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[MonkeyHead]

I have false front teeth due to the arrogance of youth and mountain biking as a teenager. A full face helmet would have protected me from the concrete slab I hit... but nothing else would have. Hurt like hell, costs a lot to get them fixed when they inevitably go wrong, but I learnt a lesson: Fucking around tends to lead to pain.

[Siquo]

Ah, but mountainbikers who go off-road do wear helmets. Even though we don't have mountains. 

I guess it's just "acceptable risk". Just as there's people who don't wear head-protection while walking, even though you could still trip and break your neck. A friend of mine has no front teeth because he walked into a fence-pole once, for instance. The chance that you actually need one is so small that it doesn't outweigh the cost.

What got me, Miggy, was that it "saddens" you. I find that strong language, especially since your story isn't really doesn't seem like the life-changing traumatic event that could trigger such a strong emotion.

[Truean]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/obama-administration-sues-alabama-over-immigration-law-132911009.html

States have no business regulating immigration; this is a basic principle of federalism....

[MonkeyHead]

The world has a lot to learn from the Australian points based immigration system if you ask me...

[Phmcw]

The world has a lot to learn from the Australian points based immigration system if you ask me...

Could you explain what it is? (With sources).

[RedKing]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/obama-administration-sues-alabama-over-immigration-law-132911009.html

States have no business regulating immigration; this is a basic principle of federalism....

To be fair, they're not regulating immigration, they're enforcing existing immigration law. However, that enforcement is *also* a Federal matter, not a state one.

[MonkeyHead]

http://www.workpermit.com/australia/point_calculator.htm
http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/points-test.htm
http://www.workpermit.com/news/2010-11-12/australia/new-australian-immigration-points-test-july-2011.htm

Have fun with the above. Basically to gain a visa you have to score a certain number of points. You gain points for meeting certain criteria - doctors, teachers etc that speak english are desired. Those that in the Australian government's opinion would not contribute productively to society dont score enough points and are not welcome.

The UK (in fact, most of the EU) has had a serious issue with immigration (legal or otherwise) and asylum seekers (from north africa, the middle east and asia) over the last 10 years - dont really wish to elaborate any more on that point in this post, a quick search of reputible news websites would tell you all you wanted to know. Basically certain parts of the EU are percived a "soft touch" when it comes to gaining entry to countries - which IMHO seems not to be the case with legal migration into Australia...

[Phmcw]

In Belgium I know for a fact that is jest : we have issue with immigration, because it come from poor countries, and they stay rather poor, but we need exactly that : cheap labor whose education we didn't pay to make the jobs that no one want.

The right scream bloody murder but never move against it for that very reason, well that and the fact that we need young people to work for the olds.

[ChairmanPoo]

There's a Cochrane Review that seems to come out in favour of helmets.  I'd say they're pretty trustworthy and they normally produce some pretty good meta-analyses.

Cochrane is as tough as it comes in metaanalysis.

[Vector]

Because a congressman was recently (i.e. yesterday or so) called out for calling our president a "tar baby," I thought I'd bring up an article for the term.  I've never known it used as anything but talking about a situation one makes worse by fighting about it (from its origins in Brer Rabbit, which I had read to me as a very little girl), so it seems absurd that it'd be used racially.

But here we are.

[MonkeyHead]

Was it used as an intentional slur racially, or as a political slur related to policies surrounding the cashflow issue going on in the states which has been lept on as a racial insult simply due to the implication of tar being black...

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

Because a congressman was recently (i.e. yesterday or so) called out for calling our president a "tar baby," I thought I'd bring up an article for the term.  I've never known it used as anything but talking about a situation one makes worse by fighting about it (from its origins in Brer Rabbit, which I had read to me as a very little girl), so it seems absurd that it'd be used racially.

But here we are.

woo institutional racism. A bit like the Bleeshforce in the UK.

[Vector]

Was it used as an intentional slur racially, or as a political slur related to policies surrounding the cashflow issue going on in the states which has been lept on as a racial insult simply due to the implication of tar being black...

It doesn't matter.  You don't call a female politician a bitch; you don't call a black one a tar baby.

When it could go either way, you use that MULTITUDE of other slurs we have at our disposal.

[MonkeyHead]

Agreed. It seems unbelivable that even if the politician in question meant it in the "digging themselves in a hole" manner they could not see the racial link.

You don't call a female politician a bitch

Unless you are talking about Maggie Thatcher. She genuinley was one (which was probably one of her strengths), and would probably take it as a compliment.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

Agreed. It seems unbelivable that even if the politician in question meant it in the "digging themselves in a hole" manner they could not see the racial link.

You don't call a female politician a bitch

Unless you are talking about Maggie Thatcher. She genuinley was one (which was probably one of her strengths), and would probably take it as a compliment.

Thatcher, Thatcher, milk snatcher. boooooooooo.

Pantomime villain, accomplice to everyone's favourite actor-turned-republican, Ronald Reagan.