Could not do that, no way. Why give the haters something else to feed off?

The interesting thing is that I have never seen anyone vandalizing a car. You would think that eventually you would see one taking place. At the mall, driving by a parked car, etc.

I have no idea who does this. Is it a young teen? A drunk. An older blue collar guy? Some slobby dreg of society's lower echelon? A body shop owner?

It's definitely someone who ain't getting laid enough.

As much as I hate to , I'm going to add one more incident to the list. Last weekend I went to Fredericksburg, TX for Boxstoberfest. (A GREAT time btw). Got there around noon Fri, top down, cruising the "boulevard" lol. I stopped for lunch at the Auslander but had to park across the street since the curb side next to the place was full. No problem. There were quite a few Boxsters (and Caymans and 911's) in town already so it wasn't like I was really standing out.

I parked with the top down since I've never had or even HEARD of any sort of problems in FB, and it really just didn't occur to me to put it up. Came out from lunch and went to wash the bugs off from the 700 mile trip. I was finishing up on the interior and noticed a dark stain on the passenger seat. Pulled it out into the sun and dammmmmm, the stain was bad, and the leather was dried out, hard and wrinkled. I had no idea what it was or where it came from. Tried to wipe it off or clean it up but no luck. Used some leather reconditioner (thanks to Michael and his wife) but no luck there either. After talking with several people and having them look at it, the concensus is someone dumped a coke on the seat. The acid in the Coke and the hot Texas sun etched the leather and baked it in and completely dried it out. Seat is ruined.

I've talked with the people from Griots and a local leather refinisher......neither offered much hope for saving it. Tried the Griots cleaner and leather rejuvenator and it helped soften the leather, a little bit, but the stain is still there, and it's really pretty hard where it got baked in and still crinkled on the side bolster. So.....looks like a new seat cover (probably from GAHH) and someone to install it. About an $800-1000 overall job. (Assuming it didn't also ruin the heat seater, which I haven't yet tried)

This is the first ever problem I've had like this. I've taken it everywhere, but almost always put the top up before I leave. I didn't even think twice about it in FB since, like I said, there were plenty of other Porsches, of all sorts, already in town. I filed a police report and they were just astounded that someone would do something like this. So am I. I guess I'm fortunate that they didn't also key the door!

Bob

It's hard to believe that there is a person on the planet that would do that key job without being provoked. They don't deserve to exist. If you catch up to him and kill him, just hope that I'm on your jury. I'd set you free...........

well, I saw a video recently of an average looking middle-aged guy keying a Hummer. Maybe that's what my dad does when he walks the dog early in the morning, he keys people's cars.

I am a bit taken back by the surprise that these haters exist and an attempt to understand them.
This comment probably belongs on another thread, but let's be real here folks. We have an entire political party and the majority of the news media/TV industry building a feeding frenzy on class envy and hatred. Those evil rich people never pay their fair share, do they? That evil bastard who you work for; never mind he/she puts in 100 hour weeks and has two or three life savings at risk in that business, they are taking advantage of you by only paying you your meager salary for your 40 hour weeks. If it weren't for your whining ass and all your benefits package, your boss couldn't get out of bed in the morning or find his ass with both hands.
Sound familiar, like the base story line of 90% of the shows on TV? How many 60 minutes, Datelines, etc., have that same class envy/hatred subject, and don't get me started on 90% of the speeches coming from liberal politicians. Ever hear Nancy Pelosi say a good word about those who produce and provide ALL the jobs?
Still wonder where all these haters come from?
They see your Porsche, and you're all correct, they have no idea if it's a '97 or an '09, they just know its expensive and you certainly own it by screwing over some poor jerk like them. :troll:

I'm with you all the way Quickurt. Nancy Pelosi being choosen Speaker of the House was proof to me that all Liberals are brain dead Socialists.

EXACTLY Quickurt ! Everyone knows rich people didn't work a day in their life to obtain the wealth they have. Nancy Pelosi is a DISGRACE to hard working individuals who take responsibility for their situations and try to better themselves. But hey the liberal media is all about discouraging accountability and encouraging free handouts from the government.

As far as the ass who keyed the car, I wish we had a LAW that stated if the offender is caught we are allowed to shoot them in the knee caps. Problem solved.Sorry if that sounds harsh but I'm so tired of the hard working responsible people always getting screwed while the liberal judges let the criminals roam our streets without paying for their offenses.

RANT OVER, have a nice day.

