Doom Shepherd

I suppose it could be argued that the Al-Quaeda sleeper cells, like the guys who flew the planes, and the ones they busted in Buffalo consititute an invasion of sorts. The Laxawanna Six, the Toronto 18, etc. And the homegrown ones could be considered to be in a state of rebellion, given their goals. Not that I personally agree with the argument, just that it is a possible, perhaps even plausible one.

Well, I can forgive taking the Bible as not true in some places more easily than I can insisting that it's always literally true and perfect, especially since there's some cases (details, mainly) where it's demonstrably untrue: locusts have six legs, a bat is not a bird, the Earth has no corners. Really, it makes a lot MORE sense to treat the earliest Bible stories, like Genesis, as parables or "Just So" stories like "How the leopard got his stripes." - the best explanations that unscientific, basically ignorant minds (ignorant here not meaning stupid, just uninformed) could come up with at the time. But nowadays, we know a little better. (You run into problems here, as the NT is pretty silly without certain parts of the OT, parts which really can't be literally true, - Jesus came to fix what Adam and Eve did, but Adam and Eve... but that's another argument.) On the other hand, you have a whole lot of prople who call themselves Christians, who really don't seem to follow Christ's teaching to any significant extent. Or conversely, add stuff that isn't there or discard stuff that they really have to keep to be a "Christian," like the concepts of Hell and the divinity of Jesus. (There are people who call themselves"Christians" who don't believe in sin, or even God. How is THAT supposed to work??) SiN, at least, professes to believe that the NT should take precedence over the OT - which is the most sensible theology of that branch, and I won't criticize that. (Although I still reserve the option of criticizing any people who put far too much emphasis on Paul at the expense of Jesus, the guy the religion's actually named for.) What bugs me most of all is the same thing that seems to bug Eedo Baba... when "believers" (of any stripe) use professions of faith to avoid thinking about stuff like the reality of scientific fact, just because the facts conflict with their Just So story, and begin expressing uninformed opinions (such as "evolution is JUST a theory") despite having no idea what they are talking about. Beliefs aren't facts, and facts exist independently of belief. Believe whatever you want. Just don't try to tell me that your beliefs overrule my facts. They don't, can't, and shouldn't, and I will fight you if you try to force it to be otherwise. Barring that, peace be upon you. And I'll wrap it up with my last statement of OPINION: There are no whys. There are only hows. Even the things we like to think are whys are just very complex hows. That's it.

Yeah, I hear they just arrested some of the folks who run Megaupload in your country, too. Yep, Megaupload has been shut down. The US Justice Department is now claiming the power to arrest a Dutchman in New Zealand. http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-57362609-261/megaupload-assembles-worldwide-criminal-defense/ And you silly goobers thought the REPUBLICANS were the bad ones.

What evidence do you know of that actually supports this? I'm actually really curious to know. I don't follow the old testament. I doubt few Christians do. We follow the new testament. Which is like saying you believe that "The Return of the King" is great, but "The Fellowship of the Ring" has no relevance to it. (And in the case of the writings of Paul, that some internet Tolkien fanfic is as good as the original Trilogy.)

Absolutely nothing in that post is untrue.

Where's Anonymous when you really need them?

I'll never get that part about religion "making sense." From a purely sensible standpoint, the closer I look at any religion, the sillier it gets. That's why I only believe in Trickster Gods. When your God is a screwup, it can't get any sillier.

Status: FALSE. Page 362 of the NDAA clearly states: “UNITED STATES CITIZENS.—The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to citizens of the United States.” Page 362 also says: “LAWFUL RESIDENT ALIENS.—The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to a lawful resident alien of the United States on the basis of conduct taking place within the United States, except to the extent permitted by the Constitution of the United States.” Now, take your debunking like a man.

Actually, Pascal's wager is badly damaged by the fact that there's an abundance of religions, all claiming exclusive rights to the "truth." No matter what you do, you have about the same chances of being wrong if you choose a religion as you do if you choose no religion. "Sorry, you chose one of the YHWH-based religions, but it turns out Moloch was the real God all along..."

So, UPS, FedEx, and the Post Office. You can see for yourself how that's working out.

Oh, yes. Until the economy goes down the drain and they run out of money to spend. Then, quickly, there are more people disgruntled with the government than those who still expect them to provide bread and entertainment and the government is changed. Simple negative feed-back - but for this to work you must have a mechanism, which is democracy. The UK is a case in point here - the Labour government was milking the country to cultivate a specific group of voters which held them in power for 13 years, then they run out of money and got kicked out. Alternatively, where the feed-back is not working - as in a tyranny, the dissent grows and the economic disbalances accumulate until the system breaks down and a coup or a revolution follows. History if full of clear examples of how that happens. Regards Pretty sure the Greeks would be shocked to discover than they're not a Democracy...

