So basically, it sounds like the crux of the conservative argument is that they do not see taxation - whose revenue goes towards creating infrastructure and social systems that individuals could not create on their own - as a rudimentary social contract that you enter into as part of being a citizen in a democracy, but rather theft.

In other words, they are saying that buying services from a business is creating wealth, while buying services from the government is being robbed. When stated directly, without straw men, cute kids, purple prose or appeals to emotion, this argument doesn't make much sense.

That said, I find imstellars story very appealing from a narrative perspective. I was really rooting for those industrious young kids in their struggle against the dastardly G-Men down the block. (Trying to pass off WalMart lemonade as if it were the real deal? Who do they think they are anyway? Sheesh!) I'm not sure if he's written the ending yet, but I would suggest having the g-men both fall into a swimming pool late in the third act, or maybe they could get pantsed in front of all the kids at the Camp Grizzly Bear Talent Show? Anyway, real potential here.

Of course, the story is also an imstellar cream dream. The government would never build a lemonade stand, because a) it's not essential, b) there are plenty of others interested in doing it, and c) there is little need for transparency or oversight in the lemonade industry. The government does, however, build schools. (Which is, incidentally, where the kids who opened the lemonade stand first met.)

The teachers at that school helped the kids hone the skills they would need to open their own business. They learned how to work with wood in wood shop; learned how to create the sign in spelling, handwriting and art classes; learned how to do accounting in math and econ; and learned how to communicate with customers by giving speeches in English.

They also didn't have to worry about security because of the military (nationally) and police (locally). In case of a fire, they could call the fire department. If that mean Mr. Smith from down the block crashed his Humvee into their stand, they could even utilize the court system to recoup damages and lost income.

Even the sidewalk their business was built upon on was taken care of, not to mention the roads, crosswalks and traffic systems that helped people easily access the lemonade stand.

Beyond all the great public works that provided so much opportunity, it also just so happened that the neighborhood teachers, firefighters, soldiers, road workers and police officers loved lemonade, and could afford to buy a cup on a sunny afternoon because of their government employment.

Unfortunately, because of all the government intervention, none of this can be considered wealth. You see, a dollar isn't officially wealth until it's stagnating in some billionaire's bank account. Take that dollar and give it to a fireman, and wealth instantly becomes contraband, but as soon as that dollar trickles back up to the top it regains it's 'wealth' status.

Welcome to the First Church of Freemarketology, folks.

PS: I'd love to see imstellar do a sequel where the same kids open up a social security stand.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'humvee, firing, during, military, operation, m2 50 cal, ring mount' to 'humvee, firing, during, military, operation, m2 50 cal, ring mount, machine gun, fail' - edited by kulpims

But - what if the humvee was moving...
I doubt it would be as easy.

It could also have been pulled because:

1. The writing stank ("we've just had a nuclear apocalypse what should we do?" "celebrate halloween! Wheeeee!").
2. The setting was created by people who'd never been out of New York or L.A. (what part of Kansas lets you see the Rocky Mountains? It must be that part that extends West of Denver. And blowing up "the only bridge into town" apparently stops humvees because driving one of them through a corn field to get to town is just undignified).
3. The first two episodes go on and on about radiation, yet they "harvest" a crop that should be lethal.
4. They make no effort to prepare for winter, which should have done us all a favor and frozen the lot of them.
5. When the world ends, you don't care about defending the town, finding resources, etc. Oh, no. You go down to the magic bar of neverending booze and talk about who's cheating on who.

It was the apocalypse by way of the Hallmark channel.

*nsfw lang

To my eye, the vehicle ahead of the cameraman's looks like a humvee with a shielded turret, not anything as substantial as an APC.

>> ^charliem:
They dont look like coalition forces.


Combined US/Iraqi forces patrol.

Funny how politicians cry about violent video games teaching kids how to kill but you don't hear a word about this war similator, with actual replica humvees and assualt rifles. I enjoy the Grand Theft Auto games and all, but at least GTA doesn't hand me a Uzi, a 180 degree view, surround sound and the potential to make what I just played a reality.

hmm ok, you know what war is like? Ok since you do why don't you tell me what its like to level a rifle at someone and pull the trigger then. While you're at it explain what its like to be away from your family for a year or more while constantly wondering if you'll ever see them again at all. How about you also recount your experiences of being blown out of a humvee and loosing a limb or two.

Go back to your daddy's mansion, I'm sure that you're young enough to remember where at least one of them is.

