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Reply to The vocabulary of bullshit in Writing JoeUser Forums

[quote]It's a Jewish custom to write the word with the dash, just like it is an English language custom to write it with an upper-case "G" if it refers to the god of Christianity.[/quote] I've heard of that custom, but it's mostly been Christians I've seen do it. Also, the English custom of capitialising God is a side-effect of proper noun/name capitalisation. I've got a vague feeling it used to be written in all-caps, like YHWH, but I could easily be wrong. [quote]But I would

Reply to Appalled by White House Correspondents Dinner in Current Events JoeUser Forums

[quote]Yea, I'm sure if someone had said Barak Hussein Obama sounds like the name of the 20th hijacker, no one on the left would have complained...[/quote] I'm pretty sure when it last happened on JU the standard response was more or less 'Dry your eyes, Princess' so I don't really see what the difference is.

The vocabulary of bullshit in Writing JoeUser Forums

It's amazing how influential our perception of certain words is in determining fact from fiction. Just off the top of my head I can think of heaps of words that immediately add a little something to what I perceive a person is saying: clearly - I can't even back this up It's beyond me - I am resorting to hyperbolae because I don't care enough to think trust me - I am the last person to trust family values - my family is bigger than my IQ/I'm a convicted pedophi

Reply to Will the world help Pakistan? (Update: No!) in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

[quote]I am not declaring Pakistan a failed state. I am merely declaring it a forgotten state. And India has nothing to do with this.[/quote] So quickly people forget the Mumbai bombings, carried out - according to the evidence at hand - by Pakistani terrorists (possibly even ISI trained/supported). If you think the conversion to Islamic fundamentalism of a major bordering power isn't an extremely important issue to the Indians, you should think again. If Pakistan isn't fixed,

Reply to Will the world help Pakistan? (Update: No!) in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

[quote]When Gaza starts a war with Israel and Israel fires back, the world is upset and sends billion of dollars to rebuild Gaza. But when Pakistan starts a war with the Taliban and the Taliban overruns Pakistan, the world is silent. Nobody cares about Pakistan. They are not Arabs. The world only cares about Arabs. Why?[/quote] Interesting you rush to racism as the cause, but I don't think that's the reason. If you declare Pakistan a failed state, you basically say Ind

Reply to Taxed To Death in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt , had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the

Reply to How hard is it to access internet pornography? in Internet JoeUser Forums

[quote]The next question would be... Do you still masterbate? Nope. Quit that after quitting porn right away. It was the main problem.[/quote] You may want to rethink that. Unless you're having sex regularly - as in three times a week or so - you're greatly increasing your risk of prostate cancer by abstaining from masturbation. It's perfectly healthy, in moderation. [quote]At the risk of sounding like a caricature of a psychiatrist, how is your relationship with your

Reply to Surprise! I Am An Extremist Also in Democrat JoeUser Forums

If this is the Oliver North who was heavily involved with the Contras in Nicaragua, he's not just an extremist, but he's helped to fund terrorism in the past too. You may take some comfort in knowing, KFC, that by being a literalist you are by definition an extremist. It doesn't mean you're a bad person, but anyone who lives exactly according to the words of a book - whether that's the Bible, the Quran, or even the Little Red Book - is an extreme sort of person. As they believe the bo

Reply to Miss California Speaks Her Mind and Her Heart in Current Events JoeUser Forums

[quote]see? things are wayyyyyy different with a real president in office.[/quote] You can't accuse JU of not tackling the big issues.

Reply to Miss California Speaks Her Mind and Her Heart in Current Events JoeUser Forums

[quote]Deliberately antagonizing? Who? Miss California? Not Mr. Perez Hilton? Are you kidding me? So what you just said and are promoting is for her to be a fake for the benefit of her career? Ya, maybe she should have been a politician is right. Take another look at the video link I provided. I didn't see her antagonizing anyone. She answered a question giving her opinion as she was supposed to. If anyone was pushing b

Reply to Miss California Speaks Her Mind and Her Heart in Current Events JoeUser Forums

I can see where Perez is coming from. It can't be very pleasant to have someone tell you that you don't deserve marriage because only straight people can do it properly. Deliberately antagonising a group of people who you know are likely to judge and/or hire you in fashion isn't a particularly good career move, but maybe it will work out for her in the end.

Reply to America is Not A Christian Nation So Says Obama in Current Events JoeUser Forums

[quote]Perhaps something like, "We are a nation of many faiths and beliefs". Nobody singled out, nobody left out, no feelings hurt.[/quote] But equally, no effect at all. Saying the US isn't exclusively Christian conflicts with a common misconception outside the US. It likely gave his speech a bit of extra weight in Turkey. It's also a fact that many Christians back in the US forget and should remember, so it seems to have the potential to achieve two aims for the price of one

Reply to America is Not A Christian Nation So Says Obama in Current Events JoeUser Forums

I bet any Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist or other non-Christian Americans would be glad to know their president doesn't think the US is a christian nation.

