That's the crux of the issue. A good language shouldn't be one that lets you code cleanly - it should do its very best to make sure you CAN'T code sloppily.

I don't even think this ruling applies to generic birth control pills.

IIRC, this ruling doesn't get them out of paying for any and all birth control - simply birth control methods that they equate to being non-preventative and hence more like an abortion (ie, "the morning after pill").

Highly doubtful. The commercial aviation industry is built upon pilots building up and and experience in smaller private aircraft. If you lose private General Aviation you lose your pool of upcoming pilots.

Seems like most states ban texting while driving but talking on the cellphone while driving is legal in many areas.

The US population is much more spread out. Our land area is over twice the size of the entire EU but we have only about 63% as much people. What works there doesn't necessarily work here.

It's not without exceptions (ie, the link you provided), but it does work as a general rule of thumb.

Not all Chinese stuff is bad. Not all American made stuff is good. But ON AVERAGE, most stuff made in the US tends to be of higher quality. Most stuff made in Western Europe also tends to be of better quality - depending on the country better than the US. Even though I love "Made in the USA" goods anything from Switzerland or Germany still tends to be of even better quality - again, as a rule of thumb.

And before I'm accused of being racist there, not all Asian countries produce bad stuff. Japanese goods tend to be of VERY good quality. South Korean stuff isn't that bad either - better than Chinese IMHO. For the most part it seems that the average quality of life of the people in a given country translates into better quality goods. Not only are they happier which produces a better product, but if they have enough money to actually be buying and using the goods they're making then they will take a certain sense of pride in its manufacture.

That's not really any different than in the US. Public universities are subsidized - that's why they cost so much less than private ones (usually 25% to 50% as much). Government student loans seem pretty reasonable to me. No interest accrues so long as you're in school, repayment doesn't begin until 6 months after you graduate, and most of them have repayment terms of 10 years or so.

I went to a major public university, got my BS, and after grants/other financial aid had around $24,000 in debt to pay off after graduation. Payments were less than $200 per month and I finished up on payments about 18 months ago.

BTW my dad is a construction worker who dropped out of school in the 8th grade. My mom is a receptionist who graduated high school. Growing up poor is no excuse for not getting an education. If you want it all you have to do is work for it.

Food like many things tends to follow the "2 out of 3" rule:

Healthy, Tastes Good, Cheap

You can pick two. For the poor the "Cheap" option is already mandated, so essentially it comes down to Healthy or Tastes Good. Unfortunately most tend to go with better tasting food over the healthier food.

Didn't have to do any of that. After install I got a little message saying "proprietary drivers available". I clicked and they installed. Its been that way for years now.

Nonsense. The vast majority of users these days just need a working browser. My mom, dad, and sister all run Linux. Only my sister seems to even be aware that it's not Windows. Simple fact is they know to click on the Chrome logo (same one a Windows user uses) to bring up the browser and they're off. I don't have to worry about fixing any malware that does crop up, and in the event that they DO have a problem I can easily SSH into the machine and tunnel through to a VNC server to look at things remotely.

As a matter of fact its the mid-range skillset users who seem to have the most trouble with Linux. For basic users it covers all of their use cases. For the geeky power users they don't mind getting their hands dirty and getting creative to make things work. The mid-range users though want to do semi-complex things but get frustrated when it doesn't work exactly the same way in Linux.

I've been using a Nvidia card in Linux (with binary drivers) for years now with no issues whatsoever. Not sure how it would "suck". System boots, runs fine, and does what I need it to :S.

Most really don't need to anymore. I've been using Linux for a LONG time. Started when I was in high school circa 1997 or so. I'll admit that back then it was a pain in the ass to get a lot of stuff working.

Now - I install it and everything just works. I haven't had to mess around with text config files just to get the system running or the like for years (probably around 2009 or so).

The only time when things get a little hairy is when doing something a bit outside of the ordinary - IE, getting certain games running under Wine and the like. That's trying to work around a simple lack of native apps though. When running Linux software on a Linux system - piece of cake. As a matter of fact the only thing that keeps Windows from feeling completely foreign to me is that I have to use it at work.

Actually, when I said "half the stuff on your list" insurance was the only one I was allowing. The others really make no difference.

Also - this story is specifically about restricting a ride to the AIRPORT. Do you honestly think that such a ride deserves a different set of criteria than a ride to the bowling alley?

Given that I don't really give a darn about half the stuff on your list, how about let the consumer make those choices for themselves?

The local SHERIFF bought these. The Sheriff is a county level official - mayor is a local/city level official. More importantly though, the Sheriff virtually everywhere is an *elected* official. Generally elected officials can do whatever they want (within some level of reason) without any recourse until they next election day.

Basically you're talking about someone with their own budget who can't be "fired" like a normal person could. Though I must admit that this seems like it would be unpopular at the polls. Democrats hate anything weapon related and Republicans while pro-military tend to be very anti-militarization of the local police (plus just anti-government spending in general). Seems like both sides will not be happy with this.