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LOL! You right-wing libertarian American's make me laugh. You're bat-shit insane.

Getting back on topic of today's news: what's the betting today's mass murdering shooter is one of you.

The shooter is a left-wing liberal. Oops!

Funny how so many Slashdotters are blaming Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck for making this guy kill all these people.

I guess in their minds, all liberals are wonderful people, and any violence or bad act can only be done by those evil right wingers, right?

I thought the fastest was 105mph

Or on the other hand, the extreme that blames an entire group of people for the actions of a derranged man that has absolfuckinglutely NOTHING to do with anything that group of people?

The shooter was Jared Loughner and if you watch his Youtube channel you'll see his simply a mentally disturbed individual who ascribes to nothing even remotely resembling Republican or Tea party beliefs. He has an entire video where he burns an American flag for God's sake, and another were he venomously declares he refuses to believe in God and that the Government is trying to mind control everyone with "grammar control". I haven't been to any Tea Party meetings but I have the feeling Flag burning and denying the existence of God prolly aint listed on their usually scheduled agenda.

But don't let the facts get in the way of taking a tragedy and trying to use it to to further your own political preconceptions because clearly THAT is more important to you than the suffering the lives lost today.

I understand that you don't want people to use a tragedy to further their own political motives but inherently there are those whose motives have been furthered by this: The Tea Party. Congresswoman Gifford has stated in numerous interviews that the threats were only getting worse "more heated" and these threats came from a group of people (not just one individual). There were numerous threats. We don't know one way or another whether this individual was a part of the collective or not, that is what an investigation is for. Just because he hadn't favorited Beck, Palin and Limbaugh videos on his YouTube profile doesn't mean he wasn't in agreement with tea party sentiments. However, nothing has been offered that shows his views contradicted those of the Tea Party. The Tea party isn't about religion; it is about small government (almost one congresswoman smaller.) His views in the videos are incoherent, and without jumping to conclusions like he "refuses to believe in god" and "he hates America" perhaps he killed people so the media would link to his YouTube site, and he would get attention, we don't know his motives. Just because he had mental issues doesn't mean that he couldn't have been partisan. (Half the GOP electorate is full of the "intellectually challenged.") We do know that the political rhetoric used by the Rightwing was vehement and now people on the other side of the political spectrum are dead. Isn't it worth holding preachers of hate and implied violence (crosshairs) accountable to the extent that they should tone the hate speech down? I'll bet it’s too much to ask in lew of 6 people dead including a child!

If you think that the hate is limited to the Right, you are sadly mistaken:

Arsonist Strikes on Cape Cod, Leaves Calling Card: ‘F–k the Rich’.
http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2010/12/arsonist-strikes-on-cape-cod-leaves.html

Kanjorski on Gov.-Elect Rick Scott: “Shoot Him.”
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/11/09/kanjorski-on-gov-elect-rick-sc

“A Madison man was arrested Tuesday in connection with a bomb threat Sunday afternoon that disrupted a town Republican fundraiser featuring Senate candidate Linda McMahon.”
http://insidemadison.com/index.php/2010/09/15/ssuspect-arrested-in-madison-bomb-threat

Gunman who took hostages at Discovery Channel inspired by Al Gore.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38957020/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

James Cameron: Shoot Climate 'Deniers,' Glenn Beck a 'F------ A--hole'
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/lachlan-markay/2010/03/24/james-cameron-shoot-climate-deniers-glenn-beck-f-hole-0

I honestly could go on and on and on. Just do some basic Google searches.

Seriously, how must hate was spewed by the left against Bush during his entire administration? Why wasn't Al Gore blamed for the Discovery Channel hostage situation? Truth is, you just want to twist a mentally disturbed individual's actions in order to score political points. And that makes you part of the problem in this country.

Or on the other hand, the extreme that blames an entire group of people for the actions of a derranged man that has absolfuckinglutely NOTHING to do with anything that group of people?

The shooter was Jared Loughner and if you watch his Youtube channel you'll see his simply a mentally disturbed individual who ascribes to nothing even remotely resembling Republican or Tea party beliefs. He has an entire video where he burns an American flag for God's sake, and another were he venomously declares he refuses to believe in God and that the Government is trying to mind control everyone with "grammar control". I haven't been to any Tea Party meetings but I have the feeling Flag burning and denying the existence of God prolly aint listed on their usually scheduled agenda.

