Democratic (not the party) government is people power. Without a strong government, there is nothing to stop corporations from taking over, which is why they are leading the charge to make government small.

Without democracy, individual consumers would powerless to make any kind of significant political changes, hence the push for 'individual liberty' at the expense of social liberty; and all that stuff about "markets self-regulating" is little more than a religious mantra, because there is no real world evidence that suggests such a thing is even remotely true.

The corporations have been very effective at drawing a wedge between the people and their government. They have actually fooled some of us into thinking things would get better if we were to give our power away. That's a mistake we only have to make once.



In reply to this comment by xxovercastxx:
I wonder what would happen if the government had less power? Seems to me that corporations get all their power by buying it from the government. If the government had no power to buy, would the corporations be effectively neutered?

I suppose the obvious counter-argument is that there would be nothing to keep them in check, but that's not true. The consumer would be (and always has been) the control. The problem, as always, is that the average Joe doesn't care. Very few people are willing to boycott an abusive company.

Whatever political ideology you subscribe to, I feel they will all be undone by apathetic citizens. Nothing will change unless the people change it.

In reply to this comment by dystopianfuturetoday:
Have you ever honestly questioned your belief in capitalism?
[...snip...]

I wonder what would happen if the government had less power? Seems to me that corporations get all their power by buying it from the government. If the government had no power to buy, would the corporations be effectively neutered?

I suppose the obvious counter-argument is that there would be nothing to keep them in check, but that's not true. The consumer would be (and always has been) the control. The problem, as always, is that the average Joe doesn't care. Very few people are willing to boycott an abusive company.

Whatever political ideology you subscribe to, I feel they will all be undone by apathetic citizens. Nothing will change unless the people change it.

In reply to this comment by dystopianfuturetoday:
Have you ever honestly questioned your belief in capitalism?
[...snip...]

Back in 2003, when the war in Iraq was imminent, I was working in a high school in Chicago, and several students came to me, telling me that they were staging a walk-out, to protest the war. This being an American high school, I could imagine that quite a few of the 'protesters' were walking out just to get the rest of the day off. They asked me if I supported them. I told them that I supported the Constitution of the United States of America, and those actions taken to create, uphold and defend that document. They took this to mean that I supported them, and headed off to do a little civil disobedience. To their credit, they walked an astonishing distance, from high school to high school, picking up a throng as they walked, a la Boys Town. They ended up downtown, and several of our students were front and center in the pictures taken at the rally.

The next day, several of the students who had organized the walkout discovered that they were given out of school suspensions for their actions. They ran to me, expecting me to howl in righteous indignation, and go to the administration to demand that they not be punished. They were quite surprised when I said, "And...?" I didn't have one jot of sympathy for their plight. Instead, I retrieved a copy of Letters from Birmingham Jail, Common Sense, Civil Disobedience, and several other books of a similar bent. I told them to use the time off wisely, to discover the rich heritage civil disobedience has in our nation. It it is, I think, the expectation of 'getting away with it' that has neutered our protests. The fact that 'free speech zones' exist at all is an affront to the Constitution. I told my students that it was the punishment they received that gave their protest meaning. Accept it willingly, because by accepting it, they were saying, "This inconvenience is nothing compared to the great injustice we stand against. We suffer it willingly, if it means that others might not suffer in the future." They got it, served their time without grousing, and actually learned a little something about being a citizen.

The inside of a dog's ear can be tattooed with an ID number to help identify the dog if it gets lost, the tattoo isn't very big. The SPCA usually tattoos the dog when it's being spayed/neutered (if it doesn't already have a tattoo), because the dog is already unconscious. They could microchip the dog but I think it's cheaper to tattoo and there is no special equipment needed to read the tattoo unlike a microchip.

>> ^smooman:
i've never heard of tatooing on dogs. I'm inclined to think that it has something to do with neutering?

i've never heard of tatooing on dogs. I'm inclined to think that it has something to do with neutering?

>> ^NetRunner
Despite that, the latest draft still has a public option, though it's the watered-down co-op version.

I submit that the co-op version is impossible to water-down more because it is effectively nothing.

Dick Durbin's Chairman position > Obama and the rest of the democrats who can't make the bill bipartisan.

