Bernice:
I didn't say there is nothing to worry about.
I am saying there is nothing additional to worry about than previously until the new leader of North Korea indicates there is through word or action.
If anything, the change in leadership should be viewed as an opportunity to renewed diplomacy with North Korea.
Whether I sound like someone else is hardly an issue.

Bernice:
Media fear mongering.
It's ridiculous. A new leader doesn't imply an imminent attack without cause. Have we, or has any country, given North Korea cause to attack?
If not, they won't.
The media is creating news merely for marketing purposes.

The anonymous vote is a disguise pretending that voters want it. In fact, each voter could be issued a code to maintain anonymity while publishing the votes in each district with the code to allow the voters themselves to verify accuracy and complain if not. When a count is questioned, the votes could be decoded for verification purposes.

Artful Dodger:
I don't think so, but feel free to persuade with either a link or an accurate quote.

(V):
He employs the "Argumentum ad hominem" fallacy regularly to avoid arguing the actual point of another's argument.

(V):
That is capitalism.
It would be unamerican to suggest Jesus is off limits for profitable ventures.
I have heard or read the claim from many Christians that the bible is the all time best seller.

(V):
We mustn't forget about the green agenda of Dr. Seuss and the insidious eco-friendly plots of his books.
Oh, the horror of spreading the message of maintaining sustainable resources. We humans are supposed to dominate. If creatures have not evolved to withstand human encroachment and exploitations, they don't deserve to survive.

Artful Dodger:
It is true that some policies have been counterproductive and some regulations made ineffective. That doesn't imply that there should be no regulations. Policies and regulations should make sense and regulations need to have "teeth" for enforcing them.
It's also true that credit unions have typically avoided the problems banks have had. The key there was how they were controlled and by whom.

There are different definitions for socialism.
some are Marxist, but many are not.
The failure or success of a system in a particular country may have little to do with economic factors.
Other factors may include internal corruption, overpopulation, external pressure such as foreign support of coup attempts and sanctions.
Consider that a poor country may have been poor before adopting its current economic strategy.

The following countries adopted a socialist economic model. I don't see imminent collapse or increased paralysis compared to their previous economic state.
Bangladesh since 1971
Guyana transitioning from capitalism to socialism 1980-96
India since 1947
Portugal since 1974
Sri Lanka since 1978
Tanzania since 1964

Übergeek 바둑이:
He is running to sell books and speeches.
He is no politician and has no expectation of getting the nomination much less becoming president.
The point about the lie detector is not about whether Herman is guilty of sexual indiscretions. I couldn't care less about that. The point is about the dishonesty in the campaign ad itself. Herman did NOT take a legitimate lie detector test. It was software used on the videos of Herman and his accuser. I think the reliability of the software and its application on video material is questionable at best.

"one of the foremost lie detector experts in America said about Herman Cain.”

That lie detector expert is an Atlanta private investigator who WGCL enlisted three weeks ago to analyze Cain’s denial of Sharon Bialek‘s sexual harrassment allegations.

Using “$15,000 software,” the P.I. concluded that Cain was not lying when he denied Bialek’s allegations at a press conference held after she came forward. On the other hand, the software listed Bialek’s account of Cain reaching for her genitals as having a “high risk” for lying."

There is no evidence that this lie detector software can reliably detect lies or truth from video. It is BS!

Bernice:
http://www.401k-and-ira-retirement.com/
It's an investment retirement account that an employer may or may not match contributions usually up to a certain percentage. If the employer matches contributions, it can be a great investment. If not, it carries virtually the same risks as IRA accounts.

He is an American hero!

Atheism is not a belief system.
There are, however, systems that support those who are atheist.
"…it is accepted that the Humanist Manifestos are not permanent or authoritative dogmas but are to be subject to ongoing critique."
Agnosticism is a lack of belief. The atheist assertion that no god exists is a belief since it cannot be proven or scientifically tested. Since the humanist manifestos represent groups that may be fairly small or may be large but not all inclusive (of humanists, atheists or agnostics), they are not unlike the tenets of a Christian sect in that those tenets are not all shared by other sects. The way they are clearly unlike the tenets of a Christian sect or other religion is that they are not dogma, are subject to change and no humanist (atheist or agnostic) is expected to accept their precepts.
Though the existence of god cannot be disproved, an understanding of the history of religions and the evolution of the various gods represented by them leads to a clear deduction that the Christian god does not exist as represented by literalists.
That such a god does not exist is not a matter of faith or belief, but of knowledge, understanding and sound reasoning.

Artful Dodger:
The following argument employs an a priori fallacy:
"If a claim has no basis other than the claim itself, then all claims would be equal."
Sharing a common characteristic does not imply equality.

Artful Dodger:
The following argument employs an a priori<i/> fallacy:
"If a claim has no basis other than the claim itself, then all claims would be equal."
Sharing a common characteristic does not imply equality.

http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Capitalism.html
"Economic individualism’s basic premise is that the pursuit of self-interest and the right to own private property are morally defensible and legally legitimate. Its major corollary is that the state exists to protect individual rights. Subject to certain restrictions, individuals (alone or with others) are free to decide where to invest, what to produce or sell, and what prices to charge."

