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The casinos know who has problems, just like they know they tamper with the air to make people feel more euphoric

How do they tamper with the air? Do they increase the level of oxygen? That's insidious! It would also make cigarettes burn faster, assuming people were allowed to smoke indoors.

Only, people are allowed to smoke indoors, as long as it is in a casino. See http://www.riverfronttimes.com... for example. (Note: not true of all locations and casinos; however, in general, casinos are able to carve out special exemptions for themselves.)

loaded rifle on the hood of his truck and it's pointing at me.

Violating the 4 basic rules of firearms? Yea, I would GTFO too.

jet planes and flame throwers and guided fucking missles and grenades

The armed forces are currently composed of your brothers, sisters, uncles, cousins, and friends. These people still have some compunction to not shoot at American citzens. They do still swear an oath to defend the country and the constitution. When war-bots start taking over the front line roles that humans currently occupy, THEN this argument starts making a lot more sense. Hopefully there is never a need for a hot engagement, but history has shown over and over again that people will face those long odds when things get bad enough.

Ferguson riots where the masses threw rocks

Where were the fucking gun rights assholes?

I wasn't aware that the purpose of the protests in Ferguson was to shoot police officers. If that would have happened, we would be in a VERY different place right now. Luckily no one went there.

A number of gun rights groups (sorry, refuse to use your ad-hominem attack terms) were protecting local businesses from being attacked. Just like a number of local business owners did during the LA riots in 1992.

Racist.

Funny, I thought explicitly targeting certain communities for exploitation, promising them a way out that they will never get, sending them into debt is more racist than anything. Educate yourself on the lawsuits and practices of Sanford Brown.

Well. The good congressman is a product of that fine educational system. According to his Bio, he is a high-school graduate who moved to such intellectual activities as construction business and basic soldiering (NCO). But that's OK since he considers himself a "science enthusiast" and a HUGE "science buff". What do those stupid biased university professors with their PhDs and publications know? He just wants to redefine science so that it better fits his political needs. No big deal.

The odds of getting struck by lightning are 50 times greater than being killed in a terrorist attack on a plane.

I have no doubt there are people in the world who would wholeheartedly support a campaign to save people from lightning strikes by curtailing their freedoms.

"Procreation, that's the second most successful trait of us ignorent one's capabilities."

Based on the birthrate in trailer parks and from anecdotal evidence while surfing past the Jerry Springer show, I'd say you are wrong and that it is the most successful trait of the ignorant. Second is filling up the pews at right wing creationist churches. Third is supporting right wing politicians who have no interest in supporting those poor ignorant people who support them. And then there is, maybe, that one skill they are good at. And don't bitch about Limbaugh having no children. That is a good thing. And it might be good fodder for a rumour to say he's really one of those closet gay right wing republicans. Hell, he had a good run with all the claims of drug addled liberals when it turned out he was a junkie himself.

Amazing how, in the space of three days, two studies were released with essentially opposite conclusions:
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2012/02/sleep_research_alzheimers.php
Not speaking to the veracity of either "body of evidence" just making an observation.

the billions of idle hands are trouble only because people can't set their own purpose - but if they could [...]

That little word "if" is the trouble here. USSR was trying to change the man for almost entire century and failed.

Golovachev has an interesting, if myopic view

Even later books of his are set in the Multiverse, where multiple societies, similar but minutely different, are depicted. The theme of societal decay is addressed in some of those "branches." Some of his books are officially available for free access as long as you know the language; I wouldn't use Google Translate there...

Sadly, the theme is not invented out of whole cloth, as many Fantasy writers do. It is very real. Most of the USA's social problems stem from the fact that large segments of population don't work, don't need to work, and are as matter of fact unemployable. Then they go out and entertain themselves as they may. Heard about "knockout kings?" That's them, geniuses at work. They are the fifth column of the modern civilization.

Perhaps the humankind can survive only apart from each other. We'd have no wars if anyone could at any time escape to his own, personal planet where nobody else could come without permission.

How so? The last police statement mentioned no prosecution of any kind. Last I heard no charges were even laid.

Here's the latest update on the trial I could find:

"Elston McCowan and Perry Molens face misdemeanor charges for allegedly assaulting a political button-seller last year; the defendants have pulled out the big guns by retaining St. Louis criminal defense attorney Paul D'Agrosa."

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2010/01/paul_dagrosa_steps_into_seiu_tea_party_legal_fracas_kenneth_gladney.php

So now an anti-social hermit with a diagnosed mental disorder who lives a survivalist life-style in a cabin in the woods is a 'leftist'?

