Absolute power and all that.

And for the repubs coming in to gloat, you guys got so much to be proud of?

While the two primary packs of wankers do their best to be as much like each other as possible, short sighted members of the public pick sides as if it mattered worth a shit... Any wonder why people are so apathetic about politicians...

There is nothing in this ad to suggest violent revolution, but it's quite possible there will be a violent revolution in the next 20 years. All the ingredients are there: apathetic, unresponsive government, obeisant State-Run media, government-controlled dummy factories aka "publick schools", massive out-of-control spending and ZERO accountability from the elected.

The very tyrannical federal thugverment the Antebellum South afeared has now been a reality for over 60 years. There is no aspect of modern life that petty UNelected DC bureaucrats are not investigating, legislating and regulating. Liberty has slowly been supplanted by false security.

So yeah, don't rule out a revolution of some kind.


"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable." --JFK

Children, children.....choggies not a troll-When the world's inhabitants experience non-linearity naturally, they resist. It is choggie's job to remain ever-virulent..er, vigilant, lest those so full of themselves become lazy, apathetic, and robotic in their thoughts and actions-

By the way-never asked to return, the herd called me back because they recognized something they needed....an example of someone who can gather information otherwise hidden in plain sight and make it simple to misunderstand.

Thank ya, squire!

In reply to this comment by demon_ix:
*quality, in a creepy sort of way.

Damn pizza made me hungry, for some reason.

i am with Nordi on this.
plutocracy.
many here have made some good points but let me add a few that have not been mentioned.
let me do this by asking a question first?
how?
how was this even able to occur?
the answer is simple as it is insidious and subtle.
propaganda or as the federal government quaintly calls it "council of public relations".
this entity purposely chose this name due to goebbels giving "propaganda" a bad name.
considering that america has over 2000 media outlets which are only owned by 5 people/corporations,
is it any wonder that the average american population is unsure,ill-informed and kept squabbling in a divisive polemic?
they own the largest megaphone on the planet and use it like a bludgeon to keep people arguing over trivialities while the house burns down.they keep people fearful and suspicious of their neighbor.they have people convinced they are powerless and impotent to stop what is transpiring.
instilling apathy or fear. both work for those who seek to empower themselves and keep you quaking with dread in the corner,or so apathetic you do nothing.either end justifies their means.

well...ok.they have a pretty powerful propaganda machine.
how is it able to work so effectively besides the obvious?
indoctrination.
basically..in short.the public school system.
i have already shown my ire and indignation towards this abomination on another thread.
but suffice to say it is the public school systems very own curriculum that prepares young minds to tacitly accept the authority of the state.
NCLB teaches very little but specific information while disregarding the VITAL importance of teaching critical thinking skills.so students may test well but never learned the tools to not only question authority but have the ability to formulate the question in the first place.
go to school.
get good grades (a meaningless,arbitrary measuring system).
go to college or trade school.
get a job.
marry and have children.
then be a good consumer and buy buy buy:
a house,a car every three years,a big screen TV and more superficial crap in order to impress your neighbors how "successful" you are.
you are taught from a very young age that your worth is based on beauty and how big your bank account is.
your worth to american society can be measured by your ability to be a good consumer.
fail at that and america has the largest private prison system just waiting for to fill their cells.
either way... you are disposable.

one last thing.
what if the corporate propaganda machine does not work on you?
what if you were a pretty clever monkey and were able to slip through the indoctrination of public schools.
oh..they have an institution for that and it is BRILLIANT!
religion.
dont want to play by the rules set up for you to be a good consumer slave?
well they have a special place for those who do not obey god.
so..you are not afraid of the government?
you saw through the indoctrination of the public school system?
you think you are so clever but god has a place for those who do not obey.
oh no...not in this lifetime.
but the one AFTER,when you die.
so you dont want to obey the rules.
ok.
but just know that after you die god will judge you and send you to a place to burn and suffer.
for eternity.
it is brilliant in its simplicity.
and it all comes down to the same thing,every single time.
FEAR.
the most influential and divisive emotion ever is FEAR.
they got you as a child,as an adult and even after you die.
WORK-OBEY-CONSUME

once you recognize these tactics it is not very hard to walk away from them and ignore them.
but first to have to recognize the puppet strings in order to do that.

