riddler

As far as I know, the word "gay" is not used in any constitution, so no it wouldn't be protected, but neither would it be banned. Historically, California's constitution began by using the word marriage in a gender-neutral sense (i.e. it didn't originally say between man and woman). In 1948, verbiage had to be added specifically to make interracial marriage legal. This makes it clear that the "constitution" isn't as set in stone as some people would like. I'm sure interracial marriage angered just as many people back then as homosexual marriage does today. In 1977, words were added to make it clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. People want to use this argument to say that the constitution always said this, but it didn't (prior to 1977). In 2007, judges ruled that it was discriminitory. That's not feelings - they cited specific cases of discrimination against homosexuals. They were basing their opinions on a conflict of laws (which is what judges do), and they found that the discriminitory laws held more water than the verbiage "man and woman". The people of a state are allowed to make decisions for themselves, based on fair democracy. Although I disagree, it's what the people of California said they wanted. I was only pointing out the fact that what they want is to indulge their own homophobia. And I don't think that has anything to do with religion. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I have a real problem ascribing this to religion, when it is clearly homophobia and nothing else. The same "religious" people that are against gay marriage: 1. Probably take the lord's name in vain on a daily basis. (One of the 10 commandments) 2. Probably lie to themselves and others on a daily basis. A study was conducted by Dr. Bella DePaulo, described in Allison Kornet, "The Truth about Lying," Psychology Today, Vol. 30 Issue 3, shows that most people lie once or twice a day, and over the course of a week deceive about 30 of the people they interact with personally. This includes religious people, and violates another one of the 10 commandments. 3. Skip church most of the time (remember the Sabbath and keep it holy?) 4. Broken most of the rules ascribed to their religion. But if it involves homosexuality, it has to be banned in the constitution? That's not their religion speaking. That's fear. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I've read a number of his books - they were all researched extremely well, I thought, and pieced together masterfully. I thought timeline was kinda lame, but I did like Eaters of the Dead, Airframe, Rising Sun and Congo. Jurassic Park showed how a good book can sometimes become a good movie. Best book that became the worst movie - Congo. I never watch TV, but I made an effort to watch one episode of ER after I heard he created it, and I thought it wasn't that bad, for television. All in all, one of my favorite modern authors. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I agree with you on many of your points, but I think it is safe to say that the average person today is still better educated than the average person at the time of the revolutionary war, standardized testing or not. All the way up to the 1840s, only the children of wealthy people even went to school, and it wasn't until the early 1910s that education was made mandatory for every child. It's hard to say what the average person's education was when the electoral college was formed, but I would guess it's about the equivalent of today's 5th or 6th grade (about a 12-year old). Most people in American today have a 12th-grade level of education (6 more years). Today's education requirements are much, much better, and more extensive than they were 240 years ago. Maybe some would say a high school education isn't enough to be able to make a good decision about voting, but it's good enough for me. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

OK, I was wrong about the election polls being close at the end. Well, they were kinda close, but it was not a dead heat, as I predicted. I was right about all the other stuff, though Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Yes, I voted for him. No, I never thought he will do even half the things he said he will. I want him to end the war in Iraq, I think he will. I want a good fix for the economy - I think he'll listen to his advisers and give us some kind of relief. I do not think he will: 1. Give 95% of Americans a tax break. First of all, this requires an act of Congress, not just the will of the President. Second, I doubt there has ever been a tax break in history that applied to 95% of Americans. Last, the country has 9 trillion in debt - there's no way we can generate less income and still meet our obligations. 2. Find and kill OBL. Bush hasn't done it, and I don't think Obama will. Anyway, we need an enemy, right? Terrorism isn't as scary if it doesn't have a face. Of course, we should make every effort. I just doubt it will happen - more likely, OBL will die of old age before he's caught. 3. Rid the world of nuclear weapons. I think it can and should be done. I don't think Obama will do it - he's mired in the political system of a major party, and the country is always at war. That's not going to change as long as Democrats and Republicans control every aspect of the government. 4. Make college affordable. College education will only get more expensive, never cheaper. 5. Eliminate oil imports from the middle east and Venezuela. He gave himself 10 years, but at most he can only be in office 8 years at most, so there's no accountability. Meanwhile, the middle east has too much power over the government of this country. Won't happen. 6. Make health insurance affordable and accessible. Right - with the billions of dollars that hospitals and drug companies make every month? No one, no one, will be able to change health care in this country. It will only get worse, with insurance companies dictating coverage, and drug companies and hospitals dictating price. One of my major issues with Obama is that he made way too many promises, and he won't be able to keep most of them. What promises do you think he will keep, and which ones will he break? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

