I was using "we" as a collective term for humanity. If you want local meat, and are willing to pay a premium - awesome. That's the beauty of the free market.
No, I mean the 80% that are. It would be cost prohibitive to put each cow in it's own pen, when you could just as easily put them all in a big pen, with a feed trough down one side.
That's true only of veal. For most cattle, they live in an open area, with many other cattle - granted, when you take the area and divide by the number of cattle, each cow may indeed end up with 2 m^2, but you're forgetting something -- cattle are herd animals. Even open grazing, they will typically stand as close together as possible and still eat fresh grass.
Feed lots and the like suck, don't get me wrong - but it is the willing price we pay for meat. I've been to large feedlots - I've worked in a small processing facility. I've hunted, dressed my own game, and been a part of the entire process, from feedlot or field to the table. I still eat meat. I fucking love meat.
Animals die to predation all the time in the wild - that is far, far more stressful and violent than standing in a line and getting a piston gun through the head. While standing in a muddy pen mooing all day must be awfully boring, I would wager that it is probably preferable (if a cow was smart enough to have a preference) to wandering around constantly in search of food.
We are human beings, the very pinnacle of the food chain. Cows are animals, below us, and damned tasty. It is right and natural that we should raise them, slaughter them, and eat them. If you feel it is barbaric, then don't partake - but please don't try and make it out to be some moral outrage, because it isn't.
As for the "big corporations" - show me the ones using slave labor, and I'll stop buying from them. If you mean sweatshops and child labor in the third world - you don't know what you're talking about, and if your ilk were ever successful in stopping it, the death of countless people would be on your hands.
It has been my experience that most people are scared to death of being responsible for their own wellbeing, and would gladly exchange anything and everything of value to be relieved of that responsibility.
That is correct, but the precedent has been applied in much wider circumstances. The wheat case was Wickard v. Filburn. Go check out Gonzales v. Raich, where the Supreme Court decided that another plant grown for personal consumption may be regulated, even though a legal interstate market did not exist.
While I agree that this is a sad way to live, as you said - the alternatives are crime or starvation. I truly don't understand why people blame employers for the conditions in places like this. While there is really no excuse for piss-poor management, the cheaper the employer can get the product made, the better.
St. Louis is notorious for ignoring the law, so it wouldn't surprise me if they're issuing arrest warrants illegally.
Missouri passed a law a couple of years ago allowing citizens to carry a handgun in their vehicle, along with a statewide ban on municipalities and counties from enacting stricter laws. St. Louis ignored the law, and there were several arrests made and firearms confiscated, even though there was no law prohibiting them.
I don't know how that turned out, actually, I just made a note to never tell an officer in STL if I have a handgun on me.
Try removing me from my vehicle in traffic, and you'll end up with a car parked on top of you. If somehow you succeed, you'll likely be on the receiving end of 8.45 Golden Sabres.
Either way, I'm not going to be the one who has trouble walking away.
They recently installed a couple of roundabouts in Branson, Missouri --- I will occassionally sit near the intersection while waiting on my wife to finish shopping, just to watch the idiots try to figure out how they work:)
I also get yelled at all the time for entering the roundabout at speed, or for exiting from the inner lane. It's not that difficult, but people are morons.
I've always driven like this, but assumed it was illegal - but I think you're right. The law speaks of "entering" an intersection on red, not passing through it.
Although, with that logic, you could probably be cited for blocking an intersection.
As a once-full-time-web-developer, I dropped XHTML in 2006. I went back to HTML 4.01, which was generally well supported, and stayed there. The rest of the web development world caught up a couple of years later.
Agreed. It was two days after I watched the video before I happened to visit Fox and see it. I make my opinion based upon fact and logic, not what someone feeds me.
I'm probably on the other side of the fence on this - I support the actions of the troops in the helicopter and on the ground, and think they made the correct decision given what they knew - and I'll agree with that. Knowledge is always better than ignorance.
No, there were Ron Paul "tea parties" in my area back to 2007. The national-level event was a fundraising thing, but many locations had small gatherings. I attended one at a local business on December 16, 2007 - it was very small, but it was the same core group of people that I see today at the "tea parties".
Surely it has gotten bigger, and yes, the principles have changed somewhat, but from my local perspective, today's tea party is simply an evolution of this event.
No, it isn't okay. Willfully poisoning people is murder, last I checked - or at least negligent homicide. Both of those things are violence between parties, and fall well within the bounds of government. It isn't good for business, either.
Now, to split hairs, if a company sold a product called "Poisoned scrambled eggs", and you bought it and ate it... well, neither you nor your heirs have much standing to be upset about.
I would argue against the government creation of roads from a philosophical standpoint, yes. I don't know if that is a workable system, though - I would certainly advocate trying it on a smaller scale before doing away with how we do things now.
I recognize there is a difference between theory and practice, and there is a place for that rational discourse. Roads are probably the best example of that that I can think of, actually.
Where I start to get really steamed up about this, though, is when our government clearly oversteps not only what I perceive to be its moral bounds, but also its own legal bounds.
