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Detroit, 9:12 AM
Wed Nov 25
25 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/18/09
09/18/09
Secondly, even mentioning the name Rush Limbaugh is like starting a fight between Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt fans AT TALLADEGA. Either you love the guy or you hate him, and unless you are stupid enough to not know this universal fact I would say you guys must be hurting really bad for page hits because no matter what is said about Rush, good or bad, the shit is gonna hit the fan, big time. I mean hell why don't you also start preaching to us how global warming is going to kill us all in 5 years or that we all need to start driving hybrids because "media matters said so". I can't believe you are some mouthpiece of this insane organization.
The problem is that those who hate Rush happen to be people who listen to media matters for their biased info instead of actually listening to Rush's Show. My guess is if you listened to Rush's show constantly, like I do, you wouldn't be saying the things you are because 9 times out of 10 it turns out people agree with what he says. In fact, Media Matters constantly attacks conservative radio and tv hosts with remarks that are usually taken completely out of context. Why do you think Media Matters only plays or shows snippets out of these huge monologues? The best part is that the people they attack have the best ratings in their segment. They've attacked Fox News constantly but that news channel crushes the competition. Also, Rush is the #1 Radio show in America with roughly 14 million listeners by some estimates so I don't think he'd be that popular if he were a right-wing racist nutjob. Also, you're damn right these people are biased and for you to post something like this is reckless and inflammatory. CLEARLY you did this on purpose to start a brawl between your readers.
This brings me to my conclusion. Over the past year or so since I started visiting this site it has been somewhat enjoyable. I found this site by being an avid kotaku reader. Unfortunately, this website does not have the standards I have found at Kotaku or Gizmodo it seems. It is not acceptable, in my opinion, to try and provoke flame wars between your readers. Maybe if this site had such a theme it would be acceptable, but in my opinion this post is complete trash. The intent of it is trash, the actual story itself is trash because the truth has been warped, and you have lost me as a visitor. I doubt you or other people will care, to be honest I don't that much, but luckily for me there's millions of other sites out there and I am sure I can find one that is above starting petty arguments for page hits, AND HOPEFULLY they have editor's that can think for themselves. Good luck in the future, I hope nobody starts trying to get advertisers off your website. After all, it is your opinion/beliefs and nobody would be misunderstanding enough to punish you for that I am sure.
09/18/09
09/18/09
You need help. Help is at hand.
09/18/09
09/18/09
09/17/09
I realize that a lot of people have a lot of strong opinions about what is and is not related to the cult of cars. I also realize that people have a lot of strong opinions about Rush Limbaugh.
Personally, I think he's as big a clown as any other radio personality. But you know what? That's completely beside the point in light of what went down in this post.
What has gotten into Jalopnik today?
I agree that this wasn't a particularly choice story to post on Jalopnik, but on the other hand, I don't run Jalopnik, erego my opinions in that context mean precisely dick. Ben posted it because he felt it was worth posting. There is shit that we can do about that. It's that simple.
Don't like the post? Then don't comment in it. Move on to other posts that you know you will enjoy reading more. Some of you may notice that I don't post in every thread on a given day; only those that I feel that I can contribute an intelligent or a hopefully witty response. Otherwise, I leave it to the other comment-fu masters on this site, like Ash, Dearthair, Braff, Polar, Engineerd, and many, many others.
There were some halfway reasonable responses in this thread that I took the time to read through. To those that made an effort to comment intelligently or in good humor, thank you. You were relative rarities in this particular post, but you still made the post and comments worth reading.
And you know what, I also enjoyed reading the posts that respectfully disagreed with Ben's choice of post. Why? Because they made the effort to show RESPECT. They tried to communicate that they had nothing against Ben, just this particular post. There were several such comments in this post, and are good examples of how to appropriately state a dissenting opinion.
To the rest of you who sat there and simply insulted Ben and the remainder of the Jalopnik staff, or added comments such as (and I quote); "Rush=Douche", "Rush: The Ultimate Tool", and "prescription drugs run out", I'm pretty damn disappointed. That was pathetic. You can do much, much better than that.
