jimnyc
11-16-2007, 10:07 AM
hjmick decided that an interview "jimnyc" would be fun and a good idea. Some of us newbies don't know him as well as the older members. He's has been gracious enough with his time and money to provide us all with a digital refuge for our political, social, and life views, a place where we are free to speak our minds. So, what makes the man behind the board?
Can you tell us a little about yourself? Based on the "nyc" in your name, I can assume that you live in New York City, how does living there shape your views?Truth be told, I never lived in NYC. I started with this username when I first moved to NY but lived in Forest Hills, Queens. I then moved to Bronxville which is in lower Westchester, and I bought a house a few miles north now but still in lower Westchester. Queens was a 15 minutes subway ride to the city while both places in Westchester are about 1/2 hour train rides, only because of so many stops. I used to leave for work at like 5 in the morning, work until anywhere from 3-5pm, and then hang at the bars until all hours. I would mostly only be home to sleep and puke, so I considered my primary residence to be work and the bars of NYC! I grew up only an hour away in Central NJ, so you wouldn't think my views changed much as I got older an moved, but NY is a totally different world than where I grew up. In NJ you only got the local papers and news, which was always about NY anyway, and the political environment was rather tame. In NY you have politics in your face daily. You have the NY Daily News, NY Post, NY Times & a few other extremely popular newspapers. TV is different as it's not just "on TV" here, it's in your face! I can't speak for the others, but I know that NBC and CBS are like freakshows when they are taping and they have an audience at their stations daily. I worked at the GM Building (now Trump International Towers) and CBS bought out a section of the lobby and broadcast from their daily. Since I rarely worked, and did a lot of coffee drinking and smoking, I had ample time to watch the inner workings! But working in the City and walking the streets, spending thousands on shopping and even more in their bars, using mass transit & watching the crime before my eyes - you have no alternative but to get caught up in the hype and watch the political fallout as a result.
What prompted you to start Debate Policy?Easily, it was the events of 9/11 and the aftermath. I was pissed, and obsessed, and wanted information like "Johnny 5" and couldn't get enough. I took to the internet and read every news site I could find. I then started interacting with others via forums to get a feel for how others felt. I cam across a free hosted site ran by a former member "creek" and also posting there was "NightTrain". We all had a good time arguing over politics and 9/11, but the site was infiltrated by trolls and downtime. That's when I decided to create USMB, for a more stable environment where we can control the trolls and as much of the server issues as we can. Almost 4 years and 500,000 post later, I sold my first site. I grew weary and burnt out. I had no intentions of starting another forum. My brother wanted to mess around a little bit and make a place more dedicated to "mature debating" and centralize the theme, and one thing lead to another, and here we are!
As owner and chief decision maker of Debate Policy, how are you able to separate beliefs from the powers you could wield here in cyberspace?Excellent question! I'll be honest, it's not easy! I do my best to take a step back and be impartial anytime a decision needs to be made concerning the overall welfare of the board or decisions involving any member. I DO NOT want a board filled with one sided opinions. With all the accusations aside, I've stated hundreds of times that this board would cease to be without input from all political beliefs. I try to be as forgiving as possible and remain true to my original intent, and original set of rules. I want as much freedom of speech as possible, but as we all know we must have a bit of rules in place with that speech to keep the community a place that members want to return to. I compare my board with others all the time and try to learn from what others don't like elsewhere. I like to think that we allow much more here than at other places, but keep chaos from ensuing and ruining the experience for our members at the same time. As to those accusations: here we are 4 years later and I let the facts speak for themselves at this point. Even most liberals will concede at this point that I have been fair with them regarding my administration duties. They might not like me, or my views, or my arrogance, or my attitude - yet they all remain here with the ability to speak their views.
