The Avenger

People aren't perfect - agree with you there. Corrolary would follow that accidents happen and there are no ways to avoid them. I also agree with you on the seat belt vs. helmet. Even if you don't wear a seat belt, you still have a windshield and some steel and air bags to help out in a crash. Hit some road debris in a car and it makes a big noise and may cause some tire or undercarriage damage. Hit that same debris on a bike and you're in big trouble, and if you're not wearing a helmet (and maybe even if you are) you might die. What I'm not following is how if you believe it's safer to not wear a setabelt then you think motorcycles should be banned - you lost me there. Perhaps its a slippery slope argument that if I support people not being allowed to ride without a helmet then I could also argue that people shouldn't be allowed to ride bikes at all? That's ceratinly not an argument I'm making. As for where you draw the line and place governmental restrictions on potentially dangerous or deadly activities, that's up for debate. Personally, I believe government has a right to limit your freedom to ride with the wind in your hair on your bike or limit your ability to slide over to the passenger seat because you have to wear a seatbelt if such restrictions result in fewer resources (police, EMT, road crews, public hospitals, etc.) being expended when there's an accident (you may feel differently). I also personally feel that, despite some really dark cynicism, government does make law to protect the safety and wellbeing of their citizens. I'm not going to get sucked into the immigration question, but I think you're being too narrow if you place the burden of busy hospitals on illegals. The problem isn't that uninsured illegal immigrants clog up the system, its that UNINSURED people clog up the system - illegals are only a part of that group. Plenty of red-blooded American citizens who go to the emergency room with a stomach ache because they don't have any insurance and the hospital can't turn them away.

So helmet and seat belt laws are unacceptable restrictions on personal liberties put in place to maximize the profits of the big insurance companies? Do you live on Ruby Ride or in some kind of compound somewhere? I'll leave your underlying argument alone (that government can do no good and certainly wouldn't pass any laws for the safety and well being of its citizens) and state my original point again - it's BS to claim that, in the name of personal liberties, you should be able to do anything you want that might result in your own serious injury or death because it's only you who's impacted. Other ARE impacted, resources are used and life does not take place in a vacuum.

The point of my argument was not to point out that bad things don't happen or that there aren't plenty of other activities that can increases in costs, etc. My point is that you can't make the argument that you should be allowed to do whatever you want that results in serious injury/death because, hey, it's only you that suffers. Unless you live in a vacuum, the things you do have consequences beyond yourself. Where you draw the line - that's up for debate. But don't say you should be allowed to do X because it doesn't impact anybody else - that's B.S.

Not your choice to drive up everyone's insurance rates, take up space in the hospital, increase my wait in the emergency room because the doctors are busy with you, use local/state emergency resources to cover the accident scene, reconstruct the accident, write reports, tell your family you're dead, etc. If you lived in a vacuum where it was just you and nobody else I'd have no problem if you wanted to dump your bike at 90mph, but your actions do have residual effects.

Let me start by thanking you for the personal attack - it's great when it degenerates into name calling. People see that shooting people is wrong, particularly when they see these people as "people" rather than something less worthy. Judging from the people here, while it might not be OK to shoot a person, it seems fun to soot a person if they're a "wetback" or a "breeder" or a criminal. Multiple people have pointed out that there is some measure of truth in those stereotypes. The problem is not that necessarily that you call these people wetbacks, but in doing so you allow people to think of them as something other than human beings.

Let me start by saying YOUR appathy to the situation in Darfur is reprehensible. The fact the you only think of yourself and not the masses being slaughtered in Sudan makes me question what type of person you really are. People are DYING there and you're worried about jobs. Saving a life and saving a job are two completely different things and you're on the wrong side of this issue </sarcasam> Seriously - get off your high horse and stop judging who is selfish and who isn't. Why are you suddenly the arbitor of what's self interest and what's selfish? You're condemning me for worrying about my situation rather than someone else's? If that's what you do you're the must altruistic and compassionate conservative I've ever seen - I salute you and nominate you for sainthood. Besides that, when did I ever say that I didn't have sympathy for the man or woman who loses their job to an illegal? I simply pointed out that while everyone is droning on about American jobs being lost to foreign workers they only seem concerned about landscapers being undercut by Mexicans and nobody seems concerned that lots of high tech jobs are going to India - one's a hotbutton social issue and the other just seems to be the free market economy at work. Guess I'm a selfish bastard who's screwed because I'm more concerned about keeping my job and supporting my family rather than spewing vitriol at the evil Mexicans in chorus with the conservatives. You're condemning me for not foaming at the mouth about the problem, running out an joining the minutemen project and carrying a picture of Lou Dobbs in my wallet alongside the picture of my wife and kids. Guess that means I'm not a true American. Is illegal immigration a problem? Yes. Is it the top problem facing the nation today? No. Is it a bigger issue today than it was 2 months ago, before a bill went to Congress, Lou Dobbs blabbed about it endlessly and this got whipped up into a hotbutton issue by Republicans needing an issue du jour because things were going badly? Doubtful. Does something need to be done? Yes. Is the solution to demonize illegal immigrants? No. Is the solution to round up all illegals and march them back to Mexico? No. Will a wall on the border work? No Will a wall make people feel better about the situation? Yes. </ Donald Rumsfeld rhetorical questioning> But what issues are important to me aren't important to you, so not taking up your causes makes me apathetic, right? Guess I'll SELFISHLY worry about the national debt and how my kids and grandkids are going to have to pay it off, whether we'll ever get out of Iraq, when the next hurricane will level New Orleans, whether we'll ever be able to speak about human rights again after Gitmo and secret renditions, etc. Unfortunately, I think that's going to force me to miss the sanctity of marriage rally - hope that's OK with you.

