stutefish

stutefish

Joined Member # 1867325
1 Posts 48 Replies 2,985 Reputation
Reply to THE NEW BILL OF RIGHTS in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

It's impossible to shove a Constitutional Amendment down anybody's throat. Constitutional Amendments have to pass a supermajority of the Federal Legislature, and have to pass 3/4ths of the State Legislatures. You simply cannot get a Constitutional Amendment without overwhelming popular support. The Supreme Court, on the other hand, currently answers to nobody when they unilaterally and without consulting the people, reinterpret the e

106 Replies 23,450 Views
Reply to World Council of Churches Declares Conversion a Basic Right in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Freedom to choose for oneself what religion to follow (if any) is a subset of the fundamental and inalienable human right to "liberty". I for one applaud the WCC for reiterating this right, and acknowledging that it's a human right regardless of which religion is chosen. Oppressing someone for choosing a particular religion isn't simply "run[ning] their nations as they please". It's every bit as much a human rights violation as oppres

7 Replies 1,250 Views
Reply to Pentagon attack in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

TW, you're supposed to be seeing the plane. Many people believe that the fifty+ eyewitnesses to the crash were mistaken about what they saw, and that no plane crashed into the Pentagon at all. It's part of some sketchy and poorly-reasoned conspiracy theory about 9/11, wherein the U.S. government stole five passenger jets full of people, hid them somewhere, killed their passengers, hid the bodies, and then used missiles and/or death ra

6 Replies 8,778 Views
Notes Towards Thriving in the Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland in Life Journals JoeUser Forums

I've recently revised my thoughts on surviving the Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland (PAW). I'm convinced the key to not just surviving, but thriving in the PAW, will be resource management. I figure, there will be four key resources in the PAW: 1. Food 2. Fuel Manpower 4. Knowledge Of these four resources, I believe that Fuel will be the most critical in the short term.

4 Replies 3,379 Views
Reply to Why Am I Teaching My Children Not to Cheat? in Current Events JoeUser Forums

If she's still a small child, then take away her driver's license and her credit cards. Prohibit her from smoking, drinking, and voting. Void all her contracts and don't let her sign new ones. These are all privileges that our society reserves for responsible adults who are mature enough to chart their own course in life and accept responsibility for the consequences of their actions.

20 Replies 3,697 Views
Reply to Religiosity and Intelligence in Religion JoeUser Forums

Anyway, back on topic (and returning to an idea brought up earlier): There are many intelligent people who have given very intelligent justifications for religious belief. One excellent example of this in Protestant Christianity is C. S. Lewis's essays collected under the title "Mere Christianity". In these essays, Lewis lays out a reasoned, logical case for Christianity, from the outside in, so to speak. You may dispute his conclus

94 Replies 12,438 Views
Reply to Religiosity and Intelligence in Religion JoeUser Forums

I ran into Brant Grygiel the other day. He told me he'd just been moved out of his 2nd-floor office into a shared office on the 3rd floor, to make room for more CTG transplants. This in no way describes any Christian missionary I have ever met. For example, it does not describe my parents. It

94 Replies 12,438 Views
Reply to This is the world we live in. in Blogging JoeUser Forums

Money is an abstraction. It's a symbol we use--of all the animals, we seem uniquely equipped to describe and understand reality in terms of symbols--it's a symbol we use to represent hard work and the things we get from hard work. It's not so much that we need money for everything, but that we need hard work for everything. Money is just a unit of measurement for that hard work.

5 Replies 2,544 Views
Reply to WHY KAVYAA DESERVES ANOTHER CHANCE in Writing JoeUser Forums

If 19 is "too young" to take responsibility in life, then I'd have to say that it's too young to get privileges in life. Take away her driver's license, and her credit cards. Revoke her rights to drink, smoke, have sex, and vote. We'll give these back to her when she's no longer a child, but rather a mature adult capable of taking responsibility for her actions. What's a good cut-off age, Bahu? 25? 30? 50?

30 Replies 15,051 Views
Reply to WHY KAVYAA DESERVES ANOTHER CHANCE in Writing JoeUser Forums

If 19 is "too young" to take responsibility in life, then I'd have to say that it's too young to get privileges in life. Take away her driver's license, and her credit cards. Revoke her rights to drink, smoke, have sex, and vote. We'll give these back to her when she's no longer a child, but rather a mature adult capable of taking responsibility for her actions. What's a good cut-off age, Bahu? 25? 30? 50?

30 Replies 15,051 Views
Reply to Social Security in Politics JoeUser Forums

I don't think Bush was trying to solve the Baby Boomer SS payout problem with this reform. I'm not sure anybody knows what to about that problem, really. (Except you, of course. Let me guess: tax the rich, right?) I think the goal of Bush's reform was to have a viable and sustainable SS system in place in 20 years or so, after the Baby Boomer payout has destroyed the existing system. Without reform, SS will always have this

3 Replies 2,486 Views
Reply to Religiosity and Intelligence in Religion JoeUser Forums

Obviously the intelligence of the believer has nothing to do with the truth of the belief. And if a thing is true, it's absolutely okay for people to believe in it even if they don't fully understand it and couldn't explain it intelligently.

94 Replies 12,438 Views
Reply to Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when..... in Current Events JoeUser Forums

On the other hand, men never do good so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. So I'm not sure what religion has to do with it. I should think it's fairly obvious by now that Phelps is an asshat, and religion is merely his excuse. And for every Phelps out there, you can find a Mother Theresa. As far as I'm concerned, the religion angle is a wash.

22 Replies 4,796 Views
Reply to Ban stupid people from voting? in Politics JoeUser Forums

We already do ban stupid people from voting. If you are too stupid to care about voting, you don't vote. If you are too stupid to register, you don't vote. If you are too stupid to find the polling place, you don't vote. If you are too stupid to get your act together on voting day, you don't vote. Me? I figure, why have more laws for something that nature takes care of just fine without wasteful and oppressi

27 Replies 15,796 Views
Reply to What would you do? If... in Politics JoeUser Forums

[b]1. Iran successfully builds nukes, and uses one on Israel. Completely wiping it off the map.[/b] Say "I told you so." Never take the U.N. or "diplomatic" options seriously again. Advocate the immediate nuking of Iran, North Korea, and any other nation that so much as looked at me funny. Nations wanting to get off the "stabbed in the face by a nuke" list should begin grovelling immediately. [b]2. The world is crippled by a myster

6 Replies 6,585 Views