But don't let the facts get in the way of taking a tragedy and trying to use it to to further your own political preconceptions because clearly THAT is more important to you than the suffering the lives lost today.

The mechanism for pheromones was unknown until recently. Just because Science doesn't currently know how it works doesn't mean that it doesn't exist anyways.

In the end, you build a consensus by presenting enough evidence that no one can argue with.

What's interesting about the ESP experiments are how the experimenters' beliefs influence the experiment. If someone in the room believes that ESP ain't possible, the experiment won't work nearly as well as if the participants are neutral or supportive of the proposition.

This makes it impossible to build a consensus. Those who "don't believe" precognition of any sort is possible do not experience it in their day-to-day lives, whereas those who do experience it regularly.

Most people's future-seeing abilities usually take place in the dream state. Scoffers tend to forget their dreams, and are very good at ignoring their 'gut feelings'. A few months back I had a dream about someone getting a cat. Immediately upon awakening I knew who it was, but then promptly forgot. A week or two later my new girlfriend told me about having a "profound change in her life" over the weekend. Here's the diary I posted:

My friend had gone out hiking/camping by herself over the weekend. At one point in the middle of the high desert she reached a fork in the road, and stopped to decide whether to turn or continue on her path. She got out of the car, and heard a noise from the brush. "Kitty?"

It was so. A little kitten came out of the bush, looked terrified for a second, then ran straight for her. There were no dwellings for miles. She'd been trying to lure in a stray cat from her neighborhood. Kitty found himself a new home - I wonder how he got to be in just the right place at just the right time.

-Prophetic Dreams

People who are interested in precognition would do well to get Ingo Swann's Your Nostradamus Factor. Here's the opening paragraphs:

Your Nostradamus Factor, by Ingo Swann

Chapter 1: Jumping The Time Barrier

Like many others, I've had good reasons during my life to assume that the future can be seen. But if I had any doubt it would have vanished as a result of an astonishing forty-five seconds when I found myself in Detmold, then in West Germany, in the spring of 1988.

Detmold is near the beautiful Teutoburger Forest and a famous pre-Christian shrine, Horn-Externstein, which is a pile of towering rocks riddled with sonorous cavbes. Until the time of Charlemagne it is said that Nordic kings came to Horn-Externstein to consult seers about the future.

I was invited to Detmold by Herr Manfred Himmel in April 1988 to give a series of lectures about psi research. This was Herr Himmel's fifth "esoteric" conference, and it was well attended by several hundred people. Herr Himmel was ardent about psychic matters, and the talks of his other spearkers were interesting to me. Some of these speakers were also practicing psychics who were busy giving individual "readings" and making predictions about the future.

I was billed as the famous American superpsychic who had "astonished scientists" since my first formal laboratory experiments in 1970. But I have never given individual "readings," and I never made predictions about the future.

Many of Herr Himmel's conference attendees were visibly disappointed that I did not give the expected readings and did not foresee the future. Although I had studied "prophecy" and predicting for many years and had even experienced some novel insights about it, I was well aware that most predictions turn out to be wrong. I felt I had a scientific reputation to protect, which would be damaged if I accumulated a list of erroneous predictions. Moreover, I didn't view myself as a future-seer in any professional sense, and I tho

...to also start monitoring government employees and contractors for suspicious levels of happiness, a love of cute furry pets and high levels of chrismas card appreciation:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40916433/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in_security/
(Jacob J. Lew, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, suggests that agencies use psychiatrists and sociologists to measure the “relative happiness” of workers or their “despondence and grumpiness” as a way to assess their trustworthiness.")

You mean this Al Gore:
Al Gore: Votes, not science, led me to back corn ethanol
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40317079/ns/us_news-environment

Would you mind sharing these rules with all of us?

I don't mind sharing. Also keep in mind TSA don't publish their full list of "rules". So this is just what people caught in public.

and of course STD test (just add pee): http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/11/09/5435112-got-an-std-just-ask-your-phone

Saturday Night Fever was awful...

