HeyYou

So, don't like my argument, so you resort to insults? That's nice. I actually expected better of you. Wouldn't be the first time I misjudged someone.

Not familiar with binary are you?

Don't think I said they would be 'right', or even 'rational'...... If you look to Washington DC, there you find a group of people, each with their own 'truth', that are absolutely sure they hold the only version of the truth. Trouble is, not a single one of them agree, and they simply can NOT all be right. Besides, 1 + 1 = 10.

"Truth" is NOT indisputable. One mans truth, is another mans lie. It is all about perspective.

No one in the intelligence industry trusts anyone else. ESPECIALLY some other country's intelligence agency. The only info they trust, is info they gather themselves. Nature of the beast. Now, granted, the US DOES cooperate, sorta, with a select few countries, but, we also spy on them, and they spy on us. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that some of the 'leaks', are done on purpose, to provide contradictory information, simply to keep the issue confused enough, that the general public is never really sure of what is actually going on. It's a given that nations spy on each, but, the extent is what has been open to question. Given some of the information that has been leaked (and real), it's not like anyone in their right mind is going to accept the words from some intelligence agency at face value. Especially when denying some wrong-doing, in which they have been pretty much caught red-handed.

Most folks try and convince other folks that they are "right", and their point of view is the only correct one, when someone elses point of view does not agree with theirs. read the comments on any political article. You will see both sides saying the exact same things, with just a couple names swapped. "if party x thinks that plan y is going to accomplish anything, they are crazy". And not even that polite. You can insert any values you care to for x, and y. Just doesn't matter. That's what it is all about. Convincing someone else that your 'right' should also be THEIR "right".

Don't pick the maggots off your food, they provide necessary proteins.

Just because everyone does it, doesn't make it 'right'. Most of these activities are already illegal, so, slapping more restrictions on them won't make any difference at all. Back in the early 2000's, our government (USA) passed the Patriot Act. (misnomer....) That bit of law made it 'legal' for various agencies to tap phones and such. Supposedly, they weren't going to tap AMERICAN phones, just foreigners. We see how that worked out. The US seems to be in the business of alienating our allies. Or, simply abandoning them, when it is no longer expedient to support them. (Egypt, the 'arab spring' took hold, and we basically tossed our ally of decades, in favor of the muslim brotherhood....) What is the point of being an ally, if you 'friend' taps your phone, and will abandon you when you no longer seem to suit the social trends of the day? Being a 'fair weather friend' pretty much assures that you are not going to have any friends in relatively short order. Obama WAS on a path of reconciliation with various foreign powers, including our allies.... seems he has changed direction on that. Not really a good plan.

I beleive that long before we achieve 'cultural homogeneity', the human race will have successfully killed itself off, or, significantly reduced it's population at the very least. We are self-destructive, that appears to be universal across all cultures.

Kinda like the obamacare website...... :D

Gotta agree with ya there Vagrant0, but, I think corporations have already all but taken over government.

There is more to it than just that...... I may be centrist, but, that is only because not all of my views fall on one side of the spectrum. I really dislike government meddling in my life, but, I suffer no illusions that my vote is going to make one whit of difference in what happens. That is all determined by the folks with the money, that decide who gets to run, and who gets elected.

An idealist? :D It would be nice if people would watch out for each other, and lend a hand when necessary, but, human nature, and most societies..... frown on people 'getting involved'. Generally, this is due to things like lack of specific training. (like interfering in a crime in progress, when you don't have any law enforcement training.) Sometimes, folks cause more harm than good, and those situations are the ones that get the most press, thus, folks are encouraged to 'do nothing', or, report the situation to the appropriate agency. Not to mention that in our current society, people are more likely to simply record the incident, and then post it on youtube, than they are to call the cops, or whatever.... Then you have self-preservation. There are not many folks that are willing to put themselves in harms way to come to the defense of someone they don't know. Be it an individual, or group. And there is always those that WON'T help, because they disagree with whatever the victim is being prosecuted for in the first place. (don't expect a homophobe to come to the aid of a gay person being assaulted....) Nope. In today's society, you need to look out for yourself, because chances are REAL good, no one else is going to help you.

