@heropsycho ahh, but you do need to be careful with the whole "enumerated powers" malarkey. After all, there's nothing in Article I, Section 8 about Congress being able to create an Air Force -- just an Army and a Navy. The Air Force is unconstitutional.

Also too, it doesn't say the government is allowed to build roads, just "Post roads" for the post office's use! Don't even get us started on things like power lines or telephone cable.

According to the likes of Ron Paul, the Constitution isn't open to even a little bit of reinterpretation, but instead that it's a straightjacket that should constrain the Federal government from doing anything that isn't explicitly listed in Section 8.

Hell, he's even implied that since the Constitution uses the verb "coin" to describe Congress's authority to create money, that paper currency (backed by gold or otherwise) is also unconstitutional.

IMO, I'd be fine with that interpretation, as long as people stopped pretending that the constitution was some holy scripture filled with infinite wisdom passed down to us by messiahs. We should be rewriting and re-ratifying the Constitution to fit with our modern ideals of how things should function.

For example, there should be something in the constitution about the nexus of money and politics, but there isn't.

There should be something more about the legal definition of "people" -- do fetuses or corporations count?

There should be something in there about the Air Force, and the Marines too, for good measure.

Do we have a right to privacy, or don't we?

Right now we mostly let the Supreme Court decide these things by letting them "interpret" a 200 year-old document based on their supposed ability to divine the mental state of the long-dead authors of the sections they feel are relevant.

Why shouldn't those questions be put to a vote?

It's like when they put the telephone landline headset up to their ear (or drape it over their shoulder) and start babbling away. My brother's 2 year old used to do that, it was adorable.

>> ^hpqp:

I wholly agree that I detest these once atheists that have literally taken what is normally a balanced "naught" position as to God(s) existence barring evidence and instead these anti-theists ditch that stance and deem that not only is all religion a wash, but any God is as well. They're very "militant" in nature and seem to draw in those that are less secure about their own opinions; kind of like the Westboro Baptists. Unfortunately, they are also very pro-active, boisterous, and vitriolic in nature--worse of all they call themselves atheists still, giving the rest of us a bad rap.
Care to give some examples?



This is from our dear atheist, Christopher Hitchins. (I was fairly sure Hitchins was like this, but i couldn't remember specific points like you said; well i found a much better source for the matter: a small letter by him over this exact matter).

Christopher Hitchins little note (this drew some fire too it looks like when it came out):

------
You seem to have guessed, from some remarks I have already made in passing, that I am not a religious believer. In order to be absolutely honest, I should not leave you with the impression that I am part of the generalized agnosticism of our culture. I'm not even an atheist so much as I am an antitheist; I not only maintain that all religions are versions of the same untruth, but I hold that the influence of churches, and the effect of religious belief, is positively harmful. Reviewing the false claims of religion I do not wish, as some sentimental agnostics affect to wish, that they were true. I do not envy believers their faith. I am relieved to think that the whole story is a sinister fairy tale; life would be miserable if what the faithful affirmed was actually the case.

Why do I say that? Well, there may be people who wish to live their lives under a cradle-to-grave divine supervision; a permanent surveillance and [around the clock] monitoring [a celestial North Korea]. But I cannot [personally] imagine anything more horrible or grotesque. It would be worse, in a way, if the supervision was benign...

I think that this conviction does bear on the mental and moral resources that are necessary if one hopes to live [on the contrary, if one hopes to live in dissent or if one hopes to live] "as if" one were free. In a much-quoted reflection on America's original sin [of slavery], Thomas Jefferson said, "I tremble for my country when I remember that god is just." However, if there really was a god and he really was just, then there would be little enough for believers to tremble about; it would be a consolation that infinitely outweighed any imaginable earthly care.

I have met many brave men and women, morally superior to myself, whose courage in adversity derives from their faith. But whenever they have chosen to speak or write about it, I find myself appalled by the instant decline of their intellectual and moral standards. They want god on their side and they believe they are doing his work - what is this, even at it's very best, but an extreme form of solipsism? [In other words "don't mind me I'm just doing god's work, I'm very modest." A poor syllogism, or a very humble humility, is defined by them.] They proceed from conclusion to evidence; our greatest resource is the mind, and the mind is not well-trained by being taught to assume what has to be proved.

