Actually, terrorists do far less damage than falls in bathtubs, or falling off ladders. They have the potential to do far more damage, but only if they get access to nuclear or biological weapons. That probably won't happen, given the current controls. So, controlling speech does almost nothing for most people, and hurts them by limiting knowledge.

Listening in on people has the potential to help prevent terrorist attacks, but hasn't really done anything yet. Given the multi billion dollar investment the NSA has already made in it, it seems more like a way to sell equipment and services by vendors than a national security strategy.

We are scared of our shadows. That is the harm that terrorism does. The terrorists have already won.

The ONLY reason any country may attack another, under international law, is to prevent an imminent threat of attack. There was no such threat against the U.S., despite lies by the Bush administration about nuclear programs, which were actively being denied by UN inspectors at the time. Their lies were the justification for attack. Since those statements have been proven to be lies, and the people making those statements have been shown to know, at the time, that they were false, they should be in jail. Their attack on Iraq was a trillion dollar war crime.

The chemical weapons found were supplied by the US during the Iran Iraq war. Only a dimwit would confuse the ability to create these weapons with finding a small number of expired weapons. Even Bush wasn't that stupid. If Bush thought they would exonerate his crime (invading a sovereign country before any aggressive move on the part of the invaded, against all international law), he would have quickly publicized any weapons found.

Much of the oil we are burning was created in a time after trees evolved, but before bacteria evolved to eat them. They were buried, taking their carbon with them. That allowed the partial pressure of oxygen to build up to much higher levels.

True. When he tried, the Republicans beat him to a pulp. He learned that the assholes were not going to meet him halfway, or at all, really. Not even when he was hawking the same health care plan they had been hawking only months before. Not even when the financial stability of the country was at stake. Not even when he was giving them what they said they wanted for the "grand bargain'. They just stood proudly, with their chests puffed out, and went back on their word.

Now, the idiots will find out what it feels like. Obama doesn't care, he can smoke their agenda with the bully pulpit. Harry Reid just wants revenge, so he will enact the" McConnell Defense" and block every bit of legislation he can. The next election is slanted left. They have screwed themselves.

The House of Representatives is 17% percent female. The Senate is also 17% female. There are 5.2% female CEOs among the fortune 500 companies. Since there are MORE females than males, these statistics are even more of a poke in the eye. I wouldn't start worrying about maintaining your undeserved elevated status for a few more years.

Copyright infringement (aka piracy) is theft of the profits that artists and investors in artists and those involved in distribution are owed. Without those profit, investors won't invest, and artists won't art, and distributors won't distribute. They will spend their time and money on other things.

Right. Playing with your gun teaches the ability to resist road rage. Are you even listening to yourself?

it isn't PL1

I guess that prosecuting Bush and Cheney (Not to mention Tenet, Rumsfeld, and the rest of the bums) would have been 'inappropriate'. I suppose they could have arranged a sham 'Reagan Party' at the Hague and let the europeans capture and prosecute them as the war criminals they are. Sadly, I suspect that that would have started a somewhat one-sided "WWIII".

So, really, there is nothing we can do. However, a recent OP-Ed in the NYT made the case for a presidential pardon for everybody involved, because if Obama doesn't somehow recognize that this was a crime, it could happen again. Putting Bush in jail would be best, but it will never happen. Making him a pardoned felon could have some effect on future presidents.

And, I'm not even sure Bush understood what was going on. Cheney, yes. That guy is Darth Vader. Tenet? Yes. Rumsfeld? Yes. All those guys would be in jail in a perfect world.

Was there some state requirement to go into careers that you tested into? That would make women and men show up in equal numbers. However, the sharp drop off since '89 would imply that there is still cultural antagonism to (or innate bias against) women in sciences.

Too bad they will only make 80% of what men of equal talent will make in the job market.

This is clearly true. I mean, in islamic societies, women just naturally want to cover every part of their body except their eyes, and are averse to driving. They want to be stoned for adultery.

Women in America, before those unnatural suffragettes, didn't really want to vote. They don't want equal pay. They want to be housewives, and live in suburban homes.

My point is that we've just come out from under many millennium of misogyny. How can you say with assurance WHAT women want? Or, for that matter, what men want? The political forces have skewed our desires so fully, and informed our prejudices so entirely that women themselves don't have a gut feel for what is 'natural' for women.

Your typical 4 year old has thousands of hours of TV watching under their belt. They have watched their parents reactions to their actions. They know what you want, and what society expects.

Even the simplest repair would require the world economy to be functioning smoothly. A smart AI, if such a thing could exist, would know that. So, any disruption to the global economy would be deadly. (are you listening?)