So using an electric prod at a pig farm, on pigs headed for slaughter, is inhumane? Some people make me laugh.

They - eat - pigs?
Pork, they call it. Or bacon. They only call them pigs when they're alive.

Name that movie!

Clooney in jelly beans; how incredibly appropriate!

Lots of people have mentioned that he didn't have mental illness, drug/alcohol addiction, etc... working against him, but one thing that hasn't been brought up is their propensity to make bad decisions. Mr. Shepard didn't have that same propensity; he knew what he was missing by living in poverty and made the right choices to get himself out.

@ Jason E. said that this "... could potentially be the solutions to poverty in the United States." That's a real stretch. You also mentioned that ".. many impoverished remain that way because they refuse to work to improve themselves beyond their conditions... that every homeless person in America, who doesn’t have a mental illness, should be asking him/herself, “Why am I still here, and what can I do to change it?”" That's a very nice sentiment, but ignores the simple fact that most of the homeless are homeless because they lack the ability make good choices, and to be honest, some lack the intelligence to make the right choices.

Pulling oneself up by the bootstraps first requires one to decide to put on the boots, and then to pull.

A neighbor down the street from me painted his house that color. What an eyesore. Much as I hate the thought of a homeowners' association, avoiding that sort of does have its appeal.

Um, Dan... Hate to break this to you dude, but people eat dogs. And vice versa when things get out of hand.

I've always subscribed to the explanation Steve Martin talked about in his standup routine; it's just nature's way of shaking off.

The problem I have with the religion of science is that it claims an orderly universe came from disorder. What requires more faith; to believe some of the theories of science, or to believe in God?

"So, what is the American government doing about our dismal national saving rate? "

So, why do you expect the government to do something about the dismal savings rate? The problem is the government; more specifically, leftist politicians who want people to rely on the government for everything, and write policy accordingly.

Whiplash? I'd be more concerned about rotor-lash. And the subsequent loss of limbs and large amounts of blood.

Wow; this is weird. I was talking with a friend just tonight who said he was on a bike ride with one of his friends; when they passed by a meat packing plant, the other guy said something like, "You smell that? That's the smell of fear. The fear of animals headed for slaughter."

I've smelled that smell lots of times before, and even stepped in it a few times on the farm. Never knew it was called fear.

Bullwinkle was able to do it with a normal-sized hat. And no "leavings" either.

What we need is one of those rocket-based bomb thingies that the bad guy in Star Trek-Generations used. Since Global Warming is caused by the sun, we can fire the bomb at it and everything will... Oh, wait. That thing blew up the sun, didn't it. That would be A Very Bad Thing.

This reminds me of a lady I used to work with. It was an evening shift, so there weren't many people around at all, but when she would go on a break and leave the department, she would pull the door to our lab shut and pretend she was locking it, in case someone was watching. I was the only one on that shift who had a key, and it wasn't necessary to lock the place, but she was always afraid someone was plotting to steal the computers or get into "the system" (her words). This was 1994, in the graphics department for a label printer. We didn't have people trying to sneak in to grab our files, so it was pretty silly to say the least.

Not sure if it was the sneaky behavior of the squirrels that reminded me of her, or the nuts. She was (is!) a little of both.

Wow. Didn't see that coming.

Do criminals talk to stool pigeons or do criminals become stool pigeons when they start to talk about their accomplices?