You are blatantly a midamisandrist, yet you accuse me of hatred?

Tell you what, since I can't possibly be a good person in your eyes by virtue of the fact that I have a penis, perhaps you would be more comfortable if I behave as you assume all men do?

Go get me a beer while the men discuss serious issues.

I hope you don't mind it's a little warm (I peed in it)...

in NYC and surrounding areas, there are cameras all over the place. Every morning on Channel 7 news they are looking for people who committed overnight crimes and got caught on camera. robberies, rapes, muggings, shootings, ect

watch the news for 2 weeks and take a look at the camera photos.

Then you tell me who is committing the vast majority of the crimes.

I know.. I know.. not a very PC thing to say... but true

You want to say blacks? Yes they commit a lot of blue collar crimes. Now who commits the most white collar crimes?

read my prior posts Estelle, I have no problem saying the blacks are committing most of the violent crimes.. because it is true.

And if you did read prior posts I also have no problem saying that whites commit the majority of the white color crimes... which I have

(so do your homework)

and black on black is the leader in the violent crimes dept.... they are killing their own

I agree, but why would you point that out in this discussion?

Perhaps because it was turned into a discussion about race and the judicial system. You were in on turning the discussion that way. Pay attention.

I would be so bold as to say that for blacks almost everything they do is colored by racism against them, so it is hard for them not to use the race card. I think when you see it this way you can understand...For example we were talking about the economy and I'm sure it affects you a lot, even to the point where everything you do depends on the economy and you are concerned about this issue and want the system to be made right. It is similar for blacks except they deal with the economy and racism to similar extent that it really influences their day to day life and it is pretty much inescapable. Hopefully, you can understand why race always comes up for them, and why they would be so concerned about the Trayvon Martin case, since they must put themselves in his place. The black on black crime is due to slavery...meaning lack of dignity, respect and a culture of violence. So, I don't know how it proves anything except that slavery really messed them up.

The problem is, however,that most Americans don't even consider race. We want the Dream to be realized. Al Sharpton, Eric Holder, many members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and the top leadership of the NAACP care about having an issue, not solving an issue. And most major cities have been run by the same political party for the last half century, or at least most of it. White guys like me are not a threat to black people. You're probably going to call me a racist again, but the biggest threat to black people is young black males. That's hardly the fault of the white man. And I'm glad you brought up my take on capitalism. That is the single greatest thing we can teach young black people to pull themselves out of the bad situations so many of them are in. Instead of government handouts, let's teach them how to become successful. For 50 years we have repeated the same policies and still so many black people are living in the ghettos. Let's stop giving people fish and start teaching people how to fish.

Sorry I called you racist, I don't think you are after reading that. I think it's true that the system is not helping racial inequities and change needs to happen starting from the government level. The problem is the government has just been stalling on everything, I mean the whole country is crumbling on every level and society is suffering because of their inability to get things done. That's the way I see it anyway. I don't think blacks can do much about their situation if the system is against them. By that I mean that in this country once you're deemed a criminal by the system your life is pretty much over. And the system apparently does nothing to prevent black men from going to jail or committing crimes, even though it's such a widespread problem that affects everyone's safety and wellbeing. Since the solution cannot be to exterminate a whole race I see no purpose in blaming them but understanding them seems helpful. The solution is in exterminating a system that creates so many criminals as the U.S. does.

The biggest thing the government can do is stop "helping" black people because they are only further impoverishing them (and others who are disadvantaged) by basically sending the message that they can't make it. Get out of the way. Get rid of the useless regulations that prevent people (even of sufficient means) from starting a business, and helping themselves to succeed. Explain to me why a person with a valid driver's license, a car with insurance and current registration, and a phone number can't start ax taxi business. Or why, despite the First Amendment, talented musicians need a permit to perform on the corner. Or why a woman who only braids hair in her kitchen needs to be a certified cosmetologist. She only braids! Let capitalism work.

I get the feeling that you and some others are very strong republicans while I don't care about political parties. I get the feeling that you follow a certain agenda that is good for you and then assume it's good for everyone else. The poor need to be empowered and they need support, the middle class need to be encouraged (as you said, I think you are middle class), the rich need to start paying their taxes or face jail time. This way the tax money can be given to the poor so they can make their own businesses since companies won't hire criminals. And next the rich will go to jail where many of them belong. I think this sounds like a good plan.

I'm actually more of a libertarian/Constitutionalist, but my voter registration may still be Republican. I'm not really sure. And yes, I'm middle class. You need to check your facts, however, about the rich paying taxes. Most middle class and poor get a refund of more than they pay in, effectively not paying anything. The wealthiest, contrary to the spin pay nearly all of the taxes. So you want to imprison them for finding legal ways to reduce their taxes from 45% to 40%? Would you not do the same? And why take 45% from one person, but only 25% from another? On the face of it that is unfair. The income tax itself is problematic. What was so wrong with the pre 1913 system? The government wasn't running deficits, the private sector ran many of the services that have since been taken over by the government, and they did so more efficiently. So what if they were making a profit? That's a good motivator that provides incentive for quality service, whereas government employees are nearly impossible to fire, and the government now has a monopoly on those services, which provides no incentive to offer quality service. Additionally, why, in principle, is a private sector monopoly bad, yet a government monopoly is ok? A monopoly is a monopoly. Competition breeds excellence.

The poor need help. The government should start using a simple and efficient method that would not require a zillion hoops to jump through and so many workers. It could be all done online and fast and easy an educated well trained social worker would be available to answer questions from a call center, if needed.
The middle class should pay less taxes than they do and in addition there should be grants to help them create small businesses according to what's available in your area. For example if there are no hairdressers in your neighborhood and you want to open the first one, you should qualify for a government grant and the regulations should be more flexible than they are to allow efficiency.
The rich should pay more than they do. Incentive to become rich should not be driven by greed, but by the desire to help others after you have sufficiently helped yourself. Then if no one wants to become rich so be it.
I would modernize the whole thing.

The poor stay poor because the government "helps" them by providing no incentive to help themselves. If I was camped out on your couch for the last couple years, would you let me stay there indefinitely? Or would you eventually get fed up and throw me out? Why should I bother looking for work when you're feeding me and letting me crash? Throw my a$$ out! Tough love works.

Yep, that's about right

I understand there needs to be a way out for the poor that would be incentive enough. What about offering student financial aid and welfare as a package deal to those who want to become professional but can't afford to pay the rent? That would be a great incentive for people to get out of poverty. Everyone I know wants a college education and be able to pay rent at the same time, unfortunately many are unable and this keeps them from achieving anything. It's just an idea. There could be a welfare to business owner program as well. It should depend on the direction someone wants to go. If they don't want to do anything then I guess they should get on some anti depressants so they can stop wishing they were dead. I'm joking...most people want to do something in life. The ones who don't have mental problems or drug addiction problems, and they are a whole other category.

If the government would only give more handouts to the lazy...


Not gonna help in the least.

This view has not helped actually. There is nothing wrong with needing help to get somewhere better in life, even Jesus Christ would sign it into law if he were a politician. Americans are the most hardworking people. The poor are seen as lazy, entitled, and the rich and famous are looked at as demi-gods who can do no wrong. The middle class either has a soul or it doesn't.

Rich, poor, equal... Not gonna matter.
Thieves and criminals will be thieves and criminals, regardless of which class they're born to, or how many handouts the government gives them.