What you described is the old argument about the differences between Religion and Faith. You claim the reason you don't believe the Bible is because it is used by men to control men. While I would agree with your conclusion that men control men using the Bible as a tool, my reading of the Bible has led me to the exact opposite conclusion, that it wasn't about men controlling men, it was about men controlling themselves through FAITH.
Yes the Bible has all sorts of rules and "commandments", but those commandments weren't issued by men to control men, they were issued by GOD.
However this never stopped men from using whatever tool they have to bash people over the head.
If someone steals using a gun, the trauma is over quickly, and people can tend to get "over it". However, when someone steals the life savings of an elderly couple through deceit while hiding behind the veil of incorporation the results are much longer lasting. Just ask those defrauded by Enron.
Theft is violence. Don't let gun fool you into thinking otherwise.
You can take payments in beans, Swiss francs, gold or oil. Many US banks are happy to let you have an account in a foreign currency.
No you can't. Trade is regulated that if you conduct enough "business" as barter, you'll be accused of money laundering or other similar "crimes", like tax evasion.
[quote]"This banknote is worth $1000" and "This piece of gold is worth $1000". [/quote]
This is true, because value is based on worth. This axiom is even more true today, because gold has not "worth" except in value of other fiat currency.
However, if you compare the value of a ounce of gold and compared it to a gallon of gas in trade, say from 1964 to 2004, you'll find that the ratio remains constant. A brick of gold can buy, generally speaking, the same thing today as it could in 1964.
However the value of an ounce of gold is somewhere between 900-$1000 Using rounding for convenience sake, an ounce of gold gets you 200 gals of gas, and I suggest that if you go back and take a look, you'll find an ounce of Gold buying about the same amount of gas.:-D
Who wants a non-working healthcare system when we can have government bureaucrats vying for votes telling the poor people lies about what they'll get for nothing.
Remember, taking from others under threat is violence, regardless of who is doing it.
[quote]You get all those libertarian fools thinking "Oh if the current big bad government is smaller, things would be wonderful".[/quote]
Actually, you shouldn't speak for Libertarians, because I think most libertarians would agree with your good/bad delineation. However let me ask you a simple question.....
Which is easier to control... Big Bad Government or Small Bad Government?
The point of smaller being better isn't because of "good vs bad" it is because Smaller = less government = more freedom to change how it works.
The current monstrosity that is Governance today is wholly out of control, with little or no ability to make any sort of meaningful change. We are a gnat on the elephant's back, we may annoy it, but it isn't going to change because of us.
As for private vs public control, you are 100% right. I wish we had a governance that took issuing of corporate licences more seriously and would lock more of the short sighted, bad management class and toss them into pound me in the ass prison for their malfeasance, more often.
Stealing from a bank with a gun isn't nearly as violent as stealing from the same bank with dubious business practices. I think there should be a whole bunch of people thrown in jail over the current banking Mortgage scandal.
Which western country are you speaking of? The US ?
We have some of the strictest laws in place, thank you very much. So much restriction that we've lost all of our manufacturing to places like Mexico and China that don't have such restrictions in place.
Could we do better? Sure! However we are leading, where many places aren't following because it is economically advantageous not to follow.
What is more disturbing however is the whole "Blame America First" crap that you seem to subscribe to. People like you are idiots and tools against real reform, because you can't give credit where it is due.
Racist overtones? Gee whiz. It was a play on words, and not racist at all. Racist would be if I call them "slants" or "Chinks" or whatever, or making derogatory remarks about Chinese as whole people, which I'm not.
Suggesting racism, where there is none doesn't help discussions about racism. I was actually talking about the stupid government, not the people.
Idiots like yourself are not helping like you think you are.
As for the polution, they have access to the same polution controls we have.
We didn't have them originally and had to develop them. They have access to them (because they've stolen the tech) they just choose not to use them because they have tools like you making excuses for them.
The difference between having polution and then developing the controls to keep it in check, and having the tools and not using them because it is economically advantageous not to, is huge.
China is the one of the worst, if not THE WORST environmental disasters this world has ever had. They are having one HELL of a time trying to clean up the mess they've created for themselves.
By the time the Olympics comes around, I hope that the Chineese government has enough Egg Foo Young on their face to cause them to loose face to the whole world.
Then maybe, just maybe they'll clean up their act. Naaaa, what I am thinking.
I thought this was the best scene in the whole movie! To me, it distinguished between the common criminal (Tiny) and the truly evil one (Joker). Even the common criminal has rules, where Joker played by no rules what so ever.
It also showed the Common Criminal has the balls to do what should have been done. But that was the point, wasn't it. Awesome!
