theloniusfleabag

Dear Charles Anthony, Poetry without rhyme is generally called 'Prose'.

My own poem, in rebuttal... The doctors once told me, "You are to die", Of time vaguely when, of certainly why. They swore to uphold, "God's time" or their's, But never mine own.

Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ, I have not read such inflammatory right-wing rhetoric in some time. Hugo used to be fond of the same false dichotomies, not dissimilar to: "If you wish to tax the cost of a streetlight out of your neighbour, you are a Stalin 'apologist' and you wish Hitler would have wiped out the Jews". BHS, I admit I only read what August posted. I must still declare the bulk of it asinine. 'Rovisms'? Possibly. If the person is actually declaring the mandate of the US, to draw a line in the sand between not only those who saw 9/11 as 'comeuppence' (of which there must be many) , but also those who look with any hint of pragmatic, or detached impartiality at world events, then they are in serious trouble.The USA may try to put on the 'Cape of Superman' (The will to have the most capable military force in the world), the 'Mask of the Lone Ranger' (fighting for that which they consider the 'good of everyone'), and "The eternal worship of Christlike proportions", they can so deceive themselves. But if they want to fix their image, someone ought to tell them that their costume is covered in blood.

Dear BHS, Sadly, many 'scientists' have to stake reputations on predictions, so they go to extremes. They will be right or wrong, and the most fervent espouser of a theory will get the biggest grant. Mind you, some are employed by companies with vested interests one way or the other, so their predictions are..well...predictable. So, trying to find an impartial 'scientist' can be difficult. I would say NASA might have some. http://www.giss.nasa.gov/edu/gwdebate/ I agree somewhat with the information in your link, that it would make sense that changes in the earth's atmosphere are cyclical. However, these changes are usually so slow that a human would never see them in a lifetime.

Taxes are meant to be 'tribute' to yourself, because you are part of 'everyone'. You own that which taxes paid for, insomuch as you are able to fight for it, should a neighbour covet it, and seek to take it. Taxes also enable people to conduct business easier.

Dear Charles Anthony, Libetrarianism does not espouse 'mob rule', but it offers nothing to prevent it.

Dear Black Dog, That is crazy talk. When people are already 'half in the bag', they are freer with their money...sales are huge. Besides, no one knows exactly when the third period would come (perhaps a brawl, or technical malfunction, power goes out for a bit, etc). It would be impossible to cut off booze sales at an arbitrary (or variable) time. What they need is to announce that they will severely prosecute crime (a media blitz helps) and perhaps install some cameras, as well as plainclothes cops, as you say.

Dear Renegade, Then they would be wrong, for they haven't thought the issue through. They believe that the rights that they believe in are 'universal', or at least, they wish them to be. (Just to note, I wish most of them were too) So, they themselves have 'bestowed' them universally, thinking that this will make a difference. What influence does the bestowing of a right have to the victim, or to the hangman, when the 'right to life' only exists on a piece of paper, in a drawer, in the head office of AI, thousands of miles away? An 'unenforcable right' is merely a wish.

No wonder no one wants you around. Take your BS and your poisoned links elsewhere, troll. Back to some sort of 'anime' wonderland, if you like.

IMR, Good to see you back. The explanation was in the story, they said that they have seen worse, so the maximum sentence was 'inequitable'. BS, I say. Though I am a 'leftist', the death penalty is too good for this person. However, I do believe that this would have been a better fit in the 'moral and religious' forum. Unless you want to argue it from a justice/legal perspective.

August1991, I agree with Charles Anthony, it isn't a bad analogy, but does fail to take into account that the pie will eventually be gone. Then everyone must place a value on a turd. (They say that if shit were to become valuable, the poor would be born without arseholes)Another way of looking at 'property ownership' is that of the 'Originals' (or Indians). You can't own land, it is just there. You can't pick it up and take it with you. That is why they thought that they were taking advantage of the white man, by selling something he could not pack up and take away. How wrong they were! The white man taught them a new definition of 'ownership': control by force. The real and only way anything can be 'owned', and the only way for a 'right' to exist.