Were you living in NYC on 9/11? If so, how did the events of that day change you and your views?Lived in Westchester, but was working in the city that day, specifically on 58th & 5th. With CBS broadcasting from our lobby we had the chance to watch the whole thing unfold, both on TV and around us. I was on a smoke break, went back to the 24th floor and that's when I read on the 'net that a "small plane" had hit one of the towers. Already rumors started around the building. Of course I went on another smoke break to watch the monstrous TV's they had outside of CBS. We watched live as the 2nd plane hit the towers and things started to get a bit chaotic at that point. Crowds were gathering and you could sense the fear around the city, even the cars on the streets. Back on 24 people were running around like crazy not having a clue as to what was transpiring in front of us. That's when the news came in that one of the towers fully collapsed. Shortly thereafter, news came in that the second went down too. Our company had an emergency meeting, and prayer, and asked that the entire floor remain where they are and not leave the building. Yeah, right, Jackass and I were out of there within the next 2 minutes! I spent the next 3-4 hours driving home while Jackass and the others from NJ spent half the day trying to get a ferry to NJ to get home. I listened to various radio stations the entire time and literally felt myself getting sadder, and angrier. If it were up to me, we would have dropped nukes around the world by sunset!
You have said that you have a bit of a "mean streak," has this been with you your entire life or is it a recent development?Hell no, I'm rather tame now compared to growing up! I've had a bad temper for as long as I can remember. I think it was my brothers and sister fucking with me when I was little, and I had no choice but to be crazy to win. I'm really not sure where it originated but I do know it's not a good thing. I'm an arrogant and negative prick to begin with, but watch out when my temper overflows. I can literally feel it happening, when my blood pressure starts to rise and my thoughts start racing, and I actually get a little hyper and start to get jittery. I ran a guy over once in Jersey City at a red light, well clipped him pretty good when he got out of his truck at a red light anyway. He was a huge bastard, but my van was bigger that night! I've done some things in my life that I'm embarrassed of when I got angry, and later regretted, but I seem to lose myself when that happens. Neighbors and "friends" who pissed me off lost their windows quite a bit. I was never a "big" guy, but I never lost a fight I got myself into. I'd bite an ear off or yank out patches of hair sooner than get beat up with people watching. The best thing for me to do was let them get a few shots in on me to piss me off, then the temper took over and they'd be lucky to get away with a beating rather than me drilling a rock at their skull. Anyway, I'm on medication for anxiety for the past 5 years or so and am learning to control my temper and think before I act.
Illegal immigration is a hot button topic in politics today. Where do come down on the issues surrounding illegal immigration and illegal immigration itself?Immigration is fine, it's what this country was built upon, but even legal immigration needs it's limits to keep our great country in check. With the amount of immigrants coming here yearly, in 50 years this country won't be able to keep up any longer. I've pointed to this before, but if you have a chance, go to YouTube and do a search for "immigration gumballs" and watch that 9:00 video. It's nothing personal against legal immigrants, but we have to think of our current citizens first before worrying about the rest of the worlds refugees.
As far as illegal immigrants, get rid of them. I'm all for rounding them up and shipping them elsewhere like cattle. Nothing that they do matters to me, or the consequences, as we will survive as a country in the long run. But their very first move was breaking the law and that means they deserve nothing more than a one way ticket back to where they came from. They are a drain on our economy. They commit too many crimes and we have to pay for their time in our jail system. They take our jobs. Yes, that's right, I believe in the long run that hard working Americans will do the jobs that they are currently doing. And I say fuck the owners if they don't like paying higher, fairer and legal wages to Americans. Sure, some prices may rise on our produce and lawn care, but ultimately this money will make it's way back into our economy.
Who do you think will win the Democratic and Republican nominations respectively, and why?Unfortunately, I think Hillary will win the Democratic nomination. Barack and Edwards will ultimately draw the race closer, but Hillary has a much stronger team, stronger record and bigger bank. Although I personally would like to see Fred Thompson win the Republican nomination, I think it comes down to Giuliani and Romney. Both have good and bad points and I honestly wouldn't predict who would win right now. If I had to choose between the two, I would vote for Rudy myself.
Dennis Kucinich, your thoughts? LOL, just kidding.That's ok, I want to answer this one! I think he's a little pandering weasel. I watched last nights debate and I wanted to reach through my screen and choke the little bastard. He claimed to have been insulted at Blitzer referring to the illegal aliens as such, and preferred to call them "undocumented", and said there was nothing illegal about humans. Bullshit! They ARE illegal aliens! He tried to upstage Blitzer and pander to the immigrants that can vote, and in my opinion came off looking like a little sniveling scumbag.
