@chingalera

I'm impressed with your ability to craft an elegant response when you choose to. However, many of your arguments can be cast on yourself in the exact same way. From your argument that, 'it depends on your experience,' perhaps you live in an armpit down in texas where all the police treat everyone terribly, and you can certainly go online and find examples from all over the world which self-support your idea that all law enforcement is bad. However, I have lived in a college town area in the midwest all of my life, and I have found the local law enforcement to be extremely helpful and amicable. Most of my friends are not white, and I do hear an occasional bad story, though on the whole, we have far more good stories than bad.

We indeed have our own constructs, but your assessment that 'all law enforcement is corrupt' is an example of everything you hate about law enforcement which you exhibit yourself. When I first read your statement, '...profiling, unprovoked aggression, and general douche-baggery from the hind-brained, alpha-or-wannabe-alpha victims of abuse and racism...' I was legitimately confused about whether you were talking about those in law enforcement or not. Consider your opening statement, 'up voted for all the times I have personally told cops to go fuck themselves. Some reacted as expected or were otherwise prone without my attitude, and the others took it very well....and those that did not, simply, dicks,' You seem to be exhibiting all of the behaviors that you personally detest, and seem to be describing it as a social experiment. You don't have to stretch the imagination too far to see why people are thinking of you as 'whiny' or 'not a good person.' Unless your goal is to troll for responses so that you can blow off your canon about law enforcement corruption, don't be surprised when people continue to think lowly of you.

I'm in the midwest we've had a mild winter so far and we're in the 40s and it's damned nice out as far as we're concerned.

These guys would probably faint if I told them about some of my zero degree long runs training for the half marathonn with an icicle eyebrows and everything

shinyblurry, no, that is not "basically" what I am saying. But there is no need to go on with this.

Thank you for a non-inflammatory exchange, however much we did not change each others position.

FYI -- the "death panels" are nothing more than an advanced health directive. Everyone should have an advanced health directive -- I have one that I signed when I created my will. Medicare was going to pay for patients to sit with their care providers, BEFORE they got sick, and go through the choices offered by a standard, normal, common sense advanced health directive. Do you want a feeding tube? What extraordinary measures do you want taken on your behalf if you are unable to make decisions?

A hospital in the Midwest made it their policy for all patients to have one and the benefits that I mentioned were dccumented there over time. The most telling was the peace of mind of the family -- that they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that these were the wishes of their aged parents, because the questions were asked BEFORE they got so sick they couldn't answer.

Medicare was going to include the consultation as a reimbursable expense under Medicare, rather than do it for free and not get paid for providing good care.

If that sounds like good common sense to you, you might ask yourself why you didn't know these very simple facts about "death panels" when they were in the news so much. Who labelled the process with such an inflammatory phrase? What was gained from that phrase?

And how much heartache, worry, and the coin of the realm has been wasted because these simple facts weren't shared with you from your news source?

And yes, the idea of "death panels" was first put forward by some Republicans. None of whom defended it when other Republicans threw it under the bus for political points.

I live in a smallish town in the midwest; there is a community orchestra and a generally 'old-person' community band that play outdoors a few times each year. Also community theater. Also an inexpensive 'artist work space' thats really a big warehouse that a guy rents out sections of for people to work on, view and collaborate in art projects. Also... well, a lot more.

When I first got here I needed not only to find people and pay attention to postings about these things, but also to appreciate that these things are actually fun, and the quirkiness and unprofessional-ness of much of it can actually be charming when there is no pretentiousness.

>> ^Payback:

Why does neat stuff like this only happen in foreign countries?
I mean, other than them all being arrested for disturbing the peace or street performing without a permit.

ALEC is the nationwide conservative organization behind almost every single nationally-infamous state law since 2010. Arizona's SB1070? Check. All those anti-union bills that popped up in the midwest? Check. Personhood amendments? Check. Forced ultrasound bills? Check. Now it appears they're behind "Stand Your Ground" too.

But basically, remember how all this stuff seemed to be popping up literally everywhere the GOP took control of the state-level government in 2010? Turns out that wasn't a coincidence, it was (as the saying goes) enemy action.
>> ^Yogi:

Interesting I've never heard of ALEC...sounds like they need a bit more publicity. From a serious source instead of a talking cartoon gun.

