Eh, I don’t think so. The number of people who complain about the dang gubmint is very large. It is only very slightly larger than the number of people who make noise about the dang gubmint but then happily use the roads it bought and maintains to get from the home bought with government-insured mortgage loans to the…

I can guarantee Ted Cruz would not understand that reference.

That’s pretty common though. Polls have been consistent on this for years:

I’m beginning to see our society as embroiled in a huge conflict between capitalism and socialism, where it’s basically corporations (and their human thralls) vs. humans. Corporations have the edge because, not being human or self-aware, they are not constrained by morality.

No one is arguing for a purely capitalist nation

Actually, single payer doesn’t have to be socialist at all. A central payer could pay for medical care in a system that is still not publicly owned. Not that this is necessarily a better option, but if conservatives were being honest about being opposed to socialism they need to oppose single payer.

Look, if the Founding Fathers had wanted to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, and promote the general welfare, they would have said so.

I think that the larger point, and what I think you are getting at too, is that when “socialism” is used as a pejorative term, it is generally done so by people who probably could not define what socialism is. Thus, it no longer signifies the actual political or social philosophy that it once did. It just becomes a…

And Police. And Roads, bridges, tunnels. Maybe Fire Departments as well? EMS? How about public schools? Once we as a people dump health care into these exact quantifications, we will continue to lag behind the rest of the world.

claiming that universal health care equals socialism is really silly

I’m sure some of the same people calling him a socialist are the same people who love their Medicaid.

No. Telling passengers to pray is telling them that you have no control over the situation and no idea how to fix it, and the consequences could be dire. That induces panic. That does not help it. And even if the eventual prayer helped those who believe in prayer, what have you accomplished with the folks who don’t?

Yes, commercial jet engines windmill, they do not have rotor brakes that prevent the fan from spinning. On windy days you can see them spinning on the ground when the engine is off. The engine was turned off, but at the velocity a jet is moving through the air that fan was still spinning pretty quickly, hence the…

Jesus christ that’s unprofessional. Priority number one is dealing with the issue, not giving passengers a reason to freak the hell out.

Australians don’t wear their religion on their sleeves or try to push it down your throat like here in the US but that doesn’t make it the least religious place. I’m an Australian, went to a baptist church as a kid and have friends who went to Catholic schools, etc.

You see “God” somewhere up there?

thank you, I have not been described as cool or witty for a very long time. What is a flying spaghetti monster?

But there are no witty christian jokes other than, well, the whole christian thing.

Did the pilot suggest which god they pray to? I wonder if the Pilot suggested the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

I’m genuinely shocked that an Australian pilot asked people to pray considering Australia is the least religious place I’ve ever lived.