My bad. I assumed that people would be able to see it was wrong that making a game having fun shooting at human beings was wrong. What I saw was people thinking it was OK because the "people" were't actually people, they were racist stereotypes (folks here didn't seem to have a problem with that). Guess I shouldn't have assumed.

When did I ever say let them in? I said don't sterotype them and call racism racism. I then went on to explain that illegal immigration isn't at the top of my list of worries. It's funny how everyone wants to but the blame on the supply side of this thing and not the demand. The reason citizens can't get jobs mowing lawns is that the demand is there to have your lawn mowed for $20 rather than $60. How many people railing about illegals are stepping up saying they only want citizens cutting their lawns, price be damned? I bow to your superiority and altruism - how selfish of me to be concerned that my job might LEGALLY get shipped elsewhere - I should be worried about your kids not getting their movie money because the Mexican mafia has a stranglehold on cutting grass in the neighborhood. Wish we could all put our own interests aside to combat the evils of the world the way you do </sarcasam> Funny thing is that while people complain about illegal immigrants taking their jobs (landscaping, meat packing, carpentry, etc.) they take jobs that can't logistically be outsourced. If you could ship your lawn out to India or Mexico to be groomed for $5 it would be legal, but it can't. Because the demand is there you have the illegal immigrant issue.

Interesting point. I guess I don't draw the line based on context as much as I do severity. You can make the silliest games, songs, etc. you want, but if the racism/stereotyping is serious enough I don't think it matters. I don't think I'd get upset if someone told a blonde joke at a large dinner gathering in a restaurant (just my opinion), but I wouldn't be OK with making ni**ar jokes in a silly game or cartoon.

There's only so much I can worry about in a day or a lifetime. If anyone seriously believes they can solve all the problems in the world all the power to them - but they're going to get frustrated when they can't. There are lots of things I don't like, but maturity has told me the world isn't always fair and you have to accept some things and chalk it up to "that's life". Knowing that some of my tax dollars go to the undeserving, particularly when I see that as a very small part of where my taxes go, falls into the "that's life" category. If they weren't going there, they'd be going somewhere else I wouldn't be happy about. So, I divide my attention/anger/energy between the issues in order of the importance I assign them. There are lots of things that upset me more about where my tax dollars go (and don't go) than buying a schoolbook for the child of an illegal immigrant. Things like interest on the debt and the defense budget certainly eat more of my tax dollars than aid going to the undeserving. I'm in software, and I'm not worried about an illegal immigrant taking my job nearly as much as my company legally moving my job to a guy in India (and even getting a government subsidy to do it) - that's getting screwed, and it's perfectly legal.

I'm as OK with it as I am paying tax dollars and higher insurance rates for ininsured motorists who get in car crashes and uninsured people who clog up the emergency rooms. It sucks, but it's the way things are. You're never going to be in a place where you aren't paying for someone else, whether its because an illegal immigrant sends their kids to public school or I have to pay more to go to Yellowstone park because the park's budget's been cut at the same time their insurance premiums went up due to crazy liability lawsuits from tourists who got too close to Old Faithful. I'm actually more concerned with the $386B worth of tax dollars going to pay interest on the national debt (and I'm not even saying anything about my tax dollars in Iraq).

Ah yes, the fallacy of taking a specific statement and generalizing it. I said it was OK with ME to be portrayed in what I consider to be a playful Dutch stereotype. I'm just 1 guy - what I think doesn't make something socially acceptable or not (if it did I'd have a much better shot of ruling the world). I'm sure there are plenty of Dutch people who would NOT find that socially acceptable. There are shades of stereotypes, and some of the lighter forms may be socially accepted by some (i.e. - blonde jokes, Polish jokes, etc.), but it doesn't mean that it is socially acceptable to everyone. The more severe the stereotype, the less socially acceptable it becomes, to a point where I don't think many would accept the pickaninny (sp?) stereotype of black peole. Because illegal immigration is a hotbuton issue right now I think fewer people are able to see a game like what was posted and see that the stereotypes and underlying messages are pretty severe and shouldn't (IMHO) be tolerated. I bring blacks into the argument to illustrate that if the same thing was done to another group of people more people might find the racism repugnant.

???? I said "it's NOT OK to have a game where you stereotype Mexicans, call them wetbacks, portray all of them as criminals and enjoy shooting them."