Barack Obama, your thoughts? (seriously this time)If I had to vote for a Dem, which I wouldn't, he would be my choice. He comes across as genuine and honest to me. I disagree with his stance on the Iraq war, his stance on global warming and most of his social ideas which will unfairly cost Americans to pay for the less wealthy. The dumbass also went on record stating he would give drivers licenses to illegals, which I am totally against. I do appreciate his dedication to our veterans, our school system and a little bit of his healthcare plan.
How do you think GW Bush will be remembered 50 years from now?*Do I think he'll be the next George Washington? No. But I do believe history will show him to be a man of principles who stood by his word and took the good fight to worldwide terrorism. A man who didn't waver in the face of non-stop criticism over his desire to end terrorism, both in the Middle East and within our own borders. A lot of other good things he did for our economy will be lost in the confusion of the war, as such a war is quite costly. Unfortunately, he'll likely also be remembered for not taking a firm stance against illegal immigrants which has only gotten worse while he's been in office.
It is rumored that you have quite a collection of tattoos, any you regret? Have you ever been inked while drunk?13 -15 in total, all on my arms except for the tattoo of my Pug, Jerome, on my chest. Skulls on my left arm, a little gladiator surrounded by tribal on my wrist, a few ghosts and a rose and dagger. My right arm has a dragon surrounded by tribal, more tribal on my forearm, and of course my Steelers tattoo! Easily quite a few thousand dollars worth of permanent ink on me and not one do I regret. Each and every one represents a time in my life and a little bit about who I am. I was never drunk while getting any done. While I do know of some parlors that allow it, it's not a good idea to drink while getting inked. The alcohol thins your blood and makes you bleed more while getting it done, making it more difficult for the artist. I don't want any screwups with something that will be on me for my entire life!
Your brothers are members here at DP, correct? When you were kids, which one of you got the most crap from the others? Is payback still waiting?Sir Evil is a year older than me, and Dan I believe is about 22 now. I was moving away from home as Dan was getting older, so not many horror stories with him, but a bit of fun over the years at vacation houses and my sisters place in NJ! Sir Evil haunted me while growing up but I held my own against him. I just smashed something of his whenever he left the house! LOL
Okay, time for the fluff:
Favorite book:Fighting Back - a story about Rocky Bleier from the Pittsburgh Steelers, and how he overcame having half of his foot blown off in Vietnam only to return to the Steelers and be a productive RB and win a SB with them.
Favorite movie:That's hard! Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Saving Private Ryan, Reign on Me, the Bourne series and the Saw series. Too hard to pick just one.
Favorite magazine:Playboy. No other single magazine gave me such pleasure over the years!
Do you own an iPod? if so, what song has the most plays?Yep, and it's pink! A hand me down from my wife. It's in my glove box in my truck attached to my stereo with about 2,000 songs on it. Most played song would have to be "Just the 2 of us" by Will Smith.
What was the last concert you attended?I probably went to a hundred growing up, but the last was Bon Jovi at Giants Stadium about 4-5 years ago. Saw them about 10 times prior to that, but they were just as good this time around.
New York City is one of the most culturally rich cities in the nation, do take advantage of the opportunities afforded you by living in New York? What was the last museum to which you paid a visit?I definitely do not take advantage. I don't think I ever stepped foot in a museum within NYC. I can tell you about all the bars, drug places, lower east side, where the hookers are, spanish harlem, hell's kitchen, the village and other screwed up areas, but I haven't spent a great deal of time where the "suits" hang at. Although many of those suits turn into drunks eventually and we meet at the bars!
How do you feel about the overall setup of this board? If there were some changes that you could make, what would they be?I'm never content. I am forever looking for ways to improve the board and make additions to keep members happy. I sometimes wish I was an accomplished programmer as there are things I would like to add to the board but cannot afford to pay someone to implement. Example, I would love to have a "live" debate arena where pressing questions could be asked, and members could respond live time while not having an opportunity to research their answers. Not a typical "chat" module, but something unique to DP. Other than frustrations with limitations, I'm quite happy thus far. I've made a bunch of friends, both liberals and conservatives alike, and am thankful for that. We have a great community of diverse people here who all make it worthwhile to return on a daily basis.
