pirana

Kick the cat, beat the dog, shoot the rabbit, ignore the wife and kids, argue with friends, dig up the garden, crash the car, get really drunk. Hope the next day will be better. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Quite right. If democracy came about as a side effect, I suppose it would be a bonus; but the emphasis is really on economic domination. Whatever model serves commerce is allowed. In a cruel irony however (another Why Things Bite Back story), propping up of regimes friendly to commerce and cruel to their own citizenry for the purpose of lining the pockets of an elite class tends to backfire in the long run. We really only turn to military backed domination these days when commercial tactics don't pan out. Prop up some greedy bastards, make them and their cronies filthy rich, get them to sign a bunch of contracts promising to spend billions on projects hiring certain specific companies; and if that fails, route them from office and find somebody that wants to play ball. Democracy tends to be unpredictable. Conducting foreign investment is most profitable under a strong authoritarian regime. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

With a program that gave everyone a basic coverage plan without regard to job status or ability to pay, these are not problems. Anyone refusing to identify gets the automatic minimal treatment (and corresponding coverage) and is sent on their way. One of the biggest momentum factors getting in the way of true reform is still this notion that health care financing needs to be tied to employment in general, and worse yet, to a person's specific employer. Very archaic, needs to go. Where you work, or if you work, should have nothing to do with qualifying for coverage. (Income should however determine what a person pays towards the plan they choose). " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I'm with you. Nothing is beyond being made fun of. Some may not like the humor, but to be offended shows they have been assimilated (maybe without their even knowing) into the World of Correctness. Once everyone has been equally assimilated and properly sensitized, the only humor that will be acceptable will be the lame stuff on the inside of Laffy Taffy wrappers. EXAMPLE: Q: What is the difference between a teacher and a train? A: A train says choo-choo, and a teacher says spit out your gum. OMG! That's so funny. I call it Mr. Roger's Neighberhood humor. Can you say that word, . . . . it? " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

interesting photo collage. Have never seen them all lined up like that. Odd pose for Kennedy; he really stands out with head bowed; such a very different pose than all the rest. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

You're kiddin' right? How DOESN'T that get made into a movie?!? No, I'm quite serious; and stop calling me Right. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I don't see that whether he invented a term or not has anything to do with it. I also think my 2 examples are completely valid. What size threshold did you have in mind? How small a group can you offend without it being considered sterotyping, offensive, or rascist, sexist, bigoted, etc. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Very cool. Now I am left with just my monkey to play with. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Yes to the first question. Not sure what the exact definition is; but usually for something to be a joke there is some sort of setup or background, then a punch line, sight gag, or something. He just called black woman nappy haired or nappy headed hos. I guess it could have been made part of some tasteless or rascist joke; but there was no joke about it. No moment of "Oh, I get it, that was funny." It was more the equivalent of me just saying someone is an ugly mother fucker. That in itself would not constitute a joke, even if true. On the second question, I don't know. I must have missed Strunk & White when they were in town. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Maybe. But I suppose if the Palin family deserves an apology, then all the families Rush Limbaugh and Tom Leykiss have offended in the past would deserve one too. (Note: You probably couldn't list all the names offended by Rush himself without causing some type of warp in the space-time continuum) I guess that if you can say "he is a comedian is a lame excuse at best" then that statement is also applicable to conservative talk radio. Or, possibly, we could simply get FOX news to apologize for Sean Hannity and Bill O' Reilly. Take your pick. I'd give up Letterman for any of those. (Which I guess is a good deal for you because hes a baaaaaaaad influence) I await any examples Sucks when you get called on it huh.... Haven't listened to him in a couple years; think it was before his hooked-on-drugs adventure; but my recollection is that Rush mostly likes to put down groups. Feminazis, Amazons, that kind of stuff. Same with our local Rush wannabee; Tom Bernard. The show is not much more than a constant running string of put-downs of every person and every group of people that are not like him. Funny thing; his favorites are the H words. I used to marvel at how often he used them; horrific, hack, horrible, half-baked, horrendous, heinous, hair-brained, . . . Strange circumstance or weird affliction? You be the judge. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Honestly, I know zero about Imus either before or since that incident. Just the things I read in the press coverage of that actual incident. He was in the Howard Stern movie. That's all I knew of him before the nappy incident. Stern made a movie? How does getting women to strip in a radio studio become a movie? " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

