tvashtarkatena

College is far more expensive, inflation adjusted, than when I went to school. On the flip side, however, interest rates for student loans were 10%. That was then. We're in the situation we're in now, undoubtedly from a whole lot of bad behavior on all sides, but there you have it. I agree with the whole personal responsibility thing, but the least expensive and most effective thing we could do to claw our way out of the financial crisis is to allow at risk debtors to renegotiate the terms of their loans. Mortgages, other loans, credit cards. The lenders still get paid, just not as much interest and not as soon as they'd like, the debtors still have to pay, but on a schedule that will keep them from bankruptcy and/or walking away from their debt entirely, plus they take the credit score hit, which precludes them from continuing the take on more debt in the near future. Instead, the government proposes to give corporations huge tax cuts (playing favorites in the free market, and invariably putting smaller companies at an even greater competitive disadvantage than they are already) and throwing tax dollars at private industry. It's like the left hand loaning the right hand money...through a seave which catches a certain percentage of it and flushes it down the toilet. Doesn't make sense to me. I do not at all agree with any across the board loan amnesty that does not have a strong test for ability to pay.

Afghanistan will certainly be the sticky wicket in U.S./European relations, but the European idea of a hands off approach may actually be the better one in the long run, if... Pakistan and India can negotiate a settlement in Kashmir and Pakistan and India can negotiate a nuclear disarmament. This would probably require the U.S. and Europe's nuclear powers to lead the way towards disarmament. Strategically, we have little to lose, as these weapons are not really usable in any scenario. As a standing excuse for other nations to arm themselves with nukes, our nukes have become far more of a threat to national security than a boon to our defense. It might also require firm incentives from Europe and the U.S. (a threat of the denial of aid and trade, etc) to get demilitarize and partition Kashmir once and for all. Such moves would make any outcome in Afghanistan less potentially damaging from a security perspective. Let's face it, the situation may not have a peaceful solution any time soon, so it's probably best to mitigate the potential fallout from a failure to stabilize that country. It's also become critical to bring the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to a peaceful, mutually agreeable resolution. That's going to require bringing Iran into negotiations, like it or not. All conflicts are eventually resolvable. As other resolved conflicts have proven, aggressively resolving the major ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Central Asia would do much to knock the ideological wind out of the extremist movements, such as the Taliban, that now operate there.

yeah, it might be time to move to the natural and cultural paradise that is the deep south.

That's not been my experience in France at all during several visits. Knowing I was American, they treated me very warmly each time. I happened upon an anniversary festival in Lyon, which included an acrobatic military display (Chinese style, human pyramids and shit) of French soldiers riding WWII era Harley Davidson dirt bikes; the announcer couldn't stop gushing about how much the US and British helped them during the war. It's easy to mistake a country's natural primary focus on their own history for a disregard for other nations. The U.S., which takes vastly more credit for defeating the Nazis than it deserves, is by far the worst offender. That credit goes to the Russians, of course, who outnumbered our troops 5 to 1, and inflicted German casualties at about the same ratio. How often do you think Americans thank Russian tourists visiting over here for mopping up most of the German Army on the Eastern Front? Yeah, you get the idea. Also, the America of WWII is not the America of today. We've pulled some really shitty stuff lately, and made the world a worse place for it. It's understandable why the French or anyone else, most of whom weren't alive during WWII, would view the U.S. based on its recent behavior, rather than what it accomplished more than 60 years ago. Most of us don't judge modern day Japan or Germany based on their behavior during the war, why should it be any different for us?

Once again the reality that the cost of a college education is fast outstripping the ability of middle-class families' ability to afford it (even factoring in meager subsidies) is lost on you. Then again, the inability for conservatives to follow the logic of a given situation to its conclusion or think ahead is their hallmark. Should the benefits of a college education be limited to a wealthy minority? If current trends continue, that may be the case. While you may be resigned to your sad fate, I doubt that many people are going to be too stoked to be working their asses off without the hope that their kids might achieve something better. Personally, I think the benefits of quality, structured higher education should be available to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay. A functioning democracy depends on an educated populace and the joys of a well-rounded knowledge of the world is valuable in and of itself. I'm sure all this is lost on you as well. I'll make it easier for someone like you, think of it this way: who's going to employ those high-school grads, the Han Chinese? Don't be so hard on FW. He's just speaking from his experience. The Puyallup Academy of Hair (not that there's anything wrong with that) just didn't cost all that much. As for the military, he served in spirit, myan.

