The principle is a public figure to the students of the school. Just like a governor is subject to the relentless mockery of the citizenry, he holds a position of authority, and whenever you're in a position where other people look upon you for something, you receive ridicule.
There's case history with Falwell V. Hustler about fictionally accusing somebody of a crime. Hustler ran a fake ad about Jerry Falwell losing his virginity in an outhouse. Since a reasonable person can be sure that the ad was completely absurd and fake, it was deemed that libel cannot be used against it.
In this situation the same can apply. Even *if* the principal in question were having sex with students and teachers in his office, he certainly wouldn't brag about it on his own myspace page, so obviously the myspace page is a parody, and the author can't be held liable for it, because it's obvious that no crime was actually committed.
I don't think the United States is as theocratic as you make it seem. We have a low tolerance for *some* religious extremists, and as far as mixing religion and politics, let me quote from our Constitution's First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
Sure, it's not a perfect separation, with "In God We Trust" on our currency, and prayer being performed in Congress, but we don't have mandatory prayer in school anymore, and whenever some school district tries to push creationism on our children, our courts kick that shit out.
I think you went in the wrong direction of the visible spectrum, background MICROWAVE radiation is one of the best pieces of evidence in favor of the Big Bang Theory.
Patents can be released to the public domain just like a copyright or a trademark. And I'm surprised that NASA has managed to get patents that are older than 21 years old. Aren't their computers still running on vacuum tubes, or maybe first generation transistors?
Yeah, since when can government agencies patent anything? Anything they create is instantly entered into the public domain. Who would buy a patent that anybody's allowed to infringe upon without repercussions?
I've heard that a state religion can actually weaken the religion over time. There's probably a higher percentage of non-believers in England than the United States because of the state religion, but it's also got some negative consequences. You guys have a royal homeopothist who's funded by tax money. Because religions aren't allowed to be funded by taxes here, there's no worry of homeopathy having tax dollars put into it because somebody believes in it with absolutely no scientific rationale.
I guess it's because I was raised in a country with a wall in place between government in religion, but I'd be pissed to have to pay money to a religious institution that I wasn't a member of.
It makes predictions that have been confirmed by experiments and observations. Isn't that the crux of science?
Creationism is not science. Period.
Straw man fallacies are not logical. Period.
So you claim calling creationism non scientific is a straw man, but then you agree with it in your NEXT SENTENCE. Do you know what a straw man fallacy is?
Any scientist worth a damn would never claim to have all the answers. If science had all the answers, then scientists would have to find new jobs. But the religious folks DO claim to have all the answers, but if you go from one religious guy to the other, they never seem to agree with each other.... odd.
The Bible contains two different creation stories. First it defines three days before the sun is created, but then it defines a day for certain kinds of animals.
If we made "day" an arbitrary measurement of time, and set 3 of them to the age of the universe from the big bang until the formation of our sun, then 3 "days" is approximately 14.5 billion / 5 billion ~= 3 billion. So one "day" is about three billion years. That doesn't quite fit with the formation of life, because it took god six "days" to create the earth. 6 * 3 billion = 18 billion. That's more than 3 billion years past the highest current estimates for the age of the universe.
Now let's talk about your other point. Science DOES only address the how, but you assume there IS a why and a who. We can ask those questions, but you're assuming they have an answer. They might not have an answer.
You must not be familiar with Google. Just point your browser to www.google.com and type in observed instances of speciation. You'll get a ton of links to tons of scientific journals showing a species diverging from another species.
Unless your definition of "kind" isn't "species". If that's the case, please define "kind" for us. Thanks.
Funny that England doesn't have a religious right, because you have a state religion. There's no wall between religion and government in the United Kingdom, so I'm curious what kind of recourse English citizens have if creationism were made part of the science curriculum.
Lions and tiger are NOT compatible with each other. They're able to produce offspring, but Tigons and Ligers are sterile. Just like donkeys and horses are able to produce mules and hinnies, they're all sterile. Though I did read somewhere that a mutation occurred that caused a hinny to be non-sterile. Of course without a similar mutation occurring in another crossbred it wouldn't be very useful.
You do realize that YOU yourself will not be negatively impacted by aliens fiddling around with your genetic code in a million years, right?
Consciousness isn't determined solely by DNA, otherwise identical twins would be perfect clones of each other, or even be capable of clairvoyance or something.
Abortion is pretty tricky with the Libertarian Party. I think everybody in the party is against tax-funded abortions, because the party's stance on spending is always to err on the side of not spending a dime, but the issue itself is contentious. Ron Paul might not be a member of the party, but he certainly votes as if he were, and he uses the Libertarian doctrine of not initiating force and his own medical code of "first do no harm."
But the flip side could also be seen as the mother having total control of her uterus and the fetus is stealing her body's resources, and as the owner of said uterus, it's within her rights to evict it.