It was not wisdom that established the electoral voting process - it was compromise. The founding fathers weren't all that wise about democracy - they were starting with the same outdated paradigms of feudalism that existed in England before the American Revolution. The concept of each person voting probably seemed incredibly ludicrous to them. Today, citizens are well-educated enough to be able to make the decisions for themselves, and well-connected enough to be able to get to a voting booth and vote. Back in the day, the average person was not so smart, didn't know what was going on in the government, and many of them probably couldn't even read a ballot. It made sense then, it doesn't make any sense now. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Good point, JohnRich. The economic crises of 2008 will likely be the beginning of the end for this country. We dodged a bullet in the 80s, when McCain almost killed savings and loans, but giving Bush and McCain a second chance to kill the banks seems to be the first nail in the coffin. Right now, I'm too happy to care much Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Colorado has voted three times to legalize. Doesn't matter - cops still bust smokers on federal charges. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Why not vote for Ralph Nader? I love this guy (and even voted for him once) - he may not win elections, but he's at least good for a laugh. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

And hypocritical. In this country, the wealthy are the most elite, of all the elite. And the Republicans support them in totality. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Back on the subject of fruit flies. This topic makes me laugh. My sister-in-law does genome research on fruit flies. My brother has a PhD in cell biology, and he studies geonomes of single-celled organisms, but he also did research on fruit flies. Part of that work was about trying to apply gene therapy to cure diabetes. The funny part - my sister-in-law is voting for McCain/Palin Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

If this is the definition of no brains: Editor of the Harvard Law Review Juris Doctor (J.D.) magna cum laude from Harvard law school Professor of constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School What does that make the rest of us? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

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That's right - we took the land from the British after they took it from the Native Americans. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

And, true to what I predicted, one candidate has a comfortable lead going into the election. Obama has led by 3 to 11 points over the past few weeks. This gives everyone a breather, so the media can push other stories for a while. I stand by my last prediction that it will be a dead heat going into election day. I believe you'll see McCain slowly edge up over the next few days. Make the race close, get everyone to tune in, sell advertising dollars. Money as usual. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

This really makes me wonder. Just what is terrorism, anyway? Why should Rush be tried for inciting a riot, when the cleric was tried for inciting terrorism? Or is terrorism a word that the justice system applies to people of a certain faith and/or a certain skin-color? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I have an AFFI rating, and I still practice AFF drills every time I go to the tunnel. Even after getting the rating, my skills are improving. But yes, before I got the rating, I practiced loads for AFFI in the tunnel. Bottom line is, without the tunnel, I could not have passed the AFFI arial evals. With the tunnel, it was still hard work, but I passed on the first try. BTW - a lot of people think the Ground prep is harder than the arial evals. I helped teach the AFFI course several times over a few years to get ready for that. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Yeah, I had a very strange url popup on the left side of my screen, which ended with both tags as end-tags. BTW - on Wikipedia's entry for the movie Stealth, there is the same picture, and they mention that filming was done on the US Navy Fleet Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, while additional scenes were shot on board the USS Carl Vinson. But no scenes were filmed on the George Washington. Maybe it's a sequel?? God, I hope not ... Edit - I'm having so much trouble with tags tonight! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[/url]http://www.militarypictures.info/airplanes/fake_stealth.jpg.html[/url] Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Nope, I don't like Russh. But tell me how his statements about inciting violence in the U.S. differ from Ali al-Timimi's? BTW - if you don't believe that Rush actually said that, here is a YouTube of the radio broadcast. You can judge for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QOSSZEA1so Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Many of you are familiar with Rush's Operation Chaos, in which he encourages his listeners to subvert the voting process. Examples include having Republicans register as Democrats to vote in the DNC primary and get Hillary Clinton elected as the democratic candidate, rather than Barack Obama. But on March 27, 2008, Limbaugh said "The dream end of this [of Operation Chaos] is that this keeps up to the convention, and that we have a recreation of Chicago 1968 with burning cars, protests, fire, and literal riots and all of that, that is the objective here [of Operation Chaos]." Last I heard, making statements like this - encouraging public damage and destruction - constitutes conspiracy to commit terrorism in the U.S. Here is the story of a Muslim cleric that was sentenced to life in prison for inciting others to wage war against the U.S. The only difference I see between these two is that Rush is white, not Muslim, and a friend to the GOP. Why are Rush's statements acceptable, when Ali al-Timimi's earns him life in prison? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Story here. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

My mother frequently does business with people in her church, many times, to her disadvantage. Whenever she is in the process of getting screwed over, I question why she engaged in business with them. Her response is "but he/she is a Christian." I wonder how many people willingly turn over their children to pedophiles based on their misguided belief that just because they are Christian, they must be good. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I have no problem with your organization, as long as you have no problem with mine: Extraterrestrials Absorbing Really Tasty Humans (EARTH) Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD