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Free speech has limits. Your free speech does not include the right to make terroristic threats. If you threaten to kill someone, then I have absolutely no idea any place where that would not be considered a threat to harm a person. Good manners or not, I recall early on, my parents told me "Never never ever threaten to kill someone." Must have made an impression on me, because I gave my son the exact same advice.

Which is all to say, if you threaten harm to a person, and harm comes to that person, guess who's going be knocking on your door to chat with you? Better have a good alabi.

That is certainly not in the mix here, that's way overstating what I've said. Normal discourse is protected.free speech. We can call each other names all day.

Yes you could. You could threaten violence upon someone, disclose company or state secrets, admit infidelity or write something ridiculously stupid about your employer. On there and other services, people have bragged about or shown items they have stolen or about mistreating others. Yes, a stupid single tweet could be a life altering experience. And people have altered their lives.

Which by the way, is why I always strongly advise against using Twitter. The format simply encourages ill thought out texting and responses.

Or your wife, or employer, or Government as the case may be. Or you.

Regardless, that isn't even involved in what I'm talking about. I'm talking about matters that would get you in legal trouble if you said it in someone's presence. I don't know if you are married or not, but if someone threatened to kill you or whoever you loved, you would just not care or do anything about it? Or not do anything about it?

I cannot imagine anyone not having astrong visceral response to someone threatening non-consensual violent forced sex upon their daughter, and if you can say you'd meet with that person - well good for you. Perhaps not so good for your loved ones if the person threateing the violence carries through on the threat.

You and I have quite a different idea of what entails "not being excellent" I think. I love a good discussion with different ideas, even where people might call each other silly or stupid or petty, or ofter such comments.

But threats are indicative of a person losing control. And people losing control sometimes carry through on those threats.

Welcome back from the Iowa Freedom Summit, Mrs. Palin.

You know - I didn't think of that. People would actually commit crimes so they could beat up telemarketers.

Ah, the argument from personal incredulity. Okay, here we go. I simply cannot believe you

See how that works?

There is a whole lot better chance that those conditions could occur than any/all of the contradicting creation myths of every religion occurred, and you just so happened to be born into the one that is the real one, rather than all the wrong ones.

Don't you have some school board somewhere to infiltrate and force science students to learn creationism?

And if they weren't, you'd be bitching about lack of control, and/or contamination. That's seriously weak, man.

Part of that was that some important chemicals were not created. The experiments were not the same.

And how! By the definition of life back when I was in grade school, we've already created life. But as time moved on, we've refined that to the point that I expect we'll never define anything as human created life. Certainly the religious fundamentalists will never accept it.

Better yet, eliminate any penalty, and have people guilty of minor crimes beat the shit out of telemarketers as their community service.

No - its because you were parking on the damned sidewalk, ya bastard! Now straighten up and fly right.

Which is all to say, mere cost of doing business. I wonder is a 15 minute delay before starting up again was part of that "punishment"?

Way too late.

I've never been around a Windows phone user to hear how great they are.

Terrible that the best damn phone ever invented is so unpopular.

And you? Maybe not so much.

But people are going ot have to come to grips with the fact that we aren't quite as anonymous on the net as we thing we are, so the time approaches when people with dark souls that might think rape is funny will suffer the legal repercussions to making those threats.

We don't have to agree on everything, but we should all use proper manners and stick within the law. Bill and Ted said it best - "Be excellent to each other."