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[GlyphGryph]

Universal Welfare, as commonly talked about, is a trap, in much the same way most welfare is nowadays. It exists primarily as a means of social control and is intended to keep the poor down while robbing them of justifications for social unrest. Welfare, as commonly implemented, is frankly disgusting and terrible.

Bad welfare is obviously better than no welfare and people dying in the streets (arguably, when considering externalities), but it's pretty sad that people would reject a more fair and equitable system in favour of giving the government a tool to control peoples personal and social lives (which is almost always the obvious desire for those who support such systems over the alternatives).

Note: This isn't to say ALL welfare programs are bad, either. Just... most of them.

[Nadaka]

Not to derail the current topic but: http://shine.yahoo.com/love-sex/open-relationships-teach-us-fidelity-180200424.html

I was shocked to see this article on yahoo, discussing poly relationships in a fair, respectful and even manner.

[GlyphGryph]

Wow. Pretty nice.

(Just don't read the comments, obviously. Standard Yahoo disclaimer.)

[Dutchling]

Wow. Pretty nice.

(Just don't read the comments, obviously. Standard Yahoo disclaimer.)

The comments are the only thing I read in a Yahoo article. They are hilarious.

[Truean]

Here's the problem with the US currently.

Many people want ALL welfare done away with. Why? Expectations.

Expectations control a world you don't experience directly, people hold conflicting views of things because their ideas of things are out of whack with the real world.

"Mixing up concepts"
People often don't like "welfare," but don't want to have single mothers and their children do without....  How do they not get that one accomplishes the other much of the time?

"It doesn't apply to me"
People want "criminals" punished harshly, but the moment they, a relative, or a friend are arrested, they immediately want leniency and start saying things like "THEY CAN'T DO THAT!" .... In case the prison garb wasn't a clue, yes, yes they can. They forget that these rules apply not to some comic book villain class of people but to them and the people they know/are related to.

"Circular Traps"
People don't like the idea of "welfare fraud/abuse" and they don't like "people getting it who could work." Yet, they seem to support the idea of people "bettering themselves...." So, let's see, how would one "better" one's self? Starting a business? Going back to school? Learning a trade? But people don't like the ideas of assistance for small businesses (especially sole proprietors) or free money for students (loans though at compounded daily interest....) and they don't like people to be "working" while they have welfare (I've seen them and even judges question people about "having a job" while on welfare when this includes being a mechanic's apprentice to learn how to fix cars..... See how that's a circular trap based upon the crazy expectations?

Wow. Pretty nice.

(Just don't read the comments, obviously. Standard Yahoo disclaimer.)

The comments are the only thing I read in a Yahoo article. They are hilarious.

Tragically, most of those people are being serious.

[kaenneth]

Tragically, most of those people are being serious.

No, that's what makes it really funny.

[GlyphGryph]

Yep, Truean, you've basically got it. It's madness. People WANT a broken welfare system. It essentially blows my mind.

They don't want a good welfare system. They don't want a real, effective social safety net that gives people opportunities. They want... bullshit.

[Truean]

Yeah, messed up huh?

People in a democrazy LOVE the illusion that they have control. They'll get into fights with you over it and call you an unpatriotic bastard among other things if you don't at least pretend to buy into this 110%. Everybody wants to be in control and have an impact on pretty much everything or at least a significant number of things. That's not remotely possible and it amazes me that they somehow don't automatically know this....

So every government program that doesn't benefit me* is wasteful spending..... Here "me" means anybody saying this.

This applies to welfare, social security, agriculture etc. EVERYTHING. The problem being that even though I don't benefit at all from things like ... I dunno ... subsidies to the airline industry ... that industry employs an absolute crapton of people and makes mass transit over long distances possible. I hate flying, haven't done it in years and hope I never have to ever again. I think airlines are terrible things. I'm not gonna go around saying they should be abolished or have their funding cut though, because I get that even though I hate them, I get that they are needed.... Most people you talk to could not say what I just did about several programs. It appears Obama wants to spend $100 Million on mapping the human brain. I have no idea what the hell he hopes to accomplish in this area, but I know I'm not a neuroscientist and thus am not qualified to make that call. Granted, it would be nice if somebody would be so kind as to explain it to me sometime, but whatever. I get that it's needed.

Contrast this to the attitude today of fatal cheapness. We wonder why shit isn't getting done.... Perhaps it has something to do how we won't pay for shit?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Mapping the human brain (more extensively) would be an excellent tool for diagnosing and treating mental illnesses and physical brain-based illnesses, as we would be able to view directly what neuron clusters are involved and what they are doing.

[Descan]

And, for my pet project of SCIENCEing the human brain, knowing how the brain works makes it easier to make the brain better. Without fucking it up, I mean.

[SalmonGod]

If he manages to fund a project that successfully maps the human brain in ways we haven't already, I would actually consider that the best thing he did while in office.  That's a big step towards major medical breakthroughs in the future.  Thorough understanding of the brain, as far as I'm aware, is the largest obstacle between transhumanist ideas straight out of sci-fi and reality.

[Dutchling]

Isn't the EU doing something similar as well?

[Sheb]

It's going to be something akin to the Human Genome Project, so it'll involve Europeans universities as well.

Also, it'll make though-reading more of a possibility, which given Obama's record gives me the creep.

[SalmonGod]

It's going to be something akin to the Human Genome Project, so it'll involve Europeans universities as well.

Also, it'll make though-reading more of a possibility, which given Obama's record gives me the creep.

I realized this as well... but I can't help my optimism at the potential benefits of the knowledge.



Some British soldiers have recently begun to speak out about a secret detention facility in Iraq, Camp Nama.  Apparently it's one of the most hushed operations of the war.  No photographs of the place exist.  This place likely housed the torture of thousands of people.

[Euld]

North Carolina Republican lawmakers introduced a bill to create a state-wide religion.  The lawmakers argue that federal laws concerning religion only affect the federal government o_O  lulwat.