Let's keep it even more simple. How about we dispense with the typical anti-Christian bait questions and we both get on with our lives? I like that idea a lot more than trying to debate with a confused person.

>> ^honkeytonk73:

Lets keep it simple. A small exercise to help us better understand your stance, and to possibly help you to better understand yours.
-Are you certain that a talking snake lured Eve into eating an apple some 6000 years ago... an apple that somehow started a chain reaction that ultimately led to humanity as it is today?
-Do you truly adhere to the notion that an old man named Noah built an ark, and somehow collected two of every species from all parts of the world, saved them, then somehow returned them to their respective locations to restart their individual species anew... a few thousand years ago?
If you don't adhere to these notions which are quite clearly explained in the Bible, which is touted as the truth and the 'word of god'... then can you be confident that the rest of it is The Truth(tm)?

>> ^r10k:
Hey, don't apologise. I'm sure the anti-religious majority around here love what you're saying, even if they don't understand a word of it.

Lets keep it simple. A small exercise to help us better understand your stance, and to possibly help you to better understand yours.

-Are you certain that a talking snake lured Eve into eating an apple some 6000 years ago... an apple that somehow started a chain reaction that ultimately led to humanity as it is today?

-Do you truly adhere to the notion that an old man named Noah built an ark, and somehow collected two of every species from all parts of the world, saved them, then somehow returned them to their respective locations to restart their individual species anew... a few thousand years ago?

If you don't adhere to these notions which are quite clearly explained in the Bible, which is touted as the truth and the 'word of god'... then can you be confident that the rest of it is The Truth(tm)?



>> ^r10k:

Hey, don't apologise. I'm sure the anti-religious majority around here love what you're saying, even if they don't understand a word of it.

"It's all part of the plan." --Joker

In reply to this comment by blankfist:
Ha! I lost two thousand points from dead videos. Now I'm like 42000.

In reply to this comment by ant:
In your face!
...
5. ant (44162 votes)
6. blankfist (44037 votes)
...

>> ^Ryjkyj:

Even though spelling was always my best subject, it is unfortunately, totally unnecessary as long as the point gets across.
Hvae you eevr seen the eplxmae taht sohws taht as lnog as the frist and lsat ltetres of a wrod are in the rghit palce, you wlil be albe to raed the setncane? Petrty insteretnig huh?


Wearing clothes to a job interview is not necessary either, but it will definitely affect the outcome Correct spelling is the written equivalent of correct speech, politeness, posture, etc. They are all part of what is being conveyed, be it by social construct (e.g. manners) or something more intuitive (body language).

From the casting call:

We are looking for a male model with a great personality to be the lead in a viral advertisement for Levi's Jeans. This project is going to be an epic adventure across America with a small crew in an RV. It's not a lot of pay, but great exposure and opportunities will come from it. Must have a positive attitude and great work ethic. We will be driving from New York to San Francisco over 14days. Once in a lifetime opportunity to see all parts of America!

Flying to New York on 6/17/10 - Returning to Los Angeles on 7/1/10.

2 minute time-lapse of someone in Levi jeans walking across America from New York to San Francisco.

Lead / Male / All Ethnicities / 18 - 25 years:
This model will be the lead who walks from New York to San Francisco. Looking for the surfer/hippie type vibe. Long hair preferred. Must have a great personality and positive spirit. Need your body language and facial expression to come through in a stop-motion style of shooting. Natural, All-American look...

>> ^kronosposeidon:
I'm not in the chorus line of people who usually say "cops are never held accountable," but I am in the chorus line of people who say "cops are rarely held accountable." I stand by that.
I have little faith in our government. All three branches are broken. And Obama is proving himself to be more and more a typical politician these days. So it should be no surprise that law enforcement (a part of the government) would also be broken.
I'm not an anarchist. I'm not a minarchist. I'm not a libertarian. I'm just a pissed-off liberal. Most Americans have gotten lazy, across the entire political spectrum, not watching the government as closely as we should. And we've allowed corporate interests to control the government. But that really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Our vaunted Founding Fathers created our representative democracy, which was designed that way primarily so that the wealthy would have more control than the rabble, so it's basically been that way since the beginning. It only got worse over time, especially when corporations were granted the status of legal personhood by the Supreme Court.
So here we are. Sure, cops get prosecuted for wrongdoing some of the time. Gotta throw the public a bone every once in a while. But the remainder of the time police abuse is allowed to slip through the cracks, just like most cases of white collar crime aren't even investigated, just like most cases of political corruption never see the light of day. Yet we'll send some kid to the big house for possessing a nickel bag. It's all part of the same crippled, disfigured beast.
Can we fix this fucking mess, or is it a hopeless case? I don't know for sure. I want a decent country for my son. Maybe the best thing I can do for him is emigrate, but a lot of other countries are fucked too. (Thank you, Canada, for letting us know that your cops aren't any better than ours.) I still vote, and I still throw a little green at a few political figures and causes I believe in. (Sorry Obama, but don't count on my contribution in 2012.) Still it seems like I'm shoveling shit against the tide, but I feel like I gotta try something. Anything.
So I'm a cycnical bastard. But I think I've got a right to be.>> ^NetRunner:
I'm waiting for the chorus line of people who usually say "cops are never held accountable" to show up and explain to us that they're certain the cops still won't face any punishment for what they did...
Because, by their logic, if the video clip doesn't show Obama personally beheading all six officers, you know nothing will happen because the justice system never, ever works right. Ever.




