This was going around the tubes yesterday. High schoolers were given the opportunity to ask doctors questions about drugs via a web chat session. That the following question was asked speaks ill of what teens know about both sex and drugs: "Can smoking a joint be a form of birth control?"

Funny and sad.

http://crushable.com/other-stuff/do-glue-get-you-high-and-other-teen-drug-questions-answered/

Weird stuff for babies.

>>Weird stuff for babies.

Jesus! (Maybe we should tell teens that's what their babies will look like - if they use pot as birth control?)

What's the connection between gun control laws and Kristallnacht (which happened 72 years ago this week)?

http://volokh.com/2010/11/09/nazism-firearm-registration-and-the-night-of-the-broken-glass/

The argument being that if those Jews that chose to remain armed had not registered they would not have been the first ones killed. Those that were registered gun owners were attacked by groups of heavily armed Nazi sympathizers, or disarmed prior to the start. Had they not been registered the causalities of the Nazi's would have at the minimum been higher. Some argue that it could have prevented whole mess.

The problem with that argument is that in order for it to be accepted 2 things have to happen. First people would have to admit that our government can go down hill like the German one did. The second that guns in the hand of common citizens will even slow down a properly armed and trained military unit.

The first will simply not be believed because most people don't want to think about it. Regardless of the truth or lack there of behind it. The second is simply false, no amount of civil resistance will stop trained soldiers.

>>First people would have to admit that our government can go down hill like the German one did. The second that guns in the hand of common citizens will even slow down a properly armed and trained military unit. The first will simply not be believed because most people don't want to think about it. Regardless of the truth or lack there of behind it. The second is simply false, no amount of civil resistance will stop trained soldiers.

Very well said, vlad.
You also made your points more politely than I would have managed.

Free swim...so many things to choose from. Pedophilia how-to books on Amazon, or the article on how meat has a soothing affect on men, or the horror of being trapped on a cruise ship, or the guy how lost 27 pounds on a junk food diet experiment, or--nah, I gotta go check out that weird stuff for babies link.

Okay. That was just wrong. I wonder if they also have blond and brunette.

I found this funny. I don't remember exactly where I saw it or which software it was for.

Lots of text and graphics about sale , but now, the offer won't last long, will sell out quick! Only 299.00!

Then I looked closer...regular price 299.99...so it was a savings of 0.99 on 300.00...yep 0.0033% savings.

A kid I know was selling those hideously sour gumballs to the kids at his school for ten cents each or two for a quarter. He made quite a bit of money. In quarters.

I don't credit the public-school system, just general dumbshititude.

"or the guy how lost 27 pounds on a junk food diet experiment,"

Read that Twinkie diet thing. I'm sure he's right there ready for a longer-term experiment on it...

One positive: counting calories would be super easy with everything pre-packaged like that. :)

The cnn article on it has one of the most honest lines I've ever seen from someone involved in one of these health related experiments:
"What does that mean? Does that mean I'm healthier? Or does it mean how we define health from a biology standpoint, that we're missing something?"

Hey Jody, you never got back to us on that "motherhood" thing.

Hey Ben David, you never got back to us on that "dysfunction" thing.

In today's fast-paced, richly-computerized communications environment, it's more important than ever to fulfill one's rhetorical obligations with due haste and courtesy.

Jus' sayin'.

vlad, you assume that the army will stay together. I am pretty sure a group of poorly trained patriots beat the crap out of the best army in the world to form this country. Nobody is saying this country would go Nazi, commie perhaps, but not nazi, not with the left wing nuts giving it away. But do not fool yourself if you think violence isn't coming if things aren't corrected soon. And when it does the armed folks will be in much better shape than the un-armed folks

Another thing for Amy to add to the 'rude' behavior list: salespeople who chew gum vigorously while assisting you. It's really distracting to discuss a potential purchase with someone who is chomping away at a wad of gum with wild abandon.

I've been in the market for a new car, and both dealerships I went to resulted in getting a test drive with someone chewing gum like mad in the passenger seat while I tried to navigate roads with an car I was trying to get used to. It makes it hard to concentrate.

Has anyone else noticed this?

The second is simply false, no amount of civil resistance will stop trained soldiers.

Bull feces!! The military is about probably about 65% Republican with many understanding what the little "r" republican means. You would probably have whole units that would "defect" if given such orders against U.S. citizens.

Throw in that there are still enough vets from Vietnam onwards, that might not be of age to actually do combat, but can still teach the young pups. You would see the rise of militias again. An example of that would be the Minuteman Militia on the Mexican border.

And the point of carrying a knife is to get the pistol to get the rifle to get the RPG to take down the tank and onwards.

I also can't see a realistic way that the U.S. government could build that level of hatred and malaise/ignorance for any group in this day and age. Look at the whole Muslim issue -- we can't even get enough people to believe that Sharia Law is a problem.

The other thing is that internet has cut the centralized control of information. If you don't believe that google "90% of guns in mexico come from the us" and it undercuts the myth in minutes.

