2,551

(13 replies, posted in Politics)

My guess: Obama's going to reveal to the world that he's a conservative that makes Rush Limbaugh look like Karl Marx.  He will then announce his new agenda for the nation, including a tax cut solely for Donald Trump, drilling for oil at the White House front lawn, funding the development of a space station modeled after the Death Star, and declaring war on the United Nations and Illinois.

2,552

(22 replies, posted in Community)

I'm celebrating with a TV marathon!

2,553

(22 replies, posted in Community)

Will you also provide air fare and lodging for all who plan on celebrating dpenguins appreciation day "with" you?

2,554

(22 replies, posted in Community)

Okay, let me put it this way: If I took the day off work today and told my employer it was in celebration of dpenguins Appreciation Day, would I be allowed to go back to work the next day without any repercussions?

2,555

(22 replies, posted in Community)

Do we even get a day off work for this crap holiday?

Bah!  Links add a level of suspense!

You'll have to provide a link to your race for someone to rate it.

2,558

(38 replies, posted in Politics)

ROFL, nice.  smile

2,559

(38 replies, posted in Politics)

Thanks for the heads up, LP.

Congrats, Key: I'm putting you on an ignore list in politics for complete disregard for fair, honest discourse within the politics forum, and specifically for the act of blatantly ignoring otherwise relevant arguments while having ample opportunity to respond (i.e., because you were both warned by me beforehand, had arguments flagged as "previously ignored" and continued to ignore them, and yet still made posts to respond to the same posts in which those indictments existed).

Consider this part of my effort to promote a better debate on the Politics forum.  Part of the process involves identifying those people who actively hurt the process by preventing the deep analysis of issues.  I will only discuss with Key the matter of the nature and justification for this ban.

I would encourage other people to do the same, primarily because it is in their own interest: Key has indicated that if you try to actively engage in a debate with him, he will actively ignore key arguments, while still claiming to be participating in the discussion.  That largely results in a waste of  the time of anyone trying to talk with him.

2,560

(38 replies, posted in Politics)

To anybody who is not Key: Am I missing something, or is Key just ignoring 90% of what anyone else says?

2,561

(14 replies, posted in Ideas)

> Gimmix wrote:

> just because people who used to play it sill do doesnt mean new people will want to start.


Then why are you still here?  tongue

2,562

(42 replies, posted in General)

I am a stalker.

Creep creep!

2,563

(6 replies, posted in Questions)

Does it show up in family news if he was killed off by your family members?

2,564

(23 replies, posted in Politics)

> East wrote:

> > [RPA] Arocalex wrote:

> As long as China keeps its infamy low and doesn't get any unlucky casus beli's against it I don't see anyone declaring war without incurring a stability drop


ah but they're in the process of westernizing so they're bound to take a couple of -5 stab hits



But the religious factions lost influence in China, so they can't declare war on anybody anyway.  (Yeah, the newest expansion is awesome!)

2,565

(9,083 replies, posted in General)

Is a closet communist

2,566

(14 replies, posted in Ideas)

Then why are you here?

2,567

(38 replies, posted in Politics)

> Key wrote:

> "The 10 commandments, followed by the ordinances "   Uhhhh, there were no ordinances added in with the 10 commandments.  And if you think about it the translation of the 10 commandments are the King James Bible version.  Not the original translations.


Okay, I used the wrong term when stating "ordinances."  Consider them "lesser rules."  That being said, are you sure there's none?  Look around either Exodus or the book after that.  Not sure which one it is.  That being said, where do you think the ban against eating pork, the demand for circumcision,, specific rules regarding slavery, etc., came from?  They're specifically demanded in the Bible.




> It's not that hard.  The politicians we have keep going to rally's and telling the newsies to quote them.  In these quotes they state, "It's our god given right to free speech.  It's our god given right to take up arms.  It's our god given right...." so on and so forth.  Besides the 10 commandments, if you want to believe that's a CATCH ALL for every right you have, does it state in the bible, is our rights stated?

