Not quite, but it would be a good definition of "tyranny".

The Republican party used to be about smaller government - these days, it's more easily defined by social issues - gay marriage, abortion, etc. They still get the vast majority of libertarian (read: supporters of smaller government) votes, but that's only because the Democrats are marginally worse.

So, because people are too dumb to take care of themselves, they need people smarter than them to take care of them.

Gotchya.

Do you mean "transparent" vs "opaque"? Your use of "clear" and "transparent" confused me.

If your words didn't add to your comment, then why did you use them?

Regardless, though - I am a libertarian anyhow. I'm for the legalization of all drugs, period, full-stop.

Isn't that the case involving Q-Tip application? If so, that's a whole different ball of wax. I seriously doubt even the 9th would accept that as precedent in this case.

I didn't say the actions of the police were right - I said that they were legal.

Congresswoman? I don't see that reference in the context of this conversation, but if you're talking about Giffords, then yes - the shooter used Winchester "whitebox" FMJs.

They were breaking the law because they were actively impeding an arresting officer. They formed a human chain around the police, and refused to move after being given multiple chances to peacefully comply.

Are you aware that police departments uniformly issue hollowpoint ammunition, in order to prevent overpenetration? Why do you seem to want civilians to be less safe?

Actually, you're wrong. Pepper spray is primarily a compliance tool, not a defensive tool. LEO policy across the country uniformly places it below physical force.

In context, the protesters were legally in the wrong. It's pretty clear-cut: the officers were walking away with an individual under arrest, and the protesters were blocking the path. Pike ordered them to leave, they did not. He informed them that if they did not leave, they would be sprayed with OC and removed. They stayed. He sprayed them until disoriented, and removed them.

Pepper spray (OC) is below physical force per policy at every police department I've seen.

The leader's name is "JT Ready", and he's a media whore. They'll show up at any event in the Phoenix area that gets media coverage - but they are there.

A quick Google:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/10/unreal-neo-nazis-patrol-occupy-phonix-with-ar-15s-media-silent/
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=229899

Well, that's just ignorant, then.

I write SQL most of the day, and in my opinion, it's more difficult to do well than traditional programming. If I'm writing a webapp somewhere, I only have to keep the individual logic i'm working on in my head - with SQL, I may have to know how a single dataset is processed over a half dozen steps to get the result I want.

Surely writing SQL qualifies as coding.