tvashtarkatena

Creationists: There's a great, big, fuzzy, hands-on kitty way up in the sky. Evolutionary Theists: There's a great, big, fuzzy, hands-off kitty way up in the sky.

You are correct on all points, of course, which is why I used the term 'near corpse', to signify the undead, brain eating hysterical mosh that is the GOP. Behind it all, of course, are the quiet, very rational hyper-wealthy, who will continue doing what they've been doing for all these decades until we burn them out of their estates, violate their shitzus, and convert their country clubs into communal schools for the eligitimate blue blood/bad blood half breeds that spring forth in the wake of our rude boy horde.

Well, I suppose it's about time to haul this one out again [video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ee9VwHQt44

Watching the Evangelicals duke it out with the hapless but hyper-wealthy scientologists (market share predation?) is like watching the various flailing arms of the GOP beat their own near-corpse to death. Meanwhile, the Catholics...the world's least sexy religion, are creating a parallel Vaticanverse in their attempts to woo the Anglicans, who have married, female priests. "How is this not a total screw job, again?" Everyone knows, of course, that people are finally giving up religion by the millions: Atheism is winning. Good times!

"DJEETHUTH LUVTH YOU!"

Or are you STALKING?

Someone you know, Feck?

stalking either of dem der bitzes would be like stalking satan-incarnate Here, Satan Satan Satan!

You're not one of the world's fattest, Ivan, but you're still no picnic when it comes time to yard on the belay device....

Tis advertized in Bo-o-ston, New York, and Buffalo!

Spaceships seem more credible than floating down on an silver cloud or riding down on a flying silver horse or... and how do you try to convert dead jewish people? "Hey, you...wake up!"

It isn't too hard to figure out that babies are dumber than a shitty diaper. Despite the outrageous claims of their parents, those things can't do jack. Then they hit 3 and suddenly there's a half built rocket ship in the playroom.

No, it really isn't, actually. Nor is it any less 'legitimate'. It's just more recent. I heard an evangelical preacher making fun of Scientology the other day. The Emperor of the Universe. The Spaceship. The volcanoes. Now THAT was funny.

Shades of JayB's parroting the administration's 'we need to know more before we act' global warming stall tactic of 2 years ago or so. Despite stark, nation-scale evidence of the across the board superiority of just about every other first world health care system over our own, there will always be a few morons who just can't seem to decipher the memo.

I heart stalking.

Of course, I mean all of that in the very best sense, Jay.

Keep in mind that includes inefficiencies and redundancies in each of the thousands of insurance companies which are themselves incredibly redundant in every respect, but especially so in claims processing. I'm guessing administrative and systems redundancies actually run more like 75-85% over a single payer clearing house. And you would be wrong. the inefficiencies you speak of actually run, on average, about 350% higher in the U.S. verses all other industrialized countries who offer some form of public option: about 5% versus our 18%. Look, the 'debate' is over. The experiment's been done since WWII in all industrialized countries including our own. Our employer based private health care system sucks ass: it's a joke to the rest of the civilized world, it's near the bottom overall regarding outcomes and stats (despite JayB's endless stream of 'my wife's fresh out of med school so I'm an expert complete and utter bullshit' and it's incredibly cruel. Witnessing what is happening to a large number of friends makes me an expert on that one. We need a strong, not for profit, public option. The exact form doesn't matter than much: they all work fine elsewhere and herere where they are used.

You're simply not in touch with reality.

Yeah, I'm not really sure I care whether or not the money went for the kids piano lessons...in Monaco...or some chick with coke spoons for pasties.

No, it's entirely appropriate and quite instructive that the suffering and destruction caused by these people and those like them is driven by the basest, most pathetic motivations possible. These "captains of industry", the "best and the brightest" that are driving the planet off a cliff (whether they're doing it legally or not) are simply infants playing in each others dirty diapers or strung-out adolescents. It's a simple truism but it is an obscenity and makes the suffering they're creating actually seem worse. No wonder we need to create myths of shadowy, omnicient conspiracies to understand the exercise of power. The reality is far more depressing. Cue the "human nature", "it's always been this way", biodeterminist horseshit whenever... Perhaps if they'd established a firm foundation of respectful friendship with those coke whores before getting blown....

hey tvash, there's yer new sig! I was right about one thing....

I'm no expert in intelligent design, but isn't this the gist of their argument? So this is an argument they would use in support of intelligent design. Yes, you are correct. In any case, 'precisely calibrated' systems are prone to failure. Evolution tends to disfavor them, producing instead more robust 'good enough' systems, which are usually supplemented by a patchwork of back up systems, and crowded with legacy spare parts in the process of evolving into something else or nothing at all.

I sold a ray gun today.