hafilax

The problem with the anarchist ideal is that it assumes that everyone wants to actively protect themselves. How many gun activists say that they are glad that they have one but are afraid to use it? There are many people that are more concerned about hurting someone else accidentally than of protecting themselves. These people's freedoms need to be protected as well. Do they have to hire body guards? The police really get victimized by the gun advocates. Since there are such public cases of police brutality they are really the ones that the 2nd amendment armed militia supporters are really arming themselves against since there is no hope of taking on the army. The same people brush aside the accidental death statistics as meaningless and then say they need to protect themselves from the oppressive police force but I'm willing to bet that those statistics are equally as meaningless in the grand scheme of things. I guess it is nice to see southern white middle class Americans feel concern for inner city Blacks and Hispanics. Besides, pulling a gun on a cop is a sure fire way to get killed. Would you rather get beaten and given a giant cheque in compensation or shot and killed? I have a lot of sympathy for the role that police play in society. It is hard to balance supporting the police with allowing free access to guns. Imagine every domestic dispute call having guns present. How many women are going to pull a gun on their abusive spouse to protect themselves? If they were that empowered they wouldn't be there to begin with. How do you keep the crazy guy from having a gun? In the videos a woman seemed to imply that gun free zones encourage the crazies citing Columbine and Post Office attacks. Those places are gun free zones because historically they have been targets. The nutbars that go on these killing sprees are suicidal. They're not afraid of an armed teacher. They'd have to be more careful in their planning and I'm sure they'd embrace the challenge by going bigger. The real solution is to find these people before they attack. That starts in the home and in the community. I guess I've rambled enough and nobody's going to read this anyway. My point is that Americans are well armed as it is and it's easy for criminals to get guns so the gun control proposals won't help much. If you really want to keep the sane public armed and the crazies without then work on systems for finding the crazies. Propose alternatives that will deal with all the problems that gun control activists are worried about. Drop the 2nd Amendment argument because it is idiotic. I think the keys are in community development, education, easing poverty and eliminating alienation and racism. A healthy society doesn't need guns so healing society will ease the need for guns. The hobbyists get to keep their guns, those who don't want them don't need them and everyone's happy.

Here's some Canadian Road Apples for all y'all: [video:youtube]5s1hySYXWvQ

OK I actually watched the videos and it seems to me the Penn is an anarchist and an idealist. It would have been interesting if they had actually looked into the logistics of an armed public taking on the Government. I don't think it could happen. The government is much more afraid of not getting reelected than of an armed take over. I still maintain that the 2nd Amendment argument is spurious.

The apple and oranges argument is that drugs are far more addictive than guns. I doubt even the most die hard NRA'er would go through the DT's if you took his guns away. People that are hooked on the worst of them will do anything to get drugs whereas taking away guns will create outrage but I doubt many people would prostitute themselves for an AK47. I do agree that the liberals should the drop gun control thing although not because of the bullshit 2nd Amendment argument. It's not the right solution to the real problem which IMO is poverty and class separation. Legalizing pot would free up a lot of police and financial resources for dealing with that as well. In some ways an armed public is safer in a mutually assured destruction kind of way but I think that a voluntarily unarmed public will be a happier or at least less paranoid one. Did anyone really enjoy the cold war (other than arms manufacturers)? A community militia would be no match for the army and if the soldiers turn against the government as well then why does the public need to be armed?

I just watched Steep recently too. It was pretty good but I didn't find it as interesting as Riding Giants which is a similar treatment of big wave surfing. It was interesting to see the evolution of the big mountain turn going from the survival hop to the big sweeping turns that are popular now. The avalanche at the end was freaky.

I believe the OP is Cyclops off the west coast of Australia. I didn't know it had been surfed although I think it's been boogie boarded. Surprisingly boogie boarders do some bad ass stuff. Cyclops and Teahupoo are the crack of surfing. A big deadly rush that's over in a flash. It's like a fist that comes out of nowhere and pounds. Here's Laird in Teahupoo [img:left]http://www.sheilaomalley.com/archives/laird_hamilton_teahupoo.jpg[/img]

The popular vote for POTUS was essentially 50-50. If the Democrats want to hold power they'll have to tread a fine line. Will they compromise their ideals to try and hold on to the swing voters? I would like to think that if the Americans benefit under the Dems that they will hold on but that would require the public understanding that benefits have been gained. I would like to see Obama push his full Domestic agenda as far as possible. I think the foreign agenda really depends on if he can muster some help from Europe. Canada is on board for Afghanistan (not that we have that much to offer). We'll see what becomes of the saber rattling by Russia. I can't see the US pulling out of Iraq completely within the next 4 years but any work toward that goal will be appreciated.

Awww [img:left]http://gailschwartz.com/west_coffee/assets/muffin.jpg[/img]

Someone's bitter that it's raining in Smith.

Blizzard of Aahs

A bearing or sliding surface maybe. Is it hardened stainless steel? Carbide is about the only thing that will possibly drill that AFAIK. If you're skilled with a grinder you might be able to do something. I'm no machinist though. More of an amateur that has cobbled together a few physics experiments.

Carbide?

I can see where this is going: http://ifuckedanncoulterintheasshard.blogspot.com/

[video:youtube]nMqxNPsfN50

1932 and 2008 seem to be analogous. What's your point? There's no way of knowing what would have happened if McCain had won. It is what it is.

A thought just occurred to me. You can probably do a lot with a video camera and some self analysis if you really understand what the books and videos are trying to tell you. I've always wondered what I look like skiing and snowboarding. I would love to get my hands on a video camera this winter. Especially a POV setup so I can scare my parents.

That's not a fair comparison. Skiing is a luxury. Most people rely on their vehicle for their wellbeing. How much training do you need to become a ski instructor? A two week course? How much training to be a mechanic? Ski instructors that have been at it for a while get some hefty tips (in Whistler at least). From what I've seen, people that have taken too many lessons ski like robots. If that's what you want to do, great. I just don't think it's the be all and end all solution to learning to ski.

Mtguide, that's a little over the top. People learn how to ski just fine without a single day of instruction. I agree that lessons can be a great thing but it's not for everybody.

Take a 1/2 day group lesson or something like that. The instructor will point out any bad habits. If you don't have any then you know you're on the right track. Try to find some people that are enough better than you that you can watch them and ask questions but not so much better that they'll be bored. When I'm teaching friends I give them an hour of my day and then I take off. It gives me enough time to point out some things to work on on their own. If you really want to short cut the learning curve then you're going to have to luck out and find a good soul to mentor you or invest some money.

I'm guessing you haven't been to the Creation Museum then. http://www.creationmuseum.org/

That's his water to wine red trim on his super-hero cape.

I just noticed the colouring instructions. I want a crayon box with: -rapturous red -prefect white -behemoth blue -leviathan green -omnipotent yellow and most of all -flesh of Christ

Jesus rode a T-Rex!

Didn't cowboys wear mantyhose to avoid the chafe?

He's made the US so anti bush that it's all but disappeared from the porn industry.