The song Staying Alive can be used to time CPR.

That partially makes up for Travolta's hair.

4 Things About Obesity:
There's no exercise in P.E.
The more your parents force you to "eat right" the more obese you get - I can't find the link again but will hunt on request.
You can eat almost nothing but Big Macs and soda and be healthy.
Viruses might be at least partly responsible for obesity. One thing interesting is how quickly the paediatrician dismisses the study and gets back on the no-TV, soda, active lifestyle message. If it was going the other way, she'd not likely be criticising the small sample size.


Simple result. Obesity = Input Food - Output Exercise. It does not matter if you eat only Cheetos and Coke, or you eat organic food, if you exercise 400 minutes a day or 0. What matters is that you have equal amounts. You naturally have circuits that cause you to eat the right amount and to exercise the right amount. The problem is that parents force their children to eat whole plates of food at specified times, so they get more energy than they need. Next, parents and schools don't let them run around and fidget enough, so they don't get enough exercise. My parents, being wonderful that they are, did not do either. The result is that I eat maybe half as much as the average American, don't really exercise, but am not obese. I exercise not on a schedule, but when my body says so. I eat when I hungry - so I go to dinner at some random time, eat lunch randomly, snack, etc. A lot of energy is used to make food, and because I eat less, I'm green as a result ;).

Diet and exercise is like bleeding with leeches. Just today, I heard that a program was in place for diet and exercise to mitigate neuropathy, and virtually everything under the sun. Diet and exercise won't cure obesity, like it won't cure stomach ulcers, which are now known bacterial. The problem with diet and exercise is that if it fails, well obviously the answer is just more diet and exercise. Plus, it allows one to blame the patient if it fails, and to create a whole subculture of people who hate and discriminate against sick people. The fix for obesity will be to find a pill or other mod that lowers peoples' overfeeding tolerance. Then obesity will be gone for good. Or maybe we can just implant a fuel cell to eat up all the excess blood sugar. Either way, it's in the hands of bioengineers and scientists, not P.E teachers and the First Lady.

HERE'S THE LINK:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#40347342 Now explain how he could mean anything other than EXACTLY what he said (Chevy volt only lets you go 40 miles and no further).

Oh forget it. Talking to you is about as much a waste of time as trying to convince Christians that the earth is older than 6000 years old. YOU. WON'T. LISTEN. I hate people who don't use their brains and you are their chief damned fool.

Recently, Al Gore admitted that he was wrong and that corn-ethanol is not a viable alternative. In fact, "It was the votes, not the science that led me to back corn ethanol" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40317079/ns/us_news-environment/

The long lines are what they are bombing now, terrorists targeting airports right now are thinking that rolling up with a suitcase filled with explosives in the middle of a large crowd waiting for security:

a) Shuts down the whole airport.
b) Inflicts more causalities than randomly crashing an airliner
c) Will make security spend massive amounts of money countering

Let''s review, TSA has made us less safe by offering us up as a larger and slower target. It is like putting security at the watering hole to make sure no one is a crocodile while lions eat everyone else who is waiting in line.

Actually the current valuation is now estimated to be 56 BILLION DOLLARS!

Astronomers are using computers to crunch the data from the Kepler probe and look for planet candidates. "But computers are only good at finding what they've been taught to look for, whereas the human brain has the uncanny ability to recognize patterns and immediately pick out what is strange or unique, far beyond what we can teach machines to do," Meg Schwamb, another Yale astronomer and Planet Hunters co-founder, said in today's news release.

From the article

Of course, the older phones didn't explode. So there is a benefit to the newer technologies.

Do you really want your tax dollars going toward research for Soccer (Football everywhere else in the world) and video game sounds?

