No, the vampire creation story is quite ridiculous. It says that humans somehow evolved into vampires to subsist totally on blood, and to do that, they gained a chromosome pair. However, they stayed completely like humans in appearance except in the sunlight? Where they sparkle? This goes against everything we have…

So you're just into a strict interpretation of law, rather than attempting to understand what a law is supposed to do. It's like pulling someone over for speeding and giving them a ticket even if the accelerator was broken or a passenger was bleeding out or giving birth. It ignores context.

Yes, filming someone being murdered for sexual-ish gratification is illegal, but more because of the fact that you knew about the murder, didn't do anything to stop it, and may have been a willing participant/coconspirator. A movie of people being murdered that you just happened to catch on your iPhone and then post…

Why buy a cow if you haven't tried the milk? Bad investment plan, that is.

I watched one episode (okay, two episodes) of Honey Boo Boo and learned only one good phrase: why buy a cow if you haven't tried the milk? Although it still paints the picture of man=customer, sex=milk, cow=woman, but it's a funny turn of phrase that is actually a better metaphor compared to the other one. Seriously,…

You totally missed what I was saying in my other post, which was essentially what you said there. It is considered an indicator of violence towards children. It is a watch list that limits your contact with children. I mean, owning pictures of someone's murder is not illegal even though someone was victimized. It does…

And yet, still completely missing the point of what my statement was. A sex crime is, generally, something that involves non-consensual sexual contact or sexual harassment of one kind or another. Owning child pornography is a crime that gets you on the sex-offender registry because it is viewed as "where there's…

Why is child pornography obscene, more than other types of pornography? Why would it be outlawed more than any other type of pornography? If it has nothing to do with children at all, then it seems strange to me to legislate one person's sexual preferences any more than straight or gay or bondage or anal pornography…

But then you are creating a middle man - the government would have to manage the money, oversee which charities get the funding, make sure the charities are functioning as they should and the money is being spent as promised... When the government collects the taxes and distributes the money, there is no middle man.

I'm sorry, when I said "commit crimes," I meant "commit sex crimes." Of course, I believe you understood this. There is no evidence that watching pornography of any kind, including fictionalized rapes of adult women, causes men or women to go out and commit rapes. In some cases, studies have shown that allowing the…

No, that's not how physics works. Heavier objects do not fall faster than smaller ones. Heavier objects, in a frictioned environment, may be at a disadvantage because the larger gravitational force creates more friction, which slows people down.

Woah, one more thing - polio was eliminated due to government spending. Government dollars going into research and government dollars subsidizing the vaccines. Your "ignorance" is astounding, Steve.

Just so you know, there are many things that the free market can't do. It isn't perfect, as much as conservatives want it to be. There is no way that charities can pick up the tab that government programs would leave behind. Food stamps cost approximately $80 billion a year (recently), while the charitable giving…

Just a thought experiment - what is the problem with there being a market for child pornography? Is it that pedophiles are gross? That pedophiles able to look at child pornography are then more likely to go out and sexually assault children? Or is it that, to produce child pornography, children were victimized?

You missed my point completely. I am saying that the NFL is shitty for paying their employees so badly. The idea that companies get to pay people what they want, or outsource to other countries where they can pay what they want, is immoral. That is the theory I mentioned, not that Raiderettes are the same as sweatshop…

So the free market is always right?

You know, poor people and children used to (and still do in other countries) work for long hours with very little pay because they have no other option. Does that mean it is okay for the companies to pay them jack shit? No. It's wrong.

There are plenty of professors who are fighting to be paid what their work is worth. Universities hire people like you so they can treat them like shit and benefit from it. Just because you signed a contract doesn't make it right. My brother had to work as a professor while he was getting his PhD. There was no time…

I don't think he was arguing that teens won't see the news, just that it won't change their behavior. Teens continue to do things like drink underage, do drugs, drive irresponsibly, etc. even though there are laws against it. Now, I'm not saying that these things shouldn't be policed because it involves possible harm…

The thing is, though, that she made a stupid decision that involved her own body. Teens have some amount of autonomy with their own bodies, given abortion laws and their ability to get treatment (in some states) without their parents being notified. If they have sex with another teen and take pictures, is that somehow…