LeviF

Championship!

To play gator's advocate, many of those slaves were not allowed to learn how to read or write. We're five generations removed from black folks who were prohibited by law from learning pretty much anything besides picking cotton. Fast forward to 1900 and still only 50% of black men aged 20-64 can read and write. By 1930 about 20% of all blacks aged 10 and up are illiterate. It's considerable improvement, but we're only about 70-75 years removed from a full fifth of the black population not being able to read or write. It is not surprising, then, that many blacks, and the impoverished as a whole, continue to live in a way that makes middle-class white people raise their eyebrows. Their way of thinking about things is vastly different from the way you or I may think. You and I are future-oriented in our thinking. We invest, save, prioritize around the future. Our parents raised us to think about the future, it's all we know. The impoverished as a whole are present-oriented. Their lives revolve around what they and their kids are going to eat tomorrow, where they'll find decent winter coats and boots for this winter, where the money for utility bill that's due next week is coming from, etc. Everything is prioritized around the present out of necessity. Kids fall in with gangs and the drug trade because they provide immediate safety and financial security. They won't live to see 30, but hey, at least they'll have friends and some cash. So the way to change culture is to change thinking. The benefit and safety net type programs are in place so that impoverished folks can worry less about the present and invest and work hard towards the future. But there's no incentive or motivation to work and invest towards the future if there's no education and no end to the benefits in sight. They keep thinking about the present and often never even see a way out even though it's there for them.

From the looks of the two passes we've seen, it already did.

Both teams provide footballs that are marked for use for their respective teams on special teams plays, from what I understand.

I largely agree with you, the father is a driving unit in the family, and a lot of "dads" do walk out or just never show up. But thanks to feminism, a ****ty family court system, and the way benefit programs are structured, we have an entire generation of women who believe that strong, steadfast men are a problem or barrier, not a solution. As OC said, a lot of men who would be glad to be fathers in the real sense are used for sperm and cash by women who have no interest in doing hard work or raising a good family and partnering with a good man to that end. A lot of these men are lucky if they end up getting a couple of weekends a month with their kids, no matter how good of a father they might be.

This. If you think men are the only problem, I have a bridge to sell you.

This is the most compelling reason for me not to believe most conspiracy theories. The sheer number of people that would have to be involved combined with an internet age just isn't the best formula for secret-keeping, even if you do buy everyone off. You can pull up individuals that have kept secrets of this magnitude for their entire lives, but lots of people with different backgrounds and values? Nuh uh. The closest example I can think of is Ultra in the UK, but that was pre-internet.

Wouldn't be surprised if a few regulars around these parts are.

Gugny once shot me with a pellet gun because I called him creepy. Then he jumped out of my tree and plastered the side of my house with used tissues. And he hadn't blown his nose in them

All two digits of my IQ are very proud.

Nice try. I know it's just long for arrogant !@#$.

They also have our record last year at 10-6. You know, fwiw.

Mario Butler!

Great job reading.

Some say quit or I'll go blind but it's just a myth.

Watched ESB with some friends last night.

Just another in a list of guys who just don't get it.

Exactly, we have lots of experience in bein-, uh, helping disturbed people.

I mean, you're probably a pretty ok dude. But you are probably awkward and definitely not forward enough around cute girls. And you put ketchup on hot dogs.

I'm still in for two plus the TBDAHOT

I compared putting ketchup on a hot dog to high treason, not Jeffrey Dahmer.

That attitude is why you're still single.

Ah, well in that case I wish she couldn't flare her nostrils. She does it just to bother me.

It's not that she's bad with conversation topics or content, it's that she has this wonderful way of shoving her foot in her mouth without even realizing it. She basically called my mom old once and she was the only one who didn't realize it.

The girl I'm dating now could use some tact. Her meeting my parents was a blast.