As one might expect, the characterization you allude to from the YouCut project page isn't quite accurate. First off, here's links to actual research info on the so-called "soccer research" (actually research into a means of quantifying individual contributions to team performance) and the sound rendering for physically based simulation project. Here's some snippets from a news article regarding the projects:

But the researchers behind these projects say Smith has misrepresented their work and the amount of money spent on the projects.
"This was not $750,000 given by NSF for us to develop an algorithm to look at the performance of soccer players," Northwestern University engineering professor Luis Amaral told LiveScience. Amaral, who was the lead investigator on the soccer study cited by Smith, called the congressman's portrayal of his work "not only incorrect, but misleading."
"This was $750,000 that was given to a larger team of researchers to study a very broad range of questions related to creating provocative, efficient teams of researchers who innovate," Amaral said. ...
Amaral's soccer study, published in June in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, was supported by two NSF grants. The first was a $450,000 award to develop efficient methods to evaluate the productivity of researchers and research institutions. The second was a $300,000 grant to study how teams collaborate. By quantifying researchers' contributions to their fields, Amaral and his colleagues hope to help funding agencies like the NSF allocate money more effectively.
How do those grants translate to studying soccer? According to Amaral, an M.D./Ph.D. student was rotating through Amaral's lab to learn the computer software Amaral and his colleagues use to model complex systems such as to explore how creativity and innovation arise from networks of researchers. The researchers decided to train the young scientist using easily available data from the World Cup. Soccer was particularly appealing, because team performance is difficult to rank using regular statistical methods, Amaral said. ...
Smith's second target, research to model the sound of breaking objects, is supported by an ongoing $1.2 million grant given to three researchers over four years. The goal of the research is to create advanced simulation technology for virtual environments, Cornell's James told LiveScience. ...
"Just think of the impact of computer-graphics rendering, and now imagine the combined potential for realistic computer-sound rendering," he said, citing possible uses of realistic simulations for engineering cars, aircraft and even spacecraft. The results may also be useful in designing rehabilitation and training simulations like those used in the military. Even robots could become better at navigating their environments with higher-level sound processing, James said.

Just read this on MSNBC. The author shows what happens when trying it on basic Spanish.

Overall, not worth the money until it gets heavily reworked.

It matters because it's something to rile people up over. Doesn't matter if it makes sense or not. It's another imaginary point of contention that Fox news uses to keep it's viewers worked up about. If there isn't something to be outraged and upset over, their viewership would dwindle. That's how they make their money. Get people terrified over liberal-straw-man-of-the-day, then campaign vigorously against it. Be sure to tune in - we're fighting for your rights, America! That kind of crap.

Problem is, when gullible people believe their bullcrap and act on it. Like this guy. He's going to jail simply because he watches Fox news and believes what they say. His real crime is simply being gullible and believing what the "news" people told him.

Here's your news article.

The bigger news is that

'A number of theories have popped up as to why the North American honey bee population has declined — electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, and climate change have all wrongly been pinpointed. Now a leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists.'

Climate change is ... not ... responsible for some calamity. Don't expect this to get much press coverage, resulting in the idiotic fact that you will hear regularly 5 years from now how climate change is responsible for the decline of bees in North America.

Like the gletsjer "misprint", that states every gletsjer will be gone by 2030, when they meant that if co2 keeps rising like it does today (ie. exponentially) they *might* be gone by 2300 (and ignoring the fact that if we burn all fossil fuel in the ground at the current rate, co2 increase will level out by 2080 at the latest (probably sooner), and the gletsjers will therefore keep existing no matter how badly we fuck things up).

This leads to the kind of remarks that we all know, like Snowfall in Britain will be a thing of the past. In case anyone's wondering how to blow up one's credibility in a single sentence : That was a pretty good way to go about it. IPCC claim : "Snowfall will be a thing of the past". Promptly dozens of people freeze to death, in a winter blast not seen for a hundred years (okay the second article is from the wrong year, but I couldn't find a better one, but there's been quite a few horridly cold winter blasts in europe now).

I wonder why idiots, especially in politics, keep repeating these things. When asked, they claim that even if it's a lie, it's for a good cause. That's another good way to blow up your credibility, as it's a blatant admission that the only reason you believe in the theory of climate change is the politics resulting from it. Exactly the accusation climate skeptics make.

That's one thing I truly don't understand. Suppose we burn all oil in the ground, and half of all coal. That will result in an athmospheric co2 concentration that is actually *below* the IPCC targets. So if we have no climate accords or treaties at all, we will do *better* (not worse) at keeping co2 out of the athmosphere than with the treaties in place. I truly don't understand why people act so hostile to these suggestions. And obviously, like most of the UN's actions, climate accords actually make things worse, not better.

