Andy9o8

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Posts posted by Andy9o8

  2. "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft, where we are hard, cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand."

    "The Rich Boy"; F. Scott Fitzgerald (1926)

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    Not available in US, but you can get one at DSE back home.



    That's a little confusing to read since your screen name is also DSE. :ph34r:


    Yeh I figgered that meant he was selling them out of the trunk of his car.

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    The Swedish set does have a pretty good dubbed in English language soundtrack, or you can watch the original Swedish with subtitles.



    Do yourself a favor: the first time you watch them, watch them in Swedish with subtitles. Noomi Rapace (Lisbeth) is so excellent in the part, and the rhythm, tempo and delivery and of her speech pattern, as well as her inflections, really is part of that. I've got to believe that some of that would be diluted in a dubbed version.

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    If "can't do" means ignoring genocide, tyranny and oppression, then you're correct - I can't do it. If it means turning a blind eye to massive suffering, I can't do it. If it means having no sympathy for people who are being wronged, I can't do it.



    You know, that has a nice stump speech tempo to it - very catchy. It reminds me of Jesse Jackson.

    Keep hope alive, John.

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    if a leader of a sovereign nation wants to lead his country, it's none of our business what he does and we certainly can't go around deposing leaders just because we don't agree with their style of leadership, period.



    So if you were a citizen in North Korea, you wouldn't want someone to depose your leader so that you and all of your countrymen could live in freedom and prosperity like the rest of the world?



    That wasn't his proposition. He's talking about "from the outside looking in"; while you're asking him about "from the inside looking out". Two very different things.

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    lately we've had people comming here in SC making delusional statements that the world would be all rainbows and jellybeans if we didn't have religion.



    You're mischaracterizing people and spinning what they've said in order to vilify them. If you think they're full of shit, call them out for what they've actually said. But please don't insult the intelligence, or the collective memory, of your fellow SC inmates.

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    Do you really think people can't distinguish ideological despots who use anti-religion as a weapon of convenience from "atheists"?



    There are plenty of religion-haters here who brand all religious people as dangerous because of the actions of a few extremists. This line on atheist violence is just the shoe being on the other foot.

    How's it fit?

    For those who don't like being incorrectly characterized just because you're an atheist, then don't do the same thing to other people just because they're religious.



    John, your not infrequent use of the catch-all term "gun-o-phobes" to vilify a remarkably large swath of the population prompts me to recall the biblical passage about first removing the beam from one's own eye.

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    The burden of proof of any form of supernatural rests always with the believers; it never rests with those who simply have an absence of such belief.



    that's silly - you have implicit here that the faithful have an obligation to prove anything.



    I'm not saying the faithful have a moral obligation to prove anything, at least not to me. But I've long since grown weary of those who say to me, "Prove that God/Santa/Spaghetti Monster doesn't exist", because, from a strictly intellectual standpoint, that turns the burden of proof on its head.

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    2nd EDIT: And, the final question I have for the atheistic scientists is this," How is it possible that mankind has developed the ability to view into space and find "M-Class" planets millions of light years away, whose existence has been as long as that of planet Earth and in some cases longer... yet, there is no evidence of life, of any form. Hawklings quote re-addressed: "The universe can and will create itself from nothing," How is that possible that has not happened on other planets if the evolutionary model is correct?



    I'm surprised you'd ask that in earnest. It reminds me of the patent official about 100 years ago who supposedly said, "Everything than can be invented, has been."
    Extrapolate.



    I would argue that I'm saying the exact opposite, "If the Hawking's position/quote is true, "The universe can and will create itself from nothing," Then, how come the evolutionary model hasn't already been invented or re-invented within any class of planet that we can see for millions of light years?



    And my point is: Why do you presume it hasn't been, just because species Terran homo sapiens sapiens hasn't discovered it yet at this point in time? The technology of our species is in its relative infancy.

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    As the British writer G.K. Chesterton famously remarked, "Atheism is the most daring of all dogmas, for it is the assertion of a universal negative."



    And that nonsense is a classic example - in this case by Chesterton, a self-described "orthodox Christian" - of devising a biased definition of one's opponent (in this case, one's ideological opponent) in order to disparage the opponent.