On a semi serious note, the political leadership in the US is particularly responsible for this kind of behavior. When class and race division is the mindset of our elected officials and no one calls them on it, it seems OK for the brain lame to engage in this kind of behavior because they hear that it really is OK to take from the wealthy. After all, the wealthy owe the poor or non-wealthy and this is just another way that they owe.

Lets call a spade a spade. ALL PEOPLE deserve respect in the US, not just the folks who aren't making it.

Lets hear the pols actually defend the successful and thank them for working their A** for a change.

Lets hear that instead of all this class warfare that comes speweing down from Washington DC.

Seems that the most vocal web forum political ranters, at least on car forums, are generally right-wing bastards. :D

I'm a left-leaning "liberal" that believes in social welfare and caring for your fellow man, but I'm all for holding people accountable for personal responsibility as well. I am perfectly happy to pay higher taxes since I make more and can contribute more, but I don't want it going to mismanaged programs and wasteful government spending. Trust me--I work on military contracts, i understand wasteful government spending!

Blanket statements are for children.

I agree with brucelee on this one. Everyone should be respected AND held accountable for their actions. At the same time, you will always have class warfare, so while it doesn't make it right, you better get used to having your car keyed. Use your rich, privileged white man tax credits to pay for the repairs. :)

I re-read my post and stand by my statements! :D :dance: :cheers:
BY the way, eslai, great input on the "track" thread - keep it up! :D

Quickurt,

I'm the one eslai is calling a "right-wing bastard" because I make "Blanket statements". As for taxes, we all should pay our fair share, no more no less.

P.S. "Use your rich, privileged white man tax credits to pay for the repairs." Referring to getting your car keyed, what kind of racial remark is this?

The problem with a concept like "fair share" when it comes to taxes is that there really is no accepted definition.

For some, any tax on themselves is not fair. They should get a free ride and the only thing they have to do is fill in the blank or the reason why.

A-I don't make much money

B-I have many expenses

C-I wasn't born here.

D-I got a bum rap as a child or my ancestors were blank.

Etc etc.

These same folks may also fit into the mold whereby the
"rich" or well off can't ever pay enough to be "fair".


So, with Bill Gates, he should have been at taxed at a 95% of income for example.

To others, fair means the same. For example, a Value added tax or a flat income tax...



As Paul Simon once wrote, "a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest!"

:D

Quote:

As Paul Simon once wrote, "a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest!"


I ALWAYS loved that line, since that song first came out. And that was in the '60s! It caught my attention then, and still rings as true today as it did then.

AND...the song is called The Boxster! (Well...sort of.)

That was all meant to be light-hearted ribbing. ;)

It's funny you should mention that. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet did a joint interview with some college students a while back. I caught it on PBS and I remember them talking about flat taxes. The interview is available on DVD I think, it's called "Buffett and Gates Go Back to School".

I wish I could find a transcript, all I found was this one video on YouTube that's taking forever to load. It was a fascinating interview all around.

If my memory serves me correctly, one of the students asked them if they'd prefer a flat tax system. They both basically responded saying that no, they feel that the rich aren't taxed *enough* in this country and that anyone that's rich and complaining about being taxed too much is just being greedy.

I kid you not--they made no bones about it.

Additionally, Buffett said the following in another interview:

"The taxation system has tilted towards the rich and away from the middle class in the last ten years. It's dramatic and I don't think it's appreciated and I think it should be addressed."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/30/watch-warren-buffett-cal_n_70455.html

That video also has him talking about hedge fund managers:

"Well they say they work hard and that in the process of working hard they make other people money and, [laughing] that's true about a whole bunch of people in the world but that doesn't entitle them to a preferential tax rate."


I was very impressed by their stances (and boy do I wish I had enough money to hold myself so righteously :D ), and it's probably the first time that I started seeing Bill as something other than the Anti-Christ. :D

But whoops, this is way off-topic now, sorry.

well they would say that because they became billionaires a million years ago. Since then I doubt they have ever looked spent much time looking at electric bills, arguing with the waiter for mistakes on the bill or saying "oh ****************, gas up a quater!? f@ack me!!!".

You get to a point where you are stupid rich and don't care about taxes anymore.