For example, what if a male heterosexual soldier discusses his sexual exploits in front of a woman soldier after she has made clear that she doesn't want to hear this, and she then lodges an official complaint?

Rightfully so, but notice that there isn't a law saying that the braggart should be discharged immediately, regardless of the presence or absence of extenuating circumstances.

This is actually quite sensible, as such a betrayal undermines the mutual trust that is an absolute requirement for soldiers who may go into battle.

In exactly the same way asking gay soldiers to hide their identities undermines that trust. In fact, "don't ask, don't tell" makes gay soldiers susceptible to blackmail for that very reason!

If the facts of the case are indeed as they are presented by the blogger that you linked, then I agree that the woman officer's punishment was outrageous and unjust. However, the link from the blog to the original news article is broken, so I'm left in some doubt about what really happened.

MSNBC covered the story, then the ACLU challenged the police department only to receive this reply which makes it clear that the police officer saw the marriage license through the window. Clearly Ms. Newsome's wife needs to answer the charges brought against her (who knows if they're valid?) but as far as I can tell Ms. Newsome didn't ask and didn't tell.

But now as I think about it, I wonder why there should be special rules for homosexuals. I think everyone should be bound by the common rules of courtesy and mutual respect.

EXACTLY.

What I'm afraid of is that the gay rights crowd wants to make homosexuals immune from all rules—perhaps permitting flagrant sexual acts in the barracks, and (oh, the horror) pink underwear. OK, maybe I'm being silly, but the activists don't seem to have made their goals clear.

That silliness is probably a result of the fact that social conservatives routinely say that gays want "special rights". Recently, a friend's younger brother realized he was gay after graduating from college. He's a very committed Republican, and I was horrified to hear him repeat similarly silly notions like "gays already have the right to get married." Later, he claimed that legalizing gay marriage would destabilize society, which seems absurd considering that only ~4% of the population is gay.

By the way, do you mind if I post this conversation to my gay marriage article? That's the place on my website where I'm putting topics like "don't ask, don't tell", and it's refreshing to talk to someone civilized.

How about the Global Humanitarian Forum estimating that "[c]limate change disasters kill around 300,000 people a year and cause $125 billion in economic losses"?

Let me guess, more excuses?

I remember watching the news videos of the last remaining people being pulled from the U.S. Compount in Saigon by helicopter.

Could you be thinking of the famous photo by Hubert van Es, with all those people on the rooftop staircase? It was actually an apartment building, not the embassy.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30755090/ns/world_news-asia-pacific/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16844030@N02/1920939675/

I didn't get around to making this a separate submission, but I figure folks might be interested in another SpaceX-related news item from an interview with Elon Musk. As some of you know, Congress has mandated that NASA construct a super-heavy lift rocket (at least 75mt payload) by 2016. This is expected to use cost-plus contracts, utilize as many Shuttle components/workers as possible, and is expected to cost at least $10B.

SpaceX has another (IMHO much better) proposal, though, which would be to build a 150mt rocket that's essentially an upgrade of the rocket which was launched today. This rocket would be able to lift heavier payloads than the Saturn V. SpaceX proposed to do this with a $2.5B fixed-price contract, where SpaceX eats any cost above this amount. Some remarks from Musk on this:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/06/5600599-spacex-gets-set-for-next-giant-leap

He's even starting to think ahead to the next giant leap -- the development of a super-heavy-lift rocket, more powerful than the Apollo era's Saturn 5, which could put 150 metric tons of payload into Earth orbit. Musk said facilities in Utah, Alabama, Ohio, Florida and other places around the country could be involved in the project, and he's willing to build the rocket for $2.5 billion. "Anything above that, SpaceX will pay for," he promised. ...
Musk said his $2.5 billion figure for a super-heavy-lift rocket was based in part on the concept that 80 percent of the money Congress is expected to devote to heavy-lift development would go toward the standard cost-plus method for funding spacecraft development, with 20 percent going to the kind of fixed-price, milestone-based approach that is being used for the NASA program that's funding SpaceX's effort. "I find myself in this bizarre position where people are saying, 'You couldn't possibly do it for such a low amount as $2.5 billion,'" he said. "And actually, I have trouble trying to figure out how we'd spend so much money. In order to get to $2.5 billion, I'd have to assume that a whole bunch of things go horribly wrong during the development process."

