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• Commented on Penn Jillette on legalizing pot
  Not only should we decriminalize street drugs, we should also make the prescription drug system optional! I want to sign a waiver that would allow me to purchase and consume whatever drugs I want. I'm not about to go operate...
• Commented on Torture in video-games -- a moral dilemma
  I played through this quest on the Horde side, but even then I didn't think it was justified. (To call the Horde "evil" is an oversimplification. They are certainly not as evil as the Scourge, for instance.) I read through...
• Commented on Mother Jones interactive military presence map
  @6: A fair point, but even if you ignore that category, there are still (to my count) 23 nations with more than 100 troops, including these whoppers: Germany: 57,155 Japan: 33,164 S. Korea: 26,076 Italy: 9,701 UK: 9,655 (not to...
• Commented on Fafblog's Medium Lobster becomes a political columnist for the Guardian
  "...the Democratic veepstakes is being driven largely by a search for qualities like Strength, Experience, and other ways to say Penishood" Heh. That's at least 100% accurate....
• Commented on Howard Zinn's "A People's History of American Empire" graphic novel
  @65 (Takuan): I love your response, but he probably won't get it. More concretely: the history of Israel/Palestine is a good place to start looking. The US alliance with Israel has probably cost us a lot more than it's worth....
• Commented on Howard Zinn's "A People's History of American Empire" graphic novel
  "Also, if what I've done to rile them up is simply go out on my back deck, well, fuck them, they have to die." The problem is that Latin America, the middle east, southeast Asia, etc., are not the United...
• Commented on Howard Zinn's "A People's History of American Empire" graphic novel
  In a world where it's not always easy to know who to believe, I tend to follow a simple rule: Be skeptical of those in power. Does this mean that people like Zinn and Chomsky are always going to give...
• Commented on Comcast tech calls grandpa a crook and disconnects him
  My experience with Comcast: While the people who actually showed up to my apartment were more or less nice and helpful, when I had Comcast it was the people over the phone who really got on my nerves. My biggest...
• Commented on SFMOMA's Director of Visitor Relations forcibly removes photographer, even though photography is allowed in SFMOMA
  You know, the responses here have been interesting, particularly #27, who has made me feel (a little) ashamed for reflexively siding against institutional power. The truth is that few conflicts are ever unambiguously one-sided (how few exactly? beats me). My...
• Commented on Monochrom: Economic Recession Wisdom from Sock Puppets.
  ...is this neo-liberal globalized capitalism BS a free market? If so how is the free market unfair? My initial comment was meant to be somewhat humorous, so I didn't really elaborate on this point. "Free market" is a term of...
• Commented on Monochrom: Economic Recession Wisdom from Sock Puppets.
  I'm for a command economy run by artificial intelligence. Sure, planned economies run by human beings have failed miserably. But an artificial greater-than-human intelligence might do a better job, plus there's a chance that it wouldn't have the same kinds...
• Commented on Scientists invent "meat spaghetti" to trick kids
  @40: There are many other sources of iron and protein that don't involve death. Speaking as a former vegetarian (I abstained from meat, other than fish, for 5 whole years), I do not mean to be antagonistic or anything, but...
• Commented on Man arrested for plugging rice cooker into neighbor's house
  It's nice to see that the US is not the only country that decides to report utter frivolities as "news"... even "super news" in this case!...
• Commented on NYT on trolls
  That's all fine and good, but judgment of an idea is itself an idea, and can themselves be judged, and so ad infinitum. The only question is to sentence. We talk about banning, vowel-removal, killfiling, etc., but whatever is done,...
• Commented on NYT on trolls
  On the internet, any data not part of a virus transmission or a DDOS attack or such carries equal weight. It is thankfully impossible to stab someone through the Net. If we all lived on the Net with no IRL,...
• Commented on NYT on trolls
  Perhaps saying this will simply make me a target for trolls, but I have to say that I was very upset by the NYT piece. The earlier commenter who made reference to "watching the world burn", a line recently used...
• Commented on EFF, ACLU sue over wiretapping law
  @36: I'm a bit confused here. I don't see how the US has the physical capacity to wiretap any conversation that takes place anywhere in the world. Unless a communication is passing through an American telco company, I don't see...
• Commented on EFF, ACLU sue over wiretapping law
  @26: As if your point weren't moronic enough to begin with, it's scarcely even intelligible. Learn how to write. Most of us crazy leftist extremists have no problem monitoring the communications of "our enemies"--which apparently means anyone who doesn't live...
• Commented on EFF, ACLU sue over wiretapping law
  Obama will have to do a lot for me to overlook this atrocity which he not only voted for, but which he voted for cloture for (essentially, the exact opposite of the filibuster he had promised). However, he is far...
• Commented on America loves drugs
  Zuzu: seriously, what ever did happen to states' rights? In addition to being ethically preferable in many cases (with some noteworthy exceptions), treating the states as little laboratories of democracy can benefit the nation as a whole. During policy disputes,...
• Commented on America loves drugs
  Zuzu is likely quite right about the "proper channels" argument, but let me address a larger point about drug hypocrisy. This cuts both ways. While there are plenty of highly-medicated people who self-righteously decry street drugs, I've also found that...
• Commented on Shepard Fairey's Orwell covers -- books now on sale!
  Given the constant references to 1984 in the comments on BB--and all I can say to that is at least they're not constantly invoking Brave New World, a book I've come to loathe largely because of the way it's been...
• Commented on Psychedelic-inspired "well being" lasts
  A friend of mine thought I was weird when I didn't attribute any spiritual significance to a mushroom trip we shared. He was hoping I'd discover God or something. While the experience was certainly memorable and distinctive, there are really...
• Commented on Teaser for Pirate's Dilemma TV show
  A simple argument: 1. It is permissible (or, some would argue, obligatory) to break unjust laws. 2. "Intellectual property" laws are unjust. 3. Therefore, we may (and arguably should) violate "intellectual property" laws. (2 requires further support, and is probably...
• Commented on Large Hadron Collider probably won't destroy Earth
  Some days I wish scientists would destroy the earth, do us all a favor......
• Commented on The wit of wisdom of Sen. Kit Bond on telecom immunity
  SLoP: Your quotation reminded me of this famous Jefferson saying, worth quoting in greater length than it usually is: "God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed....
• Commented on Scrubbing the atmosphere of CO2
  Technology got us into this mess, but it's probably the only thing that can get us out of it. You can't change human nature--well, that's not entirely true, but for some reason a lot of people don't like this particular...
• Commented on People in love with objects
  @23 et al.: This topic of normalcy and deviancy is a fascinating one. Stanley Fish, the philosopher and law professor who has a weekly op-ed column in the NY Times, actually addressed this issue a couple of weeks ago in...
• Commented on House passes wiretap telcom immunity bill
  If obeying the government is reason for impunity, then a lot of mistakes were made during the Nuremberg trials. I hate to fulfill Godwin's Law here, but the basic principle at stake makes it relevant. Being given orders that you...
• Commented on People in love with objects
  Sexual attraction to objects? How mundane! Me, I'm in love with abstractions. I have the hots for the number 43, the infield fly rule, the fine-structure constant, the color blue, and the Platonic idea of chair-ness. Objectum-sexuals? Amateurs!...