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Perfect. I love it. Excellent characterization of the religious view of life. That life is a misery to be suffered until something better is granted in the undefined and undefinable hereafter. For the secularist: Life is all there is, and is limited by time. Therefore "as good as it gets" is beyond good enough. Life is a splendid journey to be treasured and revered BECAUSE it is limited by time. Even the difficulties and strife are to be treasured, because we exist to treasure them.
And you're treasuring of them will be of equal value to someone who lights puppies on fire or saves baby seals by giving money to PETA.DUCY?
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Yes, this is horrible, this post.

Turns out I'd do, what I've always done, cash farm subsidy checks and compulsively masturbate.

The majority didn't vote against him. The majority stayed home.   The GOP candidate had less votes in 2016 than in 2012 or 2008, when they lost both times.   Dems (and repubs) just HATED Hillar

In the Minnesota Senate race, with the recount underway, Republican Norm Coleman's lead over Comedian Nutcase Al Franken has shrunk to 337 votes.Normally, I'll vote for anyone but the Democrats or Republicans, and Minnesota had a decent third party candidate from the Independence Party, who got 15% of the vote. But in this case, despite the polls, I had a feeling this race would be close and I didn't think I could live with myself if I helped Franken get in. So I did something I normally don't do, I held my nose and voted for the lesser of two evils. Interestingly enough, though we hadn't talked about it, my wife did the same thing. If the two of us did it, how many others did? More than 300 out of the 3 million votes cast? Hmmmm..... that's, let's see, 300 out of 3 million, divide by 100, drop the decimal place..... that's like 42%. Oh wait, that's one out of every 30,000 people (one per each suburban-city-sized area). And if they were going to vote for Franken because he used to be funny when he was young, but decided that's a bad reason to vote for a nutcase, then it requires even fewer people to have voter's remorse.
I would be lying if I didn't admit that I will have a celebration cigar if Franken loses.But mainly because I want to find that Scram post where he 'knew' Franken was a lock as soon as he announced.
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I would be lying if I didn't admit that I will have a celebration cigar if Franken loses.But mainly because I want to find that Scram post where he 'knew' Franken was a lock as soon as he announced.
It wasn't a bad prediction, really. Minnesota has a history of electing grossly unqualified people based wholly on their "celebrity" status.
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The comparison between a person being a collection of cells and a nation being a collection of people is frivolous.But even if it wasn't, if you had a few cells that had toxic lead in them, would you say that you were a "toxic lead person"?Words, and the way we use them, matter. Pretending a nation has a brain that is the equivalent of a human brain leads to all sorts of bad decision-making.
Pretending that motivations are the sole domain of human individuals is what leads to bad decision-making. Goal-directed behavior is displayed by both sub-human (e.g. individual cells, organs, even parts of cells) and by supra-human (groups, corporations, nations) entities. Corporations are an easy example to wrap your mind around; they clearly have their own self-interests and goals that are not simply encompassed by the goals of the individuals that make up the corporation, and this is even codified to some extent.
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Your assumptions are wrong on so many levels. Have you ever met a Christian? Have you even read a chapter in the Bible?
Yes to both, but I won't discuss it further in this thread. I've grown bored of this argument lately. I am firmly convinced that when one is "born again" (dopey term, but there it is), a part of the brain dies. I believe the condition to be permanent and irreversible, barring a Lance Armstrong class recovery.Sad, really. All babies are born atheists, then their parents intentionally disable them by indoctrination, killing a part of their soul in the process. One day this will be viewed as wanton butchery, but today it is normal child-rearing.
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in that things have changed since Bush first won (as you have acknowledged) and the GOP has not yet lost a presidential race since 2000. We will see what is going on in 2011 or so. I have no clue what to expect but I am not going to automatically assume the GOP will be any better or worse losers than the Dems.
the GOP did exist before 2000. And Im sure your perception will be that they are "worse losers", because that is judged through your own filter. the GOP should have learned a lot from 2004-2005 about how to be effectively obstructionist. If Obama tries to govern from the far left and similar tactics are used, that isnt being a "bad loser", thats attempting to avoid a sea change in the nature of the US. The obstruction of Bush policies was not based on principle, he clearly was governing from the center. Pelosi and Reid were being whiny little bitches who wouldnt play and took the game ball with them. If they had been based on principle they wouldnt have been "non-binding" resolutions and votes they knew would be vetoed because they included timelines, non-funding etc.
