America - The Official Thread

[FoolKiller]

Oh for frack's sake! I hate the pseudoephedrine laws. I just got back from the pharmacy, where I was rejected from buying a box of 96, 30mg tablets. Between my wife, my daughter and myself we all have severe allergies, take allergy shots and someone is in the midst of fighting an infection at some point. Phyenelephrine isn't as effective for us so when we are fighting something we go with pseudoephedrine.

With the weather changing back and forth the last month or two I've basically been on pseudoephedrine regularly since early November. Typically, I buy the box of 20, 12 hour tablets (120mg) from our grocery pharmacy, but today I was in a Walgreens to get antibiotics and ear drops for my daughter's double ear infection, which is a secondary infection after a viral cold or sinus infection that has had her at a 102+ degree fever all weekend. To help me fight off catching it, staying on the decongestant seemed like a good idea. But the law only lows for 7.2g every 30 days, or exactly the recommended dosage if you took a dose on a regular basis. But because I tried buying the economy pack I saw today, in order to save some money, I was rejected because I went over my 30 day limit. And at that point I don't get to find out why I went over, if I can buy a smaller box, nothing. Just rejected, final. I couldn't figure out the problem until I got home.

I would like to thank our brilliant politicians that passed this law, in an ill-fated attempt to stop meth production. People such as my self have been caused to spend more time and money, and in general have to deal with a hassle, while the number of meth labs in KY have tripled in the last three years. . But hey, they now electronically track our use of certain OTC drugs.

Here is the thing, they tried to change this law to require a prescription, which meant a doctor visit first. They would have made it a bigger pain, despite signs that it doesn't work. If putting things behind a pharmacy counter and needing a prescription were effective means of drug control we wouldn't have an OxyContin problem, or any other prescription abuse problem. In fact, these guys run mobile clinics that specialize in writing scripts for prescription pseudoephedrine and other drugs. Politicians in this state are just a lot of illogical, low IQ, greedy douche bags, and when I look at half of them I am sure they are inbred, which wouldn't be surprising when some come from districts where half the population shares the same last name. At least that would explain a lot.

[/RANT]


Now that I've read over that, it occurs to me that it is an example of the problems created by government regulation and control of goods, which is being debated right now.

 

[arora]

I'm not sure what your state laws are or if they are more strict but, it's all outlined here. Damn those pesky terrorists tricked us into making meth lol.

USA PATRIOT IMPROVEMENT AND REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005, TITLE VII—COMBAT METHAMPHETAMINE EPIDEMIC ACT OF 2005.

the quantity of such base sold at retail in such a product by a regulated seller, or a distributor required to submit reports by subsection (b)(3) may not, for any purchaser, exceed a daily amount of 3.6 grams, without regard to the number of transactions;

and

) The seller maintains, in accordance with criteria issued by the Attorney General, a written or electronic list of such sales that identifies the products by name, the quantity sold, the names and addresses of purchasers, and the dates and times of the sales (which list is referred to in this subsection as the ‘logbook’),

I'm sure you knew this but others may not.

.......................

Anyone who still thinks the patriot act is a good idea needs to realize it's used for restricting any and every freedom imaginable. No one should ever vote for a representative that does not oppose this act. Here is how the votes went back then, it's easy to find voting records from 2011 as well(I had a false hope it wasn't gonna make it that year)

Passed the House Passed the Senate

 

[Keef]

The Patriot Act is just as diabolical, if not more so, than the New Deal. I guess once they'd gone and figured out a way to bankrupt everybody the next step was to take their freedoms so they can't work their way out of bankruptcy. And of course then they'll take all our guns so we can't shoot our way out of bankruptcy.

 

[FoolKiller]

I'm not sure what your state laws are or if they are more strict but, it's all outlined here. Damn those pesky terrorists tricked us into making meth lol.

USA PATRIOT IMPROVEMENT AND REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005, TITLE VII—COMBAT METHAMPHETAMINE EPIDEMIC ACT OF 2005.


and


I'm sure you knew this but others may not.

.......................

Anyone who still thinks the patriot act is a good idea needs to realize it's used for restricting any and every freedom imaginable. No one should ever vote for a representative that does not oppose this act. Here is how the votes went back then, it's easy to find voting records from 2011 as well(I had a false hope it wasn't gonna make it that year)

Passed the House Passed the Senate

None of that applies to me because our state law is much stricter. If I could get 3.6g a day I'd be able to stockpile. The state law, being 7.2g in 30 days, means I would only be able to get 3.6g over 14 days in Kentucky.