When there is no Constitutional authority to undertake an action and the federal government does it anyhow, the moral argument need never come into play - if the authority isn't there, it isn't there. When the government ceases to exist under the rules in which it was chartered, and instead begins to act as an entity outside the populace, with goals and designs of its own - is that not tyranny?
So, by your definition, the recent healthcare bill that was signed into law is socialist? After all, it explicitly forbids US citizens from "taking their ball and going home," by mandating that an individual purchase coverage.
As for control vs. ownership, most dictionaries will define ownership as being comprised of two components: legal ownership, and sole control. The term "ownership" is being redefined, but not in teh way you proposed.
Exactly. Admitting to having nuclear weapons would force the hand of Israel's allies to either break treaties, or stop providing military and economic aid.
Therefore, Israel's possession of nuclear weapons is an open secret. "Don't ask, don't tell" on a national scale.
My beliefs didn't change with 9/11. 9/11 pissed me off for a while, but it wasn't really a pivotal moment in my life - certainly not the basis of an ongoing fear.
As for "molon labe"- that has nothing to do with the Spartans' sexual preference, which I am well aware of. It has everything to do with the Spartans' (and their compatriots') dedication to their families and willingness to stand and defend their home. They would not kneel (figuratively) before Xerxes to save themselves, but preferred to die valiantly to give the other time to assemble an army. A few thousand years later, it was termed differently: "Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees" - the Spartans' had a different view of what made a man a man, but the dedication and courage it took to stand strong at Thermopylae is surely something to be admired.
I find it ironic that my political opposition tries to frame me as homophobic and ignorant, but as soon as they are faced with philosophical opposition they immediately fall back to ad hominem attacks and gay-bashing. Very fucking enlightened.
I disagree. "massive government regulation" is incompatible with Capitalism. While the means of production may nominally be owned by non-state entities, if the states *controls* them - via massive regulation - then it is not capitalism, it is socialism.
I know exactly what I'm talking about. In short, capitalism is the private ownership of the means of production. Socialism is state ownership of the means of production.
To be unequivocal about it, I am an unashamed proponent of Laissiez-Faire Capitalism. No "regulation" is acceptable to me, because all regulation uses the negative power of government to restrain at least one party - and that is immoral.
Government's only moral role is to prevent the use and threat of violence between parties. Period.
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So sad, but so try. Why did this have to be posted as an AC?
I was using "we" as a collective term for humanity. If you want local meat, and are willing to pay a premium - awesome. That's the beauty of the free market.
No, I mean the 80% that are. It would be cost prohibitive to put each cow in it's own pen, when you could just as easily put them all in a big pen, with a feed trough down one side.
That's true only of veal. For most cattle, they live in an open area, with many other cattle - granted, when you take the area and divide by the number of cattle, each cow may indeed end up with 2 m^2, but you're forgetting something -- cattle are herd animals. Even open grazing, they will typically stand as close together as possible and still eat fresh grass.
Feed lots and the like suck, don't get me wrong - but it is the willing price we pay for meat. I've been to large feedlots - I've worked in a small processing facility. I've hunted, dressed my own game, and been a part of the entire process, from feedlot or field to the table. I still eat meat. I fucking love meat.
Animals die to predation all the time in the wild - that is far, far more stressful and violent than standing in a line and getting a piston gun through the head. While standing in a muddy pen mooing all day must be awfully boring, I would wager that it is probably preferable (if a cow was smart enough to have a preference) to wandering around constantly in search of food.
We are human beings, the very pinnacle of the food chain. Cows are animals, below us, and damned tasty. It is right and natural that we should raise them, slaughter them, and eat them. If you feel it is barbaric, then don't partake - but please don't try and make it out to be some moral outrage, because it isn't.
As for the "big corporations" - show me the ones using slave labor, and I'll stop buying from them. If you mean sweatshops and child labor in the third world - you don't know what you're talking about, and if your ilk were ever successful in stopping it, the death of countless people would be on your hands.
It has been my experience that most people are scared to death of being responsible for their own wellbeing, and would gladly exchange anything and everything of value to be relieved of that responsibility.
That is correct, but the precedent has been applied in much wider circumstances. The wheat case was Wickard v. Filburn. Go check out Gonzales v. Raich, where the Supreme Court decided that another plant grown for personal consumption may be regulated, even though a legal interstate market did not exist.
While I agree that this is a sad way to live, as you said - the alternatives are crime or starvation. I truly don't understand why people blame employers for the conditions in places like this. While there is really no excuse for piss-poor management, the cheaper the employer can get the product made, the better.
St. Louis is notorious for ignoring the law, so it wouldn't surprise me if they're issuing arrest warrants illegally.
Missouri passed a law a couple of years ago allowing citizens to carry a handgun in their vehicle, along with a statewide ban on municipalities and counties from enacting stricter laws. St. Louis ignored the law, and there were several arrests made and firearms confiscated, even though there was no law prohibiting them.
I don't know how that turned out, actually, I just made a note to never tell an officer in STL if I have a handgun on me.
Good luck with that.
