This is true, poor money must settle for being funneled thru Walmart and spent on the Three Gorges Dam and whatnot.

you do realise that making interest from "savings/investments" is possible because that money is used to conduct economic activity such as hiring people to produce goods and services, right?

More like credit to burn, and that's no reason to assume a forced purchase/course fee is acceptable or appropriate. Also, GP's earlier point that people already pay for many things they don't want doesn't make clear why people should be forced to pay for yet another thing they don't necessarily want. A lot of people still prefer the good old fashioned tactile book. Why isn't an optional program appropriate?

Israel hasn't violated the NPT because they never signed it.

One could also say a power imbalance is what allowed Israel to survive the 20th century.

And "free" online or radio content could never be a viable business model, right?

The illiterate peasant bit can be ignored as trolling. I don't think he really means to change the topic to whether the (apparently inferior) illiterate peasant folk could possibly have something to offer humanity, or that he believes an all-powerful God could not instantiate an illiterate peasant presence.

I am not a teacher but I have a couple kids in elementary school and get to see the instantiation of mediocrity when some parents sit back and allow their kids to become someone else's problem. It's clear that reproduction is not just physical, but is also behavioral. Big douchebags unleash little douchebags unto our society, in some cases with barely disguised relish. And it's not so rare that these same people expect to bring their little psychopathic bastards to public school to have an Anne Sullivan/Helen Keller moment at the water pump with nary an effort on their own part. Sure, the teacher made some idiotic judgements, but I'd applaud the interviewers if they asked the indignant parents whether any of the teacher's claims might be true and, if so, what should be done about it.

As a musician I'm going to say the RB/GH likely do more damage than benefit toward acquiring actual guitar-playing skills. For guitar there is WAY more to playing good music than simply hitting the right tone at the appropriate duration. Hitting clean notes over 1 or 2 octaves of a major scale is a big undertaking for beginners, and at 16th notes can keep you practicing for a long long time. There are many dynamics and effects an accomplished musican adds in order to "phrase" a song, and some of these take considerable skill. I don't play drums, the game may be more helpful there, but I suspect some fundamentals are still missed, such as clean hi-hat pedal lifts, double bass and whatnot. Just a guess. If the game incorporates a single drummer's part using multiple concurrent time signatures that sounds great, bring that on. But I don't hate on the game players. I do think to myself "what about the guy that actually played the BH&H track? that's what's impressive..." But people having fun and trading tips about a game is fine - I sound silly hyperventilating over my favorite games, too. That said, I won't get my children these games because a child will then expect real music to be accomplished that easily and will shut down when they meet the actual challenge.

Because fighting one evil does not obligate you to fight all other evils without regard to circumstances, viability, and consequences. If you happen to stop a purse snatching are you then obligated to confront gunmen trying to rob a convenience store if you happen to be on the scene. If that wasn't worth the risk perhaps you shouldn't have been such a high and mighty hypocrite with the purse snatcher?

Also, this is not hypocrisy because the US is clearly against N Korea having WMDs, not condemning other dictators for trying to develop them but excusing N Korea.

If it's really important to someone they will figure out how to send a check or money order.

So how much would it cost to get them to re-direct my fear flow to the calm, deadly badass region of my brain?

Exactly so. The songs are completely different. I'd bet "Land Down Under" was completely written well before they decided to add a flute track with those flavor notes. The inclusion of the Kookaburra notes was a clever allusion to a piece of Australian culture, NOT the basis for the song.

i wonder if the treatment included retraining the cat on burying its business in the cat box.