ParanoiA

Personally, I wish they would go through with the impeachment process. I want to see the democrats make asses of themselves right out of the gate. We know they're going to do nothing on illegal immigration - the democrats prefer illegal immigrants to stay illegal and get paid crap wages with no benefits rather than to be legal and earn the laws and protections the rest of us in this forum enjoy. We also know they're not going to get out of the "stupid war" because not even the democrats are stupid enough to cut and run and screw the Iraqis for a 2nd time. Also, they aren't going to do anything different because there's nothing to be done. All of the talk by Pelosi and friends was just echoing the bad mood of the country. They don't know what to do either. Reversing subsidies to the rich, I definitely expect. Must punish the employers of the country for employing us - those bastards! Of course, I'm sure Pelosi doesn't care too much about the small businesses that these tax hikes will effect. Anyone here start a small business recently? If you have, then you may have noticed how the government seems to be the last entity to give a rat's ass whether you make it or not as they take half of your money. But I'm sure Pelosi is just doing what her pop culture constituents want her to do - go after corporations, oil companies, wal-mart - to hell with all of the small businesses that go down in the wake. They're just the life blood of the country, and arguably what our founding fathers had in mind when they discussed business and capitalism. International goodwill? When did we have that? Before or after 9/11? I'll tell you...before we became the superpower. That's when we had that. And we won't have it again until we're not. So, to me, there's not a lot for her to do. She's got plenty of time to impeach Bush. I think she knows she's full of crap and the party will get their asses handed to them. So, she's going to make excuses and save herself from an ugly entry in our children's future history books.

You guys are taking all the fun out of classifying prostitutes higher than politicians...

I think you'd be surprised how many musicians hear the same thing. I had to "tune" a piece of recorded audio of a motorcycle engine because it drove me nuts being out of tune with the guitars. My wife couldn't hear this, but a musician friend of mine from work laughed at me about it because he could hear it too. Just about any sound with the least bit of a duration is going to contain a pitch we can hone in on. Sometimes though I wonder if I'm just convincing myself I hear a pitch...

Perfect pitch can be learned, for sure. That's part of good pitch training too. I've been a musician for close to 20 years now and I have perfect pitch to my tuning standard, which is a half step down. That has been learned from years of tuning in that key. I am no savant, believe me. Some people might pick it up faster than others, just like some people are great in math. But perfect pitch isn't just matching the note kinda sorta...it's matching it dead on. You'd need a tuner to be sure you're hitting the perfect pitch. That may be why you think it all seems so easy. Plus, how long do you go without hearing a sound? Get out of bed tomorrow morning without any music to bias you and try hitting perfect pitch. Be sure to brush your teeth first though, cuz that's gross. Morning breath is the worst...

No more dishonest than the answer I'm going to get from Joe Blow politician when asked "Did you come by this campaign money legally?"

Who cares if she has an orgasm? I don't think that's what they're paying for...although roleplay, I guess, would be part of the deal, but that wouldn't make it dishonest.

Sweet...nailed it. At least the prostitutes make their money honestly. Actually, I'm also a libertarian, which is really just being a conservative without being a christian, nor a hypocrite. And as long as the morality police are empowered by the people of this country, year after year, we will never have legalized prostitution. (..damnit...)

I think mass bombings of pot and cheeseburgers would work better. These people spend all of their time obsessed with death and religion - take life so damn seriously that they don't spend any time living it. Dump off some iPods, Xbox's, TV's - divert their attention from death to life. That's my idea anyway...

Yeah, but maybe it's not necessarily flip flopping about our views on someone when they die as much as it's perhaps judging them more reasonably. So why don't we do that when everyone is still alive?

I know. I mentioned Iraq because I believe it's the most divisive issue. Everything else is more typical politics as usual. Just my opinion. Whatever the case, I just think we shouldn't assume such stubborn positions on international politics and war, when the dynamics are such that we know it will be judged differently in hindsight.

Well that just depends on which side you're on doesn't it? If you believe that Bush was right in invading Iraq, then it's the country who has fractured itself foolishly - the proverbial "criticized by all". If you believe Bush was in the wrong, then yes, he has certainly divided the country and the consequences that follow. I just have to recognize my own tendency to repeat history. When I read stories like this, I look around and see the same kinds of things going on. And the people actually writing the damn story are the same players in this historical repetition. This is why I find it hard to take solid stances on issues like Iraq. It's easy to get all high and mighty and curse GWB - particularly when it's popular. But the truth is, there are too many dynamics for anyone to be that sure of anything really. Someone has to make a decision. The rest of us can change our minds down the line, or sit on the fence until things pan out - then suddenly we've got an opinion on everything and everybody involved is an idiot. That's chickenshit where I come from. The only point I'm really trying to make is that perhaps it's a good idea to think about how dynamic everything really is and how it might be seen differently, more accurately in the future, when the dust settles. Maybe GWB isn't quite the fool everyone wants him to be. Apparently Ford wasn't...

