Im' more worried about the ignorant that claim to be educated because they sat through some classes and are smarmy about it. The world is a big place, with a lot of problems that look alike on the surface but require many different solutions once explored. The worst thing is a leader with just enough education to be dangerous.
What I'd like to see is some kind of very tough civics test as a requirement for voting.
The test would be very simple. Just have ballots with a list of offices. The test is to correctly spell your chosen candidates name. Illegible ballots are not counted. Misspelled names, no matter how minor, are not counted. If you can't be bothered to learn how to clearly print your choices name, you should forfeit the right to vote. The reasonable acomodation of a transcripter can be made for anyone unable to write (blind, paralyzed, etc.)
FTS: A report...published in the Astrophysical Journal, raises more questions than answers about a cosmic pile-up that's occurring 2.4 billion light-years away.
Those little discount cards you get at the grocery stores. How is this any different? Well...other than the fact that you can't pick up porn at the grocery stores where I live.
I was just in Washington, DC. My wife and I wanted to be "socially responsible" and took the subway from Gaithersburg, MD to the Kennedy Center. I had to drive to the metro station ( parking appeared to be free on the weekend ), walk to the train (pay $5.60 each for the train), get off the train and onto a bus, then from the bus onto another train (someone couldn't figure out how to keep the trains running while servicing the tracks), and then walk 5 blocks to the theater. That was a bitch for my wife in her high-heels. Then we had to turn around and reverse the 1.5 hour track to get back to my friends apartment.
The next day, I wanted to visit the Air and Space Museum (greatest museum in the WORLD!!!). We drove. Traffic was an unadultered cluster fuck, but I MUCH prefer that to being slowly herded around in a tiny capsule with a bunch of bathing optional people, and then still having to walk miles in the weather to get to my destination. The point of personal transportation is that it is personal.
You pharmacist, the guy who checks your prescriptions for dangers and counsels you on proper drug therapy has at least four years of professional education.
The pharmacist has to know about a lot more than just the one health issue I might have. And, why wouldn't I consult the pharmacist? Why would I not get my doctor's opinion? Hell, I've questioned my mechanic about which oil is best for my car.
The worst that can happen is you spend $50k on a treatment that doesn't buy you a single god-damned day of further life. Now, not only are you dead, but you get to go to your grave knowing that you've heaped an extra burden on your loved ones for nothing. But since at the time of making the decision you're still in the bargaining stage of grief, you don't think about that. The heartless scammers running these cons count on that.
The other alternative is that you spend $100k for the same treatment after the Feds drive the cost of development through the roof. Or that you spend $0k, because there was not treatment at all available. Or that you spend $75 for the same treatment, but you receive it in Mexico or India.
The FDA's hegemony over what is available is destructive. At most, there should be an FDA Approved program that citizens can check to see what a supposedly unbiased government panel knows about a process/procedure/drug. But caveat emptor should always be available to the person with the cash, and the person with the cash should always have the final say in how it is spent. That is called FREEDOM.
Before discounting the understanding of others, you might want to review a little military history, because you obviously haven't the first clue of what you're talking about. The only person convicted in connection with the My Lai Massacre was U.S. Army Lt. William Calley. Most of the enlisted men were no longer part of the military so could not be legally charged, but those still enlisted were acquitted because it was determined that they had not received training of what constituted a lawful order. That was training reserved for officers.
Obeying and order is most certainly an excuse in a court martial, and a valid one.
The only stories we'll ever be able to bring it up on are the ones where it didn't work. When it works, we never hear about it, so there aren't any stories to tell.
And the letters from the the Bush officials saying that Solyndra would go bankrupt? And the "negotiation" that resulted in private investors being put ahead of the government guaranteed loans, against federal law? None of that is fraudulent or a scam?
And that whole part about the government backed loan guarantees by law taking precedence over the private investors being twisted around just after the CEO paid your boy in the Whitehouse a couple visits? Just business as usual?
Obama is crooked as a snake. That's the way it is -- which you'd likely admit, if an honest appraisal of the situation were your main goal.
All this "mandate" does is prevent businesses from asking for a plan for their employees that stops the insurance companies from doing something they already want to do.