"people should not be afraid of their governments.governments should be afraid of the people" V

>> ^village1diot:
That will never happen. I look at it like this.
These corporations are like a lion grrrrabbing a zebra by the throat. And every time we move the teeth just go deeper. They will never let go and its too late to do anything about it.
I can think of only one way to stop them at this point - a massive revolution by the people. In this country that is highly unlikely. We are surrounded by religious nutjobs who think Jesus is coming to take us away and could give a crap about this world. Men who care more about the size of their dick than anything else. And women who are always right, even when they are wrong, and only worry about their vanity. And I know that everyone doesn't fall into these categories, but too many do. Let's face it, us that care, we will never get enough support to back us on any issue that isn't in the corporate interest. They control everything, most important of which is information. They censor everything through the media and there is nothing that most people hear about that they don't want us to hear. As you can tell, I'm not optimistic about this situation at all.
<div><div style="margin: 10px; overflow: auto; width: 80%; float: left; position: relative;" class="convoPiece"> dannym3141 said:<img style="margin: 4px 10px 10px; float: left; width: 40px;" src="http://static1.videosift.com/avatars/d/dannym3141-s.jpg" onerror="ph(this)"><div style="position: absolute; margin-left: 52px; padding-top: 1px; font-size: 10px;" class="commentarrow">◄</div><div style="padding: 8px; margin-left: 60px; margin-top: 2px; min-height: 30px;" class="nestedComment box">These people should not be allowed to go around bullying people in this "free" world in which we live. They should be concerned that they'll never see their family for a few years, that'd make them think twice before pushing people around with green paper.
</div></div></div>

Mate i share your lack of enthusiasm, i think we've reached a critical apathy point, where mostly no one cares enough about anything to get active or get involved unless it's something completely off the scale. The position that we have allowed our politicians, banks, and businesses to get into is something we should be extremely ashamed of. And today the people who are growing up to become the next generation of politicians bankers and heads of business are undereducated (to make school stats go up), indisciplined (because they might sue us if we shout at them at school), greedy (because we tell all kids that they're capable of things that they are clearly not) and apathetic themselves.

Hey kids, did you fail/barely pass all your schooling and colleges? Don't worry, everyone goes to university nowadays. We've watered it down so that you can go and learn whilst the bright people who push this world and humanity to new heights get a more watered down education which is also now spread across too many students! ENJOY YOUR LIFE OF OVER-QUALIFIED MEDIOCRITY. NO WONDER PEOPLE WITH DEGREES ARE UNEMPLOYED, DEGREES AIN'T WORTH SHIT ANYMORE. How come we suddenly send trade occupations through universities? I know loads of electricians and such that say they have to UNTEACH people the university degree that they spend £12000 on before they can learn properly how to be an electrician. Suddenly apprenticeships and on-the-job experience isn't good enough, we need them to sit in a fucking classroom and get huge student debt to do a good job? I guarantee in 1 generation we'll have a shortage of quality electricians. All our electricians will have a PhD but not a fucking clue how to change a fucking lightbulb.

AND WE ONLY HAVE STUDENT DEBTS BECAUSE WE CAN'T AFFORD UNIVERSITY GRANTS BECAUSE 90% OF THE POPULATION NOW GOES TO A UNIVERSITY TO DO A DEGREE WHICH THEY DON'T NEED OR PROBABLY EVEN USE.

Oh my god i had typed "I won't rant though." Then when i went back to correct a spelling mistake, i'd already ranted.

I fail to see how her blindness affects the hilariousness. (heh)

Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder were just as blind and they were constantly grinning.
Maybe she's just naturally boring and apathetic.. and blind. =/

Tho if she could hear how happy her dead pan cowbell playing made us.. she'd probably crack a smile.

One of the most apathetic cats alive. My cat would have started clawing at me as soon as she realized what I was doing.

>> ^Psychologic:
Many atheists do have a definite belief that no god(s) exist. Such a belief is also a logical fallacy because, as you stated, science cannot prove such a statement. Any definite belief for or against something that cannot be observed is basically "faith".

As mentioned frequently on the sift, atheism is the lack of belief in a god/gods, not the belief that there is no god. This is basis of Dr. Harris' claim that atheism, or the rejection of various gods, does not depend on dogma.

I think you'll find that very few atheists profess in a definite belief that no gods(s) exist. For example, Dawkins is a self described "de facto" atheist because there is very little probability that god(s) exist.

Personally, I'm an apathetic atheist because I believe that since god has no observable effects on the universe, the question of his/her/its existence is moot.

Upvote for apathetic kitty in the background.

Trying to keep teenagers from fucking is like trying to hold back the tide. Just make sure they're safe, educated and ready when they do take the leap.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

"We all know that the bible is written by humans. We all know that evolution is obvious."

Do we? I seem to be running into quite a few people who don't know that. You make a reasonable case for moderation but I for one believe in the cause of atheism as an important one:

It's important to prevent creationism from being taught as science in schools.

It's important that religious zealots don't prevent women from exercising their reproductive rights.