And while the Feds allow for just a list of purchasers kept by the pharmacy, something they do for Rx drugs anyway for audits, Kentucky has set up a state run electronic tracking system where they have to scan your license into the system and then the state computer tells them if it is allowed.

While my life would be easier under federal law, requiring me to wait in line with people getting prescriptions holds me up, not to mention that I am delaying sick people who are trying to get medicine and get home. And of course, this means I, being relatively healthy, am having to stand around a group of sick, possibly contagious people. Nothing worse than hearing the guy behind you talking on his phone about getting Tamiflu, then coughing.

I wonder if we can show a correlation in a higher spread of infectious diseases among people getting pseudoephedrine since it was put behind the counter. I know the contagion risk was one of the primary arguments against making it require a prescription, which was seriously being considered.

 

[arora]

None of that applies to me because our state law is much stricter. If I could get 3.6g a day I'd be able to stockpile. The state law, being 7.2g in 30 days, means I would only be able to get 3.6g over 14 days in Kentucky.

I think you missed my point but that's ok.

 

[FoolKiller]

I think you missed my point but that's ok.

I got it. I was just clarifying just how strict my state is bring with this. More strict than the most rights encroaching law in my lifetime.

Plus, you caught me in fired up mode on this issue. It's all me, me, me.

 

[Keef]

 

[arora]

I gotcha FK 👍

It's a shame the answer to every loosing battle is to penalize the innocent.

 

[arora]

Here is our secretary of state today, short and snippy

"Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they'd go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?"

Oh Hillary, just as your husband I suppose lol. It makes a huge difference when you consider the senate and the American people don't think being lied to is so great.

A few tidbits from some goings on in Africa. We'll be going full force over there before you know it, why it's the, the, the new middle east. Take what you will from what the Russian said, I thought it was worth posting.

Voicing U.S. backing, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the internationally-backed intervention in Mali as a response to "a very serious, ongoing threat" posed by the regional affiliate of al Qaeda and its local allies.

"We are in for a struggle but it is a necessary struggle. We cannot permit northern Mali to become a safe haven," she said in Washington, referring to Malian elements of al Qaeda as not only a "terrorist syndicate" but also a "criminal enterprise".

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/23/us-mali-rebels-idUSBRE90M16T20130123

"Those whom the French and Africans are fighting now in Mali are the (same) people who overthrew the Gaddafi regime, those that our Western partners armed so that they would overthrow the Gaddafi regime," Lavrov told a news conference.

"Terrorist acts have become almost daily in the region, arms are spreading in uncontrollably, infiltration by militants is taking place, including in the Sahara-Sahel area", Lavrov said.

"The situation in Mali feels the consequence of events in Libya. The seizure of hostages in Algeria was a wake-up call."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/23/us-sahara-crisis-russia-idUSBRE90M12X20130123

I don't want to ramble on again about my stance on what we did in Libya, this post relates to the gun running stuff we discussed as well as(as the op desired) what we are doing around the globe. I'm pretty sure most of us know why it's going on.

 

[Keef]

One of these days a humvee and infantry is going to come rolling down a neighborhood road firing blanks for a drill and somebody will step out of their house with a rifle and decide the drill is over.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Here is our secretary of state today, short and snippy

Oh Hillary, just as your husband I suppose lol. It makes a huge difference when you consider the senate and the American people don't think being lied to is so great.

I happened to be watching that live and I thought she was going to burst a blood vessel. Can you imagine if it was a Republican Secratary of State up there that said, paraphrasing, "What does it matter if it was a deliberate, organized, planned act of terror against our embassy, or some guys just out for a walk who happened to be carrying mortars and rocket propelled grenades?" ...because that's essentially what she said. CNN, MSNBC etc would have gone insane had a Repub said the very same thing.

 

[arora]

*silly u.s. stuff

desensitizing Americans to the idea of a military state. A complete over reaction and a reminder just how complacent our society can be.

I happened to be watching that live and I thought she was going to burst a blood vessel. Can you imagine if it was a Republican Secratary of State up there that said, paraphrasing, "What does it matter if it was a deliberate, organized, planned act of terror against our embassy, or some guys just out for a walk who happened to be carrying mortars and rocket propelled grenades?" ...because that's essentially what she said. CNN, MSNBC etc would have gone insane had a Repub said the very same thing.