This arrogance and illogic is inseparable even from the meekest and most altruistic religious affirmations. A true believer must believe that he or she is here for a purpose and is an object of real interest to a Supreme Being; he or she must also claim to have at least an inkling of what that Supreme Being desires. I have been called arrogant myself in my time, and hope to earn the title again, but to claim that I am privy to the secrets of the universe and its creator - that's beyond my conceit. I therefore have no choice but to find something suspect even in the humblest believer, let alone in the great law-givers and edict-makers of whose "flock" (and what a revealing word that is) they form a part.
------------------------
It might sound provincial and (oh dear) Eurocentric to say this, but not even those of us who had taken the gloomiest view of the arms race and the Cold War had ever expected to see a full-dress reprise, in Europe, of internment camps, the mass murder of civilians, the reinstitution of torture and rape and deportation as acts of policy. This was the sort of thing we had read about from six decades before; some of us (including myself) had met and got to know some survivors of that period. And of course, in a recess of our minds we had played the imaginary game: what would I do about the knock on the door; how would I react if the neighbors were being marched off to the station?

That tired analogy turned out to be uncomfortably useful, because when all this ghastliness did get under way again, the political class in Europe and America behaved for the most part with the same wretched combination of complacency and complicity that it had exhibited when Fascism first came to call.
------

Here is one example. I do know that there are also a few more writers out there that are self-described, some not, ant-theists. Hopefully, this is the exact kind of thing you are looking for @hpqp . I'm just not terribly sure their ferocity over this right now is the right call. But, as I point out it certainly SHOULD be expected as many people in religion have done nothing, but callously call these once only atheists the living devil, the worst people alive, plus every demonic curse that can be called upon a person. Then they went further and threatened them with bodily harm; from individual members to actual leaders amongst these communities. Your house is vandalized and disgraced, your telephones ring non-stop to the rhythm of a religious battle hymn. These are things you wouldn't expect from good natured, Christ loving, religious people. I'm sure @shinyblurry will make sure it's known that these people are not Christians (and I would agree to an extent)--the problem with using this to literally sweep the whole problem under the carpet is that there is NO lesson learned. No one is harassed by the police as they should be or the media--it becomes a living nightmare to fight these people. Soon all you have left is to move out of town. But, in Christopher Hitchins example he is simply too famous to escape this.

Some forms of communication.

Mail - Been around forever. People used to work on handwriting skills because having someone else being able to read what you wrote was considered a good thing. Nothing said F you like a Dear john letter. "Dear John, By the time you get this I will have slept with half your friends and everyone on main street". A tree Died for your words.

Telegram - Defunct - Faster over long distance. Everyone in the telegraph office got to read it before you did. Thanks to "charge per word" What had to be said was condensed. "Dear John. stop. By the time you read this i will have slept with someone in the telegraph office. Stop." The word "Stop" becomes a punch line. A tree still died for your words.

Telephone - Much Faster- Now you could speak to someone across the street with out having to step outside. Dear john letters still used but now the option to call it off could be done instantly. "Hello John, The guy you hear making all the noise is Mark." A tree still died. They had to hang the wire somewhere.

Email - Slower than the phone but could be less personable. Now you could send Video and picture along with the email. Dear john email become popular with added HD video or pictures. "Hey john, Let me introduce you to the starting line for the Denver Broncos. If you had read some of the spam I forwarded to you. This could of been avoided." The guy in IT has already posted the video online.


meh

Drive boy dog boy
Dirty numb angel boy
In the doorway boy
She was a-lipstick boy
She was a-beautiful boy
And tears boy
And all in your inner space boy
You had hands girls boy
And steel boy
You had chemicals boy
I've grown so close to you boy
And you just groan boy
She said come over come over
She smiled at you boy
[repeat]

Let your feelings slip boy
But never your mask boy
Random blonde boy
High density random
blonde boy
Blonde country
Blonde high density
You are my drug boy
You're real boy
Dog dirty dumb cracking boy
You're getting wet boy
Big big time boy
Acid bears boy
Babes and babes
And babes and babes
and babes
And remembering nothing boy
Do you like my tin horn boy
It gets wet like at Angel
derailed

You got a velvet mouth
You're so succelent and beautiful
Shimmering and dirty
Wonderful and hot time
On your telephone line
And God and everything
On your telephone
And in walks an angel

Look at me mum
Squatting pissed in the tube hole
At Tottenham Court Road
I just come out of the Ship
Talking to the most blonde
I ever met
Shouting lager lager lager lager
Shouting lager lager lager lager
Shouting lager lager lager lager
Shouting lager lager lager
Shouting mega mega
White thing
Mega mega white thing
Mega mega white thing
Mega mega
Shouting lager lager lager lager
Mega mega white thing
Mega mega white thing
So many things to see and do
in the tube hole
The blonde going back
to Romford
Mega mega mega going back
to Romford
Hi mum are you having fun
On your way
To a new age tension headache

This guy poses as various characters, most famously a pimp and a telephone repairman, in order to try and get embarrassing footage of liberals. He's kind of a conservative Sasha Baron Cohen minus brains, talent and success. In this ruse, he was posing as a journalism student to try and get some professor in trouble. His cover was blown and the school official refused to condemn the professor in question. >> ^bareboards2:

Not sure how he was "foiled".