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Pretending that motivations are the sole domain of human individuals is what leads to bad decision-making. Goal-directed behavior is displayed by both sub-human (e.g. individual cells, organs, even parts of cells) and by supra-human (groups, corporations, nations) entities. Corporations are an easy example to wrap your mind around; they clearly have their own self-interests and goals that are not simply encompassed by the goals of the individuals that make up the corporation, and this is even codified to some extent.
Corporations are specifically structured so that the goals of the individual are the most important thing. The individuals at top have the goals of making the company succeed so they can make billions of dollars. The goals of the employee is to work hard enough to keep the paychecks coming. There is no need for anthropomorphism to explain the results.Hint: there is no chair at the corporate board meeting with the name tag "Corporation", just as there is no chair in Congress labeled "Nation".
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1) Nations are not humans, and assigning human qualities to them is silly.2) There are still racists in this country, but they are extremely marginalized.3) Racism can no longer be used an excuse for not achieving success, since the top position is now filled by someone from the race that is most frequently discriminated against.
1) South Africa in the 1980s etc etc?2) extremely marginalized? have you ever left the country?3) this is like anecdotal evidence vs. empirical evidence. Just because ONE person "can" or "has" done it, doesn't make it any easier for anyone else.
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1) South Africa in the 1980s etc etc?
Yes, they had racist laws. Does that make everyone in the country racist? See, if you say a country is racist, the normal implication of that phrase is to paint with a very broad brush, when in reality, nations don't work like that in the least. Varying numbers of people can be racist, and, as I said in response to EG, if it is clear that you mean that certain laws are racist, that is also fine. Saying a nation is racist is meaningless without context.
2) extremely marginalized? have you ever left the country?
I'm not sure what you mean here? Do you think there are mainstream racists in the United States?
3) this is like anecdotal evidence vs. empirical evidence. Just because ONE person 'can' or 'has' done it, doesn't make it any easier for anyone else.
Do you think it is easy for an average white person to become president of the US? Of course it's not. The more success you want, the more difficult the challenge you'll face. But this result shows that race can no longer be used as an excuse. This isn't just me saying this, it's pretty much all over the media since the election.
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1) South Africa in the 1980s etc etc?2) extremely marginalized? have you ever left the country?3) this is like anecdotal evidence vs. empirical evidence. Just because ONE person "can" or "has" done it, doesn't make it any easier for anyone else.
Not only does it make it easier for others, it is an indication, along with all of the black CEOs (some of who are as dismal failures as white CEOs and female CEOs, equal opportunity to fail). other black politicians, doctors, researchers etc, that the opportunity is there. You need to take off your black colored glasses.
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Corporations are specifically structured so that the goals of the individual are the most important thing. The individuals at top have the goals of making the company succeed so they can make billions of dollars. The goals of the employee is to work hard enough to keep the paychecks coming. There is no need for anthropomorphism to explain the results.Hint: there is no chair at the corporate board meeting with the name tag "Corporation", just as there is no chair in Congress labeled "Nation".
Hint: there is no single neuron or place in the brain that is "you". Willfull activity is an emergent property of groups of smaller entities. It's not anthropomorphic, it's real.
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Sure, not all Christians are "in your face", but "they" sure want to change you into something they find acceptable. If accepting God is subscribing to some kind of horseshit like The Rapture, then fcuk you, Jack, keep your Rapture to yourself and I'll suffer the consequences.If God is, as I suspect, the humanity and compassion within us all and our inherent ability to adapt and accept change and revel in our differences as well as our sameness, then count me in for one big end-of-the-world group hug. Don't ****ing come to my door and tell me I ain't going up to Heaven unless I toe the party line or send $$$ to some 1-800 evangelist who lives pretty fckn good compared to his "flock".Grrrr...Religion make mini-Hulk MAAAAAD!
