Angel Adams, 37 yrs old with 15 kids and complaining about lack of gov't assistance

[Gandalf]

No, I disagree with you on practically everything you say. We clearly have very different views on how society should reward people. People who do useful things in society should be rewarded for their efforts. Working hard is something everyone should aspire to and the motivation to do so is in being paid a fair wage. If that isn't happening then society is failing them. A soldier is paid by the government, perhaps cleaners should be too. Teaching and the military are hardly jobs for a man with a thing for small government. Maybe they should be paid 2 dollars an hour and the public can decide through charity what more to give them. I guess you would have more soldiers working in bars and less dead foreigners overseas.

I find your views on tipping to be mildly absurd and perhaps it is you that is ignorant of the norms of other countries. A minimal tip is perhaps expected in some places, however quite often there is a service charge and that should suffice and would of course be paid in the wages. Certainly here it would be regarded as an insult by many to be offered a tip. Being paid less than minimum wage and then be expected to be servile and creepy around people who just want a quiet drink is also an insult to the paying customer. Pay the worker and charge what you need to charge.

My views on immigration might seem backwards to someone like you or people who have this vision of a multi cultural utopia. However, it simply doesn't work. I live in a place where immigration is checked and consequently local people drive the taxis, work in hotels, pick the fruit etc etc. It seems to work. There is little societal unrest, there are no ghetto's full of white people, certainly no 'terrorists' which in the UK at least, seem to be angry people who failed to integrate. The system here is working. You invite skilled labour and only let them stay temporarily. This is how things work in most countries, labour is not unchecked and it should certainly never be so.

You have to respect what the society is and if there is change it should be gradual. The UK has allowed unchecked immigration for nearly 2 decades and the society seems to have become warped and it isn't the minimum wage to blame. The minumum wage has declined and still there are no jobs. I have seen both sides of the coin and see which one favours the local populace. It is better to control your country and protect your labour force.

Also, for sure I believe people who clean toilets are every bit as important as other jobs. The least society can do is provide them a living wage. I am not advocating communism, but certainly socialism so that there is a more level playing field. The current system frowns upon people who won't work and yet doesn't pay enough to do work. It's simply not good enough and in the case of your own country which has unbelievable levels of wealth disparity, I absolutely think you are playing a dangerous game. It's just untenable.

Actually, one thing I am getting sick of is you branding around words like bigot in every thread. Yes, I am very much opposed to your political and military system, but people are just people. Some of my favourite people are American, but they don't get defensive or nationalistic and accept the faults. 'Oh, but you are from overseas and cannot comment'. On the whole I try to stay clean with you when it would be all too easy to attack your contradictions which are all too obvious and yet in every post you are using inflammatory language. I expect it of someone like Lyle, but I thought we were on more neutral ground.

I see little reason to discuss things with you on that basis. Rather than respond to views that are clearly odd with an insult or 4 thrown in for good measure, I will not respond. And before Lyle jumps in by saying that I should be on 2 dollars an hour, I am paid for by the market too, which I am not against. I just don't believe massive wealth inequalities should be the norm. Students pay their tuition and sign up for my classes. If there was no demand, then I should rightly be on my heels. In fact I prefer the private teaching sector, as there are no safety nets and you either perform or else don't and deal with the consequences. That doesn't mean that the person cleaning toilets doesn't deserve a living wage though. He does his job well, and though not educated, he has a right to live. In Australia the McDonald's worker has a minimum wage of 16 dollars. I don't see their economy collapsing. They also control their immigration to a much more healthy degree. Again, Australia bucks the trend as dictated by the Chicago school, which only works in totalitarian regimes largely backed up by force.

[El Kabong]

No, I disagree with you on practically everything you say.

Well isn't that new and different

Miles here's the deal, you say "Charity can't solve all of society's ills" however you are of the belief that government CAN? Why because it is backed by force of law? Has government made things better or worse for society? If you look at what the welfare state alone has done to African-American families then I would argue that government has done more harm than good, whatever intentions LBJ et al had for welfare programs their system has made things much worse for a lot of people it is so bad it has demolished the very institution of family life among African-Americans which has lead to more crime, more prison, more people on the dole, more babies having babies, and an entitlement mentality that has grown out of control.

I'm of the opinion that the more government tries to do the worse things get

[VictorCharlie]

I find your views on tipping to be mildly absurd and perhaps it is you that is
ignorant of the norms of other countries

One of us has never been to the US and one of us has lived here most of their lives, worked as a server and run a service business but its me whose views on a tip vs wage based salary in the US is absurd? I love you Miles. You bring great comedic relief to my day. We aren't talking about other countries. We are talking about the US. It is a superior system and all parties in the US approve of it. Mind your own business. It should also be noted that in the event that an employee makes less than minimum wage after tips that the employer must make up the difference.

Actually, one thing I am getting sick of is you branding around words like bigot in every thread. Yes, I am very much opposed to your political and military system, but people are just people. Some of my favourite people are American, but they don't get defensive or nationalistic and accept the faults. 'Oh, but you are from overseas and cannot comment'. On the whole I try to stay clean with you when it would be all too easy to attack your contradictions which are all too obvious and yet in every post you are using inflammatory language. I expect it of someone like Lyle, but I thought we were on more
neutral ground.

Miles, you are insulting in just about every response to me. I'm brainwashed, disgusting, my education is poor, I'm a loser b/c of my profession, I couldn't do anything else and on and on. You consistently post about the US despite never being there and proven time and again to not be well informed on it. Your postings about the US are close minded, lack objectivity and regularly results in personal attacks on people that ACTUALLY live and know the country. So yes I find your internet persona somewhat bigoted. If that hurts your feelings then tough.

