Chi Matt -- You are just describing the pain of democracy (or as I like to call it peer pressure). The good thing about democracy is that it is better than what we currently have, as well as, better than anything else humankind has ever come up with.

With respect to your McDonald's case, I think unions are well aware of that scenario. I assume they would organize statewide and beyond.

Quote chuckle8:Did you hear the caller to Thom who said that the CO2 plants absorb is all through their roots?

chuckle8 ~ No I didn't hear that caller and I'm glad I didn't. That type of ignorance makes me want to pull my hair out. A plant's roots are underground where there are no gases.

Come on Chuck, surely you learned all this stuff back in elementary school with the rest of us? If not, here's a refresher course. Photosynthesis relies on chloroplasts and light; and, occurs in the stroma of the leaves. The chlorophyll in the chloroplasts gives leaves their green color. The roots absorb minerals and water only. Photosynthesis in the leaves use sunlight to convert CO2 into Oxygen. The Oxygen is then released directly back into the atmosphere while the CO2 gets stored in the leaves. In the case of a biomass fuel it is that stored carbon in the plant that gets reconverted back into fuel to be burned off again. That is why burning fuel that is made from biomass does not change the concentration of gases in the atmosphere. It is a balanced cycle. Biomass fuel from plants is actually the most perfect and efficient form of solar power because you essentially use sunlight to capture energy.

Heres a couple of links to some grade school material on the subject that has pretty pictures, if that helps.

http://www.biology4kids.com/files/plants_photosynthesis.html

http://www.ask.com/question/how-do-plants-absorb-carbon-dioxide

Chi Matt -- Your hope is the Koch brother's terror. That must be why ALEC is pushing states to charge a tax on anyone puting solar arrays on their roofs. Are you sure you do not want to vote democratic?

Pal -- It seemed clear to everyone but Ralph. How could he believe in two completely contradictory thoughts?

Now back to the book I want you to read: "Why God Won't Go Away". I talked to my friend who has digested that book from end to end and the DVDs that it came out with. I mentioned what you said the Amazon commenters said. My friend thinks all those amazon reviewers were clueless. My friend essentially said the book points out how the brain is wired to be sucked in by all the religions. I wanted you to read book to give you another weapon in your arsenal against those whose brains have been sucked in.

DAM -- Thanks for the cliff notes. It sounds good to me.

Did you hear the caller to Thom who said that the CO2 plants absorb is all through their roots? It has nothing to do with what you are saying. Who cares where it absorbs it. I was just wondering if there was a validity to what the caller was saying.

AIW: Yes, I know. Thank goodness my 7-11 is only a couple of blocks away. But, I would be better off if I got the exercise from biking up a long steep hill. I had a Navy buddy that biked all the way across Canada from Seattle to Buffalo. He told me that since then every time he started to feel a little ill, he would hop on the bike and ride a few miles and this made him feel much better. There may be something to that but I have yet to try it.

Well said, AIW! The real moochers, the Ayn Randian idolizers, (Ayn Rand is their real "savior and lord") have been mooching on the commons for many decades. They are like a cancer that is sapping the strength of their host. They are the real parasites. It is the cesspool of corrupt capitalism that disguises itself as something holy. And the sanctimonious laissez faire harpies shriek nonsense to their gullible toadies who will eventually turn this nation to ashes. And after the revolution, the Phoenix will rise again from those ashes as it did from beheading corrupt kings and Royalist dandies and lead-filled Czars. All corrupt empires fall eventually! Just keep pushing, Capitalist Pigs, and see what happens to your empire!

:-)

It's grow-up time for humanity, Matt! Grow up, or out we go, by way of the dinosaurs. We can't keep living like this. It is unsustainable on a number of fronts. This problem we've created, with all our petty conflicts and so much strife, will resolve itself one way or another. The planet will continue to evolve with or without our regal presence. - AIW

Without workers having bargaining power, we've got a problem. Yeah unions have had their problems, which anti-union shills will exploit to whatever end suits their purpose. But the working class needs unions. Even non-union workers need unions because they raise the bar for everyone. Without those who do the actual work having a voice at "the table", there is no gainful employment; only indentured servitude. - AIW

Matt, we're on the same page with assisted suicide. Matters of birth & death are so deeply personal. We all should be free to decide when it's time to go. Dying on one's own terms is dying with dignity. Sometimes death is so sudden and unanticipated that even without the law standing in one's way, the sequence and pace of events make such choices impossible. But I believe everyone has that right, long as the situation allows it. Certainly the law mustn't be the only barrier to this option for someone terminally ill, with nothing to look forward to. Here in Oregon where I live, assisted suicide is legal. I feel fortunate to have that burden lifted at least.