OMG. Disbelief in HIV>AIDS = fear of vaccines = purchasing the Foo Fighters box set = Scientology = jumping on Oprah's couch = liberalism. THIS IS BIG. Thanks, JayB. We're on it. Please, tell me the Goo Goo Dolls aren't mixed up in all of this.

She's gonna be in the slide show!

and we're supposed to give a shit why, exactly?

Students having trouble paying off their loans can join the military.

It seems as though the only predermined grand design for non sentient life is that it will continue to obey the few simple rules that drive evolution. Habitable niches will be filled, hierachical complexity will increase as much as the environment allows. What that looks like at any given point is not predictable. Sentient life, with it's ability to make decisions, is different, in that it can attempt to seek a desired future state. The purpose for doing so is self defined, and therefore subjective, although it may also be advantageous from an evolutionary standpoint...or not. This is particularly true for superorganisms like human societies. The actualization of such an evolution is still not predictable, of course, and the lack of consensus as to what that purpose is is always an inhibiting factor. In the end, however, regardless of where life goes along the way, nature always gets the last word: an asteroid strikes, the sun goes nova, the universe flies apart, everything ends. Is there a purpose to a universe destined for such a cold, dead future?

You are confusing 'cooperation' with 'altruism'. Every member of a community gains from cooperating; cooperation isn't altruistic. We call that symbiosis. Cooperation is not symbiosis. Symbiosis is mutually beneficial evolution. Bees and flowers, etc. Cooperation in the animal kingdom is often (not necessarily always) a conscious choice that results in increased chances of survival for the participants. It requires no physiological/evolutionary change, only a behavioral one.

Dood, if you want more nude pics just PM me.

My need for a gym is in line with burrowing through a few too many holiday hams this season.

And that is precisely the point. All the speculation in the world about how many soldier's were saved by The Bomb doesn't change the horrific nature of detonating nuclear weapons over two civilian cities. Civilians should never be targeted in wartime, period, particularly with such massive and indescriminate weapons.

It advertises for this audience that AKA is a really caring individual who is deeply concerned about the situation.

Hopefully, Bolton requires no introduction. Yoo was the sad fuck that authored some of the worst violations of the bill of rights into the Patriot Act, and advocated for the legality of torture. Yeah, there just might be an agenda here.

Dood, get a skinnier rope.

You regularly receive 7 inches up there, no?

There's a lot of historical evidence (do your own research; most of the stuff's in print and not on the internutz) that Japan was on the verge of capitulation when The Bomb was dropped, and probably would have surrendered very soon had it not been. There is also much evidence that the U.S. wanted to see what happened to an undamaged city when hit with a nuke. They chose Hiroshima specifically because it had not been significantly damaged previously. It was 'fresh'. There was a strong sentiment within the program to use the bomb against a city, and not much to the contrary. Finally, it was suggested within the bomb program that high level Japanese officials be invited to witness a bomb test instead of killing 200,000 civilians (a staggering number that nearly eclipses the number of U.S. casualties during the entire war in both theatres); that potentially life saving suggestion went no where. Dropping such weapons on civilian cities was as inexusable then as it would be now.

dude, pat - you have a limo? wtf were we driving to canuckistan for that chill camping and recon trip for in your p.o.s., eh? Sorry you've had to stay in the servant's quarters and ride in the vehicle usually reserved for hauling mounds of gourmet leftovers from my lavish galas to the dump, man. At least I afford you unrestricted use of the air conditioner. As I'm sure you'll understand, the Island Estate, private jet, and stretch Hummer fleet are reserved for The Rainmakers. It would seem that FW is my most devoted fan; I wasn't sure it was possible, not to mention desirable, for any one person to read every one of my posts, but there you have it. Jebus, I don't even read all of them. I think I might just be the big brother FW never had.

I prefer topless pages.

Wrong direction.

Dick's going out of business.

You'll thank me when the brain eaters come for you.

I love when this happens.