Atheism is impossible because the world is irrational.
Incoherent, too. Anyone can act like a religious nut. All you have to do is say "This is the Truth and nothing else is". I am not sure I'd go so far as to say my constitution is a god, but maybe I'm not exactly sure what a 'god' is.
The constitution has a certain spirit that is violated by the intrusion of conversations, is violated by the banning of arms from citizens, violated by giving money to church organizations.
The constitution was written to be vague in details, but specific in meaning and in spirit. Bush's policy of making 'free speech zones' (http://www.amconmag.com/article/2003/dec/15/00012/) is enough to convince me he is no guardian of American ideals.
I'm an atheist. That makes it silly that I hold anything sacred.
And it is just a piece of paper with ideas that I know really *can't* be fully realized in my lifetime, ideas that I want to become true whether or not its likely, practical or even possible.
Now, it doesn't matter whether Bush oversold the war or not. In fact, he probably lied. All Presidents lie. You can't goad people honestly into war or tell the truth as to why you have them. War is as much an act of statecraft and politic on the national stage as any other and honesty in war making is arguably detrimental to national security.
The crime isn't that he lied. The crime was that he lied when he took the oath of office to uphold the constitution. I know a lot of people don't care about civil liberties and regard the constitution as just a piece of paper that sometimes gets in the way of their goals. I don't. Its sacred to me as much as anything could be; I know that is silly, but I don't care.
Also, he was a dumb ass that really hurt the US, but there is no specific law against that.
My people are humans. Humans are fucked up. Of course my people are doing wrong.
In Dafur. In Isreal. In Palestine. At Guantanimo. In Abu Grahib. In the wilds of Uganda. In the jungles of South America. In China. In Russia. In Burma. In Afghanistan.
Good point, but the other question to ask would be who saves the money?
Having these records would make it easier to switch providers. Without them, more tests might need to be done since "we don't have the records". Switching providers isn't in the providers' interest. Charging for lots of tests is.
I agree with your point that the war was a horrible blunder. It's not defensible. Using lies to drum up support is a horrible tactic and precedent (as we witness now).
The 'Gulf of Tonkin' resolution was the continuation of the bad precedent set by declaring the Korean War a 'police action'.
Only congress has the official power to declare war. This bullshit of not declaring war has lead to a stalemate (Korea), abject failure (Vietnam) and muddled blunder (Iraq).
The only time the US has had decided war victories is when Congress declared war.
Maybe on some level, Nixon's actions eventually led to a good outcome. He serves as a warning that power corrupts, and it especially corrupts megalomaniacs. It lead to an erosion of trust for organizations that do not deserve automatic trust.
It's worth bearing in mind that Nixon's predecessor was objectively far worse than him, namely LBJ.
Starting and then fighting the Vietnam war badly, deliberately falsifying the Gulf of Tonkin incident (whatever about Bush, I think he genuinely believed his pretext, that Iraqi WMDs existed), ordering the USS Liberty to not be defended when it was under attack and then falsifying details of the attack later (probably the most spineless act in US military history).
Aside from that, there's the personal - forcing aides to talk to him while he was talking a dump, laughing at the dead body of JFK, etc..
A truly odious and terrible president.
Sure, those are terrible things.
Breaking the oath of office and using the power of the Presidency illegally in order to retain power is far more cancerous and treasonous. That was Nixon's big crime.
You mean Joe the plumber who didn't pay his taxes so my own tax burden is larger? I don't care about his library record, but if you are going to whine about taxes on the public stage and didn't pay them, expect to be given the big 'naughty, naughty'.
Well, there is the difficulty. 'Handing over' the property to private interests is hardly fair.
The free market does have the function of providing choice, and allowing the market to choose the best option. However, when have you had a choice of which power transmission line you want to connect to? There is (for most people) one transmission line that is nearby to connect to. It wouldn't make practical/economic sense to have multiple transmission lines.