Respectful posting is paramount here, as we, the commenters, do not own or run this site. We are guests here. Invited and welcome guests to be sure, but guests nonetheless.
Dust yourselves off and try again.
09/17/09
09/17/09
If so, Beyonce can channel me any time.
09/18/09
09/18/09
If that person IS the editor, then so be it. We are all guilty of it from time to time. I myself have many times let my Fine Irish Temper™ get the better of me, and have made many posts of which I am not proud.
My advice, given unsolicited, and as gently as possible, is that generally the guidance Mr. Jones hands out is worthwhile, and worth listening to. Attempting to "call him out" as you just did is counterproductive. If you'd like to comment on something you disagree with, that is your prerogative. But doing so disrespectfully is a quick way to get yourself Burberry Banhammered. Trust me on this one, I speak of first-hand knowledge.
09/18/09
09/18/09
09/18/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
[www.rushlimbaugh.com]
09/20/09
I'm not saying that nobody on the whole bus could have been racist, but the whole bus acting like that is more a reflection of how out of control inner city school kids are. I mean I got racial slurs thrown at me by kids of all colors, but I also had friends of all colors so it's just how it is in rough city schools. Assuming it's racially motivated just because a lot of the kids happen to not be white is a big jump in logic and I'm saying this having been on the receiving end of unfair fights before.
The real question is where the heck the bus driver is in this video? People got into fights on the bus back then but it never got out of control like that because the bus driver would settle it down. But then again I remember we had a pretty badass bus driver, IIRC he was some sort of ex Irish-American gang member with quite a few interesting tattoos (you know, only in retrospect do I realize how messed up this really all is but back then this all seemed totally normal, like everyone's bus driver had prison tats).
You need a pretty hardcore bus driver to keep order on buses like this, so I guess we were pretty lucky back then to have our badass ex-gangster bus driver. I recall my mom always giving him a nice thank you card with cash tucked inside for the holidays to thank him for making sure that I didn't get myself beaten too badly like this kid.
Man I should totally run for president on this platform of making all bus-drivers ex-gang members who won't be afraid to break up a fight amongst inner city kids.
09/17/09
09/17/09
There, fixed that for ya.
I love that the President is black. I just don't agree with a lot of his goals.
09/17/09
But all of this hatred, refusal to allow children to see his speeches, and overwhelming response from the Rush types over every move 9 months into his presidency points to one thing imo.
My favorite is the "One Big Ass Mistake America" bumper stickers. I wouldn't trust a historian to call a President a mistake so soon let alone the mouthbreathers that have these on their pickup trucks.
09/17/09
Health care... Such an emotionally charged issue. It's not fair that some people have it and others don't. Who said life is fair? Yes, I have insurance, and yes, I will be thankful for it should I ever need it, but let's look at this reasonably. 100 years ago, cancer, heart attacks, major trauma would almost certainly kill you. Cures for these things didn't exist. Now. with new technology and medicine (developed with the profits of the "evil drug/medical companies") people (or their insurance) can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on curing/living with these conditions. I believe that fines for not carrying medical insurance will drive the price of insurance up to just above the fine level - might as well get something, instead of nothing.
Obama is trying to make this country much more like Western Europe, and paying for it by taxing those who make the most money. In 2004, [www.taxfoundation.org] of Americans didn't pay income taxes, and that number is growing. Some sources say that the bottom 50% of American wage earners pay 2.89% of all federal income taxes. This is ridiculous! People who don't pay taxes voting to increase the tax load on those who do. It won't take us anywhere good, believe me.
09/17/09
09/18/09
Yes, there are some folks who don't like Obama because he's black. I don't like his ideas about where the country should go. I'm quite certain I would enjoy having a drink and smoking a cigar with him, as long as we didn't discuss the future of the country.
09/18/09
09/18/09
People too poor to pay federal income taxes pay payroll taxes on the first dollar they earn and, thanks to Greenspan's influence, the payroll tax rate went up up while corporate and marginal taxes went down. Payroll taxes account for 42% of federal tax revenues and are the most regressive of all federal taxes.
[www.taxpolicycenter.org]
According to the GAO, furthermore, the tax burden increased on the middle class this decade while that of top earners declined.