This is like a big game of telephone where everyone hears the message perfectly.

*gay

I dunno, I kinda feel bad that people are making fun of them. Sure, it may be obvious to listen for cars, look for telephone poles etc but I dont know the lay of the land and just how obvious it could have been from their perspective. She was obviously panicking and once a person begins panicking well a person can lose all sense including common sense as the situation feels to them like it spirals out of control. She could be claustrophobic, she might have a severe anxiety disorder... plus add in a youngin and looming darkness for extra concern.

Of course I LOVE feeling lost, especially in a maze, especially peaking on mushrooms.... and boy, even if I dont take mushrooms in a maze or on a crazy hike... I get lost all of the time. Its like my mind is always trying to enable me to get lost by forgetting landmarks, directions, distance on purpose; which is usually pretty AOK by me.

Sometimes it sucks if youre hiking with someone and they get too far ahead and you start thinking to yourself that they took the wrong path... and then you think youre taking the wrong path and then the only way to find out is just to keep on going and you just hope that other person is OK... and then you meet up and you both were on the right trail, and its all good.

I'm male, and I never once even implied otherwise..so I am not sure why anyone would say I told them that. It sounds like they were playing telephone.

>> ^Boise_Lib:
>> ^shinyblurry:
At your service..
>> ^Boise_Lib:
shinyblurry
I'll take you off ignore for this posting.
I have a couple of questions for you.


Thanks,
Are you male, or female?
I guess this could be considered to be trying to get personal information about a user--which is not permitted here. But, I'm confused so I thought I would ask you personally.
I've heard some say that you have said that you are female. And I've heard from others that you have said you are male. So, if you don't mind, which is it?

I don't think it's called "telephone"; I think it's called "Google Voice".

Tags for this video have been changed from 'youtube, closed captions, transcribe, rhettandlink' to 'youtube, closed captions, transcribe, rhettandlink, voice to text, telephone' - edited by xxovercastxx

>> ^RhesusMonk:

True story:
Halloween tenth grade, I'm walking out of my house as Bob Marley. Torn jeans, ratty t-shirt, seventy dollar wig of dreads (it was the wig that made the costume, it was kinda perfect), and of course black face cuz I'm from NYC and who could possibly think a smart liberal kid is racist? My mother chases me down with a telephone, stumbling with the cord all wrapped around her, yelling at me to talk to her friend. I take the phone and her Panamanian best friend screams at me to STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!, like I'm about to walk in front of a train or something. Long story (and there was a very long convo about the irony and political statement of the whole thing) I washed my face.


Pussy.

True story:

Halloween tenth grade, I'm walking out of my house as Bob Marley. Torn jeans, ratty t-shirt, seventy dollar wig of dreads (it was the wig that made the costume, it was kinda perfect), and of course black face cuz I'm from NYC and who could possibly think a smart liberal kid is racist? My mother chases me down with a telephone, stumbling with the cord all wrapped around her, yelling at me to talk to her friend. I take the phone and her Panamanian best friend screams at me to STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!, like I'm about to walk in front of a train or something. Long story (and there was a very long convo about the irony and political statement of the whole thing) I washed my face.

Yup

1. Kerpal 27 up, 2 down

Kerpal is a fictional character named in a famous prank call (often attributed to the Jerky boys).

The man in the prank call identifies himself as Kerpal and seems to be of ambiguous South Asian descent. A man known as Akhtar (the correct Pakistani name) answers the telephone. Kerpal then alleges that Akhtar's older daughter kicked his dog. After minutes of confusion it is revealed that the daughter knows nothing about kicking Kerpal's dog, let alone who Kerpal is. The call eventually degrades into a shouting match with Kerpal shouting obscenities to no-end.

At least three different Flash animations have been created to visualize this call. The simplest one, thought to be the original and generally most liked, was created by Adam Letalik and published by FlatPlanet.org in late 1999.

I believe, sir, that's a centre right opinion. Welcome to the fold!>> ^MilkmanDan:

I remember hearing about the breakup of the Bell telephone monopoly into the various "baby Bells" back when I was a kid, but I didn't really clue in to what was going on at the time. Now, it seems like we've got an anti-competitive telecom industry that can't be much better than it was back then, but more importantly absolutely everything is a subsidiary of one of 2-3 giant megacorporations that have their claws into everything.
I tend to think that a free market and low regulation is a good thing, but it seems like a little more regulation of these monopolies and some forced separation of the megacorps into pieces that have to stand and compete within their own sector (telecom, IT, press, etc. instead of giant ball-o-everything) on their own two feet would have to be better for everyone. Well, everyone except for the CEOs at the core of each ball, I guess.