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Posts Made By: Paul Kammueller

October 6, 2004 04:19 AM Forum: Religion

Unrealistic and inconsistent requirements

Posted By Paul Kammueller
Neither of these sorts of experiences or evidence is really a comparable situation.

Pain: a subjective experience to be sure. But this subjective experience is easy for people to accept as 'real' because everyone feels pain. Not so the case with religious experiences, visions, divine revelations, etc. If only a few people in the world had ever felt pain, there would certainly be reason among others to doubt that this thing called "pain" really existed. And of course if people from different cultures experienced very different kinds of 'pain' it would make things harder still.

Black holes, by contrast, are theoretically deduced structures based on what our understanding of physics 'should' result in given a certain set of initial conditions. That is physics, theory and deductive reasoning, which is a very different thing than subjective reasoning.

October 9, 2004 11:24 PM Forum: Politics

Liberterian Party

Posted By Paul Kammueller
Libertarianism is actually not extreme right, it's an uncommon mix of far right and far left views, but arguably it is much more philosophically consistent than either the traditional "right" or "left".

They are anti-tax/pro-small-government, including BOTH domestic AND military spending (as opposed to "left" that's typically big domestic govt small military govt, and "right" which is big military govt and small domestic govt). They feel the department of defense should be precisely that: sufficient for defense and not be devoted to occupying stations in dozens of nations across the globe. They feel the domestic government should be strictly occupied with governing, and little else.

They are also pro-liberty/anti-regulation on just about everything, including guns, abortion, drugs, gay marriage and business which also makes a very scrambled left/right mix, but again is philosophically more consistent than either right or left. They are generally pro-free-trade and generally anti-war, again right and left all in one.

October 12, 2004 10:49 AM Forum: Politics

Second Civil WAR

Posted By Paul Kammueller
The cotton industry in the 1860's also had the country economically regionalized in such a way that made the creation of two distinct warring regions with neat battle fronts and supply lines possible.

I think the major issue leading up to it was actually a fundamental disagreement about the structure and authority of the central government. The South wanted Confederacy, a weak central government with strong state governments, and the North was the opposite.

What we have today isn't that kind of fundamental disagreement about national identity and structure, but rather disagreement about policy in dealing with the world. From this, the risk is more external than internal -- though we could be in for another generation of serious unrest as this continues to develop.

October 18, 2004 02:21 AM Forum: Politics

Requiem for a lightweight

Posted By Paul Kammueller
>The hsuB posts have really slowed down. I guess the righties feel he's on his way out.<

No, just they and all the other armchair warriors are otherwise preoccupied. Maybe camping out down at the docks so they can tell that reluctant platoon of reservists when they return what cowards they were for not carrying out their mission and how they'd better not run for office someday or they'll do a nasty TV show about them just before election day. Or maybe they'll just spit on 'em and call it a day.

October 18, 2004 09:05 PM Forum: Politics

Senator Kerry's non-record

Posted By Paul Kammueller
Bush voters on this board continue to misunderstand this election. This election isn't about Kerry's record. It's about Bush's.

Fact is, many Kerry voters already don't like the guy. Let's face it, he's way too liberal. Which, incidentally, means his uninspiring congressional record is actually a point in his favor for many moderates. But the point is Kerry would have to sprout horns and breathe fire before they would even consider risking the alternative of another 4 years of his opponent. Kerry inspires the usual partisan mockery from the right that everyone's come to expect, whereas Bush inspires genuine fear about the future of the country. People aren't voting for Kerry, they're voting against Bush.

October 19, 2004 02:05 PM Forum: Politics

So, What colour are we this week?

Posted By Paul Kammueller
I dunno... the map is getting more and more "blue" with each passing day wink

http://www.electoral-vote.com/


October 21, 2004 11:03 AM Forum: Politics

Hell No, They Won't Go: Solved.

Posted By Paul Kammueller
"Divide and Conquer" is the first rule of military success.

Oh wait no, that rule was "Don't get involved in a land war in Asia". My mistake. sad

October 25, 2004 10:41 AM Forum: Politics

Can someone explain to me...

Posted By Paul Kammueller
Considering that you have a war president who's been doling out tax cut candy like it's going out of style, running against not a new democrat but an old-guard liberal, Bush is doing shockingly badly in the popularity department.

Any semi-competent republican could have sleepwalked through this election with 70-80% approval ratings -- if only they'd managed to keep the war on terror somewhat focused on the original enemy.

The Iraq War, an early sideshow that has now replaced the War on Terror as the "Main Event", is not helping Bush's popularity but hurting it, as one by one more and more people start to 'get it'.

October 25, 2004 11:09 AM Forum: Politics

Easy Question

Posted By Paul Kammueller
It's the oil. Anyone who can overlook this is just too naive to be living anywhere but in a fairy dreamland.

I don't believe it's for personal gain as Michael Moore and some posters here suspect. I don't think that Bush is quite THAT evil. The fact is our nation is becoming less and less capable of producing its own oil. Our demand is soaring and our production is declining.

World production is on the verge of peaking just as ours did decades ago, when that happens $55 oil will look cheap and the real 'oil wars' will begin. The invasion and occupation of Iraq is all about getting positioned.

October 26, 2004 11:08 AM Forum: Politics

Ending voter fraud

Posted By Paul Kammueller
Oh yes, please, on top of everything else let's have Big Brother Government track and catalogue my each and every vote on each and every office and each and every issue and referendum. Then every citizen by their voting record can be conveniently catalogued and placed on Mr. Bush's "Subversives and Suspected Terrorists" list. And as the right-wingers keep reminding us, suspected terrorists have no rights. So then comes the knock on the door at 2:00 a.m. No thanks.

Mr. Walker can go start his little authoritarian police state somewhere else. I don't know if this is the intent, but the neo-cons are starting to scare the bajeezus out of me. One by one more and more right-wingers are advocating giving up personal freedoms for the sake of more security, more government monitoring of our actions, our votes, etc. Yikes.

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