Dear Renegade, Yes, that is exactly how 'rights' work.

Dear Renegade, There are no 'inherent rights' anywhere (not to mention philosophers such as Proudhon and Marx seem to argue that there are no individual 'property rights') save what we choose to create, bestow and respect (and enforce).

Dear Charles Anthony, That is because Libertarianism is largely 'faith-based'. Not because of the use of the term 'god-given rights', but rather because of the faith in voluntary co-operation being plausible. Same goes for expecting the threat of ostracism being an effective deterrent to the transgressions of your self-imagined rights or physical contracts.

Dear Riverwind, Well said, and my point exactly.Charles Anthony, That is the only place 'rights' come from.

Dear ClearWest, 'Property rights' are given to farmer A (by the gov't, and the will of the majority), and sometimes those rights can be taken away if need be, based on whether it helps or hinders those that gave the rights in the first place..

Dear Argus, Looks like you are dealing with an 'experienced flamebaiter'. Really, though, serial killers and mass murderers generally cannot be 'stopped' until they are caught, or they kill themselves to avoid capture. The 'misfits of society', as it were. Unless it can be shown that race is somehow a cause, (rather than 'culture'), it is rather disingenuous to claim a 'race' can be 'helped' to stop the abberant behaviour of a few individuals.

Dear August1991, Rubbish. Google should keep it's hands off, and not be discriminatory in any way. They should also not appease China by helping crush democracy.

The League of Nations ceased to exist before the creation of Israel. The British had 'had enough' of Jewish terrorism, from the likes of groups such as the Stern Gang and Irgun, and walked away from trying to control Palestine. The United Nations actually 'created' Israel, by partitioning Palestine into an Arab section and a Jewish section (and a tiny bit around Jerusalem as 'an international section). Then Israel declared itself a state, http://www.trumanlibrary.org/israel/declare.htm and the US and USSR both soon recognized the state for their own strategic reasons.

Dear PocketRocket, Absolutely correct, treatment should be mandatory before receiving any social aid. As it stand now, the Calgary Drop-in Centre, and other services, such as The Sally-Ann, have long been called 'the great enablers', for they basically help people continue addictions. The message has become "We'll give you food and shelter, so save your cash for drugs and alcohol". Mind you, when you work 12-14 hrs a day, smack-dab in the middle of 'social service alley', you tend to become embittered. I have seen a lot, and while many argue that most of the 'unfortunates' on social services are victims of 'bad luck, circumstance, or mental illness', I can tell you that the vast majority (80-90%) are simply bad people. Scumbags who like to get wasted, get a kick out of giving, or seeing someone getting a curb-stomping (they all gather aroung to watch and cheer, and they try not to let passers-by interfere), and have nothing but contempt for 'suits', authority or morality.

Dear geoffrey, I heard an interview with the Edmonton Police about the incident. They said they weren't about to place their officer's safety at risk over a street sign because street signs are replaceable. A bit of a defeatist attitude, I should say. In Calgary, the police said that they were going to crack down on 'the red mile', and began issuing tickets for people even honking their horns. I think that there has to be a happy medium. Go spOilers.

Economic Left/Right: -6.25 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.82 I have avoided this test for a while now, because many of the questions are too 'trite', and leave no room for interpretation regarding circumstance. However, for a chuckle, I gave it a go.

Dear ClearWest, What was the 'deciding factor'? Superior force of arms.

Dear newbie, I think this is where gerryhatrick needs his history lesson. The USA needed to commit hundreds, if not thousands, of 'strategic My Lais' to win the Viet Nam war. From a purely pragmatic view, of course.

Dear crazymf, Most every kid starts out 'leftist' until they are old enough to have to get a job! As to this thread, sometimes when entering risky situations one has to acknowledge that you only have 'X' amount of energy to spend. It must be considered, and harder still, under severe stress, that one has to assess a situation and realize "If I spend extra energy helping someone else, we will surely both die." Having said that, I admit I don't know the whole story, and agree that this should be in the 'morality and religion' section.