tango

What the neuroscientist misses in her account of my experience of eating is precisely the experience itself: the first-person phenomenal sensation of actually eating the cake. When it comes down to offering the "best" description of how the mind works I can either buy the objective map the neuroscientist presents me with or the subjective qualitative account that I immediately experience, but it seems impossible to assert the primacy of one without dismissing the other. That is, for Zizek there is no way for the two perspectives to meet in any fashion that still preserves what remains essential to both. In short, the parallax gap. Now my question is ... why would one want to "assert the primacy of one"? That's just a silly waste of information that could help to learn the truth! In fact, the neuroscientist would be quite interested in the subjective experience, to identify the particular sensations and emotions being displayed as electrical charges. This is a very juvenile, inaccurate and dismissive view of science. Every person is capable of both scientific thought and spiritual experience. One need not "assert the primacy" of one or the other, as that would be to deny part of oneself. Again, it's just those pesky dichotomizers trying to reduce everything to black and white lines when they should be seeing in shades of colour. Funny, usually it's scientists accused of seeing things in dichotomies, but here it is a philosopher. Nothing has been proven here.

It's not "dull" to be shocked by violent political death. Scraping the bottom of the insult barrel to come up with some contorted reason for disparaging strong women, though, is.

Crap. It just occurred to me ... Harper's hoping to gain some votes from this group! It's the only reason he ever does the right thing.

Don't be extremist, now. Most Canadians don't agree with the forcible assimilation of an ethnic minority.

ok wtf???

wtf? This has nothing to do with Quebec. It has to do with expat Canadians: http://www.cicnews.com/2009/03/canadian-ci...pril-03708.html Over the past several years, the Government of Canada has been reviewing its citizenship laws, which are considered quite liberal, compared to other countries’. Bill C-37 was created in response to these deliberations and will go into effect on April 17, 2009. Under the new law, certain individuals who lost their citizenship will regain it. Others will receive Canadian citizenship for the first time. The most significant change, however, is to the regulations for granting of citizenship to children born abroad to Canadian parents. One of the main purposes of Bill C-37 is to restore Canadian citizenship to the tens of thousands of Canadians who have had their citizenship denied or unknowingly allowed it to expire because of several little-known particularities of Canada’s Citizenship Act.

That, of course, is ridiculous and you know it. At least I hope you do! No one aligns themselves with "radical Islamists". However, many people on the right and the left and in the centre separate ourselves from those who generalize from "radical Islamists" to all Muslim people. See, that generalization is racism, and that's a no win. You may now return to your regular bullshit program.

Attacking the poster instead of the post displays a deficit of discussion points. Please try again. Update ... BEVERLY GIESBRECHT Taliban shelve plan to kill Canadian hostage But militants in Pakistan's tribal region are still holding out for ransom REHMAT MEHSUD Special to The Globe and Mail April 8, 2009 PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN -- Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal region have decided to shelve plans to kill Canadian hostage Beverly Giesbrecht, but her captors are apparently still holding out for a ransom before releasing her. "After broad-based consultations, the Shura [leadership council] has postponed indefinitely the plan to kill the woman," said Qari, a close associate of Taliban commander Gul Bahadur, who asked to be identified by his first name only. The abduction of Ms. Giesbrecht, 53, has become a sensitive issue, and tribesmen of the embattled area are reluctant to speak on the matter openly. However, some locals said that while there is no hard information about her release, it could come at any time. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...y/International

I needed some information about this, so I will share it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_th...re_Independence A primary contributor to the development of political awareness amongst Tamils was the advent of Protestant missionaries on a large scale from 1814. Missionary activities by missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Methodists and Anglican churches led to a revival amongst Hindu Tamils who built their own schools, temples, societies and published literature to counter the missionary activities. The success of this effort led to the Tamils to think confidently of themselves as a community and prepared the way for self consciousness as a cultural, religious and linguisitic community in the mid nineteenth century.[4][5] Great Britain, which had come to control the whole of the island in 1815, instituted a legislative council in 1833 with three Europeans and one each for Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils and Burghers. This council's primary requirement was to play an advisory role to the Governor. These positions eventually came to be elected. From the introduction of advisory council to the Donoughmore Commission in 1931 until the Soulbury Commission in 1947 the main dispute between the elite of Sinhalese and Tamils was over the question of representation not on the structure of the government. The issue of power sharing was used by the nationalists of both communities to create an escalating inter ethnic rivalry which has continually gained momentum ever since. Since 1948 when Sri Lanka became independent, successive governments have adopted policies that had the effect of net preference to the majority Sinhalese at the expense of the minority Sri Lankan Tamils.[12] The most important contributor to the strength of the militant groups was the Black July pogrom which was perceived have been an organized event in which over 1000 Sri Lankan Tamil civilians were killed prompting many youth to prefer the armed path of resistance. Importing Tamil language films, books, magazines, journals, etc. from the cultural hub of Tamil Nadu, India was banned. Sri Lanka also banned groups such as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham and the Tamil Youth League. Culturally, Tamil Sri Lankans were cut off from Tamil Nadu. Foreign exchange for the long established practice of Tamil students going to India for university education was stopped. Equally, examinations for external degrees from the University of London were abolished. The government insisted this was a part of a general program of economic self-sufficiency, part of its socialist agenda, however most of the Tamil population did not accept nor believe this. So ... instead of accepting forced assimilation, the Tamils fought back. Terrorists? Freedom fighters?