Whether you answer the questions or not, thanks for the board, jim.You're quite welcome. And I thank you for sending me these questions, unasked. I think it was cool of you to spend your time coming up with questions for lil 'ol me! I have no problem sharing with the board, and acknowledging the many faults I have!
Can you tell us a little about yourself? Based on the "nyc" in your name, I can assume that you live in New York City, how does living there shape your views?Truth be told, I never lived in NYC. I started with this username when I first moved to NY but lived in Forest Hills, Queens. I then moved to Bronxville which is in lower Westchester, and I bought a house a few miles north now but still in lower Westchester. Queens was a 15 minutes subway ride to the city while both places in Westchester are about 1/2 hour train rides, only because of so many stops. I used to leave for work at like 5 in the morning, work until anywhere from 3-5pm, and then hang at the bars until all hours. I would mostly only be home to sleep and puke, so I considered my primary residence to be work and the bars of NYC! I grew up only an hour away in Central NJ, so you wouldn't think my views changed much as I got older an moved, but NY is a totally different world than where I grew up. In NJ you only got the local papers and news, which was always about NY anyway, and the political environment was rather tame. In NY you have politics in your face daily. You have the NY Daily News, NY Post, NY Times & a few other extremely popular newspapers. TV is different as it's not just "on TV" here, it's in your face! I can't speak for the others, but I know that NBC and CBS are like freakshows when they are taping and they have an audience at their stations daily. I worked at the GM Building (now Trump International Towers) and CBS bought out a section of the lobby and broadcast from their daily. Since I rarely worked, and did a lot of coffee drinking and smoking, I had ample time to watch the inner workings! But working in the City and walking the streets, spending thousands on shopping and even more in their bars, using mass transit & watching the crime before my eyes - you have no alternative but to get caught up in the hype and watch the political fallout as a result.
What prompted you to start Debate Policy?Easily, it was the events of 9/11 and the aftermath. I was pissed, and obsessed, and wanted information like "Johnny 5" and couldn't get enough. I took to the internet and read every news site I could find. I then started interacting with others via forums to get a feel for how others felt. I cam across a free hosted site ran by a former member "creek" and also posting there was "NightTrain". We all had a good time arguing over politics and 9/11, but the site was infiltrated by trolls and downtime. That's when I decided to create USMB, for a more stable environment where we can control the trolls and as much of the server issues as we can. Almost 4 years and 500,000 post later, I sold my first site. I grew weary and burnt out. I had no intentions of starting another forum. My brother wanted to mess around a little bit and make a place more dedicated to "mature debating" and centralize the theme, and one thing lead to another, and here we are!
As owner and chief decision maker of Debate Policy, how are you able to separate beliefs from the powers you could wield here in cyberspace?Excellent question! I'll be honest, it's not easy! I do my best to take a step back and be impartial anytime a decision needs to be made concerning the overall welfare of the board or decisions involving any member. I DO NOT want a board filled with one sided opinions. With all the accusations aside, I've stated hundreds of times that this board would cease to be without input from all political beliefs. I try to be as forgiving as possible and remain true to my original intent, and original set of rules. I want as much freedom of speech as possible, but as we all know we must have a bit of rules in place with that speech to keep the community a place that members want to return to. I compare my board with others all the time and try to learn from what others don't like elsewhere. I like to think that we allow much more here than at other places, but keep chaos from ensuing and ruining the experience for our members at the same time. As to those accusations: here we are 4 years later and I let the facts speak for themselves at this point. Even most liberals will concede at this point that I have been fair with them regarding my administration duties. They might not like me, or my views, or my arrogance, or my attitude - yet they all remain here with the ability to speak their views.
Were you living in NYC on 9/11? If so, how did the events of that day change you and your views?Lived in Westchester, but was working in the city that day, specifically on 58th & 5th. With CBS broadcasting from our lobby we had the chance to watch the whole thing unfold, both on TV and around us. I was on a smoke break, went back to the 24th floor and that's when I read on the 'net that a "small plane" had hit one of the towers. Already rumors started around the building. Of course I went on another smoke break to watch the monstrous TV's they had outside of CBS. We watched live as the 2nd plane hit the towers and things started to get a bit chaotic at that point. Crowds were gathering and you could sense the fear around the city, even the cars on the streets. Back on 24 people were running around like crazy not having a clue as to what was transpiring in front of us. That's when the news came in that one of the towers fully collapsed. Shortly thereafter, news came in that the second went down too. Our company had an emergency meeting, and prayer, and asked that the entire floor remain where they are and not leave the building. Yeah, right, Jackass and I were out of there within the next 2 minutes! I spent the next 3-4 hours driving home while Jackass and the others from NJ spent half the day trying to get a ferry to NJ to get home. I listened to various radio stations the entire time and literally felt myself getting sadder, and angrier. If it were up to me, we would have dropped nukes around the world by sunset!
