tvashtarkatena

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'?

You continue to prove yourself to be an idiot. Why this is one of your apparent needs remains a mystery. We already have a highly successful version of the complete public option...and have for many decades. It's called the military. We also a highly successful version of single payer: Medicare. Both have worked very well in the 50 or so industrialized nations that have gone to them. Their costs, on average, are half of what ours are per capita. Does someone really need to walk you through the cost savings of vastly simplified, standardized billing systems (18% for administrative costs in the U.S., 5% on average everywhere else) and the leverage of high volume buying power? Do us all a favor and STFU until you have a clue about something...anything.

And a choada (berry) is a dingle berry. Christ, were you people hatched out of eggs or something?

That's like, your opinion, man. I started out in a used pair of RR's (blue boots). Skipped EBs because Spanish Rubber hit the scene. I recall some debate about poor Spanish shoe factory workers dying early from rubber inhalation or some shit, but we ran out and bought our Fires, anyway. I also recall all my cheapskate EB clad friends kvetching about whether or not they should retire their freshly resoled (ala Dave Page) shoes for the new stuff. Of course there was the brief but required 'cheating' debate. A couple of my regular posse included a beer gutted welder in snakeskin lycra and his enormously backsided girlfriend, both of whom could crank upper 10s and the occasional 11...much to the consternation of the more serious minded body nazis of the day, particularly those who liked to 'give advice'.

Holy jebus, those are EBs.

THere's a whole lot of standard conflating going on here: Waco with the liberal movement Liberals with Russian communists Pretty inane stuff, but standard procedure from the Right, which does suffer from a dearth of credible copy. Let's take Waco and the ATF, for example. Now, the latter, as an agency, has historically been one of the most incompetent, right wing federal assclown fests in our history, followed closely by the FBI (who also, as I recall, played prominently in the affair). These yahoos swooped in from outside, in complete ignorance of the relationship between the Branch Dividians and local law enforcement (which was cordial), and thought they'd be going on a lark...until the Branch Dividians opened up with 50 calibers and managed to kill 4 of these idiots on opening day. And Janet Reno? Yeah, not a good job there, Janet, but then, you're not spokesperson for the liberal movement. SO here we have a morons conflation of the Waco incident with the liberal movement, which actually supports the Branch Dividian's right to free worship and abhors excessive use of force by the government, in addition to the over militarization of law enforcement. Contrast that with the Far Right, which avidly supports both, and (large parts of it, at least) shove a very specific brand of Kristian Kookiness down the rest of our throats. Apparently, it's not comprehensible for certain posters to imagine that a person such as Reno, or an agency such as the ATF, under a democratic administration, to NOT represent the liberal movement, or to act against its principles. Nor is it comprehensible to the same posters, apparently, that agencies have histories and staff that span far beyond the short half lives of presidential administrations and their appointees; that the FBI and ATF's culture might actually be anything BUT liberal. But these higher concepts require a certain capacity, and, well, yeah. Nuff said there.

Let's hear your Clarence Thomas imitation again, TTK... for "illustrative purposes" of course. And what was that you posted on this forum about W... and a "bullet in his head"... I can't imitate Thomas. Nobody can. The guy never opens his mouth. No one's even sure he's awake most of the time. As for Bush, I don't remember what I said, and of course don't give a fuck, but yes, a bullet in his noggin certainly would have done all of us a whole lot of good had it been delivered at the right time...like before his first election.

This kind of 'bloodthirsty liberal' rhetoric is straight out of the Nazi playbook regarding those evil Jews. It's tried and true shit that really gets the crackers stirred up for a good lynchin'. Only there aren't no more lynchins to blow the stem off at anymores, Crackers. So git yer limp dicks down to the next town hall meeting to squeel with the rest of the castrada while the rest of us move the fuck on with real life in the real world. Cue FW's TTK-as-anti-semite comment. Shit, he should have a control character on his keyboard for that by now.

That's better.

So let's see what we've learned here: a) Liberals are bloodthirsty savages. b) I'm the Unabomber. FW likes to whack off onto a doug fir whenever he thinks about a) or b) Carry on.

Looks like a hericium at first glance, probably a hericium abietus (Conifer Coral hericium) if it was in our area growing on a conifer...usually doug fir. All the hericiums are delicious if fresh (but they don't last long), either raw or sauteed, plus they have no known poisonous lookalikes.

This is my suck pine marten pic, BTW:

It may not be Art Wolf (I don't even pretend to be set up for taking wildlife pics...save the occasional point blank goat encounter, I just don't carry the equipment for it), but I was surprised how many positive comments I got regarding that photo despite it's obvious marginal quality. It was the pic that most responders seemed to be excited about. Frankly, I didn't expect to get anything at all, so I was OK with the result. Pine Martens are pretty rare in Washington; I've only seen one previously, and lots of folks I know who get out a lot have never seen one. For that reason alone I thought the pic was worth posting. Apparently, others thought so, too.

Not much to add to Ivan's arguments. He pretty much crushed it in one blow. That and the supporting pie chart, showing where our money's really being TOTALLY FUCKING WASTED.

Yeah, until you consider that it was shot hand held using the 10x digital zoom feature meant only for tripods in low light. Try it sometime, bitch. It's a wonder how I got a single recognizable pic out of that situation at all.

It's no secret that the U.S. Army has undergone an extreme make-over in the Wermacht style since Vietnam. The helmets, the demeanor, the ROE, (shoot everything that moves curfews, door kicking, etc), their (former) interrogation techniques, even their desert chamo is straight out of the Nazi playbook. The informal stuff, however, the 'tea-bagging, let-the-bodies-hit-the-ground, top-predator" bullshit so popular and encouraged these days is probably uniquely 'American'. Well, the Nazi's could be intimidating. But then again, they were also not very well liked universally. And, in no small part because of that, the rest of the world decided it no longer wanted them around. Our situation is different, of course. We have all the guns, now, the Nazis didn't. Like the Nazi's towards the end of their adventure, we've had much of the blustery wind kicked out of our sails through the predictable failures of our recent foreign campaigns. Unlike the Nazis, the world vaguely remembers us before psychotic paranoia and a unilateral sense of world entitlement took over our national psyche, most particularly during the moron years. They wait, perhaps in vain, perhaps not, for the screaming lunatic to put the gun down and shuffle back to the crumpled remains of his humanity.