J-William

I don't know about the dickheads, but the lack of principles sure was obvious to me as a libertarian. I came to atheism before anarchism as well (in fact I was an atheist from very young, my first memory of the subject involves thinking that if there is a god he can't send good people to hell for not believing... which pretty much settled the question for me) I came to liberty from my parents, and reading Atlas shrugged in 8th grade, and I was pretty much an objectivist til I found FDR. When I first got into podcasts I would listen to all sorts of atheist podcasts. It was ok for a while, but I wanted someone who was an atheist and not a statist (by the Randian definition). So I searched iTunes for atheist and libertarian, and found a little podcast by a canadian guy in his car... It was only a little while til I stopped listening to those atheist podcasts because they always covered the same topics and had the same boring debates with theists, and were ridiculously stupid when it came to the state. I can honestly say I would not have discovered FDR if it weren't for atheists being such huge fans of the state.

Man, that's a real feel good story. I wish them all the best. With any luck Cuba will reach anarcho-capitalism before the US. I mean if there's eight of them they probably make up a higher proportion of the Cuban population than anarcho-capitalists in the US. I wish them luck with their being public strategy. It's cold comfort to publicly sit in a jail-cell for doing something right. Just ask Chelsea/Bradley Manning.

I think this is called "doubling down"

I've never heard of the guy, and certainly haven't read his book. But there is no doubt in my mind that WWI was a massive clusterfuck that set in motion the dominoes that killed millions upon millions of people in the 20th century. You know, people always talk about going back in history and killing Hitler and that sort of thing. I wonder what would result from going back in history and killing Woodrow Wilson (or whoever was necessary to keep America out of the war). I can imagine a peace in Europe that was colored by the massive unnecessary millions killed in a war that barely moved borders a few meters... If that was the result, it would be hard to imagine someone drumming up a war in Europe for glory or revenge ever again.

So... let's see here. You're a young big quiet smart guy working as a laborer. He's a dumb short guy who is still working at the bottom of the rung of the ladder as a laborer at 30. I would bet he was a bully in school who liked to pick on the younger kids. I'm probably the same age as him and have never needed to tell anyone I'm a grown man. Why do you fight? Bullies can smell lack of emotional connection a mile away. When you're a kid that's connection with your parents, and now that you're a grown man it's connection with yourself and your own emotions. I am somewhat concerned that if you are fighting for sport that perhaps you are lacking an emotional connection with yourself.

My daughter is an awesome person and if I had to make the decision again I would certainly do it. Now, as for why do it. Well I pretty much knew before having a kid that by raising them peacefully they would be super-awesome. I also knew that I would be a better father than 99.9999% of fathers, so why leave the asshole parents in charge of the world? but also it seemed like a fine idea, and I wouldn't say that we really went into having a kid with a whole lot of reasons. I discussed it with my wife before we were married and we both wanted kids. Then we waited til we were good and ready and had a kid.

Failure to identify historical brutality that is clearly documented in the bible is why you can't see brutality in the present. In other words, god commanded jews to murder babies in the past. You call this introducing morality. now a jewish state is commanding people to murder babies, and it is no wonder that you are not bothered by that. I've heard of these jewish fundamentalists, but I think they are a rare beast outside of Israel... and non-religious jewish fundamentalists.... well that's a thing to behold. Here's an interesting article about a Jewish guy who was really too dedicated to the cause http://www.commondreams.org/hambaconeggs These guys come out of the woodwork to defend Israel, and that may explain why they don't quite understand why a jewish state has very little to do with anarcho-capitalism.

Thank you for your response. I am glad you replied civilly. the last Israeli I talked to launched into an offensive immediately. So, first problem I run into with your answer... I think you illuminate the answer quite well, since Orcs and helm's deep are every bit as fictional as any jewish god or jewish law. There is no jewish god, so therefore jewish law is something made up by members of a bloody brutal tribe a few thousand years ago. What does anti-semitic mean? If people can be called that for simply thinking it highly unlikely that all jews are descended from common ancestors it kinda has no meaning.... it's certainly not a synonym for Nazi that many people use it as. In your answer about reclaiming your ancestors' property you didn't make it clear whether you thought it was right to kill the person or people currently occupying the land. Is it? Your use of the word nation and saying that a homeland is held in common... does not hold up philosophically. Do you think it would be right for a member of British aristocracy to forcefully take land in France that belonged to his family, that by the european laws of the time he has a "right" to?

ummm..... wow.... those are some very interesting claims. I just have some very simple questions that I want to know your answer to first... What is a jew, and how does one define a jew? What is a homeland? If your grandpa shot my grandpa and stole his home, and you still live in that home. Is it fine if I shoot you and take it back? Who drove these jews off their homeland, are any of the people involved still alive? Who owns the land that the europeans took by force from native americans?

it's nothing personal. These people are pathetic bullies taking out their anger on food service workers. If you weren't there they would be yelling at someone else, or at a dog. They should know better but they choose not to behave pleasantly or get help with their anger problems... I assume you have a hard time with this behavior because your parents bullied you? As for the question you opened with, fast food and retail really suck. If you are smart and capable, but spend your life working in fast food, you will hate yourself, and it won't be healthy. If you take it as a lesson in how awful people can be and move on, I don't think it's that unhealthy. Anyhow you should move up in the world as quickly as you can by working hard and smart, and leave the assholes behind.

