woolie

It's a move I applaud.

Oh, please, wikipedia is at least as accurate and deep as any encyclopedia on many, many topics. Sure, there's plenty of junk in wikipedia, and ANY encyclopedia should never be cited as authoritative because they ARE NOT PRIMARY SOURCES, but it's completely acceptable to use it for broad overviews on many topics, as a starting point for further reading.

They have to go somewhere... lack of jobs or motiviation to work is only one contributor to homelessness, as in, I don't think many of them will wake up and say "I think I'll get a job today." A larger factor is mental health problems and lack of treatment... the abandonment of the mentally ill and disabled by our society. Of course there should be more affordable housing close to jobs and transit accessible to help keep normal, working poor people from slipping over the edge, as well as better preventative medical care to keep the working poor/uninsured from falling in the hole... but the problem will always persist at least at a base level until we really clean up our mental health system. *goes back to the shadows before someone says the homeless are subhumans who should be hunted for sport and I'm a unamerican for supporting health care to the poor*

Infanticide is nothing new and has been practiced in China and many other places for thousands of years. I mean, we can start rolling off the top of our tongues the things people do to their offspring all over the world, throughout history: female infanticide, female genital mutilation, foot binding, head binding, neck extension, scarification, circumcision ( ), human sacrifice, institutionalized slavery and prostitution, etc, etc, etc. The world is indeed a horrible place. It's one of the reasons we've decided to not have children, ever.

I've met jax in person and afaik he's not a city consultant, just another struggling grad student

I think SMS is a good idea. I always have my phone with me. Actually it's a blackberry, so I get my email too.

Anyway, a shooting is a shooting. I don't see it any different because it happened at a school, a government office, an office building, etc. I absolutely don't want to support any additional loss of liberty out of fear of bad events (neither do most people, apparently, I wonder what the arrest rate for DUI is in terms of absolute percentage of occurances). So how do you balance the preservation of rights with identifying and helping people who are mentally unstable. It's complex and no one has been able to solve it. Even if there was a solution, it'd be another fight to get the funding required to implement any kind of public mental health services (we've seen budgets for these slashed and slashed for decades.) Further restricting the rights and movement and identity of poor school kids -- even more than they already are -- is probably a poor solution at best, a bandaid. At worst it will result in even further blandification of youthful minds, an even more subservient society.

Oh yeah, and mandatory antipsychotic drugs served with each lunch in the cafeteria.

NPR reported that the schools are extremely reluctant to pursue even misdemeanor charges because they are required to report the # and types of crimes committed on campus. They force students into on-campus arbitration to keep the numbers low. Criminal charges of stalking/harassment/etc would have made it difficult or impossible for him to obtain the weapons legally.

Sen. Leahy is discussing this at this exact moment in the Gonzales hearing.

I think all schools should install wireless transponders in every hallway to allow the quick and easy triangulation of any student. This is because GPS works poorly indoors due to weak signal. After this triangulation system is installed, each student will be required to wear a locater bracelet as a condition of attending school. Built inside the bracelet is a microphone that transmits back to a central databank and records all conversations made by the student, e.g. threats. Also included in the bracelet is a TASER-like device capable of immediately delivering a lethal or near-lethal electric shock either a.) upon command from the central authority or b.) upon detection of strong noise fitting the profile of gunshots, yelling, or threatening an authority figure. The technology obviously exists in the current state of the art in probation/parolee tracking bracelets and "invisible wire" electric fence systems for pets.

They should put this on the Interfaith Ministries lot.

haha, yeah, it's currently being used as a dance studio for some kids.

Concur with others. Main: 59 to Holcombe Allen Pkwy Sunset/North/South/Bissonet: Montrose to Kirby Westheimer: Bagby to Shephard.

If we decide to stay in Houston, we'll probably buy a neighboring house or similar in a few years.

There is some archaeological work ongoing in Brazoria county. You should contact the Brazoria County Historical Museum. My dad was at one time (early 80s) the curator (he's an anthropologist.)

It usually indicates a weak position when you ridicule the presenter of an idea instead of the idea itself. Blah. I'm going to just stick in the "on topic" forums from now on, better quality waste of time than banging my head against the wall.

Am I supposed to be angry and upset, or just think you're an asshole?

Yeah, yeah.. It's just the words "God Bless the USA" -- in particular that song, ugh, it wraps religious fervor up in nationalism, and we know what happens when those two things meet -- and "One Nation Under God" are just phrases that send me off the deep end (isn't there a thread about this?). I think secularism can win any fights on any terms, it benefits everyone, including people who are religious, and makes the country a magnet for the best and brightest from all over the world. It's just in the past couple decades with the ascendancy of the religious right and their political attack machine, it's been very difficult to organize to promote secular messages. Obviously my frustration at the situation showed through in a couple of the replies I just made, which I don't take back even if they were more ranting than the more balanced arguments I typically like to engage in -- but I do have hope for the future, as it seems many mainstream religious groups are realizing the importance of human rights and public secularism, and are moving their agendas back in this direction instead of trying to have overt control to create and enforce religiously-motivated laws.

OK, here is my "Proud to be American." Our country is more or less secular, and has withstood many challenges to remain this way. There have been inroads by religious radicals to turn this around, but they've been largely unsuccessful except for the words on the pledge, currency, etc. Roe v Wade still stands. It's only a matter of time before we have civil unions, and probably also euthanasia as well. I became an atheist over many years of studying about physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, etc, and contemplating the nature of the the universe and human behavior. To me, it is the only belief system which is completely self-consistent and can withstand outside criticism without resorting to faith in some scripture. This is an informed decision I've spent all of my adult life considering. I think it's silly for you to think some catastrophic event had to occur, that I had to be abused in some way, to reject blind faith in some religious customs as the guiding principle in my life. Do you have the same condescending patronizing tone for people who are muslim, jewish, etc.? Why do you think I am disadvantaged? My life is very rich intellectually, very fulfilling, and my work is rewarding. Materially I'm not doing so bad either.

It's time will come, the religious right and those who wish to transform this country into a theocracy are losing more and more power and influence every day.

One of my pet issues is having "Under God" removed from our currency and pledge. They were added in the 50's as an anticommunist tactic. The heart of the matter is that the US is supposed to be a totally secular nation and I intend to fight any encroachment of religion into public policy. Of course my post was in jest, but I'm dead serious about separation of church and state, and any mention of god or any deity as part of required public speech.

The old houses could be moved instead of demolished.

I always rely on fluff pieces designed to sell copies (top ten lists sell like nothing else you can imagine) from popular magazines based on arbitrary criteria as good, primary sources of information. You know, like my perennial favorite, Men's Fitness 'Fittest Cities' list!

Not sure if that's illegal under the separation of church/state, the eighth amendment, the UN declaration of human rights, or all three....