FlaSoxxJim

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Feb 27, 2007 -> 04:08 PM) SELL! SELL!!! SELL IT ALL!!!!! ^ ^ ^ ^

QUOTE(thedoctor @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 12:55 PM) unfortunately i doubt it could be pulled off. is a christian teacher going to feel comfortable relating the tenets of the koran? would a muslim be comfortable explaining a belief system that does not include a higher power? i doubt it. My freshman theology teacher did an amazing job teaching the comparative religion class, completely untainted by her on RC denomination. Certainly it would depend on the individual teacher, but for me the take-home message at the end of the year was how much the various world religions have in common, not how much they differ. I would sit through that entire class again just for fun in a heartbeat.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 01:27 PM) I totally support the concept of a required comparative study of world religion in secondary education. Curriculum would need to be closely monitored, though. So many things that shape our world's history, and current events have everything to do with the understanding or misunderstanding of religion. I wouldn't get up in arms over it but I'd rather see it be an elective. I agree with you point about religion being a motivator of world history, but I see a class like this as being above and beyond the core standards and more like an AP-level course. Making it elective also gets around most of the complaining about forced exposure to any sort of religious message that would invariable arise if it was compulsory.

QUOTE(G&T @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 12:42 PM) So I got the computer fixed and I figured I should tell everyone what happened in case anyone owns an IBM/Lenovo. There's a hidden file that saves quick restore points and mine wasn't deleting old backups and it ate 30GB. This is separate from the XP restore points that are easy to find and clear. This file was hidden somewhere and I had to have someone fix it. Lenovo tech support couldn't even help me (go figure) Anyway, the file is RRBACKUPS and it can cause problems with IBM computers. Hopefully this helps someone in the future. Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the Future!!

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 12:50 PM) And Flaxx, at the heart of it all, GWB sucks ass at covering his ass, legal or otherwise. And his ass is getting bigger every day, if you know what I mean. That is definitely true. It's gotten where every new scandal/crisis/screw-up is just one more thing and almosty nothing surprises anymore.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 12:53 PM) If you poop in your back yard, does it effect your environment? Why, yes! It gets stinky! I think it goes without saying that humans are effecting the environment - and to some extent, the climate. The question is, how much, and does the earth "correct" things on its own, so to speak? Only generations of studies will be able to prove that, not just our generation. PNR. If we are almost there, we don't have the luxury of a couple more generations of passive data collection and analysis.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 12:53 PM) To me, it raises a ton of red flags that the stats in the article are seriously misleading or manipulated. I just can't believe 15% can't name one. I just can't. You ever see the Jaywalking segments on Leno? After that, nothing about the depths of American ignorance surprises me anymore.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 12:44 PM) Was I the only one here who had a "Social Studies" class in I think 6th grade that spent at least a month or so actually going through the beliefs & practices of something like 7 major religions? I had an arse-load of comparative religion in history as well as theological departmental offerings, but I was raised by wolves and taught by Jesuits so I'm not a good basis for comparison.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 11:32 AM) Bull s***. Stop it. You know damn well everyone would have gone nuts, just like everyone always does with anything the Bush Administration does that doesn't fit the liberal agenda. My point is what southsider's point was above. They all do it, and yes, it's wrong, but Reno gets a free pass because it was "everyone". Please. It is unprecedented for so many federal prosecutors to be dismissed 5-6 years in. It would have been a minor story at the start of the administration whether it was 8 people or 93 and nobody would have gone nuts. Also if they'd not been better able to conceal the partisan political motivation.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 10:07 AM) The entire scientific community is very large. Your statement is not accurate. True enough that a 100% consensus is not achievable in science. But I'm a firm believer in the peer review process and in the ability of science to incrementally advance the state of knowledge to the point where we achieve a sound working knowledge of the physical and biological systems that surround us. The overwhelming majority of peer-reviewed climate science is painting a picture of a planet whose large-scale climate systems can be affected and are being affected by human activity. I believe these statements are wholly accurate.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 11:01 AM) So is firing all of them to cover up the fires that you really wanted to make, any better? Its all the same political movitations when it comes down to it. Once again, Bill Clinton just covered it up a little better. I don't think it would be any better, but it would have provided better cover for their real motivations certainly. The point is, if this was an across the board federal prosecutor purge that happened in March of 2001 right after Bush had taken office there wouldn't be such an uproar over it. Right or wrong, that is a business-as-usual practice with an incoming administration, while the current scandal is only business-as-usual for this administration. Don't mean for this tangent to merge with the last post but. . . I figure AG AG is safe until Bush gives him a public "Heckuva job, Gonzo". At that stage he's a dead man walking.