I don't want to talk with you if you can't stay on topic and throw out something that does not address my point as though you have made an argument.

What I wrote had nothing to do with the cost of day care, it was about whether daycare was good and in comparison to what.

oh boy, what a lovely lovely story...

What relevance does your question have? A gallon of bleach is cheap, are you going to give it to a kid instead of milk?

Haven't watched yet, but I can always count on Stef for a video that will piss people off. I heard his parents talking about how he's just a boy and he was going to college... rang hollow to me if he was also committing crimes, he's hardly an innocent little boy.

haha... OMG this has been a good month for people getting pissed off at FDR and running off. I found those people too, and I found them to be a bunch of jerks...

yeah man... That's real tough It ought to be a real easy heartwarming experience of growth and togetherness. Just imagine if you could explore with your mother the problems you had and your true feelings about how you were treated... it would be wonderful, but at the same time all the more of a stab in the back to realize you could have had that relationship at any time if you'd just used some secret combination. I guess that's what it would be like to have good parents, you go to them with your problem and they are curious and work to make it better. You already know that your mother is not curious and will not take any steps to address problems you experienced without you first pushing her. Even then she probably won't take any initiative. In high school whenever my parents travelled somewhere I just hoped I would hear news of their plane crashing (though I knew how exceptionally rare plane crashes are). I don't know about your experience, but for me reconnecting with that anger has been key in my calm resolve to keep my parents out of my and my daughter's life.

I've numbered your statements for convenience. the problem with 1 is, compared to what? Compared to a loving positive home environment daycare is extremely negative. Compared to an abusive, neglectful or indifferent environment a good daycare can be very positive. I doubt Stef or anyone in the chat would disagree with that. 2: I have not heard that argument from anyone at FDR. No one doubts that there are better and worse day cares, but that doesn't mean that any are better than good parenting.

Wow, that was a hot pile of insults to Stef and everyone around... I am positively befuddled as to why you donated and kept listening if you have such low regard for Stef and the people he associates with. You are aware that he is perfectly willing to talk to people, especially those that disagree with him, yet you choose to insult Stef and misconstrue his arguments... Seriously, if you have something worth contributing it's kinda dickish behavior not calling in to contribute. Anyhow, contemplating why people don't know better when they probably should isn't terribly productive. If the Israeli response to the killing of the teens was to launch a police investigation to find who did it instead of an invasion, and Palestinians were firing rockets at the israeli population that was hunkering down in bomb shelters every time an alarm went off, and if there was no Gaza blockade that strangles the population economically... If all that was the case then I think most people around the world would be telling the Palestinians firing rockets to lay off... regardless of the history of Israeli aggression since 1948. The only reason that Israeli history of aggression matters in this conflict is that it shows a clear pattern that is not broken or repudiated in the current conflict.

I know you're not here for the adulation and praise.... no you're here to show the board your winning smile :-P ... Err, where was I... oh yes, I don't think I've ever seen a post with 15 positive points. I'll just throw this out there, I don't think I would have done that here in China I don't speak Chinese very well... I'm less certain whether I would have done what you did if I were in the US. But needless to say, you've got some big brass balls brother!

WOOT! great news! I don't read or speak Spanish, but translations are clutch. In my experience there is so little in the way of pro-freedom materials in languages other than English.

Have you listened to any podcasts where Stef debates the other side of religion or... he probably did statism as well. It can be tough, but getting in the head of your opponent is a useful skill. I'm sure you know all the statist arguments by heart, so why not just recite those? You could probably put an interesting spin on it.... say that bikers with chains will eat babies if the state goes away. I mean LD debates aren't about facts, so just talk about hypotheticals. it's all gravy

I think you're right. China is big and the economy is growing, the economy may even become the biggest in the world. But their international trade is conducted in English and that isn't changing any time soon. The english requirement on the national exam has been eliminated recently, so the government is de-emphasizing learning english.

The repository hasn't been updated in six months. Anyone got a good understanding of javascript could probably finish it up... Course I'm not even sure what it's supposed to do :-P Edit: he hasn't made it easy for someone to finish it up since I didn't see a single comment in his code...

I live in the fair (fairly polluted) city of Ningbo. How's your Chinese? I usually pretend I'm real bad at Chinese when I have occasion to be around cops or security guards. I don't think there are many countries where foreigners are treated with as much deference as they are in China. Course last I actually interacted with a cop they had set up a checkpoint for people on electric scooters to make sure they weren't driving drunk or something, cuz a few people had been killed doing that about a year ago. and they were ever so friendly (to me and other people...) I don't know the exact causal relationship, but the fact that China has not fought a war since 1979 means they have not been generating the kind of brutal psychopath warrior class that the US has. So... while it is dangerous to be a dissident in police custody because you might slip, fall and sustain numerous injuries and then accidentally hang yourself (not that that doesn't happen in the US, just ask the guy the FBI shot while they were interrogating him after the boston marathon bombing). Because they've not had wars you are not as likely to meet a cop who has actually killed someone in China. Does anyone know if that 5,000 people killed by cops includes people who were supposedly guilty or just people who were innocent?