Moonlight Graham

Really? And you're one of the more respectful posters on here. Though maybe that occurred a long while ago and now you're on your best behaviour because of it

link I'm wondering what the actual reason for his stepping down is?...that is, if he "stepped down" at all or if he was forced out and only "stepped down" to save face for he and the Co. Or was it something else?

If you polled all the young pups in the military right now i'm sure you'd see that the vast majority of them don't give a poop about the monarchy, or "royal" this and that. This is going to cost a bunch of money to change the names so IMO it's a bad idea.

I asked on my status update why M.Dancer was banned because I thought whatever he said/did was posted on the forum. But it seems like it isn't, so i accept that since whatever offense happened out of the public eye of the forum posts and then it's not really our business to know, that's between M.Dancer and the admins now i guess. Yes there would be a benefit of people knowing because it would he would be made an example of what not to do, but we all know he was banned anyways so that in itself sends the message that the admins are still on top of things. As AW said, its doubtful he was banned on a whim because we all get away with A LOT around here in terms of rude/disrespectful posts. And we all saw how Lictor was given a long leash before he said bye-bye.

Ya this is a week old and you might have read it, but interesting read for those who haven't. In a NY Times op-ed, Buffett calls for more capital gains and income taxes targeted at the very wealthy. I'm kinda of shocked about some of the figures he goes through regarding how low the amount of taxes he and other very wealthy people actually pay. I guess people in high places have friends in high places to help out with the Ferrari bills. And i guess if you're as rich as Buffett is, money starts to not really mean anything anymore.

To me, an atheist is somebody who does not believe God exists, and is quite certain of this. From wiki: To contrast, a theist is one who believes in a God or Gods, and is quite certain of this. from wiki: To your E.T. analogy, a theist would say yes aliens exist, even if I can't prove it. An atheist would say no aliens don't exist. An agnostic would say something like there's a possibility they exist, but we don't know and therefore can't claim they do or don't exist. Honestly, I have no freaking clue if God exists or not. I grew up believing because that's how I was raised, then once I hit my late teens my own brain kicked in and began to question it all. I believe in love and in the beauty of the world and the universe, and I guess that's enough to get me by in life

Well, i suppose that's true.

Damn right you won't. Ahh, the game continues! A million dead Tustis and moderate Hutus are still waiting for the West to intervene for "humanitarian reasons". BAHA!

RIP Jack, thoughts go out to your family.

I don't know much about Dawkins at all, but the above sounds like Bill Maher. The only truly logical, scientific, empirically defensible position on religion is to be an agnostic, because you can't prove there is a God(s) (it's based on faith after all, which is unprovable) and you can't prove there is no God(s) (atheist). Being an atheist is about as illogical as being a theist.

Yes, there were idiots who rioted/looted, but many who did not. And many (both those who did and din't riot/loot) had their legal rights trampled on. This is a VERY serious issue. The freedoms and legal rights, like those guaranteed in the Charter, are at the very core of liberty and democracy and have been for centuries. So is the rule of law, and the police did not follow the rule of law in many cases as they trampled on the legal and Charter rights of many Canadians, thus breaking the law themselves (hmm something wrong with police breaking the law, isn't there?). Legal rights and the rule of law have, in their history, a purpose of protecting citizens from the tyranny of the state. When the state police abandon the law to such an extent as they did in Toronto, it should of the utmost concern to all citizens.

A Christian is someone who believes in the words from the New Testament of things that Jesus Christ purportedly said or did by those Apostles/Disciples etc. (some of whom never even met Jesus or was alive when he was) that claim these things did occur. or by those who may have edited their writings afterward.

Ron Paul is a good, smart man (although I disagree with some of his libertarian views) with strong convictions. He says what a believes in instead of saying the things that voters want to hear. That's the greatest compliment I can give a politician. I can only think of a few other politicians in the US or Canada (that aren't bat-shit crazy) like this, and they include Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, and Jesse Ventura. Ya that's right, i can't think of any from Canada haha! There certainly does seem to at least be some people in the MSM who don't want Ron Paul as GOP nomineee.

p.s. How can Bert and Ernie be "yours" and "on your territory" if you don't even know how to spell either of their names correctly?

Luis and Maria are a married human couple on Sesame Street. From Maria's official bio: Gordon's profile: What if Luis left Maria and Gordon left Susan, then Luis and Gordon got married and had a son named Pedro. And they opened a mini-putt together? And then Maria discovered she had secret yearnings for Susan, so she seduced Susan into a lesbian night of romance, but then Big Bird discovered them doing the cha-cha in his nest and he was like "ahhhh!! what's happening??", and left to get help. Running into Bert along the way, Bert, revealing himself to be gay, explained what "gay" was to Bird and the audience (along with several gay sexual positions) via an entertaining cartoon clip.

They aren't your puppets. They belong to the Children's Television Workshop or Jim Henson's estate or whatever. But culturally they aren't more or less the of domain of heterosexuals than they are of homosexuals, bi's, transgenders, transsexuals etc. Gay people watched Sesame Street growing up too you know. I still think having them get married or be gay is a ridiculous idea, especially given pre-schoolers have little clue about sex.

Palin is uneducated and rather unintelligent. Bachmann was a lawyer (hey, gotta give some credit), but is batshit crazy. I'd rather see the VP go to a rubber boot, because at least the rubber boot can't initiate the launch codes.

Agreed. You would not be living in the US, but a lot of the crap that the US government does certainly has a significant effect on Canada and the rest of the world, the economy being paramount. And as Bill said, we have our own problems and BS in government that I highly recommend you look into before many any huge decisions. Globalization and outsourcing of jobs to developing countries is by far not just a US phenomenon. On the other hand, Canada is always looking for quality immigrants!

We don't need another Texas wingnut in the oval office. Especially a religious wingnut that doesn't understand logic or science. link

I agree with the sentiment. But it would be sometimes hard (and controversial to parents because they'd argue about it) to distinguish between parents whose kids are screaming because the parents suck or simply because they are kids. I suppose restaurants can legally do whatever they want, but i don't get bothered by kids, a bit ridiculous that some people can't stand to be around the natural behaviours of a certain age group of the population. Kids cry and scream, and sometimes you can't stop it. Kudos to the parents who are polite and bring their tikes home when they start to act up, but should they have a right to not bring them home? Tough call.

You bring up some good points in the rest of your post. However, to make any conclusions about the conclusions of the researchers we'd have to look beyond this article and actually take a look at their research study and its methods. How did they operationalize "generosity" or "sympathy" etc.?

Very well said Oleg. And nice story.

Interesting article from Postmedia News that's worth a read & isn't a long article. Intro of the article: This finding was particularly interesting:

Oleg, can I borrow 500 bucks? Just kidding. This thread is in la-la land, most people in the end deserve the debt they have taken on. Unfortunately, some people don't read the fine print, or research what they are getting into properly, or are just plain dumb. Others can also be screwed in the process of the above by the powers that be. What do you do with those who are in debt and in destitute and can't get out of that state because of the debt? Forgive the debt? Will they learn their lessons? I don't know the answer, you can make a case for it for the poorest of countries.

I hope they can work on capturing the other garbage that comes out of those coal stacks.