I was referring to our victim leaving her profile up, as the "standing on your principles'. This was going on for two years. I would like to think the parents took most of the steps you refer to, none of which did any good, or made any difference. For some folks, you need to resort to their own tactics to actually get through to them. I would have a very hard time faulting the parents of the victim, if they bought off some kid to thoroughly beat the crap out of both girls. Every day. For a month. I would be the one standing back with my iPhone, recording it, and posting it to youtube. Give them a taste of their own medicine, see how they like it.

And once again, the forums can't remember if I read a topic or not. This just happened in the last day or so. I have changed nothing on my machine. This was an issue a while back, but, it worked in select forums, then, it started working reliably on all forums. Today, none of them will remember if I have read a topic or not, unless it is really old. (back into mid september) Did something change here?

Since toward the end, the bullying was taking place on facebook, deleting the account would have been a logical step. No one ever died from NOT having a social networking profile. Sure, you could chalk this up for a "win" for the bullies, but, looking back, I am thinking it would have been better than what happened. What is the point of 'standing on your principles', if it causes you to kill yourself?

Uninvolved parents? True, no one wants to believe their child is a bully..... aside from those that are proud of the fact. (yes, they do exist) The fact that this went over for over two years, and a couple schools, just REEKS of mismanagement, on the part of two sets of parents, and apparently a couple schools. I would like to think that these two girls will be charged with something akin to manslaughter, and spend a few years in juvvie. At least until they turn 18. More than likely though, they will get a slap on the wrist, and that will be it, and they will go right back to their bad behavior, with a new victim. If I were a parent of the dead girl, I would be VERY tempted to PAY someone to bully both of these girls for while. Let them see the other side.

Didn't her parents pull her out of that school, and transfer her to another? (I may be getting this one confused with another case.) What makes you think the bullies parents WEREN'T notified? 'Nother question I would have is: Was this reported to school authorities, and did they actually make an attempt to do something about it?

http://www.snakbloxapps.com/SnakBloxApp-Esquire/img/summary_mba.jpg No big surprise there.

They are minors, so, can't be charged as adults... but, this is what you get when bullying has no consequences. Until something drastic happens. Not the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last. My question becomes, If the girl was being harrassed so bad on Facebook, why did she even bother to log in?

Soon as I get my FTL drive working, I will go and have a look, and let ya all know. :D

We are already sending them weapons and such. (rebels in syria) And sure, theoretically, our representatives in washington are supposed to represent their constituents veiws, but, it seldom works that way. They are beholden to the folks that donate the big money that got them elected, and if they want to get elected, or, re-elected, they will, in reality, represent THEIR views, not the peoples. Doesn't matter whom you vote for, you get the same result.

One important factor in all that is: Our government has already demonstrated, on several occassions, that they are incapable of learning anything from history. Therefore, I fully expect the current trend to continue, right up until our economy implodes. Once the dust settles, it will be interesting to see what happens. Not that I expect to survive it.

Temporary funding thru January 14, ability to pay bills till some time in february, probably able to continue that to mid-march, with some creative accounting. No one 'won' anything here. This is just a breif intermission for the holidays, and we will get right back to it after the first of the year.

Well the thing with your other taboo topics is that they usually have some form of mental disorder before hand. For instance those who sexually abuse children, many of them either were abused themselves, grew up with someone that was and quite possibly even participated in the behavior as well. Same goes with zoophilia. While the DSM doesn't state zoopholia as a disorder persay, they both (pedophilia and zoophilia) are listed as other paraphilia disorders. ~snip~Not completely true. have a look at child marriage in a host of middle eastern countries. Are you going to try and convince me that they were all mentally unstable before they decided to marry a child?