And i'm stating for a fact, that nowhere in the bible does it state what our god given rights are.  None.  The 10 commandments were supposed to be gods laws and gods rules, and gods guidelines on how to live your life?  But those 10 commandments does not state you have the god given right to equal rights.  Doesn't state you have the god given right to insurance.  And the politicians have stated it is your god given right to not be denied health coverage....


So... are you saying that there is no purpose to obey "Thou shalt not kill," except "Because God said so?"


> The King James Bible translation of the 10 commandments are DIRECT.  There are no additions, no bylaws, no sub paragraph A section 2, line 3.  There are no ORDINANCES of any kind.  The only ordances which have been handed down were by Catholic Popes and Bishops.

Thou shalt not use condoms.  But someone like you would probably put that under the commandment of Thou Shalt Not Kill.  It's a fricken sperm and an egg.  But you would lump sump that under, Thou Shalt Not Kill.  Unfortunately, there is no Commandment stating thou shalt not wear a condom.


Actually, the ban against condoms is to protect the sanctity of sex, demanded both as part of the ban against adultery and specifically in other bans against sex acts, such as sodomy, rather than a ban against killing.  But that's not really the point.  The point, essentially, is the need for lawyers and legislators.

Could the United States really have coherent law without a Supreme Court, or any legal facsimile to one?  The Supreme Court is tasked with interpreting how the US Constitution is to be enforced, what it means, and how to deal with conflicts in the law.  Is one individual's freedom from illegal search or seizure violated by X?  How do you weigh one right against another?  The Supreme Court gets into these nitty gritty details, creating coherent legal standards.  And they're generally bogged down all year with cases, just from a document 200 years old.

The completed Bible is almost 2,000 years old.  You can't possibly expect it to specifically address questions of the day.  Otherwise, the following would happen:

God: Okay, there's your 10 commandments.  Now I want to move on to arms control.  As I understand it, you have a relatively free arms policy?
Moses: We require all males to keep swords on hand to protect against a possible return of the Egyptians.
God: What about assault rifles?
Moses: Well... what?
God: While I do sanction the right to bear arms, we need a reasonable definition of what is permissible to prevent anarchy.
Moses: Huh?
God: Honestly, you wouldn't want someone to claim a general "right to bear arms" means they can keep a nuclear weapon in their backyard, right?
Moses: Um... I... guess not?
God: An individual's right to bear arms serves two functions: protection against foreign invasion and protection of their household against domestic threats, like criminals.  A nuclear weapon obviously wouldn't protect the latter, and it would probably be safer for a central authority to coordinate the former, rather than risking such a destructive weapon being turned against the government.
Moses: Uh... yeah...
God: Besides, the government could technically issue those weapons to individuals in a time of threat from foreign invasion.
Moses: ...
God: We obviously can't just outright claim "assault rifles are banned," so we'll need a definition.  I thought we could reference some specific components of assault rifles.  Hmm... there's firing rate, magazine capacity, reload rate, the presence of a scope...
Moses: Okay, God, I'll be honest.  I have absolutely no idea of what's going on.  How about I just bring these two tablets down with me.  That will give you time to brainstorm what you're about to write.  Then I'll come back for the rest.  Does that work?
God: That's probably a better idea.  Oh, and you might want to ask a few people to come up here with you.  We're going to need a lot of tablets.  By then, I'll be able to get my thoughts on health care reform written down.


In the same way that Supreme Court justices act as interpreters for the US Constitution, the Pope and the college of Cardinals acts as an interpreters for the Bible.  They help to explain how a vague rule such as "thou shalt not kill" would be applied in all cases, including warfare (if "thou shalt not kill" was to be interpreted strictly, why did Judea ever go to war?), the sabbath (strictly interpreted, it would require Christian nations to shut down everything once a week), etc.

You're expecting the Bible to be cut and dry treasure map, "Go here, X marks the spot, spend wisely."  The Bible isn't a piece of legislation.  It's literature.  There isn't a single piece of great literature which doesn't require one to read between the lines.  If you only read a book for face value, rather than looking into the meaning of each sentence, you're missing 90% of the story.

Jesus didn't operate through outright legislation.  He used parables to explain his views, asking the listeners to look at the parable and understand what it means.