If you want to call it that. Otherwise, I call it the weakest link in a chain, which seems more appropriate, because bottleneck implies substantial slowdown at a single point along the way, where a weak link indicates something that could be improved, but otherwise is functional.
At some point, all the graphic eye candy and having 50K FPS refresh at 8000 x 6000 is pointless. Unless you're playing in a holodeck, that is.
Ok, ask me your questions. I am not claiming I am perfect,
Actually, that is my point you just proved.
There is a story I like to tell about the consequences of our actions, it goes like this.
Take a pillow up a hill and scatter the feathers in the pillow to the wind. Wait a day, and go find every feather you tossed to the wind.
Of course you'll immediately realize that is impossible, but telling a lie, gossiping etc is very much like this. Once told, you can't undo the error, not completely.
Unlike churchianity, I'm held to a much higher standard because I understand better than most, that my sins truly are evil, and the consequences are beyond my ability to repair them. I have a debt that cannot be paid. You do to.
When you fully realize this, I can explain the hope of restoration and redemption. It transcends stupid arguments over Evolution, Creationism, and Intelligent Design.:-D
Is there any sect of Christianity that practices what it preaches?
Well, to feed the troll, I have a question, is there ANY man that fully follows what he preaches? I have yet to meet such a person.
Lying is bad, yet people who believe this, still lie. Stealing is bad, yet people still take what is not theirs.
My premise is everyone is hypocritical at some level. Everyone. I can ask a series of questions of anyone, say about 100 of them, which shows that people often make excuses for why they vary from the very rules they themselves want.
Everytime one breaks their own rule, who pays for that infraction?
For example, do the old testament rules apply or not?
Yes, they apply to believers. I'm what is commonly called "Messianic", which is for a lack of better short description, a blend of Biblical Judaism and Chrisitianity.
Rabbinic Judaism (Orthodox to Reform) don't like us because we believe Jesus is the Messiah, and Christians don't like us because we keep OT laws.
As for what is and isn't food, I have a phrase I use, "You can eat anything you want, but not everything you eat is food". To emphasize this point, I ask if I served a nice hot pile of Monkey Brains for dinner, how many would eat it and be thankful per modern churchian doctrine of "all foods clean".
Food, as described in scripture, is already "clean" by definition. The parenthetical insertion doesn't change what is, or isn't "food". Swine's flesh is not food, but you can eat it if you want; "You can eat anything you want, but not everything you eat is food".
There is a reason why everything is in scripture. If you don't believe or even understand, I can respect that. Just don't call me a bigot because I find certain things reprehensible. I'm sure that some people find certain things about me reprehensible, but somehow that doesn't make them a bigot, does it? Or does that make them a hypocrite?
I'm not asking you to uphold biblical doctrines either. I couldn't expect that of people who reject its very premise. However, I also would like them to respect my desire to not be flooded by their perversions any more than they don't want to be flooded with Biblical Doctrines.
This is why I'm also a libertarian, and why I believe that large governments (religious or secular) shouldn't be making broad rules for people to live by. The community standards should be what is important. If you want to live in a community that has Porn mags on every corner and Adult Bookstores on every third block, by all means move there. But don't expect me to want to live their, and don't move into my neighborhood (which doesn't have these things) and start whining about not having them.
Here's an interesting stat, everybody tends to like (tolerate) their Senator and Congress Critter, however Congress and Senate have about a 12% overall approval rating.
These numbers really don't make sense, not at all. Each congress critter / senator is part of the whole and thus part of the problem for everyone who isn't part of that 12%.
FISA is just a symptom of the problem of overly complex and burdensome legislation. I'm sure there is SOME part of FISA that you (everyone) would agree is okay perhaps even needed, however that is over shadowed by all the parts that you (everyone) don't like, hate, despise or whatever.
Which is why, almost overwhelmingly, we don't like FISA as a whole. The process sucks, because just enough people like each part to get it included into the whole, but the whole is untenable.
This directly mirrors our view of congress, we like the part we voted for, but no the aggregate whole.
Personally, I'd like to see a new Constitutional Ammendment that every 8 to 16 years, the nation as a whole votes on all the congress critters and senators as an aggregate group, Yes / No. And if they get a "NO" then they (the aggregate whole lot) can never run for any office ever again (not even honorary town dog catcher), and lose whatever pension they might have coming.
Slashdot Mirror
Because we all know that when blogging is a crime, only criminals will blog!
or something like that
All your thoughts on the subject are also the work of a man, so you shouldn't listen to yourself !
See how that works when you apply your logic to your own views. :-D
What you described is the old argument about the differences between Religion and Faith. You claim the reason you don't believe the Bible is because it is used by men to control men. While I would agree with your conclusion that men control men using the Bible as a tool, my reading of the Bible has led me to the exact opposite conclusion, that it wasn't about men controlling men, it was about men controlling themselves through FAITH.
