>> ^Boise_Lib:

If it's a disk--what's on the other side?


*gasp* Possibly a mirror universe!

Gasp!

DR is a bit of a nerd. I hear him constantly exhaling with huffy, gasping, nasal laughs. He's like a real-life spitty, messy, English Sheldon Cooper.

>> ^direpickle:


For-pay schools exist. Gasp! If you want to send your kids to one, you can do it. Bullying still exists in them.
I agree, and possibly for-pay schools would have more competition if there weren't so many free public schools crowding out the education market. With time, parents would less likely send their kids to for-pay schools where bullying happens the most. I'm not saying these things would just magically happen, just that there are more incentives to seek out solutions when you get government out of the way and give students and parents more power and responsibility.

>> ^renatojj:

You guys might want to consider that the right path is not Finland, but going the other direction, with less government involvement in education. This is about putting education and its institutions in a more competitive environment, governments will always bog them down, making it more about teachers or whatever else, turning them into the massive faceless institutions that are like prisons like @dag points out. Instead, we should put on schools the pressure to compete in quality and price for those who'd normally be paying for education, the students or their parents.
Mintbbb points out that bullying does exist in Finland, even though they have a lot less of it. A finnish friend of mine once told me he never saw a fist fight in his entire life, ever, not even as a kid. However, just because they had the decency of adopting anti-bullying measures, doesn't mean letting government educate and make choices for our kids is any better, don't let that fool you. Bullying has been going on for so long it's become an institution in itself, public schools in America and elsewhere have little incentive of stopping or even acknowledging it as a problem.


For-pay schools exist. Gasp! If you want to send your kids to one, you can do it. Bullying still exists in them.

Its called murder... You treat the fetus as if were a turd. It is not. It is alive.

Woman's body ... Woman's choice. Choose to keep you legs closed else man up to the consequences.

I agree that none screams Yippee and get an abortion. However In 2008, approximately 1.21 million abortions took place.

In 2010 there 14,748 murders is the USA.

The most dangerous place to be is in the womb of a woman.

You and your ilk are truly "narrow-minded".


>> ^VoodooV:

Woman's body...woman's choice. Get it through your thick head @bobknight33 You don't like abortion? That's fine bob, here's news for you: NO ONE LIKES ABORTION. No one wakes up on the day of their abortion and goes "Yippee!! I get to have an abortion today!" I guarantee you that every woman having an abortion wishes they could go back and make it so they didn't have to have one. Forcing them to live according to your morality accomplishes nothing but unnecessary suffering for both the parent and the unwanted fetus. If they chose to have it, that is their right, but you HAVE to allow them to abort it if they chose. You can't claim to live in a free society otherwise.
If we lived in a fantasy utopia where there was no rape, no birth complications, no unexpected situations and everyone was financially and emotionally secure enough to have a child and demand outstripped supply when it came to adoptions, then I MIGHT agree with you that people should be expected to be responsible for their actions. But that world doesn't exist.
Woman's body, woman's choice. End of fucking story. You seem to have a hard time processing this, but women aren't magic baby factories created for your enjoyment. They are living, sentient, human beings with thoughts and feelings (gasp) and forcing them to adhere to your narrow-minded "morality" as if they were cattle is pretty much the opposite of morality.

Woman's body...woman's choice. Get it through your thick head @bobknight33 You don't like abortion? That's fine bob, here's news for you: NO ONE LIKES ABORTION. No one wakes up on the day of their abortion and goes "Yippee!! I get to have an abortion today!" I guarantee you that every woman having an abortion wishes they could go back and make it so they didn't have to have one. Forcing them to live according to your morality accomplishes nothing but unnecessary suffering for both the parent and the unwanted fetus. If they chose to have it, that is their right, but you HAVE to allow them to abort it if they chose. You can't claim to live in a free society otherwise.

If we lived in a fantasy utopia where there was no rape, no birth complications, no unexpected situations and everyone was financially and emotionally secure enough to have a child and demand outstripped supply when it came to adoptions, then I MIGHT agree with you that people should be expected to be responsible for their actions. But that world doesn't exist.

Woman's body, woman's choice. End of fucking story. You seem to have a hard time processing this, but women aren't magic baby factories created for your enjoyment. They are living, sentient, human beings with thoughts and feelings (gasp) and forcing them to adhere to your narrow-minded "morality" as if they were cattle is pretty much the opposite of morality.

You're nuts.

What is Terrorism QM?

An attack on a population to instill fear? i.e. World Trade Center Attacks

So your solution to stop these "Terrorists" is to.. completely eradicate an entire population.

[Because that totally doesn't sound like something Hitler would do at all]

Not to mention. What about all the "terrorists" outside the Middle East/Brown People countries you wanna blow up?

*Le Gasp*

Oh my gaaawd QM, What about those terrorists who have already crossed our borders!?!?! ohnoooooooooeesss!!!!1!!!!!!111!

"Goddamn Suicide Bombers killing all these innocent freedom loving American Citizens on a daily basis! The only way to handle terrorism inside the United States is to turn the entire place into a gl-glass..? parking lot?.. yeah"

Come man, stop trollin'
>> ^quantumushroom:

If the enemy is terrorists with no formal government, than the only way to win is to kill every last one of them.
Either turn the entire country into a glass parking lot and leave nothing alive or leave it be.

I like the Norwegian-accented gasp he makes after taking a swig.

I've swam through a few of her books,the Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged,and I think her philosophy of Capitalism is Holy could work except for one basic problem:human nature. And her supporters in the GOP really don't get where she was coming from either. The protagonists of these books are people who run large companies struggling to provide their excellent products and services in spite of heavy regulations at the hands of the small minded government. They are personally involved with their companies,willing to go the extra mile and get their hands dirty in the persuit of delivering the goods and providing livings for their extended families of employees they feel responsible for. Yet the government in pettiness and jelousy scheme to thwart them in this:making the Creative Movers of Industry gasp under the strain of mad laws written by parasites to sap the energy of the Doers to feed the gluttony of the lazy masses. More or less this. Unfortunatelythis fairy story is a bit backwards nowadays...
Instead of clever creators marketing their dreams,we have souless corporations dissecting the labours of the many to feed the obscenely rich the lions share of profits,and existing only to figure out new ways of paying themselves incentive bonuses while the companies they run heave and expire beneathe them from the sheer weight of their greed. Emploees are not families to these executives,all cooporating with the mutual goal of seeing the company succeed,but disposable pawns easily replaced and forgotten,not worth providing benefits for and certainly not worth considering when cheap if not competant labour is available elsewhere.And regulations ? Taxes? Blasphemies!

Some of Rand's opinions I find valid:armies of the unambitious would swollow every dime you earn with demands for welfare and other government mandated largesses. For every brave sould with a creative spark there are a dozen happy to make them fall for the perverse pleasure of simply watching a great idea fail. These exist:but a socialism is not on the genda in this future of ours...it seems to be evolving into a new sort of feudalism where the Rich rule and the serfs provide the neccessaries. And I suppose there are entrepreneurs out there fighting the good fight,and fighting it with style and dignity for themselves and their employees.

They just don't make the headlines.

>> ^oOPonyOo:

Wow, that is a whole lot of crazy. Public humiliation and such extreme violence. What is with the gun? Do you want to use that gun on your daughter?
Thanks for that link to the belt-whipping guy - again, all kinds of crazy.
Did this guy reach out to his community for advice on how to discipline, or did he just assume that "father knows best"? I think she was reaching out to her community to vent and perhaps find some solution or support.
I think all is well answered above, and a very interesting discussion. I am thinking though that belts and guns are a "Dangerous Method". Wait for the results down the road. Um, movie reference, in case you didn't.


What is it with people and guns?

If he'd driven over it with his car would you all be here asking if he wanted to run over his daughter?
If he'd thrown it in a deep fryer would you all be here asking if he wanted to deep fry his daughter?
If he'd hit it with a hammer?

He (Gasp) owns a gun and used the gun to destroy some of his own property. Get over it already, your own personal phobias and prejudices don't apply here.

Wiki-

A practical joke (also known as a prank, gag, or jape) is a mischievous trick played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, indignity, or discomfort. Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being fooled into handing over money or other valuables. Practical jokes or pranks are typically lighthearted, reversible or non-permanent, and aim to make the victim feel foolish or victimized to a certain degree. However, practical jokes may also involve cruelty.
The term "practical" refers to the fact that the joke consists of someone doing something physical, instead of a verbal or written joke. For example, the joker who is setting up and performing the practical joke, might hang a bucket of water above a doorway and rig the bucket using pulleys such that, when the door opens, the bucket dumps the water. The joker would then wait for the victim to walk through the doorway and be drenched by the bucket of water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Practical_joke

>> ^budzos:

This is pretty assholish. I can't really see what's supposed to be funny about it. Wow, so hilarious to ruin someone's enjoyment of something they're deeply absorbed in.


>> ^Quboid:

This just seems like a dick move to me. When someone's really into something and you suddenly ruin it, duh, they get upset. That would be like me telling you that Bruce Willis was a ghost all along or that Tyler is in Jack's imagination - these things work on suspense, and that only works when they are revealed properly. Try watching a football match (real or American) when you know what's going to happen ... it's not the same, not at all.
I appreciate that people not into sports don't get this, but they should get that people into sports are, gasp, into sports. They don't deserve to be called morons or sheeple, for what, for enjoying something? Screw you. Who the hell are you to judge them?
Sorry if I just ruined those... Sucks, doesn't it?

This just seems like a dick move to me. When someone's really into something and you suddenly ruin it, duh, they get upset. That would be like me telling you that Bruce Willis was a ghost all along* or that Tyler is in Jack's imagination* - these things work on suspense, and that only works when they are revealed properly. Try watching a football match (real or American) when you know what's going to happen ... it's not the same, not at all.

I appreciate that people not into sports don't get this, but they should get that people into sports are, gasp, into sports. They don't deserve to be called morons or sheeple, for what, for enjoying something? Screw you. Who the hell are you to judge them?

* Sorry if I just ruined those... Sucks, doesn't it?

>> ^GenjiKilpatrick:

Heh. I thought the obligation of the police bit was rhetoric.

Nope, it was an attempt to get you to remember something, anything, about the era that led to the Civil Rights Act.

It means going back to a time where this happens anytime one of those "out-groups" shows their face in the wrong place.

You're going to have to explain to me why that's justice, and why that's freedom, because it looks to me like violent oppression and a criminal deprivation of liberty.

>> ^GenjiKilpatrick:
You're always talking about how we can harness the power of voting & democratic systems to eventually overcome things; and you're almost guaranteed to make actual progress thru those means if Paul were POTUS.

Paul is antithetical to "progress." His vision of a perfect society is an America where we unwind everything that's happened in the last 100 years. Possibly more, depending on how seriously you take his position on the Civil War.

There are a couple issues where, purely by accident, Paul agrees with me. I want the war in Afghanistan to end because I think it's stupid, not because I think America should never get involved in international politics. I want the drug war to end because it's a terrible way to solve the problem with substance abuse -- universal healthcare would be a lot better. Paul is just as mad about the drug war as he is about the FDA (or the EPA, for that matter).

Ron Paul stands in steadfast opposition to everything I care about. Even on the issues where we seem to agree, we turn out to be miles apart when you get down to the details.

>> ^GenjiKilpatrick:

So why are you letting a little thing like Gasp a Racist Conservative Republican, stop you from acting in your own best interest.
[Since you're neither black nor gay. I think you'll be okay either way, @NetRunner]

To quote MLK, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Even if all I cared about was my own ass, the "freedom" to discriminate against black or gay people would also mean people have the freedom to discriminate against whites, or men, or straight people, or liberals, or atheists, or gamers.

The protections against discrimination protect me as much as it does any given out-group.

Heh. I thought the obligation of the police bit was rhetoric.

[Wouldn't you call the police if QM or PennyPacker was all up in your house, demanding shit you didn't want to give them? o_O?]

Yes. Ron Paul, like billions of other humans, happens to have a conservative style brain structure which predisposes him to being more cautious and fearful of out-groups i.e. a little bigoted [well, a whole lot in his case but still]

You're always talking about how we can harness the power of voting & democratic systems to eventually overcome things; and you're almost guaranteed to make actual progress thru those means if Paul were POTUS.

So why are you letting a little thing like *Gasp* a Racist Conservative Republican, stop you from acting in your own best interest.

[Since you're neither black nor gay. I think you'll be okay either way, @NetRunner]

TL;DR - Ron Paul is our best shot for real progress. Beggars can't be choosers.

p.s. - I also feel it's more like a Natural Rights Vs Civil Rights thing. Controlling prejudices people hold over you isn't a right, I don't think.