Don't tell me I'm "talking crap" just because I'm not a fan of Governmental intervention. Every single expansion of Governmental power erodes our freedom and liberty. You may not see this or even agree with the premise but you ought to respect my opinion enough not to dismiss it with two words.
and you don't get stuck in a job you hate because you can't get new health insurance for a disease or illness you have developed.
No, you'll be stuck in a job you hate because you need to pay the rent/mortgage/utility bill/etc. The argument that you can't get "new" health insurance is not an argument to remain at a job you hate. Group coverage plans (i.e: the kind you get from your employer) aren't allowed to exclude pre-existing conditions if you already had coverage.
I hate myself for even knowing this, but Babylon 5 also had an ancient race (or a group of ancient races - the Vorlons and the Shadows) who seeded similar humanoid life throughout the galaxy.
I hate myself even more for knowing this but I don't think they "seeded" the life. They tinkered with it after it had appeared in order to create attributes (telepathy) that were useful.
I love how JMS went to so much trouble to get the science aspect of his show correct (rotating ships, Newtonian physics in maneuvers, etc) and then based a large part of his storyline around something that could only be described as "magic".
My bank is owned by the State, my home is own by the State, my car is owned by the State, my car and home insurance are owned by the State. Now my job can be owned by the State.
Pretty soon they'll own your health care too. If you thought arguing with the insurance company was bad just wait until you get to argue with a bureaucrat instead. At least you can choose to do business with the insurance company......
The point of a stimulus is to take that cash from the people who are currently holding it and use it to try and get those millions of adults productive again.
All you know for sure is that you got them from some shady character on the Internet who's whereabouts you don't know and who is unlikely to ever make business with you again
That's why I get all of my penis enlargement pills from that guy on late night TV ads. TV is a lot more trustworthy than the internet;)
Yes, I'm sure an armed mob of half-trained civilians would have solved columbine SO much better than the police.
Most gun owners wouldn't advocate trying to "solve" problems like Columbine. They would advocate for the victims of an attack such as that to have had the ability to defend themselves. Columbine is a unique situation since most of the victims were underage but imagine if one of the VA Tech victims (or a teacher at Columbine) had been armed and able to defend themselves instead of waiting to be murdered?
Funny how Bush "going to bed" didn't seem to affect the people in other places that were hit just as hard, like EVERY county in Mississippi.
Just to be clear, I never claimed it was entirely his fault. Only that he didn't do enough to stop it. The President of the United States of America shouldn't go to bed early and eat cake with fund raisers while Americans suffer and die -- even if that suffering may have been self-inflicted.
Either way though I'm glad I live in New York. Why is it that my state can handle a terrorist attack out of the clear blue sky with professionalism but New Orleans can't even keep their cops from deserting during a natural disaster with days of advance notice?
Hop the border to your North-East then. In Vermont
Actually Vermont is one of the places that I would consider moving to if I ever left New York. New Hampshire is another. Pennsylvania would probably be my third choice.
It's perfectly legal to grab your wallet, get into your truck nude, drive to the store, walk in, buy a gallon of milk, and drive home
Well, I'm assuming the store owner might have a problem with that;)
It's not that simple because the Palestinians want the right to return to the homes in Israel proper (not the West Bank or Gaza) that they lost during the various wars that were waged against Israel. This would be a demographic disaster for Israel and the Israelis would never go for it. It would be the equivalent of the United States having to absorb 150,000,000 new people -- people that don't believe in our system of government and with whom we've been at war with for the last 60 years.
If you don't understand why it's not simple then I really suggest you look into the matter more closely before purposing "solutions" that have already been discussed (and rejected) on much higher levels than Slashdot.
She's a hardcore DLC [wikipedia.org]er, working tirelessly to pull the Democratic Party to the right (not to mention her bog-standard low-road campaigning).
Yeah, because Obama has neverresorted to "bog-standard low-road" campaigning.
Who should you have voted for instead?
In the Democratic primary? I honestly can't say. I've never liked Hillary as I don't think she's been a particularly effective advocate for my state. Everybody else dropped out before it got to New York. In the general I wound up doing a write-in for Ron Paul, mainly because I couldn't stomach voting for Bob Barr.
but, in the end, was by far the best choice.
Voting for the lessor of two evils is still evil. I doubt you see it that way as you seem to be much further to the left than I am (based on your support for Kucinich and complaints about the DLC) but that's how I feel. Obama is going to erode our civil liberties. The only difference between him and Bush is which civil liberties each one will erode.