Yes the Bible has all sorts of rules and "commandments", but those commandments weren't issued by men to control men, they were issued by GOD.
However this never stopped men from using whatever tool they have to bash people over the head.
This is where you go wrong.
If someone steals using a gun, the trauma is over quickly, and people can tend to get "over it". However, when someone steals the life savings of an elderly couple through deceit while hiding behind the veil of incorporation the results are much longer lasting. Just ask those defrauded by Enron.
Theft is violence. Don't let gun fool you into thinking otherwise.
You can take payments in beans, Swiss francs, gold or oil. Many US banks are happy to let you have an account in a foreign currency.
No you can't. Trade is regulated that if you conduct enough "business" as barter, you'll be accused of money laundering or other similar "crimes", like tax evasion.
[quote]"This banknote is worth $1000" and "This piece of gold is worth $1000". [/quote]
This is true, because value is based on worth. This axiom is even more true today, because gold has not "worth" except in value of other fiat currency.
However, if you compare the value of a ounce of gold and compared it to a gallon of gas in trade, say from 1964 to 2004, you'll find that the ratio remains constant. A brick of gold can buy, generally speaking, the same thing today as it could in 1964.
However the value of an ounce of gold is somewhere between 900-$1000 Using rounding for convenience sake, an ounce of gold gets you 200 gals of gas, and I suggest that if you go back and take a look, you'll find an ounce of Gold buying about the same amount of gas. :-D
Who wants a non-working healthcare system when we can have government bureaucrats vying for votes telling the poor people lies about what they'll get for nothing.
Remember, taking from others under threat is violence, regardless of who is doing it.
[quote]You get all those libertarian fools thinking "Oh if the current big bad government is smaller, things would be wonderful".[/quote]
Actually, you shouldn't speak for Libertarians, because I think most libertarians would agree with your good/bad delineation. However let me ask you a simple question .....
Which is easier to control ... Big Bad Government or Small Bad Government?
The point of smaller being better isn't because of "good vs bad" it is because Smaller = less government = more freedom to change how it works.
The current monstrosity that is Governance today is wholly out of control, with little or no ability to make any sort of meaningful change. We are a gnat on the elephant's back, we may annoy it, but it isn't going to change because of us.
As for private vs public control, you are 100% right. I wish we had a governance that took issuing of corporate licences more seriously and would lock more of the short sighted, bad management class and toss them into pound me in the ass prison for their malfeasance, more often.
Stealing from a bank with a gun isn't nearly as violent as stealing from the same bank with dubious business practices. I think there should be a whole bunch of people thrown in jail over the current banking Mortgage scandal.
Which western country are you speaking of? The US ?
We have some of the strictest laws in place, thank you very much. So much restriction that we've lost all of our manufacturing to places like Mexico and China that don't have such restrictions in place.
Could we do better? Sure! However we are leading, where many places aren't following because it is economically advantageous not to follow.
What is more disturbing however is the whole "Blame America First" crap that you seem to subscribe to. People like you are idiots and tools against real reform, because you can't give credit where it is due.
Racist overtones? Gee whiz. It was a play on words, and not racist at all. Racist would be if I call them "slants" or "Chinks" or whatever, or making derogatory remarks about Chinese as whole people, which I'm not.
Suggesting racism, where there is none doesn't help discussions about racism. I was actually talking about the stupid government, not the people.
Idiots like yourself are not helping like you think you are.
As for the polution, they have access to the same polution controls we have.
We didn't have them originally and had to develop them. They have access to them (because they've stolen the tech) they just choose not to use them because they have tools like you making excuses for them.
The difference between having polution and then developing the controls to keep it in check, and having the tools and not using them because it is economically advantageous not to, is huge.
China is the one of the worst, if not THE WORST environmental disasters this world has ever had. They are having one HELL of a time trying to clean up the mess they've created for themselves.
By the time the Olympics comes around, I hope that the Chineese government has enough Egg Foo Young on their face to cause them to loose face to the whole world.
Then maybe, just maybe they'll clean up their act. Naaaa, what I am thinking.
We don't wonder. We know why!
I thought this was the best scene in the whole movie! To me, it distinguished between the common criminal (Tiny) and the truly evil one (Joker). Even the common criminal has rules, where Joker played by no rules what so ever.
It also showed the Common Criminal has the balls to do what should have been done. But that was the point, wasn't it. Awesome!
Dang, someone (above) already said the same thing, modded +5 funny. I hate typing slow!
... someone accidentally drags an anchor.
There is always a bottleneck, somewhere.
