I was on an IPA kick for a while, but most are such high alcohol content.... And when I drink beer I tend to drink a lot of it. IPAs for me are just about a guaranteed blackout. It is for that reason that I only remember the first quarter of this year's super bowl.

Guinness has probably spent the most time on the top of my preferred list. Lately I've developed a taste for Coors light. And yes, I know that makes me a sissy pansy girly man.

Basketball is stupid

Basketball is stupid

Edit: But the Virginia mushroom cloud (WITH SWORDS!) is still going to prevail over all others. Pretty sure I cannot win the pool with all the games I should have won and didn't, but I will still get the overall champ right.

And actually, I think this post here is almost as coherent as the thread it was originally mangled from.

The bots are still collecting their forum bonus points! Watch out, alliance server. Their FS must be coming soon!

DUN DUN..... DUNNNNNNNN

That sounds like it would be way better than this basketball nonsense. My rack is fantastic.



You may be right that I misinterpreted the signs on some of these, but there is also definitely something fishy going on. West Virginia's logo was vastly superior to everything else in their region-thingy. There is no way they should have lost to that team from India.

I just remembered my other question.. And this one I really don't understand..

The "play-in" games for the tournament. How can two of these games be for an 11 seed. If two teams are good enough to be considered tied for 11th, then isn't the loser of that game being denied a spot in the tournament when there are 5 teams already in which weren't as good? (12th through 16th seeds?)

Yep, that one wrecked the last perfect brackets in the $50k Best Bracket Challenge.

Wow.. Middle Tennessee.. just wow.

At least everybody else in the pool got that one wrong too :)

I just thought of another question, but this wasn't question number three, so if any of you figured out what number three was, please go ahead and answer it.

3(alt): Oh fluff, I already forgot. Never mind.

I've spent the majority of the last 13 hours watching or listening to basketball.. a sport I don't even like. I've also spent 15 of those 13 hours drinking. So, I have some questions.

1) How is it that without any knowledge of this game whatsoever.. without watching a single game this season, I can predict with 75% accuracy the winners of each day 1 game... without even paying attention to which team is favored?

2) Foul trouble: This seems absolutely retarded to me. I don't want somebody to get pulled from the game for having too many fouls, so I pull him out myself. WTF? If I leave him in, maybe he doesn't foul 1 or 2 or 3 more times and gets to play the whole game. If I pull him, he definitely doesn't get to play until I put him back in. This is dumb. Coaches should stop pulling players who have X number of fouls by Y point in the game. Am I right here? (yes)

3) There definitely was at least one more question which I wanted to pose to you all, but that was about halfway through the Gonzaga rout of the gay pirates (which was totally predictable, BTW) and I can no longer remember what it was. If one of you can guess what it was, please answer it for me.

Thanks,

Sam

Arizona is threatening to majorly screw me over in my $50k bracket.... have them going to the final four.



You're welcome, but I did it for me.

That sounds like fun :)

Looks like your team somehow escaped their fate, ford. I'm not sure how they did it.. probably some kind of voodoo, but at least the bridges near you are safe again.

Looking pretty good for Florida Gulf Coast!!!!

:)

(Me talking smack at halftime should guarantee your Tar Heels victory, ford)

The bots are getting ready to declare war on all the tagged countries of the server for farming them. Pican-luc bot has to get its forum bonus points for max turns possible at FS time.

1/1..... Maybe this will finally be the year that Duke doesn't screw me.

Midwest thingy, round one!

Virginia (1) vs Hampton (16): Here we have two letter-based logos, but one is the best possible letter based logo a team could ever have. Hint: It ain't 'HU'. Virginia's logo looks like a mushroom cloud... WITH SWORDS! Virginia takes this one easily.

Texas Tech (8) vs Butler (9): Bulldog vs Letters again, bulldog wins.. This could get interesting as there's another bulldog in this region-thingy....