Capitalism is a derogatory term for economic individualism. It is derogatory for good reasons in view of global corporations and the destruction they have brought to many local economies throughout the world.

The flaws with capitalism exists wherever the government fails to protect individual rights ("individual" meaning flesh and blood persons and NOT corporations) and impose appropriate restrictions to protect the environment, natural resources, workers, consumers and legitimate competitive enterprises.

It may seem to some that those don't belong together, and I would agree that they should not. Unfortunately, however, the Christian conservatives have a stranglehold on republican politics and a strong influence on many issues and how they are presented. Democracy doesn't exist without public opinion and polls have shown that atheism is unpopular in the USA.
There is significant misinformation about what it means for a person to be atheist. In particular, it's commonly asserted that atheists have no morals because morals come from god. First, morals do not come from god. Second, atheists do have morals even if different than those of Christians.
Morality is a social code that may be enforced by law or other social convention. Christian morals are based on the old testament and enhanced by the new testament including the teachings of Paul the misogynist and Jesus. Old testament law is based on the code of Hammurabi about 4 centuries before Moses. There are other social codes that predate the code of Hammurabi. Even if the law of Moses were considered independent of the code of Hammurabi, the fact that social laws existed long before it demonstrates that morality predated god's law and is not dependent on the god of the old testament.

Artful Dodger:
is mostly attributable to ex governor Arnold Schwarzeneger (Republican).
It clearly has nothing to do with this socialist concept you keep falsely asserting. Of course there are many others that assert it also, so it's not surprising that you've jumped on the bandwagon.
Additionally, the problem is NOT due to spending but lack of revenues from California businesses.

there is no government of any kind nor a need for it.
Artful Dodger:
Socialism implies that the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government.
Please describe Artful Dodger the California industries that are state owned.

Übergeek 바둑이:
"The only way a person can make a profit from others is by not paying them a fair wage for their labour. If wages were perfectly fair, nobody could make a profit. But the extraction of plusvalue from other people's wages is what makes profits possible."

Actually, profits and wealth can be measured in other ways. All can profit either equally or unequally. Money itself is only a unit of exchange giving relative value to a wide variety of goods and services.
Forgetting about the monetary value of goods and services for a moment, a group of people may utilize a division of labor in which some build, others farm or hunt and others maintain the families and education while all in the group benefit and advance as a society.
Society is not initially built on a system of competition demanding winners and losers. The winners and losers approach is artificial and, when taken to the extreme, detrimental.
Money itself does not create this extreme. Corporations can profit while paying its employees sufficient wages for them to do well and accumulate property and or savings.

Artful Dodger:
"Of course they do. There are evil people in the world. These people need to be exposed and dealt with. But that is NOT what's being advoated by the left."

That's precisely what is being advocated. It isn't restricted to "evil people" though. A political climate that allows and even encourages lowering wages and restricting worker rights while rewarding the largest corporations leads to these unethical behaviors with little if any accountability.
Demanding that the wealthiest pay their fair share in a progressive tax system is NOT class warfare. Suppressing the workers and removing their rights to negotiate is class warfare.
Corporations should exist and their executives paid for the betterment of society rather than just for themselves.
Otherwise, those corporations must be dismantled and their executives punished.
Make no mistake, that is not a statement to suggest that corporations are bad. Additionally, no corporation should be permitted to become so large that its failure creates the upheaval that we have witnessed recently.
They should not be allowed to employ predatory practices that eliminate competition and bury local small businesses.
Legislating effective regulations with the power to enforce them is the way to stop this rape of the greatest resource of the economy--the working class.

Artful Dodger:
Politics (Artful Dodger, 2011-10-31 06:01:32)
Who established the rule that humor or sarcasm is inappropriate when a serious issue is being discussed or debated?

and again today, because of "money-mad" hypocrites "our national life is on every side distinctly poorer, uglier, meaner, for the kind of influence he exercises..."
Ida Tarbell
"He," then Rockefeller and now the so called job creators (and their lobbyists and bought politicians) that crush competition, bust unions and depress wages would have us believe that a free market unfettered by regulation is the answer to the crisis instead of the very cause of it.

Too mountainous...not practical...LOL

Artful Dodger:
Fortunately, calling protesters "losers and hypocrites" is neither hateful speech nor stereotyping them.
No one that I'm aware of has claimed that all workers are good or that all employers are bad. Everyone whether they are executives of corporations, workers, retirees and all others are responsible for their own actions and should be held accountable. The issue is that those responsible for creating the increasing income and wealth disparity have not been held accountable and we reasonably expect that they should be.

Artful Dodger:
I'm glad no one else is stereotyping anyone.
I'm certainly pleased the republicans avoid doing so.
Of course there are good employers that care about their employees and pay them according to the work they do. No need to stereotype employers by saying they all do that. It is they who do not that OWS is upset about and the political climate in which policies encourage unfair exploitation of workers and markets.