You have said that you have a bit of a "mean streak," has this been with you your entire life or is it a recent development?Hell no, I'm rather tame now compared to growing up! I've had a bad temper for as long as I can remember. I think it was my brothers and sister fucking with me when I was little, and I had no choice but to be crazy to win. I'm really not sure where it originated but I do know it's not a good thing. I'm an arrogant and negative prick to begin with, but watch out when my temper overflows. I can literally feel it happening, when my blood pressure starts to rise and my thoughts start racing, and I actually get a little hyper and start to get jittery. I ran a guy over once in Jersey City at a red light, well clipped him pretty good when he got out of his truck at a red light anyway. He was a huge bastard, but my van was bigger that night! I've done some things in my life that I'm embarrassed of when I got angry, and later regretted, but I seem to lose myself when that happens. Neighbors and "friends" who pissed me off lost their windows quite a bit. I was never a "big" guy, but I never lost a fight I got myself into. I'd bite an ear off or yank out patches of hair sooner than get beat up with people watching. The best thing for me to do was let them get a few shots in on me to piss me off, then the temper took over and they'd be lucky to get away with a beating rather than me drilling a rock at their skull. Anyway, I'm on medication for anxiety for the past 5 years or so and am learning to control my temper and think before I act.
Illegal immigration is a hot button topic in politics today. Where do come down on the issues surrounding illegal immigration and illegal immigration itself?Immigration is fine, it's what this country was built upon, but even legal immigration needs it's limits to keep our great country in check. With the amount of immigrants coming here yearly, in 50 years this country won't be able to keep up any longer. I've pointed to this before, but if you have a chance, go to YouTube and do a search for "immigration gumballs" and watch that 9:00 video. It's nothing personal against legal immigrants, but we have to think of our current citizens first before worrying about the rest of the worlds refugees.
As far as illegal immigrants, get rid of them. I'm all for rounding them up and shipping them elsewhere like cattle. Nothing that they do matters to me, or the consequences, as we will survive as a country in the long run. But their very first move was breaking the law and that means they deserve nothing more than a one way ticket back to where they came from. They are a drain on our economy. They commit too many crimes and we have to pay for their time in our jail system. They take our jobs. Yes, that's right, I believe in the long run that hard working Americans will do the jobs that they are currently doing. And I say fuck the owners if they don't like paying higher, fairer and legal wages to Americans. Sure, some prices may rise on our produce and lawn care, but ultimately this money will make it's way back into our economy.
Who do you think will win the Democratic and Republican nominations respectively, and why?Unfortunately, I think Hillary will win the Democratic nomination. Barack and Edwards will ultimately draw the race closer, but Hillary has a much stronger team, stronger record and bigger bank. Although I personally would like to see Fred Thompson win the Republican nomination, I think it comes down to Giuliani and Romney. Both have good and bad points and I honestly wouldn't predict who would win right now. If I had to choose between the two, I would vote for Rudy myself.
Dennis Kucinich, your thoughts? LOL, just kidding.That's ok, I want to answer this one! I think he's a little pandering weasel. I watched last nights debate and I wanted to reach through my screen and choke the little bastard. He claimed to have been insulted at Blitzer referring to the illegal aliens as such, and preferred to call them "undocumented", and said there was nothing illegal about humans. Bullshit! They ARE illegal aliens! He tried to upstage Blitzer and pander to the immigrants that can vote, and in my opinion came off looking like a little sniveling scumbag.
Barack Obama, your thoughts? (seriously this time)If I had to vote for a Dem, which I wouldn't, he would be my choice. He comes across as genuine and honest to me. I disagree with his stance on the Iraq war, his stance on global warming and most of his social ideas which will unfairly cost Americans to pay for the less wealthy. The dumbass also went on record stating he would give drivers licenses to illegals, which I am totally against. I do appreciate his dedication to our veterans, our school system and a little bit of his healthcare plan.
