Obama stiffs the govt (for years, taxes and parking tickets unpaid)

[Meech]

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I challenge you guys to think for yourselves.

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Ohhhh, the irony.

[Barcalounger]

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Obama doesn't pay his taxes

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It's pretty much because of this comment right here that I don't take you seriously. Not because of your political leanings. The article says that he owed $73 in excise taxes related to a parking violation in 1991. The use of the word "doesn't" instead of "didn't" is purely propaganda to make people believe that 1) he nefariously and purposely refused to pay the ticket and 2) that he still engages in this particular tax/ticket payment avoiding strategy. If you want to seriously have a discussion on why unpaid parking fines are a reason to not vote for somebody, then drop the propagandizing and do it.

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Excise taxes have nothing to do with parking tickets. Excise taxes are normal taxes assessed on personal property (in this case automobiles), just as property taxes are assessed on real estate you own. Fortunately most states do not charge excise taxes, but he was living in Taxxachusetts at the time and so he owed excise taxes like all the other tax victims in the state. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

As for your word nitpick. He does not pay for 17 years and then a mere month and a half ago, just two weeks before he declares for President, he decides to pay.

If he weren't running for President, he still wouldn't have paid them off as he just so recently did. This has a feel of a genuine tax avoider to me. I'm sure he never expected that he would be running for President one day, so he didn't think he would have to clean up the skeletons in his closet one day. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

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I'm having trouble taking this seriously. This has to be a joke account.
From the article:
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"He had no idea he had outstanding charges," Champion said. "The Globe, by raising the issue, called it to his attention, and then he paid them immediately."

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So you're positive that a prominent political figure has been purposely avoiding paying a $73 parking ticket for 15 years because he's a serial tax avoider. Even though logic, common sense, and the city of Somerville all disagree with you. Wow. Just wow. You might want to back track and try to salvage some credibility here. You might need it because from what I hear Mr. Obama does have a couple of legit things in his past that you will dislike.

Normally I wouldn't feed the trolls but this one is just so damned funny to me.

[JasonK]

How many tickets can you forget to pay before common sense says you didn't forget at all but made a conscious choice not to pay?

[niss]

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What bothers me is the "astroturfing" that he seems to be doing. It's not really what the Politics forum is supposed to be all about.

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Its slightly weird, but I wouldn't have a problem with it even if I knew that is what is going on. Starting a thread based on right-wing talking points is acceptable.

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Iron,

That's one reasonable viewpoint.

Another reasonable viewpoint is that BGC is a serial troll who makes inflammatory, irrelevant, dishonest posts, derogatory about Democrats/Liberals 100% of the time, with no intention of fostering any real discussion, which is the purpose of the forum. Except for this thread (which is a surprise), most of his posts are more like hit and runs. Saying that he simply "starts threads based on right-wing talking points" does not do his trolling justice.

This is an internet forum run by a private entity. It's not America. Not every viewpoint and not every poster is entitled to post. The goal should be doing whatever makes the forum better. If 2+2 feels that the forum is better by allowing everyone and his uncle to post, no matter how little substance is really involved, in the spirit of the First Amendment (with few exceptions), then so be it. Personally, I think the forum would be better off without BGC and his troll posts. There are plenty of Republican/Conservative types -- Bluff and Felix are good examples -- who have a real conviction about the stuff they post and will stick around to discuss it and respond to criticism of their ideas.

I am not a fan of censorship, and I am not a fan of overmodification of the forum. In BGC's case, however, such actions are appropriate. I thus agree with the post to which you responded and hope you'll reconsider your position.

[Hopey]

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Another reasonable viewpoint is that BGC is a serial troll who makes inflammatory, irrelevant, dishonest posts, derogatory about Democrats/Liberals 100% of the time, with no intention of fostering any real discussion, which is the purpose of the forum. Except for this thread (which is a surprise), most of his posts are more like hit and runs. Saying that he simply "starts threads based on right-wing talking points" does not do his trolling justice.

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My thoughts exactly. This is what bothers me about 99% of BGC's posts. They generally have no content. They are usually just a short description of an article denigrating a democrat and then a link to that article. The pettiness of the allegations contained in the articles makes it obvious that the sole intention of BGC is to slur the Republicans' opponents.

His posts aren't meant to foster debate, they are meant to spread propaganda.

[kickabuck]

I was all ready to attempt to wax poetic about the moral ramifications of his actions. Then I read the article. This is real benign stuff BGC, the rightous indignation of your post only serves to hamper your future credibility and aid those who want to dismiss you as a right wing nut-job troll.

[NT!]

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Another reasonable viewpoint is that BGC is a serial troll who makes inflammatory, irrelevant, dishonest posts, derogatory about Democrats/Liberals 100% of the time, with no intention of fostering any real discussion, which is the purpose of the forum.

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Yep. It's pretty easy to get your talking points off an RSS feed and spam a forum. He contributes nothing. The fact that he hasn't been banned is mind boggling to me.

[iron81]

I banned BGC. ATF thread

[kickabuck]

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Maybe he changed his mind after considering the reasoned opinions of others? Isn't that an intended result of a discussion?

Iron, you're on a roll. Now ban pvn. Another poster who adds nothing.

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BGC gets trashed by 'reasoned' opinions from the left on this board every time he posts. I would agree this topic was pretty pathetic, but to render the judgement of banning when he was previously acceptable based on this post is pretty weak. Banned for excessive righteous indignation over a politician's old parking tickets? And please, pick a more egregious post to claim it was the straw that broke the camel's back. C'mon, the right course is to warn the guy to be more judicious in his posting topics and go from there.

[cardcounter0]

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And please, pick a more egregious post to claim it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

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sometimes the straw that breaks the camel's back is just that -- a straw.