1. Your argument is only true for male couples. Any 2-bit lesbian can scrounge up the cash for a sperm shake from the sperm bank.
2. When babies start being grown in labs, non-identical genetic "cloning" will allow gay males to reproduce.
3. Allowing affluent gays to adopt would help our economy be more productive by ensuring that unwanted children got the care they needed to become productive members of society -- not the prisoners, drug addicts, and mental health patients that the poor heterosexuals keep popping out at alarming rates.
The fact is, it's not government's job to push children on people for tax purposes. There should be no marriage penalty OR benefit. There should be no child penalty OR benefit. But then... it's crap like this that makes me favor a national sales tax and eliminating marriage as a civil matter altogether.:)
Yeah, I don't drag-n-drop much as I'm not into the file manager thing, but the "replacement paste" feature is something I use all the time in Winderz. I did read the article that mentioned Desktop Standardization of dnd though.
Perhaps Keith Packard et al. will propose an "Xcp" extension to implement the new c/p mechanism without breaking old apps?
The only problem with X's cNp is like between applications when, say, you want to replace a section of hilighted text with the text in the buffer. Highlighting the text you want to replace kills the buffer! So, you have hacks like the x-button in Firebird which clears the URL bar.
Right, which is why I oppose such hogs on grounds of localized pollution, not global warming. I support hybrids and the like because they emit less soot, ground-level ozone, etc. which have documented, observable effects on humans.
doesn't mean they get to talk down to us and try to dictate what our foriegn policy will be
And vice versa. Yet, through economic coercion, the Bush Administration is attempting make France change its foreign policy. Pot, meet kettle.
As for the war in Vietnam,...
It's true that the French had a long relationship with Indochina. Like the British, they always had a hard time with that whole Liberal Colonialism thing (we make profits and we teach you about liberty). Something about White Man's Burden pisses people off for some reason... and if the US doesn't get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, ASAP, it will happen to it.
Anyway, the parallel with Iraq is interesting as Iraq was France's pet after WW1. They have had business relationships for a very long time. As the US didn't want to be directly involved with Hussein's regime during Reagan/Bush Sr., we often did deals through France, etc. to benefit our "friend" against the hated Iran.
Reagan's toadie Alexander Haig lobbied hard in Congress to get Iraq off the list of terrorism-supporting states so we could sell them weapons but Congress balked. The compromise worked out allowed the US to sell Iraq so-called "dual-use" technologies, like trucks, civilian helicopters, botulism toxin, etc. but no actual Weapons[tm]. When Hussein gassed the Iranians and the Kurds who supported them, we sent them a memo -- A MEMO! -- which said, to paraphrase, "the US does not condone the use of CW".
So much for sending a strong, clear message to our friend, Saddam Hussein.
Hell, the only reason we invaded them in GW1 was because a Kuwaiti princess lied to Congress and the world saying the Iraqi Army was killing babies in hospitals and shit. Initially, the response would have been NOTHING because we knew Hussein was invading entirely due to the Kuwaitis slant-drilling into Iraqi oilfields and refusing to stop.
Anyway, my point is, that across administrations, the US has been 1) utterly hypocritical in its dealings with Iraq and 2) has abused moral justifications to exact political and economic obeisance from its peers.
To keep this rant from wandering any further, I'm submitting now.:)
-l
Basic health care is so expensive because the doctors and hospitals adjust their rates to the maximum that Medicare will pay (this helps them make enough profit to make up for all the deadbeats that don't pay)
Basic health care is obviously a part of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." How can you possibly be a competitive worker or small business owner if you have an untreated illness? How can untreated children attend school for eventual entry into the marketplace? How can a poor Mom go to work and be productive when she has to stay home longer because she cannot afford proper preventative care for her children?
All free market solutions to health care, by definition, imply the following: Some people will die because they cannot afford treatment. (I hadn't thought about this before until the Cato Institute said essentially that on CSPAN, commenting on a proposed single payer plan).
Only the most crass, inhumane bastard would assert that people deserve to die who are unable to cough up a sufficient supply of labor for further preservation of their life. (Willful death is an entirely different matter, of course).
[More] on what I think it would take for a libertarian, meritocratic system to exist without creating an aristocracy.