Long story short, it's not a problem with the Bible.  It's not necessarily a problem with all legislators (though granted, it could be a problem with some legislators).  Rather, the simpler interpretation is that it's a problem with you.


"WHERE in the bible does it state your god given rights.  There is no one way around this one.  It's a simple question.  Show me the stated paragraph from the bible where it states what your rights are which have been handed down by god.  If you look at the 10 commandments it's a lot of You Shalt not do this, You shalt not do that.  It doesn't say, Thou hast the right to free speach.  Thou hast the right to jury by your peers.  It doesn't now does it.



Oh, and since you're ignoring key points that multiple people have made, that's pretty much a concession of defeat, and blatant proof you are not here to honestly debate an issue.  Long story short, talking to you is useless.  I'm done with this thread, and anyone expecting honest debate should similarly be done.

2,568

(69 replies, posted in Ideas)

Divide MW into 20 different galaxies, each with one family.

2,569

(23 replies, posted in Politics)

Europa Universalis, Arocalex?  Oh, I just found my new best friend!  smile

2,570

(23 replies, posted in Politics)

Don't forget, however, that China and Russia have been political rivals for a long time, especially during the Soviet era.  Besides, if the two nations did attempt to develop greater political ties in any offensive manner, it would be problematic.  China's economic and military capabilities can stretch much further than Russia's capabilities, and Russia already has a number of long term domestic problems.

Besides, a Russia-China alliance would never be a Russia-China alliance.  It would be a China-Russia alliance.  No Russian leader could really survive a stance as the second fiddle in an alliance with one of its two major political rivals.  Ever notice how Russia's political alliances are generally either massive coalitions where no single nation has power, or Russia-dominated alliances such as the Soviet satellite nation system?  They wouldn't stand for a second fiddle relationship with China, so the alliance thing is pretty much out of the question.


Side note: The first, obvious step to a stronger Russia-China military relationship would be increased immigration promotion.  China is facing a serious overpopulation problem.  Russia, in contrast, is actively trying to promote increased births to sustain its population.  A little bit of China->Russia immigration could go a long way in stabilizing both nations.

2,571

(15 replies, posted in Politics)

No, Justinian, wasn't being sarcastic.  Honestly wasn't expecting a source, much less a detailed legal analysis.  tongue

2,572

(52 replies, posted in General)

You have my sword!

2,573

(15 replies, posted in Politics)

Nice source!  tongue

2,574

(15 replies, posted in Politics)

Can you give an example of an extremely wealthy estate which managed to dodge the estate tax?  Otherwise, your first argument's simply conjecture.  Estate tax is different from income tax... not necessarily all the same loopholes, and not always so straightforward.

Can't really argue the second point.  However, that's not an argument against the estate tax as a whole, but rather an argument against the minimum estate value.  The question would then be "at what dollar amount would an inheritor not be ruined by an estate tax?"

2,575

(38 replies, posted in Politics)

Okay... first of all, everyone's been waiting for you to address the question that East and I brought up from the beginning, asking if the idea of "rights" is simply an extension of utilitarianism.  Without that, you're just trolling.


Anyway, assuming you do address that...

The 10 commandments, followed by the ordinances surrounding those commandments, would probably indicate what God-given rights people possess.  Do this by looking at the full implications of any one commandment.  For example, the fact that "Thou shalt not kill" is among the 10 commandments indicates a value for the sanctity of life itself.  Thus, it's not difficult to say that through God's condemnation of the taking of life, God is acknowledging a right to life.

By the same token, some other rights can be easily drawn out of the commandments.  "Thou shalt not steal" would support the political philosophy that individuals have a fundamental right to own property.

Frankly, you're right about one aspect: the Bible does not go into as much detail as you're asking.  Christianity really does not get into government issues as often as other religions, such as Islam.  (Then again, Islam probably would not get into more specifics with values, largely because it is much more conservative).

That being said, depending on your branch of Christianity, "God given rights" can be found in biblical interpretation.  For example, if we are looking at the Catholic viewpoint, the collective words of the Pope and his college of cardinals are to be valued just as if God spoke directly.