So, not everything translates well to a 'pure free market'. My personal opinion is that chasing and revering 'purity' is responsible for more evils in this world than anything else, though that's just a related matter.
I suppose if you do some mental gymnastics, you can think of it as a regulation of content.
It is a regulation of content the same way that laws saying that mail carriers may not read one's mail are a regulation of content.
That makes Net Neutrality somewhat of a privacy issue; your packets are your business and those who are not the recipients should not open them up to examine them.
Palin is the pinnacle of the anti intellectually curiosity crowd. The intellectually curious crowd, is, of course, what people talk about when they talk about the 'elitists'.
There are conservative and liberal 'elitists', yet these are the people who did well in school and were punished for it. They are still punished today with this label and still get scorn heaped upon them. These elitists are not necessarily smart, but what they do share is a love of learning and a love of thinking. They are easy to kick around.
Palin is not unintelligent and she has a good memory. She doesn't seem interested in knowing anything that's not of the US, and probably not anything that's not rural US.
She is like the kid in class who says "Math is dumb, why should I have to learn it, why would I ever need it?".
Palin is the pinnacle of the anti intellectually curiosity crowd. The intellectually curious crowd, is, of course, what people talk about when they talk about the 'elitists'.
There are conservative and liberal 'elitists', yet these are the people who did well in school and were punished for it. They are still punished today with this label and still get scorn heaped upon them. These elitists are not necessarily smart, but what they do share is a love of learning and a love of thinking. They are easy to kick around.
Palin is not unintelligent and she has a good memory. She doesn't seem interested in knowing anything that's not of the US, and probably not anything that's not rural US.
She is like the kid in class who says "Math is dumb, why should I have to learn it, why would I ever need it?".
You must live on the nice planet where driving while black isn't something that causes suspicion. Where the chance of getting a loan depends on your credit history, not where you live.
Yes, the AIDS insinuation is goofy. Where might it come from? How about something like this http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/may97/tuskegee_5-16.html. People were infected with syphilis by the government without their knowledge and studied. I really can't blame Wright for his paranoia there.
I have seen a frail woman who needed a cane to walk get the shit beaten out of her by two burley officers simply because she told them to leave her 12 year old alone. His crime? He bought a CD from a vendor who the cops thought was pirating music. No she didn't wave her cane around. No bias? I have to say a big 'fuck you' to you and I don't say that lightly. You are so certain and yet you know nothing.
The people with power today are *still* assholes, no less than then.
Basically, the big bru-ha-ha is that he was saying we've done bad things and are not angels and in general blacks have to disproportionally deal with crap that whites do not.
He's done the sin of not saying 'we are perfect and fair'.
Life expectancy and infant mortality rates are good measures of the overall effects of a health care system. They also show in general how healthy (and even happy) a population is.
I think its a grave mistake to poopoo anything and everything an 'enemy' does. We can learn from the Cubans. Despite the poverty brought on by the twin baboons of socialism and the punitive 'neener-needer-I-hate-you' embargo the health of their citizens is important the Cuban government.
I just wonder if we in the US are spending so much extra on our health care to compensate for our unhealthy lifestyles.
These machines are not "switching votes". They're just not.
If the machines were "switching votes", they'd do it internally and secretly, and not make it look like they're putting checkmarks next to the wrong boxes.
I don't think there is a conspiracy, but if there was....
Ever hear of hiding something in plain sight? Heck, hide it in the touch screen logic, and the counting software would survive any audit.
Sprinkle a few examples switching the opposite way in safe places.
Know that all you have to do is change things very slightly, put the machines in critical counties.
Of course, it these reports could be reports of a glitch in buggy software. These are only votes, not mission critical stuff like money, and its hard for people to check if the machines are doing a right job, so you can afford to be the lowest bidder doing a sloppy job. There probably aren't even consequences for that.