If you want to call it that. Otherwise, I call it the weakest link in a chain, which seems more appropriate, because bottleneck implies substantial slowdown at a single point along the way, where a weak link indicates something that could be improved, but otherwise is functional.
At some point, all the graphic eye candy and having 50K FPS refresh at 8000 x 6000 is pointless. Unless you're playing in a holodeck, that is.
Or .... NYCL type.
Ok, ask me your questions. I am not claiming I am perfect,
Actually, that is my point you just proved.
There is a story I like to tell about the consequences of our actions, it goes like this.
Take a pillow up a hill and scatter the feathers in the pillow to the wind. Wait a day, and go find every feather you tossed to the wind.
Of course you'll immediately realize that is impossible, but telling a lie, gossiping etc is very much like this. Once told, you can't undo the error, not completely.
Unlike churchianity, I'm held to a much higher standard because I understand better than most, that my sins truly are evil, and the consequences are beyond my ability to repair them. I have a debt that cannot be paid. You do to.
When you fully realize this, I can explain the hope of restoration and redemption. It transcends stupid arguments over Evolution, Creationism, and Intelligent Design. :-D
Nice Nic
Is there any sect of Christianity that practices what it preaches?
Well, to feed the troll, I have a question, is there ANY man that fully follows what he preaches? I have yet to meet such a person.
Lying is bad, yet people who believe this, still lie. Stealing is bad, yet people still take what is not theirs.
My premise is everyone is hypocritical at some level. Everyone. I can ask a series of questions of anyone, say about 100 of them, which shows that people often make excuses for why they vary from the very rules they themselves want.
Everytime one breaks their own rule, who pays for that infraction?
For example, do the old testament rules apply or not?
Yes, they apply to believers. I'm what is commonly called "Messianic", which is for a lack of better short description, a blend of Biblical Judaism and Chrisitianity.
Rabbinic Judaism (Orthodox to Reform) don't like us because we believe Jesus is the Messiah, and Christians don't like us because we keep OT laws.
As for what is and isn't food, I have a phrase I use, "You can eat anything you want, but not everything you eat is food". To emphasize this point, I ask if I served a nice hot pile of Monkey Brains for dinner, how many would eat it and be thankful per modern churchian doctrine of "all foods clean".
Food, as described in scripture, is already "clean" by definition. The parenthetical insertion doesn't change what is, or isn't "food". Swine's flesh is not food, but you can eat it if you want; "You can eat anything you want, but not everything you eat is food".
There is a reason why everything is in scripture. If you don't believe or even understand, I can respect that. Just don't call me a bigot because I find certain things reprehensible. I'm sure that some people find certain things about me reprehensible, but somehow that doesn't make them a bigot, does it? Or does that make them a hypocrite?
I'm not asking you to uphold biblical doctrines either. I couldn't expect that of people who reject its very premise. However, I also would like them to respect my desire to not be flooded by their perversions any more than they don't want to be flooded with Biblical Doctrines.
This is why I'm also a libertarian, and why I believe that large governments (religious or secular) shouldn't be making broad rules for people to live by. The community standards should be what is important. If you want to live in a community that has Porn mags on every corner and Adult Bookstores on every third block, by all means move there. But don't expect me to want to live their, and don't move into my neighborhood (which doesn't have these things) and start whining about not having them.
some would argue that Foxworthy's catchy hickisms are nothing more than southern versions of mondegreens.
One of my favorite song mondegreen is "I've got, two chickens with parasites"
.... but, you could spot the pimple on the Pron star's ass from 1000 feet away without using a zoom lens.
Not only that, its been slashdotted.
Here's an interesting stat, everybody tends to like (tolerate) their Senator and Congress Critter, however Congress and Senate have about a 12% overall approval rating.
These numbers really don't make sense, not at all. Each congress critter / senator is part of the whole and thus part of the problem for everyone who isn't part of that 12%.
FISA is just a symptom of the problem of overly complex and burdensome legislation. I'm sure there is SOME part of FISA that you (everyone) would agree is okay perhaps even needed, however that is over shadowed by all the parts that you (everyone) don't like, hate, despise or whatever.
Which is why, almost overwhelmingly, we don't like FISA as a whole. The process sucks, because just enough people like each part to get it included into the whole, but the whole is untenable.
This directly mirrors our view of congress, we like the part we voted for, but no the aggregate whole.
Personally, I'd like to see a new Constitutional Ammendment that every 8 to 16 years, the nation as a whole votes on all the congress critters and senators as an aggregate group, Yes / No. And if they get a "NO" then they (the aggregate whole lot) can never run for any office ever again (not even honorary town dog catcher), and lose whatever pension they might have coming.
It is time to clear out the deadwood.
You need it on something smaller than your wrist?
I know I don't ;)