FMBI

PC is one of those things that I really, really, hate. As Dav said, as long as it isn't actually meant to be negative (such as "N"), there is no reason to censor a word. It's always annoyed me how the very organizations that spearhead the fight for rights also apparently feel compelled to waste their time on nonissues that hurt their popularity. Still, at least we have the satisfaction of knowing that, someday, our (American) Congress will succeed in banning films like Schindler's List. The problems don't all come from the left, people.

Says Ms "Plausible Deniability."

Who cares? Favre's already earned a spot as one of the best QBs in history, if he tries to get back in he'll just be hurting himself. Who are we to stop a past-his-prime QB from coming back at 39?

Awesome.

!@#$%^&* you.

Link For the last 20 years, it's been known that the US gets awful health care when compared to other countries. I'm glad we didn't disappoint this time. Of course, on the other hand, we're probably somewhere below 37th in worldwide rankings now.. I'd hate to get overtaken by Ukraine or Poland. Sorta gives you a good feeling to know that all the countries with evil socialized medicine are doing better than us, for less cost, but John McCain wants to expand "private choice" even more because of Canada, the oft-quoted model of socialized medicine failure™.

NS = not funny

Still waiting on that rootbear moan.. I hear that fat has great acoustic qualities.

Wow. Have you been sleeping under a rock / your mother's skirts for 10 years?

That was a moan?

Well, we were gonna send you a cake, but they refused to ship anything larger than an aircraft carrier. They might have allowed it if we'd licked the icing off, who knows.

Who gives a !@#$%^&*, let's hear rootbear's moan.

If they're going to open up offshore drilling, they can certainly afford to decriminalise pros!@#$%^&*ution. Imagine.. a world where pros!@#$%^&*utes line up on every Utah corner, and pimps are 30% of North Dakota's population.

root's just confused because he's never seen ASSS (even animated ones) before.

Nah, all of 'em were joking.

Don't need Episode 2, Episode 1 will drag on forever and ever. Just like the real SS dramas.

Ooh, how about we put this together with Raytheon's puppies and sunshine and daisies ray!

It's a short road to stalking, eh?

Err, well, my point was that it was packed with facetious comments.

Exactly. Heart disease is a long-term, "insidious" killer, that "adds up over time," as the media puts it. To prevent you from acquiring it, the government would have to be able to monitor your entire diet, and, by extension, your everyday living. On the other hand, seat belts are a proven boost to safety during a specific act - driving - that is a transitional act, rather than an intimate part of your life. It's far less of a privacy violation for cops to fine you for not wearing a speed belt than it is for cameras to monitor your kitchen. And guns are another issue altogether. You're 45 times more likely to have an accident at home than you are to repel an intruder, so you're taking a relatively large risk upon yourself for a relatively small payoff. Compare that with a seat belt, where it's pretty much a one-way proposition - wear it, protect yourself if you have an injury.

I could go on and on about this, but the simplest way to put it is that the old wisdom - "Russia is nothing outside of the cities, even though it's always been a rural society" - isn't as true as it used to be. Russia's actually started investing more in local agriculture, and, of course, Siberia's resources - so while it's still an urban-rural colonial system, it isn't as bad as it was. Also, Russia has hundreds of billions of dollars worth of foreign exchange (not all in dollars) that it's investing in infrastructure, finance, and, of course, their military. It's still recovering from the worst parts of firesale capitalism, but as far as everyday life goes, Russia isn't as bad anymore.

Link

Except he liked to eat girls with spices on them, instead of liking the spice girls.

I've never worn a bicycle helmet, but that's because I've always lived in small towns where I knew all the bad intersections, and I was careful to get the !@#$%^&* out of the way if I saw a driver being reckless. The closest I've ever come to any kind of accident was when I managed to get my shoelace stuck in a pedal ( ) and flipped over, and I still reacted fast enough to take the impact on my arms and legs. If I lived in a city / busy suburban area, I'd wear a helmet, though, because you're always moving at a higher speed, and you can put a lot less faith in the good judgment of the people driving around. And Veg, don't be stupid - we know from experience that thousands of car accidents happen a year, and seat belts have a major impact on reducing injuries / deaths. Compare this to a bicycle, where if you're careful, accidents are unlikely in the first place, and helmets are only useful in a grey area between shattered skulls and bruised fingers. If something happens on either side of the "helmet zone," then it's useless to you. Seat belts are always effective in cars, though, since they protect your entire upper body, and there's far less room for error when you're going 65 MPH in a 3,000 pound vehicle.

Link This has been the most transparent offensive move since (as Putin compared it to) the Cuban missile crisis. I especially loved the part about basing the interceptors in Lithuania. Why base something in Azerbaijan (where it would block any Iranian offensive attempts) when you can base it in Lithuania (where it would be useless)? Really gives you that good old-time happy feeling, doesn't it? Also, beyond the mere fact that this will alienate and threaten Russia (and it's a very clumsy attempt to dominate the new EU states), Bush apparently isn't considering that, unlike in the 90s, when Russia was scared to death that we would perform an invasion using conventional forces, they now have the edge in eastern Europe. Naturally, they won't use nukes, but those SS-26s can be used for non-nuclear war as well. Also, they have 3 potential forward bases for any assault, if they decide to actually carry out an attack - Kaliningrad, Serbia, and Belarus. The Czechs seem to think they'll be safe since they're not bordering Russia, but I'm not so sure. Ultimately, although Russia doesn't strike me as dumb enough to cross Polish or Slovakian airspace, they could easily justify a missile attack or two on the radar sites.