From: Bob Blick Subject: Re: [OT]: Retirement home for monkeys >> > And how many more human lives could be better off (or saved) with that $24 >> > million, properly used? > >It's not like the chimpanzees are being given any money. There are a lot >of people receiving benefit from the money. Think of it as another type of >zoo or museum, receiving public funds. There are people getting jobs out >of this. Someone once defended Motorola getting a big tax write-off for their failed cellular plant here in Libertyville (Ha! what a name for a village in the Peoples Republic of Illinois!). Yes, Motorola can gamble a billion dollars, and we tax payers eat the loss for the rich and influencial Galvin family, and all their brown-nosed sycophants and bribed politicians! Keep people employed at Motorola making phones nobody will buy, or in this case, keeping alive maimed medical experiment survivors. My point is why not just take our tax money and build a pyramid. Some spectacular work of art, to impress future generations. Surely our tax revenue could be better spent on other public projects? But then again, with people sick and dying, shouldn't that money be better spent elsewhere? And who will choose how and where to spend OUR money? Politicians that are bribed by greedy corporations, or blackmailed by those bribing them as our great senator Toricelli was? Isn't this the point of a 'free' market? Lets keep our own money and spend it the where our heart is! America's founders were afraid our republic would come to this - a true democracy where two wolves and a sheep vote on who will be eaten for lunch, where the mob decides who will be victimized for the 'greater good'! >Libertarians (the original poster was quoting a Libertarian propaganda >feed) only care about reducing government to the point where everyone is >living in an unsafe world without healthcare, but "no taxes". And better >keep your gun loaded, and close at hand. If the government was over 70% Libertarian, I would become a Democrat to maintain a sane balance. For instance, here in Illinois you are required to have car insurance, or enough money in a bank account to pay for damage you may do with your vehicle. There is no reason why social security couldn't work the same way, with you choosing what (FDIC insured) account YOU invest YOUR money in. Instead, we get the government spending social security funds, putting IOU's in the trust fund, doing what they would allow no corporation to do. The governments accounting is not merely attrocious, it is treason. Just plain treason! I like Libertarians because there is no alternative, there really is no alternative anyways. Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same corrupt coin. The green party wants to take money from the military-industrial complex, double it and waste it in the academia-lawyer complex. I don't look at absolute ideals, but the direction things are headed. Can you understand that from control system theory? It is better not to vote than psychologicaly reinforce the behavior of a Republican or Democrat that plays a game of "heads I win, tails you lose" with our wallet. Punish Democrats by voting for a greeny, or punishing Republicans by voting for a Libertarian. We're probably better off just running off, getting drunk and burying our collective heads in the sand of some beach till the system punishes itself and learns common sense. There is no learning common sense without accoutability. The government holds corporate accountants responsible. Who holds our government accountable? Not corporate journalists, the media whores! Scott -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.