Let me clue you in - you have created a false dichotomy there. Those are not the only options in America. I have a college education, medical insurance I can afford, and no debt except the mortgage on my house. And I wasn't born rich, either - far from it.

And what if we don't all just agree to that? Why shouldn't creative, productive and capable people enjoy the fruits of their labors, instead of having them taken away and given to somebody else? Why should I be your beast of burden? Of course, we already know the answer to that - the proletariat is larger numerically, and so any democratic society inevitably trends toward socialism. God forbid anybody should try to get ahead.

As more things become automated, people will find new things to do. Unemployment didn't increase when we stopped making buggy whips, those people went to work making cars. As we develop new technologies, people will be needed to work in those new technologies, until they become sufficiently automated, by which time other technologies will be new. Eventually, we will need people to travel to and colonize new planets.

Personal experience, as well as what's reported in the news everyday, disagrees with what you are saying. Not the part about Muslims being more touchy about religion overall - they very well may be; I must admit I don't know many if any Muslims personally - but that trying to spread reason and science among other religions, especially (IMO) Christians, is "preaching to the choir". There are a lot of Christians in this country (the US, that is) that genuinely believe in creation mythology, who think the world is six thousand years old, who reject evolution, who think the myths of the New Testament (raising the dead, feeding the multitude, etc.) are real, etc. and who certainly would not engage in any serious discussion about the existence vs. non-existence of God. I still recall that girl in 8th grade who told me she'd pray for me 'cause I was going to Hell - and that was in New York, less than 100 miles from NYC - I can't imagine what it must be like growing up in certain other parts of the US, even today. Dawkins et al still have plenty of work to do, right here in the US.

Seriously? If you want better than minimum-standards misery, you go get get a friggin' job and earn more than the minimum. The minimum is there to ensure you don't starve to death during your job search.

We should start calling engineering schools "E-Schools"; it would be great marketing - everybody'd want an "E-School degree"!

OK... the part of America you live in may not have public transit. Other parts do.

Your America doesn't, I suppose.

So now it's not enough to want to do something good for the environment, we have to adopt a particular health lifestyle too? Screw it; I'll just keep using my car then. Why do you people have to look down your noses at other people who might be trying to do something good, without necessarily being concerned about doing what you think is good?

or more likely, that the rider isn't strong enough

Yeah, no duh. Not everybody's a super strong cyclist like you; they might just want to get from A to B without burning fossil fuel and without being all sweaty when they get to B. This is about cycling as transportation, not as a health lifestyle choice.

I'm sitting in my office near the Nassau/Suffolk border on Long Island in NY, and only getting a 3G signal, no LTE, on my Verizon GS4. WTF?

Are you an unfriendly person? What's wrong with folks coming by to visit? They're from the government, and they're here to help. Maybe they'll bring cookies.

It's not like you have a choice - you're probably at risk of being spied on by the NSA wherever you are.

OK, but how long does a cord of wood last vs. 250 gallons of oil? I remember as a child living in upstate NY, after we got our woodburning stove, we would go through 2-3 cords in a winter (at $45 a cord if you were willing to cut it up yourself).

Would it yell out "Oh yeeeeeaaaaahhh!" when it crashed through a wall?