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I believe there is significant doubt if Cameron Todd Willingham actually did anything, as nearly all the evidence that was originally used to convict him has since been shown to be perfectly possible from a regular fire and are simply created by flashover, which could have happened at any point...

I always just lied. A number of sites still have me a bit older than I really am as they have no way to adjust age settings. Anyway, while I do think that many age based restrictions are silly and arbitrary, I do understand they are trying to protect kids. Though I doubt they accomplish that...

Correct. Hence the real reason we don't have to worry about a totalitarian dictatorship in the US, not really because citizens are armed, though that may help, but mostly because it would force the government to be too ruthless. I would agree BigLutz, but never underestimate human stupidity...

An interesting thing I'd like to note about that article is that it doesn't state how many times civilians tried, and failed, to prevent a mass shooting (most likely because this data is much harder to find), and that at least half (I didn't count) of the ones stopped by civilians was through a...

No. I think that when you are in a shootout you do NOT react like you would on a firing range, or even when hunting. Part of this difference in reaction is that your aim isn't as good as it might normally be, stress and chemical factors do matter. And this is assuming your hands stay steady...

And most likely you are going to miss and end up killing other innocent people, or simply draw attention to yourself. Cops and military, who are trained to handle such situations, mess up all the time. Do you really believe you are better than they are? Guns are most useful for self defense...

But who would judge, and what criteria would they use? It isn't so simple, if it was a viable solution I would agree with you, but it really isn't.

The entire point of age restrictions in terms of marriage is to prevent kids from being taken advantage of by adults when they are (in most cases) too young to understand what is going on, or to fully comprehend the consequences. That is why we don't let kids vote, they wouldn't understand it...

There is a difference between drawing a line at age and drawing a line elsewhere. Age changes, people get older, so anything involving it is a temporary restriction.

The taxation without representation cry was just that, a rallying cry. The simple truth is England offered representation and it was turned down because it wasn't enough, so using that as the basis of an argument is like using any piece of political propaganda: backed by air. Yes, those are...

You have to be an adult to vote too. Does that mean we should be able to arbitrarily decide who gets to vote base don other factors too?

Except unless you are a consenting adult you DON'T have a right to agree to be married, as far as our laws are concerned.

For the most part I would be fine with that. The only reason close relations aren't allowed to marry is for their own protection, and I couldn't care less about polygamy, and that is about it in terms of restrictions (given that any definition does include "consenting adult" at least in the...

And that is where we disagree. As far as I'm concerned you don't vote on something like this, and any vote on it, regardless of the outcome, has no validity, hence we can, will, and should stomp all over state's rights if that is what it takes.

I think the Supreme Court looking bored might just be because they have already made up their minds about the DOMA and are bored they have to wait through the arguments when they could issue a ruling from before the thing even began. I know they aren't supposed to do that, but it isn't like...

You certainly have a point. However I think one of the fundamentals we need to understand is that it is NOT for the public to decide who gets what right. Human Rights are supposed to be universal, and not up for debate, that is the entire reason why we have a Constitution like we do, it is not...

I find it ironic that both laws they are looking at have been refused to be defended by the people who are supposed to defend them. The Obama administration won't touch the DOMA with a 10 foot poll, and California is similarly disowning prop 8. I think both of these are rather clear signs that...

Well, with the Supreme Court set to hear arguments about the DOMA in a couple days any last points to be made first?

This is one of the few things I completely agree with you on. While I do think gun control is a good idea, focus on background and mental health first and foremost. A sane person does not go and kill dozens of innocent people for no reason.

The government doesn't need to make it clear they launched the nukes. It is amazing how easy it would be for them to plant and detonate a nuke and make it look like the resistance did it - even if there was no resistance to do it. Then they simply say that the resistance killed them for not...