cactoblasta

Reply to More on SECULAR PROGRESSIVES in Politics JoeUser Forums

Urging impressionable students to do stupid things just because they are prone to do stupid things is irresponsible, and shows a lack of maturity and cognitive capacity on the clown who made the suggestions. Really? I would see it the other way - accepting that people are going to do stupid things and then advising them appropriately is responsible, and doing otherwise shows a lack of maturity and cognitive capacity on the behalf of the clown who makes

Reply to Understanding ideologies of destruction in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

If poverty is the cause of violence, how come the USA, one of the richest nations in the world, also has one of the highest crime rates? It's not so much poverty as unemployment so far as I can tell. So high crime rates in urban areas could be explained by low employment rates in urban areas. It's one theory anyway.

Reply to lets give a big hand to dictator col gene and a little hand to sean in Politics JoeUser Forums

gee I guess that would make all of us..... YOU KNOW..... PEOPLE. Although it seems some people are more equal than other people. And some don't read the TOS.

Reply to Understanding ideologies of destruction in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

Oh yeah and Brad - I've heard that Richard Dawkins has written a book about how religions can cause violence. I'm not sure what it's called but you might find him interesting considering your views on Islam.

Reply to Understanding ideologies of destruction in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

Cacto: It's been pretty well established at this point that poverty is not the cause. The 9/11 hijackers were hardly impoverished. The first world trade center bombers were not impoverished. The airport shooter wasn't impoverished. Etc. Sure. But how can we narrow it down to Islam as the cause if we cannot find a baseline where religion is the only distinguishing factor? I was trying to point out with my African example that at the points where relig

Reply to Understanding ideologies of destruction in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

[ I congratulate you for discovering Google Oooh, snap! hehehe. Actually I've written a few papers on social, economic and geopolitical factors on democratisation and development in the Middle East, so this is something I didn't need to google to know a little about. but the income in the other two nations, while not outlandish, is certainly sustainable (Bahrain's per capita income exceeds that of many regions in the U

Reply to Understanding ideologies of destruction in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

Is it an accident that some of the most violent Muslims come out of Saudi Arabia, one of the wealthiest countries in the world? 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudi nationals. But is it because they come from a country with a GDP above 15k a person (an odd criteria for first-world but there you go) or because they live in a repressive tyranny which fosters the highly xenophobic and aggressive philosophy called Wahhabbism?

Reply to Understanding ideologies of destruction in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

Bahrain : GDP per capita: $25,300 Yemen: GDP per capita: $900 Saudi Arabia: GDP per capita: $13,800 And for comparative purposes: US: GDP per capita: $43,500 Australia: GDP per capita: $32,900 Germany: GDP per capita: $31,400 Japan: GDP per capita: $33,100 Singapore: GDP per capita: $30,900 As you can see from the figures Bahrain comes closest in GDP to first world states like the US, Germany, Japan, Singapore and Australia, but it's still a fai

Reply to Understanding ideologies of destruction in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

That is why I see Islam as a dangerous ideology. That no matter where you go, no matter how materially content they are, they are much more prone (as a percent) than believers in other religions to violence and intolerance. You say this but what are you basing it on? There are no first-world predominately Muslim countries to compare with states like the US, Britain, Japan or Germany. Third-world Christian states like Rwanda have no more noble historie

Reply to Religion of peace update: May 2007 in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

Brad said: "If you really think thta 47% of American Christians see themselves as Christians first and Americans second or that nearly 1 in 10 American Christians thinks it's okay to murder people in the name of their religion then I don't know what to say to you." Um, the survey you posted actually said 42% of Christians put themselves as Christians first and Americans second, with the devout more likely than the weekenders. I actually posted

Reply to 3-D Online Virtual Worlds in Game Developers JoeUser Forums

Secondlife seems a little creepy to me and filled with horrible fetishists, but then again my only knowledge of it comes from the the Second Life Safari at SomethingAwful.com (http://www.somethingawful.com/d/second-life-safari/index.php), so maybe I'm not seeing the full picture. But what I have seen doesn't make me want to check it out!

Reply to Congress Votes Me a Pay Cut! in Current Events JoeUser Forums

I'm supposed to shrug that off? Of course not. But you never used to use caps at all, let alone several times in every post, and now you do it as much as drmiler. It's a definite style/personality shift and I found it concerning, which is why I mentioned it. But let's look at what I said: Anyway, if you're only going to college so you can lord your bigger paycheck and life over those on the dole then I can't

Reply to Congress Votes Me a Pay Cut! in Current Events JoeUser Forums

So you think that money for investment and loans (like for your house or car) is conjured out of the air? *Poof* Here's another 25 grand for a new car. You do understand what money invested in a bank or venture capital company is used for, don't you? It's invested in loans and other companies, and so doesn't just sit there. In fact you actually have to try hard to make your money do nothing.