Purdue (5) vs Arkansas-Little Rock (12): The letter 'P' vs a guy with a big-ass helmet. *Sigh* So many of these easy picks this year. This isn't even challenging for me any more. Purdue is going down in flames.

Iowa State (4) vs Iona (13): Again with a letter vs non-letter... But man, the non-letter this time could take about half the teams in the tournament! What the hell IS that... To me, it looks like a jaundiced, psychotic chimpanzee wearing a fedora. If that doesn't terrify you, your veins are full of ice water. Iona wins.

Seton Hall (6) vs Gonzaga (11): Now here, we have a pretty interesting matchup. Or so it would seem at first glance. Pirate vs Very Angry Bulldog. But lets take another look at that pirate. This isn't the peg-leg, redbeard, shiver me timbers kind of pirate. This looks more like a Johnny Depp, might quite possibly be gay pirate. For crying out loud, he has a handlebar mustache. And no beard! By contrast, Gonzaga's bulldog is one of the angriest looking mascots I've ever seen. Zags win this one.

Utah (3) vs Fresno State (14): Letters, vs letter with feathers. I'm holding my nose here as I can't stand either of these, but the feathers do give a slight edge. Utah wins.

Dayton (7) vs Syracuse (10): Letter vs letter.. AGAIN. But this time, Dayton's letter looks like it was stolen directly from the Philadelphia Flyers. Since hockey is a WAY better sport than basketball, Dayton wins.

Michigan State (2) vs Middle Tennessee State (15): Pretty easy pick here. Spartan vs two letters with something unidentifiable sitting on top of them. Michigan state wins. But before we move on, I have to ask... Middle Tennessee *State*? Is there really another Middle Tennessee school that this school had to distinguish itself from by adding the word "State"? Ok, moving on now.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Midwest thingy, round two!

Virginia (1) vs Butler (9): Well, we won't get to the intriguing Bulldog vs Bulldog matchup this year.. Mushroom cloud (WITH SWORDS!) easily defeats bulldog. The dog vs dog matchup wouldn't have been that hard to call anyway. Gonzaga's bulldog, while more cartoonish, is WAY more angry.

Arkansas-Little Rock (12) vs Iona (13): Diseased, evil, hat-wearing primate wins here. I can't get that disturbing grin out of my head. I see it every time I close my eyes.

Gonzaga (11) vs Utah (3): You all know this one already. No contest. Letters, feathered or not, are no match for the rabid dog. Zags continue their unlikely dominance of this region-thingy.

Dayton (7) vs Michigan State (2): Yet another very easy pick. Spartan defeats the letter 'D'.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Midwest thingy, round three!

Virginia (1) vs Iona (13): This is without a doubt the closest I have ever come to predicting a loss for Virginia. WTF IS that thing??? Well dressed Neanderthal Zombie? Interstellar Evil Businessman? Whatever it is, I hate it. And I'm glad that the mushroom cloud (WITH SWORDS!) has finally removed it from the tournament so that I never have to look at it again.

Gonzaga (11) vs Michigan State (2): If we could see the Spartan's face, it might change things here. But we can't tell if he's angry.... lovesick.... just a little hungry, or perfectly satisfied with his life. We CAN see that the bulldog wants to rip him limb from limb. Zags to the elite eight!

Midwest thingy, round four!

Virginia (1) vs Gonzaga (11): Another GREAT matchup. This year's tournament has some real doozies. Ultimately though, the mushroom cloud (WITH SWORDS!) wins out over the insanely angry canine. Virginia makes it to the final four (as they do every year in my brackets)

Here ends the Midwest thingy.

Well, I had to wait for the results of the play-in between Holy Cross and Southern in order to fill out my West thingy.. I didn't want to have to do it this way, but here we go:

West Thingy, round one!

