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Legend
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Legend
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Australian women are supposed to be the most sexually assertive and adventurous in the entire world ....... and the women there dramatically outnumber the men. If i could move there .... I would.  Plus, they have the Outback .... which I find fascinating. 
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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Legend
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Legend
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So much to respond with. The only problem is my wife knows some of the women on this board.
#gmstrong
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Legend
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Legend
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LOL
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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Legend
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Legend
Joined: Oct 2006
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The Outback.....I really like that restaurant.
![[Linked Image]](http://www.dawgtalkers.net/uploads/Punchsmack/punch.gif) “...Iguodala to Curry, back to Iguodala, up for the layup! Oh! Blocked by James! LeBron James with the rejection!”
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Hall of Famer
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Quote:
The Outback.....I really like that restaurant.
LOL! Saved me from typing that response.
RIP My Love
1969-2025
20 years was not enough
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Hall of Famer
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Hall of Famer
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Quote:
Quote:
The Outback.....I really like that restaurant.
LOL! Saved me from typing that response.
My kids get me gift certificates for Christmas all most every year since they where teens...It's a place we can all go to enjoy a good meal together without someone feeling left out.
And they know Dad will flip the bill with the certificates and then some... ie friends 
I think a have 50 bucs in certificates laying around that need to get used like Sunday 
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Legend
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Legend
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Hey look! Big major distaster ... and it's hard to get supplies and relief in. I guess some countries just figure things out themselves instead of blaming the government for not assisting quick enough or just looting whatever they can find. 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110318/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_earthquake_devastation
With aid slow to come Japanese fend for themselves
Associated Press – Fri Mar 18, 11:13 am ET
KARAKUWA, Japan – There may be no water, no power and no cell phone reception in this tsunami-struck town, but in the school that serves as a shelter, there are sizzling pans of fat, pink shrimp.
Relief supplies have only trickled into the long strip of northeast Japan demolished by a powerful earthquake and the wave it unleashed a week ago, leaving affected communities to fend for themselves.
Many have risen to the occasion.
No water for the toilets? No problem. Students in Karakuwa bring buckets of water from the school swimming pool to give survivors the dignity of a proper flush. In the kitchen, a giant rice cooker given to the school by a resident sits on a table, steam rising from the heaping mounds of rice inside.
"For a long time, in the countryside, even if you didn't have enough for yourself, you shared with others," said Noriko Sasaki, 63, as she sat on the ground outside another relief center in the town. "That is our culture. Even if they're not relatives, we feel as if they're sisters or brothers."
There are hardships — a junior high hardly offers the comforts of home — and while the sense of community runs all along the coast, not all survivors are as well off.
Blustery snow, fuel shortages and widespread damage to airports, roads and rails have hampered delivery of badly needed assistance to more than 450,000 homeless trying to stay fed and warm, often without electricity and running water in shelters cobbled together in schools and other public buildings.
More than 6,900 people are confirmed dead so far and another 10,700 are missing. The disaster also damaged a seaside nuclear power plant, which remains in crisis as workers struggle under dangerous conditions to prevent a meltdown and major radiation leaks.
In the flattened hamlet of Shizugawa, Koji Sato, a carpenter who usually builds homes, is making coffins.
He said he hasn't had time to really think about the hardship he's faced. "All I have been doing is making coffins."
In Hirota, helicopters have delivered some food, but not much. So far, the survivors have instant noodles, fruit and bread. Water comes from wells and mountain rivers. Companies and residents unaffected by the disaster have donated bedding and blankets.
Kouetsu Sasaki, a 60-year-old city hall worker, said they still need gas, vegetables, socks, underwear, wet wipes and anti-bacterial lotion. There is some medicine, but not enough.
"People here aren't angry or frustrated yet. ... But it's a big question mark whether we can keep living like this for weeks or months," said Sasaki, who is not related to Noriko. "I try to concentrate on what I need to do this morning, this day, and not think about how long it might last."
With roads and airport runways being cleared of debris, aid workers hope to ramp up relief soon.
Helicopters operating from two U.S. aircraft carriers off the coast of Japan are already ferrying in supplies.
