I will agree with the insurance companies on the need to reduce pointless risks to humanity as a whole. Basically, if you are smoking in bed, it had better be sexual.Originally Posted by Classic-X'er
The original was awful, so in view of the tendency of remakes to be worse than the originals, that movie doesn't seem like something to watch except by accident. Commies as a rule offer a parody of liberalism (OK, Commies believe in universal adult suffrage and gender equity, the brotherhood of humanity so long as it is the working class, secularism, and muted nationalism, and greater equality of economic results) -- but fascists offer a parody of conservatism with 'merit-based' or 'merit-guided' electorates, overt nationalism, anti-rationalism, and severe inequality as reward for success and punishment for failure.To me, statism as you describe, sounds pretty far fetched for America when you take into account it's people and it's history. As far as foriegn influence over our government, that's a not so far fetched possibility. Especially, if you pay attention to what progressives say and talk about here. If you see the new Red Dawn and pay attention to what's being broadcasted over the speakers, it's a whole lot of progressive and very similiar to what you see being broadcasted here. BTW, I'm a believer in non aggression but in the real world we have to begin protecting ourself from abroad and the circle of our protection has to be broad. America is uniquely different than the rest of the world which is why we will always have enemies and groups that hate us abroad.
A billboard in Havana all but parodied Abraham Lincoln -- "The Socialist Revolution... of the common man, by the common man, and for the common man" in his "...government of the People, by the People, and for the People..." in the Gettysburg Address.
Let's get this right. Evil almost never presents itself as such. Adolf Hitler could have never built his movement an gained electoral and financial support had he promised the death, tyranny, and destruction that he achieved and that after the Second World War Germany would lose huge chunks of territory and that Germans would feel shame about being Germans. Hitler even toned down the Jew-hating rhetoric while achieving power, even asking the vile Julius Streicher to soften his Jew-baiting rhetoric and imagery.
Do you think that the usual child molester tells his intended victims that they will feel unimaginable shame and pain? Not in the least. He offers attention and perhaps fun that the parents can't or don't offer. Effective parents can teach a child that "too good to be true" is neither good nor true, and that with strangers there is no free lunch.
Political demagogues who offer 'too good to be true' promises arise in places in which the political system has been dysfunctional for a long time..
The Uniform Code of Military Justice clearly delineates a distinction between murder and the usual hazards of warfare. Military service is a dangerous occupation, but soldiers are expected to avoid committing overt crimes. Ask William Calley. In civil life one has distinctions between murder, manslaughter, voluntary homicide (all unjustifiable), and justifiable homicide (typically self-defense and unavoidable accidents).Most people accept murder/killing as something that happens with people or during times of war when it's needed for defense. But, the act of murder itself is not widely tolerated or condoned.
A good point, and that heavily defines one of the political divides in America. In general, rural America is far more conservative on economics (except on farm subsidies) than is urban America. Government services are more expensive in the big cities in part because such people as teachers have to be paid above-average salaries if they are to not find some other activity more lucrative (a really-good teacher has most of the hallmarks of a good salesperson) and cops have to be paid well enough so that they don't end up on the payroll of racketeers. If two-lane blacktop roads are adequate in most of the Dakotas (I-29, I-90, and I-94 being long-distance highways then journeys of similar length in northeastern New Jersey or Southern California usually involve large traffic volumes for which ten-lane expressways often prove inadequate. Adding four lanes to an existing six-lane expressway in a developed area involves expensive acquisition of real estate and relocation of utilities. Building a hundred miles of new freeway through the Dakotas is probably less expensive than building five miles of new expressway in Greater Cleveland.Libertarianism isn't realistic for a large nation with cities and towns with an infrastructure that supports. As far as America, I believe the bulk of it isn't going to change alot and remain relatively stable and secure. As far as amount of fallout, well I'll just say, I wouldn't want to be in our major cities during the fallout.
Bigger cities imply higher-cost public services, higher costs of living, and higher incomes by necessity. Barack Obama won the popular vote in the 2008 election by winning a combination of 63 counties and independent cities and the District of Columbia while barely losing elsewhere. All such places had population densities in excess of 1824 per square mile, ranging up to 57,173 (Manhattan). It's not that such places with high population densities are giant metropolises. Two such places are Fredericksburg and Charlottesville, Virginia.
You can see much of the demographic connection between population statistics and the 2008 Presidential vote here. It is still available:
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/re.../explorer.html
President Obama did well in most big cities and badly in most rural areas. Suburbia is becoming increasingly urban and decreasingly rural -- and President Obama got that fact right.
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