Gorgon

And you keep hearing these stories of people tripping and accidentally sticking their **** into things

I guess thats the crux of it, it's a hypothetical 100% success. Which is worth very little in the real world where people follow their desire over sound advice. But government is not allowed to play the percentages as soon as the ghost of choice is introduced into the equation. That would be unamerican.

And telling people that they should employ abstinence to avoid getting pregnant isn't.

In Denmark they march every able bodied 18 year old into a series of tests and then ask then to draw a number, the lucky ones get to decide if they want service or not, the unlucky ones have to chose between military or civil defence. Although only career soldiers get sent to war zones. I remember being affected by the propaganda at the time, but ultimately my own lazy nature won out, and besides I got lucky in the draw.

It's not really a question of posing Capitalism versus Socialism as if they were archetypes of social organization that are independent and distinguishable from each other. The Marxist socialist archetype is long gone, Capitalism and history has proven it the loser. Capitalism however, cannot function without regulation or we wind up with extremes of exploitation. Think the worst of the aftermath of industrial revolution in England, or the 'gilded' age in the US, or the cutthroat economic boom in present day China: Baby milk formula with the nutritional value of sand, toxic toys, blood banks that infect the donors with AIDS. etc. Capitalism is a force of nature that needs to be contained, channeled. It's not a form of government. The western ideology of modern day Capitalism (not to be confused with the nuts and bolts of its operation) rests on the notion that democracy and freedom go hand in hand with market economy, that this is the wave of the future, and that it will bring light to all the dark places in the world. I remain pessimistic. It's a question of degrees, not whether or not you redistribute wealth. In Europe we have a tradition of greater redistribution, for instance we view health care much in the same way as the fire brigade or the police; a basic public service necessary for the smooth management of society.

Why is that socialist ? I think we are back to the confusion inherrent in the broadness of the term. Remember, there are no Marxist or totalitarian incarnations of socialism left in Europe. It will not do to simply pose individuality and freedom of choice versus a higher level of government involvement. Time has worn down this dichotomy to near nothing in practical terms.

Wheres this ?

Thats a stretch. In fact it's held up as an example of what not to do over here in pinko Europe. Well, everything even vaguely American is, but thats beside the point.

I'm curious as to how far Guard Dog would follow the logic of his libertarian conception of freedom and individual choice. Should we legalize crack cocaine ?. It's a choice after all, and drug dealers only supply a means to individual choice denied people by a repressive system.

To me it was obviously something going on in Tigh\s mind, an interrogation into what it means to be cylon, and Six is figuring that out. Beating him up was a communication of sorts with his subconscious.

I guess with the inflation inherrent in such an interdependent system a 10 means that they really do like it, above the usual levels of keeping everybody happy .

Ohh i'm pretty sure spending tax money on lions would be considered discriminatory.

So you contest that abstinence does not constitute effective sex-ed, that creationalism is a humbug science and that the division of church and state in a multicultural society makes it a bad idea to have the kids recite Christian prayers ? I'm just trying to understand what level of crackpot i'm dealing with here.

Right, since of course only those on the right have political agendas Where is the evidence that the "abstinence policy" is the reason for the increase in STD? Name a 'lberal' polticial agenda that has damaged primary education to the same extent as those mentioned.

The fact that federal power cannot meddle directly in primary education on the state level is not necessarily a good thing. One might lament the lack of an iron fist swooping down to mercilessly eradicate school prayer, creationalism and abstinence once and for all and kicking the right wing Christians out of education to find a political battleground somewhere else.

Theres robots, robots will do.

Torrents come in random chunks. I think he means something that can play a partially completed audio or video torrent file.

I don\t think there is such a thing.

'nother nail in the coffin

It's like it's been said already, XP works, and Vista can't run lots of software you might have already. It's one of those incarnations of Windows that doesn't seem justified.

What do you mean. You can change the elements on a mac just as easily as on a PC. Although if you are really the type who likes to dig in a computer's innards, mac is not really for you to begin with.

Yes, there was a time when Star trek was the only game in town, and TNG was considered progressive.

Alienware is a bit like buying a mac. It's all very slick and quality, and also very bad value for money, compared to what you could buy and stick together yourself. Although you would have to spend a whole lot of time researching. Not all home builds come off that well.

The only value star trek has now is kitsch, seeing as how both TNG and the last failed incarnation of the show have been debunked in their conception of sci fi. In that sense a return to Kirk makes perfect sense. I have a lot of sentimental attachment to TNG, but it so thoroughly and completely pales in comparison to say, Battlestar Gallactica.

On the wrong side of 30 here.