It appears you really have no idea what left and right mean in a political spectrum. They're not political parties with tightly controlled platforms. As for austerity, you must have somehow missed the media obsession about the 'fiscal cliff' in the U.S..

I'm sure there is a polisci professor at a nearby college that can help you out with it. Note that he or she will probably use the terms left and right and even be able to show you where various governments fall on the scale. if you prefer online help, check out politicalcompass.org

Those citizens who stopped him were ordinary citizens. They were not granted special authority by the government and they were not (to my knowledge) bitten by radioactive spiders.

[citation needed]

Yes, but allowing it and taxing the hell out of it would bring some of that money back into the government's pocket - or see it another way, the financial sumbitches that are bleeding most countries' economies white without any remorse today would have to start paying back some.

If a tax is levied on the speed of trading, at some point an equilibrium would be reached at which traders would consider the level of taxation acceptable: they wouldn't stop speed-trading, just doing it at a speed/cost that they're willing to bear. Better to collect money that way than to ban the activity altogether and collect no money at all.

This sort of financial activities is complete economic nonsense, as it brings nothing of value to people, companies or other concerns that actually produce something useful to society as a whole. Just reading the /. blurb should be enough to convince anyone that "robot trading" is a parasitic activity that should be taxed to oblivion - by ways of a tax based on the speed of trading for instance - and financial markets forced to become what they're supposed to be: places for investors to invest in real economic activities for the long haul.

Wanna buy my tiger repelling rock?

In a world where a crime novel with a picture of a bomb on the cover is a problem, yes, a clear glass 'grenade' might be a problem.

But he DID get explosives on a plane. In spite of the TSA. It turns out that even that holey grail or terrorism is no guarantee of success. Ordinary citizens stopped him at no cost.

I know how many of those not found grenades turned out to be an actual problem. It's a nice round number.

I mean no disrespect to the people who died, but twice that many people died today. Most of that economic damage was self-inflicted as we shot our own feet Barney Fife like. Consider the number of excess deaths due to people taking more dangerous forms of transportation since 9/11 to avoid the TSA.

It's not like we did nothing, we hunted Osama down and killed him. I just wish we had kept to that mission and not thrown a few bazillion dollars down the toilet on other actions under the excuse of "but 9./11".

,p>As for your links, read the articles more carefully and with a critical eye. 4 dudes saying "Death to America" while shooting paint balls at each other? Really? Thank God we stopped them! If anything, THAT is an insult to the 3000 dead in the attack.

I don't know how or when I might die, but I do know it is my sincere wish that my death not be used as an excuse to trample the freedoms of my surviving loved ones.

Because the added cost just isn't worth it for the limited number of cases where it solves a problem? It's not like this is one of those problems costing a zillion dollars per second of downtime. (Of course, in many of those cases it isn't actually costing what they claim).

Step back, take a deep breath, and ask yourself "what are the actual consequences of this?"

What warrants?

The reason for using weapons matters, not just the fact that someone is willing to open fire.
Those Ted Nugent loudmouths talk a big game and while I'm sure many are serious, most will shit themselves like he did when called to action.

Although I disapprove of guns in schools for any reason, I'd sooner arm elementary school teachers than any of the 2nd amendment wingnuts.
At least I know the people like the ones at Sandy Hook will actually put their lives on the line for what they believe in, whether or not they believe they have a right to pack heat.

Here's right-winger David Frum's take on the matter:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/opinion/frum-guns-race/index.html

If super massive black holes behaved like raccoons when you leave cat food out, it might become a problem.

So what? Read the parent and grandparent comments.