OR ... If there were no conflict, they would likely not be coming here.

Targeted killing of women's rights activist shocks Afghans JESSICA LEEDER Globe and Mail Update April 12, 2009 at 9:19 PM EDT KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — In the hour before her killers pulled up beside the rickshaw and shot her at close range, Sitara Achakzai turned to a female politician riding beside her with a strange look. “I'm not afraid of death,” said Ms. Achakzai, a well-known women's rights advocate and one of three elected women sitting on Kandahar's provincial council. “I can go and get killed and it's no big deal.” Ms. Achakzai's friend, a provincial councillor who narrowly escaped death in a bombing at council headquarters less than two weeks ago, was so stunned by the comment, made just before the rickshaw pulled up to her stop, she got out without asking what prompted the revelation. Not long after, news came yesterday that she would never have another chance. Ms. Achakzai, a dual Afghan and German citizen who returned to help rebuild her country in 2004, was shot at close range by gunmen on motorbikes before her rickshaw could finish the slow crawl back to her home. The late Sitara Achakzi, one of four female members of the Kandahar Provinical Council, attends a council meeting in Kandahar City on March 11, 2009. Enlarge Image The late Sitara Achakzi, one of four female members of the Kandahar Provinical Council, attends a council meeting in Kandahar City on March 11, 2009. (Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos) Within minutes of the killing, news of Ms. Achakzai's death had spread like wildfire across Kandahar. The killing has both horrified and terrified many educated women in the city, who looked up to the councillor as a role model. “She is someone who was very well educated and understood what she was doing,” said a prominent businesswoman in Kandahar who has known Ms. Achakzai since her childhood. ... In recent months, many prominent women, including famous policewoman Malalai Kakar, have been brutally murdered in public by assassins on behalf of the Taliban. Shortly after Ms. Achakzai's killing, Qari Yousef Ahmedi, a spokesman for the Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Or natural selection. Link please?

No.

Who are you responding to JS?

Exactly. Following orders. I don't blame soldiers. Just where the orders came from: He said he argued with his commander about the rules of engagement, particularly the way they shot without warning to clear houses.

jbg, don't blind yourself. Israel trapped people in Gaza, and then identified all of them as either terrorists or "human shields" to justify the orders given to soldiers. The people in the UN compound when it was bombed were not "human shields". They were refugees from war, seeking shelter.

All young offenders should be treated. Sadistic, serial killers can be distinguished from kids like Lotts. Life without parole is just way out of line, in this case.

Boy, are you out of date. The only socialism in the US right now is government bailing out the capitalists! It was a good one ... but like anything out of control, it imploded ... self destructed ... ate itself and its young. I think the capitalists better stop demonizing socialists, and start learning how to work with them, for the betterment of all humankind instead of for plunder by a few. Extremes are the problem. Never works. Neither capitalism nor socialism alone work, imo. On their own, each one leads to totalitarianism .... rigidity ... inability to cope with the complexity that is the earth and its people. imo

Absolutely. And ALWAYS, the front line officers are scapegoated for the orders of the brass. THAT's what has to change, imo, because it doesn't address the culture that encourages and rewards war crimes. The IDF soldiers were ordered to clear houses in Gaza by shooting every person in them, because 'they haven't left ... and anyone who hasn't left Gaza is a terrorist'. Whoever said that is the person responsible for the war crimes, and his superiors, until we get to the person who originated that order. Soldiers should not be exempt, unless in danger themselves if they do not carry out the orders. However, they should not go down alone, when they are acting on orders in a war crimes command culture. imo And to clear up some details ... (read this dub) Israeli troops shot 'unarmed Palestinian civilians under orders' during Gaza war Published soldiers' testimonies contradict official version of events and reinforce Palestinian accounts of disproportionate force A second squad leader, from the same brigade, described how a company commander ordered troops to shoot an elderly Palestinian woman who was walking on a road about 100 metres from a house the soldiers had taken over. He said he argued with his commander about the rules of engagement, particularly the way they shot without warning to clear houses. Ha'aretz reported: "After the orders were changed, the squad leader's soldiers complained that 'We should kill everyone there [in the centre of Gaza]. Everyone there is a terrorist.'" The squad leader said: "You do not get the impression from the officers that there is any logic to it, but they won't say anything. To write 'death to the Arabs' on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can. I think this is the main thing: to understand how much the IDF [israel Defence Forces] has fallen in the realm of ethics, really. It's what I'll remember the most." The head of the Oranim course was apparently "shocked" after hearing the soldiers' accounts of their fighting and reported his concerns to the army chief, Major General Gabi Ashkenazi. Ashkenazi's office asked for a transcript of the discussion, which was provided. The Israeli military today first denied having "any previous knowledge or information about these incidents". Then in a later statement it admitted that the head of the course had sent a letter to the chief of staff's office "several weeks ago" describing the soldiers' accounts and that the military's chief education officer then met with the course head. It said the military advocate general, Brigadier General Avichai Mendelblit, today instructed the military police to investigate the soldiers' accounts. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/1...tings-civilians