Different countries have different laws and different severity of offenses. Things that could be seen as normal or not a prison crime in some countries could be seen as severe offenses, even punishable with death in others, and you as visiting foreigner could or could not be aware of that.

Last month, i.e. was around the story of a christian woman condemned to death for blasphemy in Pakistan. Suppose a woman from US visit Pakistan, do the same, and return to her country, while Pakistan complains to Interpol because of that. Should she be imprisoned, extradited and executed in Pakistan? Having double standards and picking which one serves you better in each situation is cheating.

Im not saying that what Assagne did was right, and that that wasnt in some way (maybe not by US law, anyway) rape. Just that law should be the same for everyone. I can't imagine that that is the first time it happen, even from a foreigner that comes and goes from a country that have it as crime. If he is a criminal, then all the others are too.

I don't know about TX, but in AR they have a nice little scam going with that. You see if you drive, you get a DUI, if you have a designated driver you get public drunk, and if you walk you get a public drunk and a public nuisance. Notice how there is NO answer that doesn't involve giving the state money through fines and court fees?

As for TFA, while it is nice that they will be able to get rid of new junkers, what about the whole assload of old crap piled up out there? As you can see from this image the amount of garbage we have up there is truly staggering and something really needs to be done about it. Personally due to the amount of small particles out there I think a big "glue ball" approach would probably work best and then when the ball has gotten as much junk stuck into it as it can you can use a small rocket to safely drop it.

And how well would these sails work for propulsion for future missions? If one could use sails such as this to save fuel and build speed perhaps a manned Mars mission might not be out of the question, and we could build bigger probes that used sails to build speed while in close and thus save fuel for the outer trip.

He has done nothing illegal, or at least, nothing that is illegal in the US or UK.

Maybe. Last I heard, his lawyer was looking into if Assange actually violated any espionage laws just to be sure. I haven't been following this every waking moment, so I don't know if she is still looking or reached a conclusion -

She added they would be seeking advice from U.S. lawyers about the U.S. Espionage Act, saying a possible prosecution there was "of grave concern."

- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40467957/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in_security/

Kentucky is footing 25% of the bill according to this article.

http://richarddawkins.net/discussions/557021-kentucky-creationist-theme-park-gets-government-funding

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40460324/ns/us_news-life/

"Ark Encounter developers seek to recover under state tourism development laws up to 25 percent of the project's cost by recouping sales tax revenue paid to the state on tickets, lodging and other goods."

Seems shady, but it's Kentucky, go figure.

Obama and his crew are EXTREMELY leftist, with respect to what the majority of US citizens want to see in government.

Please provide at least one example, comparing Obama policy versus opinion polls.

Here are two counter-examples:

Health care: polls suggest that Americans are not opposed to single-payer health care. For example: the July 2009 Kaiser Health Tracking Poll.

• If asked their opinion of "Having a national health plan in which all Americans would get their insurance through an expanded, universal form of Medicare-for-all", respondents were 58% in favor and 38% opposed.
• Using alternative wording, "Having a national health plan – or single-payer plan – in which all Americans would get their insurance from a single government plan", respondents were 50% in favor and 44% opposed

By contrast, Obama and the Democrats worked against those advocating single-payer:

Baucus and many others, including President Barack Obama, say single-payer is not practical or politically feasible.

"Everything is on the table with the single exception of single-payer," Baucus said recently. "This country is not going to adopt single-payer, at least not at this time."

The plan finally passed by the Democrats was based on the reforms implemented under Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, and has many similarities to the bill introduced by Sen. John Chafee (R-RI) in 1993 (with a number of Republican cosponsors).

On Afghanistan, based on polls, Obama seems to be pretty centrist: about half of respondents think the U.S. should not be involved in Afghanistan now, and those opposed to current policy appear to be roughly divided evenly between opposite views.