Reply to My Global Warming Predictions in The Environment JoeUser Forums

[quote]There are computer models that offer projections based on different scenarios. I think they're probably somewhere on the IPCC website. [/quote] Computer models are fairly laughable though, even at the best of times. We can barely predict weather patterns suitable for an accurate forecast for one week ahead. Predicting everything's effect on everything else is still beyond our best technology, and yet it's essential to understanding what humanity's influence on air is (eg

Reply to Different Definitions of Terrorism in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

[quote]but SOLELY because the children are too small to fight back and are thus an easy target for even the bravest of Arab terrorists.[/quote] It's not a good reason, but it's more than just the weakness angle. If it was purely weakness, they'd target hospitals and nursing homes more often. Attacking children is an attack on the future. That's basically the symbolism behind it. Going to your African genocide/Darfur model, it's why the genitals of victims are often mutilated,

Reply to George W Bush NEEDS Your Support NOW More Than EVER BEFORE! in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]Looks like queenbee, sry, I meant kingbee is losing whats left of his marbles. Too much time on your hads lately bee?[/quote] Have I ever told you I love you Charles? You're so rugged and manly and funny, like cheese in a can, or a hot dog made of icecream and peanut butter deepfried in 100% trans fat.

Reply to This is why I’m a kook in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Your answer already is qualifying our response. If they don’t use nukes does that mean we can’t fight back? The reason we were so concerned with the anthrax attacks was if we found out which country did it we would be forced to nuke them as our only retaliatory response or let the matter drop.[/quote] <

Reply to This is why I’m a kook in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] What are you talking about? How would it be suicidal for them to attack us? We were attacked on 9/11 and as soon as the anger faded the peacenicks wanted out of the war and fought against winning the war ever since. We have given every indication that if attacked again we would do little if anything especially with the current administration.[/quote] Right. 9/11 was a nuclear strike that killed a million people.

Reply to If Bush had done <insert action here> in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] I have to say you are woefully ignorant of that actually happened. I work in the real estate industry, and watched it happen from the inside out. Most people that have been around for a while saw what was coming and knew what would happen next. It happened in New York in the seventies and in Miami in the eighties, as well as in several cities in Texas in the eighties. Legislators made the laws that had to be followed or they wo

Reply to If Bush had done <insert action here> in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]Wrong, it was the legislatures who messed up the market in the first place. blaming capitalism is bullshit. It was socialisitic bs like the "affordable housing" program that broke it.[/quote] The affordable housing program had little to do with the problem. It helped grow one of the things used to create financial products, sure, but that's neither here nor there. The real issue was that in a largely unregulated industry - as aeortar mentioned, there's not much regulati

Reply to If Bush had done <insert action here> in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]If the rulemakers say 'We want you to fire up your engine, point your vehicle toward that cliff over there and step on the gas. Don't worry, we guarantee your safety,' one shouldn't be surprised to see a fair number of vehicles at the bottom of that cliff.[/quote] The market, however, isn't the car, but the game itself. And the game failed to keep the car safe. We can argue about whether it was airbags, good directions or a lack of wings that was at the heart of it, but I

Reply to If Bush had done <insert action here> in Politics Stardock Forums

[quote]Yet here we are. 2 months into the Obama administration and Obama is deciding personally which parts of the economy he wants to personally control. So let’s see, we have Obama wanting to take over banking, calling the shots at the auto makers, putting out plans to take over healthcare, passing laws to retroactively tax particularly individuals he doesn’t like, and liberals were whining about Bush because…? The warrantless wire tapping program (that Ob

Reply to This is why I’m a kook in Politics JoeUser Forums

There's actually a few significant differences between an ICBM and a rocket capable of launching a satellite, but that's not important. The real flaw in Gingrich's argument is that it assumes the Iranians/North Koreans/whoever are suicidal, and sufficiently suicidal to think that causing a major inconvenience is enough to excuse their complete destruction. If you're going to commit suicide, you'd want to strike a more telling blow. I say major inconvenience because the US, whi

Reply to Socialism 101 in Democrat JoeUser Forums

[quote]It's an ideal to aspire to because its presence makes for a better society. Socialism and capitalism will always both be present, society can but choose in which direction it wants to move.[/quote] I'm unconvinced that there's a linear relationship between political/economic socialism and political/economic capitalism, but sure, most societies choose a middle path. Capitalism for the good times, socialism for the bad times. I can see a place for both, and think at times

Reply to Socialism 101 in Democrat JoeUser Forums

[quote]If by "socialist" you mean systems that are essentially capitalist with some socialist policies or mixed systems, we don't have to worry about the extreme problems socialism causes, because they won't appear when counteracted by some capitalist policies.[/quote] True enough. This is a slight derail, but do you know of any successful and exclusively capitalist society? I'm trying to think of why you only mark out socialism as causing problems, when I can't think of any country w