Would you care to cite the posts that "previously explained" why my example is not a lust for power as described by OP?

No one has intelligently refuted anything I have said itt. Criticized yes, but never an explanation as to how my examples don't apply.

He is not talking explicitly about food stamps, not sure how you even made that assumption.

You do realize a lot of good gamblers live private lives, without self glorifying and attracting attention? I cited a well know gambler, Alan Woods, in a thread the other day, and right after doing it realized that less than 10% of the people here would likely recognize him, despite the fact he is highly transparent and made nearly a billion dollars gambling. So name recognition and achievement are not always equal.

Obviously. In fact, just the other night, someone sat in my 5/10 that I was fairly certain is a retired pro, but I have no idea who he is.

But if you make a boast like that, and you have nothing to back it up, people are going to tend to take you less seriously. I mean, it's kinda like my posting. I'm a pretty smart guy, but I make myself look like a total idiot regularly. Hell, I'm probably doing so now.

I actually removed the boast to not distract from the direction of the thread. If you are able to take me less seriously after reading my posts, I assume judging people's intellectual backgrounds and accomplishments may not be your strength.

There are "nobody's" all around the gambling world. Bookies in Texas, Florida, and Cally rountinuely make 7 figures annually flying completely under the radar. Even the big poker ring that was busted in NYC maybe had 2 or 3"known" people, Abe M and Justin S, Trincher might have been on HSP.

Most gamblers I know don't want to be bothered with unnecessary attention. The younger generation likes the attention, blogging, tweeting, posting at 2+2, etc anything to get recognized. Hell most of you didn't even know who Billy Walters was until that 60 Minutes episode.

LOL. Child, simmer down.

Well, he's refused(TWICE) to actually explain what he meant by "programs". Of course, he's actually talking about "nothing", because his post is not accurately describing how government works.

But to the extent that he is talking about "programs" that are fictionally created to take money from the competent and give it to the lazy, he's talking about welfare programs.

P.S. Bureaucrats do not create "programs". Prison privatization and the outsourcing of military/intelligence are all done via either executive directives from the top or through legislation. Elected officials are making those decisions, and it's not because of their mother****ing EMPATHY WITH FELLOW MEDIOCRE PEOPLE.

Playa, you seriously never read the actual post, right? You saw "government" and "lust for power" in the thread title and you dove right in.

lol not sure how I made that assumption. Are you ****ing illiterate?


He's talking about programs that "help" the lazy. I know me might not be your gambling or academic equals, but you could at least try to skim. That's not an assumption I made, it's possession of rudimentary reading comprehension.

Lol

"education credentials" lol

http://www.latimes.com/science/scien...,2929974.story

This is India. Different economy, different culture, different politics, different government and different perceptions of government and government corruption (and extent of, or blatant display of)

5) The evidence you cite here is to general to reach your desired conclusion that welfare is indeed the topic. You merely quoted the word "help" then attached it to lazy. You made your conclusion that welfare is the topic based on OP's usage of the word "help" and you connecting it to the word lazy? Interesting assumption if that was the only evidence you used to make this conclusion.

The irony of you criticizing my critical thinking skills is laughable.

What on Earth did that post look like before you edited it?

The unedited version is post #305 itt. I merely highlighted our primary points of contention and responded to your direct questions. I removed parts, but did not alter your words or even their context.

See, when a person says this they exclude themselves from being considered about politics or basically anything else. It shows ignorance of what money is and how it's acquired, what taxation is and why it's necessary in a modern economy, and most importantly, it shows that you're a propertarian, and consequently, not actually talking about the real world but stuck in a fantasy of a unicornitopia that doesn't exist and can never exist.

Anyway, the very rich stole our labour, so I'm all for the government stealing it back on our behalf. It should steal more. At actual gunpoint preferably.

My brother works in gov't, and given his ivy league degrees, near perfect GRE and SAT scores, I think Mr. Sklansky would think he's intelligent.. Everyone I met that he was friends with that worked in gov't was intelligent too..

The sad thing is a lot of used to think David Sklansky was intelligent, amazing even, until he started posting in Politics.

Sometimes it's better to say nothing and let people wonder than open your mouth and prove you're an idiot.

He's definitely intelligent, just a bit of a savant. Also, being a savant in Las Vegas means you're even more of a savant, because you're not dealing with a representative sample of the population or the standard range of human behavior.

My bro., who is quite smart but a bit awkward, was a civilian programmer for a military branch, but he was scooped up by the outside contractor after a few years. He does basically the same work, but now he's billed at contractor rates. He made the switch mainly because there wasn't really a promotion path given his role--a mid-level programmer semi-managing a good sized software project (because he understood the code and requirements).

A Seattle attorney who amassed a fortune through frugal living and stock investments has left $187.6 million to Seattle Children’s, the UW School of Law and the Salvation Army.

He was born in British Columbia, grew up in Seattle and worked for three decades as an attorney for the Veterans Administration, since superseded by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Over the years he supported hundreds of causes with smaller donations, including $536,000 to Children’s and anonymous gifts to a small town in Canada where his parents are buried.

Pretty good fortune amassed by a power-lustful VA lawyer.

In July, MacDonald took a serious fall and was rushed to Harborview Medical Center, where doctors began treating him for a head injury that would eventually end his life. Even in the middle of the emergency, MacDonald had the presence of mind to insist that the neurosurgeon treat him with generic drugs.

Ok, that's kind of odd.

http://seattletimes.com/html/localne...nationxml.html