This is so true. Interestingly, a libertarian-eqsue meritocratic state would have to have something like the following to avoid promoting an evil aristocracy:
100% death taxes-or-charity over, say, $200,000
Inheritances are Evil[tm] in libertarian world because they're not meritocratic. They're a direct entitlement from the rich parents to their poor, unproductive children. Everyone's children should have to compete on roughly equal footing if we want a free market, competitive solution to work.
free, good schooling for everyone up to 18
Again, equal footing is necessary. No not everyone has the same skills, but there are basic, necessary skills (standards, if you will) for people to be informed citizens, smart workers, and saavy business owners. People must have the tools to be competitive before they can actually be competitive.
free medical care
You cannot have "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" if your people are sick and cannot afford to pay for their treatment. The Cato Institute crystallized the issue on CSPAN (paraphrasing): Under any free market solution to health care, we must accept that people WILL die simply because they cannot afford the care that they need. A sick, untreated worker is a drain on the market as she produces little or nothing; whereas, a market with cared-for workers has a higher net output, despite the occasional high dollar treatment. This is just the practical argument.
The ideological argument for why libertarians should support free health care is that sick, untreated citizens by definition cannot have "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" . What is the point of liberty if it is kept from you by circumstances utterly out of your control (not enough money to pay for treatment)?
Fucking Ticketmaster is even WORSE now that they're online... sickening. And they won't quit sending me spam even though I unchecked all their shit. I killed that mail for awhile hoping the bounces would make their spambot give up... nope still going after I reactivated that addy.
Right, the figure itself has gone up, but in real dollars, Americans have been making less and less since WW2. This will continue as free trade causes vast levelling (Rich country boats sink some, poor country boats rise some, but in toto, there's a net increase).
Interestingly, the Bush administration still pursues a strong dollar policy in the face of the benefits of a weak dollar. Why? Because the strong dollar is the only thing keeping the trade deficit from undermining our credit rating on the international market.
Interestingly, this feeds directly into his policy initiatives (i.e., going on a spending spree with money we don't have).
His borrow-and-spend Republicanism is the perfect poster child for the Credit Card Generation.
I use AT&T in Austin, TX, and I never have a problem reaching customer service. However, I haven't had a phone activated in 3+ years so.... maybe it's just the Amazon + AT&T activation that sucks.
Austin, TX has a rather neutral accent, as well, though you'd never know it as we're surrounded and infiltrated by a wide array of West Texan, East Texan, and Spanglish accents.
Slashdot Mirror
You just gave me this vision of olive-flavored Ovaltine! Just add milk!
Yuck!
-l
I saw Episode 2 at the Discount Cinema on dollar movie night (Tuesdays) just to stick it to Lucas.
Yoda kicking ass was worth a dollar, but I'd've paid full price to see Boba Fett torture and kill Anakin and Amidala. Twice.
Fuck continuity.
-l
OMG, you just made my day!
Cheers,
-l
clogging up the taskbar, zillions of windows, ... sounds like The Gimp is just what I hate about IE...
:)
Gimp needs tabbed windows!!! woo!
-l
YES! I miss that show. Maybe we need to slashdot MTV to get it back?
:)
At least in 20 years it'll be a Time Life Video of the Month.
-l
1. Your argument is only true for male couples. Any 2-bit lesbian can scrounge up the cash for a sperm shake from the sperm bank.
:)
2. When babies start being grown in labs, non-identical genetic "cloning" will allow gay males to reproduce.
3. Allowing affluent gays to adopt would help our economy be more productive by ensuring that unwanted children got the care they needed to become productive members of society -- not the prisoners, drug addicts, and mental health patients that the poor heterosexuals keep popping out at alarming rates.
The fact is, it's not government's job to push children on people for tax purposes. There should be no marriage penalty OR benefit. There should be no child penalty OR benefit. But then... it's crap like this that makes me favor a national sales tax and eliminating marriage as a civil matter altogether.
-l
(single, full-time father)
Yeah, I don't drag-n-drop much as I'm not into the file manager thing, but the "replacement paste" feature is something I use all the time in Winderz. I did read the article that mentioned Desktop Standardization of dnd though.
Perhaps Keith Packard et al. will propose an "Xcp" extension to implement the new c/p mechanism without breaking old apps?
-l
The only problem with X's cNp is like between applications when, say, you want to replace a section of hilighted text with the text in the buffer. Highlighting the text you want to replace kills the buffer! So, you have hacks like the x-button in Firebird which clears the URL bar.
-l
SUVs, etc.
Right, which is why I oppose such hogs on grounds of localized pollution, not global warming. I support hybrids and the like because they emit less soot, ground-level ozone, etc. which have documented, observable effects on humans.
Cheers,
-l
I sent him Scooby Doo videos. :)
-l
And vice versa. Yet, through economic coercion, the Bush Administration is attempting make France change its foreign policy. Pot, meet kettle.
As for the war in Vietnam,...
It's true that the French had a long relationship with Indochina. Like the British, they always had a hard time with that whole Liberal Colonialism thing (we make profits and we teach you about liberty). Something about White Man's Burden pisses people off for some reason... and if the US doesn't get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, ASAP, it will happen to it.