How do you think GW Bush will be remembered 50 years from now?*Do I think he'll be the next George Washington? No. But I do believe history will show him to be a man of principles who stood by his word and took the good fight to worldwide terrorism. A man who didn't waver in the face of non-stop criticism over his desire to end terrorism, both in the Middle East and within our own borders. A lot of other good things he did for our economy will be lost in the confusion of the war, as such a war is quite costly. Unfortunately, he'll likely also be remembered for not taking a firm stance against illegal immigrants which has only gotten worse while he's been in office.
It is rumored that you have quite a collection of tattoos, any you regret? Have you ever been inked while drunk?13 -15 in total, all on my arms except for the tattoo of my Pug, Jerome, on my chest. Skulls on my left arm, a little gladiator surrounded by tribal on my wrist, a few ghosts and a rose and dagger. My right arm has a dragon surrounded by tribal, more tribal on my forearm, and of course my Steelers tattoo! Easily quite a few thousand dollars worth of permanent ink on me and not one do I regret. Each and every one represents a time in my life and a little bit about who I am. I was never drunk while getting any done. While I do know of some parlors that allow it, it's not a good idea to drink while getting inked. The alcohol thins your blood and makes you bleed more while getting it done, making it more difficult for the artist. I don't want any screwups with something that will be on me for my entire life!
Your brothers are members here at DP, correct? When you were kids, which one of you got the most crap from the others? Is payback still waiting?Sir Evil is a year older than me, and Dan I believe is about 22 now. I was moving away from home as Dan was getting older, so not many horror stories with him, but a bit of fun over the years at vacation houses and my sisters place in NJ! Sir Evil haunted me while growing up but I held my own against him. I just smashed something of his whenever he left the house! LOL
Okay, time for the fluff:
Favorite book:Fighting Back - a story about Rocky Bleier from the Pittsburgh Steelers, and how he overcame having half of his foot blown off in Vietnam only to return to the Steelers and be a productive RB and win a SB with them.
Favorite movie:That's hard! Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Saving Private Ryan, Reign on Me, the Bourne series and the Saw series. Too hard to pick just one.
Favorite magazine:Playboy. No other single magazine gave me such pleasure over the years!
Do you own an iPod? if so, what song has the most plays?Yep, and it's pink! A hand me down from my wife. It's in my glove box in my truck attached to my stereo with about 2,000 songs on it. Most played song would have to be "Just the 2 of us" by Will Smith.
What was the last concert you attended?I probably went to a hundred growing up, but the last was Bon Jovi at Giants Stadium about 4-5 years ago. Saw them about 10 times prior to that, but they were just as good this time around.
New York City is one of the most culturally rich cities in the nation, do take advantage of the opportunities afforded you by living in New York? What was the last museum to which you paid a visit?I definitely do not take advantage. I don't think I ever stepped foot in a museum within NYC. I can tell you about all the bars, drug places, lower east side, where the hookers are, spanish harlem, hell's kitchen, the village and other screwed up areas, but I haven't spent a great deal of time where the "suits" hang at. Although many of those suits turn into drunks eventually and we meet at the bars!
How do you feel about the overall setup of this board? If there were some changes that you could make, what would they be?I'm never content. I am forever looking for ways to improve the board and make additions to keep members happy. I sometimes wish I was an accomplished programmer as there are things I would like to add to the board but cannot afford to pay someone to implement. Example, I would love to have a "live" debate arena where pressing questions could be asked, and members could respond live time while not having an opportunity to research their answers. Not a typical "chat" module, but something unique to DP. Other than frustrations with limitations, I'm quite happy thus far. I've made a bunch of friends, both liberals and conservatives alike, and am thankful for that. We have a great community of diverse people here who all make it worthwhile to return on a daily basis.
Whether you answer the questions or not, thanks for the board, jim.You're quite welcome. And I thank you for sending me these questions, unasked. I think it was cool of you to spend your time coming up with questions for lil 'ol me! I have no problem sharing with the board, and acknowledging the many faults I have!