What if the state suddenly decides that to save money, their stores will no longer stock [uncommon brand that only you and a small segment of the population really really likes]? The thing about state-owned monopolies (on anything from liquor to health care) is: If they SUCK, where else are you going to go? If Company A does me a disservice, I can always say "frag off," and switch to company B,C,or D. That's the free market for you. If my nation's government holds a monololy on a service, and decides to adopt a policy that screws me over... I either have to try to elect a new government (and PRAY that it will reverse the policy), or move to another country. Neither choice is exactly easy.

On the face of it it is a problem. However, in our democracies people don't actually get to vote on anything other than who will represent them in the government and the legislature, And the people who win those votes tend to be the ones who promise the most bread and circuses for their followers, and the ones who deliver on those promises are the ones that get re-elected over and over.

Never going to work - will turn into a closed oligarchy and end up in tears and blood, just like any other dictatorship. Nah. Some oligarchies are better than others. and at least a meritocracy is more likely to be inclusive than, say, an oligarchy made up of the super-wealthy, the generationally political, and damn lawyers, like we have now. If our Democracy is doomed, this is why: We made the fatal wound a long time ago. It's a slow bleed, but it we really started to hit the 'Bread and Circuses' tipping point about a half-century ago.

Urban legend alert Regards Yes, it's a lie. Einstein never did that. http://www.snopes.com/religion/einstein.asp Nor would the man that said the following ever have made such vapid observations as the "student" above. Christians should stop telling easily debunkable lies about famous scientists. (The lie about Darwin's deathbed recanting of his theories is bad enough.) It just makes you look even more bitter and whiny.

Joke in the form of a LOL image:

Benevolent Consulted Tyranny with a Meritocratic succession selection process. So basically, you have a sort of liberal libertarian dictator, with a handpicked cabinet of expert advisers (or a pool of them to call upon), and his successor is chosen and trained well in advance, by a merit-based system. That's how I'd run things.

I don't actually see how 4-7 follow logically from 3. After all, Iraq launched missiles against Israel in Desert Storm (but not OIF), and steps 5-7 did not happen. No, I'm pretty sure Iran will either bluster and then back down, or be delivered a really nasty pasting by US and associated forces if it does attack shipping in the Straits.

I think people who open their discussion by leading with "anybody who disagrees with me is deranged" should probably be punched. It's like walking up to someone and saying "Hi, I'm an unreasoning jackass." That said, I don't believe that the question is answerable. I believe that IF such a being exists, then it is entirely unlike the tradtional depictions of human deities (who always seem to be overwhelmed by purely human concerns and emotions, like wrath and the desire to be adored). If such a being exists, the evidence strongly suggests that it is uninterested in us as individuals, is indifferent to praise, prayers and entreaties, and has thought processes that we cannot even begin to fathom, such that no meaningful two-way communication with it is possible. It would be like ants communicating with a human - we can't get ants to understand what we want, and they can't understand what we want either. Most encounters just lead to the ants getting stepped on... if we even notice them at all.

Actually, he kept the LAST President's promise. Not intentionally, if you're talking about that leaked video Wikicrap posted a while back. Not true.

I'm arrogant, impatient, I have no tolerance for people who talk too much. I have strong opinions, and no qualms about questioning everything from the intellectual capacity to the species parentage of those who disagree with me. I also have no tolerance for people who DO agree with me, but do so for reasons that I consider stupid. I fight dirty. Winning is more important than being nice or respected. Also, I eat souls.

Yeah, it might be the last for a while. we're running out of plutonium to power the RTG's, because of hippies and also stupid Congresscritters fighting over which subcommittee gets to be in charge.

I got yer "Watch this Insanity" right here: EQExXi00TI4

Talk about a blitz of paranoia, I hardly see the above statement NOT qualifying. People who accept this analogy as valid are about two mental steps away from exploding in a restaurant. Nah, that would be the REST of the Middle East.

You have to wonder though, because so much Biblical criticism hinges on "interpretation," and for centuries, all the interpretation that was permitted was the work done by the "Extremely Pro-God" camp. Everything else got you killed. Which is kind of like trying to get the "true" history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a Hamas partisan.