Try removing me from my vehicle in traffic, and you'll end up with a car parked on top of you. If somehow you succeed, you'll likely be on the receiving end of 8 .45 Golden Sabres.
Either way, I'm not going to be the one who has trouble walking away.
They recently installed a couple of roundabouts in Branson, Missouri --- I will occassionally sit near the intersection while waiting on my wife to finish shopping, just to watch the idiots try to figure out how they work :)
I also get yelled at all the time for entering the roundabout at speed, or for exiting from the inner lane. It's not that difficult, but people are morons.
I've always driven like this, but assumed it was illegal - but I think you're right. The law speaks of "entering" an intersection on red, not passing through it.
Although, with that logic, you could probably be cited for blocking an intersection.
As a once-full-time-web-developer, I dropped XHTML in 2006. I went back to HTML 4.01, which was generally well supported, and stayed there. The rest of the web development world caught up a couple of years later.
What does XHTML2 offer that HTML5 doesn't?
Cheney was Chairman and CEO of Halliburton. McLaughlin was a lobbyist - his entire job was to interact with government on behalf of Google.
Do you not see the difference?
Agreed. It was two days after I watched the video before I happened to visit Fox and see it. I make my opinion based upon fact and logic, not what someone feeds me.
I'm probably on the other side of the fence on this - I support the actions of the troops in the helicopter and on the ground, and think they made the correct decision given what they knew - and I'll agree with that. Knowledge is always better than ignorance.
No, there were Ron Paul "tea parties" in my area back to 2007. The national-level event was a fundraising thing, but many locations had small gatherings. I attended one at a local business on December 16, 2007 - it was very small, but it was the same core group of people that I see today at the "tea parties".
Here's a Daily KOS article on the 2007 event: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/11/24/164246/85
Surely it has gotten bigger, and yes, the principles have changed somewhat, but from my local perspective, today's tea party is simply an evolution of this event.
No, it isn't okay. Willfully poisoning people is murder, last I checked - or at least negligent homicide. Both of those things are violence between parties, and fall well within the bounds of government. It isn't good for business, either.
Now, to split hairs, if a company sold a product called "Poisoned scrambled eggs", and you bought it and ate it... well, neither you nor your heirs have much standing to be upset about.
I would argue against the government creation of roads from a philosophical standpoint, yes. I don't know if that is a workable system, though - I would certainly advocate trying it on a smaller scale before doing away with how we do things now.
I recognize there is a difference between theory and practice, and there is a place for that rational discourse. Roads are probably the best example of that that I can think of, actually.
Where I start to get really steamed up about this, though, is when our government clearly oversteps not only what I perceive to be its moral bounds, but also its own legal bounds.
When there is no Constitutional authority to undertake an action and the federal government does it anyhow, the moral argument need never come into play - if the authority isn't there, it isn't there. When the government ceases to exist under the rules in which it was chartered, and instead begins to act as an entity outside the populace, with goals and designs of its own - is that not tyranny?
So, by your definition, the recent healthcare bill that was signed into law is socialist? After all, it explicitly forbids US citizens from "taking their ball and going home," by mandating that an individual purchase coverage.
As for control vs. ownership, most dictionaries will define ownership as being comprised of two components: legal ownership, and sole control. The term "ownership" is being redefined, but not in teh way you proposed.
Exactly. Admitting to having nuclear weapons would force the hand of Israel's allies to either break treaties, or stop providing military and economic aid.
Therefore, Israel's possession of nuclear weapons is an open secret. "Don't ask, don't tell" on a national scale.
My beliefs didn't change with 9/11. 9/11 pissed me off for a while, but it wasn't really a pivotal moment in my life - certainly not the basis of an ongoing fear.
As for "molon labe"- that has nothing to do with the Spartans' sexual preference, which I am well aware of. It has everything to do with the Spartans' (and their compatriots') dedication to their families and willingness to stand and defend their home. They would not kneel (figuratively) before Xerxes to save themselves, but preferred to die valiantly to give the other time to assemble an army. A few thousand years later, it was termed differently: "Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees" - the Spartans' had a different view of what made a man a man, but the dedication and courage it took to stand strong at Thermopylae is surely something to be admired.
I find it ironic that my political opposition tries to frame me as homophobic and ignorant, but as soon as they are faced with philosophical opposition they immediately fall back to ad hominem attacks and gay-bashing. Very fucking enlightened.
Odds are you and I will never be able to get enough votes to be able to have an influence on things...
I disagree. "massive government regulation" is incompatible with Capitalism. While the means of production may nominally be owned by non-state entities, if the states *controls* them - via massive regulation - then it is not capitalism, it is socialism.
I know exactly what I'm talking about. In short, capitalism is the private ownership of the means of production. Socialism is state ownership of the means of production.
To be unequivocal about it, I am an unashamed proponent of Laissiez-Faire Capitalism. No "regulation" is acceptable to me, because all regulation uses the negative power of government to restrain at least one party - and that is immoral.
Government's only moral role is to prevent the use and threat of violence between parties. Period.
Yes, and the proportion is evidently rising. 53% voted for Obama.