lol the intros lookled like a Monty Python sketch, and wow, for the first time in a while Hitchens didn't look like he just woke up from a 3 day drunk.

The catholic church is irrelevant as a force for anything in the world. It's a banal social club that meets for 30-45 minutes once a week, whose members disregard whatever wisdom they may have heard as soon as they walk out the door.

>> ^entr0py:
but I do distinctly remember being offended and irritated by the pledge, even when no one around me questioned or criticized it.

Same here.

Interesting stuff about the salutes.
As i recall, impassioned rhetoric for "one nation (reich) under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." made up a good portion of Hitler's Nuremberg Rally speech at the end of the "Triumph of the Will" propaganda film.

>> ^Xax:
The App Store is a big reason to go with an iPhone. I've been thinking about getting one sometime in the next few months, but this video has given me pause... I'm not overly familiar with Android phones, and now I'm going to have to look into them before making my decision.


Since the new Motorola Droid from Verizon runs the open source Android OS there are/will be tons of apps.

Maybe someone will eventually come up with a simple sdk so you can create your own.

>> ^quantumushroom:
The first priority of any nation is to defend itself from invaders.


You mean The Invaders ?

dude you been watching too much V.

pfft, old, my first was an acoustic coupled 300 Baud modem like the one in the movie War Games. Ally Sheedy optional.

>> ^shole:
this unconditional worship of police and soldiers just needs to stop

Amen.

Missing appendage or not, you're no HERO just because you got stationed in some 4th world shithole.

The hard truth is, the overwhelming majority of current enlistees are high school dropouts and trailer park losers with no other option besides the military or Home Depot.

we'll try harder next time.

Re: irony and sarcasm - had a similar experience in China, it surprised me that they 'got' ironic and sarcastic jokes. Radically different linguistics but apparently humor is more ancient and universal.

Here's hoping that health care reform will nclude Free Medical Marijuana! Wheee!

About time. Oakland is already prepping for an increase in applications for clubs and San Fran / San Jose likely will follow.

Next Step - as anyone who has dealt weed knows, the quick, simple, easy way to halt the deadly large scale illegal trade is to make it Legal.

Take the profit out of trade and you kill trade.

When people can buy a pack/box/bag/tin of WeedyBits at the local Safeway, no one's going to go to all the trouble of becoming Scarface.

>> ^Lowen:
Chaos Reigns is Fox News' new motto.


Nay nay, Fawks Nooz alignment is Lawful Evil not Chaotic Evil.

Their motto would more likely be along the lines of Italian Fascism's "Credere, Obbedire, Combattere " ("Believe, Obey, Fight")

what he wanted to say was Grab a Mop, Bitch!

He struck a chord. It resonates because it's the Truth.

Wait a couple more years and just as in Vietnam we'll start hearing about the disgusting level of atrocities, the =intentional= murder of innocents, that went on in Iraq.

In Vietnam they were called babykillers for a reason.

This sentiment lies smoldering just beneath the surface among the pissed off exploited minimum wage blue collar working class everywhere in this country. All it will take is a spark, someone with the backbone to Lead, to ignite another 60's style cultural revolution firestorm. Burn baby burn.

What would be apocalyptic (and pretty damn cool) is if these formations appeared
-simultaneously- over all the major cities of the world.

But they didn't.

And 2012 will come and go just like every other year.