benny

When one knows the significance of discrete versus continuous variations, searching for a missing link becomes absurd.

Because civilization is different of empire-building, civilization is not at all an accounting of individuals, it is inhabiting poetry by mastering alphabetic (symbolic) reading.

Confounding the sexes seems as perplexing for you as it is for Muslims.

Curing illnesses would allow people to go right back at their dreamed lives; in other words, without meeting objective resistances from the world, what remains is pure subjectivity.

I think that if we were to force scientists to stop using metaphors (like selfish gene), nothing would remain of science as we have come to know it (since its inception).

I think that if you go to the extreme of what differentiates fundamental science and applied science, you will find that ID can be called science.

The real thing for children is their mothers, when they discover the existence of their fathers, anything can happen.

The Jews are the very first people in the history of the World to have acquired the capacity to read. And, they have done so directly on the sophisticated books that we now called the Old Testament. From there, the Jews can be said to have a fair advantage over other peoples to judge the conduct of a man and the worthiness of the newspapers he may sale.

yes it is

Decriminalizing pot is a bit like removing the "month of abstinence"-condition in this study.

Before going over the top, take some time to understand how Black went over the board (of directors): CONRAD BLACK'S RETINUE OF INSIDERS, CRONIES, AND CLUNKERS. By Daniel Gross Posted Thursday, Nov. 20, 2003 The 22-year tenure of media baron Conrad Black at the helm of Hollinger International, which will officially end Friday, was marked by naked contempt for common shareholders. The company—and its shareholders—lent money to an entity controlled by Black, paid massive management fees to entities controlled by Black, sold assets to companies controlled by Black, and maintained a condominium for Black in New York. The board of directors approved every step of the way. It wasn't until this Monday—when a special committee of outsiders, formed at the urging of shareholder activist Tweedy Browne, disclosed $32 million in unreported or improperly reported compensation to Black and other executives—that he was forced to step down. Over his career, Black, aka Lord Black of Crossharbour, brilliantly cobbled together an empire of newspapers that included London's Daily Telegraph, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Jerusalem Post. But his greatest feat may have been putting together a board of directors singularly unequipped to oversee a newspaper operation, to deliver justice to shareholders, and to grasp the concept of conflicts of interest. For the past several years, in fact, Hollinger International's board has been the corporate governance equivalent of the Star Wars cantina scene. Virtually every corporate board includes some individuals who don't bring much business expertise to the table. They're in the room because they're friends or relatives of top executives, or they're well-connected former government officials, or they're celebrities. Others may be chosen because they bring needed racial or gender diversity, or because they represent a worthy cause. (Enron's board of directors included a cancer researcher, for example.) But there are few cases in which the board of directors of a publicly held company is almost entirely stocked with insiders, cronies, and clunkers, with the odd convict thrown in for good measure. As of the spring, Hollinger International's board included five individuals who met the Securities and Exchange Commission's definition of corporate insiders: Black; his wife, columnist Barbara Amiel Black; and three other Hollinger International executives. The list of so-called independent directors—the people who are supposed to ride herd on the insiders and stop them from screwing shareholders—was composed almost entirely of a different type of insider. Indeed, the roster of independent directors reads like the politically plugged-in guest list at an American Enterprise Institute dinner—not the managerial crowd you'd find at a Business Roundtable function. There's former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (a director since 1996), who would seem to have little insight into the business challenges facing a newspaper company—think newsprint prices, union contracts, the impact of the digital era on newspapers. (Strategic bombing of media competitors, after all, is typically not an option.) He evidently agreed: While the Board met four times in 2002, the proxy notes that "Mr. Kissinger did not attend 75% or more of the aggregate of the total number of meetings of the Board of Directors and the total number of meetings of the committees on which such director served." In other words, in exchange for his $35,000 director's fee, Kissinger attended at most one meeting—and possibly none. The slate of directors standing for re-election last May included: the Honorable Richard Burt, the former arms negotiator and Reagan-era ambassador to Germany; the Honorable James Thompson, the former Republican governor of Illinois; and the Honorable Richard Perle. The Honorable Robert Strauss, the ambi-partisan fixer and former ambassador to the Soviet Union, served on the board for six years but left in 2002. Marie Josee Kravis, a respected conservative economist and the wife of financier Henry Kravis, was also a board member as of this spring. With the exception of Kravis, these directors were far more equipped to discuss regime change in Iraq than they were to discuss regime management in Conrad Black's empire. And they probably spent far more time discussing the former than the latter. Most of these more or less honorable folks were basically idle directors. They showed up at meetings, ate lunch, rubber-stamped corporate plans, and cashed their checks. Except for Richard Perle. Perle, according to the most recent proxy statement, is co-chairman of Hollinger Digital Inc., which makes venture investments on behalf of the company, and a member of the board's powerful three-person executive committee. On Nov.13, the Financial Times reported that Hollinger is now investigating a $2.5 million investment that Hollinger Digital made in Trireme Partners, where Perle is a managing partner. According to the FT, Perle also directed a $14 million investment into Hillman Capital, a fund controlled by Gerald Hillman. Gerald Hillman, a fellow member of the Defense Policy Board, is also a member of Trireme Partners. Who would have imagined that Richard Perle would use a quasi-public office as a platform for his personal interests? Over the years there have been a few real businesspeople on Hollinger International's board, such as Shmuel Meitar, the head of an Israeli media company, and Leslie Wexner, the highly regarded founder of the Limited, whose six-year board tenure ended in 2002. But Black seemed to have a genius for recruiting CEOs with legal issues, as Steven Pearlstein noted in Wednesday's Washington Post. A. Alfred Taubman, the former CEO of Sotheby's, remained on Hollinger's board even after he had been convicted of violating antitrust laws. Dwayne Andreas, the paterfamilias of Archer Daniels Midland, the agri-business giant that in 1996 pleaded guilty to price-fixing, was also a longtime board director. Given this cast of characters, it should come as no surprise that over the years the stock of Hollinger International has failed to keep pace with the broad market indexes and many of its peer media companies. After all, putting a bunch of right-wingers with occasionally dubious foreign policy credentials in the position of directing a profit-making business seems almost as illogical as putting a bunch of right-wingers with occasionally dubious business credentials in charge of foreign policy. http://www.slate.com/id/2091470/