Just my $0.02

Oklahoma did amend the state constitution to forbid judges from taking international law or Sharia law into account.

"I am pretty sure a group of poorly trained patriots beat the crap out of the best army in the world to form this country." That would be an army formed primarily of criminal conscripts, the grunts. With a rigid adherence to tactical dogma that was 1-2 wars out of date. Fighting a war with supply lines that span oceans. Sort of like how we got our ass handed to us in Vietnam never having lost a single battle.

I do not assume the army would stay together. I'm pretty sure that if a president were to try this stunt. The US marines would have a field day wiping out the secret service. No it would be a huge mess of in fighting.

Most of the threat in this type of situation for us would not be the government but each other. The fractured forces would be fighting each other not hunting civvies armed or not.

"You would probably have whole units that would "defect" if given such orders against U.S. citizens." Katrina made me question that. Not so sure that's true for all circumstance.

"You also made your points more politely than I would have managed." Oh we don't agree in the least on this issue. The point of the registration was instituted with the specific goal of knowing where to go if a gun ban were created. It was not done with the intent to subjugate people though. It was done to placate that indigent cum dumpster Sara Brady who was too stupid to see the truth. A gun ban would not have in any way prevented what happening. Just like Carolyn McCarthy. I would feel for these women if they weren't so fucking stupid and perusing a course to take the things I have earned away. When you tell me "No you can't have your hobbies but keep paying for those indigent brood mares" I will without hesitation hate you. This goes beyond guns actually, my aquarium (and pet)species have sever restrictions, as does my choice of alcoholic beverages (4 loco ban). All done with the express intent of saving stupid people from themselves.

As far as kids and guns which is the main call sign for these idiots. You can gun proof your kids or kid proof your guns. Only one does not depend on the neighbor not being an idiot. I personally do both as would (and should) any responsible gun owner.

"And when it does the armed folks will be in much better shape than the un-armed folks" Oh hell yeah. The ones who can reload their ammo and make their own food too. Has nothing to do with this being a valid argument against gun control.

You won't find many that are more anti gun control than me. I can't stand the NFA and I think Hughes is guilty of treason. Still not making this a legit argument against registration. I don't support registration and I'm so so on licensing. As neither have had the slightest effect on the guns in the hands of the bad guys.

"Nobody is saying this country would go Nazi, commie perhaps, but not nazi" The difference being? The Nazis say the government owns everything. The commies say that the people own everything and they are the government. National Socialism and Communism are identical in most aspects.

I don't believe our military men will turn on us. I'm just not certain that it's an earnest belief or wishful thinking.

>>[Me]:"You also made your points more politely than I would have managed."

vlad: "Oh we don't agree in the least on this issue".

No need to reach for your pistol, vlad!

I know we don't remotely agree on gun control generally.

But here I was agreeing specifically with the apparent thrust of your objections to the argument in Ben David's post - that there was a "connection between gun control laws and Kristallnacht".

I thought the historical "what if" was fallacious.

vlad:
First people would have to admit that our government can go down hill like the German one did.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
The point is that if there is no registration, then we don't have to worry about misuse of the information.

As a commenter at that link says:
If you deny a government, however benign, the capability to perform an action you no longer have to worry about its intentions changing.

Given that gun registration in practice hasn't achieved any proposed compelling government interest in public safety.... The burden of justifying the thing is on the proponent of a registry not the critic. Not “what harm” but rather “what good”?

vlad:
second that guns in the hand of common citizens will even slow down a properly armed and trained military unit.
- - - - - - - - - -
Several commenters over there pointed out the Warsaw Ghetto as a counter-example.

Others - as here - pointed out that the army itself is often divided about the government.

In addition, the whole apparatus of oppression depends on the low-level operative, who is often not that political and easily dissuaded by the threat of violent opposition. And numerous pockets of resistance can be a logistical/PR headache beyond their numbers.

Here's a quote from Solzhenytzin:

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”

"Several commenters over there pointed out the Warsaw Ghetto as a counter-example." Oh that works for then not so much now. Germans for all their skills had nothing close to our guided munitions, comms and electronic warfare abilities.

"The point is that if there is no registration, then we don't have to worry about misuse of the information." Agreed. I'm not a proponent of registrations and don't get me started on mass approved gun lists.

"In addition, the whole apparatus of oppression depends on the low-level operative, who is often not that political and easily dissuaded by the threat of violent opposition." Depends on the units you are fighting. If you are faced with Marines, Spetz Natz, SS etc. then no you will lose badly and fast. However as you pointed out the political officers tasked with oppressing civvies are never that well trained or armed. Still doesn't validate the comparison. The requirement of registration was not done with the intended purpose of oppression. Though that it can lead down that road is a legit possibility.

"No need to reach for your pistol, vlad!" So you would assume that being a gun owner I'd be stupid or petty enough to even consider this response to a verbal disagreement. That stings.