Firstly, who cares what a cheeseburger-wielding clown thinks? Secondly, places like Chicago and Manhattan, while not able to make it explicitly illegal to own a handgun, have made it practically near-impossible.

So the main argument tossed about the media against the death penalty is about the cost. That argument doesn't stand up to scrutiny, so you say, Forget about cost because even if it costs less to execute people it represents such a tiny fraction of the overall cost. Except that doesn't stand up because your 3000 death row inmates represent between $150 and $300 million per year, so despite it being just a small percentage of the overall tab it is still not a small amount of money. Maybe we save that cash and throw it education or urban blight? You like those things, right?

Just be honest about your argument: You are against the death penalty because you are simply against it.

Citing data from a group funded by an anti-death penalty groups and individuals? Yeah, cherry picking just a bit.

A "single boring fellow" could potentially render the US without the nuke in his silo, but then he could do that anyway regardless of the hardware. That's why they don't advertise this position on Craig's List. I would be much more concerned about the nuke silos relying on new hardware designed to be outdated in 3 years.

But keep in mind the ubiquity of said hardware in software in today's world. I cut my teeth on the Vic-20 and later the C64, but back then I was one of the only kids in school who had a computer. That is what makes this type of nostalgia so, er, nostalgic. 30 years from now a kid who is ten today will not have been the only kid on the block with a computer. Shit, they got toddler laptops these days.

Too bad the environment is not so discreet a system as your car. If we are brilliant at one thing, it is underestimating the unintended consequences of our actions. So no, let's not rush out an fill the air with pine forest vapor.

They are trying to humanize the issue, much like when a politician drags Grandma Winnie on the stump circuit as his example of the frail, old widow who can no longer afford her Depends undergarments. One would think that if they are a month away from FDA approval then they provided more than anecdotes to support their claims.

Very few people are granted a free pass. A "dark-skinned ghetto-raised" individual doesn't have to work any harder than I to achieve the same level of success (let's just pretend for a moment that I am the definition of some level of success) with regard to the path I took (high school, then military - which paid for college - which got me a job that in almost 13 years of employment started me at $36k and now pays me almost $100k per year). The only extra friction along their version of that path comes from the losers in their community who are uncomfortable when one of their own becomes successful, or from within themselves due to the self-doubt instilled in them by their community leaders who have a vested interest in their presumption of failure.

I agree with you about the welfare system. One hits a certain level and realizes that half the job and an extra child will give them more free time and more money...That's apparently a hard handout to pass up.

The "ghetto" culture will never change because they by-and-large believe themselves to be victims of a system gamed against them, and their only hope for change must come from some external force (the government, Al Sharpton, etc.). Their victim mentality is reflected not only in the poor quality of their schools, but also in the poor quality of the neighborhoods, their homes, and their parenting.

I was raised poor relative to many of the people around me, but my parents told me I could accomplish anything I put my mind to, they continually improved the living environment for my siblings and I, and they never once implied that our problems were anyone's doing other than our own. That is what creates success; not white skin.

The government can't stop those with the mind to provide a better education to their children from finding a way. Close the inner-city schools and force so-called "desegregation" on charter schools, and while the inner-city kids fuck up new schools, those with the means will move on. And then repeat. Always repeat.

Yes, and we did a fabulous job of corrupting it by turning over the power to the few so we could have more leisure time. And now when talk of "Utopianism" comes up the ignorant think it is the same as Libertarianism, and they go on blissfully thinking that there is no way their socialist welfare states could ever turn against them. Worse, they think that what works on the scale of Sweden can work on the scale of the United States. Maybe on a given state.

Yeah, I dug deeper and it turns out the main backer is NAMBLA.

I agree that this sounds like a ridiculous experiment. Of course, it can work while shielded within another system guaranteeing the security of those within as they ponder their quantified selves and hope the power doesn't go out or the network down, leaving them without a form of payment, data to tell them to eat more or less of a certain food, or a machine to make stuff for them. On a grand scale, however, it sounds like a voluntary prison. I feel the same way about your universal welfare state. For the record, the problem with the United States' form of government is that we failed to run it as intended. We the people - the many - turned over power to the few, and they abused the hell out of it. At least Walmart can't force me to buy their products. Well, not yet.

Wall Street operates on two principles: 1. Regulation defines what the government doesn't tell them they can't do; and, 2. The greed of those who invest in the market and the blind eye they turn when handed unrealistic expectations.

It is no fault of capitalistic ideals that it becomes a tool for evil.

Right, I wouldn't have any idea after spending 6 hours a day for 47 weeks going to school for nothing but Korean. But maybe I am just smart because I was part of the 47% of my class who graduated.

Korean somewhat splits the difference between the two, providing an alphabet that can substitute for the Chinese characters in Sino-Korean, as well being the way to write pure Korean. It also helps in that it provides a phonetic fallback when learning Chinese characters.