It's important that we don't let evangelicals proclaim that the United States is a "Christian Nation" and obscure the lines between church and state

It's important that we stand up against using some crappy passages in Leviticus to condemn Gays as abominations

a few points to make:
---
The restaurant/pub owner/manager was dumb because of all the negative publicity. he/she will easily lose more than $16 worth of business. I blame the manager because if the service was shitty, then they didn't have enough staff (or people called off and no one was brought in as replacement), or that that groups particular waiter/waitress was being lazy because he/she knew that they *automatically* get a tip for parties of 6, so they focused on other tables.
if it was the manager who called the cops, then the owner should have stepped in (the next day or sooner) and dropped the charges before it goes to court, and give them free meals or something. even if it was a "contract" as in written on the menu or told in person, if they got shitty service, they shouldn't have to pay for it. The soup nazi might be funny on Seinfeld, but in real life, in most locations, he wouldn't stay in business.
---
In general, I think it is ok for a restaurant to add a "mandatory" gratuity (oxymoronic or not) to large groups because they are more difficult to handle. They take up more space, stay longer, and are louder than multiple smaller groups combined.
I'm also ok with it being called gratuity, as opposed to a "fee" because it removes ambiguity, such that people aren't tipped twice, and customers aren't asking about the "fee". p.s. The IRS definition for this is "autogratuity".
---
waiters and waitresses make less than minimum wage (usually $2-$3 hourly). for their federal taxes they have to report 100% of their tips to be legal. Employers are required to report all charged tips, and cash tips are estimated based on previous tax year filings for similarly situated employees (- 2%), at least monthly. (For example if all waitstaff made an average of 17% tips for the past year, the employer has to report 15% of gross sales for that employee to the IRS). If the waiter/waitress makes less than minimum wage with their combined $3/hour + tips, the employer must make up the difference to bring them to minimum wage for the hours worked. (But if they are that bad, they would probably get fired)
---
as a teenager, I worked as a busboy in a restaurant. maybe some larger chains are handled differently, but here it was up to the waitress to give the busboys (or busgirl) a portion of the tips they made (this is tipping-out, goes for bartenders as well as busboys). Since I knew the general price of everything on the menu, and also how many customers there were that night, I knew which waitresses were cheapskates and which ones tipped their busboys well. Guess which ones got priority?
---
I think it is a self-perpetuating cultural flaw in America that requires this tipping system. In several other parts of the world, family is more important, as well as dedication to employers. People works together as a team, and they take pride in their work. So, if a waiter does a good job, it makes the restaurant look good, and if they do a bad job, they feel ashamed. American culture rewards individual achievement so much more, that it leads toward apathetic employees and employers. Everyone is thinking of "how can I get ahead?" and so most employers don't care about employees, because there is no more loyalty. People switch jobs and companies much more frequently now than 50 years ago, or even 30 or 20 years ago. It comes down to money and individual gain.
So what's this have to do with tipping? If everyone automatically got tipped the same amount, then the waitperson would have little incentive to do a good job (or NOT do a shitty job, as exampled here). Whereas if they are rewarded based on performance, then they will consistently do a better job. If we switched to a system of "0% tips, raise menu prices, raise wages" then you'd have some good employees, but a whole lot who "don't give a shit" and do the bare minimum to not get fired, and overall quality of service would go down, but prices would stay the same.
Not tipping works in asia - because the staff take pride in their work, without the feeling of individual entitlement.
---
Lastly I'm surprised that no one linked to this video during this thread -
http://www.videosift.com/video/3rd-Rock-From-The-Sun-Tipping-Like-It-Should-Be
---
that is all, thanks for reading.

Our own Choggie Kendall, leading the charge with a little social commentary.

You can tell he's not totally batshit insane, if he was the following would be single-spaced...

"T.V., it
satellite links
our United States of Unconsciousness
Apathetic therapeutic and extremely addictive
The methadone metronome pumping out
150 channels 24 hours a day
you can flip through all of them
and still there's nothing worth watching"

-Television: The Drug of The Nation

To all the local and national twits who call themselves purveyors of information, journalists, and any other such felicitous and inappropriate moniker used to describe their bile. Get a REAL job, assholes!!!"

^ Spot on. We have the best government money can buy, and that's just one reason a totally free market won't work. You'd need an uncorruptable government in place to begin with.

Another thing you need for free markets to work is a general public that isn't apathetic. If the tobacco companies started going out of business when people started to figure out the link to cancer, we wouldn't need regulations. If people had stopped buying cars without seatbelts (or consistently spent cash on an aftermarket seatbelt) then we wouldn't have needed to regulate it. People have this ridiculous tendency to believe that "it can't happen to me" and that destroys the free market's usefulness. The fact that Blue Shield is still in business after reports that people were being systematically denied further coverage because they cost too much... if people weren't so damn apathetic they would be out of customers within a month. Hell, they wouldn't even have done it because they would know that customers would switch providers.

Also, in what type of free market would people with pre-existing conditions get coverage? None. It just wouldn't happen.

And "right to free services"? I believe I have the right to police protection, fire protection, public education, etc... We have the "rights" that we as a society decide to grant ourselves, and we have to collectively agree on how to pay for it as well. None of it is free in the end, we're just talking about "no immediate direct costs".

Look, I love the free market for a lot of things. Electronics, for example. It works for that type of thing. But I'm sick (no pun intended) of thinking about how my health is some bean counter's liability that needs to be reduced whenever possible to increase corporate profits. I would much rather have an indifferent government drone monitoring my health plan than somebody who is actively looking for ways to screw me out of my money.

Is the guy in blue an officer (:46)? He sure is apathetic!