How do we know the old lady was behaving properly? I have seen more elders than I care to count who seem to be dedicating all of their remaining brain capacity to taking the next step, paying no heed whatsoever to what is going on around them. They can walk right in front of a bicycle coming from the right. I can adjust my biking correctly to avoid contact with such hazardous geezers but can you expect a four years old to be capable of judging the behavior of adults?
Jesus Fuck Democrats are going to be slaughtered this tuesday.
Perfect, another few years of policy deadlock and 0 progress.Originally Posted by Carnage
It's been said before and it'll be said again... democracy doesn't work.
“For God will not permit that we shall know what is to come... those who by some sorcery or by some dream might come to pierce the veil that lies so darkly over all that is before them may serve by just that vision to cause that God should wrench the world from its heading and set it upon another course altogether and then where stands the sorcerer? Where the dreamer and his dream?”
Democracy worked back when people who voted actually had informed opinions about the issues.
10/4/04 - 8/20/07
It also worked when Representatives actually represented the people in the districts they ran for, rather than just worrying about getting re-elected for 3/4 of their term. Put limits on time and money spent campaigning, and maybe even reasonable term limits and the problem will fix itself.
The founders expected a person to serve for a time and then get back to their own affairs, not make a career out of it.
(Senators only worry about the last 1/3 of their terms, the rest they just do whatever they want no matter what they said to get elected.)
Only two more days of non-stop political ads!
Wait when was this?
supposedly, back in Athens democracy, when 5000 privileged men could get together and make rousing speeches.
of course, due to human nature, it was more like 50 trolls and 300 lurkers bashing each other and calling to pass a decision to ilegalize people they don't like.
or something in between.
democracy needs elected officials who know about the issues, and voters who know what the issues are and how to learn more about them.
sig made by Itachi-y2k5, thanks, dude!
Currently Watching: probably a show directed at 9 years old girls, lets be honest.
You know the important distinction between Batman and me? Batman is fictional. In real life, there isn't always an alternative.
People don't want to know the issues that don't effect their everyday lives. In this country at least, it seems to me that everyone *feels* so damned busy with doing as they must to pay the bills, provide for their families, or otherwise just make it to the next day. Human Nature has it that humans will look after their own interests first and foremost, and will often further it beyond "necessity" to ensure that their interests remain defended. Combine these two tidbits with the fact that there is a subset of people who make it a career to be informed in the methods of promoting their own interests in our society, and now you have the real problem.
Need to convince everyone that reasonable term limits and an informed voting populace are necessary for the success of democracy? Then figure out how you get past the barrier of apathy caused by people's *busy* schedules.
"You are not free whose liberty is won by the rigour of other, more righteous souls. Your are merely protected. Your freedom is parasitic, you suck the honourable man dry and offer nothing in return. You who have enjoyed freedom, who have done nothing to earn it, your time has come. This time you will stand alone and fight for yourselves. Now you will pay for your freedom in the currency of honest toil and human blood."
- Inquisitor Czevak
Frankly, getting the masses to 'smarten up' just isn't going to happen. Even if people become more informed, they don't automatically become less stupid. Knowledge does not equate to intelligence. So ultimately, leaving the decision of electing a leader in the hands of the masses is something that is never really going to work.
I think what is needed is a much more rigorous and discriminating system of selecting candidates where the involvement of the masses is kept to a minimum. Every candidate must prove that they will be an excellent leader. The masses can then go ahead and vote on these candidates. They can have the satisfaction of being part of the decision making process, although at this point, any one of the candidates would be good.
The focus on informing the public too much is a bad idea because once they understand the candidates better, they can influence the outcome of an election with their own selfish motives. Information on each candidate should be readily available, but should be something that people have to make an effort to look into themselves. Its better for stupid people who couldn't care less to make random decisions than ones with a motive. Of course, for this to work, the whole idea of campaigning and gaining popularity needs to be abolished. And at the end of the day, each of the candidates would make a good leader anyways.
The problem is that increasingly, especially with the current and past administration, there are a lot of laws passed that do affect people's everyday lives in rather profound ways. They're snuck in under the guise of other laws, or shoved through while the media makes a big fuss about something else stupid or minor instead of doing their own damn jobs like investigative journalism.