As for the rest of your post, Matt, we are light years apart. What you have articulated is a philosophy I've heard quite a bit over the past thirty years or more, and it is one that I reject. What's more, Matt, for a guy who refuses to call himself "conservative", you sure talk the old conservative line much of the time!

"As an individualist, I look at my retirment planning as my own responsibility", says Matt. "I don't expect to be taken care of by the government just because I reach a certain age. Social Security will be supplemental for me, not my main source of retirement income." Well goodie-goodie for you. Would you like a standing ovation?

Recently I highlighted two words that conservatives have systematically ruined for this generation of Americans: "liberal" and "individual" (or "individualism"). I reject this Ayn Randian, fascist lie that we are meant to all be separated from each other, completely on our own, each left to our own devices. No shared, mutual interdependence with other members of society shall be allowed to prevail. Among Ms. Rand's recruits are those TV pundits who deliver that same old message to us, every single day: "No interdependence will be tolerated! You're on your own!"

I hate to break it to ya Matt, but that's not how humans were meant to live. It's a bogus lie, aggressively endorsed by the power elite to keep us small fry discouraged, frightened and disempowered. Because when people are discouraged, frightened and disempowered, it's easier to break their spirits and pacify them so they can be controlled, ultimately to be exploited, discarded and left to rot. That's the essence of predatory, cannabalistic capitalism such as we're dealing with now. Workers, war veterans, old people, sick people, the poor, all expendable! All on their own!

What fascinates me no end is how those promoting this philosophy will, with amazing consistency, ignore how the system is rigged against all but the richest few. After our jobs have been outsourced by no fault of our own, or rendered obsolete by automation, or we get disabled or sick and our lifeline's been cut off, we're told we're lazy, that we're incompetent, that we are "moochers", that earned benefits like Social Security and unemployment insurance are "entitlements" we've no right to expect (even after we've paid into them) and that our personal failures are always to blame when shit happens and our luck runs out. Same thing if we're bankrupted by medical bills. Lose your job, lose your health… Hey that's your problem, you're on your own!

Why should society (that is, us all collectively, as citizens of that society) have to pay to take care of sick people? Why have a safety net, or certain shared interests known as "the commons"? Even if such necessities as healthcare, education and clean water would be substantially cheaper, as well as unconditionally available to everyone as parts of the commons, it's evil socialism! Can't have all these "moochers" getting anything for free! Let'em wither and rot, those stupid lazy bums. Serves 'em right. Right, Matt?! Yet so many of you call yourselves Christians. From where I sit, you're all a goddam bunch of fools.

It is an Ayn Randian core belief that unless we're born into wealth, or are fortunately enough to acquire it, our total worth as human beings rests solely on our employability. It's a cold-hearted, cruel, ruthless belief system that, if entrenched in the principles that underlie socioeconomic policies, can be tantamount to a death sentence for the more vulnerable members of that society.

I am sick of you guys preaching all this bullshit about "applying" ourselves, "bettering" ourselves, being "responsible" ad nauseam. It all sounds so smug, so sanctimonious. And there's not a goddam thing in your whole screed on "individualism", Matt, that I haven't heard a thousand & one times already. You drank the kool-aid. I'm not buying it. - Aliceinwonderland

Quote ChicagoMatt:Um. Couldn't you apply that to individuals as well? "Look, gay marriage isn't allowed here, so deal with it. If you don't like it, move." If people acted like that, where would we be? There is something to be said for breaking the house's rules sometimes.

ChicagoMatt ~ I think you're right... You just got it backwards. Hippies were constantly told that we live in the freest country in the world. So they took that and threw it right back into the face of the establishment by acting out "free". One thing they showed everyone is that this country isn't as free as the establishment would like everyone to believe it is by far.

If people in Mississippi want to "break the house rules" by exercising "individual" freedom and marrying the same sex, smoking pot, or any other expression of real individual freedom I say more power to them. However, if some people's crazy idea of "freedom" is to restrict the freedom of others, in my opinion they have their heads up their a$$. People who truly want to be free will always have to counter intolerance and ignorance with disobedience. That is the job of the federal government--to protect the rights of the individual against the tyranny of powerful groups.

I say people of this nation should be free to do anything they want as long as nobody gets hurt; or, they don't infringe on the freedoms of anyone else. That is the true spirit of liberty; and, that is the country I want to belong to.