Partisan bickering and media bias/sensationalizing aside, we are going about Africa in all the wrong ways. It probably angers me more then it should but when she says "lets make sure it does not happen again" I burst a vessel LOL. Over baring force is all she is implying, not doing the right thing, ever.

Unlike some of the libertarians on here, I believe in having a presence in these lands, military if necessary but I strongly believe in every peoples right to independence. I'll just drop one of my tired old quotes from a smarter then most man.

Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad...

 

[PeterJB]

Well, if nothing else, the Americans sure did inherit our love of imperialism.

 

[arora]

Any thoughts on Chuck Hagel?

He didn't look very good in the hearing. Actually none of them looked so great but he still looks pretty damaged at this point.

 

[Keef]

 

[Danoff]

(didn't watch, I assume it's the Superbowl commercial verbatim)

Here's my issue with that commercial. No one farmer grows all those crops and raises all types of livestock. That's an homage to multiple disciplines within a single profession, but they make it seem like one person does all of that.

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

Being a (although only part time now) farmhand, I enjoyed that.

Here's my issue with that commercial. No one farmer grows all those crops and raises all types of livestock. That's an homage to multiple disciplines within a single profession, but they make it seem like one person does all of that.

The farm I work on certainly does. With the exception of the very specialist skills (farrier, ropemaker) we do all of that.

 

[FoolKiller]

(didn't watch, I assume it's the Superbowl commercial verbatim)

Here's my issue with that commercial. No one farmer grows all those crops and raises all types of livestock. That's an homage to multiple disciplines within a single profession, but they make it seem like one person does all of that.

Never seen a self-sustained farm? I have friends who are one dairy cattle away from not needing the grocery for food. Rabbits and chickens for meat and eggs, two whole acres of non-hybrid (aka reproducable) vegetable gardens, and even a field for feed grain for their livestock.

The fact is you don't often see a farmer who does all those things because they are growing few and far between and have been replaced by the industry or market farmer. And while a multi-discipline farmer is hard to find these days the fact is that all of those things are done by a farmer, even if it isn't one single farmer.

But to break it down even further, that was a speech given by Paul Harvey at the 1978 Future Farmers of America (FFA) convention. He claims it was sent to him by a listener, making it even older. Even if he had written it in 1978, it would definitely have applied. My dad woke up at 4:00 to milk the cows, move them to the fields, and feed them hay bailed from a field. He had worked two hours before breakfast, which he would pick up in the chicken coop on his way in. After his day working at the factory he checked the fields for weeds and the fences for any breaks. Then he brought the cows back in and so forth. I know he did this because he farmed until I was six, and I had to help with the calfs.

None of that compared to my dad's childhood, where his parents only farmed from morning to bed. My dad, and others in his generation from our area, know how to birth multiple animals, raise them, slaughter them, and age or cure the meat. Even while running an engineering firm my uncle had hog pens, grain silos and tobacco hanging barns, because he grew up on a Virginia farm. He had the land to do more, but he worked his day job to provide medical insurance for his family and had to hire teenage and migrant help to keep what he had going.

Today you might struggle to find an all-in one farmer but the baby boomers were the first to begin stepping away from that, and Paul Harvey and that speech are from that time.

All that said, we build Fords and Chevys here. I know few Dodge/Ram owning farmers.

 

[Keef]

I didn't really care to analyze it. I just like taking pride in the fact that US farms are so vast and productive that we lead the world in every staple food crop but rice, have the highest exports by far, most of them food crops, and even make so much that our government pays farmers to not grow anything. Plus there's the whole American lifestyle thing, working hard from dusk til dawn, taking care of your family, and just generally getting stuff done like nobody else in the world can. This is your moment to show some nationalistic pride Danoff, bask in it! Sell that Bimmer and buy an F150 or something ya damn city boy. You're in Denver now.

 

[nobuffalo]

Even though I've lived in the city since the first chance I got.

Our house never had and to this day still doesn't have doors that lock. Well, at least for 25 years and my Dad's owned it since the mid 70's.

 

[FoolKiller]

Try being a technological nerd in the country. Seeing E pop up in place of 4G or LTE on my phone every time I visit my parents reminds me why I left. That is no place for a computer using teenager on the academic team, unless he likes ducking fists.

