that such "thinking" can be taken seriously. I hope we make it, but the apparent inability of so much of the population to fullfil the intellectual requirements of citizens in a functioning democracy makes me wonder if we will.

or put them in the care of white foster parents. Obviously the thing was handled badly, but doing the "right thing" might have caused more rather than less suffering in a lot of cases.

and force everyone to become a fundamentalist Muslim after they are forced to get gay married.

I've actually heard this argument seriously advanced. At least they claimed to be serious.

obesity is a DISEASE. This is universally recognized by health professionals. All this "fat is fine" idiot propaganda is the equivalent of the oil industry being "skeptical" about global warming. When you "socialize" something you make everyone pay for it and it is much easier to do if the people paying don't feel that their money is being wasted by delusional people totally disconnected from reality.

Actually we should blame fat people. They are exactly the irresponsible equivalent of drug addicts, smokers, and alcoholics. Some people are biologically incapable of tolerating alcohol, does this mean that no drunk is responsible for their actions? I'm in favor of universal health care but listening to delusional fat acceptance activists makes even me half inclined to reconsider.

since this belief is established religiously, no critical, rational evaluation of the facts is either necessary or desirable.

Treating sexual exposure as a fate worse than death is precisely what CAUSED the problem. MORE sexual hysteria is not going to help, in fact it is likely to make things worse.

This is my whole point, because boys are much more likely to pull a "Columbine" there is a tendency, I think, for people to be a little more cautious in pushing them to the breaking point.

or if they do they are much more likely to take someone else with them.

the fact that males under enough pressure are more likely to create and expensive and disruptive violent outburst against someone other than themselves acts as something of a restraint against putting them under that kind of pressure.

come to think of it that is all they EVER had. They've just enjoyed eight years of a president who combines ALL these traits so they are feeling pretty bad now I guess.

doesn't contribute anything to real solutions to real problems. People ARE, and many are going to remain so. Solutions need to be found from within a religious perspective, and they (often)can be, or could be.

if not necessarily intentionally honest, about their real goals.

part of the variation can be accounted for by different levels of urbanization and an industrial vs a more agrarian economy but not probably not all of it.

and it's bullshit anyway because many of the other countries that have universal health care also have high numbers of poor immigrants and they manage to make it work.

Maybe you haven't heard but the GOVERNMENT actually SPENT MONEY fighting WW2 and building and maintaining the MIC. I know it's tough keeping track of all these technical little details when you are a "big idea" visionary type.

Thanks for answering my question. The only question for you is can the liars like you keep enough other people stupid enough that you can keep everything for yourself.

EVERY OTHER COUNTRY THAT IS NOT IN THE THIRD WORLD provides universal coverage to their citizens. EVERYONE except the US makes it work. If it weren't so disturbing knowing that half the voters are insane it would be funny listening to all the wingnuts bleating about how it can't be done.

Are most right wingers liars or are they just stupid and brainwashed. You forgot to mention that if the govt had done nothing in the 30s everything would have been better sooner.

Conservative everywhere are like the govt. in "1984", whatever they say the truth is now has always been the truth. There are in fact plenty of Catholics who have equally valid "liberal" arguments and the "truth" as the Church sees it does in fact change over time, contrary to popular ignorance. Yes the pope is "infallible" at SOME TIMES and about SOME THINGS(again the qualifications are not well known) but the "truth" about his infallibility has itself changed over time and the Pope doesn't live forever anyway.

or a system where the govt, directly or indirectly, pays for the many millions who can't pay for it themselves. Any system which provides meaningful care to everyone will be govt paid for the millions who can't pay anthing (and the vast majority who can't pay enough if they have a REAL medical problem) and therefore govt. run in some form whether it is direct single payer or something else. The right wing has always opposed this and there isn't any reason to think they have changed their mind. They just haven't figured out how to oppose it in the current political climate.

however it has to be pointed out that their belief that private wealth should rule unhindered has been thoroughly discredited before and has always, because it could afford unlimited propaganda, made a comeback. We should be confident but not careless.

this sentence really illustrates the Republicans tactic over the years and their problem now. They have relied on ferocious, hysterical really, partisanship to motivate their base and exert enough influence on the muddled middle to get to 51%. What they don't seem to understand is that once a solid majority has decided that you are full of shit this rhetoric only serves to reinforce that impression. You have to persuade a majority to support you and it seems like the Republicans have lost even the concept of a persuasive, even a dishonestly persuasive, argument.

No, I am telling you that different standards are applied to men and women when they act on this reasonable belief and a very different response from those who are "taken into account".