Oregon (1) vs Holy Cross (16): I really did not want to have to give the Pac-12 a first round loss against a 16 seed, but I cannot deny the logos. Oregon's logo is lame. Just an 'O'. As in, "O no, why didn't we pick a better logo?!" Holy Cross, on the other hand, is an example of how you make two letters look cool. Put them on a shield! Are you listening North Carolina? Your logo is practically identical to Holy Cross, but theirs is on a shield. As a result, you're losing to a 16 seed in the first round, and they're winning AS a 16 seed in the first round. The only way they could have made their logo any cooler (without abandoning the letter-based logo) would be to make the horizontal bar in the 'H' a sword. How cool would THAT be? I think I'm going to write to their leaders. Anyway, Oregon continues the Pac-12 trend of boring logos and embarrassing losses. Final score, 66-34, Holy Cross. And now after writing all that, I see that the Holy Cross logo used on Yahoo does indeed abandon the letter-based logo system, and instead it is a knight. Still WAY cooler than an 'O'. Result does not change. This does change the outcome of their next matchup though.

St Josephs (8) vs Cincinnati (9): Cincinnati sort of has the right idea by trying to make their logo a little more frightening by adding claws to the letter 'C', but they still will not beat an ominous-looking red bird of prey. Sorry Cinci.. maybe next year you'll be up against Oregon in the first round.

Baylor (5) vs Yale (12): This one should be pretty obvious to everyone.. Two boring letters for Baylor.. Bored-looking bulldog for Yale. Yale wins. And why do so many colleges have bulldogs as their mascots?

Duke (4) vs N.C. Wilmington (13): Wilmington's eagle is pretty cool. To me, it looks a lot like the eagle from The Muppet Show. You know, the one that read the news? Man, I miss that show. I wish Wilmington were in a different region, but they're not. And they've drawn the devil. Eagle gets roasted.

Texas (6) vs Northern Iowa (11): I like Iowa on this one.. Both logos have their strengths. The longhorn bull isn't something I'd like to tangle with. But neither is the weird, somewhat misshapen panther. I think this particular panther looks like it just came through a wormhole from another dimension. Bulls are tough, but they're no match for interdimensional spacecats.

Texas A&M (3) vs Green Bay (14): I'm sure you all know which one wins here.. Green Bay is the UAB of 2016. We don't have any fire breathing dragons this year, but we do have a fire breathing bird. And birds are descended from dinosaurs, which are basically just dragons without the giant piles of gold. A&M just has boring letters. Green Bay wipes the floor with the Aggies. It isn't even close.

Oregon State (7) vs VCU (10): FINALLY! A Pac-12 team that has something other than a letter (or a lame tree) for a logo! VCU will not lick the beavers.

Oklahoma (2) vs CSU Bakersfield (15): Both are just boring letters, but Oklahoma's letters are red. Red is the color of anger, so I'm giving the nod to the Sooners.

---------------------------------------------------

West Thingy, round two!

Holy Cross (16) vs St Josephs (8): I originally had the ominous red hawk defeating the lame 'O" here. Then I had it beating the two letters on a shield (barely). But now... Holy Cross, having switched from letters on a shield to a knight, wins the day.

Yale (12) vs Duke (4): No contest here. Devil vs Dog. Devil wins.

Northern Iowa (11) vs Green Bay (14): Now this one is tough. Time and space traveling big cat vs fire breathing weird green bird. Remember our initial criteria... fire breath is given great weight in our system. Green bay wins here, but I do wonder why they made the bird green. Shouldn't it be all red and fiery? Or is that green fire? That would be pretty cool.

Oregon State (7) vs Oklahoma (2): You all know this one. It is no contest. The strangely misshapen beaver defeats the big red letters.

------------------------------------------------------------------

West Thingy, round three!

Holy Cross (16) vs Duke (4): The crusader finally meets his match when he encounters the Devil. Duke wins 183-7.

Green Bay (14) vs Oregon State (7): I like both of these.. I mean, who doesn't like an angry beaver. But when it comes to level of terror, the fire-breathing, maybe-made-of-green-fire bird takes it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

West Thingy, round four!

