> "One way that voting does work well: vote for greater states' rights."

Check out the Tenth Amendment Center.

> "Otherwise, democracy is just making compromises that please nobody."

The smaller the political unit, the fewer the compromises. What is the optimum size for you? For me, one person. In some cases, a family or group.

Do you know of the book "The Human Scale"? (I think Kirkpatrick, who wrote that book, maybe one of those rare state secessionist progressive/leftist.)

> "Robert Putnam at Harvard found cultural diversity lowers trust and social capital, increasing the selfishness of voters that you describe."

Would you consider yourself Right-wing?

> "I'd support socialists' right to try to turn their states into socialist utopias, as long as they support my right to try to turn other states into meritocratic utopias."

That, for sure, is an improvement over federal rule! What would you consider to be a meritocratic utopia? Is that like what China wants to be?

> "Then we can test which governments yield more improved metrics."

I'm in favor of this. I am no fan of states, whether a federal union or the individual ones, but yes, this is an improvement over the monolithic federal government. But why stop at states? Why not scale it down to counties and municipalities? I would even go smaller than that! (But, sure, any downsizing is welcome.)

I would go down to neighborhoods and households and all the way down to individuals. But again, any downsizing is welcome.

I'm no fan of Bush obviously, but the guy needs to tone down his hatred of Bush. It kinda undercuts his otherwise accurate message. He keeps talking about the contempt the rich has for the poor. Well...he's displaying that same contempt.

They keep referring to things like revolution and "coming storms" I don't think that's how change is going to occur. Back when people were ACTUAL slaves or maybe they were free but were starving to death. They pretty much had nothing to lose so I think it was actually easier for them to commit to change by violent means.

well...things are different now. We're not physical slaves, but you can argue that we're economic slaves. Even poor people usually aren't starving. food is cheap, at least shitty food is. It's a sort of gilded cage. So it's harder to get to that tipping point of committing to a "revolution"

I think he's wrong though, I think change will occur through democracy. It's just going to be extremely slow, extremely painful, and it's going to be a lot of setbacks along the way. I think there will be a lot of moments that will generate outrage. I just don't think there will ever be revolts as this guy describes unless the vote gets taken away and things get monumentally worse.

I just don't there will be any magic shortcuts to a fair and equitable society. Even if there was a revolt. what do the revolutionaries do to make things better? It's relatively easy to revolt, but if you win, then the real work begins. It's easy being an armchair general, but when you actually do have to make decisions that affect thousands, if not millions of people, It's not that easy.

I think the key thing is that there are just too many who don't actually agree with the founding fathers "that all men are created equal" If we actually believed in that idea. A lot of these injustices would not occur.

I'm no fan of Kayne, but Kimmel's kind of a petty knob for this, appealing for the easy laughs.

yeah, regardless of the end result, he still broke the law..and thus is a criminal. As usual, we have another video that tries to turn everything into a black or white issue, I'm no fan of Pelosi either, but she's not wrong.

The law doesn't care if you agree with what he did or not. He knew it was illegal to do what he did, that's why he fled. He's already made this issue public, so if enough people vote on this sort of issue, change WILL happen. but it doesn't excuse what he did.

He needs his day in court. IMO it was stupid of him to flee or at the very least, to continue fleeing. Everyone knows his name now. If ANYTHING happens to him, the USA will be blamed. He needs to turn himself in.

Well, I'm no fan of bullshit- Morgan got schooled in proper semantics and courtesy. The winner of the proper use of the fucking English language with a view to transmission of information and "How to answer a fucking question when asked goes to the guy who just shit down Piers throat and asked him how the kak-burger tasted.

Really think Breitbart died of natural causes?

Agreed. I'm no fan of Morgan, but it is fun to see him school these right wing clowns.

I'm no fan of atheism+ and that in spite of the fact that I do support most of their claimed causes. I just don't like the censorship and banning, the very conflation of religion with social causes that we've been fighting against for years, or the 'with us or against us' attitude I find when I look to see what all of the fuss is. noelplum99 (among others) has a sourced and detailed playlist of vids explaining his objections, long but it covers a lot of ground. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl8YBXeamXSI4rnZraJTu3RDXnkImNwD7

Rather than a double post I'll reply to the statement by VoodooV above here as well. VoodooV says...

"This video is confusing, it doesn't really introduce itself or the problem very well."

