Poll: Majority of Americans dumb as rocks

[gnam]

gnam, I refer you again to Einstein's last quote. It sums up what he believes and doesn't believe quite nicely. Your post went off on a Spinoza tangent. Read my post again.

oops, my mistake... I misunderstood the link and read it as a collection of Spinoza paraphrasings (unfamiliar as I am with Einstein's writings). Apologies and thx for the clarafication. Please excuse and disreagard the comments on Spinoza.

cheers

heheh... I just re-read my post and the final bit of 'advice' I offered... apparently I would do well to practice my own 'preachings,' as it were, a little more often... again... apologies.

[Gowch]

Anyone can quote Einstein. Here are some that contradict your "atheist" theory. My favourite is the last quote.

Einstein said a number of things about

religion and, unfortunately, said them in a way that was often ambiguous

(hey, Albert was a mathematician, not a wordsmith), which has enabled

many folks to misrepresent his views, as you've done here.

The fact is that Einstein did not believe in God as

God is envisioned by believers -- a deity with a mind and

a personality who is aware of and concerned with the activities of

humans (such as how we treat our parents, and what we do with our

genitalia).

He made this perfectly clear in this statement, which is

definitive enough that the New York Times quoted it in his obituary as the

final word of his religious non-belief:

"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my

religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated.

I do not believe in a Personal God and I have never denied this but have

expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious

then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far

as our science can reveal it." -Albert Einstein

'Nuff said. Einstein was -- as far as the term is generally used -- an atheist. Thanks for playing.

-IG

[Figleaf]

k

Edited July 18, 2007 by Figleaf

[Figleaf]

ll

Edited July 18, 2007 by Figleaf

[Figleaf]

I think if you check you'll find that the only reason I've knocked religions have been because of the violence and bigotry of the members of those religions.

It just so happens that every religion you knock is made up of non-whites. Which reminds me of an anecdote someone once told on this forum: how did that go?

Gee, that couldn't be because the whole world, outside Europe is non-White could it?

Oh, I'm pretty sure it could.

[Figleaf]

:

Edited July 18, 2007 by Figleaf

[bradco]

Money (ie; your pocket) is not the ONLY issue on earth.

We don't "owe" anybody anything! What makes you think we "owe" our American neighbours? What is it exactly we "owe"? Money? Respect? An apology? A good spanking?

A large portion of Canadian economy was agrarian in nature before the second world war wasn't it? That changed because the American industry involved in the war effort sought and acquired both raw material and products from Canadian soiurces to fuel their growing capacity to fight wars. From this point forward our society changed in a dramatic manner. Check it out and see for yourself, granted we did it ourselves but tell me that the Americans had nothing to do with it. To a large degree we OWE our economic position to them.

We are a country, they are a country. They buy stuff from us, we buy stuff from them, we share a continent and a border, we share cousins and brothers and sisters, we share -- but we don't "owe".

Take all of the American investment out of this country, all of the jobs, all of the advances we have made. Then tell me that we don't owe them a "thanks" for being a good neigbor.

BTW, what does America "owe" us for the Iran hostage affair? After all our gov't went above and beyond by giving American citizens Canadian passports and getting them the hell outta Dodge (Iran) before the Iranian gov't discovered them! OOooh, they owe us big time for that one! (they don't really, we do it because we are humanitarians not because we want to put an IOU in the bank.)

Well you answered you own question there.........

You mention nothing that America did out of the goodness of their hearts. These were decisions made solely on their personal benefit which happened to be mutually beneficial. Nobody will deny that the Canadian economy has been, is and will always be very dependant on the United States. However this does not mean we owe them a dime or a thank you. These are arrangments that both are countries made for their own good. By your logic America "owes" us as well for providing goods and resources to them???