How recently? "Nappy Headed Hos" ? I didn't think that was put forward as a joke. What was the setup? The punch line? " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Common ancestry, not directly descended. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Reminds me of something I heard during the debates the last time these issues got serious discussion. One of the anti-insurance extremists was complaining because the market in our state was essentially divided up amongst three big players. They were whining there was not enough competition. That same debate they were crooning the benefits of a single payer, non-competitive, state run, mandated plan. The line for that day was "So three is not enough, but 1 is just right?" I think we are seeing a lot of emotionally driven responses because of how people are impacted anecdotally by the flaws the system does have. I empathize with people's particular pains, but what they say is usually aimed at satisfying their emotion of feeling screwed, versus an objective and well informed analysis of the possible solutions to the big picture. Elimination of all competitive influences would be very bad for the cost of health care. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Great comment. Like the way you think. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I was thinking a trombone strapped to one side, sax on the other, French Horn tucked up in the crotch, a cymbal on the inside of each knee, clarinet under the chest strap, and a dozen or so morracas and other various small noisemakers taped all over the place. What could possibly go wrong? But seriously I want to try the whistles. I've also got this humongous (about 5' tall) plush carnival prize I want to take out of a plane. Of all things, it is a monkey. I told the kids what I wanted to do with it. They were cool with watching it bounce at the end of freefall, but do not like the idea of putting it on the bonfire at the end of the evening. You gotta make sacrifices sometimes in the name of science. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

So I'm watching Point Break a couple evenings ago; I think the 3rd time I've seen it. Never noticed before the low volume whistling projectile noise in the background during the skydiving scenes. Seems a bit corny, but I'll give a listen next time up just to make sure it isn't there and I just didn't notice. I know, hardly worth a thought, but how about this: Has anyone ever taped a whistle to their feet or helmet or whatever to see how it sounded in freefall? Sounds like a neat little experiment. Maybe a harmonica? Or 3 or 4 different whistles of different tone. Taped to different places on your foot so that as you changed position of your foot you'd get different notes. Don't give me that nothing-worse-than-a-bored-skydiver BS either. This is some serious science. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I heard she was starring in the role of Maria in an off Broadway production of West Side Story. But who would name their kid Wealth anyway? Must be a stage name. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Yes. Next question please. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I assume that somewhere above 99.9% of all humans abhor his action; regardless of political affiliation, religious beliefs, position on gun laws, etc. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Well, if you are going to do it in a Formula 1 car (or even a very close mock-up of a Formula 1 car), yes; incredibly expensive. But just as with other sports, there are entry level classes that are very affordable. At a couple of the tracks I used to go to all you needed was an old sedan, a welder, a torch, and a couple hundred dollars to get started. All of the classes are great fun because the thrill is in going as fast as you can in close proximity to each other. Even 50MPH seems damn fast when you are bumper to bumper and side by side. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Well, if that's the case, then the one thing BASE jumpers have in common is lemmings. In case it is the march over the cliff to death thing you are referring to: "The myth of lemming mass suicide is long-standing and has been popularized by a number of factors. In 1955, Carl Barks drew an Uncle Scrooge adventure comic with the title "The Lemming with the Locket". This comic, which was inspired by a 1954 National Geographic Society article, showed massive numbers of lemmings jumping over Norwegian cliffs.[9] Even more influential was the 1958 Disney film White Wilderness, which won an Academy Award for Documentary Feature, in which footage was shown that seems to show the mass suicide of lemmings.[10] A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary, Cruel Camera, found that the lemmings used for White Wilderness were flown from Hudson Bay to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where they did not jump off the cliff, but in fact were launched off the cliff using a turntable." Or maybe you want to launch skydivers off a cliff using some sort of rapid fire base jumper chucker? " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I do not dislike her any more than any other politician I've met or seen in person. I think when you see them speak unedited and relatively unrehearsed, on a topic you know enough about to identify the bullshit - only then do you get a true measure. In her early days as First Lady when she was trying to garner support for her vision of health care reform she was obviously parroting her advisors; and stumbling badly during panel discussion and Q&A time. The nearly unbelievable insincerity of her pitches for votes in her Senate race were pretty over the top too. Again, nothing they don't all appear to be doing; so I dislike her the same as all professional politicians. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Not sure how the rules apply to such a thing, but this is not a bad idea for a new forum section. I suppose it could be gamed if somebody tried; but it would probably avoid some problems. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Got it off some site with tons of cartoon images. One of these days I'm gonna get around to printing it on sticky paper so I can plaster it on my helmet. I also want the one where he has pulled and the only thing coming off his back is camping gear, and the one that is a view from the top of the cliff with the coyote shaped hole in the ground. Wil E, my hero. " . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley