StrangeSox

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 24, 2015 -> 07:37 AM) How many days a week are you usually on the road, SS? It always comes in giant chunks. 5 of the last seven weeks, plus at least two of the next four including this one. Working twelve hour days too. At least it's in California though, could be worse.

being on the road is destroying my routine

Due process isn't only a legal procedure. E.g. If you're a tenured teacher, you have due process protections and can be fired only if cause is shown, not just arbitrarily; public employees actually enjoy free speech protections that private employees do not. That the speech was made in private is central to any claims about it being harassment, creating hostile environment for others on campus, etc. What other speech do you think a public university administrator should be able to unilaterally kick students it for? What about speech by professors? What effect do you think that will have on academic freedom, and how do you get around the first amendment problems with this being a public institution?

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 20, 2015 -> 08:31 AM) This new non-bluegrass, electronica, we want to be U2 or Coldplay Mumford & Sons " " song sucks huge ass. If the whole album is going to suck like this, I'm going to be very sad.

QUOTE (Tex @ Mar 21, 2015 -> 08:27 AM) And when we take away power from school administrators we have to accept situations like second grade students who bring a butter knife to school being arrested, an Eagle Scout with a hatchet locked in his car trunk being expelled from school, etc. "Zero tolerance" policies are often dumb as well. It's not like your choices are zero tolerance or allowing public university administrators to kick people out without due process over private speech.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 20, 2015 -> 09:56 AM) Yeah if any of these arguments fly, you're opening the door to restricting speech at the whim of school administrators. For basically anything. Stand-in's and protests for things you probably support ARE disruptive and interfere with school goals. It's much easier to keep the rule as is - does it incite immediate violence? Is it a targeted threat that can be appreciated as real? If so, fine, we can restrict the speech. If not, even if it's terrible and awful, you have the right to say it and not be punished for it (by the school/government). Giving school administrators that much power would be absolutely terrible. And you'd still need to get a chant said in a private event which was recorded and distributed without the chanters knowledge as reaching public incitement, educational disruption etc. There are tenured professors at schools who say things approximately as terrible and still receive tenure protections.

QUOTE (Tex @ Mar 20, 2015 -> 10:54 AM) I'm not 100% with you on that point. ' If a violent fight breaks out most people pull out their cell phones to . . . A. Call police B. Take pics for Instagram C. Video for Vine D. Document the carnage Something breaking out and you happening to be there isn't the same as getting all excited to go see that negro lynching or any other public execution.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 20, 2015 -> 09:08 AM) Yes. But they do not now. Which is kind of my point. Whatever level of immorality the placement of violent fictional entertainment means to today's society, it's certainly superior to days of mob justice killing hundreds and intimidating a whole section of the populace. A chant referencing those times positively is despicable and clearly outside the norms of this country as seen by the reaction. So I have a hard time believing violent entertainment has debased the countries morality when they would view references to actual violence as outrageous. I guess I was more going for societies across the world and throughout time have always embraced depictions of violence, and especially in American culture, and violent rap and video games aren't some grave new threat. Same conclusion, slightly different angle.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 19, 2015 -> 04:21 PM) movies != public executions. Well, sticking to the topic of racist lynching, they drew big crowds less than a century ago.

QUOTE (Tex @ Mar 19, 2015 -> 03:26 PM) Which is a great point I was hoping someone would mention. Is the media we use important to the actual theme? Is passive entertainment on an issue less of a visceral experience than being immersed and active? We are entertained by death. Public executions draw large crowds. I thought my quoting of Johnny cash lyrics made the same point.

Colleges aren't high schools and these are publicly funded institutions subject to constitutional restrictions. Public university administrators are not free to toss students out simply over speech, and that's a value that's absolutely worth fighting for.

QUOTE (Tex @ Mar 18, 2015 -> 01:38 PM) Is that the only violence that we should be concerned about and stop? We're ok with general random violence? Why is it ok to murder some innocent people and not others? Literally no one is saying this, but I am more concerned with songs/movies/whatever talking favorably about white supremacy than with the awful, deplorable violence that noted degenerate Johnny cash sang about.