So, all the mandate does is stomp all over the business owner's conscience and morals. Ahh? I see how that's better.
How about (at least at the Federal level) the bills are required to state which part of the Constitution gives Congress the power to pass the bill? That would get rid of most of them.
You're joking right? Have you not listened to ANY of the speeches coming from the President of these various united states? Have you not seen the statistics where fully half of the people don't pay any income tax, or the polls that show that 2/3rds of the people think that the "rich" should be responsible for paying off our national debt? Have you ignored all the Slashdot conversations where apologists for the moochers jumps to the fore to defend them whenever an intimation that everyone should pay their fair share of taxes?
Given half a chance, the 9 would not only take Joe's land, they'd require him to till it for him first!
But if you don't support that "evil enterprise" you will never have heard of most of the performers that you seem to believe are beneficial to mankind. The "evil enterprise" is what has made recorded music so ubiquitous. So, not supporting the "evil enterprise" would hold back progress. At this point, laws start getting made, because there is a legitimate disagreement about who is harmed and who is the underdog.
-You've got Gingrich saying that Paul is the most liberal ever. -Paul is for eliminating the DEA, a fairly liberal stance. -Paul is for pulling out of foreign wars. A much more liberal stance than Obama. -Paul wants to stop giving money to corporations. Now what intelligent liberal disagrees with that?
The problem is that the media wants to put everyone on a line between Conservative and Liberal. It's nice and simple. Lends itself well to a sound bite horse race. Unfortunately for them, the world has many more dimensions and understanding it requires more than the 4 minutes they are allowed between commercial breaks.
Slashdot Mirror
Im' more worried about the ignorant that claim to be educated because they sat through some classes and are smarmy about it. The world is a big place, with a lot of problems that look alike on the surface but require many different solutions once explored. The worst thing is a leader with just enough education to be dangerous.
Because "Owh! My balls!" is on 2,999 of those channels and "Ass" is on the other?
What I'd like to see is some kind of very tough civics test as a requirement for voting.
The test would be very simple. Just have ballots with a list of offices. The test is to correctly spell your chosen candidates name. Illegible ballots are not counted. Misspelled names, no matter how minor, are not counted. If you can't be bothered to learn how to clearly print your choices name, you should forfeit the right to vote. The reasonable acomodation of a transcripter can be made for anyone unable to write (blind, paralyzed, etc.)
FTS: A report...published in the Astrophysical Journal, raises more questions than answers about a cosmic pile-up that's occurring 2.4 billion light-years away.
Should that be "occured 2.4 billion years ago"?
You don't really think it started in 2000, or that it is limited to the Republicans, do you?
And coke was always too expensive for most people to do much of; coke was mostly a yuppie thing.
Not before the Feds "War on Drugs", when you could by it out of the Sears Catalogue.
Not if you were booting off a casette tape. (I had an Adam.)
Those little discount cards you get at the grocery stores. How is this any different? Well...other than the fact that you can't pick up porn at the grocery stores where I live.
Exactly. And anyone can show up at a Tea Party rally and say anything...until they are escorted/driven away.
I was just in Washington, DC. My wife and I wanted to be "socially responsible" and took the subway from Gaithersburg, MD to the Kennedy Center. I had to drive to the metro station ( parking appeared to be free on the weekend ), walk to the train (pay $5.60 each for the train), get off the train and onto a bus, then from the bus onto another train (someone couldn't figure out how to keep the trains running while servicing the tracks), and then walk 5 blocks to the theater. That was a bitch for my wife in her high-heels. Then we had to turn around and reverse the 1.5 hour track to get back to my friends apartment.
The next day, I wanted to visit the Air and Space Museum (greatest museum in the WORLD!!!). We drove. Traffic was an unadultered cluster fuck, but I MUCH prefer that to being slowly herded around in a tiny capsule with a bunch of bathing optional people, and then still having to walk miles in the weather to get to my destination. The point of personal transportation is that it is personal.
fools and their money are soon separated.
You pharmacist, the guy who checks your prescriptions for dangers and counsels you on proper drug therapy has at least four years of professional education.
