QM,
"And if you think government research is ever going to surpass private enterprise research: HA"

I guess we should have put out bids on the Manhattan Project and the Apollo program... I'm sure that would have succeeded wildly... Also, I say this as an R&D engineer, private research is very good at developing technologies, but... Private research sucks at creating technologies, and it sucks at science, it always has, and I suspect it always will. The pay off in doing basic science research is so far down the road, and such a gamble that little or no private enterprise is willing to touch it.

Also, I used to be fiscally conservative, and socially liberal. I have read Adam Smith, and Thomas Malthus... But after I finished school, and entered the real world, I realized that it just doesn't work that well. If you look at economic history of the US, it is the times that we had liberal presidents that our economy grew the fastest, unemployment dropped the fastest, Carter was the one aberration.

The University of Nevada-Reno uncovered the following while conducting the economic comparison between Republican and Democratic presidential administrations from 1949 to 2005:
• Unemployment Rate- Republicans 6.0%, Democrats 5.2%
• Change In Unemployment Rate- Republicans +0.3%, Democrats -0.4%
• Growth of Multifactor Productivity- Republicans 0.9%, Democrats 1.7%
• Corporate Profits (share of GDP)- Republicans 8.8%, Democrats 10.2%
• Real Value of Dow Jones Index- Republicans 4.3%, Democrats 5.4%
(in logarithmic growth rates)- Republicans 2.8%, Democrats 4.4%
• Real Weekly Earnings- Republicans 0.3%, Democrats 1.0%
• CPI Inflation Rate- Republicans 3.8%, Democrats 3.8%

In short, it looks like Keynes is spot on.

Ideologically, I like fiscal conservatism, but pragmatism demands liberalization of fiscal policy. I am a liberal now, because of pragmatism, something I think you would understand with your comments about how great religion has been for the world (a statement I disagree with, btw. Sure good things have been done in the name of religion, but I am not so sure it outweighs the bad.).

Don't tell me that liberals know nothing of conservative thought. I used to think it my self, but then I looked around and grew up, became a liberal.

Also, calling our congress communist shows a complete ignorance of the definition of the term communism. Same with your use of the term socialism. Palin, and W are much more socialist than Obama. Bush with the buying of banks, and Palin with the paying of every citizen of Alaska.

If my dad was a US senator, I think that graduating from Harvard B school wouldn't be very difficult. Graduating from B school is easy, it's getting in to a good one that is hard, for most people...

Isn't this kinda *long

upvote for the use of christopher o'riley playing karma police... I love that man's radiohead covers...

NordlichReiter, Just who in that video was trying to "survive at all costs, even the expense of other humans"?

You sounds like someone who leads a very fearful life. Do you have any idea how uncommon danger is now compared to any other time in human history?

Maynard takes brazilian ju jitsu. He put that dude in a rear naked choke

Yeah, it's pretty bad... But, it is still better than half the rap being put out by the big record companies today.

Seriously, I would take that over Soulja Boy or Mims any day.

Hey budzos... What entitles cars to use the road any more than bikes? Fuck the idiot drivers who are unwilling to share the road. The cyclists were not the ones with a sense of entitlement, it was the driver who assaulted the cyclists who felt that he had more right to use the road than the cyclists, not the other way around.

Also, you called the cyclists fat, the fattest person in the video was in a car. The cyclists, as a whole, seemed to have a build that was representative of the US.

Was anyone else annoyed by the fact that they pan the prius for it's lack of cargo capacity and then recommend you get a honda fit? Also, they tested the hybrid on the highway, while they are best in city traffic... A little dishonest...

Hybrids are not right for everyone, and are currently overrated, but there are certainly applications for which they are perfect (people with short commutes, or delivery vehicles...)