That being said, of all the nations in the world, the wealthy carry the lightest load. Well I'm not sure what Switzerland and Austria are doing these days but Michael Schumacher think its swell!! Low taxes on the greatest concentration of millionaires and billionaires is a double edged sword. It helps create more well millionaires and billionaires but it also keeps their explosive income and investment growth in the last 20-25 years from keeping up with their rates of taxation. The Wall St. Journal ran a widely cited article recently about how the wealthiest 1% are now paying the lowest share of taxes in nearly 20 years.
Some say well they're still paying 40% of the taxes but that not so shocking when you consider how much of the nation's wealth a very small % of the population controls. And in the current economy their shipping the gains from those low tax rates to overseas economies where labor and manufacturing costs are much lower.
Meanwhile tax rates on people not making hundreds of thousands of dollars are a tad on the high side when you factor in how much of take home is eaten up by 'cost of living' expenses. And I'm NOT talking about Plasma TVs. I'm talking about insanely high housing prices, high home ulitility costs, out control college expenses, high food costs, health care through the roof and high fuel costs as well. Wages aren't keeping up and cost of living expenses are not being contained. So people said eff' it...I'm never going to catch up. Let's go down to Best Buy and get that 40 inch plasma and put it on the Best Buy card. What difference does another $3K home enteraintment center make when my house and kids college has me nearly one million dollars in debt (nearly all going to interest).

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates feel guilty about that. Billionaires guilt.
The poor bastards (those with merely less than $4 million) aren't so sympathetic.

I am aware of the Gates and Buffet comments. Interestingly, BOTH have created foundations that are in many ways, huge tax shelters available to rich folks.

I am NOT saying they are hpocrites, as I would have no way of knowing that.

And, there is nothing that would stop them from giving all of their money away, to the fed govt today. It is clear neither one will do that.

What I am saying is that the notion of paying because you can pay is not inherently fair, it is inherently silly. Essentially what is says is, we reward failure and punish success. It also assumes that somehow, the Fed Govt is responsible for your succcess or that society is and is entitled to a larger share of what you generated. Does that make sense to you? Would you teach that to your children?




Kind of backwards thinking, I think. :D

The top 20% of wage earners in the US pay about 70% of total taxes.

Is that FAIR? Depends who you are!

:D

I don't believe the notion is bad. I DO believe that everyone is responsible for maintaining our society. If you have more capability, I feel that you naturally carry more responsibility to put your life to good use and lead others in your example. Get involved, rather than build walls around your fortune and family.

I'll teach my kids to be selfless, to take care of others and to not be taken advantage of, regardless of their status or wealth.

Sadly, we *all* are at the point where we feel that the only thing the feds will do with our money is waste it [so why should we give more]. What a sad comment on the American condition, eh? If we all trusted the feds to not dick us around and if we felt the money was actually going to the betterment of our society, it sure would be easier to be noble.

Definitely! I'm in that 20% and I think it's fair, but I don't expect everyone to feel the same.

When I consider that I paid less in taxes due to my deductions than most of the younger guys that work for me and make far less, I feel bad for them.

I have NO PROBLEM at all with charity. Private charity is a wonderful thing and I give my share. Paying involuntary taxes to a govt that clearly pisses money away and is full of corruption is not my idea of supporting society.

I would like to pay for roads, schools, and defense. I abhor paying for many other things my tax dollars pay for against my will.

The problem with govt is its corrosive power. If I deal with most private entities, I can walk away. They can't make me pay for a product they sell in most cases.

With the govt, they can take your income, your taxes and in rare cases, you life.

:barf:

Jefferson Govt power
 

Thomas Jefferson
Letters on Liberty and Power


"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.1 This is so because those who gain positions of power tend always to extend the bounds of it. Power must always be constrained or limited else it will increase to the level that it will be despotic.

Jefferson wrote to Judge Spencer Roane in 1819, "It should be remembered, as an axiom of eternal truth in politics, that whatever power in any government is independent, is absolute also ...."2 With this principle of necessary limitation in mind, Jefferson declared "that a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular; and what no just government should refuse, or rest upon inference."3

Jefferson on taxes
 

"The government which steps out of the ranks of the ordinary articles of consumption to select and lay under disproportionate burdens a particular one because it is a comfort, pleasing to the taste or necessary to the health and will therefore be bought, is in that particular a tyranny. Taxes on consumption like those on capital or income, to be just, must be uniform." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Smith, 1823. ME 15:432

As much as I disagree with alot you say, you hit the nail on the head here.
I think this is the biggest difference between dyed in the wool liberals and the same style conservative: the liberals seem to be content with a gubment program being of good intention, while the conservative wants his money to actually go to a workable cure, fix the damned problem, and move on to the next, so that, someday, we will have it all fixed up and we can quit spending our money on problems.
I'll repeat my dream - imagine (eat your heart out, John) all the people both consuming tax money to exist and those employed to service them being employed in the productive private sector, all working for their own and their family's future, while only having to support government to provide for our defense and society's infrastructure. What would that tax rate be? 3%?
Gee, sounds like old Tommy Boy Jefferson, don't it?