I grew up and am living again in the deep south, and even here (where "coon" was first used as a racial slur) it would probably be considered old-timey. I definitely heard it when I was a kid, but I doubt I've heard the word used in anything but a facetious manner in 20+ years.
>> ^direpickle:

>> ^Boise_Lib:
>> ^direpickle:
I have trouble imagining an under-30 Hispanic-man using that word. Isn't it kind of... really really outdated?

No.

Admittedly I live in the Midwest, and there's going to be a lot of regional variation in the pejoratives of choice, but I've never heard anyone born in the second half of the 20th century use that word.
Edit: Okay, that's an exaggeration, and I really mean people being born after like... 1960 or so. But still. The Oldentimes called, Mr. Zimmerman. They want their word back.

>> ^Boise_Lib:

>> ^direpickle:
I have trouble imagining an under-30 Hispanic-man using that word. Isn't it kind of... really really outdated?

No.


Admittedly I live in the Midwest, and there's going to be a lot of regional variation in the pejoratives of choice, but I've *never* heard anyone born in the second half of the 20th century use that word.

Edit: Okay, that's an exaggeration, and I really mean people being born after like... 1960 or so. But still. The Oldentimes called, Mr. Zimmerman. They want their word back.

That's not racism. That's pointing out cultural differences between countries. You don't honestly believe American culture is the same as Irish or German culture, do you?

With that said, I don't like his analysis. He points to the idea of the Euro not being able to work because various European countries have different cultures. OK, and different geographic sections of the United States have the same culture?! We don't. Culture is different between the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Northwest, and Southwest. I just think that's horsecrap.

>> Let's start a *quality discussion.

How about this guy is a dingleberry, and his superior intellect will lead him to vote for that hagfish from the midwest..

I like how they include the cover from Skillet - a Christian band.

Skillet appeared at the 2009 Night of Joy Christian Rock festival and Skillet headlined two separate Rock the River tours, run by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and hosted by Franklin Graham. Those tours were Rock the River: Midwest in the summer of 2009 and Rock the River: West in the summer of 2010.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'in the midwest, skillz, tao' to 'midwest, skillz, tao, chris de burgh, Lady in red, Canoe freestyle, canoe' - edited by BoneRemake

Thank you for summing up my feeling on the argument that has erupted here. For him to have a trial he would have had to surrendered first. So far all indications suggest he did nothing of the sort, so until we hear something different, its a moot point to bitch and moan about a fair trial. Saddam surrendered, he was tried by the Iraq government at the time, you can argue about whether the trial was fair or not. I wold have preferred Osama was taken alive, but I'm not so deluded as to think that was a possibility under the circumstance, or that they should have just let him go if they refused to surrender. The reality is the man was an internationally wanted criminal, this wasn't serving a warrant to some hit and run preparator, this was going in to get, alive or dead, a guy who was at the very least a figure head for an organization that straps bombs to women, children and the mentally handicapped so they can go an blow themselves up in a crowded area.

>> ^direpickle:

What is wrong with you people? They were told to take him alive if they could. They fired instead of surrendering. This is what happens. This isn't the death of Freedom--this is a dumbass having a firefight with SEALs.
As for people complaining about other people glorying in his death:
Here is a video of a kid kicking a wall. It collapses on his leg. It's hard to see exactly what happens, but it's entirely feasible that it completely crushed it. In some cases the same people that are here crying about bin Laden's death were posting comments on that video whooping it up--yeah, that's what you get for committing petty vandalism! Permanent disfigurement and disability!
I wasn't out celebrating, but I can see how some people would be. The largest demonstrations sounded like they were in NYC and DC. Are any of you NYC residents? Were you in 2001? It'd be easy for me to sit here in the Midwest and go, "Meh, whatever, all he did was kill a few thousand people," but these people lived there. These were the people they knew. And this was the guy that killed them. And then hid for ten years. Threatening to kill more.
This site is practically based on schadenfreude. You relish others' embarrassment, pain, etc. etc. There are tons of videos where people are probably permanently injured or killed from falls, crashes, etc, and you all love it.

