London can only be described as exactly like the time I ate a bowl of rabbits.

This is what I mean about American complacency and its relation to ignorance. The following is self-evident to nearly everyone not living in the U.S.:

"Beginning in 2000, newly elevated President Vladimir Putin restored Russian stability by concentrating political power in the Kremlin, curbing free expression in the country's media, and consolidating economic power in the hands of the state. (The tripling of oil prices over the last four years has made his work much easier.) This forceful reimposition of order has earned Putin a 70-plus-percent approval rating. Broadly speaking, Russians have chosen the order that flows from authoritarianism over the chaos they believe was generated by ill-considered attempts to impose Western-style democracy." (article)

Many people in the U.S. would argue with you until they were blue in the face that the Russians do have a democracy simply because they can vote. They cannot understand that you can freely choose authoritarianism (see: Hitler) just as easily as you can vote against it.

Wait, didn't Sir George say we were going to Mars? Al Qaeda, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran - it's all the same as long as they don't have nukes. He must've figured Martian bacteria must have developed nukes by now, so it's safer to invade the moon.

What is most upsetting is that we're holding people to two different sets of standards for free speech based on age. How is it that a minor has any less right to voice an opinion, however controversial, than an adult? If anything like the situation at this high school occurred at the university level, it wouldn't even raise an eyebrow. That is unfair and hypocritical, and yet it is being seriously argued as appropriate by Ken Starr.

I rail on the American people in general for being ignorant in general, but nothing is 100% applicable all of the time. If you wonder why a President who was impeached continued to remain popular, it's partly due to the obvious bias of the people doing the impeaching. That's why no matter how much Bush caters to his radical base, he'll never convince most Americans that stem cell research is morally reprehensible – it's just too large a hunk of horseshit for people to swallow.

These are exactly the types of paradoxes that stymie most American workers – perform better by working less.

This is why I like Taoism and love reading Lao Tzŭ's masterpiece, Tao Te Ching (particularly Stephen Mitchell's translation – absolutely brilliant).

Also, in case you hadn't notice, irony has been recently redefined.

This, however, is just damn funny.