Lawmakers assist this process by describing the newest law as "helpful" or "simplifying" when it typically does the exact opposite.
Anyone seen/been to the Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear yesterday?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1..._n_776541.html
"You'll soon see what Gotham City is like without fear, and it won't be pretty. Fear is the glue that holds society together, it's what makes people suppress their worst impulses. Fear. Is power." - The Scarecrow
I was there. despite my early leave, I didn't make it to the mall until around 2:30 though :\.
still, it was cool and I'm glad I went. Seeing the mass of people with the different signs was all cool. But man.. what was the deal with that "Japan: a black hole for child abductions" group handing out fliers/waving a giant flag/ wearing (and selling?) T shirts?I got handed one of their fliers and I was like "Japan's abducted nearly 300 kids?? what the heck japan? O_O" then I remembered that OVA about the Japanese girl who gets abducted by Koreans and I thought "eh, must just be one of those things from that part of the world."
either way, "Children go in but no child ever comes out..." is a bit dramatic D:
Also all the b tards were pretty annoying. And a lot of the "clever" signs stopped being clever after you'd seen enough of them.. But yeah, good rally.
user posted image
SpaceX's Falcon 9 took off with their Dragon capsule on top, orbited the Earth twice, and splashed down. Tests went pretty much flawlessly.
Elon Musk, CTO of SpaceX, "I think it's just a testament to the incredible work of people at SpaceX," he said. "For a rocket to work and a spacecraft to work, they're both incredibly complex devices. There's so much that can go wrong... I'm sort of in semi-shock."
They hope to have the next set of tests buzz the ISS, and then dock with it unmanned before they go for human-rated certification.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/002/press/
The pictures brought a single tear to my eye. Commercial spaceflight...hell yeah. Suck it lazy NASA contractors, your era is over.
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/1...ga-ban-passes/
Yaay, now Tokyo officially supports censorship...
Number of works of fiction that made me shed at least one tear: 3Thou seeketh soul power, dost thou not?TOX: 33524385841A92B08787EEBEBA2DB51ED293C4F15A2E292F3F C92165E82388281433A77EA8FE
"Holy Fuck. The Mayans got the date a little too late..." -Sankaku comment
That sucks. How about Tokyo go and sort out REAL sex crimes, like all those assaults that happen all too often in schools and trains..
In the meanwhile, Australia's also just declined the "R18+" game rating for now.
Such a sad day.
Last edited by Buffalobiian; Mon, 12-13-2010 at 06:29 AM.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Doesn't sound too bad. Maybe now we can get some actual titles made and not just fanservice titles. The law isn't gonna bother with moe titles like K-ON.. I am interested in getting an idea of how much violence will be allowed though.
user posted image
Unfortunately this ban wasn't planned to raise the quality of manga, anime, and games (as if any ban could), it was devised to shut down a part of the industry because the people behind the ban hate the industry for their own personal reasons. So, I wouldn't count on them not bothering with any particular type with a law that has more etcs than explicit descriptions.
If I'm interpreting it right, still doesn't bode well for things like Berserk or Gantz which, even though it's already R-18 stuff over here, will definitely lose sales over in Moonland when they're shoehorned in alongside the porn.
KIMOCHI~II
Disgruntled land-whale interrupts school board meeting in Florida with V for Vendetta bullshit, shoots up the place, hits no one, shoots self.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...5370.htmlstory
There's so much weird stuff about this event, like the way the gunman accidentally fires a shot into the floor, and the sneak attack by the purse wielding board member, "Ginger".
I love the way one of the hostages tries to lackadaisically dissuade her heroics.
"NO, Ginger...Ginger no...
no...Ginger..."
<@Terra> he told me this, "man actually meeting terra is so fucking big", and he started crying. Then he bought me hot dogs
@Xan: I shouldn't be laughing at that incident but it's impossible not to, everything is so ludicrous and surreal.
I don't know whether to be proud of Ginger's feeble attempt or embarrassed for her.
“For God will not permit that we shall know what is to come... those who by some sorcery or by some dream might come to pierce the veil that lies so darkly over all that is before them may serve by just that vision to cause that God should wrench the world from its heading and set it upon another course altogether and then where stands the sorcerer? Where the dreamer and his dream?”
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