Anybody who can recognize the difference between a BIRD and an OLD MAN'S FACE can shoot better than Dick Cheney. That's like saying you've got a better grasp of physics than a fetus.
That's just ridiculous. Do you know how many Supreme Court cases are titled v. United States?
Several.
The right enumerated in the First Amendment about suing the government don't need approval from the government to be expressed. You're free to sue them for anything you desire, but don't expect a judge or a jury to allow a ridiculous claim to be taken to court.
The current star in our solar system is five billion years old, however it was formed by the collapse of a previous star which had gone nova. The remains of that nova formed the planets, and the left over hydrogen collapsed and formed our sun.
I'm a Floridian, so the issue doesn't bother me. However, if I were a resident tax payer in Maryland, or this event happened in *my* state, then I would be furious. The FEDERAL government has no business taking away locally funded equipment without a warrant or compensating the library by replacing the machines they seized.
I read earlier in the thread about this being a simple request from the FBI and they were given permission, but short of the state of Maryland's legislature, no single entity has the authority to give state funded equipment to the federal government.
But this isn't that big a deal to get in a tizzy over, so my fellow nuts and I will keep our guns locked up for the time being.
Indonesia didn't preserve the texts of the ancient Greeks. Indonesia didn't have a highly advanced form of medicine. Indonesia is also not a theocracy.
Islam isn't the problem, the problem is that people who interpret the Koran literally force their government to be run according to the Koran, because the Koran IS law. Any kind of theocracy is bad, and Saudi Arabia is the perfect example of it.
Of course not ALL areas that had large amounts of Muslims were doomed. If it were for the large number of Muslims in Spain, the European countries might *still* be in the dark ages, but they aren't, because the fantastic ideas that the local Spanish Muslims had records of were stumbled across, and it lead to the Renaissance and eventually to the Enlightenment.
Your example with the moths IS evolution. Evolution is simply small changes among a population. When those tiny changes occur over a long enough time, you get new species, assuming the changes are beneficial to the survival of the species, and not a detriment.
While I agree with your stance on drug prohibition, the article you linked to about the man with the seven grams of cocaine got the book thrown at him for skipping bail. The article says he choked his girlfriend until she blacked out instead of being in court. So, I think twenty years isn't *that* much of an overreach.
Slashdot Mirror
The principle is a public figure to the students of the school. Just like a governor is subject to the relentless mockery of the citizenry, he holds a position of authority, and whenever you're in a position where other people look upon you for something, you receive ridicule.
There's case history with Falwell V. Hustler about fictionally accusing somebody of a crime. Hustler ran a fake ad about Jerry Falwell losing his virginity in an outhouse. Since a reasonable person can be sure that the ad was completely absurd and fake, it was deemed that libel cannot be used against it.
In this situation the same can apply. Even *if* the principal in question were having sex with students and teachers in his office, he certainly wouldn't brag about it on his own myspace page, so obviously the myspace page is a parody, and the author can't be held liable for it, because it's obvious that no crime was actually committed.
I don't think the United States is as theocratic as you make it seem. We have a low tolerance for *some* religious extremists, and as far as mixing religion and politics, let me quote from our Constitution's First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
Sure, it's not a perfect separation, with "In God We Trust" on our currency, and prayer being performed in Congress, but we don't have mandatory prayer in school anymore, and whenever some school district tries to push creationism on our children, our courts kick that shit out.
the cause of the background x-ray radiation
I think you went in the wrong direction of the visible spectrum, background MICROWAVE radiation is one of the best pieces of evidence in favor of the Big Bang Theory.
Patents can be released to the public domain just like a copyright or a trademark. And I'm surprised that NASA has managed to get patents that are older than 21 years old. Aren't their computers still running on vacuum tubes, or maybe first generation transistors?
Integrated circuits guys, they're the FUTURE.
Yeah, since when can government agencies patent anything? Anything they create is instantly entered into the public domain. Who would buy a patent that anybody's allowed to infringe upon without repercussions?
I've heard that a state religion can actually weaken the religion over time. There's probably a higher percentage of non-believers in England than the United States because of the state religion, but it's also got some negative consequences. You guys have a royal homeopothist who's funded by tax money. Because religions aren't allowed to be funded by taxes here, there's no worry of homeopathy having tax dollars put into it because somebody believes in it with absolutely no scientific rationale.
I guess it's because I was raised in a country with a wall in place between government in religion, but I'd be pissed to have to pay money to a religious institution that I wasn't a member of.
How is Evolution not scientific?
It makes predictions that have been confirmed by experiments and observations. Isn't that the crux of science?
Creationism is not science. Period.
Straw man fallacies are not logical. Period.
So you claim calling creationism non scientific is a straw man, but then you agree with it in your NEXT SENTENCE. Do you know what a straw man fallacy is?
Any scientist worth a damn would never claim to have all the answers. If science had all the answers, then scientists would have to find new jobs. But the religious folks DO claim to have all the answers, but if you go from one religious guy to the other, they never seem to agree with each other.... odd.