I'm not subscribed to anyone directly involved in the fights so don't really have a horse in the race and haven't followed every detail. But in a nutshell... many months back at a conference a woman in an elevator was made uncomfortable by a man, man turned out to be Richard Dawkins. People took sides and much drama ensued.

Freethought blogs took on Thunderf00t as a writer and he expressed opinions which pissed off some of the others at the blog. More people took sides, more drama ensued and Thunderf00t was asked to leave.

And in the middle of this those who took the more (to them at least) 'feminist' view decided to start a new group, atheist+, even they seem to admit these days that the launch of the idea was ham handed and more confrontational than it needed to be and according to them it's all just a misunderstanding. According to their critics it's understood just fine, the critics just don't agree. Yet more people took sides and yet more drama ensued. And here we are.

My favorite comment on the whole mess was probably a post by TheMudbrooker at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLMy6zBft4s Can't say that I agree with every word of it but the end at least seems on point for my view. If they need a group to tell them what to do, a social structure, go back to church where they belong and leave the rest of us alone. It's hard enough as it is to get people to understand that atheist mean "not theist" and nothing more without these people confusing the issue. Regardless of any other opinions anyone might have about them for other reasons. I don't approve of mixing religion and politics and it's no more defensible to mix a lack of religion with politics. Separate debates even if they are both worthy on their own merits. It's not helpful.

This kind of thing drives me nuts. During the election, the Republicans were talking about Medicare for current retirees. Now they are talking about Medicare for future retirees.

I am no fan of the Republicans. I find them mostly distasteful. But this is just as distasteful to me. It is intellectually dishonest.

Like a lot of these types of videos, I want them to be true.
However, my brain immediately starts screaming the there is something wrong here. And yes, the first thought I had was how precise those pieces of cardboard needed to be, mainly because of weight. also how hitting the center for the axle had to be absolutely precise to guarantee balance. (Precision I don't think you can get from cardboard.)

As far as the wight of lifting each of those flaps back up, I wouldn't think that the swinging flap would have enough energy to keep it going. Visually I see it happening in the video but I immediately question it. Again I want it to be true - think of the possibilities - but the skeptic in me tells me something else is at play here, even if I can't see it.

In reply to this comment by dannym3141:
Hi, don't know if you're satisfied about this video yet but;

If you accept purely gravitational motion, then the kinetic energy gained from lowering any individual card segment must be paid back in full when you raise it back up on the other side. Now factor in resistances (the pen cartridge axle, air resistance, and it's making noise which is a form of energy) and you quickly realise that for the whole thing to spin there must be an external application of energy.

Even consider how accurately he would have had to cut all those cardboard pieces to make them the exact same weight so that heavier ones didn't cause the contraption to slow. I can attest that i've made these types of things as a kid, as soon as you start building one you start to feel why it can't work; you can kinda feel the principle of conservation of energy yourself.

I have references if you need :
In reply to this comment by Sagemind:
Comments on YouTube claim that this is somehow fake - that there is a fan somehow blowing on it.

I see no fan in the one direction they show and his body blocks it from any wind on the other side while he is filming so..

Any takers...?

Like a lot of these types of videos, I want them to be true.
However, my brain immediately starts screaming the there is something wrong here. And yes, the first thought I had was how precise those pieces of cardboard needed to be, mainly because of weight. also how hitting the center for the axle had to be absolutely precise to guarantee balance. (Precision I don't think you can get from cardboard.)

As far as the wight of lifting each of those flaps back up, I wouldn't think that the swinging flap would have enough energy to keep it going. Visually I see it happening in the video but I immediately question it. Again I want it to be true - think of the possibilities - but the skeptic in me tells me something else is at play here, even if I can't see it.

In reply to this comment by dannym3141:
Hi, don't know if you're satisfied about this video yet but;

If you accept purely gravitational motion, then the kinetic energy gained from lowering any individual card segment must be paid back in full when you raise it back up on the other side. Now factor in resistances (the pen cartridge axle, air resistance, and it's making noise which is a form of energy) and you quickly realise that for the whole thing to spin there must be an external application of energy.

Even consider how accurately he would have had to cut all those cardboard pieces to make them the exact same weight so that heavier ones didn't cause the contraption to slow. I can attest that i've made these types of things as a kid, as soon as you start building one you start to feel why it can't work; you can kinda feel the principle of conservation of energy yourself.

I have references if you need :
In reply to this comment by Sagemind:
Comments on YouTube claim that this is somehow fake - that there is a fan somehow blowing on it.

