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Only slightly different from Curt Shillings first industry, professional sports, where they take taxpayer money, stay in business, then demand more. Had the state just given him the money, he could have stuck around for a while, then went back for more a few years later by threatening to take jobs elsewhere.

Pretending that the highway system is somehow not a tax-sucking boondoggle, are we?

We? I don't know what your position on the highway system is, but I wasn't discussing roads. Since you bring it up though, I am in favor of privatizing roads.

-jcr

Excellent post. The question really is whether humans are causing it or whether it is merely a part of earth's natural cycle.

And I would like to point out that it is not yet a consensus among scientists that global warming is not part of a natural cycle, or that humans are causing it. According to the survey cited in this article:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/01/19/eco.globalwarmingsurvey/index.html
Climatologists are 97% agreed that humans are causing it, Petroleum geologists are at 47% and meteorologists are at 64%. I think engineers would be even more skeptical though one might argue that they don't have the expertise. And consensus alone doesn't mean anything. When one is among a group of people wearing rose-coloured lenses, one tends to view everything through rose-coloured lenses. Everything then begins to look like human-caused global warming.

Regardless of whether it is true or not, the way that most countries are going about it is almost laughable. At least they are trying to do something but no one talks about whether it is most the most cost-effective method. For example, spending millions to cut down on emissions from vehicles in the UK. It's admirable, but how much does it all help? Will it prevent global warming by even one hundredth of one degree C during the next ten years? Highly unlikely. Yet if they were to paint the streets white to reflect sunlight, that could potentially help a lot more and be significantly cheaper.

Here is a highly recommended video on alternative solutions:
http://reason.tv/video/show/621.html

Cut the tax money for, let's say, highway maintenance, and let's see how well those cars do.

Excellent idea. I'm all for privatizing roads.

-jcr

If they're your organs, why shouldn't you be able to sell them?
I am sure someone in great need of a kidney would be happy to be able to legally buy one from a healthy person that has two already.

http://www.reason.tv/video/show/333.html

So how come so many people foam from the mouth when faced with anything related to "communism"?

Because communists killed tens of millions of people pretty much everywhere they ruled.

Not to invoke Godwin, but Communism should be seen as Nazism is.

Two points: 1) privately owned roads would be a capital asset, and it would be worthwhile to spend the money on better construction, making repairs less frequent, and 2) coordination doesn't require monopoly.

BTW, Reason TV did a very interesting story on privatizing highways.

-jcr

Dallas SWAT has been raiding poker games. Drew Carey covered this at http://www.reason.tv/video/show/172.html.

When one of the defendants subpoenaed copies of the video tapes made
of the raid -- the reality show "Dallas SWAT" had filmed it -- he was
told that no copies of the tapes existed. See http://www.theagitator.com/2007/04/20/tales-of-a-dallas-poker-raid/

In Oceania, members of the Inner Party were allowed to turn off their
telescreens.

Oh, you're one of them.

If by "them" you mean someone who's actually given some thought to the matter instead of just settling for the status quo.

If you really believe this, privatise the roads.

Watch and learn.

-jcr

Hah. It's funny, I googled your quote and read that entire article. It seems you selectively left out bits like this one.

Should the FDA have approved the devices, given the animal data? Probably not without some basic studies of their potential to cause inflammation in humans. Although the animal reports are relatively obscure--the AP report quotes a variety of cancer researchers as being completely unaware of them--it's the FDA's job to find relevant research. Clearly, they dropped the ball here.

While you can argue over whether single digit percentages are acceptable risk to you, it is a fairly high number when you talk about using these on everyone, which is the scale I'm referring to. In the US alone 2% of the population translates to 10 Million people.

It might not seem like a big deal now, when the people willingly implanting themselves are the freaks. Wait until a good majority of the population is using RFID chips for money transactions and other facets of daily living, would it be easy to opt-out then?

I'd like to point out that the people in charge of the monetary systems of the world are the ones pushing for this. There are weird PR campaigns to promote these as human implants already.

The US is becoming a police state. You are being lied to by your government and your corporations. Your Freedom and Liberty are disappearing. This is under the guise of stopping illegal immigration and 'homeland security' (isn't that nazi-speak? didn't hitler rave about securing and protecting the homeland and the motherland?).

I was shocked to hear someone on TV say they got their whole family implanted "after 9/11 because it would make them safer". I'm sure it did :-/

My dad's snail mail was being read while he was active in politics. We complained to the postmaster, who did nothing, because he was of the opposite political party. (Heck, it was probably his idea). The planning meeting for California had to be moved to a different location, because the United States Post Office was violating the privacy of snail mail for political gain.

The impetus for the TFA is about a guy who told George Bush that the only way to ensure security is if people give up their privacy. Essentially, everyone is re-defined to be a terrorist.

Well, YOU may want a police state, so that nothing bad ever happens. But I know that a police state IS the bad thing that will happen.

I know you may not feel that 37 minutes is worth understanding what is going on, but if you want some background information: Judge Andrew Napolitano delivers a speech against the excesses of the new security state.

I love your straw man.

I mean really -- "gun fetishists who really just want to shoot someone without getting caught"

Lovely.

Maybe you should realize that the second amendment is in our constitution for protection from the government, as in fact is the purpose of the entire document. To Free the people from tyranny and slavery. Tyranny is the norm of thousands of years of abuse on this earth. Freedom is the new, odd occurrence. The Constitution was written by people who had experience with tyranny, with blanket warrants, no due process, abuse of power and being enslaved. They realized that the opportunity was there for a new experiment, one where the self evident rights of man were protected by legislation.

You're nothing but an astroturfing shill and a gatekeeper. You're here to push the agenda of those who enslave us. Just realize that we will fight back and people like you will be first against the wall. You have chosen an untenable position: You lose either way.

For those of you who do want to wake up, and don't want to listen to this dream killing life drain parent poster, I suggest you start your journey with a motivated speaker, one who can talk about the issues with cover to cover knowledge of the entire US criminal code and historical view of civil liberties and Freedom in our country: Judge Andrew Napolitano.

Remember: It's easy to spot a shill for social control and enslavement, think self empowerment, think Freedom, realize that we are all incredibly powerful beings who have capacity for enormous and drastic change to all around us.

When you find out along your journey that you are being enslaved, throw out your chains, stand up and be heard. Make this world your own and the truth will set you free.

If you want a real shock to the system. A dose of truth that will make your head spin, watch the excellent Zeitgeist Movie.