Hopefully not by a woman who drove across the country wearing diapers so she wouldn't have to stop to pee. (OK, she didn't really wear diapers but it made for some fun jokes at the time)

Current share prices via MSN:

Microsoft - $25.26

Google - $555.71

Current share prices via MSN:

Microsoft - $25.26

Google - $555.71

Solar microwave satellites were fun in SimCity 2000, and I'd still like to see them operational, but I've not seen even any proof of concept devices yet.

We're working on it. These things take time though.

...why will we be building megastructures in space in the first place?

Because some of us think it is boring and downright stupid to keep our entire species piddling away on this silly little blue marble of ours. If you are comfortable in the warm, cushy confines of your home, that's fine and dandy. Other folks, with different values than you, would be happy living out the remainder of their days barely scratching a living from harsh environment that is space, even if that living is only for another couple days, hours, or minutes. Why? I couldn't tell you. Maybe we really are all nuts. But some of us value pushing the envelope, even at the risk of our own lives, far more than we do a comfy home and a warm fireplace.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10348907/ns/world_news-terrorism

There you have a fucking link. Now, how about YOU offering a compelling, believable justification for the CIA and friends to ship people around the world to various third world countries for interrogation. You think they want their "guests" to enjoy the fresh mountain air of Afghanistan? You sir, are either a prime example of an idiot, or someone with his head firmly stuck in the sand because the truth is too damned uncomfortable.

You're fucking joking, right?

It's totally different though, I guess. SAP got a trial.

It's more than just the profit motive here, too. We can't racially profile in the US because thats racism, and that's not allowed.

Why are people still making that argument? If we use racial profiling, terrorists will recruit people who don't fit the profile. Oh wait, that's already the case.

Being "politically correct" isn't the culprit. Nor is a lack of bullshit law enforcement techniques(that amount to nothing more than security theater). The problem is security theater itself.

Infecting a single beef feedlot? I think it's time to wake up and think about other ways the bastards could get at us.

Except then it's hard to tell if it's laissez-faire capitalism or terrorism. Or how about billions of poisoned eggs? Or maybe we shouldn't attribute to malice what can be explained by unchecked profit motive?

It's hilarious that the right-wingers are all over this like it has anything to do with Obama

With ya all the way up until this.

So, you're saying Obama didn't appoint the junk grabber tzar?
And didn't recently say the new groping measures were necessary?
And didn't vote for FISA2008?

NSA, CIA, and FBI [...] Obama will scale them back.

Why? Obama loves his new spy toys (see FISA hint above).

Take off the party-line blinders, neither side cares about the plebs any more.

Ridiculous?

Air marshal leaves plane after dropping bullets

Passenger Finds Loaded Ammunition Clip on Southwest Flight

US air marshal leaves gun in airport restroom

Air Marshal Causes International Incident

Air Marshal Accused of Rape at Gunpoint

Marshals Fight Battle in Air and on Ground

From that last article:

"How would you describe the management in the air marshal service?" CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian asked a current air marshal.

"Sexist, racist, homophobic, anti-disabled vet group, grossly incompetent," said the marshal, whose identity was concealed. "That's the general consensus among air marshals."

Nearly two dozen current or former marshals have told CBS News the agency is dominated by an "old boys club" of white, male supervisors -- mainly ex-secret service agents who, they allege, routinely discriminate, intimidate and retaliate against employees who question their actions or authority.

"This behavior has just spread like a cancer and it's out of control," the marshal said.

Well ... it sounds like you called it right: ridiculous.

Wow... I thought Scaled Composites got the first one for their flights back in 2004!

Here is MSNBC's article on SpaceShipOne talking about the launch and re-entry permit.

Bill

It would be "inefficiency" if the government had collected enough taxes to pay the benefits, but wasted it on sales commissions or management overhead or something, but that's not the case.

By your own definition social security is inefficient. The government has collected enough to pay benefits but has wasted it on "sales commissions or management overhead or something". And that IS the case. Please prove to me that this is not the case. I have provided you with multiple links to prove the government has ripped of the social security trust fund for tens of trillions of dollars and by your own definition this is "inefficiency". Please admit your are wrong or backup your assertion with some facts (links).