The Bible contains two different creation stories. First it defines three days before the sun is created, but then it defines a day for certain kinds of animals.
If we made "day" an arbitrary measurement of time, and set 3 of them to the age of the universe from the big bang until the formation of our sun, then 3 "days" is approximately 14.5 billion / 5 billion ~= 3 billion. So one "day" is about three billion years. That doesn't quite fit with the formation of life, because it took god six "days" to create the earth. 6 * 3 billion = 18 billion. That's more than 3 billion years past the highest current estimates for the age of the universe.
Now let's talk about your other point. Science DOES only address the how, but you assume there IS a why and a who. We can ask those questions, but you're assuming they have an answer. They might not have an answer.
You must not be familiar with Google. Just point your browser to www.google.com and type in observed instances of speciation. You'll get a ton of links to tons of scientific journals showing a species diverging from another species.
Unless your definition of "kind" isn't "species". If that's the case, please define "kind" for us. Thanks.
Funny that England doesn't have a religious right, because you have a state religion. There's no wall between religion and government in the United Kingdom, so I'm curious what kind of recourse English citizens have if creationism were made part of the science curriculum.
Lions and tiger are NOT compatible with each other. They're able to produce offspring, but Tigons and Ligers are sterile. Just like donkeys and horses are able to produce mules and hinnies, they're all sterile. Though I did read somewhere that a mutation occurred that caused a hinny to be non-sterile. Of course without a similar mutation occurring in another crossbred it wouldn't be very useful.
You do realize that YOU yourself will not be negatively impacted by aliens fiddling around with your genetic code in a million years, right?
Consciousness isn't determined solely by DNA, otherwise identical twins would be perfect clones of each other, or even be capable of clairvoyance or something.
I'm so happy to learn that I'm not the only person who won't be voting for the lesser of two evils.
Sir, I commend you.
Abortion is pretty tricky with the Libertarian Party. I think everybody in the party is against tax-funded abortions, because the party's stance on spending is always to err on the side of not spending a dime, but the issue itself is contentious. Ron Paul might not be a member of the party, but he certainly votes as if he were, and he uses the Libertarian doctrine of not initiating force and his own medical code of "first do no harm."
But the flip side could also be seen as the mother having total control of her uterus and the fetus is stealing her body's resources, and as the owner of said uterus, it's within her rights to evict it.
shoots better than Cheney
Anybody who can recognize the difference between a BIRD and an OLD MAN'S FACE can shoot better than Dick Cheney. That's like saying you've got a better grasp of physics than a fetus.
How would Helium and Neon cause cancer? Non-reactive noble gases can cause your DNA to become damaged?
That's just ridiculous. Do you know how many Supreme Court cases are titled v. United States?
Several.
The right enumerated in the First Amendment about suing the government don't need approval from the government to be expressed. You're free to sue them for anything you desire, but don't expect a judge or a jury to allow a ridiculous claim to be taken to court.
The current star in our solar system is five billion years old, however it was formed by the collapse of a previous star which had gone nova. The remains of that nova formed the planets, and the left over hydrogen collapsed and formed our sun.
Who would've thought that a quote from a Batman movie would apply to something like this?
"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a villain."
How many righteous people stay as such when they're given power for a long enough period of time?
I'm a Floridian, so the issue doesn't bother me. However, if I were a resident tax payer in Maryland, or this event happened in *my* state, then I would be furious. The FEDERAL government has no business taking away locally funded equipment without a warrant or compensating the library by replacing the machines they seized.
I read earlier in the thread about this being a simple request from the FBI and they were given permission, but short of the state of Maryland's legislature, no single entity has the authority to give state funded equipment to the federal government.
But this isn't that big a deal to get in a tizzy over, so my fellow nuts and I will keep our guns locked up for the time being.
Indonesia didn't preserve the texts of the ancient Greeks. Indonesia didn't have a highly advanced form of medicine. Indonesia is also not a theocracy.
Islam isn't the problem, the problem is that people who interpret the Koran literally force their government to be run according to the Koran, because the Koran IS law. Any kind of theocracy is bad, and Saudi Arabia is the perfect example of it.
Of course not ALL areas that had large amounts of Muslims were doomed. If it were for the large number of Muslims in Spain, the European countries might *still* be in the dark ages, but they aren't, because the fantastic ideas that the local Spanish Muslims had records of were stumbled across, and it lead to the Renaissance and eventually to the Enlightenment.
Your example with the moths IS evolution. Evolution is simply small changes among a population. When those tiny changes occur over a long enough time, you get new species, assuming the changes are beneficial to the survival of the species, and not a detriment.
While I agree with your stance on drug prohibition, the article you linked to about the man with the seven grams of cocaine got the book thrown at him for skipping bail. The article says he choked his girlfriend until she blacked out instead of being in court. So, I think twenty years isn't *that* much of an overreach.