I don't agree that expulsion from a public university was appropriate. It seems like a pretty clear violation of their first amendment rights. I have no idea why you're talking about video games, but if they made a game that was explicitly racist as the song they sang and was essentially a pro-KKK game set in 1920's Mississippi or something, it would be even worse than the song just based on the effort of that versus singing a song. It seems like you're still thinking the biggest problems with the song are that they used "n*****" or that it was somehow speaking approvingly of generic, non-racist lynching or something. At least that's the only way I can get to you video game comparison. The problem with the song isn't some sort of generalized approval of violence, it's specifically the racially targeted, white supremacist violence.

QUOTE (Tex @ Mar 17, 2015 -> 07:43 AM) If reasons are important is having no reason to kill someone really better? Early one mornin' while makin' the rounds / I took a shot of cocaine and shot my woman down / I went right home and I went to bed / I stuck that lovin' forty-four beneath my head

QUOTE (Tex @ Mar 17, 2015 -> 07:42 AM) And I believe it would be that way if they invented a video game that people played. If video games really don't matter than a game where the people drove around earning points by lynching people would be cool. We can't blame anything on songs, games, or movies. So a lynching game is totally cool with you guys? I really doubt it. Now if we decide that people who played that game would be wrong, then why is it right to murder anyone in a video game? Are we at the point where we differentiate which murders are bad and which are good? Guns and fantasy weapons OK, ropes bad? Killing them with cars = awesome Hanging = evil? Or are the victims what makes the difference? Are some lives just worth more than others? Do we differentiate in video games like we seem to do in real life? I have no idea what this is supposed to be responding to.

Right. Tex, like I said on Keith's fb post, the real problem with the song isn't the racial slur. The problem is singing about white supremacy and lynching black people favorably.

I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Mar 11, 2015 -> 07:52 PM) all of em! ok not really, but Maui, Kauai, the big island, and Oahu, though won't have much time in Oahu. I'll have overnights on Maui and Kauai, which is fun (I work on cruise ships) Maui- Lahaina is a really cool city. The Road to Hana is a fun drive if you have time, but it's an all day thing. The aquarium on the island is good, lots of snorkeling. Haleakala is supposed to be really cool, we'll be checking that out this summer. Kauai--Waimea canyon is cool, either as a drive-and-see or with some hiking. The north shore area is absolutely beautiful. The Na Pali Coast (Jurassic Park helicopter scene) can be seen by either boat or helicopter. Lots of hiking. You can kayak up a river near the mid-east side but I can't remember the exact name of it right now. Really fun. Big Island--Haven't been, but heading there this summer. Volcanoes national park is supposed to be really cool, but it's not flowing into the ocean right now. Again lots of hiking, snorkeling, helicopter and boat tours, fishing, etc. etc. etc. eta we have a two week trip to Hawaii planned this summer with maybe 1/2 a day total of "beach time," lol.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 12, 2015 -> 08:09 AM) Guaranteed Rate is who we have used as well, and I have nothing but good things to say. The only time they approached us unsolicited is when the rates got to those historical lows around early 2012, like 30-year fixes in the mid-3's, and they gave us a completely free re-fi. We used GR to refinance two years ago, very very simple and easy.

hope you'd get your ass kicked for saying something that awful regardless of the function you said it at.

No idea, but you can have a normal conversation right in front of it while it's running and barely notice.

My Frigidaire professional dishwasher is whisper quiet.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 11, 2015 -> 10:01 AM) Has anyone bought one of the package deals Abt and other stores sell? I can't tell if they're good deals or if they throw in some junk dishwasher or stove to make the deal better for them. My co-worker did recently, he was pretty happy.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 11, 2015 -> 10:38 AM) It's a historically racist fraternity started at Bama. It doesnt surprise me. Many of the southern fraternities including many of the black ones were founded with segregation and racism as part of their core values. However Oklahoma and its campus arent exactly black friendly, so the deeper issue is why they felt it was ok to sing something like that in front of people at a date party. Clearly there is some accepted level of Racism at that school. It's the only existing fraternity founded in the antebellum south.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 11, 2015 -> 10:26 AM) Univ of OK is a public university, it's absolutely a government agent subject to the Constitution. That's very settled law. Whether this is threatening speech is the question. I don't think generalized threats (if that's what this would be) against a race is enough. The exception of threatening speech is pretty narrow. You gotta be specific, basically inciting immediate violence. Generalized threats made in private which were filmed and released without the person's knowledge. It'd be very hard to stretch that into some sort of legitimate case for expelling students over speech.