Domestic terrorists have typically been mentally ill anti-social loners who have difficulty holding relationships and tend to act as individuals. What's your point?

Wikipedia on the Unabomber's manifesto:

Industrial Society and Its Future begins with Kaczynski's assertion that "the Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race."[43] The first sections of the text are devoted to psychological analysis of various groups—primarily leftists and scientists—and of the psychological consequences for individual life within the "industrial-technological system",[43] which has robbed contemporary humans of their autonomy, diminished their rapport with nature, and forced them "to behave in ways that are increasingly remote from the natural pattern of human behavior." The later sections speculate about the future evolution of this system, argue that it will inevitably lead to the end of human freedom, call for a "revolution against technology", and attempt to indicate how that might be accomplished.

His manifest echoes the sentiments of leftist luminaries Herbert Marcuse and Jacques Ellul. His manifesto echoes left wing, environmental, anti-industrialist, and to a lesser extent Malthusian sentiments. You can't get much more left wing than that.

Look, eco-terrorists come from all sorts of backgrounds and quite a lot of them are libertarians, anarchists and the like.

Terrorists come from all sorts of backgrounds, that is precisely my point. There is generally an anarchist streak in almost all terrorists (which "frees" them to disregard human life and civil constructs). For instance, the Discovery Channel bomber, ecoterrorist James J. Lee was a human trafficker and was likely a sociopath but he was also undeniably a left wing malthusian. The two are not mutually exclusive in sick minds (Loughner admired The Communist Manifest and Mein Kampf which are fundamentally incompatible). Finally, there are major left wing groups which advocate terrorism that have been quite active perpetrating violence (PETA, ELF, BLA, etc.).

And finally, I refer you to the FBI's Most Wanted list regarding domestic terrorism. The list is *dominated* by left wing terrorists associated with organizations advocating terrorism.
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/dt

Wait, I thought the right wing was preeminent in domestic terrorism? I should be seeing militia members and right wing, gun-toting rednecks? The most wanted list completely destroys the picture you have carefully been painting of right wing terror groups that dominate the terrorist scene (with a few left wing individualists).

I wonder if you will now relent and admit that both sides have their violent fringes and there are indeed many active left wing groups who incite terrorism? Indeed if we are to go by the most wanted list, it would seem that the left is far more active in organized terrorism than right wing organizations. I wonder if you will agree that I have more than satisfied your earlier request?

How about a peaceful Tea Party member being sent to the hospital by union goons during the health care debate? Or maybe the unprosecuted, clear voter intimidation brought to you by club weilding Blank Panther thugs.

You mean laughable urban legends promoted by Fox News? What about them?

Oh ok, I guess the charges filed by the county prosecutor are based purely on an urban myth.

I ask because I find evidence the local chapter is prepared... and has become a model for at least one other large metro area:

Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal
Red Cross recruiting volunteers for Level 3 disaster response

{snip}
The chief criteria for making Level 3 is the number of volunteers trained to combat a major disaster... So far, St. Louis is the only Level 3 chapter in the Midwest.
Local chapters aren't required to lift themselves to Level 3{snip}
The (Minneapolis-St. Paul) chapter, which is modeling its effort off of St. Louis', already has begun meeting with city mayors and business leaders in its Get Ready in 2007 campaign.
According to St. Louis' estimates, costs to provide Red Cross disaster response for a Level 2 disaster are between $10,000 and $50,000, but a Level 3 response takes as much as $250,000.
Get Ready requires several steps.{snip}

The dollar figures above show the Red Cross direct relief expenditures in a disaster, not the losses of disaster clients, FYI.

Of course, history shows other risks are much more likely in St. Louis, such as
flood
http://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/re/articles/?id=1880
tornados http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/weather/1927tornado.htm http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/cyclone.htm
earthquake:

" Federal Emergency Management Agency warned that a serious earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone could result in "the highest economic losses due to a natural disaster in the United States," further predicting "widespread and catastrophic" damage across Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and particularly Tennessee, where a 7.7 magnitude quake or greater would cause damage to tens of thousands of structures affecting water distribution, transportation systems, and other vital infrastructure." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Seismic_Zone#Potential_for_future_earthquakes http://foxy955stl.com/national/jimgates/american-red-cross-offers-safety-tips-for-earthquakes/

and zombie attack http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2007-02-07/news/doomsday-disciples/full/-1/

Of course, Minneapolis has never prepared for hurricanes, nor has Detroit. Being far inland, over 600 miles inland, as is St. Louis, kinda reduces the risk of hurricanes, don'tcha think?

