagiarism by any standard.

 

The appropriate way do have made such a post would have to selected the text and then click the "Quote" icon. You should then note the authors name.

 

But, in closing, I do not have a lot of problems with the authors "poem". And I see why you would want to post it here. Just be clear who's words you are posting.

 

Take a pill, dude, maybe two of 'em. Not plagiarism: I have not claimed that it is mine, and if you didn't have reading comprehension problems, you would have noted my writing: "The poem has links to the various political violations, just click on the link above." — which was the SECOND line of my post. Capisce?