Yes, there are a lot of countries more oppresive than America. China, Afghanistan, sure. But even Great Britain is worse... if you don't think constant video surveillance on all of its citizens counts, then I don't think I understand your use of the word.
The "abuse" at the hands of the Philidelphia police on the GOP protestors is a notorious hoax. A horde of reporters at the convention interviewed people in the jail and couldn't find anything worse than "I bumped my head entering the jail wagon"
Your whole post reeks of sophistry... You say "1/3 of Americans can't name a single 1st amendment right" -- I'll put 20$ on it that the question was "Name the 1st Amendment." instead of "Have you ever heard of Freedom of Speech?" Typical way to influence statistics.
As is the 1/5th incarceration rate, and 1/3 for black. Bull-fucking-shit. I think the arrest rate for blacks is 1/10, and for whites quite a bit lower than that. Not considering recalcitrant offenders is a complelety blockheaded way of saying 1/5th of Americans will be behind bars. And you know what? A number of people get arrested that don't get imprisoned. My roommate was arrested and fingerprinted for being drunk in public, but was not even brought before a judge.
The rising incarceration rate, at least in California, is the three strikes law, which imprisons those who would normally walk. This points to more enforcement than more crime.
I think all my sophistry alerts went off on your post... even saying that "Alchohol kills 6x as many people as illegal drugs" is complete bullshit, since you aren't considering the facts that more people drink than use drugs. Thats like me saying that there is discrimination of people with grey hair because more of them die of heart attacks than people with dark hair...
I can't remember the name of the company, but whoever made Spaceward Ho! and a famous Solitare game for the Macintosh used to sell their product only in jewel cases so that they wouldn't waste packaging space.
Naturally, their product did horribly in retail because it didn't "look" like a professional game...
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Yes, there are a lot of countries more oppresive than America. China, Afghanistan, sure. But even Great Britain is worse... if you don't think constant video surveillance on all of its citizens counts, then I don't think I understand your use of the word.
The "abuse" at the hands of the Philidelphia police on the GOP protestors is a notorious hoax. A horde of reporters at the convention interviewed people in the jail and couldn't find anything worse than "I bumped my head entering the jail wagon"
Your whole post reeks of sophistry... You say "1/3 of Americans can't name a single 1st amendment right" -- I'll put 20$ on it that the question was "Name the 1st Amendment." instead of "Have you ever heard of Freedom of Speech?" Typical way to influence statistics.
As is the 1/5th incarceration rate, and 1/3 for black. Bull-fucking-shit. I think the arrest rate for blacks is 1/10, and for whites quite a bit lower than that. Not considering recalcitrant offenders is a complelety blockheaded way of saying 1/5th of Americans will be behind bars. And you know what? A number of people get arrested that don't get imprisoned. My roommate was arrested and fingerprinted for being drunk in public, but was not even brought before a judge.
The rising incarceration rate, at least in California, is the three strikes law, which imprisons those who would normally walk. This points to more enforcement than more crime.
I think all my sophistry alerts went off on your post... even saying that "Alchohol kills 6x as many people as illegal drugs" is complete bullshit, since you aren't considering the facts that more people drink than use drugs. Thats like me saying that there is discrimination of people with grey hair because more of them die of heart attacks than people with dark hair...
Pfft.
I can't remember the name of the company, but whoever made Spaceward Ho! and a famous Solitare game for the Macintosh used to sell their product only in jewel cases so that they wouldn't waste packaging space.
Naturally, their product did horribly in retail because it didn't "look" like a professional game...
-Bill