Victimhood
 

Racial profiling is not a knee Jerk reaction. The Knee Jerk reaction is to not use racial profiling. Racial profiling is part of a whole set of profiling criteria. Of course you check people who look nervous etc. But racial profiling is just one profile used among many. Is it reasonable to check males of Middle Eastern Descent? What is unreasonable is to not check males of Middle Easter Descent because you are worried about some ridiculous PC concept.

The whole point of racial profiling is to act on reason. Searching little kids is not acting more reasonably because you are not using a good profile. The little kids get searched when you are being forced to act randomly instead of profiling. Wouldn't you agree that it would make sense to search the young Middle Eastern males between the age of fifteen and fifty? Wouldn't you agree that they are more likely to be terrorists? Of course, they probably aren't, and it is possible that the grandmother from Des Moines is, but you need to go with the odds. Isn't that what is reasonable? Racial, religious, ethnic and religious profiling are all tools added to the arsenal. To take them out of the arsenal is just plain stupid.


I knew it was too much to expect for some people on this board to acknowledge the painfully obvious.

Victimhood
 

Depends. Does the white person drive an SUV? If so, the Arab gets a thorough going over, since their reference obviously loves Osama.

Victimhood
 

Frankly, I think it should be similar to affirmative action. Ethnicity should certainly be a factor, but not the only factor in making the decision on who to screen.

Victimhood
 

Just filled it up this morning. So comfortable. Sometimes, I just drive around in it listening to music. Did I mention how great the A/C unit in the thing is?

Best money I ever spent.

Victimhood
 

The more you talk about how reasonable it is, the worse it sounds.

And as for statistics:

Timothy McVeigh
John Walker Lindh
John Reed

Victimhood
 

And the only reason there are more Blacks than Whites in prison is because the Blacks commit more crimes. So, if I'm a cop in Rancho Mirage and I see a balck male in his 20s, it only makes sense for me to stop and search him, right?

I mean, sure, he is an American and he theoretically has the same rights as the rest of us, but you can't ignore statitstics, can you? How else are we gonna keep the White women safe?

Victimhood
 

Like Communism, in theory that works. As we know in practice, you end up with separate buckets and the assessment is made solely on race/ethnicity. In other words, don't search all muslims, but search the suspicious-looking ones.

Victimhood (Prius Rant)
 

Your position is shortsighted:

1. As long as they have oil, the Middle East will be a major problem for the rest of the world;

2. The only way to rid them of their oil is to use it up;

3. Driving an ultra-economical car actually prolongs the Middle East's oil supply, thus prolonging its strangehold on us, and prolonging our use of the fossil fuel;

4. Driving a Prius gives comfort to the regimes that aid terrorists.

We can either slowly kill off the oil supply over many years, or use it with abandon and kill off the supply more quickly. I say the sooner we rob the Arabs of their stranglehold over the world, the better.

Victimhood (Prius Rant)
 

Are you a R member of Congress? Because this sounds suspiciously like current economic policy.

Victimhood (Prius Rant)
 

It's obviously a half-joke, but after I wrote it, I realized it's no less valid a response than that offered by the crowds screaming for a ban of SUVs. If we all bought Priuses tomorrow, the Middle East (and out own archaic energy policies) would never change.

The anti-SUVers would probably counter that there's no reason we can't change our energy policies without first having to run the planet out of oil. I disagree. China and India will just pick up the slack our decreased consumption creates.

I guess the anti-SUVers' next argument would be that reckless consumption over a short period of time would hurt the environment much more than minimal consumption over a longer period. I don't know whether that argument holds water, or if it could be proven or disproven based on the obvious lack of previous instances to use for scientific comparison.

I do know this. My half-joke is worth making to the next Prius driver who accuses you of aiding terrorists. If for no other reason than to amuse yourself with his response...

Victimhood (Prius Rant)
 

I drive an SUV. I'm not happy about it, but I'd end up spending a hell of a lot more on car payments than I do on gas if I bought a new car.

Victimhood (Prius Rant)
 

You never need an SUV until that day you're leaving a concert or a football game and the difference between being home in a half hour or two hours is being able to drive over a concrete median or barriers. It's also a lifesaver if you're stuck behind an accident you could get around by pulling off the road through a ditch and driving through some grass. My wife's got a low to the ground car, and I always feel trapped in it.

Victimhood (Prius Rant)
 

This is what amazed me. People gripe about gas prices all the time. But how much do you spend on gas a year? Sure, if you drive 20k miles/year, it starts to matter. But even at 20k miles, if you get 20mpg, you're looking at 1000 gallons/year. That's $3000. But if gas were a dollar less, you're saving only $1000. Is that significant? Sure, but it's not the end of the world. And if you're driving 20k miles, it's probably for business, and you're making some money. And if you're not making money, but driving that much, you probably have a car getting better mileage.

To me, the price of gas is nearly irrelevant. I take public transit, so drive less than 10k/year. And I get 25mpg. I buy maybe 300-400 gallons a year. That's a nice dinner out I'm saving, or maybe two nice dinners. per year.

Victimhood (Prius Rant)
 

RT-you could use sebby's spin ability to explain your offroading.

Victimhood (Prius Rant)
 

Yeah, I love how all the car places are advertising "bring in your car to get this overhaul to increase your mileage" and it's only going to bump up the mileage a teeny increment, and the $$ saved on gas by doing that is way less than the cost of the service.