I am 24. I have ADD. My executive functions are probably significantly worse than your average 16 year old's. I believe tests put it at something like the 15th percentile.
Am I allowed to have sex? I sure hope so. I'm pretty sure the 3 year old will give away his mom's game...
Firstly, I *do* think your Obama fear is kinda insane. Secondly, I agree, Clinton was actually pretty boss.
But as for the McCain being too old bit, I quote from a history teacher:
"Date: 1940
Event: Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister
Age: 65
Date: 1945
Event: World War II ends in Europe, Churchill at the helm.
Age: 70
Date: 1949
Event: Konrad Adenauer begins to lead postwar West Germany as Chancellor
Age: 73
Date: 1951
Event: Churchill gets re-elected Prime Minister
Age: 76
Date: 1955
Event: Churchill retires as PM
Age: 80
Date: 1958
Event: Charles de Gaulle becomes President of France
Age: 68
Date: 1963
Event: Adenauer retires as Chancellor after enduring three crises over Berlin, each registering fears of World War III. (Not to mention the Cuban Missile Crisis intervening...)
Age: 87
Date: 1969
Event: Golda Meir becomes Israel's PM
Age: 72
Date: 1969
Event: Charles de Gaulle retires as President
Age: 78
Date: 1972
Event: Munich Olympics hostage crisis resolved with Meir at the helm.
Age: 75
Date: 1973
Event: Meir presides over Yom Kippur War
Age: 76
Date: 1981
Event: Reagan becomes President
Age: 69
Date: 1994
Event: Nelson Mandela becomes President of South Africa after 27 years in prison.
Age: 75"
1) Of course Bush endorsed McCain. Who's he going to endorse, Clinton? That says NOTHING about McCain.
2) It's common practice in the run-up to elections to float bills that a candidate couldn't possibly support but which are crafted to make the candidate look bad when he votes against it. The bill in question did NOT simply ban waterboarding, though that would have resulted from the bill. The bill legally restricted the CIA to a set of 16 interogation rules set up for US Army field interogations. The guidelines for interogations conducted by largely unspecialized and untrained hordes of soldiers in remote locations can and should be different than those for trained intelligence operatives. If you must attack the man, please do so on substance.
3) To support retroactive immunity for telcoms, while debatable in value, is hardly a BLATANT and OUTRAGEOUS violation of the 4th amendment. Making it nonpunishable for a company to comply with what the government tells it to do is different than supporting the Government's ability to make illegal requests on companies. If he voted for warrant-free wiretaps, that'd be one thing, and I'd strongly dislike him for it, but voting to exempt companies from being sued for a government's mis-step is hardly rage-inducing.
I hope I don't come off as a heartless hyper-capitalist, but if half of all writers are out of work, and most of the remainder make paltry salaries, would it not be entirely reasonably to conclude that the reason might not be The Evil Fat-Cats but instead one of the following alternate explanations? A) There are too many writers relative to demand OR B) Performing the functions of an average Hollywood writer does not require any particularly rare abilities, and so the abundant supply of potential writers drives the price down (this is related of course to "A", previously stated) OR C) The writers receive some other, non-monetary compensation for their work that supplements their $ figure (the ability to boast to yourself and friends about all the cool shows you are involved with, sense of fulfillment coming from creative expression, etc.) OR D) Writing is a lottery sort of profession, like acting, which entices people to work for lower wages than they could earn elsewhere because of the perceived possibility of "hitting it big" and living the good life financially or alternatively receiving widespread respect/admiration from peers (I really have no clue whether or not this is the case, but it is a diagnosis that would explain all the symptoms) OR E) A combination of some or all of the preceding explanations.
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I am 24. I have ADD. My executive functions are probably significantly worse than your average 16 year old's. I believe tests put it at something like the 15th percentile. Am I allowed to have sex? I sure hope so. I'm pretty sure the 3 year old will give away his mom's game...
But as for the McCain being too old bit, I quote from a history teacher: "Date: 1940 Event: Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister Age: 65 Date: 1945 Event: World War II ends in Europe, Churchill at the helm. Age: 70 Date: 1949 Event: Konrad Adenauer begins to lead postwar West Germany as Chancellor Age: 73 Date: 1951 Event: Churchill gets re-elected Prime Minister Age: 76 Date: 1955 Event: Churchill retires as PM Age: 80 Date: 1958 Event: Charles de Gaulle becomes President of France Age: 68 Date: 1963 Event: Adenauer retires as Chancellor after enduring three crises over Berlin, each registering fears of World War III. (Not to mention the Cuban Missile Crisis intervening...) Age: 87 Date: 1969 Event: Golda Meir becomes Israel's PM Age: 72 Date: 1969 Event: Charles de Gaulle retires as President Age: 78 Date: 1972 Event: Munich Olympics hostage crisis resolved with Meir at the helm. Age: 75 Date: 1973 Event: Meir presides over Yom Kippur War Age: 76 Date: 1981 Event: Reagan becomes President Age: 69 Date: 1994 Event: Nelson Mandela becomes President of South Africa after 27 years in prison. Age: 75"
2) It's common practice in the run-up to elections to float bills that a candidate couldn't possibly support but which are crafted to make the candidate look bad when he votes against it. The bill in question did NOT simply ban waterboarding, though that would have resulted from the bill. The bill legally restricted the CIA to a set of 16 interogation rules set up for US Army field interogations. The guidelines for interogations conducted by largely unspecialized and untrained hordes of soldiers in remote locations can and should be different than those for trained intelligence operatives. If you must attack the man, please do so on substance.
3) To support retroactive immunity for telcoms, while debatable in value, is hardly a BLATANT and OUTRAGEOUS violation of the 4th amendment. Making it nonpunishable for a company to comply with what the government tells it to do is different than supporting the Government's ability to make illegal requests on companies. If he voted for warrant-free wiretaps, that'd be one thing, and I'd strongly dislike him for it, but voting to exempt companies from being sued for a government's mis-step is hardly rage-inducing.
I hope I don't come off as a heartless hyper-capitalist, but if half of all writers are out of work, and most of the remainder make paltry salaries, would it not be entirely reasonably to conclude that the reason might not be The Evil Fat-Cats but instead one of the following alternate explanations?
A) There are too many writers relative to demand OR B) Performing the functions of an average Hollywood writer does not require any particularly rare abilities, and so the abundant supply of potential writers drives the price down (this is related of course to "A", previously stated) OR C) The writers receive some other, non-monetary compensation for their work that supplements their $ figure (the ability to boast to yourself and friends about all the cool shows you are involved with, sense of fulfillment coming from creative expression, etc.) OR D) Writing is a lottery sort of profession, like acting, which entices people to work for lower wages than they could earn elsewhere because of the perceived possibility of "hitting it big" and living the good life financially or alternatively receiving widespread respect/admiration from peers (I really have no clue whether or not this is the case, but it is a diagnosis that would explain all the symptoms) OR E) A combination of some or all of the preceding explanations.