From: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/RetirementandWills/CreateaPlan/5mythsAboutSocialSecurity.aspx

You may have heard this assertion so often that you'll be surprised to learn that there really IS a Social Security trust fund that collects our payroll taxes and invests the surplus. It's called the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds. What isn't in the trust fund is a big hoard of cash. Three-quarters of the money that's collected in Social Security taxes goes right out the door again in the form of benefits to Social Security recipients. The surplus that isn't needed to pay benefits is loaned to the federal government to pay for other programs. In return for this loan, the trust fund gets IOUs in the form of special-issue, interest-paying Treasury bonds.
...
The problem, of course, is that the government now owes the trust fund so much money -- and relies on its surplus so heavily -- that real problems will be created when it comes time to cash in those IOUs.

An actual example of inefficiency in Social Security is fraud

The vast majority of the social security trust fund was spent NOT on social security benefits but on other non social security projects, anything, you name it, roads, defense, welfare, but not social security. Not because of "changing demographics" or anything else, but becuase of fraud. The government continues to 'borrow' from the trust fund even today! They have no plans on paying any of it back and just this year they have started to pay out more than they are taking in. Why don't you explain to me how that is an example of efficiency.

So if you think fraud is a demonstration of inefficiency than this is the most inefficient program the government runs as it has the most fraud (misused funds) of any other programs or agency or anything really, what else is measured in the tens of trillions? It is the world’s largest Ponzi scheme.

Remember the scene from Dumb and Dumber where they spent all the ransom money and filled the suitcase up with IOUs? That is EXACTLY what the government did with the social security fund.

From: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/RetirementandWills/CreateaPlan/5mythsAboutSocialSecurity.aspx

You may have heard this assertion so often that you'll be surprised to learn that there really IS a Social Security trust fund that collects our payroll taxes and invests the surplus. It's called the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds. What isn't in the trust fund is a big hoard of cash. Three-quarters of the money that's collected in Social Security taxes goes right out the door again in the form of benefits to Social Security recipients. The surplus that isn't needed to pay benefits is loaned to the federal government to pay for other programs.

In return for this loan, the trust fund gets IOUs in the form of special-issue, interest-paying Treasury bonds.
...
The problem, of course, is that the government now owes the trust fund so much money -- and relies on its surplus so heavily -- that real problems will be created when it comes time to cash in those IOUs.

Why you would stand in defence of a program that is quickly failing by any measure is really baffeling. Can you show me anything to support your case that social secuity is not failing?

But even if there were no government program at all, the same problem would still manifest

I think this is a failure on your part to grasp my argument in the first comment. If social security was a private company (401K plan) the people running the plan would have been thrown in prison for embezzling money out of the employees retirement funds, so no, if there were no government program at all this would NOT happen because the perpetrators of this fraud would be brought to account, or more likely the private employers would obey the law because they fear the penalty, the government on the other hand has shown it fears no law, it has sovereign immunity after all.

That you were modded insightful despite your replies being just plain false speaks volumes of the partisans modding on this site. And did you just give up on the post office? Or was that not such a great example? I'm sure despite my use of pure facts, and links to backup my facts I'll be modded troll or I hate you or whatever. I really don't care.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
-C.S. Lewis

This article is from 2007, but it points toward a price drop of around $42 after 9/11 domestically:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19982800/ns/travel-news

To fill in the gap from 2007 to 2010, look no farther than the front page of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics:

http://www.bts.gov/

Choose "Air Fares" under Year to Year Change, and you'll see that prices have been up and down, but about flat in general.

http://www.dallasobserver.com/2003-04-17/news/1-hour-arrest/
http://www.conservativeunderground.com/forum505/showthread.php?t=14089
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32904451/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts ... oh wait, that last couple wasn't arrested, just had their kids taken away for a month while they decided whether or not to arrest them.

Why won't the tea-partiers call it like it is?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/39691880#39691880
Welcome to the idea of a “Virtual democracy” and follow the cash :)

I tried to allude to the Zune with the 'Plays for Sure' comment -- I think it's important not just to point out MS' failures, but also what happens to people who get in bed with Microsoft.

And the potential list of world-changing developments that completely failed to change anything would just be too long.

E.g. The ribbon, tablets, WinCE, WebTV, MSN, Windows ME, Vista, the list goes on and on and on.

Anybody remember their Smart Watch?