aftermid

A tip is a reward for doing a GOOD job, not something that is owed regardless of the quality of service received. Any waiter/waitress/etc who thinks they still deserve a tip after treating me like shit is a moron, period. If someone wants to make a decent living, they can work for it just like everyone else. Giving a tip to a shitty employee in the service industry is the same thing as giving a bonus to a shitty employee in an office job or any other field. It's fucking stupid, and anyone who is a decent employee in a field where tips are customary would agree. A tip isn't a reward and it isn't a bonus. It is part of the cost of eating out. It's one thing if the waiter or waitress is rude and gives you shitty service, but it is unacceptable to punish them for things they have no control over or to withhold it as some sort of self-rightious critique. Why not show a little compassion? For the most part they get taxed on the assumption of 12% tips. If you don't tip then they are paying for to wait on you. Not tipping isn't withholding a bonus, it is like charging an employee to come to work. I've had service where the waiter/waitress was so rude and terrible that they deserved to lose money on me, but for the most part it isn't worth screwing someone over to save a couple bucks. We all have bad days and we're all human. I figure, I like doing lots of dangerous stuff, I might as well keep my karma as good as possible. Who knows when I might not be as fortunate as I am now and might need others to extend me compassion when I'm having a bad day.

At starbucks the tips get pulled together and divided based on hours worked every other week. So one week the employee gets paid their wage, the next week they get a share of the tips. I like to tip coffee people once in a while. I used to go to the same place every morning before and I'd try to tip a few dollars a week. I don't think it should be mandatory, but if a few extra dollars a week on my side can actually make a difference in someone elses life why not let it. Anytime I've been broke in it wasn't the last $1 dollars that did it.

If you don't want to tip, stay home. It is part of eating out. If the service is terrible, and by terrible I mean something completely unacceptable not run of the mill BS, I can see withholding a little bit. But don't be an anally cheap asshole. Typically the difference between a good tip and being a cheapskate is a matter of $2 or $3, again if you can't afford an extra $2 or $3 then stay home and eat carryout. Most servers also have to tip out other people bussboys, bartenders, ect.. Tipping maids, vallet's, and such is also mandatory. It's amazing how cheap people can be over a dollar or two. People that don't tip are the social equivilent of pedophiles. They should have to register in the same manner.

What about retards and jews, it wouldn't be complete without them.

The NFL has China like displine policies when it comes to speaking ill of thier officials.

The NFL got what they wanted. The Steelers have tradition and a huge out of town fan base, Seatle does not. This whole year officiating has been a joke in the NFL. They need to give official's real contracts and benefits, and in turn hold them accountable and severly punish and fine them when the F-UP.

Thanks. Ashville isn't too too far. NC -> Maine; preferably in the VA -> NY.

Other than Florida tunnels and Skyventure NH, what other tunnels are either open or under construction on the East Coast?

You summed up a certain amount of my original rant. The nature of the current two party dominence rarely produces quality leadership, more somewhat blind propulsion of a given idology.

Although the statement in itself is name-calling, it is based on a relatively factual analogy. In the aftermath of 9/11, Bush has attacked our civil liberties in a manner similar to that of the Nazi’s following the Reichstag fire of 1933. Although the events of the Nazi party’s rise to power were much quicker the tactics are very much the same: have the people sacrifice freedom under the guise of security. As Sneakerz so eloquently pointed out: "Don't forget that the terrorists that attacked up on 9/11 were able to take advantage of many of these so called privacy protection laws to be able to hide in this country undetected until they attacked." According to this logic, we clearly need to exchange freedom for security. Unfortunately freedom and security are rarely in accord. Historically or maybe ideologically, we’ve valued freedom over security i.e. better 10 guilty men go free than one innocent man is convicted.

name calling and generalization self congratulatory name calling and generalization EXCELLENT gratuitous name calling and generalization EXCELLENT Odd emotional escalation delivered from a pulpit. Seems we all mix up our good content with self satisfied condescension, stereotypes and unfair generalizations. Shit, look at this one. I'm unbearable. Nice Analysis

The subject of your post is an excellent example of the ignorance and small-mindedness that pervades both sides of the political spectrum. Rather than taking the time, energy, and brainpower to develop a well informed, educated position for yourself, or using the same effort to examine contrary arguments, you resort to name calling and generalizations. You lump yourself into one group, i.e. the righteous, and place everyone else against you. I believe in the second amendment, smaller government, and private healthcare, less taxes and less spending policies. I also support abortion, privacy laws, less Executive power, and secular public education policies. What’s more I think GW is a neo-fascist tyrant. Furthermore, I can explain to you most of my opinions based on facts rather than merely name calling. Please people learn to think for yourselves and don’t merely come down on the side of one ideology. Before you know it that ideology might have you strapping a bomb to your stomach, or gassing a bunch of Jews, or just slowly sacrificing your rights and freedoms in the name of security.

If you watched Flight 93 last night on A & E, what was your impression? In many ways it was exactly what I expected, an extremely dramatic tear jerker. It didn’t take the movie to know that those people on that plane were heroes in the true sense of the word. The one thing that really surprised me is how it left me feeling inside. I had a real sense of hate inside after watching it. Not hate for Muslims in general, but a real sense of hate for the Saudi’s. The portrayal of the terrorists reminded me of the self-righteous trust-fund anarchist kids that protest everything as long as they don’t have to take responsibility for making the world a better place. I think it is important to remember exactly who attacked the US in the first place, not the Palestinians, the Iraqi’s, the Iranian’s, nor the Islamic Faith. A bunch of self-righteous spoiled trust fund kids.