Your problem is that the media (and pretty much everybody else) only gives attention to the two main party candidates. The media usually pick the side of one of the two big parties, and certainly the side of the big parties against anyone else. And that means nobody from outside of those two big parties is every going to be elected.
I don't know if I buy that. Ron Paul has gotten quite a bit of mainstream media coverage. Ross Perot certainly generated a lot of media attention back in the day. I think it's more of a "chicken and egg" thing than anything else. The media isn't going to devote a lot of coverage to someone they perceive doesn't have a shot -- but without that media coverage the name recognition that goes along with it most third parties don't stand a chance.
I can guarantee you that the votes would have been reversed had Obama lost the primary contest and Hillary been the nominee.
Probably. Like I said here, I wasn't upset about it because I thought Hillary was any better. It was just extra salt in the wound after Obama's reversal and my own efforts to assist his campaign during the primaries.
His campaign didn't want to be painted as soft on terra or hamstringing intelligence efforts by the Repubs in the general.
So you betray your supporters and reverse an explicit pledge you made because of political considerations? To quote Senator McCain, "That's not change we can believe in"
but I have to believe that he KNOWS that immunity for the teclos is wrong
Then why did he vote for it?
But just you know know, I contributed probably a couple hundred dollars to the Obama campaign - until the FISA vote.
I contributed around $500 and got every single penny of it back.
ACLU's site and saw the headline "Senate passes telco immunity: ACLU sues", and I became a member
I wanted to join the ACLU until I realized they are hypocrites. Civil liberties union my ass.
I voted Barr in the general
I couldn't forgive him for the witch burning episode back in the 90s. I did a write-in for Ron Paul.
I think the telcos were caught in the middle and are mostly spineless. he real culprits are the DOJ, NSA, FBI, and the administration.
I agree. But the whole point of opposing teleco immunity wasn't to punish the telcos -- it was to continue the lawsuits against them so we could use discovery to find out exactly what went on behind the scenes. Now that's not going to happen. And we can thank Mr. Obama for that.
Obama had the most liberal voting record in the US Senate according to just about every metric
See, that I just don't buy. It makes a good soundbite but are you really going to tell me that Obama has a more liberal voting record than the self-described socialist? More liberal than Russ Feingold? These types of soundbites don't really contribute anything to the political discourse and I tend to tune them out.
and got an "F" rating from the NRA. And you, as a gun owner, actually thought he might be on your side?
I wasn't a gun owner until a friend of mine pointed out the hypocrisy in my position of shouting at the top of my lungs (1st amendment) on just about every issue while not bothering to exercise my 2nd amendment rights. My main motivation for getting a gun at this point is to exercise that right (rights not exercised will eventually cease to be rights). This also stuck out in my mind as a pretty compelling argument for gun ownership and reminded me of events in our own country where the police did nothing while innocent people were being murdered.
For what it's worth I'm now a convert to gun rights and will be doing my utmost to speak in favor of this issue and vote it at the ballot box in the future. I'm also going to try and bring some friends into the shooting sports. What else can you do?
I'm quite certain she had not even bothered to show up for votes on the issue on previous occasions and had not taken an anti-immunity provision, so I wouldn't construe that vote as an indicator of any deep conviction either
I don't think Hillary has "deep convictions" about much of anything. I say that as one of her constituents too and someone whom actually voted for her twice (mainly because both Republicans that ran against her were complete idiots). It was just more salt in the wound to see that she voted against it after I worked with the Obama campaign during the primaries.
Would she have voted that way (or voted at all) if she had won? I honestly can't say. Don't mistake my earlier comment for any belief that she was actually better on the issue -- as I said, it was just extra salt in the wound.
Reid will give the order that the filibuster has to actually take place
My friends on the left would laugh in your face for assuming that Reid actually has the backbone to do that. I kind of agree with them on this -- I'll believe it when I see it.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't talk crap
Don't tell me I'm "talking crap" just because I'm not a fan of Governmental intervention. Every single expansion of Governmental power erodes our freedom and liberty. You may not see this or even agree with the premise but you ought to respect my opinion enough not to dismiss it with two words.
and you don't get stuck in a job you hate because you can't get new health insurance for a disease or illness you have developed.
No, you'll be stuck in a job you hate because you need to pay the rent/mortgage/utility bill/etc. The argument that you can't get "new" health insurance is not an argument to remain at a job you hate. Group coverage plans (i.e: the kind you get from your employer) aren't allowed to exclude pre-existing conditions if you already had coverage.
I hate myself for even knowing this, but Babylon 5 also had an ancient race (or a group of ancient races - the Vorlons and the Shadows) who seeded similar humanoid life throughout the galaxy.
I hate myself even more for knowing this but I don't think they "seeded" the life. They tinkered with it after it had appeared in order to create attributes (telepathy) that were useful.
I love how JMS went to so much trouble to get the science aspect of his show correct (rotating ships, Newtonian physics in maneuvers, etc) and then based a large part of his storyline around something that could only be described as "magic".
My bank is owned by the State, my home is own by the State, my car is owned by the State, my car and home insurance are owned by the State. Now my job can be owned by the State.
Pretty soon they'll own your health care too. If you thought arguing with the insurance company was bad just wait until you get to argue with a bureaucrat instead. At least you can choose to do business with the insurance company......
Well the Vatican has a population of 824 according to the World Factbook. Do they need a bailout?
The point of a stimulus is to take that cash from the people who are currently holding it and use it to try and get those millions of adults productive again.
Fixed that for you.
All you know for sure is that you got them from some shady character on the Internet who's whereabouts you don't know and who is unlikely to ever make business with you again
That's why I get all of my penis enlargement pills from that guy on late night TV ads. TV is a lot more trustworthy than the internet ;)
Everyone knows that the primary difference between almost all intelligent life throughout the universe is forehead appearance
Well, to be fair, JMS did write in some "other" differences for the Centauri at least....
Bonus points to whomever is a big enough geek/fanboy to know what I'm talking about.
Did it explain it for the Babylon 5 universe as well? ;)
So we've solved the theory of everything while I wasn't looking? Awesome! So what is dark energy exactly?
Yes, I'm sure an armed mob of half-trained civilians would have solved columbine SO much better than the police.
Most gun owners wouldn't advocate trying to "solve" problems like Columbine. They would advocate for the victims of an attack such as that to have had the ability to defend themselves. Columbine is a unique situation since most of the victims were underage but imagine if one of the VA Tech victims (or a teacher at Columbine) had been armed and able to defend themselves instead of waiting to be murdered?
"I sent bacteria to mars just to watch it die"
Just don't let PETA find out.
and no realistic hope of ever leaving the Solar System
That's a pretty pessimistic view. Is our knowledge of the universe so complete that you feel safe making that assumption?
Similar DNA could just mean that there is only one way to do DNA that can lead to life.
Is that all most of the aliens in Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, blah, blah, blah all look vaguely humanoid? ;)
That's because sugar pills don't have any side-effects.
Well if you eat enough of them they might make other parts of your body fat but probably not the part that you bought them for ;)
You might be buying the pills to make your penis bigger
Something tells me that the "medication" sold to make your penis bigger probably doesn't come with full disclosure of potential side effects ;)
Funny how Bush "going to bed" didn't seem to affect the people in other places that were hit just as hard, like EVERY county in Mississippi.
Just to be clear, I never claimed it was entirely his fault. Only that he didn't do enough to stop it. The President of the United States of America shouldn't go to bed early and eat cake with fund raisers while Americans suffer and die -- even if that suffering may have been self-inflicted.
Either way though I'm glad I live in New York. Why is it that my state can handle a terrorist attack out of the clear blue sky with professionalism but New Orleans can't even keep their cops from deserting during a natural disaster with days of advance notice?
Hop the border to your North-East then. In Vermont
Actually Vermont is one of the places that I would consider moving to if I ever left New York. New Hampshire is another. Pennsylvania would probably be my third choice.
It's perfectly legal to grab your wallet, get into your truck nude, drive to the store, walk in, buy a gallon of milk, and drive home
Well, I'm assuming the store owner might have a problem with that ;)
I still don't understand why is it not simple
It's not that simple because the Palestinians want the right to return to the homes in Israel proper (not the West Bank or Gaza) that they lost during the various wars that were waged against Israel. This would be a demographic disaster for Israel and the Israelis would never go for it. It would be the equivalent of the United States having to absorb 150,000,000 new people -- people that don't believe in our system of government and with whom we've been at war with for the last 60 years.
If you don't understand why it's not simple then I really suggest you look into the matter more closely before purposing "solutions" that have already been discussed (and rejected) on much higher levels than Slashdot.
She's a hardcore DLC [wikipedia.org]er, working tirelessly to pull the Democratic Party to the right (not to mention her bog-standard low-road campaigning).
Yeah, because Obama has never resorted to "bog-standard low-road" campaigning.