You are doing a lot of generalizing and stereotyping of 'the left' argus. Stereotypes are seldom accurate. Do we know how many of those 'terrorist' incidents were instigated by the CIA to provide excuses for the US to step in militarily and 'defend' its commercial/industrial interests? You will find the CIA's hand in every conflict in the world. Example: Sudan In 1978 oil was discovered in Southern Sudan. Rebellious war began five years later and was led by John Garang, who had taken military training at infamous Fort Benning, Georgia. "The US government decided, in 1996, to send nearly $20 million of military equipment through the 'front-line' states of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Uganda to help the Sudanese opposition overthrow the Khartoum regime." [Federation of American Scientists fas.org] Between 1983 and the peace agreement signed in January 2005, Sudan's civil war took nearly two million lives and left millions more displaced. Garang became a First Vice President of Sudan as part of the peace agreement in 2005. From 1983, "war and famine-related effects resulted in more than 4 million people displaced and, according to rebel estimates, more than 2 million deaths over a period of two decades." [CIA Fact Book -entry Sudan] The BBC obituary of John Garang, who died in a plane crash shortly afterward, describes him as having "varied from Marxism to drawing support from Christian fundamentalists in the US." "There was always confusion on central issues such as whether the Sudan People's Liberation Army was fighting for independence for southern Sudan or merely more autonomy. Friends and foes alike found the SPLA's human rights record in southern Sudan and Mr Garang's style of governance disturbing." Gill Lusk - deputy editor of Africa Confidential and a Sudan specialist who interviewed the ex-guerrilla leader several times over the years was quoted by BBC, "John Garang did not tolerate dissent and anyone who disagreed with him was either imprisoned or killed." CIA use of tough guys like Garang in Sudan, Savimbi in Angola, Mobutu in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), had been reported, even in mass media, though certainly not featured or criticized, but presently, this is of course buried away from public awareness and meant to be forgotten, as commercial media focuses on presenting the U.S. wars of today in a heroic light. It has traditionally been the chore of progressive, alternate and independent journalism to see that their deathly deeds supported by U.S. citizens tax dollars are not forgotten, ultimately not accepted and past Congresses and Presidents held responsible, even in retrospect, when not in real time. Oil and business interests remain paramount and although Sudan is on the U.S. Government's state sponsors of terrorism list, the United States alternately praises its cooperation in tracking suspect individuals or scolds about the Janjaweed in Darfur. National Public Radio on May 2, 2005 had Los Angeles Times writer Ken Silverstein talk about his article "highlighting strong ties between the U.S. and Sudanese intelligence services, despite the Bush administration's criticism of human-rights violation in the Sudan." Title was "Sudan, CIA Forge Close Ties, Despite Rights Abuses." Nicholas Kristof, of The New York Times, won a 2006 Pulitzer Prize for "his having alerted this nation and the world to these massive crimes against humanity. He made six dangerous trips to Darfur to report names and faces of victims of the genocide for which President Bush had long before indicted the government of Sudan to the world's indifference." [Reuters] But last November saw the opening of a new U.S. consulate in Juba the capital of the Southern region. (Maybe consider this an example of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" especially where oil is involved.) Don't be so gullible!

In their London talks, Obama and Medvedev launched a milestone quest to slash their nuclear arsenals ... ... They also discussed U.S. plans for a missile defence shield, based in former communist-bloc countries which are now members of NATO and the European Union, like the Czech Republic. ... "Such defence measures should be carried out jointly" between Washington and Moscow. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Obama+get...0033/story.html I'm reposting this as it provides information about what the plan actually is. Better to discuss what is instead of speculating.

I believe the increase in anti-Jew sentiment is due to Israel's occupation and oppression and excessive violence against the Palestinians in Gaza. I'm not defending it, but I think that's where it's coming from.

Little Mosque on the Prairie is supposed to represent Muslim life accurately. The Altar Boy Gang is supposed to satirize the Catholic church. It isn't the same thing at all.

Religious instruction. Not in secular public schools. Hey look, if religious people want to make up and believe an allegorical tale of Adam and Eve to explain the emergence of human consciousness during evolution, let them! Most know it isn't literal truth. Those who demand that it be treated as literal truth ... well ...some people prefer to keep their knowledge simplistic. Such a tale is not necessarily incompatible with evolution. But it isn't education either. It's dogma.

I don't think you bothered to read the op. This is not a street criminal.