I think an elective world religion class would be a perfectly appropriate offering within the framework of any public school social studies program. Bible as literature would be less appropriate at the K-12 public school level and I think you could take issue with federal funds going toward any course offering that seems to give a preferential treatment to the written works of a single religion, but it would bean interesting elective offering from a college literature department.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 12:06 AM) But somehow, AG's issue is totally different, right? It is different on many levels and you know it. Right or wrong, Reno's attorney purge was across the board (something Miers apparently suggested here as well), and it happened withing the first two months of Clinton taking office. Here, the purge was selective and occurred 5-6 years into the Bush presidency, so it's not a matter of setting a tone and building the tone at the start of a new administration. More to the point, all of AGs testimony that the firings were completely performance based and not in any way politically motivated is obviously hogwash in light of the email dialog between Miers, Kyle Sampson, and Scott Jennings that shows that it was very much politically motivated.

Since 1993 DADT has led to more than 10K gay servicepersons being kicked out of the military, so it's far from a small issue only affecting a handful of soldiers. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../1008/OPINION01

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 02:50 PM) I find it ironic that an arm of the government that has been involved with prisoner abuse of the worst kind in the last four years is lecturing anyone what is or isn't immoral. BINGO!

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 01:16 PM) Harriet Miers's name appears to come up in emails as having been another key part of planning for their removal. Seems Miers suggested that all 90+ US Attorneys be sacked at the start of Bush's second term in 2005.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 02:20 PM) http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8...=1&catnum=0 Figured this would be a more hotly debated topic. What's there to debate? Pace is a bigoted homophobe who has very different views of what constitutes an immoral act than the majority of Americans. There has been a bit of discussion on it in the Dem thread.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 12:43 PM) My only thing with regard to this topic is there are a lot of scientitsts that disagree with Gore's views on global warming. I'm not talking about Joe Quack. I'm talking about people that have been in the field for years. Clearly there is disagreement among many regarding the facts. I'd just like to hear both sides get some equal play and let people make they're own decision on the facts provided. This has been a one sided debate since it began. Here's an honest, sincere, request. Provide the names of a couple of the dissenting scientists so that I can read what they have to say and make an objective decision as to the merits of their position. There are people like Frederick Seitz and S. Fred Singer (who have been discussed here before) that on paper look like they should be able to speak with some authority on controversial science issues, but have been revealed to be nothing but well-compensated pro-tobacco and pro-Big Oil shills who represent the worst of sham science. Then there are intelligent, well-intentioned scientists on BOTH sides of the anthropogenic climate change debate whose findings have not held up entirely under scrutiny. Michael "Hockey Stick" Mann of U Mass is probably the best known example from our climate change "alarmists" camp. On the dissent side on the other hand, there is a well-respected climatologist (his name escapes em but we've also talked about him here) who had maybe 15 years' worth of solid data suggesting that the alarmists' findings were overblown. In the end, it turns out his data were flawed from two honest but fatal flaws, one involving a computational error and the other involving a temporal measurement error in which his instruments were recording nighttime temperatures but reporting them as daytime temps. As Balta says, it's a disservice to represent the anthopogenic climate change debate as being between two more or less equal-sized groups of scientists on either side of the issue. A few thousand "alarmists" have added data, insights, and studies supporting their views while a handful of respected legitimate scientists continue to doubt the findings or the conclusions.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 05:43 AM) Peter Pace approves of Don't Ask Don't Tell, because "homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral." Linkage. To be fair, he doesn't say anything about threesomes. Pace was awarded the 2006 Congressional Medal of Honor Society Patriot Award, which is supposed to be given to a "distinguished American who has exemplified the ideals that make this country strong". A shame to see bigoted homophobia in there as one of his ideals because it's certainly not one that I think make this country strong.

Mr. T. Bookmarks, yea!

Yoko = Class

QUOTE(BobDylan @ Mar 11, 2007 -> 11:38 PM) "If there is no God, everything is permitted." - Dostoevsky I quite like Dostoevsky but he's full of it in this instance.

Wow. I was never the biggest Boston fan but Delp was one of rock's great vocalist for sure.

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 04:04 PM) That is false Why did this investigation start? Why did this investigation continue after Fitz found out who the leaker was? He knew 3 mos. prior to talking to Libby that Libby was not the leaker, so why continue to question people? The investigation began because there was a question as to whether White House staff followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding the identity of a covert CIA agent. Henry Waxman is still not sure those procedures were followed apparently: