"I am a most unhappy man..." - Quote by Woodrow Wilson
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Stan Shannon wrote:
We don't need libertarianism, we need Jeffersonianism
Speak for yourself . Most of us don't like dictatorships enforcing shari'a law. . .Okay, I was wrong: speak for yourself and bin Laden.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin
Oakman wrote:
Most of us don't like dictatorships enforcing shari'a law. .
Yes, you've made that point many times - the United States was historically indistinquishable from fundamentalist muslim nations.
Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.
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Oakman wrote:
Take you, for instance: Dostoevsky. OMG
Really? I'm surprised, I thought you'd know (or at least guess) I had an interest in a zillion things :) To be completely honest, this is the first time I read Devils but I have The Brothers Karamazov and Crime & Punishment. Great books the both of them. Melville, Hawthorne, Twain, Dickens, Orwell, Tolstoy and Pushkin are all members of my library. I owe my mother a great deal for introducing me to great literature. Her degree was in literature and she has a serious passion for the Elizabethan era. My natural inquisitiveness and strive to know more led me to green literary pastures.
Oakman wrote:
You must lose that. You're killing yourself, courting diabetes, and screwing up your hips and knees in ways that can't be fixed without painful replacements. I once had to take myself down from 255 to 170, so I am telling you what I know, not what I read. I started counting my calories and getting up earlier in the morning, putting on earphones and walking. When i started 1/2 mile was good; but I built up to where I could do 5 miles on a weekday and 10 miles on a weekend.
I know, I haven't done any walking/jogging/crawling in a few weeks because I'm being lazy. But you are right, I need to lose all that weight if I want to see the fruits of my loin get older. I'll be off to bed soon so I can do my 3 mile again.
Oakman wrote:
North America needs more Muslims and Arabs speaking out in loud clear voices against the use of terrorism.
Its not just that, you want Ulema who aren't scared who can answer like for like when Imams mislead their flock to create splodopes. For example, it is a teaching of Islam that dying in defense of one's country, home and religion is the highest form of martyrdom; Islam also says, and this is directly from the lips of Mohammed, that no woman, aged person, child, tree, house or animal will be killed and indeed, if the man being fought seeks the shelter of his home, then he is safe. Why isn't that being taught as well? There exists an incredible amount of anger in the hearts of many Muslims because they are confined by many walls that have been built by many parts and some in the mind. Change will happen, but not overnight. What saddens me is that all the "leaders" are so selfish that they'd happily stand on the bodies of their people rather than
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa wrote:
I thought you'd know (or at least guess) I had an interest in a zillion things
In a sense I did, but so much of our conversation has been a debate over one issue, it's easy to forget the whole man. Although there's no similarity except in the name, have you read Huxley's The Devils of Loudon? I played a small backstage role in the B-way production of the adaptation. Of course, the play was called simply, "The Devils." No use scaring people off thinking they'd have to know something about France.
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa wrote:
has a serious passion for the Elizabethan era.
I've directed or acted in about 2/3rds of the Shakespeare Canon, and think I've read most of his contmporaries's works, as well.
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa wrote:
What saddens me is that all the "leaders" are so selfish that they'd happily stand on the bodies of their people rather than pave the way for them.
That certainly doesn't hold true just for the Arabic world. The number of 'statesmen' 'reverends' and talk-show 'hosts' who favorite topic is "Let's you and him fight" is legion.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin
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Stan Shannon wrote:
you want drug addicts protected, cared for, given health care,
No i dont' What I want is people to stop controlling other people because they think they know whats better for them. If I want to smoke a joint, then goddammit I will smoke a joint, regardless of the law.
CaptainSeeSharp wrote:
No i dont' What I want is people to stop controlling other people because they think they know whats better for them. If I want to smoke a joint, then goddammit I will smoke a joint, regardless of the law.
No, its because I know whats better for me and my community. And limiting drug abuse is pretty much at the top of the list.
Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.
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Oakman wrote:
Most of us don't like dictatorships enforcing shari'a law. .
Yes, you've made that point many times - the United States was historically indistinquishable from fundamentalist muslim nations.
Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.
Stan Shannon wrote:
the United States was historically indistinquishable from fundamentalist muslim nations.
Stop hiding behind lady liberty's skirts. Your fantasies of what the U.S. was like 200 years ago aside, it is clear you want a dictatorship of the majority - just so long as you get to pick the majority. Why pretend you espouse personal freedom when you have proved over and over again that you don't? Your list of what will be forbidden and what will be compulsory, once you and yours take over, grows daily.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin
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CaptainSeeSharp wrote:
No i dont' What I want is people to stop controlling other people because they think they know whats better for them. If I want to smoke a joint, then goddammit I will smoke a joint, regardless of the law.
No, its because I know whats better for me and my community. And limiting drug abuse is pretty much at the top of the list.
Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.
Stan Shannon wrote:
And limiting drug abuse is pretty much at the top of the list.
I thought you were okay with Limbaugh?
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin
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Stan Shannon wrote:
the United States was historically indistinquishable from fundamentalist muslim nations.
