ivan

they didn't happen to find his liver missing and a can of fava beans on the ground nearby did they? the pic is a decent reminder - crazy is crazy, no matter what side of the spectrum it falls - the right sure does seem to want to dance w/ its wackos though

christ i'm glad i don't have to teach social studies to 3rd graders

if it were to go down this way, perhaps we could shed a tear for acorn and remember them as martyrs on the altar of freedom?

i'm imagining htis maryland law doesn't apply to the po-po? so, to be in bounds of the law, the film-makers needed to do a tape-less dry run, then get the cops in on it? sure does seem to cut the legs out of investigative journalism. does the freedom of the press take precedence over the right to privacy? the acorn thing does seem small potatoes - corruption is a constant in the human experience - the news, if its doing its job well, identifies outbreaks, especially bad ones, and the public system cleans it out - repeat cycle - this example doesn't seem too pernicious, certianly not enough to throw the whole organization out, afterall, it sounds like the journalists found many more employees who did the right thing than not

congrats on being alive - now train up your women, eh? mandatory 24 hour for self-rescue 'fore you go getting The Man in on it!

you sound like you could use a hug

no harm, no foul - how worked up was anybody gonna get over a total stranger who was in all likilihood jsut fine? and it's not like the OP was gonna be popping back in to see how her thread was doing...

amen brotha - as i was trying to say in some other thread recently, hate is the great anteceent to politics - we start w/ hate, then w/ decide who to focus it on - the best we can hope for is to focus it generally, not specifically

uh, isn't the gibbon quote more comprehensible? "The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful."

“The power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.”

duh - have you SEEN what they pass off as quality tv?

hey, the aussies eat plenty of beef and watch plenty of tv but they're okay smart!

somebody's in trouble

you boys better slow down or you'll have this horse reduced to pulp BEFORE michael moore's newest film!

i hate spitters p.s. how the hell did i not think of that one to start?

ya'll gonna be round this weekend? was thinking of spending 2 nights on the ledge and doing some solo-aiding in between...

watermelons come w/ seeds still?

that's the tactical advantage you gain when your ancestors have sex w/ livestock for a couple hundred generations

Nice, Mark. Its not often Tvash runs away with his tail between his legs. Yeah, not quite what happened there. More like not wanting to enter into the same non-discussion, this time with a 12 year old, for the 17th time. He climbs better than you too. ah, but does he know more about sean connery?

violence is just as often a result of a sensible calculation - the wild west as case in point - the indians don't have shit for soldiers or weapons, but they have a lot of land - we want the land and everythign that comes w/ it, and we have a hell of a lot more guys n' guns - charge!

i disagree that it has no place (though i of course don't believe in it) - it belongs in social studies as part of the history of the struggle between science/religion in us history (and as such must be explianed as a "theory" in enough detail to be made comprehensible) - it also must be discussed frequently in current event conversations, since, for better or worse, it is part of common public discourse religion should be taught in school, but in an equal opportunity, non-evangelical fashion - how on earth can we understand folks of different faiths if we don't understand their basic belief systems? the class i took on islam long before 9/11 has been immensely useful to me in comprehending the modern world.

christ, it's not hard to figure why economists are the first to get put against the wall when the revolutions come like witchdoctors debating the virtues of snake spit!

as for violence being productive sometimes, sure, okay - it keeps us from getting too bored, i reckon - to steal from adams, we're not much more than hairless apes w/ digital watches though, and its not like there's some way everything is supposed to be - kill/don't kill, coke/pepsi, van halen/van hagar, whatever - i'd just appreciate it if the neighbors wouldn't play their music so fucking loud when i'm trying to sleep, ya know?

hate isn't a poltical category - hate is one of our deepest human emotions, as powerful as love if not more so, since it's much easier to come by (unless you have a bottomless supply of ecstasy and don't live someplace fucking hot) - hate buzzes around and through us all the time, some of us more than others - hate is a renewable resource, as regular as rain - hate goads man to most every despicable act he's capable of, and is the starting point for most folks politics - the well-spring of hate bubbles over, and leaders point to someone or something to vent it off - no party has a monopoly on it.

okay i take it back - the bible does have some amusing parts - who can't flip through leviticus or dude-er-onmy w/o having a few healthy gut laughs at the various howard hughesian minute directions on slaughtering and offering fatted marmots in the temple n' whatnot? or the assurances that almighty bog commands you to fuck the teenage daughters of your captured enemies into submission bfore selling them as slaves? or admonitions to kill bitches on the rag if they even look at you or your stuff? hiliarous, and certinaly yes, a great history lesson on how the hill billies amongst us have proud roots. to steal from alex though, i wasn't such a fan of the later half of the book which was like, too much preachy talking, and not enough of the good old in-out, in-out and toe-chocking your enemies on their heads before retiring to the tent w/ your wives' handmaidens for old ass reading, i prefer the epic of gilgamesh or herodotus or anything that hasn't served as a bs excuse for every excerable act guilty man is capable of