Reply to Religion of peace update: May 2007 in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

Why don't you do us all a favor, dig around a bit, and see how many acts of terrorism have been committed in the name of Christ over the last 6 years or so, or at least since 9/11? Why is that relevent? We're talking about Americans here; I don't think any Americans have successfully committed an act of terrorism in the name of anyone since 9/11, have they? There've been suspects and convictions for planning, but I don't think there's been any successf

Reply to Congress Votes Me a Pay Cut! in Current Events JoeUser Forums

That is NOT what you said, cacto. And when did I ever say I was going to college to "lord it over" those on the dole. You made a pretty harsh judgement with your comment. Well you did ask why you should go to college if you're not going to get more money than someone on the dole. There's lots of pretty obvious reasons - self-improvement, education, broadening of academic horizons. Saying the only reason to go is to get more money is an insult to o

Reply to Congress Votes Me a Pay Cut! in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Oh, going to college to improve your life sucks, cacto? I see, you're only supposed to get an education for a "higher" purpose. Huh? I didn't say that. I said that going to college so you can feel superior to those who are on minimum wage is morally dubious, and that seemed to be the line you were (unintentionally I'm sure) pushing. Has something gone terribly wrong in your life? In the last six months or so you've become incredibly touchy an

Reply to Congress Votes Me a Pay Cut! in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Why am I in college if I can get a guaranteed pay increase by sitting on my butt doing nothing productive to help the economy? Every penny spent helps the economy. The worst thing you can do, economy-wise, with money is let it sit somewhere. Anyway, if you're only going to college so you can lord your bigger paycheck and life over those on the dole then I can't say I think much of that moral stance (not that I think that's your intention of cou

Reply to Religion of peace update: May 2007 in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

Was there a matching survey on Christian views? Somehow (apart of course from the most scurrilous finding, that Muslims are predominately -gasp- Democrats) I can't see that being much different there save for the suicide bombing conclusion. But I guess we've been over this already. Unless you know of something neither of us has any evidence to suggest these muslim results are in any way unusual for people in general. My only other question is what possible purpose are you ser

Reply to Religious pop music sucks. in Religion JoeUser Forums

Who told you this? What else is there to pop music? The lyrics are corny, the beats are all ripped off much better dance and/or oldtimey tracks and the stars are about as manufactured as they come. If you mean the Christian bit - and maybe you do - I was referring of course to the traditional school of christianity, which reveres those who don't have sex outside of marriage or perform the vertical expression of a horizontal desire. You kn

Reply to Religious pop music sucks. in Religion JoeUser Forums

I think some religious music is okay (not the alleged 'popular' style of course). Old Catholic hymns really know how to set a mood, even if their subject matter leaves something to be desired ('Smite the unbeliever?' Really?) As for religious books (or books dealing with religious themes) there are some good ones of those too - the Narnia ones for example, or Good Omens. But somehow mainstream religious pop manages to be unrelentingly awful. I think it's because pop's only s

Reply to Job Interview Tips in Business JoeUser Forums

On #3: I hate this question and its friend, "What will you bring to our workplace?" To actually answer these is to show a pretty high degree of presumption; after all, you've never worked there and you probably haven't met the other candidates. Saying you'll bring great skills in x is just another way of saying no one there already has great skills in x. It's the kind of question that lets an interviewer discard you for no better reason than a hunch because there really is no right w

Reply to Worst Modern US Presidents in Politics JoeUser Forums

It's an interesting list. I'm not familiar enough with your presidents of the 20th century to comment on your order, but I was surprised by the addition of Woodrow Wilson. Do you think it was his idealism that was the problem? He really seemed to have an obsession with his League of Nations. If I was going to rank US presidents I would have put him on the positives, in terms of expanding US influence anyway. Nothing did more for American international power than getting involved in

Reply to Top ten One-liners in Blogging JoeUser Forums

Yeah that first one is solid gold.

Reply to world war 3 or is it world war 4 in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

It's actually World War VIII. WWIII was fought just after WWII between the termites of hill 3 and the ants of hill 4. WWIV was fought with sticks and stones by the hidden tribe of Much!Verbuto in fulfilment of Einstein's prophecy during the early 50s. WWV was fought between a particularly sturdy tree and a rather vicious vine during the 60s. WWVI needs no explanation - who can forget the cataclysmic clash between rock stars and their livers? As for WWVII the climactic battle betwee

Reply to Walmart & The Mark of The Beast in Religion JoeUser Forums

But you are probably more on point with the fingerprint thing. Right now I believe most elementary kids in this country are finger printed at school on the "aware" days....when a cop comes in and talks about strangers etc. They say the fingerprints are filed and not used for anything except identification on a dead kid, or whatever. Really? Interesting. It's important to remember though that fingerprints and eyes by definition cannot be used as 'm