Artful Dodger:
I have heard no one from OWS state anything of the kind.
If you're paraphrasing, it's blatantly inaccurate.
If anyone thinks that the income disparity is the result of laziness on those who feel they don't have enough, that too is untrue. The idea that the rich are wealthy because of hard work is true, but it's the hard work of the employees that has made them wealthy rather than their own hard work alone.
It isn't unreasonable for workers to want or demand a fair wage for their hard work.

Kraushaar’s boss, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George, is actually a Bush administration appointee.
Nice try on turning Herman's inappropriate behavior into the result of a democratic conspiracy.

It's fortunate that the republicans are above mud slinging.
Naturally accusing the democrats of being behind the allegations against Herman does not qualify as republican mud slinging in spite of there being no evidence that the dems are behind it. The evidence that the settlements are near 10 years old, of course, demonstrates the lengths democrats will go to prepare for future battles with potential up and coming republicans.

Dark Prince:
Sorry about fat fingering my last post. I intended this text in it.
Roosevelt had many spending projects to help turn the economy around and there are many more examples of government spending helping the economy.
On the other side, there is no evidence that tax breaks for the rich leads to job creation, but there is plenty of data showing that lack of correlation.

Iamon lyme:
I think you are the one to have brought up socialism.
My point was that it has little to do with what we are talking about. I am not a proponent of socialism and said nothing to indicate otherwise.
Capitalism without regulation leads to unfair exploitation of workers and consumers deceived with unsafe and substandard products and subjected to predatory practices suppressing legitimate competition.

Übergeek 바둑이:
I agree with much of what you said. It is a conundrum.
I think such judgments can only be made realistically on a local community level. That too would be difficult in our disjointed societies in which there is a great deal of fluidity with large numbers of individuals relocating with some regularity.
I don't think any national or state policy could adequately address the issues you expounded.
In the world as it is, the real problem is that people work for corporations instead of corporations working for people. Of course corporations should make profits, but profit above all else is a disastrous model both for the environment and the work force.

Iamon lyme:
Hah, more like record profits.

"...insert itself into a normally functioning society by convincing people that they need a small elite group of people (them) to micro manage their lives for them."

That sounds like the republican party passing laws to make abortions unavailable or difficult at best and squashing collective bargaining.

Who is controlling or attempting to control productivity in the US?
Or was that just hyperbole suggesting that the US will soon be like Cuba?

Iamon lyme:
That concept is thrown around a lot and usually has nothing to do with the actual topic.
As far as doctors go, there are plenty of doctors working under capitalist economic rules that are guilty of botching the job whether it be diagnostic or surgical.

Socialism implies that the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government. Neither socialized medicine nor government sponsored public works projects are socialism. Government sponsored health insurance is not the same as socialized medicine. There will still be numerous functions provided by the health industry that will be elective and not covered by insurance.

Without government sponsored public works projects, we would not have our interstate highway system. That system is in disrepair. Fixing it will put many of us to work and provide a valuable resource in better working order for all of us to utilize including corporations that need to move products where they will be available for us to purchase and thereby further stimulate the economy.

Iamon lyme:
The time for spending is now, but not on wars.
We need to bring our troops home and spend some of the money that would be going to the war on our country employing those released troops and other unemployed.

Artful Dodger:
Is that argument against the Free Market or for Regulation?

Artful Dodger:
Well Spun!
Unfortunately, Bush got us into this mess starting 2 wars while cutting taxes for the wealthy instead of paying for those wars. It was under Bush that jobs migrated out of the country and unemployment rose and continued to rise. Where were the fiscally responsible pundits then?

Artful Dodger:
Taxing the rich has never been about monetary equalization but about progressive taxation, and it is sustainable. It won't make people equal and isn't intended to.
Friedman was an effective propagandist, but his theories were never able to explain the great depression.
The free market cannot help equalize financial disparity. Quite the opposite. As taxes and regulations for the wealthy has decreased over the past decades, the middle class has shrunk and the disparity increased dramatically.
It's a fallacy to think either that the wealthy work hard or that those not rich do not. No doubt some of the rich work hard and some of the poor do not.
Few would fall in the category of undeserving that suck off the work of others. Some that do fall into that category are wealthy.
By percentage, more is "confiscated" from the middle and lower classes than the upper class when sales taxes are factored in.

Übergeek 바둑이:
I agree with a fair distribution of wealth, but I can't say "fair and equal" does enough to encourage excellence.

Using nukes adversely affects all life. There's already too much habitat destruction from human encroachment not to mention resource exploitation. Nuclear weapons have condemned many to slow agonizing deaths.

Artful Dodger:
Of course excessive population creates many other problems as well. A common argument is that there are enough resources to sustain an even greater population.
That may be the case with less waste, but that's an ideal that doesn't exist with capitalist economics. In an ideal world nuclear power too would be safe, but we don't live in an ideal world.
Medical advances have greatly reduced infant mortality but have not reduced birth rates. Maybe starvation is the solution rather than the problem.