Duke (4) vs Green Bay (14): This will be the closest matchup of the entire tournament. It will go into 27 overtimes and last for 18 hours. Ultimately though, the overlord of hell eventually defeats hellbird. Duke makes the final 4 (as they do every year on my brackets)

Here ends the West Thingy.

Agreed. But until the admins eliminate it, it will be used. To do it intratag, IMO, is more in keeping with the spirit of this server than to do it intertag.

You should be complaining at the people doing the trading between different tags. What LaF is doing is teamwork..... Intertag trading is lame.

If you're upset about the fact that conflict no longer exists on this server, look no further than ghost acres.

I agree with you about ghost acres, actually. But what LaF is doing here is the only kind of land trading that isn't totally lame.

This year's tournament has already seen two firsts (the first round loss of a mushroom cloud, and a 15 seed in the final four). Its about to get one more:

East thingy, round one!

North Carolina (1) vs Florida Gulf Coast (16): FGC's disembodied eagle head doesn't look particularly frightening or aggressive... or even noteworthy. But who came up with Carolina's logo? An 'N' superimposed over a 'C".. or is it the other way around? Either way, its clear that NO effort was put into this logo. I can't even think of an intimidating slogan that those letters could stand for... "Not Chivalrous"? "No Chives"? For the first time in history a 16 seed beats a 1 seed. Sorry, Carolinians. Get your team to come up with a better logo if you want to go further next year.

USC (8) vs Providence (9): What is it with the Pac-12 and their boring logos? Why can't any of the teams with some creativity be perennial powerhouses in this conference? Instead we get.. 'SC'. Come on. Too lazy to even use the 'U'? How do we know you're even referring to California and not South Carolina? This logo is an epic fail. By contrast, USC has been matched up against Providence's Grim Reaper.. Yeah, I know.. it isn't supposed to be the Grim Reaper, but that's what it looks like! Grim Reaper absolutely slaughters 'SC'.

Indiana (5) vs Chattanooga (12): Indiana is lucky here. Their boring letter-based logo is shaped like a candelabra.. but that also happens to vaguely resemble a mushroom cloud. Very vaguely. If they weren't matched up against an even more boring, letter 'C', they'd probably be losing in the first round. As it is though, they'll move on.

Kentucky (4) vs Stony Brook (13): Another battle of the borings.. I'll bet South Dakota will be trying to get moved into this region-thingy next year. But anyway, we have... Kentucky, two boring letters, 'UK'. Stony Brook, two boring letters, 'SB'. Kentucky, one color for both letters. Stony brook, one color for both letters. I'm picking Kentucky here only because I think it would be cool to see a British team get a win in this tournament.

Notre Dame (6) vs either Michigan (11) or Tulsa (11): Doesn't matter who wins the play-in. Neither of them is going any further. Michigan is disqualified for having just a boring 'M'.. and what the hell is that Tulsa logo? A windsock? How the hell can a windsock be a mascot? That just blows. Infuriated leprechaun wins here, hands down.

West Virginia (3) vs Stephen F. Austin (14): Let's start with SFA. Nothing to see here really. At least they superimposed their initials over a map of India, which I guess is kind of cool (although a little weird) but aside from that, this logo just isn't doing it for me. Contrast that with WV.. Finally, somebody found a way to make letters into something really cool! Is it a tornado? Is it a mushroom cloud? Its a musroomnado! Sorry SFA, but you never stood a chance here.

Wisconsin (7) vs Pittsburgh (10): The 'W' is sort of like a double mushroom cloud. In the first round here, its stacked up against... *yawn*.. the word "Pitt". Do I really even need to tell you who is going to win this one?

