AndrewL

Well no it didnt. The ten commandment were not rights at all. they were obligations meant for christians and christians only. lol... id be surprised if you can find me a place where they are not being ignored. Im just taling about the definition of human rights, i said nothing about whether or not they are being applied. Yes. On both. The commandments were laws applied to Christians who believed in one and only one god (see the first two commandments), not rights. It is my right to free speach, it is not a law or commandment that i have that i have to speak freely. The difference is quite clear. That is always a good idea. And on further thought, im more convinced than ever that the commandments cannot be considered rights at all. Andrew

Did it apply to tribal peoples who practiced animism? Did it apply to polythesists? Human rights are inalienable and universal. There is no example of any such thing in the bible. There are only examples of rights that apply to christians exclusively. And i would question whether they could be considered rights at all, rather than a duty. It is the 4th commandment, not the 4th right. Andrew

Because you dismiss science as if it is ridiculous. You dismiss the issue off hand. You are not qualified to comment on something you obviously have not taken the time to understand. Andrew

The moral zeitgeist.... Thankfully our morals do evolve and we are not following scripture. Take human rights. There is no mention at all of human rights in religious texts we have. Andrew

This is just a sad and depressing post by someone who has no grasp of the issue at all. Please, do some reading. Get yourself to the library. Andrew

They are related issues, absolutely. Why would you think they are not? Andrew

you mean anthropoegnic global warming. The weight of evidence behind a changing environment is overwhelmingly weighty. That was not the point anyway. The point is that historically, when someone challenges the received wisdom of the entire culture, i.e., Darwin, Galileo, MLK, etc... they are usually demonized in one way or another by the uneducated masses. The entire global warming debate has become far too political. There is actual calm, rational, and real science in the background that we should heed quite carefully, given the importance of the issue. Andrew

The danger is that if we focus too much on global warming and if it is proven to be unrelated to human emissions, we may think it is OK to go ahead with the same old status quo of eroding all the fertile land, cutting down all the forests, scraping all the ocean floors, and so on. We need to switchthe question around - how of the economy should be diverted away from eco-protection. In other words, a long term healthy sustainable economy would be centered around keeping the ecosystem alive and healthy. The way you formulate the question is just symbolic of the problem. Andrew

Israel had long before planned for an attempt at eliminating Hezbollah. According to many 'anonymous officials' as well as washington insiders like Seymour Hersh, Washington agreed with Israels plan to go after Hezbollah and in fact gave them a bit of a push. They needed to assess the outcome - particularly Iran's response if and when Washington decides to bomb them. The US and Israel needed to know what to expect from Iran, Hezbollah and maybe Hamas (although Hamas has now been isolated in Gaza). The kidnapping and killing of the Israeli soldiers was just the event they needed. Besides, the majority of poeple that Olmert ended up killing had nothing at all to do with Hezbollah or the kidnapping. He made the choice to punish and terrorize them for political reasons. (its becoming less and less legitimate for the leaders of developed nations to behave this way, IMO). So this was far more than just a defensive reaction to a minor incident. It was part of a larger regional strategy involving Iran and Washington, in which many innocent Lebanese were killed as mere pawns. They were used by all parties involved, icluding Hezbollah of course. Andrew

He fixed an errror. He did not change the data set arbitrarily. This is science. That is how scientists work. They make mistakes and they correct them and move on. As opposed to religious ideologues and other fanatics who make mistakes and wait centuries before admitting they might be wrong. And ultimately this is nonsense anyway... The evidence of a warming planet goes far beyonf temperature data... and the issue of warming is only part of a much larger issue of the destruction of our landbase and the conversion of all bio-mass into human-mass. Even if global warming is one day shown conclusively to be entirely independent of human greenhouse gas emmissions, that should not give us a license to go on destroying the ecological basis for our continued survival. Andrew

This is interesting actually. It makes me wonder if the same is true for religious morality. That is, there is no religious morality that is unique to religious thought.... Im thinking there is human morality only and it overlaps into both the religious and non-religious spheres of daily life. Andrew

What is the judeo-christian ethic? Can you fill that in with some details. All i can think of is slave owning, killing blasphemers, hunting witches, etc.... Or are we talking simply about christ here.... i.e, alms for the poor? Andrew

No i don't know what these morals are supposed to be. I mean, i consider myself to be as moral and ethical as the next guy, but i certainly don't subscribe to any religion, and i have never once in my life based any moral or ethical principle I follow on anything written in the Torah or the bible. So what exactly is fundamental Judeo-Christian morality and how does it differ from secular morality? Andrew

Primarily responsible? Yes he bears some responsibility for the war that took place last summer, but that responsibility is equally shared by Olmert. Andrew

That's exactly what was said when Galileo suggested the earth revolves about the sun. That is exactly what was said when Darwin showed that evolution was driven by natural selection. And so on.... Certainly i can agree that the science on anthropogenic global warming is not 100% conclusive, but to suggest it is some global conspiracy or massive fraud is just ridiculous. You sound like an inquisitor. Andrew

To quote Bill Maher: "If you are going to pick out all the raisins, why buy raisin bread?" Andrew

How does one define fundamental Judeo-Christian teachings? Andrew

Obviously the only solution here is for Israel to launch airstikes and build more religious settlements. That should stop those rockets immediately. Andrew

But Since your thread topic is entirely irrelevant, what better place to be irrelevant than in this thread. Are you familiar with the term 'gadfly'? Andrew If you are looking for a new title for yourself, start with the halfs..... Good one, 'i know you are but what am i"...... thx for coming out gadfly. Andrew Oh, so you were calling me the gadfly? I don't know why you would choose to compliment me when I plainly can't abide you, but whatever...... Oh, so it is your intention to be a mean spirited person? Gotcha. fuckin' weirdo. Andrew

But Since your thread topic is entirely irrelevant, what better place to be irrelevant than in this thread. Are you familiar with the term 'gadfly'? Andrew If you are looking for a new title for yourself, start with the halfs..... Good one, 'i know you are but what am i"...... thx for coming out gadfly. Andrew

But Since your thread topic is entirely irrelevant, what better place to be irrelevant than in this thread. Are you familiar with the term 'gadfly'? Andrew

Yes today is the anniversary of the Islamic calendar. Woot Woot....... Are you suggesting that the bombs in Kirkuk are connected to this 'anniversary'? Andrew What would lead you to think that I am making a connection with anything other that what I have written? Did you see either bombs or kirkut in my post? Why not assume this is in connection with Harper's visit to colombia, afterall, I didn't mention that either....... Are you unfamiliar with the use of a question mark? I knew you were somewhat dim, but really..... Perhaps your post was entirely meaningless? (see the question mark). Andrew

Yes today is the anniversary of the Islamic calendar. Woot Woot....... Are you suggesting that the bombs in Kirkuk are connected to this 'anniversary'? Andrew

Assuming the US just bombs and does not invade the absolute best they could do is delay the nulcear programs of iran. Iran will most likely seek to make iraq even more difficult for america. Iranians themselves will rally around their extremist leader. And once again, america will play the part of the complete fool. But you know what? Somebody will make some big fat profits. Andrew

Good point. But we can trust that we do indeed have sensory perceptions - obviously we cannot trust the content of those perceptions to provide any absolute truth though. Or an evil genius. Or a team of alien scientists running an experiment. Andrew