I'm all for issuing work visas. I'd also like to see a huge increase in the amount of visas allowed for skilled workers, as well--we should be welcoming Doctors and Engineers just as readily as fruit pickers, in my opinion. My only caveat is that if you want citizenship, you need to go home and work through the same process as everyone else, not use a work visa as a cheaper and faster alternative route.
I agree about the visas for the skilled workers. The US has always benefited from fresh blood and points of view. There will be some whining if more visas are granted.
This seems to be the pattern :
* immigrants come in in waves
* they work hard, their kids work hard
* established Americans complain about their jobs being threatened by this wave
* professional immigrants contribute enormously to the brain power of America
* in a few generations, the struggle is forgotten, the newness washed away and the social pressure in high school is to not be too smart.
Your post describes the same emotion people feel when someone cuts in line. When someone drives on the shoulder, passes them and merges ahead in stop and go traffic.
For the record, I don't think that the people coming into the country illegally to work should be given citizenship. If that is what they are coming to the country for, I say kick them out and enforce the laws completely.
If they are coming here to work a few seasons and go home, then I say document that, let as many in who want to come in, and *know* where they are living, who they are working for. Tax them for the services provided this country and enforce min wag laws to prevent wage depression.
In the end, what will sting with this strategy is that they will have gotton what they wanted while cutting in line. What will be gained is an end to the wage depression hinted at (should that exist), and better law enforcement as these workers will be a known quantity. This may cause food and service prices to go up, but I think it would be worth it.
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Atheism is impossible because the world is irrational.
Incoherent, too. Anyone can act like a religious nut. All you have to do is say "This is the Truth and nothing else is". I am not sure I'd go so far as to say my constitution is a god, but maybe I'm not exactly sure what a 'god' is.
The constitution has a certain spirit that is violated by the intrusion of conversations, is violated by the banning of arms from citizens, violated by giving money to church organizations.
The constitution was written to be vague in details, but specific in meaning and in spirit. Bush's policy of making 'free speech zones' (http://www.amconmag.com/article/2003/dec/15/00012/) is enough to convince me he is no guardian of American ideals.
I'm an atheist. That makes it silly that I hold anything sacred.
And it is just a piece of paper with ideas that I know really *can't* be fully realized in my lifetime, ideas that I want to become true whether or not its likely, practical or even possible.
I won't let myself give up hope.
Now, it doesn't matter whether Bush oversold the war or not. In fact, he probably lied. All Presidents lie. You can't goad people honestly into war or tell the truth as to why you have them. War is as much an act of statecraft and politic on the national stage as any other and honesty in war making is arguably detrimental to national security.
The crime isn't that he lied. The crime was that he lied when he took the oath of office to uphold the constitution. I know a lot of people don't care about civil liberties and regard the constitution as just a piece of paper that sometimes gets in the way of their goals. I don't. Its sacred to me as much as anything could be; I know that is silly, but I don't care.
Also, he was a dumb ass that really hurt the US, but there is no specific law against that.
Your people? __Your people__?
My people are humans. Humans are fucked up. Of course my people are doing wrong.
In Dafur.
In Isreal.
In Palestine.
At Guantanimo.
In Abu Grahib.
In the wilds of Uganda.
In the jungles of South America.
In China.
In Russia.
In Burma.
In Afghanistan.
Good point, but the other question to ask would be who saves the money?
Having these records would make it easier to switch providers. Without them, more tests might need to be done since "we don't have the records". Switching providers isn't in the providers' interest. Charging for lots of tests is.
Two sides that really deserve each other.
It's very sad.
It took Ford to ultimately end the Vietnam war.
I agree with your point that the war was a horrible blunder. It's not defensible. Using lies to drum up support is a horrible tactic and precedent (as we witness now).
The 'Gulf of Tonkin' resolution was the continuation of the bad precedent set by declaring the Korean War a 'police action'.
Only congress has the official power to declare war. This bullshit of not declaring war has lead to a stalemate (Korea), abject failure (Vietnam) and muddled blunder (Iraq).
