tvashtarkatena

Violence is usually a result of ignorance: underestimating your enemy and overestimating your own prowess. The unintended consequences start immediately. It spreads in weird ways and more often than not comes right back at the perp. Action/Reaction. After a short while it takes on its own momentum and pretty soon nobody can remember how it all started or why. BTW, I've got a 50 calibre machine gun in my house.

Are you the majority? more importantly, what's to misunderstand about a poorly written, massively boring, 2000+ year old work of at first psycho-violent, then wierdly wimpy fiction? The Bible. Why bother? Unless you buy the bull, of course.

OK, OK, don't be so sensitive...or coy, as the case may be.

Of course, in my day, all the overhead I just spoke of didn't yet exist...and the public schools in our area still sucked. Some don't, however, and it's usually because of a core of individual teachers and admins who won't except mediocrity as an end product. Productive parent involvement (I hear that there is an overabundance of the other kind these days) also seems to help. How to make that happen, however, well...how do you hire anyone who is a cut above the rest, hmmm? How do you recognize that june a se qua, joonisaykwa, as I said, I went to public highscool, special something in someone: a friend, an artist, a woman, a proctologist...well, that is the mystery of being human, or a unicorn, isn't it?

What's the wife's opinion on that?

BTW, be sure to vote YES on 71 if you're for equal domestic partnership rights for all. Confusing, I know, but there you have it.

This is the kind of stuff we have to deal with: "Stephen Pidgeon, the attorney who presented the case against Referendum 71 to the the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce's Public Affairs Council a few weeks ago (a "yes" vote on R-71 upholds state domestic partnerships legislation), reportedly had a rather unique take on why gay folks shouldn't be given the same rights as straight folks. According to sources who were at the endorsement meeting, Pidgeon blamed domestic partnerships for recent high-profile technical problems with Boeing's 787 and Microsoft's latest software upgrade. Both companies, Pidgeon reportedly noted, passed domestic-partner policies shortly before running into technical glitches. The new policy, he argued, had "undermined [employees'] ability to make good decisions," one source at the presentation says. The Chamber voted to endorse R-71."

Where do you think our medicines, and our doctors and nurses come from? Sociology majors? Communications? Keep telling yourself you are studying something important Prole. But be sure you can afford to pay your loans back while flipping burgers. Well, actually, a good friend of mine who went on to become an MD/PhD and is now a genetics researcher at the NIH majored in English Literature in college. And another former English major friend is just finishing up her nursing degree. Add to that several successful business folks, attorneys, and, are you ready for this? SOFTWARE ENGINEERS that I know. You're a moron, KKK.

yes to the first question as to the second question, i don't like any of the tax exemption bullshit that churches get, though i know the court has upheld it. tax exempt donations to charities is fine, but not charities who wrap it up in buddha/jeebus/mohammed whatever. it's probably just my angry atheism talking i don't know anything of sweden or norway's voucher experiment - enlighten me, if you can in a 1000 words or less - is comparing our giant heterogenous nation to a tiny homogenous one sound? wouldn't the transition to a voucher system dangerously destabilize the current public schools? schools and the infrastructure already built were designed for large populations which could only decline. future planning would be harder w/ potentially giant #'s of students coming in and out of the system. Denying tax exemptions to religious versus secular non-profits would violate both the Establishment and Equal Protection clauses. The problem with many churches is that they are pretty clearly for profit organizations, yet their tax exempt status remains unchallenged for because we enjoy a heavy pro-kristian political bias in this country. Vouchers are a side show, invented by the Right as both a smoke screen issue and a way to defund and dismantle the public school system rather than fix it. Anyone who claims to believe otherwise is either an idiot or a liar. As I understand it from talking with teachers, isn't one of the main problems with the public school system that an inordinate amount of funding goes towards supporting the huge administrative/peripheral personnel (rather than teachers) that have managed to attach their suckers into the system? It's not a matter of gross funding; it's a matter of skimming.

Where do i sign up? I really want to be part of something! PM me your credit card # and salvation is garunteed! Marc, You're young and Canadian, so I thought I'd educate you about a few things regarding your new religion. First of all, new religions don't come from Canada. They come from America. Second, you'll need to find a second, third, fourth, or preferably 400th hand account of your experience to legitimize it. My suggestion would be to wait at least a century, then have someone write your story down, preferably in another language...no, wait, you've already recounted it in British Columbian, so you're OK there, then sit back on your unicorn and watch the magic happen. Finally, no legitimate religion would have either a 10,000 dollar or 5 year limit on tithing. Good luck, and God Bless.

Vanity Fair is Spray about the train wreck that is American celebrity. It just doesn't get any better than that.

You don't?

Government has many drivers to innovate and improve efficiency: a continuous scarcity of resources, political pressure, the press, individual performance evaluation systems tied to success of mission. Just as many as any business, really.

Vanity Fair published two revealing articles about that showcase of American Family Values, the Palins. The latter is an interview with Levi Johnston, who lived in the Palin house for 6 months. Not complimentary, to say the least. The title of the first Vanity Fair piece was "It came from Wasilla".

And the well known fact that 80% of new businesses go out of business within 2 years...with complete loss of initial investment all around. So much for 'competition driven' fiscal responsibility. KKK has never occupied a position of budgetary responsibility in any organization, public or private. If he had, he'd know what a circus most businesses are.