Xavier (2) vs Weber State (15): This one was actually pretty tough to decide. True, the letter 'X' is just a letter, but it is one of the coolest letters. And in this case, it is impaled on a sword, which is double-cool. Weber State, though, has that fierce looking cat, leaping out at you through an upside-down portico! Why was the wildcat inside a house? How did the house get turned upside-down? Was there an earthquake? Perhaps a mushroomnado? This logo is not only aggressive, but also confusing! Weber State shocks Xavier to move on to the next round.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

East thingy, round two!

Florida Gulf Coast (16) vs Providence (9): No contest here. Grim Reaper destroys moderately aggressive disembodied eagle head.

Indiana (5) vs Kentucky (4): Indiana lucks out again here. The tiny bit of effort they put into their logo just barely outdoes the zero effort that the Brits put into theirs. Indiana wins.

Notre Dame (6) vs West Virginia (3): Man, I didn't expect to see such a fierce matchup so early in the tournament. I absolutely love the infuriated leprechaun. He's so defiant! But I'm afraid he is no match for the mushroomnado of West Virginia...

Wisconsin (7) vs Weber State (15): Another Cinderella story has to end here. Upside-down attack cat is no match for double mushroom cloud. Final score, 90 to minus 4.

-----------------------------------------------

East thingy, round three!

Providence (9) vs Indiana (5): Indiana's luck has finally run out. The candelabra cannot defeat the Grim Reaper, regardless of its mild resemblance to a mushroom cloud.

West Virginia (3) vs Wisconsin (7): Another tough pick here, but I'm going to have to go with West Virginia. Mushroomnado and Double Mushroom Cloud are probably on about equal footing as far as level of danger goes, but the artistic effort that went into WV's logo gives it the edge. Final score, 21-22, West Virginia.

------------------------------------------------

East thingy, round four!

Providence (9) vs West Virginia (3): The Grim Reaper finally meets his match here, and West Virginia moves on to the Final Four.

So ends the East Thingy.

Also, so ends my evening. I may be back to write up the other two region-thingies tomorrow, or I may not.

And now, as I'm sure you've all been eagerly awaiting, I will explain this year's picks (or at least some of them.. I may decide to go to bed before completing this... almost certainly, in fact)

South thingy:

Round 1!

Kansas (1) vs Austin Peay (16): The bird is more unsettling than the creepy monopoly man. Look how the bird is walking. Birds don't walk that way. Its unnatural. Kansas wins

Colorado (8) vs Connecticut (9): Angry buffalo vs cute doggie. No question. Colorado wins 134 - 36

Maryland (5) vs South Dakota State (12): This is unfortunate for the jackrabbits, or whatever S Dakota's mascot is. The jackrabbit looks pretty angry, but the nudist turtle is simply nightmarish. In another section thingy with more boring-logo teams, S Dakota may have gone deep. This year, they lose (mightily) in the first round.

Cal (4) vs Hawaii (13): Cal's logo is intolerably lame. Its just Cal. Not frightening or imposing in the least. Hawaii is not much better with just the letter 'H', but at least they gave it some pointy edges that make it look a little like a weapon. Hawaii squeaks out a win on this one.

Arizona (6) vs Wichita State (11): A shaft (blade? strand?) of wheat? Come on, Wichita... as logos go, it just doesn't get any more boring. Arizona wins without even taking the court, after the entire Wichita team calls in sick.

Miami (3) vs Buffalo (14): A 'U' vs a 'UB'. Both boring. Miami wins because their logo has two colors instead of just one.

Iowa (7) vs Temple (10): Finally a matchup that isn't completely obvious! The hawk looks pretty formidable. But spend a few minutes staring at that yellow-eyed owl, and I can almost guarantee that you will not have pleasant dreams tonight. Temple upsets Iowa.

Villanova (2) vs N.C. Asheville (15) - I was going to give this one to Villanova specifically for the resemblance to a mushroom cloud. I even had my bracket all filled out with Villanova going deep. But after looking again... What is that Asheville logo? An 'A', with a blade attached to the bottom, which is decapitating a very angry dog? This is a MIGHTY CLAN [DANGER]! first, folks, but we're going against the mushroom cloud here. Asheville wins. Probably by decapitating someone.