I know it's not actually advocating shooting people, but I do think the underlying message is that these people are subhuman and somehow killing them isn't a big deal. I guess it boils down to what you consider "absurdly funny". I'm Dutch, so absurdly funny to me is drawing me with wooden shoes or with my finger in a dike (that's DIKE, but go ahead and put lesbian joke here). What's not absurdly funny is a black person with nitty hair and gigantic lips eating watermellon and throwing spears at people a la the cartoons of the 30s and 40s. I think the game is closer to this than it is to drawing me with wooden shoes. Does anyone here seriously believe that if the game were about black people and the characters were drawn as I just described and you shot at them that it wouldn't be seriously racist game?

Hey, I can take a joke if someone wants to rib on my for my ethnic background. What I'd get pissed at is a game that portrayed all members of my ethnic background as criminals and drains on society, called us an offensive name, portrayed us as stereotypical cartoon characters and encouraged people to have fun shooting us in a video game.

I'd LOVE to find that number, because I think it would prove my point. I bet less than 5% of all the tax dollars I spend go to illegal immigrants. Problem is, it really can't be calculated because my tax money goes to things like the defense budget, the FDA, NTSB, and all sorts of things that benefit society as a whole whether you're here legally or illegally. I know I pay for people who use the roads illegally (i.e. - not licensed to drive), and I know I also pay lots for uninsured motorists and people seeking healthcare, but you certainly don't have to be illegal to fall into those categories - plenty of red-blooded American citizens taking some of my tax dollars as well. Your contention that illegals do not pay taxes is simply wrong. I'm not saying that every illegal pays taxes, but many do (some work in meat packing plants where they have payroll taxes deducted, others actually file income taxes believing that if they ever get a shot at citizenship they can show they've been good taxpayers). Again, plenty of red-blooded Americans don't pay taxes, either.

Thanks - your response was all I needed to know. Next time I meet a Mexican I'lll ask him why he's not dressed like Speedy Gonzales because a guy I know in L.A. says

Not sure how to respond to this, probably because I don't understand how your point pertains to my post. I won't challenge the figure that 45% of children in the U.S. ar minority. But I'm not ready to extropolate that into what it means about their legal immigration status, their consumption of public services and the rate at which they or their parents pay taxes, much less project whether this is a good thing or a bad thing and whether the current projected trend can be altered. As far as I can tell though, just because 45% of the children in the country are minority, it's NOT OK to have a game where you stereotype Mexicans, call them wetbacks, portray all of them as criminals and enjoy shooting them. A racist game is a racist game regardless of how many minority children we have in the country - that's my point.

Perhaps you missed the characters being referred to as wetbacks, and the mother being referred to as a "breeder"? I'm not even going to get into the fact that all the characters are dressed like Speedy Gonzales and are here to commit crimes or have a million kids. Mexicans come from Mexico, and blacks came from Africa, but I still would't racistly sterotype them, call them racist names and enjoy a game where I shot them. I'd speculate that if you made that game about blacks it would be on the national news and you'd have a tough time letting anyone know you enjoyed it - you'd know it was wrong.

I hear the KKK sponsors one where you shoot blacks and jews... I know immigration is a hotbutton issue right now, but that game is racist...

Not everyone does that well - if you have problems that need expensive repairs or have lots of dead loss your share of the reduced profits can be much less than $30K. The big problem these days is the lack of jobs to be had. They changed the fishing rules and went to a quota system - only the bigger boats survived by buying out the quotas assigned to the smaller boats. Lots of fishermen out of work as the fllet consolidated. You have to be luck just to land a gig on one of the remaining boats.

Yeah, but there was only one of those - there are HUNDREDS of old buidlings in Chicago where you can tear down a wall and find NOTHING on live TV...

I hear they're going to go live to Geraldo who is going to be breaking into another one of Capone's vaults...

The most depressing movie ever made (not necesssarily my favorite, but very well done) was Wit, starring Emma Thompson. Wit follows the last days of an english professor who slowly dies from cancer. She never really had a loving family or close friends, just her work and her students. Wit makes any other depressing movie out there look like a comedy. After you watch it you wonder why you just subjected yourself to it and why anybody would make such a movie. Can't believe nobody has mentioned Teams of Endearment - Debra Winger saying goodbye to her kids after being diagnosed with cancer - that's some serious depressing stuff...

I love the show. I watched all last season and I'm up to date on all this season as well. There are actually 2 crab seasons - King Crab in the fall, and Opilio (snow) crab in the winter. The winter season is even more hazardous because temps are colder and ice builds up on the gear, making the bots very top heavy and at risk to capsize. Last season one of the boats they weren't following, the Big Valley, sank - 5 died and only 1 guy survived. This season the boat where the greenhorn freaked out and had to get off actually flipped on its side as the boat went back to sea. A huge rogue wave hit them in the night but fortunately the ship righted itself - really scary. The craziest thing was last season when one of the guys went overboard but they quickly rescued him with the crane - experienced guys said that they had never seen a guy go into the water and live, but this guy was luckier than anything - amazing video. The show's a bit different now that the fishing rules changed. last season crab season was an all out race - how much could you get in the very short season they had. This year it's different - each boat has a quota and it's not a race. Many boats got out of the game and sold their quotas to other boats, so it's not quite as crazy as it used to be. Still an excellent show.