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[theredphoenix2]

So perhaps there are great things that can be done by motivated people. When the undergraduate student body unites, or part of the Penn State body, they can do most anything. Even move time itself, perhaps. Due to a vast governmental and university conspiracy, spring break was moved back a week, all because they wanted to stop the partying that

Comments

[tribesman2007]

haha. when i started reading your entry i was sure it was gonna be about how they're moving daylight savings time.

your last few entries made me think. this is not business as usual in lj-land!

i've always had mixed feelings about helment laws. if some guy isn't wearing a helmet, he's only hurting himself. and there's nothing inherently wrong with making dangerous decisions. some people think the rush of feeling the wind in your hair is worth the risk of brain trauma, and who is the government to argue with that? i just don't like legislating values, because there is no logical reason for doing it (the logic is that you save lives, but by that argument we should outlaw cars all together, along with cigarettes). on the other hand, virginia's helmet law has probably saved my dad's life at least once, and possibly several times. so there's a moral dilemma for you...

i still think the irish are drunks, and i say that being irish. in all the world they rank #2 in per capita beer consumption. the u.s. ranks 13th, which is scary given our alcoholic ways. here's the list if you're curious. i think chris's people are at the top.

[theredphoenix2]

the argument about helmet laws is that brain injuries cost the government (and thus us) money. Assume a hundred people who will be fine but are now needing permanent care. They can't afford it, the government foots a lot of the bill. So full care for those hundred people could be upwards of a million dollars. If not the government paying for it, it's insurance companies, and where do you think that money comes from either. That's justification for me.

I don't think values should be legislated either, but given that government or insurance subsidizes a good part of health care, I can see the point. If the people had to pay for their consequences themselves, then go for it, kill yourselves. I know there is a slippery slope perhaps, but the argument is that if it costs others money, then that's what i don't like.

[tribesman2007]

that's a good point too. and i bet if some people could sign away their right to health care in order to take off their helmet, they would. what we need is some way of having them do it over international waters...