Eventually these people will die, and the old husks and their followers left behind will spur further movements towards greater equality.

Just think, Fred Phelps did more to help Gays gain sympathy and rights than probably any of you did.

I don't think you're grumpy, radx. Granted, my posts tend to have that same ominous tone, in general so I guess I'm a grump too. If you really think about the scale of inequality today, the absolute plundering the ultra-rich enjoyed during the recent recession and the efforts to keep money in politics to perpetuate this cycle with brilliant tools like Citizens United, it's hard not to be bleak.

Unfortunately, what we like to call democracy simply does not have the teeth to affect meaningful change. I am encouraged by the relative economic performance from the list of countries that have scrapped first past the post (reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional_representation ) except for maybe Portugal, but even with more effective elections there is still an extra seat for the rich in every government.

Even more unfortunate will be the painful revolution the world will endure to either change from capitalism to some other form of economics (maybe resourced-based, a-la Peter Joseph.) If we don't simply slide obediently into greater and greater concentrations of wealth for the ultra-rich, we get closer and closer to revolution. But all it will take will be one upheaval to spur the revolution into action, be it:
- another, even more severe recession (maybe the EU will implode, taking the world economy down with it)
- severe global warming positive feedback loop from the arctic methane stores
- nuclear war

And who the hell knows what else might set people off. Maybe a solar flare will fry all the satellites in orbit and the lack of new tweets will create a world-wide frenzy of irate twats. And who knows when it will happen. Maybe 5 years, maybe 50 years. Since money pulls the strings, I think we're doomed to guess as to the source of VoodooV's "tipping point."

Gareth Bale still at Spurs! Ha.

#1 what DOESN'T cost money? I'll tell you what cost LESS money..video cameras. If I can't have a cop monitor an intersection 24/7, then I am fine with a red light camera.

#2 Well getting caught in your own traps is just your own problem. Has nothing to do with changing rules or slipper slopes. I think I understand what you mean by rules being added allowing the govt to add more rules un-opposed, but this MAINLY has to do with the publics becoming more lazy and not bothering themselves with politics, ie people not involving themselves with the rule making process anymore.

#3 CCTV Does it's job. It helps identify and catch spur of the moment crimes (Abuse, attacks, robbery) and at least causes planned crimes like drug trafficking to be moved elsewhere. You can't really STOP this with public CCTV coverage but at least you can prevent it from happening in front of your house or on the playground near the kids.

#4 While I think shatter went the extreme, I know what you mean. We have lots of old laws we break all the time now. This is not the CCTV's problem though. %99 of the time these laws are also ignore by the police, and we only find out about them when that %1 gets charged with one of those laws. This is just something else that needs to be fixed by the people and really has nothing to do with CCTV.

I understand people are afraid of loosing freedoms, but I also understand that we are not earning it either. Broken economy systems, failing healthcare, and lax education systems are causing chaos and hardship which leads to increased crime. If you want your freedoms back, you are going to have to become involved with politics more and make sure the right people are making your laws.

I am not an advocate of Koch brothers or Mittens. Though I think using Sam Jackson to spur your re-election campaign with his classic meme is downright superficial and dishonest. How do we know it wasn't feasible to take him alive? What about NDAA? especially when it was ruled unconstitutional.

http://dailylounge.com/the-daily/entry/indefinite-detention-clause-upheld-in-court

>> ^meggymoo:

Here's a fun fact. The slow loris is the worlds only venomous primate. They also stink.


That's debatable since they secrete the toxin from their elbows. "Venomous" implies that the toxin is injected directly with a bite, sting, spur, etc.

The goal of posting this video was to spur interesting conversations on philosophical topics, but so far everyone (with an exception here and there) seems interested in discussing the same old atheist talking points and ignoring the content of the video entirely.

This is probably because the content in the video was a pseudo-intellectual, pseudo-philosophical sermon that made such astronomical leaps that it didn't need to be said.

The argument that was made, I think, is that if you're an atheist you're leading a double life. On one hand, you are committed to this relativism which makes every value judgment subjective, but on the other hand, you live as though there are absolute values and meaning.

There wasn't an argument made for this. For some reason, you seem to believe that "the things we do in life have no meaning after we die" turns people into sociopaths... And since we're not all sociopaths, that proves that God exists. The first issue is that you assume that 'meaninglessness' leads to sociopathic behavior. Secondly, this is a textbook example of Denying the Antecedant fallacy.

--Skipping the story--

The point being that while it's easy to wax philosophical about these points, no one really lives that way. We all have an idea of what is wrong, and if there is something the way it shouldn't be, then naturally there is also a way it ought to be. Where does that come from?

Is this really your argument? 80% of the people you meet were raised Christian (even most of the Atheists)... This is confirmation bias... You can't say something is put there by God when Religion was preaching to them on a weekly basis. If there really were some sort of imperative planted by God... wouldn't there be far less religious wars?

