There is nothing immoral about fantasy, as long as no one is harmed.  Specific fantasies may be intensely unpopular, and make people uncomfortable due to similarity to acts in which people would be harmed - but just as we do not regard people as murderers for making movies or games with victimless, simulated murder, it would be ridiculous to hold someone in the same light as a rapist for producing a victimless, simulated rape (whether that rape occurs due to age or other conditions.)  While law is not morality, fantasy is moral for the same reason it is legal - it's all in the realm of thought.  To argue otherwise is to confuse simulation with reality, to confuse morality with emotion, or to confuse mere cultural conventions with morality.

Let's examine that last bit:

That trips many people up.  Consider: is slavery morally wrong in a society where most people own slaves and nobody thinks much of it?  If so, then cultural conventions have nothing to do with morality. If, on the other hand, cultural conventions do dictate morality, then slavery is morally right as long as it's an established practice.

Xangans will argue about anything, so there's an argument over whether or not rape fantasies are harmless.

DearRicky gets on his soapbox to claim that forcible rape fantasies are wrong for the same reason that sexual fantasies involving minors are wrong.

But that's worthless from a structural standpoint.  The main thing the two acts have in common is social disapproval.  The argument depends on someone's unwillingness to defend anything even remotely associated with pedophilia, which is simply a sticking point in Western society.  Arguing from popularity in a moral discussion is duplicitous, and holds no weight morally or logically - a moral act is moral even if nobody else present agrees that it is, and an immoral act is immoral even if nobody else present objects.  (See: My Lai, Enron, etc.) 

Far better to ask, "What is it about actual rape that makes rape wrong?"  The answer is that rape takes control of the act away from one of the participants.

And what is the primary objection to DearRicky's insistence that nobody engage in a certain kind of consensual act?  Why, the objection is that it takes control away from the participants.  In depriving people of their freedom of expression, DearRicky is arrogating to himself control over other peoples' bodies.  He is saying, "You will use your body not in a way that gives you pleasure, but rather, in a way that pleases me."

Just like a rapist would.

Rupert Murdoch may be an inadvertent pirate, but that won't stop him from sending an army of lawyers after Google in the wake of a failed business deal.  According to The Guardian, Murdoch lost over $100m because MySpace failed to make quotas set by Google.  Murdoch's answer?  Threaten to sue Google for "using his content" and unroll a new scheme whereby all end users have to pay to read the news online.

You can choose how excellent you are.  That does not mean that the choice will be pleasant.

Consider the piano - you can't enter a competition and say "Go easy on judging me; I have a life outside of this."  The very point of it is to see who has put the most time into the piano (as modified by talent).  Winners are those who practice several hours every day, and the people who aren't serious about it can't win.  Of course, nothing stops you from playing for fun with whatever time you care to spend.  As long as you put the time in you get results and progress.  As long as you don't put the time in, you don't get results and you don't get progress.

You have the right to stop playing.  You also have the right to play on your own schedule for your own amusement.  The thing to keep in mind is that there is no right to expect to win against someone who does it seriously.  If it's worth it to you to do it seriously, do it seriously.  If not, then give up on winning all the time.  Don't worry when you lose against someone who put in more time than you.  Complaining only shows that you don't understand the real reasons why you lost.

The more strenuously people complain that they "have lives," the more I'm convinced that they don't get what life is about.  If your reason for not doing well in a given field is that you haven't put in the time, then that means your priorities were elsewhere.

I hate this excuse.

Now, don't get me wrong.  "Having a life" is a good thing.  However, I keep encountering insincere people hiding behind that phrase.

When can you use "I have a life?"  You may use it any time it would be acceptable to instead say, "This was just not something I cared about enough to do it."  That is really what you are saying when you resort to the excuse.

Unacceptable uses of "I have a life":
- I didn't return the keys
- I forgot to fill up the gas
- I didn't take out the trash
- I don't want to do the dishes
- I don't want to fulfill an obligation

Tasks do not magically get done by themselves.  Real life is not Fantasia, the Disney movie with trippy, animated brooms, scrubbing soap, and mops that clean the world up without you having to exert yourself.  If you forgot to do a task, just own up to it.

Acceptable uses of "I have a life":
- I don't want to help you organize your lint collection
- Watching you fold laundry is not what I envisioned when we said we should "do something" this weekend
- I will not watch your sick dog while you go out on a hot date
- Buy your own damn condoms: if you plan to use them you ought to have the guts to buy them yourself

What sad excuses have you heard morph into, "I have a life"?

The Guangdong Entomological Institute in Guangzhou, China, observed mating behaviour in 30 male and 30 female short-nosed fruit bats.

Their conclusions point to fellatio as a prevalent practice.

Number of Veterans Receiving VA Disability Compensation (as of 06/30/09): 3,030,000
Number of Veterans Rated 100% Disabled (as of 06/30/09): 273,300
Number of Veterans Receiving VA Pension (as of 06/30/09): 312,669
Number of Spouses Receiving DIC (as of 06/30/09): 323,189
Number of Total Enrollees in VA Health Care System (FY 08): 7,840,000
Number of Total Unique Patients Treated (FY 08): 5,580,000
Number of Veterans Compensated for PTSD (as of 06/30/09): 354,326
Number of Veterans in Receipt of IU Benefits (as of 06/30/09): 256,879
Number of VA Education Beneficiaries (as of 09/30/08): 541,439
Number of Life Insurance Policies Supervised and Administered by VA (as of 06/30/09): 7,210,000
Number of VA Voc Rehab (Chapter 31) Trainees (FY 08): 55,059
Number of Active VA Home Loan Participants (as of 08/03/09): 1,280,000
Number of Health Care Professionals Rotating Through VA (FY 08): 109,882

Projected U.S. Veterans Population: 23,442,000 (Female 1,802,000 8%)
Percentage of Veteran Population 65 or Older: 39.4%

 -- source: va.gov

"Of the 1.64 million service members who had been deployed for OEF/OIF as of October 2007, we estimate that approximately 300,000 individuals currently suffer from PTSD or major depression." - RAND.

"The illegal aliens and their employers have a far more well-funded and effective lobby in Congress than the American veterans." - the Athens Banner-Herald

Free food for veterans and active military personnel today:

• Applebee's is offering a free entree.  Click here for more details.

• Outback Steakhouse is offering a free Bloomin’ Onion and beverage.  Click here for more details.

• Krispy Kreme Doughnuts is offering a free donut.  Click here for more details.

• Home Depot is offering a 10% discount on one in-store single receipt purchase–valid up to $200.  Click here for more details.

It's not much, but please pass this on to any veterans you may know.

What Kierkegaard calls despair, I call cognitive dissonance.

It's almost a form of performance art.