I'm speaking as a Christian. I don't want to change you into something I find acceptable. This isn't about ME at all. I would like for you to read the Bible and hopefully come to an understanding of Jesus Christ and accept HIM into your life. If you do that, it will become a totally personal relationship with you and God and no other human is really a part of that. God is about love, compassion, humanity, and acceptance of others. "Love thy brother!" Getting to heaven has ZERO to do with the party line or sending zillions of dollars to anyone. It is about living right and being an example unto others. In reality, Christians want you to look at them and think "Wow! They've got a good thing in their life and I'd like to have that too!" It's not about pressure or browbeating and if that's the kind of Christians you have encountered, I'd have to wonder if they are really Christians at all. But of course, as with every single faction of religion, race, and political alliance...........there are good and bad in all. The object of the "game" is to align with the good and be a sterling example to the bad.
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Yes to both, but I won't discuss it further in this thread. I've grown bored of this argument lately. I am firmly convinced that when one is "born again" (dopey term, but there it is), a part of the brain dies. I believe the condition to be permanent and irreversible, barring a Lance Armstrong class recovery.Sad, really. All babies are born atheists, then their parents intentionally disable them by indoctrination, killing a part of their soul in the process. One day this will be viewed as wanton butchery, but today it is normal child-rearing.
Actually, a part of their brain is activated! I can promise you that no true Christian exists because of their parents religious beliefs. The parents may have shown them an opportunity but each persons walk with Christ is truly a one on one situation.
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I'm speaking as a Christian. I don't want to change you into something I find acceptable. This isn't about ME at all. I would like for you to read the Bible and hopefully come to an understanding of Jesus Christ and accept HIM into your life. If you do that, it will become a totally personal relationship with you and God and no other human is really a part of that. God is about love, compassion, humanity, and acceptance of others. "Love thy brother!" Getting to heaven has ZERO to do with the party line or sending zillions of dollars to anyone. It is about living right and being an example unto others.
cult speak B)
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I can promise you that no true Christian exists because of their parents religious beliefs.
if you were born in iraq you'd be a muslim because of your parents. US christians are no different. to say otherwise is to deny obvious facts about religious demographics.
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Hint: there is no single neuron or place in the brain that is 'you'.
Which is why I pointed out that the comparison is frivolous.
Willfull activity is an emergent property of groups of smaller entities. It's not anthropomorphic, it's real.
Small groups organized specifically for the purpose of a specific activity can engage in willful activity, and if someone felt the need to anthropomorphize that, I suppose we could say that the Red Cross "wants" to help people. But to say a nation wants something is a bit silly. There is pretty much nothing that even a few thousand people can agree on much less 300 million.
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cult speak B)
I don't know why the guy is even bothering trying among this bunch of heathens. Hardly worth the typing. After reading the past couple of pages I will say this- I am the opposite of El Guapo, I do not support this presidency until it shows me that everything it said it stood for is a complete lie. Until then, I will assume that he was telling the truth and we are headed down the wrong path. Like I have said before, this will be a great opportunity to bring conservatism alive again, once the U.S. gets a whiff of the Obama magic in action. It isn't going to be pretty.
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Yes to both, but I won't discuss it further in this thread. I've grown bored of this argument lately. I am firmly convinced that when one is "born again" (dopey term, but there it is), a part of the brain dies. I believe the condition to be permanent and irreversible, barring a Lance Armstrong class recovery.Sad, really. All babies are born atheists, then their parents intentionally disable them by indoctrination, killing a part of their soul in the process. One day this will be viewed as wanton butchery, but today it is normal child-rearing.
I know you're probably just trying to be incendiary here, but while I sympathize with your atheism it doesn't seem that any part of the brain is "dead" in christians.
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Funny, I had a friend say to me today the difference between republicans and democrats is that republicans are sorry Obama won, but hope he succeeds because that's good for the countryDemocrats were sorry Bush won, and hoped that he would fail because that would be good for their party
This is absolutely correct. Just read the blogs.
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if you were born in iraq you'd be a muslim because of your parents. US christians are no different. to say otherwise is to deny obvious facts about religious demographics.
No more than anything else that is learned, like jeans and t-shirts, but eventually everyone chooses whether or not they want to wear jeans or dockers, it's not nearly as indoctrinating as you like to paint it. Out of all the kids I knew growing up in church, maybe 30% still go? Maybe, 30% might be a little high.
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I know you're probably just trying to be incendiary here, but while I sympathize with your atheism it doesn't seem that any part of the brain is "dead" in christians.
I like how even in his bullshit he references a soul. He's a terrible atheist.
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