Get real. "Intelligent Design" is the specific product of a specific organization called the Discovery Institute, which originally pushed an anti-evolutionary doctrine called Creationism. It is funded by the American evangelical christians; not other religious sects or cults. The teaching of 'intelligent design' in schools was dealt a fatal legal blow after a PA court ruled that it was simply 'creationism' (the teaching of which had already been ruled unconstitutional in a previous Kansas case) with the named changed (discovery documents were rather damning, they were the very same papers as those advocating the now outlawed 'creationism', only with the word 'creationism' crossed out and substituted with the phrase 'intelligent design'...with literally no other changes. Ouch! The ACLU's legal team practically broke out martini shakers right in the court room when that shit came up...but the whole trial was like shooting fish in a barrel, really).

I support taking what we've got, what has worked: Medicare, the VA system, federal employee health insurance, and opening it up to wider availability. I also support, and this could be incremental (but not too slow) the elimination of for profit health care. Ignoring that basic conflict of interest will not lead to a solution.

I'm kind of for killing all human life, but that's another discussion (Keanu, come back!), Rush and Company are simply capitalizing (in a HUGE way), on the sentiments of the American fascist movement. They are riding a wave...but they are also stoking it, and so are not blameless in whatever results. To kill those you disagree with is fascist. To wish, say, that a bus would have hit GWB in mid 2000 is simply being morally responsible.

that's all the farther I am reading. Fuck off. That's cool. I'm writing for a larger audience. Remember, admitting you have a problem is the first step towards recovery.

Come on, Ivan, use your head. When has gov't EVER controlled its spending? When things get too expensive, they just increase taxes to cover the new "expense". Think of it this way - gov't run insurance is not competitive precisely because they can charge "under cost" untill "competitors" are out of business. But really, they don't charge "under cost" because they cover those costs through taxes taken elsewhere (or borrowing it and running bigger deficits). And there is another aspect to undermine "competitiveness" depending on how the gov't insurance is paid for. If it is paid by taxing businesses or adding a payroll tax then business and employees who ALREADY have coverage will be paying extra for nothing and there will be an unfair non-competitive aspect to drive people and businesses toward the public option precisely to avoid the burden of double paying. Government at all levels, save our federal government (empowered by jingoists like you), actually does a pretty good job of controlling spending. Unlike the plush office suites, jets, and lavish 'retreats' of their corporate counterparts, most government entities, housed in their spartan accomodations, are required by law to balance their budgets, all must do so sooner than later. Our own state has been very responsible in providing good service for the money...the monorail debacle excluded. We have excellent services here. Visit, say, the Dakotas or Mississippi and compare away. Enter the economic collapse. Did you accurately predict such an event? Well, neither did they. Increasing taxes is politically hard, and government entities know this...so they also realize that money will always be in short supply. Government entities also have a mission codified by law. Their activities (save the feds) are publicly transparent...unlike private corporations, who are out for themselves and, if not publicly traded, can pretty much do whatever the fuck they want. You have obviously never worked with or for government in any capacity, and know next to nothing about what you're talking about here. Simply put: you're just spouting some shit someone else told you to say.

No, but he has an incredible memory; recalling that he met me at Static Point in '92.

In this time of economic implosion (which must continue due to energy and other resource constraints, in addition to the worlds now unpayable debt), the U.S. will probably go one of two directions: Euro-socialist, or American fascism. It's hard to say which direction that will be, given that a substantial minority of the population subscribes wholeheartedly to the fascist model. The past 8 years proved that the fascists can actually win elections and enact their agenda, and move the general sentiment and rhetoric towards their position. Any student of Nazi Germany recognizes the power of a vocal minority. We now have, or have recently had, many of the hallmarks of fascism in place: torture, total surveillance, indefinite detention, wars of conquest, worship of the military, violent anti-liberalism, anti-intellectualism, the popularity of junk science, fascist, openly racist talk radio, the supremacy of Wall Street over the public good, the largest prison system in the world, unbelievably draconian sentences for minor crimes, fully militarized law enforcement, a 'zero tolerance' mentality...wow, quite a list. Way to go, America. Couple this with tough economic times, incredible national paranoia, a continually stressed out population, and the threat of an imploding way of life, and we could easily wind up with some extreme and desperate outcomes.

My experience with the military and it's adjunct corporations is that they are very efficient and low cost. Take USAA insurance, for example, the one that enjoys a 'semi monopoly' providing policies to military folks. Absolutely, bar none, the best in the business. No one who has USAA will disagree, here. I grew up in a military family. You get hurt or sick, you go get care. There is was zero worry, and no billing fuck ups and hassles. I realize that a war time military can be one snafu after the next, but during my time a the peace time Navy I was always impressed at how smoothly and efficiently the day to day things hummed along. It's specious and not a little stupid to compare the failure of a government project which was doomed from the start, such as Iraq, with routine, day to day functions such as providing health care (which the government has been doing a much better job of than private industry for decades, now). But these stone stupid slogans are all the Right's got, because its cow-eyed foot soldiers don't have the capacity to realize that they are just so many tools for corporate interests who's sole interest is to fleece the populace in a non-partisan fashion. They realize that their mouths are open wide 'in protest' (of what, they don't really seem to be able to articulate); they don't realize that there's a big, fat corporate cock in it.

I was wondering when someone would recognize these two gents. Young crowd, here, I guess. Or quiet.

Ah, but what is a 'tvash'?