Taking measures to stop the Western world from competing with poor nations, even by such a drastic measure as the one you envision, may put the whole planet on a never-seen-before win-win cooperative course.

"He was paying himself not to compete against himself." (The state prosecutor speaking of Black before the judge) No need to be a Social Darwinist to find this objectionable.

There may be some truth in what you believe, but here why it doesn't matter: Jury wanted to convict Conrad Black on all charges: juror Monday, October 22, 2007 CBC News One of the jurors who took part in the Conrad Black trial says most of the jury was ready to convict him of every charge until she dug up a piece of evidence and argued for the former media baron's innocence. In an exclusive interview with CBC News, juror Jean Kelly said after close to four months of testimony at Black's trial, nine of the 12 jurors were convinced Black was guilty of all 13 charges against him. On July 13, the former head of the Hollinger newspaper empire was convicted of obstruction of justice and three counts of fraud, but was acquitted on nine other charges. Kelly, a postal worker and single mom from suburban Chicago, said she didn't agree with her fellow jurors and spoke up. "I don't think for a minute what he did was right. I just don't think that criminal intent was there," she said. In Canada, jurors are legally required to maintain confidentiality following a trial, a practice not followed in the U.S. Kelly said while she found Black arrogant and condescending, she couldn't convict him on all charges. "I felt very strongly on my convictions. I would have went for mistrial before I would have caved in on my beliefs," she said. Kelly said she started digging through boxes of evidence in an attempt to support her belief. As days wore on, Kelly said the jurors, who deliberated for 16 days, were furious at her and two other jurors for holding out reaching a unanimous verdict. Kelly said she was floored by their angry reaction to her belief. "I guess nobody likes being attacked for the way you think or believe. It's not like anybody was trying to tell you [that] you were wrong but ... you almost go on the defensive when they do that to you, I guess." Kelly said she found the evidence she was looking for in the footnotes of a document. The evidence was never presented by Black's own lawyers, she said. After Kelly made her case, the jurors changed their position from an original vote to convict on all charges to guilty on four charges. Black who will be sentenced on Nov. 30, had to surrender his British passport and was ordered to remain in Chicago or at his home in Florida. The prosecution has said that a prison term of at least 15 years would be appropriate for the former media baron. In August, Black, 62, asked the judge to throw out the July verdict and has requested a new trial "taking into account the credibility of witnesses." The U.S. government — with star prosecution witness and former Black chief lieutenant David Radler — alleged Black, 62, devised a scheme to improperly divert $60 million US to himself, Radler, and three co-defendants — Mark Kipnis, Jack Boultbee, and Peter Atkinson — largely through non-compete payments in the sale of hundreds of Hollinger-owned U.S. and Canadian community newspapers. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/10/22/b...or.html?ref=rss

I see you beside Diane Francis at the National Post: Black failed to grasp the U.S. way; A Downfall Of Shakespearean Proportions Diane Francis. National Post. Jul 14, 2007. pg. FP.2 "What he didn't understand is that Americans are a bunch of social Darwinists whose laws stem from Puritanical beliefs. This is why they are the only developed country in the world that still imposes capital punishment and why they go after white-collar criminals, no matter their position, with a vengeance, unlike Canada or Britain."

"Power is sexy, not simply in its own right, but because it inspires self-confidence in its owner and a shiver of subservience on the part of those who approach it." Barbara Amiel (Mrs. Black is a former director at Hollinger)

Whatever genetic manipulations humans do on their own genetic makeup, they will end up face-to-face with not at all something objective but with something purely subjective.

Dawkins should also consider pursuing poetry and psychoanalytic careers. Speaking of genes as selfish molecules contravenes the scientific method to a point where we have to ask if he was not projecting a part of his personality on his object of research.

Omar should at least be compared with Alex in the famous novel (and movie) A Clockwork Orange.

Comparing alcohol and pot is not enough because one has to consider the multiplier effect of their mix.

The most important is that U.S. Supreme Court did not agree to review Black's obstruction of justice conviction.

It is not the case right now that Dawkins has both biology and theology as specialties or fields of expertise.

Like for anything and as a matter of principle, it will be time to decriminalize pot as soon as we will be given assurance that the weakest are well protected.

A specialist is akin to an expert though.

To leave someone behind, the strong have to move out sedentary settlements like Toronto.