>> ^siftbot:
Adding video to channels (<a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow" href="http://art.videosift.com" style="color: rgb(180, 16, 14);">Art) - requested by Thylan.


And humvees.

MG: The FBI has been very involved in the raids and arrests in St.Paul.

"Deputies coordinated searches with the Minneapolis and St. Paul police departments and the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/08/30/more_raids/?refid=0


here's a woman holding a flower, being peppersprayed in the face by police in riot gear:
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2008/09/01/pepper.mpg


Helicopters, humvees, nat'l guard, FBI, riot-cops, tear gas, beatings. What more do we need to understand that these people don't give one shit about our constitution?

You keep saying "he could have had a valid reason" every time you see the cops abuse their power, and inflict violent rage on people. Why assume this ever again, when proven wrong, time and time again?

As I read elsewhere today:
"In Denver, the police prepared for protests. In St.Paul, the police prepared for the apocalypse"

I read the book, its about marine force recon. They spearheaded the attack of Baghdad.

Their Humvees would break down on a regular basis, in battle.

>> ^tbone8ty:
thats to bad and all but maybe if u guys woke up and stop killing each other maybe we woulndt have to come in and babysit you.


Lol, where are the US forces in assisting with the human lives being lost in:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0904550.html

Algeria
Ivory Coast
Congo
Somalia
Sudan
Uganda

?

The only reason your troops are being sent to die in a foreign country is because of oil. How many barrels of oil do you buy with an exploded Humvee and five young dead US soldiers?

I believe the existence of uniformed armed forces is a terrible necessity that we must endure. I am not particularly glad about this but am realistic in the need for it's existence, humanity will never sing kubaya, hold hands and hit the peace pipe. It's simple psychology that each and every one of you can see in normal life, when you are treating someone with equality and fairness, open your lives to them they often take a great big shit on you. Only in our geopolitical world this usually comes in the form of tanks rolling across borders. This was an example of this, it's sheer expression of arrogance and projection of raw military power.

But its been put into motion by politicians sitting comfortably behind closed doors, in nice comfortable office chairs pushing divisions and plans that start with words like "Operation Iraqi Freedom" and filter down to some young kids on the battlefield, coming from places that sometimes don't have any opportunities, sometimes from a real belief that they are there to do good even though they are told so by their government, sometimes just to see the world, sometimes to earn citizenship, sometimes because they have no direction, sometimes just to see someone die.

Actions shown in this video is a basic reaction to being put into a environment where your friend died yesterday in an IED explosion, you watched a whole humvee torn apart, its engine block landing 50 yards from the wreck, pieces of your troop lying around like debris of blood red confetti, being shot at day by day by an enemy you never see. Command never being able to give you proper operable intelligence. Your training meaning little because basic covers fighting a uniformed aggressor not asymmetrically warfare against a guerrilla force in urban combat environs. Frustrated that what you are doing day by day means little, your people die and it gets worse and not better. Wondering if all the lives lost are essentially wasted on a mission that was idiotic to begin with.

This is why I find it hard to hold the troops accountable. Because it's not their fault they are there, its not their fault that they are not trained as a UN peace keeping force, a police force, a counter insurgency force. Its not their fault they were never given or taught proper cultural sensitivity training.

It's the fault of the people in power, not just the president, but the Generals, the Joint Chiefs, The Pentagon, and essentially the whole intelligentsia of America that simply let this catastrophe happen. There hundreds of thousands of educated professional Americans that willingly kept silent. Unable to criticize their own governments action. Its the fault of all who pushed this war through the most basic emotion humanity has. Fear.

What is really sad it that it's not the first time and it wouldn't be the last I believe.

I guess after 35 years, the effects of war do eventually wear off. I say we put him in a Humvee in Iraq for 6 months to refresh his memory. Ass.

^That last edit was for your American audience, Feddy. We call it "defenSe". You gotta start speaking American, dude.
__________________________

Ms. Kelly raises some excellent points: Those of us Obama supporters (including me) MUST let him know that we have to draw down the influence of the military-industrial complex, starting with cutting defense spending. I'm not talking about short-changing pay for troops or veteran benefits either. In fact those need to be raised. But we need to cut back on the damn hardware. How many SSBNs (subs that launch nuclear missiles) do we REALLY need? How many ICBMs do we REALLY need? How many long-range bombers do we need? And so on.

I'll tell you that our troops DO need decent body armor. They also need decent up-armored Humvees. And when they get out of the military, they DO need adequate health care. Fuck the hardware, it's humans that matter.