john5746

I wonder if anyone can imagine sets of constants that would be better for life? Would it be those that make decreases in local entropy more prevalent?

A parent can choose to home school their kids, but not dictate how the public system educates them. Same with hospitals, etc. You make decisions regarding the treatments for the child, but don't dictate what drugs and procedures are available to everyone else. Besides, you can still talk to the child after school

Bah, you 2012 denier!

More choice would be a good thing, most would agree. However, I think some structural changes of congress and the executive is needed. It is difficult to get things done even when a majority is reached by one party, so having more groups would probably result in even less action, more compromise, deals, etc.

Worth repeating....

I think its time to legalize pot and see how it goes. I don't like the idea of legalizing cocaine and other highly addictive and mind altering drugs. Legalization will increase usage and addiction and these people will have to live with the ramifications of that addiction for the rest of their lives, not just come clean and be well. Some costs are more difficult to tally, like wasting minds. I would also want to see alot of the money go into education against using drugs, not just treatment for damaged people.

Why should we live life? I guess my answer to a teenage son would be, "because I love you." I'm sure that would get one heck of a response! I have a hard time wrapping my head around buddhism, since attachment is the point, IMO. I don't want to be content to sit in a cave meditating. I guess its all about balance, as usual.

You should study all the biological and physical processes that occurred for your Parents to have you. The coincidences just pile on. God must really be involved in our sex lives.

Let's hope China doesn't feel the same about the US. So, what to do when too big to fail finally does? Get to work.

I don't find the fine tuning argument compelling at all. It seems like the argument really is that there can't be just one universe. Because any one universe would be improbable. Being amazed that we are here to think about it is just special pleading, IMO.

Kind of strange for the savior of humanity to compare himself to "Massu". I guess he had to dumb down for us monkeys.

When we observe the universe, we tend to see things that change. Can you explain this connection ??? Its a metaphor. Rights mean dick without government enforcement. Telling the native indians, "so sorry, you had these rights" after they were slaughtered is meaningless. We agree to abide and enforce these rights as a society, they are not found in nature. IMO, all we have is humanity. Rather than live within the boundaries of our environment, we try to rise above it. Nature is harsh and so we fight. We know that we will lose in the end, so we try to appeal to the guy in charge. Don't get me started. Harris from 3:30 - 5:30 Harris Hitchens Carlin

Obviously, Christian values played a role in the building of the nation. Genocide of Indians, slavery, subjugation of women, etc. The best thing they did was to allow for change, so I'm glad that as we acquire better knowledge and values, we can replace the old.

Its really supply and demand. A store lowers the price of an item, yet makes more profit. In the same way, lowering capital gains taxes on say those who make 200,000 or less may spur a big enough investment demand to actually overcome the initial loss.

A million dollars from Bill Gates is the same as a million dollars from a group of 5th graders who raised it working a lemonade stand for 5 years. It does basically the same good. But when trying to make a character judgement based on this, I think you can see the difference. Both did good and should be thanked, but one is much more impressive. A for effort does apply sometimes, at least for me. Merged post follows: Consecutive posts merged Actually, Carter has taken a hit due to his anti-Israel stance and general nose-butting of late. Many would love for him to just bang nails and stay away from politics.

Or "You will burn in hell if you don't believe this book"

Very bad things can come from people who ____________, therefore there is no intrinsic value to __________. IMO, everyone has a personal morality, shaped by culture, education, observation and emotions. Morality should be in place to improve the human condition. The details are not always obvious, so it does take time the higher power cannot be demonstrated. the unchanging cannot be demonstrated. developed through the test of time sounds like it has evolved with society, not handed down on some tablets. Relativity doesn't need to imply no rules. It just means that rules can have exceptions in different situations. Our genes do not change very rapidly, but our memes can. We must be able to adjust our culture to new information, to scale it to fit larger and larger groups. This is how we learn and improve, it is how the books get written in the first place. Maybe we couldn't have made it to civilization without religion. Maybe it is necessary without knowledge or structure. That doesn't mean it is needed going forward. In fact, maybe it retards our growth.

I would add that money bags come from the leveraging of the worker. People are fond of saying that companies don't pay taxes, people do. Well, money bags don't print money, they receive it from the value added work of others. So if the wealthy are not taxed appropriately, they are obligated to give to charity, no need to thank them. Obviously, some will do more than others and some may go beyond the norm. This can be recognized, but should not be confused with real sacrifice, IMO.

It makes sense to me on the face of it. Although the wealthy are able to jump through loopholes much easier than the middle class, so revenue won't be as much as they think. An argument against this is the investor class will reduce their investments in businesses, which will reduce jobs. I really think the investment class expects too much money off the top. Maybe we should outsource CEO and big investors that have a more reasonable outlook on pay/performance?

I think either side should compromise when first heading into the discussion, for example the tea party movement should stress cutting defense spending as a priority. This might show some on the other side that they are really serious about cutting spending. But, all I hear from both sides is to just stick it to the other side and get your way. Looking forward requires compromise from the beginning, but Obama tried that and pissed off everyone. I think most people realize we can't tax ourselves or grow ourselves out of this mess. Spending must be cut. Also, taxes may have to be raised, but I do think it can be restructered as well. I think we should encourage savings to a degree - maybe not tax the first 10000 for example. I think we should also encourage keeping domestic jobs - if that requires lowering corporate taxes, targeting endangered fields, then so be it. Raising rates on the very wealthy makes sense. In regards to the laffer curve - it seems intuitive to me that there is a break point in regards to taxation and revenue. The problem as I see it is the trickle down has changed to trickle overseas. The middle class is shrinking, which will result in the rich paying more of the tax burden while the poor will grow in number. I don't think I am the only one who realizes that we are just getting our a** handed to us by people who are working harder, have more discipline and have more desire. They increase wealth, not by leveraging their future, but with sweat equity - working harder, studying harder and demanding more of their children.

well, I was paddled in school(6th grade) for forgetting to have my test signed by my parents - I made a 97 on that test. It didn't teach me never to forget, what it did was piss me off and I went from a straight A student to getting an F in that class(science) the next quarter. Yeah, I showed that teacher. Anyway, I got over it. But, I had more problems from Aholes that needed some discipline. I don't think corporal punishment is needed, but punishment is needed. Having undisciplined monkeys running amok is a severe punishment for students that retards their potential growth.

Of course WE don't celebrate German or Japanese soldiers, but should their people honor them? Can they be honored without honoring the cause? Everyone should be glad the North won. But, I don't think those white soldiers made that tremendous sacrifice for the freedom of the black man. I think both sides were fighting for their way of life. And the North relied, just as we do today on the exploitation of cheap labor. They were not completely innocent, but they were on the right side. The war and the aftermath did do great damage to the South, to both white and blacks. We still see the fallout today.

First time, 57% better with guys next time, I tried to pick the one I thought they didn't want me to pick scored 42%

I think Ron Paul is looking more like the candidate for the right, with the exception of the war. If the war is seen as less important and Paul doesn't need to criticize American involvement again and again, then he could break through. I still think he is just too unrealistic, essentially wanting to ctrl-alt-delete the country, but Obama/Bush spent my grandson's money avoiding that in 2008/2009. Some may feel it is time to do it.

I do as well. The DoD represents our "real" foreign expenditures. We should be able to cut it in half and be even more effective, IMO. Not sure about phasing out, I think this has really improved the lives of the elderly poor, but we should be honest with ourselves and extend ages, reduce benefits. That's easy, don't itemize or take the standard deduction.