Who should you have voted for instead?
In the Democratic primary? I honestly can't say. I've never liked Hillary as I don't think she's been a particularly effective advocate for my state. Everybody else dropped out before it got to New York. In the general I wound up doing a write-in for Ron Paul, mainly because I couldn't stomach voting for Bob Barr.
but, in the end, was by far the best choice.
Voting for the lessor of two evils is still evil. I doubt you see it that way as you seem to be much further to the left than I am (based on your support for Kucinich and complaints about the DLC) but that's how I feel. Obama is going to erode our civil liberties. The only difference between him and Bush is which civil liberties each one will erode.
Your problem is that the media (and pretty much everybody else) only gives attention to the two main party candidates. The media usually pick the side of one of the two big parties, and certainly the side of the big parties against anyone else. And that means nobody from outside of those two big parties is every going to be elected.
I don't know if I buy that. Ron Paul has gotten quite a bit of mainstream media coverage. Ross Perot certainly generated a lot of media attention back in the day. I think it's more of a "chicken and egg" thing than anything else. The media isn't going to devote a lot of coverage to someone they perceive doesn't have a shot -- but without that media coverage the name recognition that goes along with it most third parties don't stand a chance.
I can guarantee you that the votes would have been reversed had Obama lost the primary contest and Hillary been the nominee.
Probably. Like I said here, I wasn't upset about it because I thought Hillary was any better. It was just extra salt in the wound after Obama's reversal and my own efforts to assist his campaign during the primaries.
His campaign didn't want to be painted as soft on terra or hamstringing intelligence efforts by the Repubs in the general.
So you betray your supporters and reverse an explicit pledge you made because of political considerations? To quote Senator McCain, "That's not change we can believe in"
but I have to believe that he KNOWS that immunity for the teclos is wrong
Then why did he vote for it?
But just you know know, I contributed probably a couple hundred dollars to the Obama campaign - until the FISA vote.
I contributed around $500 and got every single penny of it back.
ACLU's site and saw the headline "Senate passes telco immunity: ACLU sues", and I became a member
I wanted to join the ACLU until I realized they are hypocrites. Civil liberties union my ass.
I voted Barr in the general
I couldn't forgive him for the witch burning episode back in the 90s. I did a write-in for Ron Paul.
I think the telcos were caught in the middle and are mostly spineless. he real culprits are the DOJ, NSA, FBI, and the administration.
I agree. But the whole point of opposing teleco immunity wasn't to punish the telcos -- it was to continue the lawsuits against them so we could use discovery to find out exactly what went on behind the scenes. Now that's not going to happen. And we can thank Mr. Obama for that.
Obama had the most liberal voting record in the US Senate according to just about every metric
See, that I just don't buy. It makes a good soundbite but are you really going to tell me that Obama has a more liberal voting record than the self-described socialist? More liberal than Russ Feingold? These types of soundbites don't really contribute anything to the political discourse and I tend to tune them out.
and got an "F" rating from the NRA. And you, as a gun owner, actually thought he might be on your side?
I wasn't a gun owner until a friend of mine pointed out the hypocrisy in my position of shouting at the top of my lungs (1st amendment) on just about every issue while not bothering to exercise my 2nd amendment rights. My main motivation for getting a gun at this point is to exercise that right (rights not exercised will eventually cease to be rights). This also stuck out in my mind as a pretty compelling argument for gun ownership and reminded me of events in our own country where the police did nothing while innocent people were being murdered.
For what it's worth I'm now a convert to gun rights and will be doing my utmost to speak in favor of this issue and vote it at the ballot box in the future. I'm also going to try and bring some friends into the shooting sports. What else can you do?
I'm quite certain she had not even bothered to show up for votes on the issue on previous occasions and had not taken an anti-immunity provision, so I wouldn't construe that vote as an indicator of any deep conviction either
I don't think Hillary has "deep convictions" about much of anything. I say that as one of her constituents too and someone whom actually voted for her twice (mainly because both Republicans that ran against her were complete idiots). It was just more salt in the wound to see that she voted against it after I worked with the Obama campaign during the primaries.
Would she have voted that way (or voted at all) if she had won? I honestly can't say. Don't mistake my earlier comment for any belief that she was actually better on the issue -- as I said, it was just extra salt in the wound.
Reid will give the order that the filibuster has to actually take place
My friends on the left would laugh in your face for assuming that Reid actually has the backbone to do that. I kind of agree with them on this -- I'll believe it when I see it.