Rather than respond to views that are clearly odd with an insult or 4 thrown
in for good measure, I will not respond.

Sure, just like your multiple "I'm leaving Saddos threads".

[El Kabong]

So yes I find your internet persona somewhat bigoted. If that hurts your feelings then tough.

When pray tell, has miles EVER concerned himself with the feelings of anyone he argues with? I mean if he DID concern himself with the feelings of others he certainly wouldn't personally attack other members of this site...let's be honest, I'm no angel I dish out a lot but I take my fair share of heat. I'm the only poster here with a fucking webstalker who will routinely sign up just to make 1 vile post about me and have his account deleted. But shit, I have a conscience, I feel bad when I am merciless in ripping someone apart when they didn't deserve it or earn it...I do. I have never seen that from miles, never ever. I have seen him navel gaze, and sulk, and whine about how nobody understands him like he's some 14 year old emo girl, but I haven't seen him say "You know what, calling VC a baby killer or a murderer was probably well over the line"....maybe he has, but he always comes back to calling those names.


miles, do you feel you're above reproach here? Do you feel that us mere mortals are somehow beneath you? You teach English in South Korea a place that wouldn't exist if not for the American Armed Forces....get over yourself

[Gandalf]

That is a very distorted and dishonest post, Lyle. This is why I think you are the biggest problem with this site. You have NEVER apologised for your random verbal assaults and are a coward. You randomly jump in when you think it is a good time to do so. You are a chicken with an agenda and it is personal.
I cannot reason with daft nationalists.

It has been observed by others too that I am on the end of more abuse than anyone here so it isnt just me. In your case it is very personal and you have an agenda to make me leave. You will say that nobody likes me, nobody should hear my opinion, denigrate my honest craft, use the vilest language etc.

Again you take issue with my work. Why? Reveal your work and lets compare notes. The military is too easy with its ready supply of tax payers money and known history.

I wont interact with you anymore either. You in particular are someone who should probably be banned. You get away things just because I am the target.

[VictorCharlie]

To channel Kirkland

[Gandalf]

TBH, I don't really have any problems with you, VC. I would just like you to not label me a bigot in every thread. I don't hate American people and it is something I get tired of defending myself against. You get the charge again and again, and yet considering all the revelations and degradation of recent years politically, it has been pretty much the only fall back on for some as much of what I have been saying about the bigger picture has been proven correct. On this welfare issue, we clearly disagree, but that is no problem. We are ideologically quite different. I prefer cultures where tipping is not needed and I prefer cultures that offer a competitive basic wage for their workers. It doesn't mean I am a bigot for disagreeing with the American model, it just means I disagree with that model.

The person who does bother me is, Lyle. He parades himself around beyond all bounds. In Klitschko threads he is being absurd and all the while insulting posters left right and centre. He will throw around horrid insults to people on the main boards calling them weird things like 'panty stains', how the Klits would 'bitchslap' posters who criticise the fight. He turns public threads personal with all kinds of savage personal attacks, he jumps into threads randomly just to insult you. All the while he will say that nobody likes you or wants to hear anything you say. And yet he isn't talking about himself?

He will say things like 'you are beyond all redemption'. I mean really, what have I ever done to anybody to deserve that kind of accusation? It makes me sound like Jack the sodding Ripper. And then he will throw around lies such as I can never apologise? It just isn't true as you know and others know. Walrus is a recent case in point and he received a PM in which I said sorry for being rude to him in an attack that was actually instigated by Lyle. Now where are Lyle's apologies for his arrogance, conceitedness and rudeness?

I get on with everyone here. I can be prickly and I do have my points of view, but you don't see me having to put up with this nonsense from other posters to such a degree. Lyle will constantly denigrate my line of work which is work that requires a great deal of experience and study to do well. It has become an obsession with him. I would love to see him come out here and do what I do, to survive in a different culture, to do the work well despite its obvious difficulties. Oh, you are just an English teacher...well, what the heck are you then? I'm giving young adults skills to help them in the workplace, what are you giving people?

Lyle gets a free pass to be as outrageous as he likes and to say what he wants to anyone and I am usually the target. Now if he said the stuff he says to Missy, he would be banned, but because I am an opinionated person, he can say what he wants. Everytime I log in I have to grimace at yet more insults? Most of the time he plays the dawn chorus just to snipe and be a tosser.

There is nothing wrong with having opinions, but does it have to get personal and insulting all the time? And it is all the time.

[VictorCharlie]

I thought you weren't responding to me?

I would just like you to not label me a bigot in every thread. I don't hate
American people and it is something I get tired of defending myself against.

Miles, you clearly don't see how you come across in threads. You have NEVER been here and have almost NO understanding of what Americans are like, our culture, our economy, our government etc. That being said you wade into thread after thread with an uninformed opinion and a hypercritical attitude telling us Americans how terrible and jacked up we are and if only we were as enlightened as you. You ignore the factual information that is provided on the US and dismiss the people who actually live here. If it is about US foreign policy then my often times first hand accounts of things have no bearing b/c of my profession. If it is about domestic issues then due to my cultural brainwashing and inferior education I don't really understand and shouldn't be trusted. Bigotry is defined as 1. stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed , belief, or opinion that differs from one's own. When it comes to your posts regarding the US I find this pretty spot on. If you don't like this adjective for your posts then maybe you should take a moment of introspection.

On this welfare issue, we clearly disagree, but that is no problem. We are
ideologically quite different. I prefer cultures where tipping is not needed and I prefer cultures that offer a competitive basic wage for their workers. It doesn't mean I am a bigot for disagreeing with the American model, it just means I disagree with that model.

Cultures don't provide comeptitive wages. Employers offer them to people with marketable skills. I prefer a culture that believes in voluntary exchange and not coercement.