-----------------------------------------

South thingy, round two!

Kansas (1) vs Colorado (8): Birdie vs buffalo. Which would you be more afraid of? That's right, Colorado defeats Kansas.

Maryland (5) vs Hawaii (13): Terrifying nudist turtle easily defeats modestly threatening 'H"

Arizona (6) vs Miami (3): An 'A' vs a 'U'. Still both boring. Both have two colors. Arizona wins because the 'A' is more pointy than the 'U', and also because all Florida schools are always overrated.

Temple (10) vs Asheville (15): Its getting tougher to pick now.... the owl is spooky. But I still think the decapitated corpse of the inexplicably angry dog is worse. Asheville wins.

------------------------------------------------

South thingy, round three!!

The picks in this region-thingy are definitely not easy any more.

Colorado (8) vs Maryland (5): The buffalo is frightening. But that turtle... Look at how he stands there.... so confident. And with only an 'M' to cover up his... whatever turtles have there. Also, look at his head! It looks more like a dinosaur than a turtle. And that grin! Its like he's standing there saying, "Hey, want to go for a ride in my windowless van?" Pedophile turtle defeats stampeding buffalo.

Arizona (6) vs Asheville (15): Ok, so this one is still pretty easy. Boring (albeit pointy) 'A" loses to decapitated canine. For the first time in history, a 15 seed makes the elite eight.

------------------------------------------------

South thingy, round four!

Maryland (5) vs Asheville (15): I have struggled with this one. I have agonized over it for at least the last fifty four seconds. Finally, I have decided that the most disturbing image in this matchup is the Pedophile Dinoturtle. Maryland makes the final four.

So ends the South Thingy.

I think I need to correct my previous post. I just went and looked up last year's thread, and found this:



So, we went 5/5 not 6/6. I can find no mention of the outcome of the 6th game, which means that I did not brag about it, which means that this was where the shenanigans started.

galleri, it will become clear to you very soon.

Last season, I went 6 for 6 for the first 6 games of the tournament. That included two major (like 15-2 or 14-3 type) upsets.

From there, I lost a lot, but as we established fairly conclusively, there must have been foul play afoot.

I know why.

It is because their existence proves that there is no hope for the future of the human race.

I'm in! I'll be following my same selection criteria which resulted in such great success last year. Winning team of any individual matchup is:

- The Team whose logo looks most like a mushroom cloud

- If neither looks like a mushroom cloud, the logo which looks the most frightening/aggressive/threatening will win. In these cases, animal logos are usually given a higher threat rating, unless a demon is involved. Fire breath is highly prized. I really wish UAB had made the cut again this year.

- If both logos are lame logos with just letters, then the letter 'V' always wins.

- 'A' usually wins if no 'V' is present, as it looks like an upside down mushroom cloud.

- If none of the above criteria are met by either team's logo, the winner will be decided at my whim, usually by whichever is the higher seed, but not always.

http://komonews.com/...n-killed-by-7-11-customer

Come on ford, that's the only reason I stuck around for the last 11 months. :)

+1

Also Ireland and the UK please

+44
+353

I win!

Almost 30's? I'm halfway done with my 40's already!

I'm beginning to understand why ford becomes so frustrated with you, Blade.



No, there was not. It isn't "perhaps", its no.

RD was mass deleted in the Oct-Nov 2013 reset: http://earthgraphs.com/...amp;searchstr&page=12

The reset before that, they finished 3rd in total net worth and 1st in average net worth: http://earthempires.com/...nce/24/clans?ranktype=tnw

There was no "gang bang" leading up to the end of RD. One or more of RD's leaders broke the terms under which Pang allowed them to play his game, so the tag lost its privilege to exist. That is all.

I don't think there was any part of that post that was accurate.