Um, that's what he said!! so how is that similar to the situation among the Palestinians?? Actually he said radical right-wing militia. It's similar in that policy is driven by religious ideology rather than by empirical investigation. Islamic extremists seek to oppress women because the Quaran/Allah says to, the religious right seeks to oppress gays because the bible says to. My point is that any time you use God to justify your hate you have a problem.

The radical right-wing militias in the U.S. aren't in control of this country. The radical Islamic terrorist organization known as Hamas, however, is about to be in charge of theirs. Your comparison is ignorant. No radical right-wing Christians are in control of the US; so in a way a little more similar to Hamas, being that they do thier good work in the name of God.

you have your cart before your horse. it is correct to not deal with people who support terrorism to further their goals UNTIL they come to their senses and commit to a peaceful resolution. i.e. don't reward bad behavior. Isn't that just a bit hypocritical? If we shouldn't reward bad behavior then how come we send so much aide and support to Isreal? Why have we played such a role in the hyperdevelopment of China if we have such a problem with bad behavior? My point is to deal in absolutes leads to very little progress. Let's define terrorism before we tell an elected entity that we are not going to deal with them: "The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons."

Exactly. When an entity ceases to be open to change then they close the door to progress. Most fundemental belief systems are in complete opposition to change. For the US to say it flat out won't deal with Hamas would be an excelent example of such a belief system gone awry. Anytime we deal in absolutes we're closing the door to progress.

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You say they "choose to die for something they believe in, they do not see it as work". This contradicts everything every prerecorded message of every suicide attacker i have ever heard goes against. They are doing this PRECISELY because they are - supposedly - carrying out the work of Allah, are they not? _______________________________________________________________ It seems kind of obsurd to blow yourself up and others in the name of God. Kind of like creating a nation based on Biblical Prophecies that are thousands of years old.

A man enters a bar and orders a drink. The bar has a robot bartender. The robot serves him a perfectly prepared cocktail, and then asks him, "What's your IQ?" The man replies "150" and the robot proceeds to make conversation about quantum physics, string theory, atomic chemistry, etc. he customer is very impressed and thinks, "This is really cool." He decides to test the robot. He walks out of the bar, turns around, and comes back in for another drink. Again, the robot serves him the drink and asks him, "What's your IQ?" The man responds, "100." Immediately the robot starts talking, but this time, about football, NASCAR, baseball, supermodels, etc. Really impressed, the man leaves the bar and decides to give the robot one more test. He goes back in, the robot serves him and asks, "What's your IQ?" The man replies, "70." And the robot says, "So, you gonna vote for Bush again?"

The US and Isreal don't recoginize Hamas as having any legitimacy, so they are not welcome to the table to talk. Obviously a good deal of Palistinines share their views to one degree or another. Are we to just ignore the democratic process that we so viamently tout all over the world? Maybe if they were recognized and welcomed to the table they would stop resorting to suicide bombings? Isreal has the human rights record of China. I think terrorism is a relative term: "The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons." That sounds like every relativly organized government since the Babylonians. Until both sides stop dwelling in the past there is absolutly no hope for the future. On a side note: What is the one thing Jews and Muslims have in common? Pork! None of them are able to eat pork for some God aweful reason. Imagine your sitting in the fucking desert sweating your ass off arguing the same fucking argument over and over, and on top of all that God says you can't eat Bacon! Send them some Bacon, Sausage, Pork Chops, and an Air Conditioner and tell them they have 2 years to play nice together or we're going to wipe them all out and start over. As Chris Rock said: "Two thousand years ago before refrigeration and proper food storage techniques pork could kill you, but now a pork chop will save your ass!" It's OK to kill your fellow man in the name of God, but that same God doesn't want you to eat bacon. What kind of Sadistic God doesn't like bacon? Right there should be a clue that maybe you need to check your beliefs for a second.

Look for the owners but not too hard. I rescued a Chow and they are the sweetest most sincere animals. They are loyal, aloof, and well behaved. They hardly ever bark and are pretty passive most of the time. Mine will mix it up with larger dogs but very timid and passive with small dogs. A friend of mine had a Jack Russel that would litterally jump up and down barking at my chow, and she would just ignore her almost looking right through her. I grew up always having Golden Retrievers and will never have another dog that isn't a Chow. They want your love and attention but aren't too needy. Yours was probably abandoned, because it isn't in their nature to run away. They are very pack orieniented, once they have a good home they have very little desire to leave. Most just want to protect the pack.

I wonder how many people voted for Bush just because they were hoping to speed up the apocalypse?

The Bible, like so many other Prophets, is great predicting events after they happen. Woops, I guess that's not predicting its more adapting and interpreting.

So you believe that radical Islamicists weren’t responsible for 9/11, instead the Administration staged the attacks. Was the Mossad complicit? I don't believe in any grandios Michael Moorish conspiricy theory that anyone other than radical Islamic Terrorists were responsible for 9/11. The point of the Reichstag analogy is not focusing on the cause of the disaster, but rather the reaction to the disaster and subsequent loss of freedoms. Many historians don't know or care who started the Reichstag fire in 1933, at this point it is irrelevent whether the Nazis, Communists, or some other group started the fire, it resulted in a government sponsored state of terror which the Nazi party used chip away at the German constitution and the German people's civil liberties all for the sake of security.