I want to agree with netrunner, I believe that he is right, that the finance commitee might actually pass a bill with the public option, albeit the co-op option. So I was wrong. But I still doubt that a strong public option will appear in the final legislation.

>> ^NetRunner:
Wow, you are seriously overblowing an already overblown title.


And you are seriously overblowing an already overblown Obama penis. Zing!

>> ^MaxWilder:
I hate to say it, but this looks fake. The rocket is way too stable driving into his crotch, like it was attached by a wire. Then they explosion happens right when he falls out of view behind the car. But the clincher is he appears to have no burn damage to his hands or underwear, despite the apparent explosion of a firework attached to his pants.
And honestly, if it's not fake, what were they hoping to achieve? I know there are people stupid enough to risk neutering themselves for a stunt, but this looks like it was designed specifically to remove his ability to reproduce. It's not like taking a paintball to the crotch, we're talking about explosives here. It's like lighting an M80 between your legs. I just can't see anybody doing that on purpose, even dumb-ass adrenaline junkies.


I honestly don't know how you can imagine that a bunch of dumb-ass adrenaline junkies had such funds as to stage such an elaborate hoax, with the CGI work and the smoke machines and all the other stuff involved in making a non-event look this real.

Where did they get the money to make a 30 second internet video with the best faking technology available to the film industry? What's it advertising? Do you get what i'm trying to say?

I hate to say it, but this looks fake. The rocket is way too stable driving into his crotch, like it was attached by a wire. Then they explosion happens right when he falls out of view behind the car. But the clincher is he appears to have no burn damage to his hands or underwear, despite the apparent explosion of a firework attached to his pants.

And honestly, if it's not fake, what were they hoping to achieve? I know there are people stupid enough to risk neutering themselves for a stunt, but this looks like it was designed specifically to remove his ability to reproduce. It's not like taking a paintball to the crotch, we're talking about explosives here. It's like lighting an M80 between your legs. I just can't see anybody doing that on purpose, even dumb-ass adrenaline junkies.

I'm going to start an international organisation to stealth-neuter people who are incapable of correctly raising children.

I believe in the space of 2 generations, the entire world will be living in harmony. All 460 of them.

I hope she remembered to have her pussy spayed or neutered.








*dannym, have you even watched the show?

There is this great scene in Oz (HBO Mini Series) where one of the main characters is having a conversation with a neo-nazi white supremacist type...

Did you ever notice that people that make movies, TV shows, or other forms of entertainment seem to be COMPLETELY incapable of portraying a person of faith without resorting to this kind of stereotype? It's really quite prejudiced of them, and borders on being outright hate-speech.

Pick any drama, sitcom, movie, or other show and 99 times out of 100 when a 'Christian' is identified he will be some rabid, intolerant, bible-thumping jerk who is about the worst possible caracature dreams up in the minds of the writers. It's partly their fault because they're too lazy to actually try and portray people accurately and resort to stock cutouts that the stupid public don't have to think about. Regardless, it is about as fair and accurate as CNN or FOX news. There are a few exceptions but they tend to be in older media, not modern media. But by and large the media portrayal of religion (and Christianity in particular) today is almost totally slanted towards the 'people of faith are morons' side.

And if this forum is a barometer it looks like a lot of people are too stupid to resist the tide of propoganda. It's sad really, because the very people who THINK that people of faith are the brainwashed intolerant ones are the ones that are brainwashed and intolerant. They CLAIM to be tolerant, but then a person of faith comes along and its all "they need to be neutered so they can't reproduce..." and all that crap. Nice.

WTF with the KKK guy in the background of the Bob Barker Pet Spay/Neuter vid !!

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:
He obviously wants to be banned, as a dramatic finale to his Andy Kaufman-lite performance art. If we really wanted to fuck with him, we'd let him stay on the site, but take away his ability to comment and downvote, and limit his queue to one video.


Can we do that? Please? It would amuse me greatly.

Forget banning. We need to spay or neuter the trolls.



>> ^MycroftHomlz:
I wonder if he discarded my playlist? Can you do that Lucky? I seriously have no idea how my playlist To Promote was deleted.
It is a sad thing as it was the #1 playlist.


I was going to ask - what happened to the playlist??? Ah... mysterious Om nom nom.

Despite the crazy violence, MK series has always not-so-surreptitiously targeted younger gamers. They will probably make a mint with this one regardless of the neutering.