God is dead, we killed him. You want proof that god doesn't exist....read hannah arendt or anne frank. Better yet talk to someone who was there or in dresden or hiroshima. If god does exist then we can't count on him to protect us. We must believe in human agency. We must take accountability for our own actions. We must start to realize that belief and guidance from god has led to the crusades, terrorism, the trail of tears, ect. None of these led to a better world. Our actions can lead to a better world. You shouldn't need an imaginary friend to tell you to live a virtuous life. It scares me that the most powerful man in the world talks to god, either he is crazy or he is lying or quite possibly he is too stupid to see that most of his actions are in contradiction to the teachings of his own prophet, jesus.
Economics is actually very easy. Capitalism in the sense of Adam Smith is an interesting and fairly democratic economic system. Democratic because it is based on choices and the ability to control demand and therefore supply. The problem starts with two issues: its unsustainable (its based on the exploitation of resources including labor) and secondly it leads to an eventual wide division of the haves and have nots, partially because it is easily perverted through monopolies, consolidation of wealth and many other ways. Smaller middle class means less consumption. So either it stalls from lack of consumption or it uses up all available resourses. Either way, not sustainable. Find one economist who disagrees. If he does, its because he has no problem with the consequences. I'm not spewing Marx or any other "left-wing/liberal economist", just educated common sense. Not to mention, I DONT WANT TO PAY FOR TODAYS DEBT (economically, socially, environmentally, ect) because of irresponsible policy.
For someone who works so hard saving the world you sure do have a lot of time to type way too much.
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I hope in the future Americans are thought of as a warlike, vicious people, because I bet a lot of high schools would pick "Americans" as their mascot. -Jack Handy
I'm an agnostic, insomniac, dislexic. I stay up all night wondering if there really is a Dog.
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I hope in the future Americans are thought of as a warlike, vicious people, because I bet a lot of high schools would pick "Americans" as their mascot. -Jack Handy
The topic is how the polititians and oil companies are #@$%^&@ us, how's that discrimination? You got off the off topic.
P.S. I don't know how anybody can back a man that; is anti- women's rights, environmentaly harmful (to put it lightly), sends jobs out of America, endoreses illegal immigration so his buddies can rake in the $$$ with low wages (unions suck too) and ignore the opinions of his peers (i.e. other world leaders) in regards to making THE USA look like a bunch of S$#@heads on international policy.
The Dems haven't been saints but this is some serious s$%#. (Not that they're the answer.)
Medman don't shut up, it wouldn't be fun if we all said the same thing.
medman...I'm sorry. I guess I don't want you to shut up, either. just do us a favor and quit voting.
I heard an interesting theory the other day that this whole war is about "rebuilding babylon", one of the things that must happen before the "second coming". how's that for some chilling shit. that's the kind of nonsense you get when you mix something as unresonable as religion with control of a world superpower. I don't give a damn if the next pres is republican or what, so long as he is sensible and secular.
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I hope in the future Americans are thought of as a warlike, vicious people, because I bet a lot of high schools would pick "Americans" as their mascot. -Jack Handy
So funny that you should mention "control of the masses" when that was the very impetous for the development of religion in the first place. In the beginning -- when agriculture and animal husbandry first allowed settlement and a departure from the nomadic hunter/gatherer society -- the gods were simple...more concrete. Fire, the sun, the earth, animals..etc etc. Religion became more refined over the ages. It was easier to make people afraid of a sentient being that has bearing over their afterlife than some ball of gas. It was better still to tell them to be meak in this life for reward in the next, to give away all they have and that it's easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than a rich man through the gates of heaven. (all sentiments directly opposed to the ideals of capitalism, not to mention Republicans..a blatant hypocricy that smacks me in the face every time I ecounter it) What a glorious method to keep the proletariat in check...a system of imaginary reward. Powerful enough to rouse the rabble to vote against their own economic interests. It's also a powerful motivator in time of war. Certainly several examples of that on both sides of todays holy crusade. No better way to get young men to die for the cause of old men.
The bottom line is, religion is a nice story to tell children because their little psyches are too fragile to handle the big mysteries in life: why are we here, where did we come from, where do we go (that's the biggie)...questions that defy human comprehention. Is there a larger force at work in the universe? Almost cetainly, at least I hope. But does it conform to an image set forth by the minds of men? Almost certainly not. If so, then why are there so many choices on this planet alone? Sure, they all deliver the same good message. But it's when we rigildy conform the dogma of any one and become so indoctrinated that we make decisions based on the tenets of a faith that religion becomes downright DANGEROUS.
And I for one don't think someone of that inclination has any business with their finger on the button.
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I hope in the future Americans are thought of as a warlike, vicious people, because I bet a lot of high schools would pick "Americans" as their mascot. -Jack Handy
what the bastard said! although i would like to add that its very arrogant to think you know the answers to these questions. if virtues were handed down from above than why have they changed so much over time and why are they inconsistant. not to mention "believers and prophets". maybe a little bit of humility is in order. Religion is an excuse for not wanting to take responsibility for your actions. god will save us, sounds pretty lazy to me.
page eight really highlights how bs your image of the world is. quit listening to talking heads and either do some of your own research or listen to those who actually know something....alan greenspan put out some pretty stern warnings this week. better yet, take a vacation to a "free trade" zone. Or maybe a quick stint in Doctors Without Borders. see what the US policies do to the rest of the world. Its not laziness that keeps people down. thats the simplistic answer. Its debt trapping, structural adjustments, lack of regulation, military force, capital flight, the theft of water sources, and the removal of transferable skills.
How do you look at the children who come into your ER and tell them you can't help them because their parents don't have insurance? 45 million uninsured americans are at more of a risk of becoming unproductive members of society by becoming hurt than they are from a case of laziness.
Bush has no more business running the largest economy in the world than he does as a doctor.
-aaron
P.S. I didnt go to CU. I think you'd have a hard time telling me that i'm useless if you knew what i do for a living.
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