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Tom Lehrer is still alive, even. Still lives in California, too. He said once that political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Wendy P.

Organized religion is about power. The more organized it is the more power can yield. It has always been thus.

The only prayer I ever muttered was on jump run; "Please Lord don't let it be me who fucks up."

Congrats David! As you are on your way to figuring out, finding a career you can love pays so many dividends. I couldn't afford to start skydiving until I was in my 30s, but now I have the funds to do whatever skydiving I want, and I work in a tech career where there are plenty of days when I say "I can't believe I get paid to do this" (there are also days when I say "fuck fuck fuck" but we won't dwell on those)

The best way to prevent step-throughs is to start your 4-line check at the 3-Rings.

Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not his department.

That’s a variation of a prayer made by aviators for decades. Chuck Yeager & Alan Shepard come to mind. Better to die than fuck up.

I didn't pray for the impossible. Mine was "don't let it be me who fucks up first."

And they supported him wholeheartedly... While pretending Biden is suffering from dementia.

No, that's "Please Lord don't let it be me who fucks up on video" Wendy P.

I thought it was about you never going low?

Whatever works for you is good. I may be just one of the lucky few who stumbles through life without feeling a need for all the answers to all the questions. I long ago came to a realization that no one can attain what you seem to be looking for. I do not envy you for your struggle. I think I will now recite the Serenity Prayer one more time. I have never been in a 12 step group or felt the need to. And I don't believe in "God" the way you do. But I do love that prayer.

I don't necessarily disagree, it's just interesting coming from you given that in Illinois alone there have been 10 Democrat State reps/Senators that have been convicted of racketeering, bribery, fraud, extortion and/or tax evasion in the last 10 years, and some are even still in office. It'd be interesting to see the numbers, but from my experience it would seem that on a local level democrats are by far more corrupt. But I grew up in Detroit so there's a little bias there.

You know what does have a speaker? Hunter Biden's laptop!

You packed yourself a step through by the look of it. Stayed with it way too long IMHO

Why should I be open minded about the state killing its citizens? It is simply wrong.

It's nothing to do with sleeping well. The state should not be in the business of killing its citizens - period.

“It is said to be a deterrent. I cannot agree. There have been murders since the beginning of time, and we shall go on looking for deterrents until the end of time. I have come to the conclusion that executions solve nothing, and are only an antiquated relic of a primitive desire for revenge which takes the easy way and hands over responsibility for revenge to other people.” - Albert Pierrepoint, Official Executioner in the UK During his career as Official Executioner, Pierrepoint was responsible for between 420 and 550 hangings including several Nazis after Nuremberg. The son and nephew of hangmen, he spent a large number of years engaged in the business and came to the above view after having to hang a regular who came into his pub. The man knew who Pierrepoint was, and what he did (it was an open secret) and yet still went on to commit murder.

It's an interesting topic. The last couple of years I've been doing a psychology degree with a minor in criminal psychology and as a result some of my views have changed. I think that we should be trying to rehabilitate people and from what I can see there is very little evidence that prisons work. In cases where there is no chance of rehabilitation I think it should be an option. However the US legal system appears to be totally dysfunctional and I'm not sure that it could be trusted to not have significant bias. A system that has the power to take life should be fair and get the same results regardless of wealth or race. It amazes me that politicians and policy makers disregard the scientific evidence regarding the treatment of crime and the causes of crime in order to appease public opinion. I can only speak for Western Australia, but our premier routinely brings out policy that the science shows is counter productive.

Good. Killing people in the name of "justice" absolutely should NOT be easy. Particularly given the chances of getting it wrong.

The state should not be in the business of killing people.

We shouldn't have for profit prisons either. More financial reasons than legal reasons seems to lead their thinking. Even some State guidelines on incarceration are odd. Unless it's been changed, Ii Florida, if you're taken to jail, you will stay there for a minimum of 48 hours in order for the county to receive State funds for the cost of housing you. This simple rule has cost people their jobs, which can create a cascade of financial disaster for them.

It's a barbaric, mistake prone process that serves no real purpose other than to "punish" someone to make the victims relatives and bloodthirsty onlookers feel better. It's more expensive than life in prison I believe, It's irreversible and I suspect the wrong people get caught more often than they should. All civilised societies no longer do this..

I am OK with the death penalty for specific crimes (mass murder) in theory, However I am only OK with it if we have a perfect, or close to perfect, justice system. We don't have that yet. So until we do, I am against the current implementations of the death penalty.