i actually think if someone is engaged in unsafe sex, gay or not, they should be penalized, since this has societal costs. if you have aids, and you know it, and you knowingly have unsafe sex with someone else, gay or not, you should be punished

and you don't have to make fat people pay more for healthcare, nor do you have to ban large sugary drinks

you just have to tax the hell out of it, like cigarettes

go ahead, enjoy your large soda... that'll be $20 please

I figured it was just a BIOS option to toggle off/on. OEM machines (Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc) may or may not be user selectable. I would think they would be given Hyper Threading was also user selectable if you wanted to run Windows 2000 or older for optimum performance in the past. Even HW virtualization is user selectable for most platforms (OEM or not). For sure Asus and other DIY motherboard vendors will make this user optional as well.

If you ask me, there's a whole lot of groupthink bitching going on. Nothing to see here. Move along please.

Extremes of inequality as compared to what? We're freaking egalitarian right now compared to most of history -heck, we've nearly eliminated slavery in America, and the poor here (per an article yesterday) have the problem of too many easy sources of electronic entertainment. The long-term trend isn't going the way you seem to think it is ...

It was so long ago that the Republicans had this philosophy of less government--wait that's still their current stance but only on certain things like business, oil, the environment. For things like science and gay rights, it's their purview to interfere as much as possible.

"we just need a sliding scale deductible single payer health insurance system"

well, if you feel a need to insult me, go ahead, since you agree with me 100% ideologically

health insurance is already mandated, by common morality

if you show up at the hospital, unable to pay, we treat you, and pass the bill onto the taxpayer via state bailout of the hospital

all the argument about socialized universal healthcare is a joke: we've already had it, for decades

now all that we ask is all the ignorant freeloaders whargarbbbling about "freedom" (from responsibility), to pay their fair share of the healthcare safety net which they already enjoy

furthermore, i agree: people who make unhealthy choices should pay higher insurance rates

because such a person doesn't exist, unless you are worth 6 figures. and even those people worth 6 figures are smart enough to have health insurance

meanwhile, everyone else bloviating about not being forced to purchase health insurance don't have $50K sitting in their bank account for emergencies

they are one slip and fall away from having a broken arm and avoiding the bill when it comes in the mail

the hilarious irony is that these losers vomit ignorance about not wanting to pay for lazy poor people's insurance. when the truth is THEY are the freeloaders!

we already have socialized universal healthcare: when people can't pay their healthcare bills in the USA, it gets passed to the taxpayer via state bailout so the hospital doesn't go bankrupt

now all we ask is that these ignorant assholes whargarrbbbling about freedom (from responsibility) pay their fucking fair share

or is it that you deserve the "freedom" to be a freeloading douchebag off the rest of us, is that your position?

there's two definitions of freedom:

the teenager definition "i can do whatever i want with no concern for the consequences"

the adult definition "i can do anything i want that doesn't harm someone else"

for example, the "right" to speed is freedom according to a teenager, as a teenager will never crash their car and hurt an innocent driver who had the ill fortune of sharing the road with the idiot

the "right" to smoke is freedom according to a teenager, as a teenager only exhales pure filtered air in the face of fellow pedestrians and housemates and doesn't raise the healthcare insurance costs of anyone else

likewise, the "right" to mainline fructose is freedom according to a teenager, see healthcare argument above

please note: the term "teenager" in the context of this comment is a mental function measurement independent of chronological age. there are plenty of chronological teenagers who are mental adults and morally mature, and there are 40 year old gasbags who still define freedom according to a mental teenager's definition

I don't understand, what are they loosing?

The dogs of war, obviously.

Just you wait. This whole thing will blow over once he gets his cut from the sugar and corn lobbyists. Then, he will say it was all an unpopular misunderstanding and how he really cares to make NYers voice be heard. Oh, and he really cares about your health too. Win win win all the way for that man.