Rant Thread!

[charismatic megafauna]

"…why not arm the children themselves, oh and their pets!" Don't engage in crazy talk at a solemn time like this, Brut. Pets can't use firearms. But just think if each of those 1st graders had pulled out their piece and shot back .... Yah, that's an idea worth considering. Make them responsible for their own safety. They need to learn the ways of the world sometime. Let's stop coddling 6 year olds.

[charismatic megafauna]

I'm seeing a real positive side to this arming kids thing, beyond the obvious being able to shoot down psychotic madmen (and occasional madwomen). There's money to be made. It opens up a whole new market for the gun industry. Tiny guns for tiny tots. I can see it now, GI Joe or Transformer guns for the boys, pink Barbie guns for the girls. Seems to me an idea whose time has come.

[Brutalsubtlety]

megafauna, we’ll look back on this, as we shelter in our cardboard boxes like some Cormac McCarthy novel…
“Doesn’t anybody understand irony!”

[charismatic megafauna]

We may be hiding in cardboard boxes, but at least we'll have protected our Constitutional guarantees.

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Somehow the whole regulated thing has been totally ignored.

But I would add, children are people, there are no age stipulations to this gun ownership right. Viola, children have a Constitutional right to bear arms. Let's get started on arming kids. Sure it will add thousands more gun deaths a year, as they blow themselves and others away, but it's time to stop infringing on their right to bear arms. Some prices are worth paying to protect our Constitutional Rights.

[charismatic megafauna]

Did I mention I'm increasingly surrounded by raving lunatics here in the US. The standard refrain in the America these days when something doesn't work "more of the same will put things right", not "let's try something different". Already some on the lunatic right are claiming even more guns will solve the problem. And the conservative solution to all our economic problems is lets make the rich even richer, since that's worked so well over the past 30 years. The lunatics have taken over the asylum. Hope I'll even have a cardboard box to shelter in.

[Brutalsubtlety]

Oh the zombie apocalypse will destroy everything long before we do, have a little faith…

[charismatic megafauna]

Faith is something I have no faith in.

[adelatorre]

Hi again [Mr Hugo Award],

Well , here I was merrily discussing the pros and cons of shale oil when suddenly I stumble upon your eloquent essay whose mere length obliges me to post some sort of answer within the limits of my writting ability.

Originally Posted By: [Mr Hugo Award]
[Mr Hugo Award] to "CultureCitizen":

Before you jump in and get the U.S.'s health-care costs down by 10%, our energy demands met, our culture-rules fixed, etc. -- all by using your exceptional systems programming skills -- why don't we do a deal (as my British friends like to say)?

Well yes [Mr Hugo Award] , we can do a deal, but then you are the owner and administrator of this forum, so whatever the deal we do, I can't but think of the one sidedness of it ( something on the lines of comply or be expelled).

Also , regarding the cultural rules , I've clearly stated in my posts we do have a tendency to mirror them. So such coments are not exempt of some self criticism.

Originally Posted By: [Mr Hugo Award]

First, get involved with your own country and get the damned drug cartels under control. They're a total blight and a shame to planet Earth.

Second, reduce the violence in your country by . . . say . . . 10%. If you can reduce America's health care costs or choose our energy investments, that shouldn't be a problem for you. (Suggestion: wear a Kevlar vest. As sleepwear.)

Third, create a real middle class in your country - one where people who can make some money don't have to hire bodyguards to protect their children from being nabbed by professional kidnappers. And change the huge social pyramid there based on so many poor people that hire only one or two relatives in their "businesses", spend their lives below the tax radar, and will pass on the same crap-level life to their children and grandchildren.

Fourth, create some real accountability in your own government, especially in the police and special forces who seem to be on cartel payrolls more often than not. Insist on having a few officials who aren't on the take to somebody.

Fifth -- and finally -- secure your northern border and prepare to receive, not the billions of dollars in remittances sent south from the U.S. every year, but more than 12 million of your countrymen who came here uninvited and illegally and who have been fouling up our courts and prisons and dragging down our welfare systems and economy while creating a social and linguistic impermeable culture-within-a-culture for decades now. We want our American melting pot back.

That is lengthy Christmas list, indeed.... and a rather Herculean task list.

Originally Posted By: [Mr Hugo Award]

Do these small things and then come back and give us your powerful advice about what the United States should do -- windmills rather than oil, government-run insurance, solar panels on car rooftops, big government investments in your chosen areas, legalizing all drugs, whatever -- to fix things here the way you want them fixed.

Well [Mr Hugo]. Finally we get to the core of the problem:
** I DO NOT CONSIDER I AM GIVING ANY ADVICE AT ALL **
I am simply setting the ground for an amicable debate... which later on might turn into some kind of brawl.

Hey, where's the fun in discussing some topic when everyone arround you agrees ? Dull , dull , dull.

Originally Posted By: [Mr Hugo Award]

Until you handle your end of things though . . . well, silence is golden. A more reasoned and reasonable conversation level, minus all the bluster and bull, is acceptable.

[Mr Hugo Award]

Well, then the answer to your deal is : no, nyet , non.
Boring , boring , boring. I mean, where is the excitement in this post?

http://forum.[Mr Hugo Award] .com/ub...531#Post144531
NOTE: LINK EDITED TO KEEP [Mr Hug Award]´s privacy.

Zero answers. No debate , no nothing, except pure "golden silence". Puaf.

So I'll offer you another deal: We've talked enough about America and health care. Let us have some new forum posts talking about your aforementioned topics :

Getting the "dammned drug cartels under control".
Reducing violence in Mexico ( say by 10%).
Creating a real middle class in Mexico
Improving the accountability in Mexico's government
Securing the northern border and preparing to recieve 12 million contrymen.

Now, you might say yes or no, it is really your call. Menwhile I will humor you with your request for silence.
Sincerely,
CultureCitizen

NOTE : I regret reporting that [Mr Hugo Award] has not replied to my post. I guess he's only interested in solipsist discussions.

[charismatic megafauna]

adelatorre, I suggest you give up. It's pretty clear the guy's a jingoist, contemptuous jerk. You are never going to have a real debate with him. Unless you enjoy banging your head against a stonewall, it's time to move on.

[charismatic megafauna]

adelatorre, I just thought of a way you can turn part of his argument back on itself. He tells you (Mexico) to get the drug cartels under control. Point out to him it's a problem the US is responsible for. The US uses most of the drugs the cartels run, the US provides about 100% of the guns the cartels use. If the US decriminalized/legalized drugs and had responsible regulations on gun sales (particularly assault rifles), the drug cartel problem in Mexico would alleviate substantially. Let him squirm his way around that.