The only time the US has had decided war victories is when Congress declared war.
Maybe on some level, Nixon's actions eventually led to a good outcome. He serves as a warning that power corrupts, and it especially corrupts megalomaniacs. It lead to an erosion of trust for organizations that do not deserve automatic trust.
It's worth bearing in mind that Nixon's predecessor was objectively far worse than him, namely LBJ.
Starting and then fighting the Vietnam war badly, deliberately falsifying the Gulf of Tonkin incident (whatever about Bush, I think he genuinely believed his pretext, that Iraqi WMDs existed), ordering the USS Liberty to not be defended when it was under attack and then falsifying details of the attack later (probably the most spineless act in US military history).
Aside from that, there's the personal - forcing aides to talk to him while he was talking a dump, laughing at the dead body of JFK, etc..
A truly odious and terrible president.
Sure, those are terrible things.
Breaking the oath of office and using the power of the Presidency illegally in order to retain power is far more cancerous and treasonous. That was Nixon's big crime.
You mean Joe the plumber who didn't pay his taxes so my own tax burden is larger? I don't care about his library record, but if you are going to whine about taxes on the public stage and didn't pay them, expect to be given the big 'naughty, naughty'.
People love to be angry about hypocrites.
Well, there is the difficulty. 'Handing over' the property to private interests is hardly fair.
The free market does have the function of providing choice, and allowing the market to choose the best option. However, when have you had a choice of which power transmission line you want to connect to? There is (for most people) one transmission line that is nearby to connect to. It wouldn't make practical/economic sense to have multiple transmission lines.
So, not everything translates well to a 'pure free market'. My personal opinion is that chasing and revering 'purity' is responsible for more evils in this world than anything else, though that's just a related matter.
I'm not sure I follow your point
I ran OS/2 and was impressed. Don't forget BeOS, another OS that was designed around multi processor boxes.
This isn't anything fancy and new. These ideas have been around for a long time.
I suppose if you do some mental gymnastics, you can think of it as a regulation of content.
It is a regulation of content the same way that laws saying that mail carriers may not read one's mail are a regulation of content.
That makes Net Neutrality somewhat of a privacy issue; your packets are your business and those who are not the recipients should not open them up to examine them.
I say mod parent up. That's an excellent question.
I do support govt regulation of industry and commerce.
I support government regulation of the mechanical aspects of the internet, specifically net neutrality. I support internet privacy laws.
I do not support government regulation of the content of the internet.
I don't think that car manufacturers should be prohibited from making polka dotted ugly ass cars if they want to.
I don't know, but we might see in 20 years, when the schoolchildren of today get inspired and work harder.
We might see it in church and neighbourhood groups as they are given hope to change their communities.
There is a lot more to a President than just being Commander in Chief and signing or vetoing laws.
Palin is the pinnacle of the anti intellectually curiosity crowd. The intellectually curious crowd, is, of course, what people talk about when they talk about the 'elitists'.
There are conservative and liberal 'elitists', yet these are the people who did well in school and were punished for it. They are still punished today with this label and still get scorn heaped upon them. These elitists are not necessarily smart, but what they do share is a love of learning and a love of thinking. They are easy to kick around.
Palin is not unintelligent and she has a good memory. She doesn't seem interested in knowing anything that's not of the US, and probably not anything that's not rural US.
She is like the kid in class who says "Math is dumb, why should I have to learn it, why would I ever need it?".
Palin is the pinnacle of the anti intellectually curiosity crowd. The intellectually curious crowd, is, of course, what people talk about when they talk about the 'elitists'.
There are conservative and liberal 'elitists', yet these are the people who did well in school and were punished for it. They are still punished today with this label and still get scorn heaped upon them. These elitists are not necessarily smart, but what they do share is a love of learning and a love of thinking. They are easy to kick around.
Palin is not unintelligent and she has a good memory. She doesn't seem interested in knowing anything that's not of the US, and probably not anything that's not rural US.