>> ^direpickle:

What is wrong with you people? They were told to take him alive if they could. They fired instead of surrendering. This is what happens. This isn't the death of Freedom--this is a dumbass having a firefight with SEALs.
As for people complaining about other people glorying in his death:
Here is a video of a kid kicking a wall. It collapses on his leg. It's hard to see exactly what happens, but it's entirely feasible that it completely crushed it. In some cases the same people that are here crying about bin Laden's death were posting comments on that video whooping it up--yeah, that's what you get for committing petty vandalism! Permanent disfigurement and disability!
I wasn't out celebrating, but I can see how some people would be. The largest demonstrations sounded like they were in NYC and DC. Are any of you NYC residents? Were you in 2001? It'd be easy for me to sit here in the Midwest and go, "Meh, whatever, all he did was kill a few thousand people," but these people lived there. These were the people they knew. And this was the guy that killed them. And then hid for ten years. Threatening to kill more.
This site is practically based on schadenfreude. You relish others' embarrassment, pain, etc. etc. There are tons of videos where people are probably permanently injured or killed from falls, crashes, etc, and you all love it.



They could have taken him alive if they really wanted. They had a great deal of info on the place and clearly breached it quite easily. They easily overwhelmed the occupants. They could have gassed the place and rendered everyone unconscious. Hell, they could have probably tazed him. I'd suggest then that the desire to kill him is more likely based on notions of revenge rather than the suggestion that there was no choice.

This has nothing to do with videos of people screwing up, sometimes where they most likely filmed themselves. As long as submissions don't violate the snuff rule I see no conflict. This site is built on a great deal more than "schadenfreude". If you are offended by videos in the Fail or Controversial channels then filter them out.

Amazing how when it serves their own politics or interests how FAST the 'high ground' is taken... hypocrites!...

In reply to this comment by direpickle:
What is wrong with you people? They were told to take him alive if they could. They fired instead of surrendering. This is what happens. This isn't the death of Freedom--this is a dumbass having a firefight with SEALs.

As for people complaining about other people glorying in his death:

Here is a video of a kid kicking a wall. It collapses on his leg. It's hard to see exactly what happens, but it's entirely feasible that it completely crushed it. In some cases the same people that are here crying about bin Laden's death were posting comments on that video whooping it up--yeah, that's what you *get* for committing petty vandalism! Permanent disfigurement and disability!

I wasn't out celebrating, but I can see how some people would be. The largest demonstrations sounded like they were in NYC and DC. Are any of you NYC residents? Were you in 2001? It'd be easy for me to sit here in the Midwest and go, "Meh, whatever, all he did was kill a few thousand people," but these people lived there. These were the people they knew. And this was the guy that killed them. And then hid for ten years. Threatening to kill more.

This site is practically based on schadenfreude. You relish others' embarrassment, pain, etc. etc. There are tons of videos where people are probably permanently injured or killed from falls, crashes, etc, and you all love it.

Actually, no, I don't love those videos. I can't watch them, much less smirk about them.

So it isn't "all of us."



In reply to this comment by direpickle:
What is wrong with you people? They were told to take him alive if they could. They fired instead of surrendering. This is what happens. This isn't the death of Freedom--this is a dumbass having a firefight with SEALs.

As for people complaining about other people glorying in his death:

Here is a video of a kid kicking a wall. It collapses on his leg. It's hard to see exactly what happens, but it's entirely feasible that it completely crushed it. In some cases the same people that are here crying about bin Laden's death were posting comments on that video whooping it up--yeah, that's what you *get* for committing petty vandalism! Permanent disfigurement and disability!

I wasn't out celebrating, but I can see how some people would be. The largest demonstrations sounded like they were in NYC and DC. Are any of you NYC residents? Were you in 2001? It'd be easy for me to sit here in the Midwest and go, "Meh, whatever, all he did was kill a few thousand people," but these people lived there. These were the people they knew. And this was the guy that killed them. And then hid for ten years. Threatening to kill more.

This site is practically based on schadenfreude. You relish others' embarrassment, pain, etc. etc. There are tons of videos where people are probably permanently injured or killed from falls, crashes, etc, and you all love it.