RD was not besieged by a multitude of other tags. On the contrary, RD was at that time part of the dominant power bloc on this server. There were fractures developing within that coalition, but they still held the upper hand over the rest of the server at that time.

RD was killed by the admins, not other alliances.

I played from '97 til Jolt shut the game down, with many "mini-retirements" in there. Play a couple years, take a few months off, repeat.

Discovered EE in mid 2012 and am probably about to start my first mini-retirement from it. May move back to primary server or something, but the alliance server just ain't doing it for me any more. Not sure if I could stand putting in the time required to play primary though, now that EEstats seems to be gone for good.

For learning net gaining (peaceful play) I recommend LaF, Omega, Evolution, MD, LCN, Monsters, or NA (tagged as "Sodium" this reset). Of those, I only have firsthand experience with LaF, and they have some fantastic teachers in the alliance.

For warring, there are two premiere alliances. SoF and SOL. Neither are fighting this reset, but they usually do. I have firsthand experience playing with SoF and can tell you they are not only great at teaching you how to build a good war country, but also have fantastic organization and strategizing within the alliance so that your war country gets used to it's full potential (if you put the time in)

Message members of the tags in game, or just respond to the offers that are sure to be posted in this thread ;)

One more note: The alliance server has become a twisted perversion of what this game once was. I still recommend you play it because there are some great teachers in the alliances who will help you learn the game. But once you've learned, try the Primary server for more of a taste of how this game was originally intended. Far more competitive.. you're on your own there, but so is everybody else.

Good luck and have fun! And if you do have fun, please tell your friends!

humicroav, if you're new here, you'd be much better off joining an existing clan first and learning the ropes of this server. It is brutal for new alliances. A small, new tag can expect to be farmed mercilessly, and then tagkilled if the members dare to defend themselves.

If you're new the game, especially, join an established alliance and learn from them.

I loved TEQ until they did away with the fight server.

TEQ

First of all, there are not many businesses that truly spend more than their income for very long. Those would be failed businesses. Most (if not all) attempt to show as little profit as possible on their taxes, specifically because our corporate tax rate is so high.

I remember being infuriated several years ago when I saw that the Obamas paid an effective tax rate somewhere in the teens, and my company, which earned profits equal to a tiny fraction of the Obamas' income, paid 60 cents on every dollar of profit to either a federal or state overlord.

If you read the wiki article you linked to a little more carefully, you'll find that the FairTax proposal would tax goods *one time*, when they are purchased by the consumer. Now, that does not even come close to meaning that "all corporate spending is subject to a 30% tax rate", as you stated. Businesses may consume raw products (steel, wood, etc etc etc) but this is not necessarily the majority of their spending. In the case of my business, the majority of my spending goes to payroll... Something upon which I'm taxed 15 to 20 percent, depending on which state we're talking about, and something upon which I would pay zero taxes if we got rid of our current corrupt tax system.

The current system allows every business to take some advantage of loopholes, and allows those with the most resources to really benefit. You see mega corporations achieving an effective tax rate of zero, but you'll never see a small business very far under 35%. This is as backwards and anti-competitive as you can possibly get.

+1

There are good choices out there. Nobody will take them seriously though because they aren't on team red or team blue.

This site has a history of shady pop-under ads. For a while, they seemed to be cleaning things up, but they're back at it again. Clicking on the input box to enter the required code for your bonus opens new windows. On a smartphone, those ads are often to fraudulent warnings that your phone is infected with viruses.

Please stop endangering your customers by forcing them to visit this illegitimate site just to be on an even playing field with everyone else.

Because most of the rest of them were 12

I am very confused

Partly true.

Its more of a self imposed temporary suspension. I have given up the letters of power for Lent.

Ha?

Sam

Also lol... Autocorrect tried to change my signature to the letters of power.

Too simplistic.

If you could have a child by letting your wife kick you in the nuts, would you?

I rest Mossad's case..

I'll be praying for you. May God grant you peace.