She is like the kid in class who says "Math is dumb, why should I have to learn it, why would I ever need it?".
You must live on the nice planet where driving while black isn't something that causes suspicion. Where the chance of getting a loan depends on your credit history, not where you live.
Yes, the AIDS insinuation is goofy. Where might it come from? How about something like this http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/may97/tuskegee_5-16.html.
People were infected with syphilis by the government without their knowledge and studied. I really can't blame Wright for his paranoia there.
I have seen a frail woman who needed a cane to walk get the shit beaten out of her by two burley officers simply because she told them to leave her 12 year old alone. His crime? He bought a CD from a vendor who the cops thought was pirating music. No she didn't wave her cane around. No bias? I have to say a big 'fuck you' to you and I don't say that lightly. You are so certain and yet you know nothing.
The people with power today are *still* assholes, no less than then.
"This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while." - G W Bush (Sept 21, 2001)
I've read Mr Wright's quotes : http://boards.buffalobills.com/showthread.php?t=48273
Basically, the big bru-ha-ha is that he was saying we've done bad things and are not angels and in general blacks have to disproportionally deal with crap that whites do not.
He's done the sin of not saying 'we are perfect and fair'.
Life expectancy and infant mortality rates are good measures of the overall effects of a health care system. They also show in general how healthy (and even happy) a population is.
I think its a grave mistake to poopoo anything and everything an 'enemy' does. We can learn from the Cubans. Despite the poverty brought on by the twin baboons of socialism and the punitive 'neener-needer-I-hate-you' embargo the health of their citizens is important the Cuban government.
I just wonder if we in the US are spending so much extra on our health care to compensate for our unhealthy lifestyles.
These machines are not "switching votes". They're just not.
If the machines were "switching votes", they'd do it internally and secretly, and not make it look like they're putting checkmarks next to the wrong boxes.
I don't think there is a conspiracy, but if there was....
Ever hear of hiding something in plain sight? Heck, hide it in the touch screen logic, and the counting software would survive any audit.
Sprinkle a few examples switching the opposite way in safe places.
Know that all you have to do is change things very slightly, put the machines in critical counties.
Of course, it these reports could be reports of a glitch in buggy software. These are only votes, not mission critical stuff like money, and its hard for people to check if the machines are doing a right job, so you can afford to be the lowest bidder doing a sloppy job. There probably aren't even consequences for that.
I'm all for issuing work visas. I'd also like to see a huge increase in the amount of visas allowed for skilled workers, as well--we should be welcoming Doctors and Engineers just as readily as fruit pickers, in my opinion. My only caveat is that if you want citizenship, you need to go home and work through the same process as everyone else, not use a work visa as a cheaper and faster alternative route.
I agree about the visas for the skilled workers. The US has always benefited from fresh blood and points of view. There will be some whining if more visas are granted.
This seems to be the pattern :
* immigrants come in in waves
* they work hard, their kids work hard
* established Americans complain about their jobs being threatened by this wave
* professional immigrants contribute enormously to the brain power of America
* in a few generations, the struggle is forgotten, the newness washed away and the social pressure in high school is to not be too smart.
Your post describes the same emotion people feel when someone cuts in line. When someone drives on the shoulder, passes them and merges ahead in stop and go traffic.
For the record, I don't think that the people coming into the country illegally to work should be given citizenship. If that is what they are coming to the country for, I say kick them out and enforce the laws completely.
If they are coming here to work a few seasons and go home, then I say document that, let as many in who want to come in, and *know* where they are living, who they are working for. Tax them for the services provided this country and enforce min wag laws to prevent wage depression.
In the end, what will sting with this strategy is that they will have gotton what they wanted while cutting in line. What will be gained is an end to the wage depression hinted at (should that exist), and better law enforcement as these workers will be a known quantity. This may cause food and service prices to go up, but I think it would be worth it.