Equal rights/equality means that everyone has the opportunity to do as they wish, with a few obvious exceptions (blind people can't drive and men can't become pregnant, etc.)
It doesn't mean that people are have the same abilities.
I think that people confuse these two ideas a lot.
Could it be true that women, on average, don't have the aptitude for math and science? Sure. But if we have equality in our society than those women who have the aptitude for math are not excluded solely on the basis of gender.
Well maybe if the congressperson only gets a few letters on a given topic. Remember a politicians ultimate goal is to get re-elected. So if the politician gets letters on a topic in the order of thousands, then that politician must listen. This is especially true if the margin of victory of their last election is less than the number of letters they receive, which is why it is important to start your letter with something like: "I voted for you in the last election, but because insert issue here) I will not vote for you again unless..."
Homelessness and poverty will always exist under captialism. I am not saying that this is good or bad, I am saying that we do not live in the Star Trek utopian society in which there are jobs that pay enough for people to survive available for everyone.
You might be able to teach someone to fish, but the but at some point the economy may not have any need for more fishermen (or whatever other job skill). All the unempolyed coders reading this can attest to this.
First, today people are rehabbed with your tax dollars (in the form of court orderred rehab programs and other forms of government sponsered public aid) AND we are spending billions on the War on Drugs. Clearly some of the money spent on the Drug War could be spent on rehabilitation programs with no net lose to John Q. Taxpayer.
Second, the existence of the black market artifically drives up the price of drugs. Most of these drugs are made from plants that are weeds. You can grow them pretty much anywhere. Legalizing drugs would bring down the price, and people would have to perform less desprate acts to get $$ for their fix.
Third, Alcohol is legal. You can still be fired for showing up drunk to work. So, I don't see how this would be a problem.
Fourth, why would you assume it would be lax? The billions spent on the drug war could buy many more police officers to enforce these laws.
Fifth, big tabacco runs your life? It doesn't run mine.
Finally, consider how organized crime basically disappeared after Prohibition was ended. Just as the gangs of the 20s ran on alcohol, the street gangs of today run on drugs. People join gangs to get money and the prestige that comes with it. Eliminate the main source of their money and there will be no more street violence to the scale we see today in our cities.
Actually, the free online music is a bunch of live recordings from various concerts (three in number, they are supposed to add more soon), all from shows before St. Anger. In fact, the online music is the only good thing about that cd.
2x4s are called 2x4s because that is the stock of raw lumber that they are produced from. The finishing process takes off about a 1/2 from each dimension.
There have been a lot of posts bashing cops, but most cops are good cops. It's just like how most hackers are not crackers or black hats. Most cops sign up because they want to help people, not to go "Rodney King" on anyone's ass. There are really not that many bad cops as the movies or news outlets would like you to believe.
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Equal rights/equality means that everyone has the opportunity to do as they wish, with a few obvious exceptions (blind people can't drive and men can't become pregnant, etc.)
It doesn't mean that people are have the same abilities.
I think that people confuse these two ideas a lot.
Could it be true that women, on average, don't have the aptitude for math and science? Sure. But if we have equality in our society than those women who have the aptitude for math are not excluded solely on the basis of gender.
Well maybe if the congressperson only gets a few letters on a given topic. Remember a politicians ultimate goal is to get re-elected. So if the politician gets letters on a topic in the order of thousands, then that politician must listen. This is especially true if the margin of victory of their last election is less than the number of letters they receive, which is why it is important to start your letter with something like: "I voted for you in the last election, but because insert issue here) I will not vote for you again unless..."
http://videodetective.com/home.asp?PublishedID=839 764
note it is a .wmv file
... it is really a movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311361/
Homelessness and poverty will always exist under captialism. I am not saying that this is good or bad, I am saying that we do not live in the Star Trek utopian society in which there are jobs that pay enough for people to survive available for everyone.
You might be able to teach someone to fish, but the but at some point the economy may not have any need for more fishermen (or whatever other job skill). All the unempolyed coders reading this can attest to this.
First, today people are rehabbed with your tax dollars (in the form of court orderred rehab programs and other forms of government sponsered public aid) AND we are spending billions on the War on Drugs. Clearly some of the money spent on the Drug War could be spent on rehabilitation programs with no net lose to John Q. Taxpayer. Second, the existence of the black market artifically drives up the price of drugs. Most of these drugs are made from plants that are weeds. You can grow them pretty much anywhere. Legalizing drugs would bring down the price, and people would have to perform less desprate acts to get $$ for their fix. Third, Alcohol is legal. You can still be fired for showing up drunk to work. So, I don't see how this would be a problem. Fourth, why would you assume it would be lax? The billions spent on the drug war could buy many more police officers to enforce these laws. Fifth, big tabacco runs your life? It doesn't run mine. Finally, consider how organized crime basically disappeared after Prohibition was ended. Just as the gangs of the 20s ran on alcohol, the street gangs of today run on drugs. People join gangs to get money and the prestige that comes with it. Eliminate the main source of their money and there will be no more street violence to the scale we see today in our cities.
Actually, the free online music is a bunch of live recordings from various concerts (three in number, they are supposed to add more soon), all from shows before St. Anger. In fact, the online music is the only good thing about that cd.
2x4s are called 2x4s because that is the stock of raw lumber that they are produced from. The finishing process takes off about a 1/2 from each dimension.
There have been a lot of posts bashing cops, but most cops are good cops. It's just like how most hackers are not crackers or black hats. Most cops sign up because they want to help people, not to go "Rodney King" on anyone's ass. There are really not that many bad cops as the movies or news outlets would like you to believe.