So humanity really is the f-cked up part of nations. Well, that goes without saying. All I can do is teach my children a better way and protect them all I can. It is all any man or woman can do.

In this PC world we live in with cameras all over the place, at least where I live, cops are now being hammered. Something that would get you or me just jail time now gets a cop jail time and fired. Take drunk driving. Most jobs, no biggie. Law enforcement down here? Instant termination.

Remember too that regular joes get away with incredible amounts of crimes every day, just like cops--or more so... Some murder, some rape, some selling drugs or child pornography...

I won't argue with the premise of your post--you did very well. I am just pointing out that cops get away with the same or less than citizens get away with. We do have a f-cked up system, but that starts at home--not behind the badge.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Still, I know myself well enough to know that I would make a bad leader. I'm unstable.

In reply to this comment by Sniper007:
Dude, start your own country. Seriously. You just need a whole lot of self control, since their won't be anyone else to control you. After all, that's what freedom is. Check this site out for some information on the nature of Land (as opposed to the property within the Land).

www.teamlaw.org

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
I'm not in the chorus line of people who usually say "cops are never held accountable," but I am in the chorus line of people who say "cops are rarely held accountable." I stand by that.

I have little faith in our government. All three branches are broken. And Obama is proving himself to be more and more a typical politician these days. So it should be no surprise that law enforcement (a part of the government) would also be broken.

I'm not an anarchist. I'm not a minarchist. I'm not a libertarian. I'm just a pissed-off liberal. Most Americans have gotten lazy, across the entire political spectrum, not watching the government as closely as we should. And we've allowed corporate interests to control the government. But that really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Our vaunted Founding Fathers created our representative democracy, which was designed that way primarily so that the wealthy would have more control than the rabble, so it's basically been that way since the beginning. It only got worse over time, especially when corporations were granted the status of legal personhood by the Supreme Court.

So here we are. Sure, cops get prosecuted for wrongdoing some of the time. Gotta throw the public a bone every once in a while. But the remainder of the time police abuse is allowed to slip through the cracks, just like most cases of white collar crime aren't even investigated, just like most cases of political corruption never see the light of day. Yet we'll send some kid to the big house for possessing a nickel bag. It's all part of the same crippled, disfigured beast.

Can we fix this fucking mess, or is it a hopeless case? I don't know for sure. I want a decent country for my son. Maybe the best thing I can do for him is emigrate, but a lot of other countries are fucked too. (Thank you, Canada, for letting us know that your cops aren't any better than ours.) I still vote, and I still throw a little green at a few political figures and causes I believe in. (Sorry Obama, but don't count on my contribution in 2012.) Still it seems like I'm shoveling shit against the tide, but I feel like I gotta try something. Anything.

So I'm a cycnical bastard. But I think I've got a right to be.>> ^NetRunner:

I'm waiting for the chorus line of people who usually say "cops are never held accountable" to show up and explain to us that they're certain the cops still won't face any punishment for what they did...
Because, by their logic, if the video clip doesn't show Obama personally beheading all six officers, you know nothing will happen because the justice system never, ever works right. Ever.

Dude, start your own country. Seriously. You just need a whole lot of self control, since their won't be anyone else to control you. After all, that's what freedom is. Check this site out for some information on the nature of Land (as opposed to the property within the Land).

www.teamlaw.org

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
I'm not in the chorus line of people who usually say "cops are never held accountable," but I am in the chorus line of people who say "cops are rarely held accountable." I stand by that.

I have little faith in our government. All three branches are broken. And Obama is proving himself to be more and more a typical politician these days. So it should be no surprise that law enforcement (a part of the government) would also be broken.

I'm not an anarchist. I'm not a minarchist. I'm not a libertarian. I'm just a pissed-off liberal. Most Americans have gotten lazy, across the entire political spectrum, not watching the government as closely as we should. And we've allowed corporate interests to control the government. But that really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Our vaunted Founding Fathers created our representative democracy, which was designed that way primarily so that the wealthy would have more control than the rabble, so it's basically been that way since the beginning. It only got worse over time, especially when corporations were granted the status of legal personhood by the Supreme Court.

So here we are. Sure, cops get prosecuted for wrongdoing some of the time. Gotta throw the public a bone every once in a while. But the remainder of the time police abuse is allowed to slip through the cracks, just like most cases of white collar crime aren't even investigated, just like most cases of political corruption never see the light of day. Yet we'll send some kid to the big house for possessing a nickel bag. It's all part of the same crippled, disfigured beast.