Two American helicopters touched down on a hilltop above Shizugawa on Friday with boxes of canned beans and powdered milk for a community center that has become a shelter for those who lost their homes.
But snow has limited helicopter flights, and American aircraft are also under orders to skirt the area around the nuclear plant to reduce the risk of radiation exposure.
The region can expect some relief in about 24 hours in the way of warmer weather replacing bitter cold and snow, said Herbert Puempel of the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization in Geneva. He said temperatures should climb enough to "take a little pressure off the people who are not housed."
"It's frustrating," said U.S. Navy rescue swimmer Jeff Pearson, 25, of Amarillo, Texas. "But we're doing all we can do. I think we are going to be able to get much more involved very soon."
His helicopter crew, based on the southern island of Okinawa, was heading farther north from Japan's Jinmachi Air Base in Yamagata city.
A 24-vehicle U.S. Marines convoy reached the base Friday, where the Marines will run a refueling hub, move supplies by road and provide communications support.
Also Friday, the airport in Sendai, the city closest to the epicenter, was declared ready to receive aid deliveries on jumbo C-130 and C-17 military transport planes. The tsunami had flooded the tarmac, piling up small planes and cars and leaving behind a layer of muck and debris.
At the school in Karakuwa, 43-year-old Emi Yoshida reads a book, still wearing the same clothes she had on the day the tsunami roared into town. She has not showered in a week and longs for a bed. Still, she is grateful for the comfort the community has provided her and her two sons.
Nearby, 62-year-old Yoko Komatsu and her 88-year-old father-in-law Tetsuo Komatsu sit in a patch of sunlight streaming in through the giant classroom windows, warming themselves next to an oil-powered heater.
Yoko feels trapped by the one thing the volunteers cannot give her: a way to communicate with the outside world. She has no idea if her relatives, who live in other hard-hit coastal towns, are alive.
"I want to go there to check on them," she said. "Even if I go, I can't come back, so I can't move. What I want most is gas."
In the kitchen, teachers, mothers of students and the newly homeless whip up three meals and two snacks a day.
The women mix together squid, shrimp and stir-fried vegetables in large pots, turning it into a nourishing stew that they ladle onto bowls of rice. They're delivered with slices of apples throughout the building.
In the middle of one classroom, a group of boys plunk themselves in seats around a table, the bowls of stew sending plumes of steam into the air. In unison, they bow their heads.
"Thank you," they say. "For everything."
Then, their chilled hands armed with chopsticks, they gobble their dinner down.
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Legend
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Legend
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While what the Japanese are doing is admirable, I think we need to remember that they have a different culture altogether over there, at least as compared to us.
It's my understanding that their culture is much more tied to "teamwork" than ours is. Ours is more of a "you should be able to do it yourself" kind of culture.
JMHObservation
I am unfamiliar with this feeling of optimism
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Hall of Famer
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Quote:
I guess some countries just figure things out themselves instead of blaming the government for not assisting quick enough or just looting whatever they can find.
Bitter much?
President - Fort Collins Browns Backers
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Legend
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Legend
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Why would I be bitter? Its just amusing that some ppl in this country can't wipe their own behinds without government help.
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Dawg Talker
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Quote:
While what the Japanese are doing is admirable, I think we need to remember that they have a different culture altogether over there, at least as compared to us.
It is admirable and commendable. Above all it's honorable. And you know what? Some people could probably learn something from their example. If the worst happened, god forbid, to the earth, these people have a huge leg up on any other culture that's "me first, others last." I'm not talking about liberals, conservatives or any other demographic mind you, just those that believe they deserve something without trying to pitch in and help themselves by helping everyone.
IMO the Japanese have it right, regardless of cultural difference.
There are no sacred cows.
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Legend
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Legend
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Quote:
Ours is more of a "you should be able to do it yourself" kind of culture.
JMHObservation
Our is more of a "Someone help me!!" culture.
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
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Legend
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Legend
Joined: Sep 2006
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Quote:
Quote:
I guess some countries just figure things out themselves instead of blaming the government for not assisting quick enough or just looting whatever they can find.