The pharmacist has to know about a lot more than just the one health issue I might have. And, why wouldn't I consult the pharmacist? Why would I not get my doctor's opinion? Hell, I've questioned my mechanic about which oil is best for my car.
The worst that can happen is you spend $50k on a treatment that doesn't buy you a single god-damned day of further life. Now, not only are you dead, but you get to go to your grave knowing that you've heaped an extra burden on your loved ones for nothing. But since at the time of making the decision you're still in the bargaining stage of grief, you don't think about that. The heartless scammers running these cons count on that.
The other alternative is that you spend $100k for the same treatment after the Feds drive the cost of development through the roof.
Or that you spend $0k, because there was not treatment at all available.
Or that you spend $75 for the same treatment, but you receive it in Mexico or India.
The FDA's hegemony over what is available is destructive. At most, there should be an FDA Approved program that citizens can check to see what a supposedly unbiased government panel knows about a process/procedure/drug. But caveat emptor should always be available to the person with the cash, and the person with the cash should always have the final say in how it is spent. That is called FREEDOM.
Before discounting the understanding of others, you might want to review a little military history, because you obviously haven't the first clue of what you're talking about. The only person convicted in connection with the My Lai Massacre was U.S. Army Lt. William Calley. Most of the enlisted men were no longer part of the military so could not be legally charged, but those still enlisted were acquitted because it was determined that they had not received training of what constituted a lawful order. That was training reserved for officers.
Obeying and order is most certainly an excuse in a court martial, and a valid one.
Unfortunately, the intelligence community can't just use the IRS to harass and bully their victims like the Democrats do.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/another-conservative-group-says-its-being-bullied-by-the-irs-clear-obvious-overreach/
The only stories we'll ever be able to bring it up on are the ones where it didn't work. When it works, we never hear about it, so there aren't any stories to tell.
Smaller government is the only answer.
And the letters from the the Bush officials saying that Solyndra would go bankrupt? And the "negotiation" that resulted in private investors being put ahead of the government guaranteed loans, against federal law? None of that is fraudulent or a scam?
And that whole part about the government backed loan guarantees by law taking precedence over the private investors being twisted around just after the CEO paid your boy in the Whitehouse a couple visits? Just business as usual?
Obama is crooked as a snake. That's the way it is -- which you'd likely admit, if an honest appraisal of the situation were your main goal.
Dems are giving rebates during an election year? They're treating it like Black Friday?
All this "mandate" does is prevent businesses from asking for a plan for their employees that stops the insurance companies from doing something they already want to do.
So, all the mandate does is stomp all over the business owner's conscience and morals. Ahh? I see how that's better.
How about (at least at the Federal level) the bills are required to state which part of the Constitution gives Congress the power to pass the bill? That would get rid of most of them.
That is also why we have a federal system. So that people of like mind can live separately if they so choose.
You're joking right? Have you not listened to ANY of the speeches coming from the President of these various united states? Have you not seen the statistics where fully half of the people don't pay any income tax, or the polls that show that 2/3rds of the people think that the "rich" should be responsible for paying off our national debt? Have you ignored all the Slashdot conversations where apologists for the moochers jumps to the fore to defend them whenever an intimation that everyone should pay their fair share of taxes?
Given half a chance, the 9 would not only take Joe's land, they'd require him to till it for him first!
But if you don't support that "evil enterprise" you will never have heard of most of the performers that you seem to believe are beneficial to mankind. The "evil enterprise" is what has made recorded music so ubiquitous. So, not supporting the "evil enterprise" would hold back progress. At this point, laws start getting made, because there is a legitimate disagreement about who is harmed and who is the underdog.
I think there is a need of definition.
-You've got Gingrich saying that Paul is the most liberal ever.
-Paul is for eliminating the DEA, a fairly liberal stance.
-Paul is for pulling out of foreign wars. A much more liberal stance than Obama.
-Paul wants to stop giving money to corporations. Now what intelligent liberal disagrees with that?
The problem is that the media wants to put everyone on a line between Conservative and Liberal. It's nice and simple. Lends itself well to a sound bite horse race. Unfortunately for them, the world has many more dimensions and understanding it requires more than the 4 minutes they are allowed between commercial breaks.