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| 2007/12/6-7 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:48753 Activity:kinda low |
12/6 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22126293 Violence is down. Bush's war is almost over!!! \_ Ignorance is Strength! \_ How is the delivery of power going? How about oil exports? I believe these reports more than the heavily massaged numbers on civilian casualties. \_ If they were 110% you'd find something else to whine about. The country is a mess from 3 wars, 10 years of sanctions, and decades of destructive government. It won't be fixed for years. |
| 2007/12/6-7 [Reference/Religion] UID:48754 Activity:high |
12/6 Mitt "Athiests can't be free" Romney!
\_ Is that Mitt's brother? Since that's not his name and he didn't say
that?
\_ Ack, brain fart. And he said that without religion we
can't be free.
\_ As a society, not as individuals.
\_ How is this better?
\_ Can you name a free society in history that lacked
religion?
\_ Isn't Singapore incredibly secular?
\_ Lacked an official religion or religion as an
official requirement, or lacked religious and/or
non-religious freedom?
\_ A society of religious people, not necessarily a
state religion (which actually damages personal
religion) or 100% religious individuals.
\_ You're asking for a free society of religious
people?
\_ Yes, like the United States--perhaps you've
heard of it?
\_ Are Americans required to be religious?
\_ The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, just to name
a few places I have been to.
\_ Which are all on the tipping point of
collapse. Read "America Alone" and "While
Europe Slept"
\_ From the inside flap or A.A. ...
And liberals will still tell you that "diversity is our
strength" while Talibanic enforcers cruise Greenwich Village burning
books and barber shops, the Supreme Court decides sharia law doesn't
violate the "separation of church and state," and the Hollywood Left
decides to give up on gay rights in favor of the much safer charms of
polygamy.
Yeah... I think I can safely
ignore this book.
\_ And the other one?
\_ I didn't really feel the need to
check out a book recommended in the
same sentance as Amercia Alone.
If someone can recommend a book
with that as the grab you text, well,
I don't really care what else they
recommend.
\_ And we're on the tipping point of supply
side economics working! All hail the
downfall of the heathens!
\_ And have you read either of those
books?
\_ Why not just read Cato the Elder?
These are the same old themes and
Cato is probably better written.
\_ Are you saying they aren't religious? If so
I'm not sure where you get that idea.
\_ A majority of people in those countries
don't believe in God. I don't know where
you get the idea that they are "religious."
\_ Well they are historically Christian.
Christianity is still part of the
culture, for burials and christenings
for example. I also knew some religious
Swedes so I guess my perception is off.
I just googled and you're right.
\_ My perception is probably also
throw off by who I know, but in
The Netherlands especially, religion
is in obvious decline, with a number
of old churches being converted to
new uses, like office buildings. It
actually seemed kind of odd, even
blasphemous to me, but I guess it
\_ blasphemous? who cares? take
religion too seriously and you
get abominations like that case
in Sudan where they wanted to
kill a school teacher for
"insulting Islam" for allowing
kids to name a teddy bear
"Muhammad". Insulting religion
and "blasphemy" shouldn't be
crimes, nor even discouraged,
anywhere.
\_ A bigger problem is the women in many Islamic oriented
societies have almost no rights. One of their big problems
is places like Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Afghanistan may
or not have actual written laws, I forget, but whatever
is written down may be trumped immediately by Shariah,
or whatever law the current high Islamic clerics interpret
as law, that day. At least in America when you get screwed,
they do it with a law that's actually written down somewhere.
Who cares about a stupid teddy bear.
\_ The world is not quite as
black and white as that, imho.
is better than tearing them down.
The exact number of non-believers
depends on how you ask the question
too, I realize. Not that many
"athiests" but lots of "I don't go
to church or believe in God."
\_ Irrelevent. Correlation != causation
\_ Right. It's like saying, can you name a free
society in history that lacked disease?
\_ Actually, religion is very like a disease of
the mind. You suspend all your reasoning
powers and critical thinking.
\_ Yeah that thought crossed my mind as I wrote
that too. The problem is that "faith" is a
limitless path. It can be used to justify
just about anything. In general it leads to
irrational conflict with other faiths, and
manipulation of the faithful.
\_ So what about the people of substantial
reasoning and critical thinking who are
religious?
\_ Religion is regarded by the common people
as true, by the wise as false, and by the
rulers as useful -Seneca the Younger 4BC |
| 2007/12/6-12 [Uncategorized] UID:48755 Activity:nil |
12/6 Is mailman the best list server software? What's your favorite?
\_ At my last job we had an hold and well hacked majordomo install.
\_ At my last job we had an old and well hacked majordomo install.
I was going to move it to mailman but the conversion wasn't worth
it. From scratch I would've done mailman. Without going
commercial there isn't much out there. |
| 2007/12/6-13 [Reference/Religion, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:48756 Activity:kinda low |
12/6 About "While Europe Slept"
Having recently published an indictment of Christian fundamentalist
intolerance in the U.S. (Stealing Jesus), New York native Bawer
relocated to Europe with his Norwegian partner in 1998 and found an
even more dangerous strain of religious and cultural bigotry ensnaring
Western Europe. A swarming menace called radical Islam, he writes,
rings Europe's cities in smoldering Muslim ghettos, provoking
everything from so-called honor killings and political assassinations
to the Madrid subway bombings and the massacre of school children in
Beslan. Worse, the Taliban-like theocracy Bawer sees looming inside
backward immigrant populations resistant to integration flourishes
under the protective wing of Western Europe's America-bashing,
multicultural, liberal establishment.
\_ Sure, and that's why armed thugs are enforcing burka-wearing
ordinances in Fremont. Oh, wait, they're not? How'd that happen?
Oh, right, because Bawer's a nut and a bigot.
\_ He's gay, and went to the Netherlands to live in a more accepting
place with his partner. He was assaulted at least once by Muslims
who saw him together with his partner.
\_ And on the basis of this he insists that Europe is one step
from Sharia? Cf. "I got mugged by a black man, so all black
men must be criminals."
\_ Fremont is in Europe?
\_ Sorry, misread "Europe's" for "American."
s/Fremont/Amsterdam/
\_ Yeah, go back and read about how the Irish/Italians/Mexicans, etc
would not integrate and were doomed to destroy America. It is the
same old alarmism. It is perhaps true that Europe has a shorter
history of integrating immigrants, so will need to learn, but
same old alarmism. It is perhaps true that Europe has less
experience in integrating immigrants, so will need to learn, but
hardly concievable that a small minority would overwhelm the
majoritarian culture.
\_ Irish/Italians/Mexicans were not Muslim.
\_ And therefor not EEEEEEEEEEVIL?
\_ No, they were Catholic, which was considered even worse.
\_ Yet they weren't blowing people up.
\_ Neither are Muslims. The French riots, 9/11, etc were
all the acts of "students" and "youths".
\_ You are obviously unfamiliar with the history of the
IWW.
IWW. Ever heard of the Haymarket Riot? |
| 2007/12/6-13 [Uncategorized] UID:48757 Activity:nil |
12/6 I need a replacement for Visio. Suggestions?
\_ OmniGraffle if you are on MacOS X |
| 2007/12/6-7 [Reference/Religion] UID:48758 Activity:nil |
12/6 Bernie Ward, a popular San Francisco radio talk show host and former
Catholic priest, has been indicted on federal child pornography
charges, authorities said today.
\_ Whoa! url?
\_ It's breaking news. Do you know how to use the google machine?
\_ I don't use google. It has a very liberal bias. Use Yahoo!
\_ I guess turning people over to a Chinese worker gulag is
pretty conservative, you have me there. |