FunkyTown

I don't think it matters if the rich are paying their fair share. The current concept of wealth is meaningless except insofar as we agree it has meaning. If we didn't agree dollars were worth anything, they wouldn't be. Gold - Same thing. With the exception of concrete measures of wealth, such as food, land ownership and wealth-creation centers such as factories, the current concept of the economy is meaningless. I don't know how to fix it while we live in a world of scarcity(Even artificial scarcity in some places).

ISIS expansion is happening because it is a proclaimed Caliphate. This is no ordinary bunch of terrorists. The more successful they are, the more people will believe they are a Caliphate. The more who believe that, the more successful they will be. Time to watch and listen.

If your wife doesn't believe in the church, why is she taking sacrament that uses water rather than red wine? o.O If she doesn't believe in the church, then she doesn't believe Joseph Smith's revelation about the sacrament, either, which means she's doing nothing other than drinking tepid water and eating crumbs of bread torn by a stranger's hands.

The fault for these sorts of people getting away with it falls squarely on every man, woman and child who pays more attention to sensationalized news and infotainment rather than actual news. That's it. The 'Report unbiased, complete news' crowd failed miserably last century. They were replaced by what people watched: Infotainment. Glenn Beck, Crossfire... They're just the same as Stephen Colbert and John Stewart with the exception that Colbert and Stewart are more honest about what they're doing.

My sister has been in four serious accidents. I'm just going to take two of hers. That's how math works, right?

If this gets developed and is not freely available, I can guarantee that the population will drop down to about 2 in short order when people's loved ones start dying.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/20/anti-ageing-human-trials That's right. We're now in human trials of a compound that will reverse the human bodies aging. The example given here is that a 60 year old will look, feel and be as fit as a 20 year old. It only costs $50, 000.00 a day!

BBBBBEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPP! You have also used a proscribed word. What do the letters Y-E-S, in that order, spell?

That's odd. Is this an active mormon friend? It sounds more like someone pretending to be Mormon said it. Hunh.

I'm not even sure what a regridgerator is! Do you like the words yes or no?

I'm not sure this is as big a deal as you're suggesting. I would suggest it's in poor taste. She would suggest that art is about causing an emotional reaction. Just don't go to her page. Artists have traditionally pushed the boundaries of what is considered good taste. There are a lot of reasons someone might do something like that: Working through their own emotional difficulties, drawing attention to a subject they consider to be endemic to society that nobody talks about, the desire to shock. Trying to decipher her reasons for doing it will fix nothing. Just ignore that aspect to her and continue to treat her as you would any other friend.

Just read The Rise of the Horned Rat. Because I am a nerd.

Eisenhower gets a bum rap. The difference between his and Obama's plan is that Eisenhower had a very distinct vision for America. He spent money to attain that vision. Obama is spending money to... What? Increase jobs? Those jobs will always be dependent on more spending. Increase infrastructure? To what end? What, specifically, is he hoping to attain with this additional infrastructure? I apologize if I wasn't clear: I don't think Eisenhower and Obama's plan are similar. Eisenhower's choices ushered in a new era of prosperity because it was forward thinking and specific. Obama's plan is less so. I don't disagree with the idea of increasing infrastructure. It's worked well in the past. I disagree with the vague feel-goodist promises and political porkage in this. Heck - I even agree with some of the spending. I think his push for clean water is smart. I like what he's thinking about scientific investment - DARPA's new research projects are mind-blowing in scope. Sadly, there's a lot of fat around the meat.

yjacket - I'm not sure where you're getting him twisting the scriptures. Can you make your point more succinctly? Or point out that Jesus did not, in fact, call us sheep? Or warn us against bad shepherds? It seemed a pretty salient point to me, so I'd love to hear you argue a specific point against it rather than make a vague accusation. If I'm misinterpreting the scriptures, I'd love to learn more.

If you feel he's being unfair, definitely talk to the Stake President. If you feel he's not, then maybe you need to make some changes in your life.

That's a great question. Eisenhower(Who was one of the best Presidents of all time in my opinion) did exactly the same thing Obama did: He created an infrastructure project and generated the Interstate Highway system. Republican investing in infrastructure. It ushered in half a century of prosperity and helped provide job mobility for millions. £288 billion went to scientific research. Good on him - I agree with that sort of thing and DARPA is a modern world wonder that the US should be proud of. DARPA(Also created by Eisenhower, by the way - A Republican) deserves investment. (Although not all the money went to DARPA, but projects like it). £231 billion went to tax incentives for individuals. £51 billion went to tax incentives for companies. £100 billion went to education, of which £53.6 billion went to preventing layoffs of existing teachers - This is a problem. Shoring up existing shortfalls is not a solution. It's short-sighted, harms families who save and causes long-term problems. £105 billion went to infrastructure. £1 billion went to the Bureau of Reclamation, which is a water purification program. Considering the amount of fresh water in the US that's been destroyed and rendered undrinkable, this and the £4 billion going to improving water waste treatment was important. The long and short is: Obama had some good ideas and some terrible ideas: Improve water treatment facilities, fund scientific advancement, etc. Unfortunately, the good stuff was packaged with pork projects. He should have stuck to something with a coherent benefit to the US rather than a whole lot of smaller projects that are easily sidetracked.

You would think. Light doesn't behave in the manner in which you expect it to and newtonian physics doesn't work on a quantum level. If two people hold light beams and point them at one another, you would expect the beams to approach one another at twice the speed of light. That doesn't occur. They approach one another at the speed of light. Quantum physics is incredibly interesting and completely unintuitive. It doesn't behave the way it should. Making quantum physics match the Newtonian physics you and I experience every day is the holy grail of physicists. Einstein couldn't do it. Hawking couldn't do it.

Foul, fluid filth.

2016: Obama's America.

Wasn't the US supposed to be on fire by 2016 if he was re-elected again? I seem to recall a movie coming out during his election year that said that we would have dogs and cats living together, fire from the skies and a really big Twinkie. Still a year to go, though.

Slippery, Sneaky snakes.

Evil Energetic Egrets

In the interest of fairness: A-train wasn't the socialist. dorave was(Lack of capitalization deliberate as per his name). I apologize for my lack of exactitude. Some of the old posters blend together sometimes.

Angry Argentinian Assassins.

A Xenophilic Xiphosuran.