    Once again: Atheism is not a dogma. It is not a belief system. Nor, Mr. Chesterton, is it an assertion of a negative. It is simply an absence of a particular form of belief; it is the absence of, and lack of agreement with, the assertion of a particular form of "positive".

    The burden of proof of any form of supernatural rests always with the believers; it never rests with those who simply have an absence of such belief. True atheism is really not the assertion of anything. Atheists simply say: "If you choose to believe a certain thing based on faith, the burden is on you to prove it, otherwise I simply don't believe it, or even see any reason to give it any further thought."

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    2nd EDIT: And, the final question I have for the atheistic scientists is this," How is it possible that mankind has developed the ability to view into space and find "M-Class" planets millions of light years away, whose existence has been as long as that of planet Earth and in some cases longer... yet, there is no evidence of life, of any form. Hawklings quote re-addressed: "The universe can and will create itself from nothing," How is that possible that has not happened on other planets if the evolutionary model is correct?



    I'm surprised you'd ask that in earnest. It reminds me of the patent official about 100 years ago who supposedly said, "Everything than can be invented, has been."
    Extrapolate.

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    Seems a number of our American chums see the world through tinted glasses (either Green or Orange):P



    To be fair the Republicans employed a great propergander machine and played on and encouraged such sentiments among the diaspora and their decedents to gain both political and financial support over the past four decades.


    And it worked, big time.
    "Playing to the sentiments of the diaspora" is a technique that was honed to a fine art in the US among just about every ethnic group you can imagine (a few more than others).

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    I'm going to leave aside that you pretty much just proved Bill's point about you.

    Simple question: If a drunk driver is pulled over and has not caused a wreck or run anyone off the road, who has he harmed?



    and i answered in the next post. still waiting for his answer though...



    Except you didn't. Your "answers" were evasions, not responsive answers to the question posed. As usual for you. Whatever, man; you're a known quantity here. Some are willing to play your game; others are not.

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    they sound pretty confident...

    Saddam Hussein sounded pretty confident when he was sabre-rattling, too. Right up until the bombs started falling and the missles started hitting. Then he was found months later hiding in a hole in the ground.

    Hopefully, the leadership in Iran aren't dumb enough to fuck with the U.S. Navy. That would be a very, very bad mistake.



    Agreed, on all points.

    And yet, oil prices have just jumped as a result of this silly shit.
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/markets/oil-hovers-below-100-after-report-shows-us-crude-supply-surge-suggesting-weaker-demand/2011/12/29/gIQAYxKkNP_story.html
    Who's the big loser in all this? Here's a hint: it's not the Iranians, it's not the oil companies, it's not the US military, and it's not US military contractors.

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    The normal people I associate with don't commit mass murder of their own families.



    Seriously? You need to get out more.


    Seriously? You think he really means this?


    :|

    Marc, you're priceless.


    From the horses mouth


    Whatever, man. The gift that keeps on giving.

  • Wow, I always wondered why we called them "Godless Communists" back in the day. Hey, thanks for clearing that up.

    OK, to the point: Do you really think people can't distinguish ideological despots who use anti-religion as a weapon of convenience from "atheists"? Your argument is hopelessly weak.

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    Went to work for a company where the running gag for the supervisor was to offer something to drink to the new hires during their first Monday staff meeting. We were so busy at the time, didn't have the weekly meeting for about a month. By the time we finally had one, he forgot about the joke. The crew let me in on the significance of the whole thing.

    The supervisor was Steve Jones and the beverage was Kool-Aid. Yes, Jim Jones' only surviving son, Steve.:o

    Let's just say you needed a warped sense of humor to work there.



    I guess that explains the sick practical jokes Jeff Hitler used to play on people back in the dorms.

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    Don't confuse "Droid" and "Android"
    "Droid" is a trademark that refers to the motorola Android phones. All others (HTC, Samsung etc) are just "Android" Phones.



    Oh, thanks for the clarification. FYI, when I used "droid" in my last couple of posts, I was really (and, apparently, mistakenly) just generically referring to"Android".