Yeah, imagine that...Bush could be hailed in the future as a man who stood tall in the face of heavy criticism - a man who did the right thing in retrospect. I think it's funny how we can notice this about Ford and other presidents, but not at least consider for a moment that we're doing it right now...

Well..yeah. Beliefs are always subjective and there's no way to prove your apparent assumptions on religion are true or accurate. All we can go on is what kind of direct damage, objective damage is being done or not. In a blood transfusion refusal scenario, I'd imagine we'd get a court order or something to save the poor child's life - since there's obvious direct damage. In this case about a necklace, not exactly the stuff human services gets involved in ya' know. So she cried. I'm sorry. Kids cry about all kinds of things in response to teaching them right from wrong. And why do you assume your views, on allowing a child to wear jewelry as moral or ethical, on the rest of us? What if you happen to think crystal meth is perfectly acceptable and any parent who denies such is pushing their "drug-war" religious beliefs onto their children? It's none of your business how I determine my beliefs, and vice versa - only when these beliefs deny rights from others. I'm not challenging your intellect or anything, it just doesn't seem very honest. That's the best word I can think of at the moment. Seems like you're looking for a way to say something negative about religion. I share your distaste for such things ( I did write a song called hypochristian and it's posted on my website ). But I don't see any reason to elevate my own goofy beliefs either.

I figured that, since the argument didn't seem to be very challenging...

But that's silly. Of course her beliefs matter and are quite relevant in raising the child. I believe it is wrong to kill other people. So, I'm going to push my belief onto my kids that it is wrong to kill others. It doesn't matter if I got the belief out of the bible, public school, or dreamed about it one night. We are supposed to push our beliefs onto our children. That's our job.

Is it because the bank's monies are insured by the federal government, whereas the Enron's are not? Just a question. Economics confuses the hell out of me easily...

That is the burning question isn't it? This comes across to me like a spouse that found god after marriage. I know two or three couples that have gone through this sort of thing - all of them split up. Is that what's happened here KU?

Yeah, those really piss me off actually. These are the same people who pay attention to politics about 15 minutes out of the year and have an opinion on everything. I actually blame them almost solely for the joke american politics has become. You don't get salesmen and conmen for office holders by an educated, informed public - you get them from a public who places reality TV above reality.

Great, great point. The best in this thread. This is the one to listen to KU.

Exactly. But the same goes for her as well. Tell her to leave her quotes to the bible. If you take these things literally, or attempt to infer some set of rules you will discover the bible contradicts itself. But like JohnB pointed out, many of these supposed "rules" are philosophical insights and truisms that have been misinterpreted, misdirected. The ten commandments - now there's a set of rules. If god didn't want you to wear jewelry, or eat pork or dance it would be very clear that it's a sin. The ten commandments are not ambiguous. You don't have to "read between the lines". They are straight forward, and quite intentional - probably for good reason. I could interpret a handful of different laws out of that one passage in Peter 3:3.

Actually, until I found out my beliefs were largely encompassed in the libertarian ideology, I never voted and always bitched about the outcome of the elections, the state of affairs...everything. Because, if you're against the system then obviously participating in it makes you a hypocrite. If no candidate stands for what you believe in - or at least without standing for a ton of things you don't believe in - then there is no one for you to vote for. Also, many of us reject the party system - again, another reason not to vote.

Incidentally, I believe Dan Brown is writing a book on the Freemasons. I don't know that I'll buy this one though...

It sounds like you're confusing time with space. If I'm moving spatially at 0.5c then you will observe me going ungodly fast. However, if you were able to zoom in as I'm flying past you, you would notice my clock running slower - my eyes will blink slower, I will appear to be moving in slow motion within the barriers of the vessel - which is moving around 93,000 miles per second. The key is, as more of my motion and acceleration is directed to spatial movement, less motion is directed to time. Time slows down, not space. Also, I believe the planets will appear to be moving slower to you as well. The reason has to do with the fact that sensory perception is contained within the vacuum of your vessel that is carrying you at this speed. Since time has slowed down for you, there is no way to see things "outside" of this effect - everything gets to your senses slower as well. Anyone, feel free to correct me here, I'm not an expert and this time dilation thing has always confounded me.

Nah, it's just mildly irritating. Although, when the cursor disappears it's hard to find your place as you're typing and editing. But since I know to scroll the logo off the screen, it's no big deal at all. Thanks for checking into it.

Hmm...well that is a good point. So you're saying that usually it's a mutally driven idea between men and women who are following their religious texts as they believe they should? If that's the case, I don't see any issue with it, except of course for forcing others to comply who don't wish to. And even if it's not quite that rosey, I do agree it's nothing like the racial segregation here, that's for sure. But that sure is a strikingly similar event to Rosa Parks.