Breaking news... people really do spend their entire lives 'waxing philosophically'... People do die for things that their religion has told them was wrong, but they felt was right (Anti-Gay Violence?).

The goal of posting this video was to spur interesting conversations on philosophical topics, but so far everyone (with an exception here and there) seems interested in discussing the same old atheist talking points and ignoring the content of the video entirely.

The argument that was made, I think, is that if you're an atheist you're leading a double life. On one hand, you are committed to this relativism which makes every value judgment subjective, but on the other hand, you live as though there are absolute values and meaning. As someone once said, you have to sit in Gods lap to slap his face. For instance, there is a story about a young man who turned in a paper about relative truth, and how there was no right and wrong, and the professor gave him an F. The student was pretty heated because the paper was well written and so he confronted his professor about the low grade. The professor told him the reason for the F was because He didn't like the color of the paper he was using. The student exclaimed "but that isn't fair!". The professor asked him what he meant by fair? That's when the student got it and then the professor changed his F to an A. The point being that while it's easy to wax philosophical about these points, no one really lives that way. We all have an idea of what is wrong, and if there is something the way it shouldn't be, then naturally there is also a way it ought to be. Where does that come from?

>> ^wraith:

@shiny:
What was your goal in posting this video?
Do you really think that given that atheism might lead one to the belief that there might be no point, no goal, no plan to one's life would lead an atheist to the realization that it would be better to trust ancient and unverifiable (or verifiably false) fables and hearsay about a supposed infallible plan for each and every particle in the universe that will ever exist?
Is "peace of mind" your best argument for the veracity of your religious beliefs?

2nd let's not forget that there has been giant problems and debate on this for 40 years. the only reason it came to a head was because the astronomical rise in health care (insurance) costs were biting into the profits of all industries that were NOT in healthcare. For the people, there has been a necessity there for 40 years. but that's not what spurred actual action on it.

Now I'd really like to believe that our corporate bought government decided to do the right thing rather than shift the burden of cost to the public, but our past history and current situation dictates otherwise.

and i'm not saying the public didn't get anything, i'm just saying it is quite in proportion to what we just lost.

perverted, or enlightened!?

"Reporter Ye Yunfeng's amazing rediscovery of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's secret to longevity -- the taisui lingzhi mushroom -- has spurred local entrepreneurship and spawned a whole new industry.
One very enterprising street cleaner who makes additional income by hawking things off the street is now passing off artificial vajayjays as the long lost magic mushroom, and selling them for as much as 18,000RMB (US$2,800)!"

http://shanghaiist.com/2012/06/21/artificial-vajayjay-mushroom-seller.php

>> ^messenger:

promote>> ^ant:
>> ^messenger:
Geez. Change the title to something like, "a-brit-announcing-an-nba-game-comedy-gold" and I'll give it a promote. Bit of a waste of a point otherwise.

Thanks and done.



Thanks.

*promote>> ^ant:

>> ^messenger:
Geez. Change the title to something like, "a-brit-announcing-an-nba-game-comedy-gold" and I'll give it a promote. Bit of a waste of a point otherwise.

Thanks and done.

>> ^messenger:

Geez. Change the title to something like, "a-brit-announcing-an-nba-game-comedy-gold" and I'll give it a promote. Bit of a waste of a point otherwise.


Thanks and done.

I cannot help myself. Time for a rambling rant...

Why would a society that is so capitalistic in nature look to the government for job creation? What happened to the invisible hand of the market? (These are sarcastic and rhetorical questions btw)

There are fewer jobs for so many reasons that have nothing to do with government inaction.
eg: HP to layoff up to 30,000 staff

These layoffs are proposed because the company profit to employee ratio is less than Apple or Google. This is a crazy reason to layoff people. Wouldn't it be better to try and drive up revenue rather than cut jobs? What would you like the government to do about something like this?

Personally I think that exporting of raw materials and outsourcing of manufacturing and services should be made illegal! However that would mean that we would be paying a lot more for those goods and services that we enjoy at child labour prices today. That would turn that little WalMart smile upside down.

It is certainly true that through civil projects the government could create jobs but that would increase either taxes or the deficit (or both). Alternatively they could reduce taxes for all, giving people and businesses more to spend (oooh, probably not a good idea with that multi trillion dollar deficit sitting there and that massive military machine that needs constant feeding).

I agree with GenjiKilpatrick, if you want to spur the economy and see an increase in the number of jobs look to yourself; inovate, create, sell, expand, hire. Don't sit back waiting for someone to open a door for you.


>> ^bobknight33:

Nice graph. I'd would not call it a MILESTONE. But it does not do enough. What about all those who stopped looking? Those people are not counted and unemployed. They still need jobs.
You must live in a glass bubble. There are less and less jobs to be had.
I drive all around the western half of North Carolina - Every month I see another shop close here and there. It has not stopped. It is sad to see.

I feel for you that you don't understand reality but just what the Party puts out as "truth"


>> ^NetRunner:
@bobknight33: http://www.barackobama.com/jobsrecord