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Comment Re:What It Means To Me? (Score 1) 1144

"I'd love to send some of these small government fetishists back to the start of the 19th century to see what it really felt like for the average man (or, worse, woman)."

Reducing the size of government isn't "turning back the clock". It isn't the 19th Century, and I didn't say anything about reversing laws. My comment was on the size of government, period.

Objective data show a strong correlation between the size of the Federal government and amount of regulation, with an increasingly weakened economy.

Comment What It Means To Me? (Score 1) 1144

Mainly what it means to me is an excellent illustration of how Federal government has gotten WAY too big.

Generally speaking, considering the way our Union was designed, except for foreign trade and defense the Federal government should be able to pretty much shut down for a year, and I would barely even notice.

The fact that it's NOT that way is the whole problem.

Comment Re:Problem solved (Score 1) 528

Because the cultural double standard means the guys face considerably less shame than the girls would in the same situation. It's a rather embarrassing truth, as it reveals just how shallow the supposed commitment to equality really is, but true even so.

That double standard will continue to exist so long as (too many) women continue to use sex appeal as a weapon of manipulation and a means of getting what they want.

If the significance of a woman's body and a woman's sexuality were to decline and become equal with mens', both effects would happen. It would be less useful as a tool of manipulation by unscrupulous women (the ones a wise man avoids) AND people would stop making a big deal out of every time a woman's body is exposed.

Comment Re:Interesting Quote (Score 1) 256

More laws regulating the internet to empower the NSA efforts will lead to countries (not just Brazil) leaving internet, or setting walled gardens, you can get out (by approved and monitored paths), you can use what is inside, but people from outside can't get in, and maybe the use of commercial US software could have some penalization (less access/tighly controlled). Is not a win-win, is an all-lose scenario but with someone yelling that we won.

It's a win for people who view strife and chaos as a means to achieve power. Historically, a peaceful prosperous nation with no crises and no serious threats has never been a means of expanding political power. "All lose" in the general sense, because the few who do gain are so tiny in number that they are less than a rounding error compared to those who lose, so I don't think your statement is generally false.

Comment Re:How about (Score 1) 528

I like to listen to people's views about "the nanny state" right up until the part where they tell me I should deal with it by.. voting in somebody to fix the problem for us...

You probably noticed my post contained no such recommendation. Personally, I really don't want to rely on the government to protect me from things that I can protect myself from merely by using good judgment and not taking stupid and unnecessary risks. If I do take a stupid and unnecessary risk and it results in regret and humiliation, I don't view that as a law enforcement problem.

Then there's the whole topic of how one actually gets to be a major political candidate and why no one who wants to strongly reduce the size and power of government is likely to ever get the financial backing it takes to win an election.

Comment Re:How about (Score 1) 528

Ah, you must be one of those people who thinks there shouldn't be any laws against fraud, since all parties had to agree to the transaction for it to progress.

Actually I'm more of a small-'l' libertarian. Force, threat of force, and fraud are the major things a government should protect you from.

What the law should say and what constitutes a good, rational decision are two separate issues.

Comment Re:power plant (Score 1) 72

and where did the natural gas come from? Dead plants... covered over my erosion caused by weather patterns... all water and sun my friend.

I wasn't denigrating steam. I've a small DIY steam engine myself and take my kid to a steam engine fair every fall. It's a great technology. I plan on building a larger one some day to power a generator as literally any fuel will work to heat it and there-by generate electricity.

Comment Re:what about the musicians? (Score 1) 196

Ok, well I'm into metal so:

Buckethead
Xerath
Cybreed
Angra
Sonata Arctica
Devin Townsend
Opeth
Symphony X
Zonaria
Chthonic
Psycroptic
Hacride
Darkage
Meshuggah
Mastodon

The non-metal:
Mogwai
Guthrie Govan -- hes in a lot of bands, anything he does is amazing
Bassnectar
Ye Banished Privateers (of course)
Beatallica
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

and on and on...
There are more metal bands today than there were in the early 90s when metal was at its peak.

Comment Re:what about the musicians? (Score 4, Informative) 196

Total bullshit. Having been a musician for decades and having dealt with music label reps... you get ripped off, at ALL levels. The labels throw you scraps to keep you on the hook but they're taking all the real money. It's only when musicians have the financial savvy and balls to start their own label that they start making any money. But then they drop off the map because the big name labels control what gets on the radio and MTV. The Metal Screen is a great example. Metal is doing great, with almost no radio play at all. You don't see them anywhere and Music awards are given to shit bands like Metallica every year while the real interesting stuff is being recorded in sophisticated home studios and released on Japanese, eastern Europe or even self owned labels. They're touring, making money, doing well... but you'll never hear a damned thing about it because the labels don't want them to steal market share.

You've got bands like Symphony X, Opeth, even Iron Maiden filling soccer stadiums, yet you never hear about it. Iron Maidens last album in 2012 sold more copies than all of their other albums combined, yet you hear nothing about it.

This isn't just happening in metal either, it's every genre. There's been an explosion in music in the past 10 years. The labels don't like it because it's fracturing the industry. They want maybe 5 kinds of music so it's easy to control. What it's turning into is art... and they don't like that.

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