Unions are great if you're in that particular union. Granted, they're bad for everyone else. 

"We'd probably have ended up with a pretty shitty standard of living if
"that's what I had to do to make it" was used as a labor guideline."

If someone is willing to do free labor, why would we make that illegal?

No, it's okay not 'because it happens' but because two parties freely consent to the practice.

I'm arguing that its illegality is absurd. Certainly, you know that something being law is not equivalent to something being right.

Lee Harvey, that's an ad hominem fallacy. Yeah, Bachmann's an idiot, but she's right about some things. She likely knows that you need air to live. So you can't dismiss a claim just by saying: hey, this idiot thinks this claim is true.

But they should be forced to do this? If they do so willingly, sure, that's great. But having it be law seems a bit silly. If someone's willing to do work for free, let them.

Then…quit.

Expecting to be paid for an unpaid internship is a bit unrealistic. 

Forced? Who, exactly is threatening interns with violence if they don't work for free?

Aaaaaaaand here's a bit of reasoned level-headedness. Thanks, Osis.

That groups of people are treated as people isn't all that horrifying.

Well…if you've got a liberal arts degree, maybe.

That's just dumb. If "the employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainee," then…why do it?

Again, if it's a problem, if it's a shitty internship…quit. Nothing's holding you there.

Pulling what now? You take a job for no pay and it turns out to be a crappy job, well, probably you shouldn't be all that surprised. Interns fetch lunch. That's what interns do. It's nearly worthless work: that's why there's no pay. If it's demeaning, quit.  It's not like you're gonna miss your rent payment by not…

Right. So if it's a shit deal, quit. A lawsuit is ridiculous.

Mastodon continues to be a very inconsistent band for me. I really liked the first third of this album, but after that it turned into something that alternated between boring and embarrassing.

Yeah, it's jackassery all around.

Empiricism and updating one's beliefs when information changes is pretty hilarious.