Bitter much?
Sounds like you can't deal with someone pointing out how a country handling something far worse than some of our disasters are dealing with it with dignity and respect for their fellow people.
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Legend
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Legend
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 40,601 |
Quote:
While what the Japanese are doing is admirable, I think we need to remember that they have a different culture altogether over there, at least as compared to us.
It's my understanding that their culture is much more tied to "teamwork" than ours is. Ours is more of a "you should be able to do it yourself" kind of culture.
JMHObservation
No doubt.
Here the savages would be looting.
If a major quake hit LA, you would see looters inside of 2 hours robbing stores and stripping dead bodies.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong ![[Linked Image]](http://www.dawgtalkers.net/uploads/small-gator-chomp.gif)
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Legend
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There is a major difference between the way the US and Japan see social welfare as well. Japan takes care of the old, and the disabled. They provide temporary help for the unemployed ...... however many would never accept such a thing, because it would diminish their sense of honor. They would rather either accept help from, or move back in with relative temporarily than to take a check for work they did not do. They earn what they have, and buy what they can afford. They have a sense of respect for the work it takes to afford things. Compare that to most big cities in this country ... or go to the stores after tax time when you see those without jobs buying big screen TVs with imaginary tax refunds ...... 
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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Legend
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Legend
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 19,249 |
Quote:
Compare that to most big cities in this country ... or go to the stores after tax time when you see those without jobs buying big screen TVs with imaginary tax refunds ......
Those aren't imaginary refunds, it's stimulus money!
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.
- John Muir
#GMSTRONG
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Legend
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Legend
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Actually, a lot of the EITC stuff was increased under Bush .... one of the biggest differences I had with him.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 19,249
Legend
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Legend
Joined: Sep 2006
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I realize that. It just fries me to know that some people who pay no taxes got a bigger refund than I did last year.
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.
- John Muir
#GMSTRONG
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Legend
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Legend
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That's mainly the EITC.
A single mother of 2 who works a few hours per day .... making $10,000 in total wages, would receive $4100 in Earned Income Tax Credit ....... just for working 25 hours/week. This is on top of all of the other welfare benefits already received.
Oh ..... and this person would also get the child tax credit as a refundable credit. So .... in my above example, the single mother would qualify for $2000 in child tax credits ..... plus any other tax credits that roll along .... like the "making work pay" tax credit ......and now this single mom is working 25 hours/week and is making a net of $16,000 tax free per year ..... in addition to housing, and food stamps .... and free medical ...... and child daycare ..... and transportation ..... and free education ...... and on and on and on ....... and it all adds up to this person working 25 hours/week, and making the equivalent of $30,000 or more .... tax free. Not bad for 25 hours/week, huh?
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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Posts: 2,758
Dawg Talker
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OP
Dawg Talker
Joined: Sep 2006
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Quote:
That's mainly the EITC.
A single mother of 2 who works a few hours per day .... making $10,000 in total wages, would receive $4100 in Earned Income Tax Credit ....... just for working 25 hours/week. This is on top of all of the other welfare benefits already received.
Oh ..... and this person would also get the child tax credit as a refundable credit. So .... in my above example, the single mother would qualify for $2000 in child tax credits ..... plus any other tax credits that roll along .... like the "making work pay" tax credit ......and now this single mom is working 25 hours/week and is making a net of $16,000 tax free per year ..... in addition to housing, and food stamps .... and free medical ...... and child daycare ..... and transportation ..... and free education ...... and on and on and on ....... and it all adds up to this person working 25 hours/week, and making the equivalent of $30,000 or more .... tax free. Not bad for 25 hours/week, huh?
egads. I need to go down to part-time work and tell my wife to quit her job.. Screw actually working to try to raise a family. I'd be better off doing it that way. Think of all the time I can spend with my wife and son.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](http://i.imgur.com/FUKyw.png) "Don't be burdened by regrets or make your failures an obsession or become embittered or possessed by ruined hopes"
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Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Japan hit by a 8.8 Earthquake,
Tsunamis follow.
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