Stop hiding behind lady liberty's skirts. Your fantasies of what the U.S. was like 200 years ago aside, it is clear you want a dictatorship of the majority - just so long as you get to pick the majority. Why pretend you espouse personal freedom when you have proved over and over again that you don't? Your list of what will be forbidden and what will be compulsory, once you and yours take over, grows daily.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin
Oakman wrote:
Your fantasies of what the U.S. was like 200 years ago aside, it is clear you want a dictatorship of the majority - just so long as you get to pick the majority. Why pretend you espouse personal freedom when you have proved over and over again that you don't? Your list of what will be forbidden and what will be compulsory, once you and yours take over, grows daily.
I've never even remotely expressed any such beliefs. You simply cannot deal with the reality of this nation's history and how it was intentionally designed to work. Like all libertarians, you want a society capable of enforcing your beliefs from the top down. I believe that what ever principles define a civilizatoin should rise from the bottom up. You are simply afraid of the common people haveing the kind of power the constitution originally provided them with.
Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.
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Oakman wrote:
Your fantasies of what the U.S. was like 200 years ago aside, it is clear you want a dictatorship of the majority - just so long as you get to pick the majority. Why pretend you espouse personal freedom when you have proved over and over again that you don't? Your list of what will be forbidden and what will be compulsory, once you and yours take over, grows daily.
I've never even remotely expressed any such beliefs. You simply cannot deal with the reality of this nation's history and how it was intentionally designed to work. Like all libertarians, you want a society capable of enforcing your beliefs from the top down. I believe that what ever principles define a civilizatoin should rise from the bottom up. You are simply afraid of the common people haveing the kind of power the constitution originally provided them with.
Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.
G'bye, Stan. It's been fun sometimes, but you've gone off the deep end and I am sick of your bullshit. You've been plonked.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin
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Stan Shannon wrote:
And limiting drug abuse is pretty much at the top of the list.
I thought you were okay with Limbaugh?
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin
Oakman wrote:
I thought you were okay with Limbaugh?
I'm perfectly ok with Limbaugh. Why do you ask?
Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.
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G'bye, Stan. It's been fun sometimes, but you've gone off the deep end and I am sick of your bullshit. You've been plonked.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin
Oakman wrote:
G'bye, Stan. It's been fun sometimes, but you've gone off the deep end and I am sick of your bullsh*t. You've been plonked.
I'll accept that as an admission of defeat.
Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.
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Mustafa Ismail Mustafa wrote:
I thought you'd know (or at least guess) I had an interest in a zillion things
In a sense I did, but so much of our conversation has been a debate over one issue, it's easy to forget the whole man. Although there's no similarity except in the name, have you read Huxley's The Devils of Loudon? I played a small backstage role in the B-way production of the adaptation. Of course, the play was called simply, "The Devils." No use scaring people off thinking they'd have to know something about France.
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa wrote:
has a serious passion for the Elizabethan era.
I've directed or acted in about 2/3rds of the Shakespeare Canon, and think I've read most of his contmporaries's works, as well.
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa wrote:
What saddens me is that all the "leaders" are so selfish that they'd happily stand on the bodies of their people rather than pave the way for them.
That certainly doesn't hold true just for the Arabic world. The number of 'statesmen' 'reverends' and talk-show 'hosts' who favorite topic is "Let's you and him fight" is legion.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin
Oakman wrote:
it's easy to forget the whole man.
Quite true and many times have I fallen for that!
Oakman wrote:
have you read Huxley's The Devils of Loudon?
No I haven't, but I'll see if the mediocre (at best) literary collection provided by the local bookstores in Amman has him. My library is looking for new members :)
Oakman wrote:
I played a small backstage role in the B-way production of the adaptation.
I used to do acting before 3rd year Undergrad work got in the way. I liked acting, and I was supposedly good at it.
Oakman wrote:
I've directed or acted in about 2/3rds of the Shakespeare Canon, and think I've read most of his contmporaries's works, as well.
I'm impressed. I'm not too interested in Shakespeare, though A midsummer night's dream, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Tempest and Othello (I was Iago) and his sonnets will hold a special place forever as both loved and hated (took them in school) I'm not too keen on that literary time, Cervantes being an exception.
Oakman wrote:
That certainly doesn't hold true just for the Arabic world. The number of 'statesmen' 'reverends' and talk-show 'hosts' who favorite topic is "Let's you and him fight" is legion.
Yeah, I know, but its the single biggest hurdle that needs to be surmounted these days. That and the bleating like sheep mentality along with the "its not our fault!" ideology that seems to permeate (again, not just in the Arab world).
If the post was helpful, please vote! Current activities: Book: Devils by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Project: Hospital Automation, final stage Learning: Image analysis, LINQ Now and forever, defiant to the end. What is Multiple Sclerosis[^]?
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Oakman wrote:
I thought you were okay with Limbaugh?
I'm perfectly ok with Limbaugh. Why do you ask?
Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.
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Synaptrik wrote:
*cough* because he's a drug addict *cough*
No, actually, he isn't.
Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.