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July 1, 2012 at 2:59 PM in reply to: Obamacare bill contains 3.8% tax on homes sales capital gains for high income earners #746969
spdrun
ParticipantToo cheap to have both? Please. A passport card costs $55 ($40 if you already have a passport book) and is valid for 10 years.
And why should I pay $55 for a duplicative document that serves no purpose, and that I’ll seldom use? I travel to Europe much more often than to Canada or Mexico.
Getting a passport card if you already have a passport book is throwing away money. I have no desire to waste money, whether it’s $4, $40, or $40,000. Frankly, I’d rather spend the money going out to eat — a passport card isn’t very tasty last I checked.
ParticipantWhat’s the problem with that? As a citizen I am happy to know they are pulling dirt bags off the street who are driving drunk, no license/insurance, etc.
So am I. Except that there are better ways to do that than wholesale or random stops. DUI can be observed. No insurance can be detected via a database of insured cars vs registered cars. Run plates at random, only pull over/tow cars that show that they’re uninsured.
Why can’t I be a douchebag like sdprun? Should I be pumping my breaks to annoy tailgaters? I don’t get it. This shit is supposed to be happening to me.
Me? I specifically DON’T want to annoy tailgaters; just encourage them to pass. I think the guy who posted about brake-checking them was AN.
June 30, 2012 at 6:50 PM in reply to: Obamacare bill contains 3.8% tax on homes sales capital gains for high income earners #746929ParticipantIf you’re making $250k profit on a home sale AFTER expenses, do you think that making $9500 less will really keep you from selling? Get real. This isn’t the end of the world.
ParticipantIs politely refusing to answer questions that have questionable legality to begin with “being a D-bag,” or is it good sense? You used the term “D-bag” initially, not me.
So long as you stay polite, civil, but firm, it’s a battle worth fighting. Rights should NOT be easily thrown away. And I’m FAR from a one-man choir on this issue. A lot of people are enraged about the same thing, and rightly so:
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=vid&hl=en&q=border+patrol+internal+checkpoint
Note that the videos weren’t taken to highlight the exemplary conduct of the Border Patrol. 🙂
ParticipantMy family left a dictatorship to get away from exactly the kind of petty harassment that the US is now starting to provide in the name of “the war on drugs/terror/illegal immigration.”
And yes, I’m somewhat of a d-bag to people who are d-bags to me. And I consider an armed person whom I don’t know asking me personal questions to be highly douchy. So if I’m a d-bag in that respect, I’m proud of it.
As to medication, those who blindly listen to authority and don’t question it are already on some medication — mmmmmm, Kool-Aid…
I’m not actually paranoid that someone will use my itinerary against me. However, I feel that I should NOT need to account for my actions or whereabouts, so long as they are legal, in the US.
Participant[quote=mike92104]I agree with spdrun. I grew up in El Paso, so I have had to deal with checkpoints for my entire life. It used to be that you would roll into the checkpoint and say “American” and be sent on your way. Now, every time I go through, my license plates are photographed and cataloged, a dog is run around the car, and It seems like I have to give my life’s story to the officer to get through.[/quote]
You don’t have to give them any story, and they still have to let you through. They like to think they can bully you into telling your life’s story.
Where are you coming from? East
Going to? West
EtcParticipantDid you yell at her, making her curl up in a foetal position and cry?
ParticipantIf taxes become too onerous, I’m a dual citizen … cut and run, baby 🙂 Leave America to its fate.
A shame really, because it’s a beautiful country founded on beautiful ideas. The problem is that at least 50% of the people who live here are too rock-dumb to appreciate that fact.
But right now, I’m here because I see this country as easily exploitable. If I’m freelance as well as owning income property, I can have the benefits that most Europeans get (flexible vacations + steady income) without the drawbacks.
All this being said, I’m not opposed to taxes that actually PAY for things other than slaughter of innocents in the Middle East. A tax-supported health-care system is a good thing, and should have been implemented 50 years ago.
ParticipantDepends how good their insurance is, and how much dough they have to burn 🙂
ParticipantOther than my citizenship or whether I’m carrying contraband, that’s correct. I have no desire to engage some armed reject in conversation. And will continue to refuse to do so, even if it does take extra time. I’m not committing a crime by traveling in my own country, and I resent anyone that treats me as a suspect because I choose to travel.
I may not hurt the agents, but I will indirectly increase the waiting time at the checkpoint if they make me wait. The less convenient the checkpoints become, the more Americans will start to pressure Congress into coming up with a REASONABLE solution that doesn’t inconvenience American citizens.
Removing the incentive to come here illegally and/or smuggle drugs will go a long way. In fact, the latter is already happening — more and more states are moving towards decriminalization or outright legalization. And as time goes on, this change of opinion will have an effect on the numbskulls in DC as well.
Lastly, just because it’s been approved by the Supreme Court doesn’t make it OK. Slavery was once approved by the courts as well.
ParticipantLastly, I’m from NYC. Over 40% of the population is foreign born, with some 5-6% being illegal. Most immigrants, legal OR illegal, are hard working, decent people. I don’t see it as a huge problem at least from my perspective.
ParticipantThe solution is simple: patrol the border itself. Anyone that gets through, gets through.
Make it extremely expensive and/or unpleasant to get caught employing illegals, and increase avenues for legal immigration. Same goes for public assistance — none provided, other than a truck trip to the nearest border, if a non-citizen finds themselves in need of going on the dole. Anchor babies go with them — they can come back when they’re 18. The problem will all but disappear if there’s no economic incentive for people to jump the fence.
Oh, and end the war on drugs tomorrow. No need to harass people looking for substances if said substances are legal.
The other option is to take NAFTA to its logical conclusion and have a full border and employment rights union with Canada and Mexico.
Lastly, just because it stops crime doesn’t mean that it’s right, nor that I (or any other American) have to like it or shouldn’t complain about it.
PS – how do you know the increased questioning wasn’t random? Most cars got waved through. Some didn’t. Do you know that they weren’t stopping say one in twelve cars for further scrutiny?
ParticipantEven so, I’ll stand on my rights, as is my DUTY as an American citizen.
Correct: the personal questions occurred at the second stop, not the first. The first was conducted professionally, and without wanting to know my itinerary for the next few weeks.
Looking for other violations of the law? Sure. Last I checked, police aren’t allowed to pull people over at random and grill them on whether they plan to speed, and where they plan to sleep, for the next few weeks. Border Patrol shouldn’t do so either, at least not unless someone is actually entering the US.
And yes, I think that people who choose to follow orders to harass innocent people with personal questions that have no bearing on whether they’re committing a crime, are pigs. “Just doing a job” is no excuse at all. They’re free to get different jobs. Prostitution and burger-flipping are good options if they can’t do anything else useful.
ParticipantThey’re also confined to the Federal government, who prefers harass American citizens already in the country instead of ACTUALLY SECURING THE BORDER.
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