Anyway, the parallel with Iraq is interesting as Iraq was France's pet after WW1. They have had business relationships for a very long time. As the US didn't want to be directly involved with Hussein's regime during Reagan/Bush Sr., we often did deals through France, etc. to benefit our "friend" against the hated Iran.
Reagan's toadie Alexander Haig lobbied hard in Congress to get Iraq off the list of terrorism-supporting states so we could sell them weapons but Congress balked. The compromise worked out allowed the US to sell Iraq so-called "dual-use" technologies, like trucks, civilian helicopters, botulism toxin, etc. but no actual Weapons[tm]. When Hussein gassed the Iranians and the Kurds who supported them, we sent them a memo -- A MEMO! -- which said, to paraphrase, "the US does not condone the use of CW".
So much for sending a strong, clear message to our friend, Saddam Hussein.
Hell, the only reason we invaded them in GW1 was because a Kuwaiti princess lied to Congress and the world saying the Iraqi Army was killing babies in hospitals and shit. Initially, the response would have been NOTHING because we knew Hussein was invading entirely due to the Kuwaitis slant-drilling into Iraqi oilfields and refusing to stop.
Anyway, my point is, that across administrations, the US has been 1) utterly hypocritical in its dealings with Iraq and 2) has abused moral justifications to exact political and economic obeisance from its peers.
To keep this rant from wandering any further, I'm submitting now. :)
-l
I bought a dual Opteron solely because it's cool. :)
-l
Cause Debian is the only dist bothering to do it Right[tm]. :)
Basic health care is obviously a part of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." How can you possibly be a competitive worker or small business owner if you have an untreated illness? How can untreated children attend school for eventual entry into the marketplace? How can a poor Mom go to work and be productive when she has to stay home longer because she cannot afford proper preventative care for her children?
All free market solutions to health care, by definition, imply the following: Some people will die because they cannot afford treatment. (I hadn't thought about this before until the Cato Institute said essentially that on CSPAN, commenting on a proposed single payer plan).
Only the most crass, inhumane bastard would assert that people deserve to die who are unable to cough up a sufficient supply of labor for further preservation of their life. (Willful death is an entirely different matter, of course).
[More] on what I think it would take for a libertarian, meritocratic system to exist without creating an aristocracy.
$0.02USD,
-l
Inheritances are Evil[tm] in libertarian world because they're not meritocratic. They're a direct entitlement from the rich parents to their poor, unproductive children. Everyone's children should have to compete on roughly equal footing if we want a free market, competitive solution to work.
Again, equal footing is necessary. No not everyone has the same skills, but there are basic, necessary skills (standards, if you will) for people to be informed citizens, smart workers, and saavy business owners. People must have the tools to be competitive before they can actually be competitive.
You cannot have "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" if your people are sick and cannot afford to pay for their treatment. The Cato Institute crystallized the issue on CSPAN (paraphrasing): Under any free market solution to health care, we must accept that people WILL die simply because they cannot afford the care that they need. A sick, untreated worker is a drain on the market as she produces little or nothing; whereas, a market with cared-for workers has a higher net output, despite the occasional high dollar treatment. This is just the practical argument.
The ideological argument for why libertarians should support free health care is that sick, untreated citizens by definition cannot have "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" . What is the point of liberty if it is kept from you by circumstances utterly out of your control (not enough money to pay for treatment)?
libertarian-influenced liberal,
-l
Fucking Ticketmaster is even WORSE now that they're online... sickening. And they won't quit sending me spam even though I unchecked all their shit. I killed that mail for awhile hoping the bounces would make their spambot give up... nope still going after I reactivated that addy.
-l
Right, the figure itself has gone up, but in real dollars, Americans have been making less and less since WW2. This will continue as free trade causes vast levelling (Rich country boats sink some, poor country boats rise some, but in toto, there's a net increase).
:)
That's what I think anyway
-l
Interestingly, this feeds directly into his policy initiatives (i.e., going on a spending spree with money we don't have).
His borrow-and-spend Republicanism is the perfect poster child for the Credit Card Generation.
$0.02USD,
-l
-l
Ho ha! It's the Balrog Ballet!
Cheers and thanks for the larf,
-l
-l
I want to thank you for recommending Julia Vinograd. I've asked my gf to buy me a copy for Christmas.
Cheers,
-l
Don't forget punctuation: 2B|!2bTit?
-l
Austin, TX has a rather neutral accent, as well, though you'd never know it as we're surrounded and infiltrated by a wide array of West Texan, East Texan, and Spanglish accents.
-l
hehehe,
-l