As for healthcare, we pay more per capita than any other nation and accept inferior healthcare outcomes. That's not capitalism, it's corruption.
If that's what you support, be honest about it.
09/18/09
When you say payroll taxes, you are talking about federal income tax, plus SS and Medicare - everything that is withheld, correct?
Also, how do you define "inferior healthcare outcomes?" My righty friends say that health care is rationed/inferior in "socialized medicine" countries, and my lefty friends can't wait to jump on that train. All I hear is anecdotal evidence.
I, for one, would like to see a federal tax based on consumption, rather than earnings. We should reward those who choose to save their money rather than blow it by letting them keep every cent they earn. Want a fancy new car? Uncle Sam's going to get you. Want to put it all away for retirement? Have fun, it's all yours. It would tax the rich as much as they feel like spending, and there can be an allowance for groceries/basic living expenses we all incur. That seems like a pretty progressive tax to me - what do you think?
09/18/09
09/18/09
In all seriousness, that is one of the issues I see with the idea. I would say that primary residence expenses (rent/house purchase) would be exempt from taxation, like un-prepared food now. Is that tax-exempt everywhere? It is everywhere I've lived in the states. Perhaps some transport expenses are exempt too... I don't know. It's still in the concept stages.
@Jes St. Lawrence: Other nations have subsidized education and/or health care with similar tax rates, or possibly a little higher. What is it we have in the states that prevents us from doing that?
09/17/09
09/17/09
Oh, and the "they didn't go to college, so they don't know what they're talking about" theory is pathetic and insulting. I have an engineering degree, but that doesn't mean I know any more about politics, or what it's like to live, work and pay taxes in America than somebody who didn't go to college. This nation is full of brilliant self-taught gearheads, craftsmen, writers, musicians, artists and, yes, even political pundits. In fact, unless you study a technical field, medicine or teaching, I'd say college is a waste of four years of your time and money.
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/18/09
You may not like Limbaugh, but the college thing is a no go. He must be doing something right, he’s worth millions and he didn’t get a bailout. Gates and Dell didn’t finish either.
09/17/09
09/17/09
/rant
09/17/09
Just remember, whatever these buffoons say will make you think about how YOU feel about the subject matter, and allow YOU to decide how you feel and what's really right.
And for the record, it IS Jalop-nik, not POLIT-nik.
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
They're helpful, sure, but helping a pimp wanting to claim tax exemption for el salvadorean sex slaves? That's way out of order, and they need to either clean house quick, or shut the hell down.
[bighollywood.breitbart.com]
As odd as it is for me to say it, the right-wing was right to distrust that organization.
Also, screw Rush Limbaugh. He's an idiot. The buses don't need to be segregated: the hands of the bus driver need to be untied. Failing that, throw a cop on buses randomly - either undercover as a driver, or flying the flag as a warning, or friggin' both.
09/18/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
Mr. Krewson is usually guilty of doing this, but look, he's originally from the Onion. And his post whoring included one with random shots of Megan Fox. But it did generate a large number of views, along with the usual banal comments.
More of these types of postings are on their way, as Jalopnik doesn't generate the number of views that Kotaku, Gizmodo, or even Jezebel generate. You also have to see where the authors come from, as their bonus level is based on the number of posts, along with the number of views.
If this all sounds like I'm deriding Ben for this, quite the contrary. I say go for it, keep up with the non car related posts, because there is a payroll to make, servers to pay for, and investors to satisfy. And it doesn't come cheap.
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/18/09
09/17/09
people LOOOOVE yelling "out of context!"
09/17/09
So, we knew you'd be back. You almost made it a full month, though! Nice job!
09/17/09
09/17/09
What Rush said was sarcastic. What everyone else is doing is taking it out of context.
Rush can't take his own words out of context. The context that is missing is that it was said sarcastically.
09/17/09
I did miss you, though. Even commented on it a couple times. You bring a certain open-mindedness, restraint, and civility to conversations like this that we just can't get anywhere else.
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
He's sort of the Eminem of talk radio.
09/17/09
09/17/09