I agree that biblical narratives  alone are not evidence.  

Irreducible complexity (if such can be demonstrated conclusively) would be more persuasive. After all, isn't that  precisely the basis of the indisputably scientific  SETI project.. a complexity in signal which can only be attributed to intelligence? 

Spin, this was very interesting to me.  Thanks for posting. 

Mr. Wright points out (correctly) that atheists tend to rule out a priori anything which could be construed as evidence of God's existence. It does make conversations with committed atheists difficult. 

Can we give a little credit where it might be due for speaking truth ? Some of us started to catch glimpses of deep truths much later in life than others. 

Be happy with with this tiny morsel,  and pray it continues.

I'm just surprised this hasn't happened sooner.

Why waste time and effort attacking hardened targets like airlines when you can have this kind of effect at low cost and low risk. And you don't need high profile public events either. Just look at Newtown.

I think we'll start to see such events more frequently, in unguarded venues such shopping malls, cinemas etc. I hope I'm wrong. 

Nope.. almost invariably they are on a cell phone.

Interesting point of view, but I wonder if Arthur Herman has considered 1) that Chinese hackers will become more proficient  with every exploit, and  2) that there are other points of vulnerability, in the supply chain for example.

Given  that so much of our hardware is imported from China, I'm as much concerned about the possibility of manipulating the hardware in  such a ways as to compromise security... creating backdoors in either the firmware, or the hardware itself.  I recall that some years ago, a line of electronic picture frames  (from Thailand as I recall) which would infect any machine to which they were connected via USB.

I don't know the degree to which US "manufacturers" (who are really designer/importers) test their equipment for malware embedded in firmware.

Also, I've wondered about the security of program updates... there's avenues for attack there, both at the company level and the DNS services which route our requests to specific servers. In other words, when you think you're downloading an application, from, say Symantec, you'd better hope that the DNS server is really routing you to Symantec.

Anyone here have any ideas on these other vulnerabilities? 

This makes my day. Thanks

Randy, good thought and Amy, an even better one. If nothing else, Randy's idea creates social pressure on freeloaders. 

But how about adding to Amy's idea.

1) Pay 4% (or whatever) pretax into a Unemployment Saving Account,  (USA) much like the medical savings account (MSA)

2) For all workers,  pay 90% of minimum wage rate once the the USA account is exhausted, perhaps with special provisions for very young workers who have not had much time to accumulate in their USA.

3) Allow this USA to accumulate, and convert to an IRA on retirement without tax consequences,  and be inheritable.

The fact that this wealth would accumulate, and could be passed on to children would create real incentives to look for work. 

PsycheLynne, I have no words, except that I'm so sorry for your loss.

Cast-iron stupidity on stilts.. all rules, no judgement.

Frank Soto is exactly correct, but sometimes people have to be led to conclusions.. they will resist assertions of fact.

I'd suggest a Socratic type approach...

"Well friend, I'm not sure.. can you tell me where the SSI has it's money, and in what form?"

If you can get him to Frank's point about the IOUs, then ask whether he thinks Congress will  start trimming or means testing benefits, or whether they will continually increase payroll taxes.

etc.

Flownover,  media commentary on Marc Lamont Hill's remarks are gotcha politics on remarks taken out of context. I don't infer that this is your intent, but I'm asking whether you heard or read the full transcript.

On your main point I think that you are right.. looking at the twitchy.com site, clearly there are(deranged) people who view Dorner as a hero. How many? I don't know.  But Hill is not one of them.

I disagree with Hill, oh,  about 99.9% of the time. 

But I listened to Hill's remarks in full.. he was trying to describe the appeal of Chris Dorner to some elements of  popular culture while explicitly renouncing Dorner's rampage. He expressed himself poorly but the meaning was clear.

 He was not supporting Dorner's actions.

Thanks to these two witnesses (two Catholic priests on a corner in Philadelphia) for restoring the original church role of  of unashamed, un-apolagetic evangelical outreach.

Sorry Benjamin. Just the fact that you write about it hints about how you felt about Tigger.

Been through it a number of times before, and the memories can still make me tear up.

Particularly for  a really magnificent black kitten I found  in Norway, and buried years later  in the desert in Qatar. Plonker was a great companion.

Damn.. misting up again.

So, punish for conspiracy. Punish for domestic terrorism. But don't criminalize the state of mind. The intent to commit a crime for a person of sound mind is sufficient irrespective of motive.

If I were to assault a gay man, I should be charged and punished for assault.  

If I were to do so repeatedly I should be more severely punished as a repeat offender.

And if I incite others to assault gays (or any other group, protected class or not) I should be charged with incitement and/or conspiracy.

The idea of especially protected classes, with the exception of the special case of  children subverts the doctrine and practice of equality under the law. 

Seriously..  do you think Chicago is on the same path as Detroit? It sure sounds similar.