Comment Re:This was no AP. (Score 1) 339
Maybe they were scared, scared I say, over the terrible spelling.
Maybe they were scared, scared I say, over the terrible spelling.
"Can" is not equal to "is", or "is likely to be", or even "there's a high probability that"
Your confidence in the 3% is not very scientific either. I shudder to think of the p-value at which that gets confirmed!
What if you weren't educated enough because your parents were drunk douchebags? That your fault too? What about if the rents in your area went up 200% because IT idiots moved in, and you have to move to a place that requires a 3 hour commute?
Blaming everything on the individual assumes that everything that happens in an individual's life is under their control. It's the biggest fucking mistake on the planet to assume this
What industry offers consumers a perfect combination of freedom of choice and customer service?
Pretty much any that doesn't involve government-enforced monopolies. Just imagine how much worse buying gasoline would be if certain companies purchased rights to supply all gasoline to individual cities, locking out competition.
Usually any industry which requires a massive investment upfront has some component of regulation attached to it, because otherwise the self-interested private companies don't feel the incentive to go ahead and put in that kind of money. Laying down fiber across a country is one of those. As is, by the way, the ability to drill for oil, where your freedom of choice and customer service have combined to give you the BP spill, amongst others.
Some monopolies are useful, some aren't. Has very little to do with government, as can be seen by any cross-sectional analysis across industries and other countries.
In contrast, some of the other religions (Judaism, Christendom, Hinduim, Buddhism) seem to have started out as attempts to understand the world and fill out holes of their knowledge... and then it grew from there.
Should be mentioned here that Buddha was fairly insistent on people thinking for themselves and not worshipping anyone, including him. Didn't quite work out that way though. As soon as he was gone, up came the laughing buddha statues and a whole lotta hymn-ing.
Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. -- Ambrose Bierce