Can we fix this fucking mess, or is it a hopeless case? I don't know for sure. I want a decent country for my son. Maybe the best thing I can do for him is emigrate, but a lot of other countries are fucked too. (Thank you, Canada, for letting us know that your cops aren't any better than ours.) I still vote, and I still throw a little green at a few political figures and causes I believe in. (Sorry Obama, but don't count on my contribution in 2012.) Still it seems like I'm shoveling shit against the tide, but I feel like I gotta try something. Anything.

So I'm a cycnical bastard. But I think I've got a right to be.>> ^NetRunner:

I'm waiting for the chorus line of people who usually say "cops are never held accountable" to show up and explain to us that they're certain the cops still won't face any punishment for what they did...
Because, by their logic, if the video clip doesn't show Obama personally beheading all six officers, you know nothing will happen because the justice system never, ever works right. Ever.

I'm not in the chorus line of people who usually say "cops are never held accountable," but I am in the chorus line of people who say "cops are rarely held accountable." I stand by that.

I have little faith in our government. All three branches are broken. And Obama is proving himself to be more and more a typical politician these days. So it should be no surprise that law enforcement (a part of the government) would also be broken.

I'm not an anarchist. I'm not a minarchist. I'm not a libertarian. I'm just a pissed-off liberal. Most Americans have gotten lazy, across the entire political spectrum, not watching the government as closely as we should. And we've allowed corporate interests to control the government. But that really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Our vaunted Founding Fathers created our representative democracy, which was designed that way primarily so that the wealthy would have more control than the rabble, so it's basically been that way since the beginning. It only got worse over time, especially when corporations were granted the status of legal personhood by the Supreme Court.

So here we are. Sure, cops get prosecuted for wrongdoing some of the time. Gotta throw the public a bone every once in a while. But the remainder of the time police abuse is allowed to slip through the cracks, just like most cases of white collar crime aren't even investigated, just like most cases of political corruption never see the light of day. Yet we'll send some kid to the big house for possessing a nickel bag. It's all part of the same crippled, disfigured beast.

Can we fix this fucking mess, or is it a hopeless case? I don't know for sure. I want a decent country for my son. Maybe the best thing I can do for him is emigrate, but a lot of other countries are fucked too. (Thank you, Canada, for letting us know that your cops aren't any better than ours.) I still vote, and I still throw a little green at a few political figures and causes I believe in. (Sorry Obama, but don't count on my contribution in 2012.) Still it seems like I'm shoveling shit against the tide, but I feel like I gotta try something. Anything.

So I'm a cycnical bastard. But I think I've got a right to be.>> ^NetRunner:

I'm waiting for the chorus line of people who usually say "cops are never held accountable" to show up and explain to us that they're certain the cops still won't face any punishment for what they did...
Because, by their logic, if the video clip doesn't show Obama personally beheading all six officers, you know nothing will happen because the justice system never, ever works right. Ever.

"mere science"??

You should seek a purpose, because that's what you were built to do. Thinking is little more than randomness put together with simple rules which define how the randomness is interpreted by the body.

Think of an hourglass - from a distance, it's a fairly simple process: sand falls down through the pin hole and lands on the bottom - simple laws of physics, coming together in a cacophony of randomness. To be able to predict which grains of sand falls first, in which order they fall, the exact time it takes, etc etc. is incredibly complex and to be able to predict all details of the falling sand you would need a complete simulation of the universe, to make up for background radiation, quantum flux and whatnot.

The hourhglass cares not for all the reasons it does what it does, it just does it. Simple causality. Our brains function the same way, albeit with more complex rules determining our reactions to the causal forces. These "simple" rules present a virtual reality comprised of senses and interpretations in our brain which essentially create our consciousness, not a homonculus, but as a meta-software running in all parts of the brain, some places storing information, some places interpreting visual input and so on.

Your consciousness is desperate to observe its place in the world which is why all sorts of theories are created. "Purpose" is something we make up as we go along.

"I live for my kids", "I live for myself", "I live for soccer", etc etc. There is not universal purpose, other than potentially continuing the species, which is the underlying evolutionary effects, but they don't always work with us - we are one of the few species who actively work against natural selection, and thank goodness for that.

Uhm, gonna stop rambling.
>> ^maeric2000:

If the universe is an accident then why should I, an accidental creation of chaos, seek purpose? How is my purpose anything more than an accidental coming together of molecules into a pattern that seems to indicate design but is argued to be mere science?

>> ^maximillian:

Don't lump all Christians with them.


You're all part of the same religion. Just because you draw the line before these guys doesn't mean that distinction will persist throughout the rest of the world.

If you don't want to be lumped in with them, then control the vocal majority body to not have offensive beliefs. If you can't control them, opt out of the fairly tales.

Hmm, I guess they really are all part of the same club. And Americans put up with it. Country is fucked.

So if this "kind" god of yours is going to listen to your prayers, why would he make this happen to her in the first place? I mean it's all part of his plan right?

Thanks, KP! I think this might just be my favorite posting of all time.

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
*quality

Dawkins, Dennett, McGinn, Miller, Turner and Weinberg - all parts were previously sifted. So is it considered a dupe or not?

Great stuff nonetheless, my favorite was McGinn.