Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Tony G]

Referees Arrested In Middle Of Football Game



That is referees with an "s," two of 'em. The two refs, who were officiating the Mandeville-St. Paul's (high school) game last night in Louisiana, were arrested on public intimidation charges after allegedly threatening police officers in charge of crowd control.
One report says the incident began when the refs got into it with "vocal members" of the St. Paul [ame="https://twitter.com/DMoutonWWL/status/388867776204378112"]chain crew[/ame]. Things then escalated when one of the referees began arguing with a Covington police officer about crowd control.

"Well, a referee asked a police officer to move some people back. The police officer moved them back. Another referee came up to the police officer and told him, 'that's not far enough.' The police officer explained....would you please handle the game, referee the game, and we will handle the crowd for you. The second referee told the police officer, nose-to-nose with the police officer, 'you're out of the game...get outta here.' And the police officer said, 'excuse me sir, just referee the game, and we'll handle the crowd.' And he says 'no, get out. Get out now.'

Such a polite police officer. Unfortunately, the officer's patience ran thin—apparently at the use of some "magic words"—and both referees were arrested on the spot, in the middle of the third quarter and escorted off the field into squad cars. All told, it caused a 25-minute delay in the game.

[Optimus Prime]

CBS '60 Minutes' Bob Simon: Detroit reminds me of Mogadishu, Somalia

Sadly according to 60 Minutes, Detroit resembles Africa but do keep "living the dream".

http://www.freep.com/article/2013101...S06/310110132/

[Rocky Bleier]

Just for the record (though primarily to test linesman's boundaries), I don't see how that's a correct understanding of capitalism. Certainly that would fall under the broader category at one end of the spectrum. But a market system with no public assets or regulation is as realistic as communism in its purest form. In an unregulated free-for-all somebody wins at some point. And therefore becomes the regulator, and, essentially, the state.

Rothbard espoused "free-market capitalism [as] a network of free and voluntary exchanges in which producers work, produce, and exchange their products for the products of others through prices voluntarily arrived at." That's what I mean when I refer to capitalism. The word means differerent things to different people. It's important to define terms before discussing. I see it this way: Everyone is responsible for their own survival. He must be free to produce, own, and exchange that which he has produced in order to survive. Capitalism offers that. In all other systems man is enslaved or controlled by others who expropriate his wealth by threat or force for the "greater good." That is statism, where man?s life and work belong to the state?to society, to the group, the gang, the race, the nation?and that the state may dispose of him in any way it pleases for the sake of whatever it deems to be its own tribal, collective good.

[hodgkal]

I thought the Bob Simon report on Detroit was pretty well balanced. There is a huge wasteland between downtown and 8 mile rd. But the midtown corridor up Woodward to Grand Blvd. is also nice with the Wayne campus bldgs.,the huge medical center, and of course the incredible DIA.

We were told that during its heyday Detroit was 4th in population behind NYC, Chicago, and Philly. But in terms of wealth it was 3rd, and in terms of per capita wealth it was 1st. in the nation! That is the city I grew up in.

As a kid - peddled the morning Free Press, loaded trucks for the Borden creamery, and worked a summer at the Ford Rouge plant on the assembly line. Another memory - taking the street car down Grand River avenue to shop at Hudsons, a wonderful dept. store. Sigh! It really was a great city.

I was gone by the time of the '67 race riots.

[hack]

Public ownership of assets could co-exist with the version of capitalism in your post, or with the version of statism -- those definitions doesn't address that. But if the goal here is to create reliable definitions, IMO it's mandatory to acknowledge that all systems will have a blend of two elements you mention, and there's nothing humans can do to stop that. Again -- were everyone responsible for their own survival, so to speak, the person or group of allies that ``survive'' the best will soon enough consolidate enough power to become a sovereign and a regulator, whether you choose to use those terms or not. So why dwell on a definition that is not, in theory or reality, plausible?

[Rocky Bleier]

The intent of our founders what to set up a system wherein individuals were free from government control and abuse . Life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. Only possible with capitalism. If it's not possible because men are corrupt and ignorant, so be it. The fascist system we live under will not be overthrown, but it is bothersome when people think we live in a capitalist country and blame capitalism for all the ills of the world.

[hack]

You think we dont live in a capitalist country?

[Rocky Bleier]

Also, to me control involves determining the course of the company, while regulation sets the guidelines for it to operate within (active vs. passive).

Complete control = socialism. Allowing private ownership while robbing the owners of their wealth through force = fascism. America was the great experiment in freedom. Capitalism allowed men to be free to own the product of their toil and prosper. Now we work to feed the government and those whom it rewards. The government decides how much of our earned wealth we get to keep, and most people believe that's a good thing.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. Karl Marx

?Sacrifice? is the surrender of that which you value in favor of that which you don?t. John Galt

[Ghengis Jon]

A semi-capitalist country, run by a pseudo democratic fascist system of gov't, guided by the principle that the sheeple are easily frightened and that inherent rights can be arbitrarily rescinded based on moral/economic/political scare tactics.

[Rocky Bleier]

Amen, GJ

Our present sysem is one where government feeds off the carcass of capitalism. Government gets bigger. Government handouts get bigger. Nearly half of those who work and produce support the other half who don't. That half is controlled through dependency. Corporations who are favored by government get handouts, too. The half that work are controlled through fear, taxes, propaganda, money printing.... It's a system of centralized control. Not as bad as the National Socialit Party, but we're creeping there.

[hack]

Is there an example of a more-capitalist country you see out there?

[Tony G]

Government gets bigger. Government handouts get bigger. Nearly half of those who work and produce support the other half who don't. That half is controlled through dependency. Corporations who are favored by government get handouts, too. The half that work are controlled through fear, taxes, propaganda, money printing.... It's a system of centralized control. Not as bad as the National Socialit Party, but we're creeping there.

By handouts are you referring to the people on assistance or the Bankers that crashed the system and got their golden parachutes on the way out?

[lineygoblue]

:::: sniffing the air ... do I smell political discussion here? ::::

[entropy]

sorry... that was me. I had curry for lunch..

[hack]

Damn. Quick on the draw, there.

Just finished Season 4 of The Wire. Haven't read them yet, but I guess a lot of reviews panned the season. I thought it was just absolutely wonderful. The Bodie story was so well handled. His end was a poet's version. They set up Season 5 quite well, too. What a show. Sometimes I get sick of the cop schtick and sometimes it's still just a ham-fisted TV show, but what a show.