Also, preparing for one kind of emergency prepares one for most of the perils of other likely crises. Having a network of friends, knowing where to meet up if you can't get home, knowing who to call in emergency (since interstate long distance often works when local phone lines overload), preparing your house, keeping emergency money on hand (especially coins for payphones because cellphones are the first network to overload and fail in disaster) food and water on hand along with clothing and communications tools, knowing evac routes and where high ground is, all are applicable to multiple emergencies.

Lessons learned shows us learning the common skills and acquiring the commonly needed assets is the best investment of time and money, the core of the 'All Modes' preparedness approach sensible agencies apply to disaster preparedness.

Therefore, I must, again, ask for you to cite your source, and explain why a city six-hundred-miles inland _should_ prepare for a hurricane, when there are much more likely risks to consider.

you're taking a lot of heat for your post, but I have to thank you! I just paid my $100 to the city of STL for the same thing. I actually debated it back and forth quite a bit, and ended up paying it because I don't have a lawyer for a spouse.

I made a right turn on red at manchester and kingshighway. I did not stop. Why? Because I didn't know that was the law. In MO, it's legal to make a right on red unless a sign prohibits this. I googled for the traffic code, and what I found was appalling: full stop on red is required before making a right, and this was added in the same bit of the traffic code that added the provisions for red light cameras. So the city criminalized formerly legitimate behavior, banking on the general populace's ignorance of this change, all for profit.

I made the right without a stop. But I didn't know the law had changed. What, am I and other motorists supposed to know where to find changes to the traffic laws and know when they change? Preposterous. The law is out of reach of the common man, and this is precisely what these evil corporations who set up the lights are banking on. Had I blatantly run a red light, I'd shut up and pay. But here the law is dubious.

I read that they are issuing arrest warrants for failure to pay. On one hand, if they were to arrest my wife, I'd hire a lawyer and sue them for false arrest (because she was not the driver at the time). On the other hand, my wife might be arrested while driving, so that's ultimately why I grit my teeth and paid up. There is a class action lawsuit against the city. I wonder how I could become a party to this? http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2010/02/plaintiffs_seek_class_action_lawsuit_against_st_louis_red_light_cameras.php?page=2

The biggest problem I have is that the red light companies have a share in the revenue and thus have a vested interest in "convincing" the city to play by their rules. So you are basically getting buttraped by some corporation and since the government has a share in the profit they fail to protect citizens against this tyranny. It's becoming a new form of oligarchy, or more precisely, corporatocracy.

As a native Missourian here are some pros and cons mostly focusing on my native St. Louis.

Pros
Low cost of living
Lots of cool stuff in KC and 'tha Lou'
Branson (depends on your opinion)
Lake of the Ozarks
spring and fall weather
Canoeing in the rivers
St. Louis Cardinals
KC Barbeque
Blues, Jazz and Ragtime
The U City Loop (St. Louis)
St. Louis Hip Hop scene (if you're into that)
Short commutes
Great Italian and Vietnamese restaurants (St. Louis)
The Arch
Really cheap parking
Really cheap (and many free) events
Chuck Berry lives and performs regularly in St. Louis!!
Plentiful tech jobs

Cons
summer humidity
Lots of rednecks outstate
Lots of meth labs outstate
Branson (depends on your opinion)
winters not quite cold enough for regular winter sports
John Ashcroft
Lousy public transportation (St. Louis)
No more airline hub (St. Louis)
No real mountains (Ozark hills aren't mountains)
No ocean nearby
Urban sprawl

Here are some St. Louis links...

Lowlife Guide to St. Louis http://www.garagepunk.com/lowlifeguide

Built St. Louis (architecture)
http://www.builtstlouis.net/

Riverfront Times (news weekly)
http://riverfronttimes.com/

Playback St. Louis (music scene)
http://playbackstl.com/

St. Louis Gateway Arts (arts and culture)
http://gatewayarts.net/

The Commonspace (all things urban)
http://thecommonspace.org/

St. Louis Restaurants
http://www.saucecafe.com/

I don't know much about Bulgaria. But I'll bet it has lots of unique and interesting things to do as well.

Ok then, St. Louis treated you horribly.
St. Louis was didn't nurture you. St. Louis is home to some people who disagree with you.
Read the first few paragraphs of the Riverfront Times' "Best Of" issue and answer them honestly, will you? Best of St. Louis 2002

I left St. Louis years ago, but I don't complain about the city making me unhappy. Cities don't make people unhappy.
People are unhappy.