from your previous post:

some people think they should be able to go wherever they want and do whatever they want. Well, they're not. And never will be. G(row)TFU.

You did so well keeping things non-personal.

Regardless, I am sad for you. Sincerely saddened. Not as an attack or an affront. If you told me this stuff in a bar, I'd buy you a drink. I just find your outlook ... sad.

We can all make a difference. Even as individuals. Sure, a demonstration may feel like mere spectacle, but that's how some change starts. Amongst the few things I regret in life is the times I didn't go march. Sometimes ya gotta suck some tear gas to establish your bonafides, even if only in your own heart.

It's also fun to ask politicians if they enjoyed the demonstration. They really squirm.

Think about, you'll get it.

I'm kinda sad for you. You believe that the people yelling can only make a difference in other countries, at other times. Very sad.

Perhaps you're a dc lobbyist. You advocate against direct action and for a little financial grease and face time. Do you take paypal?

it's really an exercise in futility anyway. There are far more effective ways to make a political point, and to get the people in power to actually give a shit. Much of the time, I just can't help but think that mass protests in this country are actually nothing more than mass mental masturbation parties.

Are you quoting Gandhi?

Freedom of assembly isn't a factor when individual people show up and bitch about stuff. If the gathering is organized, for instance to hear speakers, only then is it an assembly. One person yelling is not. The city, by corralling yelling individuals into pens, is creating the assembly.

So, your argument fails as soon as one person shows up, on their own, to bitch about stuff and is kenneled.

As for the city and it's police force being the perp of this offense to the constitution, they're just playing foot soldier to the DNC.

As for private organization on private property, go read up on quasi-governmental actors. It was really popular back when shopping malls and stores wanted to exclude blacks. Private parties can't violate constitutional rights, only the government can. Then they invented the classification "quasi-government actors" so they could force desegregation into formerly private venues.

As such, I call shenanigans on your argument that private groups on private property (eg Staples Center and the DNC) can universally exclude, corral, and pen one group of people (PEACEFUL protesters) unless you also believe they can exclude other groups, like blacks, women, the handicapped, etc.

Are protest zones good or bad? I thought they were bad as an infringement on the 1st amendment. Has something changed?

I've been through a fair number of tech business cycles. One of my investment rules is that when hot chicks suddenly appear in droves, it is time to move from equity and into cash. Note: I carefully distinguish between competent interesting women and hot chicks.

The bubble always bursts and most of the tourists leave. Those tourists include various bankers, speculators, and hot chicks.

As for the tech geeks attitude, think of it is as when the nymphs hatch. The trout gorge themselves during the temporary plenitude. Then, they go back to hungrily skulking.

The whole nanny state thing is a little ridiculous, but can be abused pretty harshly. The cool thing about stupid laws is that they can be used against the very ass hats that passed them.

The funny (as in odd, not ha-ha) thing about kiddie porn laws is that most of them have no scienter element. That means no intent is required. If you're caught with it, the full power of the state wrecks your life.

So, how can this be turned to advantage? I'm too old to do it, but kids can sure mess people over. Are your parents using a camera to monitor you? Get naked. They are now child pornographers. Feel like random mischief? Start flashing cameras in public places. Anyone that dares charge you with indecency runs the risk of becoming a registered sex offender. Go streaking at your state legislature.

Damn I wish I were a kid again.

The people is those states are too dumb to vote their own best interests. It doesn't matter because obama will win without them.

There's actually a lot more talking than the guys here are claiming.

If guys are talking on their way in, they -might- pause while pissing.

If a guy seems weak or sensitive, by all means talk to him in the can. Using the immediately adjacent urinal and talking can be great fun if it really sets him off. Especially if there are other guys there.

Pissing will not derail strategizing about getting women, getting rid of women, or sharing women. Yes, we're pigs.

Errata

I was stationed in a place where the toilets stalls had no walls. Worse yet, the toilets were a double row facing in so you were face to face with another shitting man. It wasn't long until we were talking, playing catch, etc. I think it started when with laughing at a guy with the squirts. Alsom catching something mid loaf is not a natural skill.

I go to a bar that has a window over top a piss-wall. Most people going into the bar walk right past the window. You bet your ass we talk about the women walking by. We also talk about any interesting cars or motorcycles.

Pissing outside is often a social activity. Crapping outside is not.