I see no fan in the one direction they show and his body blocks it from any wind on the other side while he is filming so..

Any takers...?

Hi, don't know if you're satisfied about this video yet but;

If you accept purely gravitational motion, then the kinetic energy gained from lowering any individual card segment must be paid back in full when you raise it back up on the other side. Now factor in resistances (the pen cartridge axle, air resistance, and it's making noise which is a form of energy) and you quickly realise that for the whole thing to spin there must be an external application of energy.

Even consider how accurately he would have had to cut all those cardboard pieces to make them the exact same weight so that heavier ones didn't cause the contraption to slow. I can attest that i've made these types of things as a kid, as soon as you start building one you start to feel why it can't work; you can kinda feel the principle of conservation of energy yourself.

I have references if you need
In reply to this comment by Sagemind:
Comments on YouTube claim that this is somehow fake - that there is a fan somehow blowing on it.

I see no fan in the one direction they show and his body blocks it from any wind on the other side while he is filming so..

Any takers...?

Put this contraption in a Lucite box where no direct heat or wind can affect it. Then disconnect or remove the hidden motor or magnets.

Then maybe you've got something.

>> ^Sagemind:

Comments on YouTube claim that this is somehow fake - that there is a fan somehow blowing on it.
I see no fan in the one direction they show and his body blocks it from any wind on the other side while he is filming so..
Any takers...?

Comments on YouTube claim that this is somehow fake - that there is a fan somehow blowing on it.

I see no fan in the one direction they show and his body blocks it from any wind on the other side while he is filming so..

Any takers...?

I'm Israeli, so feel free to consider me biased on the matter.

Egyptians have been treated like shit for decades because they lived under the rule of a corrupt regime. Granted, the US had given aid to that regime, and its stability was in the interest of Israel - any other policy would've meant war.

The Egyptian regime had encouraged a media and literature ban on normalization with Israel, in order to turn Israel into a scapegoat for the people's frustrations and in order to stop people from being able to compare their situation to that of Israeli citizens. And as the regime controlled parts of the media, "encouraged" is perhaps too soft a term.

So this is not an instance where years of being "treated like shit" by Israel caused an understandable outburst of hatred. This is a consistent example of hatred being indoctrinated for years (some past examples: here, here and here).

>> ^Yogi:

>> ^Jinx:
>> ^Yogi:
>> ^bobknight33:
Raciest in the extreme.

There are legitimate reasons to hate Israel, and illegitimate reasons. Me? I hate people who can spell.

can or can't? ;3
I aint no fan of Israel, but throwing punches because you think they lied about being Jews? Aint no rhyme nor reason. The fact they can prank people like this because they reaction is so expected is worrying tbh. Where else in the world could this happen. No wonder the Jews were anxious when Mubarak went...
ps. That woman is beautiful.

They should be anxious because if the Egyptian military who get TONS of US funding are pushed out of power too much then it's a serious issue. The only reason Israel get to be dicks to everyone is because of the US. The US loses Egypt, their control looks more tenuous and then next they might have to actually start listening to other people rather than doing whatever the hell they want.
These people are racist fucks...but it doesn't come from nothing. They hate the fact they were tricked, less understandable. They've been being treated like shit for decades cause of the US and Israel...more understandable. You piss people off you set a bad example...like even good World War 2 soldiers who will hate Japanese people forever because of what they saw. We're humans, we're Fucked Up.

>> ^Jinx:

>> ^Yogi:
>> ^bobknight33:
Raciest in the extreme.

There are legitimate reasons to hate Israel, and illegitimate reasons. Me? I hate people who can spell.

can or can't? ;3
I aint no fan of Israel, but throwing punches because you think they lied about being Jews? Aint no rhyme nor reason. The fact they can prank people like this because they reaction is so expected is worrying tbh. Where else in the world could this happen. No wonder the Jews were anxious when Mubarak went...
ps. That woman is beautiful.


They should be anxious because if the Egyptian military who get TONS of US funding are pushed out of power too much then it's a serious issue. The only reason Israel get to be dicks to everyone is because of the US. The US loses Egypt, their control looks more tenuous and then next they might have to actually start listening to other people rather than doing whatever the hell they want.

These people are racist fucks...but it doesn't come from nothing. They hate the fact they were tricked, less understandable. They've been being treated like shit for decades cause of the US and Israel...more understandable. You piss people off you set a bad example...like even good World War 2 soldiers who will hate Japanese people forever because of what they saw. We're humans, we're Fucked Up.