 

[nobuffalo]

Country living has it's pros and cons, and the people where I grew up were not necessarily any worse or better than those I experience here in the city. Then again, I only really have experience from those in the part of Missouri I grew up in. The small town police are what annoy me. :/ It's hard to beat that night time sky, though. Having said that it can actually be surprisingly nice in my part of Seattle on a clear night.

The city better suits me at this moment in my life, there seems to be more oppurtunity and sexy women everywhere.

Since the talk got started about farmers, anybody have much information on the subsidies many of them receive or your opinions on it?

 

[Danoff]

The farm I work on certainly does. With the exception of the very specialist skills (farrier, ropemaker) we do all of that.

Never seen a self-sustained farm? I have friends who are one dairy cattle away from not needing the grocery for food. Rabbits and chickens for meat and eggs, two whole acres of non-hybrid (aka reproducable) vegetable gardens, and even a field for feed grain for their livestock.

I think it's probably clear that I understand that people have performed all of those tasks for their own needs. I do get that people can be self-sufficient. What I'm saying is that people who actually produce (and I mean significantly produce, not just have a some small surplus over their own immediate needs), do not produce all of those things. There is a simple reason for that - which is that specialization is the cornerstone of society, economic growth, and productivity. The pretense that farmers do all of these as full-time jobs and that somehow they accomplish 5 or 6 full time jobs on their own is what I'm railing against (also, the notion that an imaginary deity prefers the farming profession over other professions).

The fact is you don't often see a farmer who does all those things because they are growing few and far between and have been replaced by the industry or market farmer.

...to the benefit of those individuals and to the economy as a whole.

My dad, and others in his generation from our area, know how to birth multiple animals, raise them, slaughter them, and age or cure the meat. Even while running an engineering firm my uncle had hog pens, grain silos and tobacco hanging barns, because he grew up on a Virginia farm. He had the land to do more, but he worked his day job to provide medical insurance for his family and had to hire teenage and migrant help to keep what he had going.

Well that's wonderful from an economic productivity perspective. From the perspective of the commercial it's all wrong. The farmer isn't the guy who hires people to work his farm, he does the work and he does it with a dodge truck. Otherwise he's not a real farmer. I didn't hear anything about hiring people in that commercial (even though that would have made a better commercial).

 

[FoolKiller]

...to the benefit of those individuals and to the economy as a whole.

To the financial benefit of the individual. The self-sustained might not agree that farming under a contract or making a living based on the market value vs completely sustaining their family by themselves is a benefit. I know one of these people who's nearest neighbor is Amish (disclaimer: I agree with you, but see their reasoning).


Out of curiosity, do you also have an issue with showgirls and cowboys fighting over a Coke, a suspiciously familiar football rookie named Leon Sandcastle, nerds making out with supermodels, or Satan trying to sell you a Mercedes because none of that actually happens?

I think you have taken a commercial not targeted at you a tad but too seriously. The goal of the speech is to have one or many of the things mentioned (and the original speech was longer) resonate with a farmer in a personal way. The goal of the commercial is to then connect that personal feeling to the Ram brand.

To be honest, from my marketing background, I would bet that ad connected with its intended audience far better than any other Super Bowl ad, and even it made the incredible mistake of failing to integrate their product with the ad itself. Ultimately, it was a year of dud ads. The ones that tried to reach their audience on a personal level or told an interesting story went almost two minutes without the brand being mentioned. And the ones that got the brand as part of the narrative early on were duds or made the audience uncomfortable.

 

[Slash]

Dad's watching the State of the Union Address....all I hear is Obama saying "The state of the union is strong" and my dad going "my ass, dumb mother:censored:"

 

[sonic378]

Did Obama mention the Constitution at all? I think he may have mentioned once or twice maybe. I just need a confirmation.

 

[Crispy]

^Boehner's expression is hilarious!

 

[arora]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, fellow Americans, 51 years ago, John F. Kennedy declared to this chamber that “the Constitution makes us not rivals for power, but partners for progress."

Only that time afaik

 

[Johnnypenso]

If Kennedy were alive today he'd be a Republican.

 

[photonrider]

^Boehner's expression is hilarious!

I was watching him more than Obama! But, then again - he's a handsome fellow still, isn't he?

It was classic Obama rhetoric; and some well-orchestrated drama involving slices of life introduced powerfully by real people.
Polls show that that most Americans found it to be positive.
Good for you, America.